Vision In Blue

You might remember my disappointment when I read City of Bones , it was so utterly blah that if all the characters had died at the end of the book I really wouldn't have cared. I watched the film and was slightly more entertained, but when the film wasn't as much of a hit as they'd hoped, they put the kibosh on any more. Now Netflix have taken up the challenge and we've got Shadowhunters, the series. With a cast of specifically attractive people jumping off bridges and walking round corners in musically choreographed shots, we get to witness the rebirth of a series. The Scooby Gang of this tale are Clary, with her shocking neon orange hair, that will have you wondering if her mother slept with a wotsit. Simon, the friend-zoned slightly buff best friend. Jace, the moody and rather blunt protector. Isabelle, the clothing challenged sister to Alec, moody archer. I'm three episodes in, thanks to a morning that began with some binge watching. Unfortunately I...

So you'll get the idea of this if you've read my January post about new titles, so here's my top picks for February. Some of these may have slightly fluid publication dates, but they're still ones to add to your wish list. Blood & Fire: The Double Axe by Philip Womack 9781846883903 Dark forces are at work in the House of the Double Axe. Stephan, the thirteen-year-old son of King Minos of Crete, stumbles across a terrifying conspiracy. Is the Minotaur, a half man half bull who eats human flesh, real? Or is something even more dangerous threatening to engulf both the palace and the world? Stephan must race to save his family from a terrible fate and find out what really lurks inside the labyrinth...You think you know the story? Think again. I love a good story that's based in myths and legends. Being slightly addicted to Rick Riordan I'm hoping this will be another great take on the subject.  Burning Midnight by Will McIntosh 9781509803569 ...

Everyone does New Year, New You... well not in this house! Here we do New Year, New TV Show. With Now TV and Netflix I've got a few things that I haven't seen before, so I decided to give a few first episodes a go and see if I could find a new favourite. So I started with Nashville starring Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere. The basic idea is the original generation of Nashville musicians are being outshone by the new wave of singers... drama, sex, more drama, some singing. I would imagine that this is really good if you enjoy drama at every turn... but I just can't watch it, which is a shame because there are some good actors in it. This one was a pass for me, it must be good for some people as there are four seasons of it. Next up I tried Mad Dogs . Another one that didn't exactly leave me wanting more. Four 40 something guys go to visit a friend for a vacation at his villa... and then get mixed up in some drug... things... pffffft, I don...

I know I'm slightly late off the mark as we're over half way through January, but I've just been looking at the first quarter's new publishing and thought I'd do a run down of the top picks. They might not be the best, they might not be the publishers wannabe bestsellers, but they're the ones that intrigued me. So here we go... blurb first, my waffle second! All The Birds In The Sky by Charlie Jane Anders 9781785650550 Patricia is a witch who can communicate with animals. Laurence is a mad scientist and inventor of the two-second time machine. As teenagers they gravitate towards one another, sharing in the horrors of growing up weird, but their lives take different paths... When they meet again as adults, Laurence is an engineering genius trying to save the world and live up to his reputation in near-future San Francisco. Meanwhile, Patricia is a graduate of Eltisley Maze, the hidden academy for the magically gifted, working hard to prove herself to he...

I did a lot more gift crafting in 2015... Some were tailor-made for people and one idea in particular came from Pinterest, and that one I wanted to do for months and was glad for the excuse to make it. Terry's Chocolate Orange Christmas Pudding So this was my Pinterest spot and I was longing to make it. I decided I was going to make 5 of them (yes I was cocky and confident) for friends and family. Here's my chocolate pud making experience with some handy tips thrown in... Step 1: Buying the chocolate So I went off to The 99p Store (because that extra penny saved from Poundland makes a difference!) and brought all my maltesers. I have never seen a chocolate orange in any of the 99p/£1 shops, so next it was off to Tesco to get those, some milk and white chocolate for melting and then some icing for the decoration. I can't really tell you how many boxes of maltesers you'll need as an amount of them ended up in my mouth... one also made it onto the fl...

In my last post I said I was going to attempt to see half of my must see movies of the year, so it makes sense to share them with you. I'm sure you'll be screaming at me for missing something out... but that's the beauty of making your own list, on your own blog... it doesn't have to appeal to everyone! So here are my 31 picks for the year, some must see ones and some I feel like I need to see even though I'm not convinced they'll be that good. January 22nd - 5th Wave - Four alien attacks leave the world decimated, can Cassie save her younger brother? Starring Chloe Grace Moretz and Liev Schreiber. February 5th - Dad's Army - Star studded cast including Catherine Zeta-Jones, Bill Nighy and Michael Gambon [among many others] bring the small screen TV series to the big screen. This is one that I want to see because there are so many good actors in it. Trailer looks good, but you never can tell... it could be an abomination. 10th - Dea...

I'm not joining a gym, I'm not going to quit anything and I'm certainly not going to say I'm going to learn something new. Every one feels that January 1st means you have to make life changes... what's wrong with the rest of the year for that? It seems odd to me to make a very specific list of things to change at the beginning of the year. Point three in my post 10 Ways To A More Positive Life  is about achieving things, but I've never been good with the negative side of "making a list"... which now that I say it seems so wrong as I love lists... my point... Don't make a list you can't achieve. Make a list you can work on. A big sweeping statement at the beginning of the year might have you motivated for a few weeks but doesn't have the same satisfaction as a list you can actually cross things off of when you've finished something. So, here's my 2016 To Do List: Household things. Paint the downstairs hallway Pa...