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Saturday 11 February 2017

{Feature Post} Bookworm Candles and Crafts + INT Giveaway

                               
As promised we are back today with another feature post showing you some of Bookworm Candles and Craft’s latest releases and trust me, you’re going to want to keep reading! 

Now if you’ve missed the few first posts then don’t worry you can go back and view them by clicking this link: Bookworm Candles and Crafts Previous Posts. 
It will give you an idea as to what we’re trying to achieve by doing these feature posts and ultimately its to let you know that companies like Danielle’s do exist and they are doing their best to bring all your favourite books to life through candles, soaps, jewellery and other craft pieces.  

Firstly I’m going to be showing you their January Monthly Box and the theme was: Only One Girl Can Win the Crown – a box inspired by The Selection by Kiera Cass. I know how many of you love this series and the owner, Danielle did a fabulous job creating so many amazing pieces. 

This box included seven beautiful handmade items and they were:
Bookworm Candles and Crafts brand new one true pairing candle set, comprising of two candles both in heart shaped tins. Now the most amazing thing is one is Maxon scented and the other America. Maxon smells of honey, summer and my dears, and America smells of garden walks, musical notes and pennies. 
Bookworm Candles and Crafts exclusive foaming bath whip which is princess themed with aloe vera and glitter which is used like soap and foams up in water. 
America’s songbird necklace that her Dad gave to her in silver.
A pink velvet ribbon bookmark with a crown charm and beads.
May’s strawberry tart lip balm which smells like delicious strawberries. 
Bookworm Candles and Craft brand new quote compact mirror with the sweet ear tugging quote on.

Doesn’t it all look amazing? Now unfortunately you can no longer purchase this full box for sale but you can purchase a few of the items from Danielle’s store such as May’s strawberry lip balm, the compact quote mirror and the Maxon & America heart candles. 

Don’t forget if you plan on making any purchases from Bookworm Candles and Crafts store, save yourself 10% by using my code: BOOKPFORLIFE10

March's themed box is: I LOVE YOU THORNS AND ALL! Yes, it's A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas themed. You can buy it here: Monthly Box

And also don't forget if you order a monthly box from Danielle, one lucky person each month will be picked to win a free box! Who ever finds the golden ticket needs to claim their prize which is pictured to the right! So keep checking those boxes.

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Now I'm going to tell you about some of Bookworm Candles & Crafts newest releases.
The first is a new range of candles which I know you guys are going to go crazy for! How many times have you wanted a candle in not only your favourite character's smell but your favourite couple? Yes, you heard it right. The new range is a blended range of some of your favourite couples where two characters have been combined into one candle to make one unique smell.

There will be several to be released however the first one is Romione - so Ron Weasley Granger and Hermione from Harry Potter. Romione smells like ginger and sweet Orange and made a fruity floral blend unique and just for them.

And the second one is Belward - so Edward Cullen & Bella Swan from Twilight. The candle smells like sparkles, dewberry and lilac which has made a fruity floral blend. The candle is blended with the chocolate brown of Bella's eye with lilac. 

Introducing them in Bookworm and Candles brand new jars these make an amazing gift. With a gorgeous push on lid and the cutest crochet and charm too. They also have a two tone wax to represent the two characters.

This candle jar is big and holds 300ml of wax. The blended candles range also comes in a 4oz candle tin too. Price ranging from £6.00 to £14.50. 

You can purchase Romione & Belward here: Buy on Etsy
and for 10% off all orders use the code: BOOKPFORLIFE10

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The next newest release from Bookworm Candles and Crafts is these amazing room sprays. So far this collection of room sprays come in four different scents but more will be coming along shortly as well as some location room sprays. 

The ones available for now are as followed: 
Rowan from the Throne of Glass series: This Fae warrior smells like ice, green vines and pine
Hermione from the Harry Potter series: Smells like peppermint, parchment and intellect.
Percy from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The son of Poseidon smells like seaweed, lime and blue food
Rhysand from A Court of Thorns and Roses series: This high lord smells like rain, salt and sunrise. 

Each of the bottles comes in 100ml amber glass bottle and all have Bookworm Candles and Crafts signature touches. 
You can purchase each room spray for £5 each or you can buy three room sprays for £12.00

You can purchase the room sprays here: Buy on Etsy
and for 10% off all orders use the code: BOOKPFORLIFE10

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Next up today are these cute moment inspired tea lights. 

