Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella (no spoilers)

Hello guys! How are you? As you can see I’m a little behind on reviewing all the books I have read recently oops! But moving swiftly past this as you can see I’m reviewing Finding Audrey and if you haven’t read it here’s a quick non spoiler review:

Non spoiler review

I have never read a Sophie Kinsella book before so I can’t really compare it but I imagine they are all very similar. The reason I picked up this book was solely its premise. I suffer from anxiety and just wanted to see how well Sophie had addressed the issue. Let me tell you know I was very happy and part of the book actually made me feel a little anxious but I reminded myself it’s just in the book.

The story starts off with Audrey who struggles with Agoraphobia which essentially means she can’t leave the house or her “safe place”. She’s your typical teenager otherwise has arguments with her family especially her brother and they sit down to eat together and watch movies together. When Linus appears it’s all a bit too much for Audrey and consequently runs off and tries to get back to her safe place. Audrey does manage to see a therapist and I think it’s nice that Sophie has shown someone with a mental illness getting help and talking about how she’s feeling. *if you are suffering yourself please talk to someone, anyone will listen*
Eventually Audrey trusts Linus and her life sort of does a u turn but not everything turns out great, in fact just like a lot of people Audrey has a few relapses.

The book is just all consuming and it didn’t take me long to read it at all. Audrey is so relatable for me the way she thinks about dangers and conquers some of those fears. I also liked Audrey’s brother as he had a very relaxed way of approaching Audrey; it kind of reminded me of my 3 brothers. They never really knew how to handle my anxiety or panic attacks. Overall it has a beautiful story, lovely characters and I loved the setting.

I would definitely recommend this book for anyone that wants a light read with a touch of mental illness thrown in. I honestly enjoyed consuming this book and it only took me a few days!
Now onto my next book which is The Priory Of The Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon.

Thanks for reading guys!
Love Becky.

endometriosis awareness

#truthfulmother 

It’s been a while since I’ve posted simply because I’ve been really lazy! But I’ve been waiting all year to do this post 😁 

Moving onto what I’m actually writing about. It’s officially endometriosis awareness month! Raising awareness about this illness is very important to me and we need to find a cure. When women go through these pains are awful and so debilitating. 

• 1 in 10 women of reproductive age in the UK suffer from endometriosis. 

• Endometriosis is the second most common gynaecological condition in the UK.

• The cause of endometriosis is unknown and there is no definite cure.

SYMPTOMS: 

• Pain with intercourse. Pain during or after sex is common with endometriosis.

• Pain with bowel movements or urination. You're most likely to experience these symptoms during your period.

• Excessive bleeding. You may experience occasional heavy periods (menorrhagia) or bleeding between periods (menometrorrhagia).

• Infertility. Endometriosis is first diagnosed in some women who are seeking treatment for infertility.

• Other symptoms. You may also experience fatigue, diarrhea, constipation, bloating or nausea, especially during menstrual periods.

MY STORY: 

It took me over a decade to get diagnosed with endometriosis. It all started with heavy periods, headaches and excruciating cramps; but because of my age they put it down to normal cycles for me. I was put on pill after pills without really having any answers. It wasn’t until I was hospitalised they realised this needed more investigation. They finally sent me to a gynaecologist and he was brilliant! He finally gave me something to look forward to. A diagnosis. My story is a little different as he offered to just start treatment straight away but as I was in so much pain I begged him to do the operation. It still took me 4 months of pain to wait for my operation. Once the operation was completed I was sent home and I felt like a new women little did I know my story wasn’t finished. My endometriosis operation failed terribly and my battle goes on. 

If you do have endometriosis keep fighting you are strong and even though there isn’t a cure yet one day there will be! 

