Dear New Readers

I doubt I have new readers. I don't even think I have readers at all, at this point. My posts only get about 11 views per post, but that happens almost instantly so I question whether those are even real people or just automatic computer monitoring or something? Occasionally I'll get a comment or a share and that inspires me to keep writing but I love writing so I'm sure I'd find something else to motivate me. I'm trying to write something in here everyday, however brief.

So, for new readers, I've decided to do an about me question-and-answer post. I have yet to update the tabs above this post that have an about me section on there but I'm sure by the time you get to this (if anyone ever does), then they will be updated. I used to run this blog with my then boyfriend, Austin, who I was in a serious relationship with. We broke up over a year ago now, but it still says "About Us" on it even though I have since then updated what is inside the tab. It used to be more of a book review and discussion type of blog and although I still do those from time to time it's more like a whatever I want to post type of blog. I don't think I need to add a genre although doing that would probably bring a target audience along if this blog has a specific topic or even purpose.

Anyway, before I ramble anymore and I'm not even being humorous let's get into this: (these were random questions taken from online and have no real order or anything, but that's a pretty good representation of me I think).

What is my Full Name?

Lorna Amranwen Parsons but I prefer to go by the nickname Loz and use my mothers last name, so Lorna Amranwen O'Connor. I think it not only sounds better but makes me somewhat make a statement that I'm more my mother than my dad.

What is Your Favourite Drink?

Coke or Tea (90% hot water, 10% milk in that order and obviously the teabag and the two and a half sugars go in first). I also really like smoothies and sometimes lemonade or Mountain Dew.

What is Your Favourite Song at the Moment?

"Can't Help Falling in Love With You" by Elvis, but really anyone who sings it well is a winner in my eyes.

What is Your Favourite Food?

Hmm...ooh, I don't know. I like food but I can't say I love it, I mostly just snack nowadays. I think probably Hunter's chicken (chicken wrapped in bacon and cheese and topped with BBQ sauce, usually served with fries or potato wedges or just a salad).

What is the Last Thing you Bought?

A Simpsons comic at my local charity shop. The excitement I felt when I saw them there on the shelf. There was also some Beano comics and my sister got one because my mother found one of her birth year and thought my sister would like it. Not sure if she does, I haven't yet asked!

Favourite Book of All Time?

I really don't have a favourite book. I love all books!

Favourite Colour?

Black, red, pink, blue.

Pets?

An almost 13yr old black feline named Tessa and I used to have a one year old called Boo, but she has since been...removed.

Foxy Tessa 

Favourite Perfume?

I never wear purfume although sometimes I do wear my mum's which comes in like a red apple bottle and I like it a lot.

Favourite Holiday?

Halloween and Christmas, I like to merge the two. Thank you, The Nightmare Before Christmas!

Are You Married?

I'm only twenty and I'm in a relationship but it's only been almost four weeks! I do hope to be married someday though.

How Many Siblings Do You Have?

My half-brother, Liam, 6. My sister, Catherine, 18.

Favourite Shop?

A really nice place called Vincent Davies and any charity stores, really.

Favourite Restaurant?

Weatherspoon's! Or Pizza Hut, maybe

When Was the Last Time You Cried?

Last night. Me and my now ex-best friend had a massive argument and I ended up having to block her and I'm still a bit upset about it, all a misunderstanding but she won't really listen and it was pointless waiting for her to calm down because I know her and her temper. She wasn't calming anytime soon.

Favourite Movie?

Anything Disney or Pixar, I probably love. Well, not too fond of The Little Mermaid but everything else I adore.

TV Show?

Once Upon A Time, Doctor Who, American Horror Story, Black Mirror, The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad...I love them all.

PC or Mac?

Never used an Apple computer so I'm going to go with PC.

What Phone Do You Have?

An IPhone 5S, I think it is?

How Tall Are You?

A short five foot seven!

Thank you for taking the time out of your life to read through this. It was very brief and quick, I know, but I want to answer more common and personal things in the About Me section of the tabs on this blog. I'll be updating it either later on tonight or I'll do it tomorrow morning before I head off to my college work experience! 

Book Review: The Worst Thing About My Sister by Jacqueline Wilson. (contains spoilers)

Yes, I know, this is a child's book and I'm an eighteen year old adult but hey, things meant for children often help me with my extreme anxiety so I thought I would give this book a go. In case you are considering getting this for your niece/nephew, daughter/son, etc, then please do read on! 

THE WORST THING ABOUT MY SISTER. 

