Top 5 Physcological Thrillers

Hello Everyone,

For those of you who follow my book videos on YouTube, you'll already know how much I love a good Psychological Thriller / Crime novel but I also know that in the Book Blogger and Book Tuber community, this genre is often missed out, for those of you who would like to dip your toes into an exciting, adrenaline fueled read or to those of you who are already converts but would like more recommendations?

I've got your back.

So obviously I'm about to plug my YouTube video because, you know, followers and that but for those of you who want to read rather than watch I'll list the books below, if you watch though you'll be treated to my witty bantz and more in depth discussion.

So here's the video or scroll down for the text.

The Books:

Gone Girl : Gone Girl may seem a bit of an obvious choice, everyone and their cats, dogs, chickens and nans were talking about this book, I came late to the party but wow, what a party! This has everything you'd want, mystery, adrenaline, punchy dialogue and shock factor. If you've already seen the movie don't be put off - the book is way way WAY better. Give it a go, you won't be sorry.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo : As another popular movie adaptation, there's a good chance you've watched The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo but as usual, the book offers so much more, I was hooked. Be warned, this is a more meaty read but definitely worth the effort.

Stranger Child : Rachel Abbott has become one of my favourite authors, her UK based crime thriller novels are outstanding, Stranger Child is no exception, one of the best books I've read this year and if you're looking for a book that'll keep you up past your bedtime because you just have to read one more chapter, then this is the book for you.

The Husband's Secret : The Husband's Secret was a major surprise to me, I didn't expect to love this as much as I did. If you're looking for a story set in the heart of suburbia with a twist you just don't see coming then this little treasure will be just what you need.

Just What Kind of Mother Are You : Wow, just wow! Set against the idyllic backdrop of the Lake District is a story that'll shake you to your core, a stressed out Mum of three is supposed to be watching her friend's daughter but, in a terrible twist of fate, she forgets about the girl and the girl goes missing.

Panic, blame, dread and a creepy predator make this book an unmissable read.

So there we have it, 5 excellent novels to sink your teeth into this summer, have you read any of them?

Rosy xx 

5 Terrible Truths of Womanhood

Hello Everyone,

Today we are looking at some of the perils of becoming a fully grown up woman.

Ah womanhood, I was waiting for you from the age of six when I first discovered the word (thanks to my country music loving Mother and Tammy Wynette singing 'Womanhood' on repeat), I drifted into my early teens dreaming of growing into a sophisticated, heel wearing, chanel sporting, latte sipping heartbreaker... Well... I do enjoy a vanilla latte so at least I achieved some of my goals.

No dear friends, womanhood wasn't everything I dreamed it would be, and here are the top 5 things I never factored into my dreams.

1. Adult: In my penthouse dreams I just didn't factor into the mix that I would actually have to adult. Bills, cooking for myself, having to kiss arse in interviews... None of this featured in my dreams and quite frankly, it sucks.

2. Puberty: I mean seriously, what the eff? You go to bed all sweet and small, wake up with PMT, boobs that hurt like hell and don't even get me started on what went on with body hair! Yes, yet again I had underestimated the work that goes into maintaining yourself if you fancy removing your unwanted fuzz (and if you don't fancy doing that, good on you girl!). I became a regular stalking the female razors in boots crying silent tears that the last razor I bought shredded my ankles like they were incriminating evidence.

3. Men: I assumed all men would waltz around desperate to impress, flowers and chocolates aplenty. Then I met some men and realised I didn't live in a 50s Hollywood movie.

4. Hips: The sad sad moment when you realise you cant take your pajama bottoms off by stepping on the leg cuff anymore, the hip fairy has arrived and dressing just got harder.

5. Equality: What the actual hell, I really thought as a child that everyone was equal, then in my first job I discovered that a fellow teen who did the same job as me was earning 75p an hour more than me... simply because he was a boy. It was like being hit with the reality train and I'm still not recovered from the wounds to my soul, dramatic? Yes, warranted? Definitely!

So there we have 5 terrible truths of womanhood that I just didn't see coming, what did you find to be a shock about growing up?

Rosy xx

Benefit Cheekathon Limited Edition Palette

Hello Everyone!

Today I have a little beauty post to share with you all that I'm really excited about, the Benefit Cheekathon Palette which is Limited Edition and only available at the House of Fraser.

I first saw images of this palette popping up on my Instagram (my Insta name is SparklesofLight by the way *plug plug plug*) and I knew she had to be mine.

Now confession time, I used this palette before I photographed it, I know I know, bad blogger but come on, I'm only human and the excitement was too much.

I've wanted to try Benefit Hoola, Coralista and Rockateur for ages, they've all been on my 'To Buy' list for a while but I had never got round to it, and thank god for that because now I have them all in a nice little palette with the addition of Dallas and Dandelion too (which by the way are effin gorgeous too) but the best bit? Single pan blushes and bronzers by Benefit are around £23.50 each... this Cheekathon kit has 5 full sized, yes that's full sized (and one more time, FULL SIZED) blushes and bronzers for the total of £44.50, I mean seriously, it would be rude not to right?

