Top Five Wednesday: Female Inspirations || YouTube.

Since August (posting pretty much everyday), the writing drive has been a bit knocked out of me and I feel like now that I write fewer posts they should be much better quality because I have more time to think of ideas and work on them and the pressure has been off-putting, I'm sorry about that. I hope this blog is improving my writing skills, but...it takes time. 

Enough rambling, today I wanted to at least try to write a Top Five Wednesday (if it publishes, I succeeded!) on something I want to go in more detail about in future posts but I am going to briefly touch on it today and that is my female inspirations. I have a lot of female inspirations, I strongly believe in women-to-women love instead of being jealous of one another and bringing each other down. This is no particular order. 

One || Saphira Howell. 

Saphira is a 17-year-old female still in school I believe from LA. She was formerly SaphiraFashion, but as since changed her channel name because it doesn't represent who she is anymore.

Why do I like her so much, I consider her to be one of my inspirations? Because she's very young and has a supreme amount of confidence is one reason. She knows she's pretty, she'll say "Yeah, I look good in this" and she has the confidence to put herself out there - like in her TEDx talk. She's real with what she talks about and doesn't pretend to be someone she's not for views.

She was nominated for the Shorty Awards I think earlier this year or later last year. There's a lot more about her that I feel like she needs to be looked up to for, but for that, go and visit her channel or wait until a later day when I make a full post on her! She's already taking up a lot of space here, I need to move on to four other female inspirations! 

Two || Emma Blackery. 

Her Channel

I love her for multiple reasons - she's a sassy feminist who can be absolutely hilarious without insulting anyone! She's an inspiration to me because she is proof that you can be funny without putting other people down, she's very real to her viewers and doesn't bullshit anything. She's adorable and works hard for what she does, she doesn't make excuses for herself, she's just an awesome person...I look up to her for being awesome, and for being herself (a common theme in this blog post!). 

Three || Beckie0. 

Her Channel

Again, she is my inspiration because of her brutal honesty to not only us but to herself. I won't talk too much about this, though, as what truly makes me look up to her is her amazing creativity. Her videos - mostly her older ones from a year or two ago, my personal favourites - really stand out in your mind. They're different, and have her own personality shooting through them, they're amazing. She also suffers with depression, I believe, but her biggest struggle is her battle with Trich and as someone who suffers a disability and two mental illnesses, it's a great source of motivation seeing her really making something of her life despite what is holding her back and I one day want to do the same. 

Four || Allaray Roo 

The Channel!

A much less known channel, but growing pretty fast (as she so deserves) is Allaray Roo, who actually hasn't to my knowledge done any videos on body-loving or anything majorly important like that, but she does stand out in my mind and she has inspired me multiple times to talk about the kinds of things she talks about in her videos. She's basically a story-teller of her very eventful and traumatic life, and the way she tells them is so hilarious, that I can't help but want to try and write some of my own (which I always lose the guts to post in the end!). Again, though, she is an inspiration to me because she always remains true to herself - she's wacky and I love that, she's so nice and friendly, I recommend checking out her channel!

Five || StacyPlays. 

Her Channel!

Okay, I know this wasn't meant to be in any order but I think this woman might be my favourite. I can't tell you how many times she has made me laugh hysterically on my darkest days! She is an inspiration to me because of how much she has achieved in her life, and how strongly she feels for saving dogs' lives! She's smart and witty and wonderful! She's a gamer, so slightly different from the women I have mentioned above, but nontheless she has inspired me to one day get a laptop or computer that will allow me to record and upload my own videos! 

There you have it, my top five female inspirations! Who are yours?! 

- Loz x 

Top Five Wednesday: Top Five Worlds!

Welcome to my second Top Five Wednesday post! Today, I thought an interesting topic would be to talk about what my top five favourite worlds to visit so far are. I think one of them is going to be yoghurt-thrown-in-your-face obvious, but the others might not be (I haven't even thought of them yet, it's as much a surprise to me as it will be to you!). Must stop rambling and actually get on with the post, shall we? Yes, we shall, let's get started: 

One.

World one is, you guessed it, the world in the Harry Potter series written by the Queen. The whole school in a castle thing is what really interests me, as I live in Wales and we have a lot of castle hot spots and even before Harry Potter, I would always wonder what it would be like to go to school in one of those castles. Especially an abandoned one. The fact that it includes so many more amazing things, like magic and dragons, is a huge added bonus to one of my childhood dreams. I don't understand why anyone would not want to be in the world of Harry Potter. 

Two. 

I wouldn't want to live in these worlds, but I want access to them as a vacation spot, and that is the worlds in the Dr. Seuss books. I really loved "Cat in the Hat", I thought it was colourful and wacky and unique and what they did with that in the Universal Studios from what I have seen online is what I want the worlds to look like if they came to live. Just a lot more lively and not looking like buildings, you know what I mean? 

Three. 

It has escaped my memory what this place is actually called, but I don't like the world in Lord of the Rings as a whole, I just like the place where the Hobbits lived. And the fact they smoke weed and eat all day is a pleasurable thought, they don't have to do anything, it seems a fun life. I would probably have miniature adventures in the surrounding area, but really small ones - I don't want to get caught up in any crap, especially far away from the Hobbit holes! I (shamefully) haven't yet read the books, so I'm just going from the movies. Sorry, okay, I will get to them! 

Four. 

I have only read one book from this world, but that one book was enough to get me interested, and that is the realm of Star Wars. This might change in the future, as one book doesn't even make a dent in all the information you can learn about it and especially now that Disney owns them, but from what I know about it so far, it can't not make my top five list - even if it is a super predictable option!