 

1. She's super-duper girlie and prissy and pink. YUCK! 

2. She always tells on me when we have a fight. 

3. She stole my special night with Dad, even though everyone knows Toy Story 3 and chips are MY favourites. 

4. She laughs at my animals - even though she can't go to sleep without her Baba! 

5 - She NEVER sticks up for me. 

 

 It's quite unusual, I feel, for Wilson to write about a book where siblings are not the best of friends and instead are written as the worst enemies. This is about a girl called Marty, who I'm guessing is about nine or ten, and her older sister, Melissa, who I'm guessing is twelve although they appear to go to the same school, so maybe younger, it was never specified. When Marty attends a party in her mothers' homemade dress, she becomes popular meaning she needs a room for where she sows and keeps the dresses - Marty loses her Marty Den and moves in with Melissa.

Speaking of their mother, she was the worst kind of person I would ever have the misfortune to meet. She often does something I am strongly against, and that's gender role-ing. She stays firm on the idea that girls should wear dresses, smell of roses and sweets and be covered in pink, and that girls have to be a good role model for everyone else and always behave well and not act like themselves just to please other people and that girls can't have a job that is not traditional...she also cared way too much about what other people thought of her and that was often more important then her own daughters' feelings. Boys, though, they could do whatever they wanted. Even though people like her exist in the universe, I like to think they're a rare kind of parent and it made her situation worse then what it could have been.

It also hits other topics like bullying as well as feminism, and how you should tackle them. Like Wilson, I am a firm believer in that you can't ignore people who hurt you or make you feel like less of a person or make your life much harder then it should be. Marty, instead of ignoring them like most people would tell you to do, threw eggs at her bullies (don't worry, it's followed by a rant by how this is dangerous and harmful but it has a good message). 

It also says that even though the relationship with your sister is a rough one, you wouldn't be without them as the harsh ending had explained. 

As always, Wilson has written yet another (although short) quality book that I recommend if you wanted to buy for a child you know or even yourself if you're anything like me and find a guilty pleasure in enjoying these kinds of things. I'll give this a five out of five as I can't really fault it, and I'll see you next time!

A little about me!

I realize I have never actually introduced myself, and I suppose it doesn't really matter because profiles exist, but it would be polite to do so, anyway, right? Okay. 

My name is Loz, I'm from Wales, UK, and I'm eighteen years old. I have high-functioning autism, and I have pretty bad hearing (although not bad enough for a hearing aid...yet). I obviously really enjoy reading - I quite like books that are pretty creepy, but not quite horror/thrillers (although I enjoy them, too, they're just not my preference). I like them most from a female perspective, I don't really mind in what person. I don't really like books about romance/sex and I guess I am a bit of a prude when it comes to book, movies and TV shows. I'm actually pretty picky about the books I read, so it would take me forever to explain every little detail that I like and don't like in my books. If you want to know something specific, you can ask me. 

When I was little, I lived in Germany, then we moved to Manchester in England, until eventually we settled in Wales when I was eleven. I live with my mother, my sister (she's seventeen), and my half-brother (he's four, almost five in about two months though). Pets wise, a black short-haired cat named Tessa (she's nine), a Syrian hamster named Hamsterdam, and a goldfish named Swim Shady.

I take English Literature in sixth form right now, my final year (and I hate it, seeing the back of my school will be a bittersweet moment...mostly happy, though, to be honest).

So yes, if anybody was curious...now you know!

Book Review: Bridget Jones Mad About The Boy by Helen Fielding.

  

  RIGHT, CHRISTMAS RESOLUTIONS:

I WILL

- Stop feeling sad and thinking about or attempting to live through men, but think about children and Christmas.

- Have a Christmassy Christmas and make a new start. 

- Be more Buddhist about Christmas. Even though is Christian festival and, by its very nature, therefore, not Buddhist. 

I WILL NOT 

- Order piles of plastic crap from Amazon from 'Santa' but instead encourage Billy and Mabel to choose one or two gifts each from 'Santa' which are meaningful. Perhaps made of wood. 

Join Bridget as she stumbles her way through Christmas and other obstacles of modern life...

As a mini disclaimer, this review is not spoiler free, is quite rambly and long, I am too young to know 95% of the experiences that Bridget does and it probably has a very high amount of spelling errors and general mistakes. I tried!

Oh, Bridget. Funny, chaotic, forgetful, ditzy, the thirty-odd woman living on her own in the 1990's, London, trying to find someone to settle with so she could have what she wants - including children - and in the meantime, her funny and equally chaotic friends are there to fuck up with her. In Mad About The Boy, that charming woman I loved is gone, and instead replaced with a fifty-one year old woman obsessed with herself, trying to turn back the time, getting absorbed in the world of technology and  men, so much so that she often neglects her children and Chloe the babysitter, Daniel the sex addict and even her mother have to come to the rescue. 

