TBTB Secret Santa | Unboxing

Happy Sunday everybody! I’m sitting under a blanket in a big jumper. The tree is fully decorated next to the TV. Emma and I are enjoying The Holiday (which is one of the most underrated Christmas movies out there) and have decided to share all things #TBTBSanta this year. Last year, I fell in love with this awesome Christmas tradition and have been looking forward to it, well, all year and now as the secret is out of the bag and I have gifted and received my boxes, I can share them with the world.

Have you ever taken part in a secret santa? It’s a staple of most school yards and offices around the world, and is a great way to spread some Christmas cheer without breaking the bank. Simply put, everyone adds their names into a hat, picks someone out, and buys a gift just for them from ‘Santa’. It’s a great idea, but, do you know what’s better? The Broke and The Bookish Secret Santa (TBTB Santa). Hosted by Jamie and Jana from The Broke and The Bookish, and The Artsy Reader Girl, the TBTB Secret Santa is a huge secret santa for the bookish blogging and online communities.

There are 3 levels to enter, and you fill out a long questionnaire that helps your Santa buy books and goodies for you.

a) 1 book and a small gift/candy
b) 1-2 books and a couple goodies
c) 2+ books and goodies

Once Jamie and Jana have collected all of the names, they’re split back out, and you have lots of fun patrolling the twitter tag, buying and wrapping gifts, and eagerly awaiting your parcel to arrive. Obviously, as someone who has taken part before, I dived right back in with option 3 and decided to go big and go home. It turned out to be a great decision!

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Moonrise | Review

Title: Moonrise

Author: Sarah Crossan

Rating: 4 Stars

Dates read: 27 Jan 18 – 28 Jan 18

Publication date: 07 Sep 17

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Genre(s): Young Adult; Verse

 

Description:

They think I hurt someone. 
But I didn’t. You hear?
Cos people are gonna be telling you
all kinds of lies.
I need you to know the truth.

Joe hasn’t seen his brother for ten years, and it’s for the most brutal of reasons. Ed is on death row.

But now Ed’s execution date has been set, and Joe is determined to spend those last weeks with him, no matter what other people think …

From one-time winner and two-time Carnegie Medal shortlisted author Sarah Crossan, this poignant, stirring, huge-hearted novel asks big questions. What value do you place on life? What can you forgive? And just how do you say goodbye?

This is a largely spoiler free review

Christmas Unwrapped

Happy New Year! I hope everyone doesn’t have too sore a head after last night, and that you all have a healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year. As New Year’s day is here, and we’re now a week away from Christmas 2017, and just 358 days from Christmas 2018, I thought it was high time that I unwrapped Christmas for all of you.

Christmas is always a time for family in our house. Since I’ve moved out of my parents house, I had been taking a couple of things round with me when I went round to put around the Christmas tree, before moving myself back into my old room for the festive period (I didn’t return home until late on 30th December!) This meant old traditions of making more than the specified amount of stuffing and also meant new traditions of having a takeway on Christmas Eve (Indian of course) followed by a quick trip to the local pub. It also meant going to bed on Christmas Eve knowing that family, and presents would be there on Christmas morning. Like always in our house, my Aunt and Uncle on my Dad’s side had travelled up from the Midlands, and my Gran was down near Oxford with my Aunt, Uncles, cousins, and dog.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I’m Looking Forward to Reading in 2018

Happy Boxing Day everybody! I hope you all had an absolutely amazing Christmas and are enjoying the festive period, however you celebrate! I can’t believe Christmas has come and gone again already! I feel like Christmas has just suddenly exploded for me this year, it took a while to get into the festive mood and then BOOM it has been and gone. I am a serial Boxing Day sale shopper, so I’ve already been looking for some bargains! I hope Santa brought everything you wanted, and everything you didn’t know you didn’t want.

For all of you who don’t know what Top Ten Tuesday is, or don’t know how to get involved, click here. The lovely folks at Broke and Bookish team together to produce a book related topic each week, and you simply list the top ten of that topic.