One of the things I love about Benefit products is the cute little tips and tricks they include within the packaging and this palette is no different, inside Cheekathon is a pretty little booklet helping you learn to use your Cheekathon Palette so this would make a nice gift for someone just getting into makeup or someone makeup obsessed like me (cheers Benefit).

The swatches speak for themselves, pigmented, beautiful and varied.

So to sum up because bullet points can be easier than paragraphs:

• Benefit Cheekathon Palette - Limited Edition 
• Available exclusively at House of Fraser
• FULL SIZED BLUSHES AND BRONZERS
• £44.50

So are you picking up this palette? If you are, be quick because I predict an earthquake up in here a sell out.

See you all soon

Rosy xx

Sweet Home by Carys Bray | Book Review

Hi Everyone,

Today I have another book review for you all, this one is the first short story collection I've ever tried, Sweet Home by Carys Bray.

First off I'm all about the aesthetics, the cover for this collection is stunning, I love the quaint little dolls house that shows the perfect life we all want to lead and often outwardly portray (especially on social media, Facebook friends - I'm looking at some of you!), but then the fire marking to the house hints that even with the perfect facade, the effects of everyday life can be really damaging to our lives.

That is basically a sum up of the subject of this short story collection 'Sweet Home', the damaging reality of suburbia.

I gave Sweet Home 5/5 on Goodreads because I really feel like Carys Bray captures the feelings we all go through in life but can't quite explain, the all consuming sadness and despair that can hit us when we least expect it, the loss we can't even quantify when a loved one dies, the uneasy feeling of the throwaway society we are watching grow all around us, the real feeling of love.

In my eyes Carys Bray is an emotional genius to evoke such powerful feelings inside the reader with just a couple of pages for each story.

I recommend you pick this book up if you're new to short stories because you'll be amazed at how powerful each tale is, and to those of you who already love short story collections? Well you probably have this in your collection by now and if you don't, then make sure you grab it ASAP.

Have you read Sweet Home? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Rosy xx

Top 5 Things I Wish Were Legal

Hello Everyone,

It's another Top 5 list from me today, as usual this list isn't meant to offend anyone or make anyone feel personally victimised by Regina George so without further ado, here are 5 things I wish were legal.

1. Bitch Slapping: Now let's not get crazy I'm not talking about just going around dealing out knuckle sandwiches like they're going out of fashion, I'm talking about delivering a well timed lesson in life to these people.
You're minding your own business just being your amazing self when one of these individuals approach, you know they're on their way because the theme from Jaws starts to play loudly (in my head anyway), they're usually a casual acquaintance, you usually avoid them but today Jaws got you.

Them: Hey!!!! Long time no see!!!! What you been up to?
You: Hi, Oh I know! Not a lot really just day to day life, how about you?
Them: Well you know *Insert Name of Glorious Boyfriend Here* loves to spoil me? Well he took me away last weekend, only New York you know, nothing too fancy... wait... haven't you always wanted to go to New York? Yeah it's a bit expensive mind you probably couldn't afford it now on your wage but it's definitely something to aspire to, anyway I shopped all day and I ended up spending a good 8 grand on new season must haves because I simply can't do high street these days... Is that an H&M top by the way? It looks good on you, I wish I could pull off cheap clothes but they just end up looking cheap I feel but it's so you to not care about your image I wish I could be as bold as you I'm just too image conscious you know?
You: *BITCH SLAP*

You know you'd love it too.

2. Drop The Mic: We've all seen someone drop the mic, hell, even Obama did it but wouldn't it be great if this was an acceptable way of saying "Excuse me fine sir, you appear to have delivered me less than satisfactory customer service today, therefore I shall be leaving now and I shall not be paying, Tata and farewell"
For example, you're in a restaurant, the waitress is rude, the food was semi warm, you had to wait 45 minutes for your drink to arrive.
Drop The Mic, walk out.

3. Eat Your Facebook: We all have that annoying passive aggressive friend on Facebook, the one that writes the horrendously obvious dig at someone that they think is cryptic, usually with some bad grammar, a sprinkling of mild threat and a whole lot of bad language.
What usually follows is a plethora of "What's wrong Hun?" from people you know only want the goss and then when the person the status is aimed at finally reads it and responds (either straight on the offensive or with a "is this aimed at me then?" comment) the original keyboard warrior decides to pretend it wasn't obviously them, someone else just happened to now be going out with their ex and the status disappears.
I'd like the legal power to print these statuses and make serial offenders eat the paper, just me?

4. Fish Slap: Like the bitch slap but reserved for more serious matters such as someone body-shaming, making racist comments or anything else truly disgusting that I don't need to dwell on here.
Whipping out a massive wet trout and delivering a lovely satisfying wallop to the chops would be delightful.

5. Watching Magic Mike at Work: All day, just the dance scenes. Work would be so much better, so so much better, now while I'm aware this isn't technically illegal, it would cost you your job (unless you work on the choreography of Magic Mike on set, in which case please be my friend).

So there we go my Top 5 things I think I should definitely be allowed to enter mainstream life.

Are there any things you'd love to be allowed to do?

Rosy xx