And if you do suspect you have endometriosis go and get checked out as it is not an easy thing to live with. There are so many treatment options, they may just work for you. 

https://www.endometriosis-uk.org

#endometriosisawareness #endometriosis #raisingawareness #painfulperiods 

When We Collided by Emery Lord

I honestly didn’t expect much from this book at all as the first time I tried to read it I couldn’t, lol. So if you haven’t read this book it’s full of adventure, chaotic ness and growth. I would recommend it to anyone that’s been through tough times in there lives. One warning the ending doesn’t go the way you might want it to! So I’d rate it 5 out of 5 stars.

Review (spoilers)

So Jonah is taking care of his brother and sisters (littles) due to his father passing away from a heart problem. He has help from his other older siblings but definitely takes on more than he should. His poor mum is dealing with PTSD after the death of her husband. She is disfunctional and oblivious to all the chaos she is causing.

Then we meet Vivi who seems to be struggling with a mental health issue which is bipolar, she thinks she can live her life without the medication. She is full of life and wants to forget about her suicide attempt due to a manic episode. 

When the two of them meet they don’t hit it off as quick as you’d think or expect in a typical romance novel. It takes lots of time. Vivi was brilliant with Leah who is Jonah’s youngest sister. She falls in love with Vivi. They go through lots of challenges, Vivi wants to do “crazy” things and Jonah can’t do things due to being tied down. 

I think most of the novel is about two people who hav different problems and how they come together. But I also think it’s about how they make each other grow. Jonah concentrates on himself and his dads cafe where as Vivi prepares to look after herself and get better. When she goes into her mania episode I could feel every emotion she was going through and Emery Lord did a fantastic job of being informative and non judgemental. I would love to see this book get the recognition it deserves. 

I hope you enjoyed my review, sorry it’s been so long!

Love, Becky.

Friends

I absolutely love the show friends! I am utterly obsessed with it. This year alone I have watched the whole of the series twice this year! When I was pregnant with my son I loved curling up with partner to watch endless amounts of episodes. Every time he traveled to us he’d just say “friends” and it was perfect. I must admit if you watch too many episodes it does get a little bit repetitive. Friends taught me a lot; I think a lot of people would benefit from watching them.

My favourite character has to be Phoebe simply because she’s so free spirited and doesn’t care about what people think. I’m hoping to keep heading towards her personality but I don’t want to change my personality at all. I think my favourite episode is the one where Monica and Chandler bring home the twins! Joe’s face is just priceless. When I was younger I used to like the episode where they have thanksgiving and the Gellers get really competitive in a football game. 

Here’s some facts! No idea if they’re true can’t always trust the internet. 

1. The role of Ross was written for David Schwimmer.
2. The opening credits were shot at Warner Bros. studio, not in New York.
3. Lisa Kudrow hated playing guitar at first.
4. Bruce Willis appeared on the show for free after losing a bet to Perry.

I hope you enjoyed! 

Love, Becky. 

13 reasons why by Jay Asher

13 Reasons Why Book Review

So I started watching the series originally but since moving we don’t have internet so watching the series has come to a halt. I saw this book in Sainsbury’s and I was just like let’s do this! Unfortunately for me it was the horrible movie cover! Never mind it’s still got the same contents. I obviously knew what this book was about since starting the series. I would advice if you are feeling sucidal, very low mood please do not read this book; I was in an okay place and it really affected me because it obviously talks about hard topics. The book is very eye opening and I did enjoy the way Jay Asher wrote it. I would keep an open mind, I didn’t see who was going to be number 13 and I thought it’d be a person of great significance. Anyway I’d probably rate the book 4.5 out of 5 stars. 

Continued (spoilers)

So we start off with meeting Clay who is the main character apart from Hannah. He’s got the set of tapes from Hannah about why she committed suicide. There are obviously 13 people who are involved however one (Clay) isn’t supposed to be on the list. He simply is on here because Hannah was sorry and they both loved each other or had a crush. Throughout the whole book you get to see how awful her life was in school and how one little thing can trigger off a lot of chain reactions. The ending was good but I was a little sad the story ended I wanted to know what happened with Clay because he was such a genuine friend. 

