My Life Monday: Decision Making

When faced with despair, there can only be a decision to be made.

To I rise above it, or do I sink to the bottom of the pit.

I'll put my hands up and admit I have been sinking. I've been sinking fast.

I am starting to turn a corner, at last. It's going to be hard work, but I am going to pull myself out from underneath the chasm I have been hiding under.

First in this step is starting to care for me again. Rather than the opinions that others may have of me. I can't change those, I can't change me. I can however be the best me I can be. At home, at work and online.

I have downloaded some inspirational books to my phone and I will take baby steps from here, and with summer coming up I may even get to grow my nails - for a little bit at least.

Relaxing and Maxing

After this week I took the opportunity today to clean the house from top to bottom.

After lunch I took to the kitchen, making Jim Beam chocolate brownies, bourbon chicken wings and crabby pancakes for a night in with friends.Oh my those brownies were good!

Normally after a spate of cleaning I like to relax by reading.

It is quite simply my most favourite thing. I'm lucky, as my job is basically reading, and on occasions writing about what I've read. My hobbies are reading and writing on here. I also love photography, but time is key with that one.

If I'm at a loose end with the internet near by I like to slip into @pinterest the things in there either relax me, inspire me to try new things or give me ideas of what I can do and how I can improve my lifestyle. I love that place. So much stuff in one location. It's mind boggling and much cleaner than snipping bits out of magazines.

I'm starting to enjoy looking at beautiful gardens and hope this means I may embrace gardening as a fun activity, what with the size and state of mine it needs a lot of hard work and inspiration!

What I've Been Reading: Naughty Girls Book Club by Sophie Hart

So, there I was casting my eye over the book section in my local Tesco when this title popped out. There is something to be said for a title that just draws me in.

In part this one appealed as I've always wanted to be part of a book club, and I've not always toed the line either.

Instead of buying this novel there and then, I went home and work on the pile of books I already have set aside to read. However, it kept appearing on my Kindle recommendations list, so I fear that the universe spoke to me and I got it. My father in law has lent me his Kindle for the time being. I really must get around to getting my own.

Anyhoo, back to the book in hand. Divorced, single mother Estelle owns a small cafe and bakery in Bristol (in my head I've imagined it as the tea shop that was at the top of Park Street 15ish years ago).

Her elderly neighbours, a couple with a bookshop are closing the door on their business, and an idea begin to bloom in Estelle's mind. Why not start a book club?

In an effort to boost takings during a slow month at the cafe Estelle is joined by feminist librarian Gracie, bored newlywed Rebecca, freshly-retired Sue and Phd student Reggie (who is there just to 'observe' for his thesis honest!).

At the first meeting the group discuss Tess of the D'Ubervilles. It would appear it didn't exactly prick at the interest of the fledgling reading group, accidentally Estelle's bag fell open to reveal a battered copy of Ten Sweet Lessons, the 'IT' book of the moment.

SIDE NOTE: Ten Sweet Lessons is there as a vehicle for the novel and is basically there to emulate the phenomenon that was Fifty Shades of Grey.

Embarrassed to be seen with a mass-market erotic book Estelle quickly bluffs that it is to be the group's next tome. This peaks the members' interest in many ways.

Meeting by meeting the group reads various 'naughty' books from Riders and Lace to the Marquis de Sade's Justine.

The more they read the more adventurous the group grow in their own lives. Rebecca approaches married life with a new vigour, Gracie stated to open her mind to new ideas and romance, Sue realised what is missing from her life, Reggie makes his mind up and Estelle falls in love.

This is an nice and easy read, not without a few naughty bits of it's own. The way Hart has managed to interlink each group member's story and it was a joy to see them grow with each chapter. I'm now going to see if she has any other books I can add to my Amazon wish list!

To buy it in Paperback
Or on Kindle

What I've Been Reading: Kate Harrison's The Secret Shoppers Affair

After the first two books I was really looking forward to reading this one. There was a stab of disappointment when I saw the cover when I picked it up off the shelf. The other two had a certain something that this one just doesn't. 

After the last two books the three friends have left their secret shopper past behind them. The things that kept them together have fallen by the wayside. Sandie is pregnant by Toby, Grazia has said goodbye to the great love of her life and is embracing an long-forgotten skill, Emily is still with Will in Heartsease working in and living above their homemade shop. 

