New Year, New goals

It’s been a while hasn’t it? I think being a full time working Mum has come as a shock to the system!

So, I don’t do resolutions, but I do goals and for 2017 I have a few goals which I plan to enjoy and bring back some me time!

First off I’ve started a Project 365 photo a day series. I’ve completed a few of these before (here’s one) and always do better when I don’t start on the first of January! This current one I’ve been doing for 12 days so far and will do a separate post on that, it’s a challenge, something I enjoy and I love looking back on the photos I’ve taken.

Secondly I plan to make time to make! We live in a small house and plan to move very soon, I have no crafting space and often don’t work on my projects because I have no space and can’t be doinh with the clearing away after! However, this year I made all my own Christmas cards and had such lovely feedback from them, even from people I send cards to but don’t speak to very often emailed me to say how much they appreciated them, which made me feel great!

Third another challenge. My goodreads Challenge was a measly 20 this year and I failed, I read just 19! I was once a 52 book a year person so I plan to get myself at least back to 30, less time playing games on my phone or staring at Facebook in an evening should help!

Finally, I’d like to complete my weight loss goal. I had lost 19lbs since May and only had 8lb left to go, however, December has seen me slip and put on 4lbs so I now have 12lb to lose. I’ve had a fitbit for Christmas so plan to move more (it’s been an eye opener how little I do!) and I want to get back to cooking some healthy home made meals.

So, that’s my plan for 2017 and you are welcome to follow me for progress (and hopefully encouragement!!).

Happy 2017!

Book Review: Calling all Services, Tara Ford

The Blurb says:

Calling All Services is the first book in the Calling All… series.
Alex Frey, successful businesswoman, wife and mother to a busy and demanding family, doesn’t find it easy to take a break. So when she’s hospitalised with a mysterious illness, paralysed and afraid of what the future might bring, frustration meets fear and she can’t wait to escape the hospital, get back in control of things and return her family to the normality of salmon paste sandwiches.
At home, her husband Grant is determined to manage the kids, Alex’s parents, his sister and anything else life can throw at him while his wife is away recuperating. But what else can possibly go wrong while Alex is in hospital? The Frey family is about to find out. . .

My Review:

Format – Kindle

Pages – 323 pages

Series – Calling all… #1

My rating – an undecided 3.5 – 4 stars!

I chose this book as a nice easy read and that it definitely was. I read it in a few evenings and the storyline did keep me intrigued as to what would happen next.

The storyline of the Mum going into hospital and the household falling apart without her is certainly easy to relate to and I did enjoy it, there was just something missing for me and I can’t really decide what it was! Which is why I gave it the 3.5 – 4 stars.

(I use the Goodreads ratings of 5 – excellent/ 4- very good / 3 – good / 2 – ok/ 1 – didn’t enjoy)

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Alone in the Dark – Karen Rose

The Blurb says:

In ALONE IN THE DARK, Karen Rose – the Sunday Timesbestselling author of CLOSER THAN YOU THINK – returns with a breath-taking new novel in the Cincinnati series – would you cross the line between danger and desire, justice and revenge? A desperate hunt to find a young girl’s killer is about to turn deadly…

Former Army Ranger Marcus O’Bannion and homicide cop Scarlett Bishop have met only briefly but when Scarlett receives a phone call in the middle of the night, she immediately recognises the hauntingly smooth voice asking her to meet him in one of Cincinnati’s roughest areas.

On arriving, Scarlett finds the body of a seventeen-year-old Asian girl and Marcus injured. A fierce champion of victims’ rights, Marcus claims the young woman was working for an affluent local family and the last time he saw her she was terrified, abused, and clearly in need of help. Having agreed to meet her, both Marcus and the young woman were targeted for death.

As they investigate, Scarlett and Marcus are pulled into the dangerous world of human trafficking where they soon realise they are going to have to become as ruthless as those they are hunting.

Because if they don’t, how many other girls may end up alone in the dark?

My Review

Format – Kindle eBook

Pages – 608 pages

Series – The Cincinnati Series Book 2

My Rating – 4 stars

I was introduced to Karen Rose by a friend and started with “Closer than you think” which was the first book in this Cincinnati series and I loved it. I then tried a few of her other books but found them a little bit too gruesome!

I decided to try again when I saw that this,  the second book in the Cincinnati series, had been released. I was initially skeptical about how Karen Rose could match Deacon and Faith’s romance in the first book, but she did. Deacon is quite a prominent character in this series and Faith crops up here and there, however the main romance this time is between Faith’s cousin Marcus and Deacon’s partner Scarlett.

I would say this book although gruesome in places is slightly less so than the first, which for me was a good thing and kept me gripped throughout. The story follows on from the first book well, but I think it could also be read as a stand alone book without too much confusion.