Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

Book Nook

Vol. 2

(You can read Vol. 1 here.)

It's that time again! Time to show what books I will be reading in the coming weeks. I went a little crazy this time. I ordered a couple of books from a different library, and they came in sooner than I expected. So I have a lot of reading to do.

First is Cinnamon Roll Murder, by Joanne Fluke.
Cinnamon Roll Murder.
I mentioned reading one of her books, Red Velvet Cupcake Murder, last post. I enjoyed it, so I decided to try out another one of her novels. This one is also all about baking and murder. Two things you never expect to work so well together. I actually already finished this one, but I'll save my review until my next Book Nook post.

Murder in Our Midst.
This one is so old it doesn't even have a dust jacket anymore! I have no clue what it's about. I only know it's an Agatha Christie murder mystery.-You may have noticed by now that I enjoy a good murder mystery.- I actually like that I don't know the plot, it's a mystery in itself. Plus, it's Agatha Christie! She's never made a book I didn't like. -Except when Hercule Poirot died in Curtain, that was depressing. Though, I still loved that book.-
Murder at Hazelmoor.
Another Agatha Christie murder mystery! I just can't help myself, I love her! This one's about murder, and possibly ghosts if the dust jacket is to be believed.
Bryant and May Off the Rails.
This is one of the books I special ordered. I've read two other Christopher Fowler Bryant & May novels, and really loved them, so I needed to read more of them. Again, it involves murders and mysterys-I may have a problem.-, but it also is really funny. If you enjoy more macabre humor, you'll like these novels.
The Victoria Vanishes.
This is the other book I special ordered. It is also a Christopher Fowler novel, also involving his characters Bryant & May. They run a police unit in England, specializing in unusual and peculiar crimes. And yes, you guessed it, Murders. Oh my god, I need to read some nice, sweet, peaceful novels soon, or I might as well become a criminologist at this point!

Book Nook Vol. 1 Reviews

To learn more about these novels, check out Vol. 1 here.
I am by no means a book critic. But I still wanted to share my opinions on the other books I've read recently. I figure I'll write a brief synopsis of my opinions, and then rate them 1-5.

Red Velvet Cupcake Murder, By Joanne Fluke.
This was my first time reading her work. I really liked the characters, they were funny and believable. And the story was interesting and had a satisfying ending. I also loved the included recipes for everything baked by the main characters. The only grievance was with some of the writing. It felt a bit stilted at times, and some of the things the characters said were either way too repetitive, or just not believable as real conversations. Because of this I sometimes was taken out of the story. Luckily, this didn't happen that often, so I still enjoyed it. 3-5.

Miss Marple the Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie.
Miss Marple? Check. Agatha Christie? Check. I'm happy.
There were a few stories I had already read, but that's the great thing about her writing, most stories can be re-read and still be enjoyable. 4-5

The Mirror Cracked by Agatha Christie.
Another Miss Marple mystery. I was afraid I had already read it, and discovered I indeed had. But, as I just mentioned, most of her novels are so enjoyable that I can read them multiple times. That is what I look for when I decide I want to buy one of the novels I borrow. I would buy this novel, and probably will. 4-5.

Thanks for reading!
What books are you reading? Would you read any of these novels? 

Brittany

Askruk46

Book Nook

Vol.1

I have more free time now -yay!-, so I have more time to catch up on my reading. I love talking about books, and sharing books I really like, so I decided to make a segment on my blog all about books!
 I've also seen other beauty bloggers do this and it looked fun.

I recently visited my local library and chose some books.The library is great for me to save money since book prices tend to be expensive lately. The best part is if I hate the book I can just bring it back without guilt. Also, this may be weird but I love old books.
And yes I own a Kindle, but it's not the same as curling up with a good solid book.

Here's what I got:
I love Miss Marple! She's like a mix of a grandmother and homicide detective!
I've borrowed this book before, but I was in school and really busy, so I didn't even read all of it. So I borrowed it again. Obviously the title gives it away, but it's all Agatha Christie's short stories involving Miss Marple.
I actually have no idea if I read this already. I've read so many Agatha Christie books that they are starting to blur together! So I guess I'll find out. It's also a Miss Marple murder mystery story.
I have never read this particular author's work before. But my love of red velvet cupcakes made me borrow this. The main character owns a bakery and solves murders. She's like a mix of Sherlock Holmes and Martha Stewart. And the best part is every chapter she shares recipes! As I write this I am testing one out. It is awesome! I will make a post on the recipe soon, I wont say which one, but it is PINK and yummy!

I will give my opinions on these books in my next Book Nook post.

Thanks for reading! If you've read any of these books let me know what you think in the comments.

Brittany

Askruk46

Digital Dozen Does Books - Day 5 Penguin Books

Hey everyone! I'm sorry this post is (2 days) late, things have been super busy for the past 2 days and I barely had time to do these nails, let alone post them. I managed to find a few hours free yesterday to do them, and I intended to post them straight after, but these took much longer than I ever anticipated. Anyway, for day 5 of digital dozen book week I chose to do a selection of penguin books. I absolutely love the look of these books, and I've been meaning to do these nails for ages, so this week was the perfect opportunity. 

The books I used were chosen at random, and I based it more around whether they'd fit on my nail rather than whether I'd read the book, although I'm sure you'll still recognise most of the titles. These nails are the most frustrating nails I've ever done, they took so much longer than I thought they would and they kept going wrong. I also couldn't fit on the author's name or 'penguin books' in full, because my nails aren't big enough, but overall I'm pretty happy with how these turned out.


To do these I started with 2 coats of Jacava - Mont Blanc* and once that was dry (sped up using my Beauty Narcotix Mini Ultimate Fix Quick Dry Spray*) I used striping tape and Essie - Fear & Desire for the orange, I didn't really want to wait for that to dry as well so I sprayed my mini Ultimate Fix once again, then I used acrylic paint and a cut down brush for the details. 