Five. 

This one not so much now, as I don't really like the last few books in the series - and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in that - but to make fifteen year old me happy, the House of Night series by P.C and Kristen Cast because I loved the idea of being a beautiful vampire with artwork on my face and wearing beautiful clothes and having a loyal cat. The whole world just appealed to me, and it still does in my memory. 

So, what are your favourite worlds, can you pick one that's not Harry Potter?!
See you tomorrow!

- Loz x

TFW: Books I Love That Everyone Else Hates

Welcome to another Top Five Wednesday! Fun fact, I was having difficulty thinking up things to write about for top five and turns out, Goodreads has a whole group dedicated to this. I knew it was quite a popular thing in the booktube community, but I didn't know it was by that much. 

Anyway, the one that stood out to be the most (mostly because there's so many options to choose from) was the top five books I really liked or loved that everyone else didn't like so much or straight up hated. Let's get started!

(in no particular order)

One. 

It's not a book but a 'series'/trilogy that a lot lot LOT of people really didn't like, and even though I read this when I was about sixteen years old, my memory can't pick up anything I would dislike if I had read it freshly today and that is "The Maze Runner"/"The Scorch Trials"/"The Death Cure" and of course "Kill Order" (even though that is the prequel and technically not part of the trilogy, but I count it because it includes important information on how the Flare virus had come about). It was fast paced, action-packed, little romance, great characters - and the women were portrayed as strong people, even if they didn't show Lana (I think was her name) very much. It was a great series/trilogy from what I can remember, and I wish everyone felt the same way about it as I did. 

Two. 

This wasn't really a hated or strongly disliked book, but the mutual rating among most people for this novel was three stars, and I think I gave it four (the highest rating I could give it, five is reserved for books that really did something for me) , and that is "The Twins" by Saskia Sarginson. This book is about two twins, obviously, one who has anorexia and the other is a successful business woman.  They grew up in the woods with their mother who didn't believe in discipline, but one day something awful happens that they still can't shake of and they want to go back to the past to try and make peace within themselves and to help one of the twins with anorexia. It's kind of slow in parts, but please don't let that put you off!

Three. 

Another series I'm going to go with here. I'm finding more and more people who are a fan of this series by the day who were ashamed of it because of the 'controlling boyfriend' aspect throughout it but I think well, he's a vampire, so the rules are going to be different for him although I can completely see why a teenager would read it and think that was acceptable behaviour for a human boyfriend (it isn't). You've probably already guessed what that series is, and that is indeed the "Twilight" series by Stephanie Meyer. I read them as a kid, loved them. Watched the movies, loved them. They have great memories in them with some old friends I don't talk to anymore. It was just a really good series. 

Four. 

This one only counts for the first book, as the other two books in the series I did not enjoy very well - actually, I didn't even bother trying to get through the last book, I got halfway and DNF'd, but the first book was entertaining and I liked it, I liked it a lot, and that is "Divergent" by Veronica Roth. I found Tris to be the kind of person who would make the decisions I would make in her situation (apart from her acknowledging the people who bully her are in the next room but she walked in their in a towel anyway, now that was stupid, she should have just waited). A lot of teenagers don't make smart decisions. Not a huge fan of Roth's writing style, but I did really enjoy this book at least - I think Veronica Roth is more suited to standalones then she is to series and trilogys, if I'm being honest here.

Five. 

I guess I'm going to pick "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult for this, even though I didn't really love it, I just like it a lot more then most people seem to do (and I can completely understand why, honestly). I don't know, I just really like Anna, I think she's a really cool character.

Thank you ever so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed. what are your top five books? See you tomorrow, Loz x 

Top Five Wednesday: Books I've Read This Year

Hello!

So, welcome to my first Top Five Wednesday (I think, it would be embarrassing if it's not...). I'm just going to be telling you my favourite books that I have read this year in no particular order, and believe me, it was hard to pick out just five. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

One. 

"A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness. 

This might even be the number one favourite book of the entire year. It was emotional, beautiful writing style, beautiful message. It was gorgeous. The only thing I didn't like was the book cover, I think I prefer the other one. 

Two. 

"Over you" by Lucy Diamond. 

This was the first romance novel I have read that was written for adults, and I think that had a huge influence on my feelings towards it. But, Lucy Diamond's writing style has a way of sucking you in. The plot is okay, the characters are amazing. I really like this book. 

Three. 

"The Miniaturist" by Jessie Burton. 

It's been a while since I've read it and I didn't like it at first. It was a lot of stuff thrown in that I didn't quite understand, like why the characters and the setting was more modern for a book written in the 1800's, and it also wasn't what I expected it to be, I expected a lot more focus on the miniaturist and not the events in the house but the events in the house is what the story is about. Because I was so focused on knowing the story on the miniaturist, the ending was a massive let down and a plot-twist rolled into one. Now that I've had time to think about it, it sticks out in my head and I'm probably going to re-read in sometime in the future. I liked it a lot.

Four. 

"The Twins" by Saskia Sarginson. 

This book was slow at parts but overall, I really loved it. It was dark, it had some romance elements that didn't overtake the entire thing, it was very enchanted and "hippy" throughout the novel - not to say that it didn't have flaws, it was quite flawed, but still a wonderful read that is sticking to me and I can't wait till I find Saska's other work. 

Five.

"Carrie" by Stephen King. 

Throughout my childhood and even now, my nickname is often "Carrie" and I absolutely adored all three movies before I even knew it was a book. I expected the book to disappoint me, but it didn't. It was slow, and wasn't his best work, but overall I was pretty pleased with it. 

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this! What are your favourite books so far this year? 

- Loz x