I have to say, my expectations were not met up to as soon as I opened up the book. I wanted to know of the relationship between her and Mark was still as loved up as it had been, or if it was a "I've had a long day in work, okay? I just want some rest!", "Oh, you want some rest?!" kind of situation like most modern day families appear to be. Plus, the situations of Shaz, Tom and Jude were very much eagerly anticipated in the book by me, and it was a huge disappointment to know that not just Mark was dead and gone, but my other favorite character Shaz never even appeared in the book! I know friends come and go, but I'd have hoped they would at least kept in touch once in a while. 

I did not understand why Bridget needed to be single in order to create a good and entertaining read. Happy families is, of course, boring but why would she have had to have made their relationship boring? It would have been highly interesting to read a book tackling the topic of married modern day families surviving in the world, very much like they did with the British TV show, Outnumbered (huge fan of, by the way). It would have been a great read to know how Mark and Bridget Darcy were doing as a couple. Heck, Mark could have lost his job, leaving them to support their two young kids, maybe they moved to the countryside and had many chaotic camping trips and hiking adventures - which is typical of Bridget to make such a hectic and impulsive move, only to later regret it.

Instead, Bridget had three (more or less) relationships in the book, which were not quite as satisfying. I did enjoy how this book tackled the world of online dating (fun fact: that's how I met my boyfriend of two years, but not through a dating website, through Skype...oddly, not mentioned in the novel, which is a shame, that would have been interesting, especially with the new sex theme almost absent from the first two books) and ...well, I want to say how hard it must be for a fifty one year old widow with no job and two young kids to be able to find a stable, long lasting relationship would be but, again, it wasn't for Bridget...I mean, how does she even manage it? Leatherjacketman was an entertaining, but pointless, relationship. 

Now, Roxster, despite the unfortunate name choice there, I actually loved. Maybe it's because I'm closer to his age then Bridget was, but I loved the ridiculous amount of sex, the spontaneous, the flirtatious and loose way they spoke in their texting, I wanted them to end up together, even though I know a thirty one year old and a fifty one year old would probably never work out in the end, as much as I wanted it to happen. Instead, she ended up with Scott, a man who was so much like Mark Darcy, it was uncomfortable and it didn't feel natural to me. 

Twitter...very annoying. And repetitive and long and felt more like filler space then actual content that needed to be in there. A brief moment of it, sure, just to sum up how her and Roxster had met but not whole sections. I love social media, I think it's wonderful to escape reality and to be able to still have that needed social contact without leaving the comfort of your bedroom or even wearing clothes. Although I often wondered, what reality did she have to escape? She complained so much about how hectic and hard her life was, but really, she spent most of it texting, on Twitter, or pretending to do her script when really, she wasn't. She didn't even have to wake up early for her kids, she had a nanny, a cleaner and was rich to do whatever she pleased, in a huge house. 

Speaking of the kids, the moments she spent with them (although very few) were heart warming and just made me all the more exited for when I can have my own one day. Especially on Father's Day, when Billy said he wrote a card for his deceased dad. Speaking of heart warming, the parts about Mark and how Bridget was in grief were just...tear jerking, for me. I also really like hearing and saying Mark Darcy. 

Not really sure how she managed to lose three stone in thirteen weeks, either, but it's fiction, anything can happen - especially when she does little to no exercise and spends most of her time eating packets of cheese. 

Assuming Daniel the sex addict is similar age to Bridget, probably older, how is he so popular with young women, especially seeing as his mental health (or physical, for that matter) is clearly not the most stable and he isn't rich, or filled with a charming and lovely personality. I can't deny it wasn't great seeing a friendly face, though. Bridget having a toy boy that involved a lot of sex, too, though, made me think Helen Fielding has a bit of a fantasy she was letting out here. 

I'm pretty glad Tom has settled, Jude finally got rid of Vile Richard, and is getting herself out there to find someone who won't break her heart.

I also felt like Bridget was not the greatest mothers in 3/4 times in this book. She didn't spend very much time with them and often left them in the hands of Chloe, she barely even spoke about them and even ignored texts from their babysitter several times because she was too busy with her toy boy, and it really did seem that she only cared for them at times because they are what's left from Mark Darcy. Boy obsessed! 

I rated this book three out of five stars, because although it was obviously written with a movie in mind, I spent more time looking at how much time the book had left then really appreciating the book in itself (up until the last few pages, that is) and I think I'm going to pretend this book never happened and it ended with the second book, I kinda enjoyed it and I'm not regretting reading it. 

Thanks for reading...if you got this far!