Ultimate Fix Spray
A bonus bottle shot of my Mini Ultimate Fix*. Perfect for your handbag


What do you think? Let me know in the comments! 
Alice

*Some of the products in this post were provided to me for review, my opinions are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way

Askruk46

Digital Dozen Does Books - Day 4 'Alice in Wonderland'

Hey everyone! I'm back for another day of digital dozen book week, and today I'm doing Alice in Wonderland. I couldn't go a whole week without at least ONE reference to my name after all. I chose a mix of other peoples ideas and making things up as inspiration for these nails, as you shall see, rather than using a book cover as with all the other designs. 


On the thumb I did a the cheshire cat using OPI - Chic from Ears to Tail, and then I used striping tape and an unnamed purple polish from a set for the stripes, the mouth was done using acrylic paint. The checkers board remains from yesterday on a base of Jacava - Mont Blanc* which is a gorgeous white which only takes 2 coats for opacity, I used this on my ring finger too. My middle finger is Essie - Borrowed and Blue and acrylic paint. The outline on the ring finger is Essie - Beyond Cozy and the numerals are acrylic paint. My little finger is China Glaze - Kinetic Candy with MASH - Black Nail Varnish* over it using striping tape. The tag is done using acrylic paint. And they're all topped off with a coat of Seche Vite.


The ring finger is inspired by this design, the thumb is inspired by this design (I know the link isnt to the artist but I cant seem to find who did it, if you know please let me know and I'll credit correctly) and the middle finger is inspired by this design

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
Alice

*some of the products in this post were provided for review, my opinions are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way

Askruk46

Digital Dozen Does Books - Day 3 'Noughts and Crosses'/'Checkmate'

Hey everyone! We're now on day 3 of Digital Dozen book week and today I've based my nails on 2 books rather than one, both from the same 'Noughts and Crosses' series by Malorie Blackman. The two books I used were 'Noughts and Crosses' and 'Checkmate'. I wanted something simple to do today and these were perfect.


The two books:


As you can see I added a bit more detail to these than was on the covers originally, but I thought they'd be a bit boring if not.

To do these I used a base of Jacava - 'Mont Blanc'* which is a gorgeous white which only 2 coats for opacity, and then I added black and white acrylic paint using a small brush, topped off with a coat of Seche Vite.


What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
Alice


*some of the products in this post were provided to me for review but my opinions were not influenced in any way

Askruk46

Digital Dozen Does Books - Day 2 'Ruby Red'

Hello everyone! As I mentioned yesterday, I was really struggling to come up with ideas for this week's digital dozen theme, so I had to resort to rifling through my bookcase for inspiration. Luckily I didn't have to search for very long as I came across Ruby Red by Linzi Glass and I knew instantly that I wanted to use it. 


The book:


To do these I started with a base of OPI - My Vampire is Buff, (which I FINALLY HAVE!) and then I used a tiny brush and white acrylic paint for the background flowers. I then added a coat of Seche Vite and decided to take a picture of them alone in case the next step went wrong (see below). I then used red acrylic paint and the same tiny brush for the flowers and writing, I just added different amounts of white and black paint for the different shades of red.


I actually really like the design on its own like that, and I was afraid I wouldnt like it with the flowers but I equally love both of them. Which do you prefer?


What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
Alice

Askruk46

Digital Dozen Does Books - Day 1 'Phosphorescence'

Hey everyone! I am now a member of the digital dozen, I have actually been a member for a few months but I've not had the time to complete the challenges. If you dont know what the digital dozen is, it's a group of nail bloggers who post 5 days a week once a month, based around a theme. This month's theme is books. As a massive book lover I'm surprised how hard I found it to come up with ideas for this week. I haven't even got 5 ideas yet! (Any suggestions are welcome in the comments). 

Today's post was quite easy to think of though, as this book is right at the front of my bookshelf (I have so many books that I have to put some behind) and I've been meaning to make it into a nail design for ages. The book I chose is 'Phosphorescence' by Raffaella Barker, which my younger teenage self read a LOT. You'll probably find that the majority of my posts this week are books for children or teenagers, as their covers seem to a thousand times more inspiring, and this of course is no different. This will be quite a picture heavy post so I'll put the rest on a read more after the first picture. 



Here's the book:


As you can see I didn't copy the design exactly, because I didn't feel the writing in the water or the rope around the life belt was necessary. 


To do this I started with a base of Layla - CE73 and then I put Layla CE33 over that using the saran wrap technique. I topped that off with a coat of INM Out The Door Topcoat* because it's fast-drying, and then I put Models Own - Aqua Splash* over that. Aqua Splash* is from the new Splash collection and can be found here. I did find that I needed a bit of placement but it still looks great. It reminds me a lot of their mirrorball collection, although I've never tried any of the collection so I could be wrong. Nevertheless it still seems quite unique. On the other nails I used acrylic paint to draw on a life belt, and topped that off with another coat of Out the Door.

Models Own 'Aqua Splash'
I just wanted to include a bottle shot of Aqua Splash because look how gorgeous it looks! 


What do you think? Will you be getting any of the new splash collection? Let me know in the comments! And dont forget to check out my giveaway
Alice

*some of the products in this post were provided to me for review, however my opinions were not influenced in any way and are entirely my own

Askruk46

Books and bookshelves

Hello everyone, today's post was inspired by something I love: reading! I've been meaning to do bookshelf nails for ages but when it came to it I decided I wanted to do open books as well. I was originally only going to do one big giant open book as an accent nail but that didn't really happen and I dont really know why haha. Anyway, I like how they turned out despite that and I hope you do too!




Alice

Askruk46

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)