Emily wants to be pregnant, Will has put a kibosh on that one for the foreseeable future. Emily is starting to become more and more resentful of the time that the shop demands from herself and Will. 

From the outside Sandie appears to have it all. The climbing career, the heir to Garnetts as her boyfriend and a new home being renovated. However, Sandie is struggling. The house looks like it won't be ready in time for the baby's arrival, Toby's family's empire is crumbling around their ears and Emily is just draining her. 

Grazia has finally stepped out from her late husband's shadow, and stepped into the arms of a loving man - with teenage children. She quickly finds her stride as the relationship looks like it could blossom into something more. 

Can these friends make their way back to each other or are they destined to float ever further apart?

What I've Been Reading: Kate Harrison's The Secret Shopper Unwrapped

This is the second book in Kate Harrison's Secret Shopper Trilogy. 

We meet up with Sandie, Emily and Grazia. Formerly, Charlie's Shopping Angels. After the success of the rebrand of Will's DIY store, Sandie is on the up and up with her new business helping troubled companies to keep the wolves from the door. 

Emily and toddler Freddie are now living with Will above the shop. They've re-opened as a village shop and are struggling to make ends meet. Over Christmas, with the help of her son, Emily visits the department stores of London to check on the Santas in their grottos. 

Grazia, has moved on from her old life. With wealth on her side, and a new toy boy, she is checking out the latest hotels. 

Can Emily and Will pull together and lift the shop out of certain financial ruin. Will Sandie find balance instead of losing herself in her work and will Grazia remember just how old she told everyone she was?

I loved this book, and was really difficult to put down. 

List of Pleasures

It's the most frugal month of the year.

January seems like the longest month ever. This is probably due in part to being paid a week earlier than usual in December and all the other extra outgoings that creep in.

To treat myself I have made up a list of Small Pleasures that won't cost me a penny but will keep me happy and relaxed.

On my list I have:

Read a book
Browse blogs (I like to use bloglovin')
Shuffle through Pinterest (hours disappear in seconds on this site)
Do my nails.
Go for a walk.
Play a computer game.

Watch a film (go onto YouTube you'll be amazed what you'll find on there).
Mini pamper session (if you don't have any pamper products, head to the kitchen and make a couple).
Listen to a podcast.
Watch a favourite tv show on iplayer/skygo.
Take your digital camera out for a walk.
Learn origami.
Listen to some music.
Change bedding (a bit of a chore, but boy the result pays off later).

Those are just a few from my list of free pleasures and treats

This post has been inspired by Kate Harrison's new book 5:2 Your Life: Get Happy, Get Healthy, Get Slim you can get your copy here from Amazon.

What I Read: Good Husband Material by Trisha Ashley

This novel has been on my bookshelf for a while, my groaning bookshelf at that. I don't know what took me so long to pick it up. As with every other Trisha Ashley book I have read (which is almost all of them - I've just got 2 outstanding) it was a perfect piece of escapism.

Here we are introduced to Tish, a romance novelist, and her husband James, a seemingly straight-laced solicitor with big ideas. 

We first meet Tish as an idealistic 17 year old. She's been dating the dark and brooding next door neighbour Fergal Rocco for a year and is planning to go to university. Rocco drops the bombshell that he's moving overseas with his upcoming band. 

Not hearing from Rocco, Tish starts uni broken hearted. That is until she meets James. Good looking, dependable and perfect father material. It doesn't hurt that Tish's mother also likes him (she never approved of Rocco). 

Fast forward 10 years. James and Tish have been married for seven year and have just moved to a cottage in the countryside. In need of a lot of work Tish starts renovating the property, as James spends longer and longer at work and in the village pub. It soon becomes apparent, for Tish at least, that something isn't right. 

Rock star Rocco is filling the headlines with his celebrity lifestyle, but inside it's all feeling empty. He has travelled the world, had a girl waiting for him at every port, yet all he can think about is the girl that got away. Can he win his former love back, just as she is entering a new phase in her own life?

This novel is well paced and easy to read. It really pulls you in from the middle and races to the end making it difficult to put down. I finished reading this one morning at 2am, which I think is testament to how you get sucked into the world that Trisha Ashley has created.

To buy a copy from Amazon click here currently £3.85 for the paperback and £1.49 on Kindle.

You can also follow Trisha on Twitter just click here