The book teaches you about the butterfly effect. I think a lot of people will connect with this story because it’s all about bullying and what it can lead to. There’s a lot about things like you don’t know what’s going on in someone else’s life and not everything you hear is exactly true. I know a lot of people who’ve been through this and it saddens me that still in this day and age bullies get away with it when someone tries or takes their own life. 

Hannah was such a likeable character she seemed so fitting for Clay and I just wish it didn’t have to end bad for Hannah. Everyone’s life is affected by the suicide in different ways wether it be directly, because of the tapes or because of the guilt of the last thing they said to Hannah. 

The book is definitely worth a read and if you haven’t yet get to it! I think it took me 4/5 days to get through as it’s super short. The writing is pretty basic which makes it easy to read. 

I hope you enjoyed this book, see you all soon. 

Love, Becky. 

Everything, Everything Nicola Yoon

Everything Everything Book Review

So I picked this book up out of the blue because it was short and I heard a lot about it from Bookstagram. I also needed to up my Amazon order to £20.00 for free delivery lol. Anyway I went into the story knowing that it was about a girl who was allerigic to everything. I can't honestly remember what it's actually called. The story begins where we learn a little bit of background about Maddy, her mum and Carla; it's a very sheltered life she lives. When Olly walks into her life things turn upside down (literally). I think a lot of people would relate to Maddy because her love of books. In my opinion a lot of people with anxiety will relate to her because she presents feelings I certainly related to. I must admit the ending is quite a let down but the overall book definitely makes up for it.

Review with spoilers below picture:

So Maddy is obviously told she is allergic to everything in the outside world. We obviously know that this is not true towards the end. The way Nicola Yoon finished this book felt a little abrupt but satisfied my needs for the end.
Maddy first sees Olly and he kind of reminds me of Tarzan with all the climbing about. He seems like a sweet guy in this book and he honestly is. He did make a good impression on me because he wasn't your average sweet talking jock.
I loved Carla she was just perfect, I think that was her name, I am so bad at remembering things but I'm talking about the first nurse. She was so down to earth it was lovely to read her story. She was lovely to Maddy. I didn't like her mum one bit I knew from the start something wasn't right with her. I think she obviously had PTSD from the accident that killed her husband and her son.

The characters were really well rounded and the story just had that good feeling. I do wish we spent more time in the outside world with Maddy and Olly I think their relationship would really blossom. Anyway the book makes you happy at the end when she escapes I bet it would have been amazing seeing all the things like beeches, ice cream, Eiffel tower etc.

Love, Becky.

Mental Health Awareness

On Tuesday 10th October it was Mental Health Awarness and if you've followed me for a long time then you'll know I'm all for sharing your feelings and raising awareness. In my day to day life I come across all different people with and without mental health "problems". I hate that word is there another way to put it? Mental health awesomeness let's go with that one. Some people are probably like I'm sick of hearing about mental health but until we get treated seriously and people stop judging it will be talked about forever!!! Mwahahaha!

Anyway my journey has been absolute hell and I've yet to be diagnosed with a name of my issue. But the main thing for me is I'm living my life as much as I can even when I have really crappy days. 

I'm one of those people that feels the need to help others no matter how many times they shoot me down or use me. Some people really do take advantage of a good heart. But quickly moving on back to the matter at hand I watched a short film where a man had been undiagnosed bipolar, tried to take his life and failed; he described this regret he had just as his hands left the bridge he jumped off. He made a very good point that even attempting to leave this world impacts a lot of people. If I can find the link I will put it here. 

I love talking to you guys online and sharing your journeys whether it's the road to recovery, relapse or just discovering it's okay not to be okay. If I feel I make a difference to just to one person I feel better in myself. Sometimes I do have to give up on some people because I get sucked in a little too much and that effects my mental health and I know it sounds selfish to some people but you've got to look after number 1 before you can help others. I sound a little contradicting but hay hoe. 

Love, Becky.