In this set you will receive six tea lights featuring three different moments: Katsa & Po Campfire Discover (Red), America and Maxon Dancing in the Rain (Grey) and Lia and Rafe’s Blackberry Collecting (Purple). 

If you’re looking to sample some of Bookworm Candles and Crafts newest moment candles then this is the perfect choice for you. Or even as a gift to a family member or friend. 

These are priced at £5.00 and as you can see they come in the cutest packaging! 

You can purchase the moment tea lights here: Buy on Etsy
and for 10% off all orders use the code: BOOKPFORLIFE10

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This one is perfect for you Harry Potter fans as this time we are giving away a tin of Harry Potter inspired soy wax melts as well as a Dumbledore mini candle tin as you can see pictured below! 
So all you need to do is enter on the below form. 
Good luck! 

Entry-Form

Bookworm Candles & Crafts Contact details: 
Etsy Store: www.bookwormcandlescraft.etsy.com
Instagram: Bookwormcandles 

Monday 6 February 2017

{Review} Hunted by Meagan Spooner

24485589Posted by Donna
Release Date: March 17th, 2017
Finished Date: January 3rd, 2017
Publishers: HarperTeen 
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Re-Telling
Source: For Review
Format: eARC
Pages: 352
Buy: Amazon UK Amazon US / The Book Depo 
 
Beauty knows the Beast’s forest in her bones—and in her blood. Though she grew up with the city’s highest aristocrats, far from her father’s old lodge, she knows that the forest holds secrets and that her father is the only hunter who’s ever come close to discovering them. 

So when her father loses his fortune and moves Yeva and her sisters back to the outskirts of town, Yeva is secretly relieved. Out in the wilderness, there’s no pressure to make idle chatter with vapid baronessas…or to submit to marrying a wealthy gentleman. But Yeva’s father’s misfortune may have cost him his mind, and when he goes missing in the woods, Yeva sets her sights on one prey: the creature he’d been obsessively tracking just before his disappearance. 

Deaf to her sisters’ protests, Yeva hunts this strange Beast back into his own territory—a cursed valley, a ruined castle, and a world of creatures that Yeva’s only heard about in fairy tales. A world that can bring her ruin or salvation. Who will survive: the Beauty, or the Beast?

The Review: As soon as I heard about Hunted by Meagan Spooner I just knew I wanted to read it. As soon as I know a story is based on one of my favourite Disney books/films, I immediately have high expectations for it. The story is a Beauty and the Beast retelling but with its own unique twists to the story we all know and love. Meagan Spooner adds in the Russian folk tale about the Firebird - which if you’ve not heard of it before is definitely an added bonus to the story and for you as a reader, however, if like me you’ve read it several times before unfortunately it’s nothing new. 

Hunted is a story that I believe many will absolutely love. For me, I’m kind of stuck in the middle. There were parts I enjoyed and others I didn’t. For the most part I just found the whole story absolutely slow. Too slow to the point of when the story did eventually pick up and get better, I’d lost most of the interest I once held for this book. Which is a shame because I felt like the story had a lot of potential but just fell short in parts. I was at that point where I was going to give up and take my first read of 2017 and file it under my DNF finish reads, however, I was convinced to carry on reading and see this story through. 

So did it get better? The story did get better but as I said before, by that point I’d lost most interest of the story. I was simply reading to see what happens next and to be able to rate and review the book. I always find when a story is slow that I slowly become detached from the characters. In Hunted, I was never attached to the characters to care for them. So unfortunately by the time I had reached the end, I just felt it was all so unsatisfying and didn’t live up to the expectations I had. 

When I read a Beauty and the Beast retelling I want to be able fall in love with the beast and it’s just not possible to that when you read this book. I applaud Meagan Spooner for her efforts but unfortunately I just don’t think this one was for me. 

Thank you to HarperTeen for giving me the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review. 

Saturday 4 February 2017

{Review} The Shadow Queen (Ravenspire #1) by C.J. Redwine

28175701Posted by Donna
Release Date: February 16, 2016
Finished Date: January 9th, 2017
Publishers: Balzar & Bray
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Re-telling
Source: For Review
Format: eBook
Pages: 405
Buy: Amazon UK Amazon US / The Book Depo 
 
Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common—magic. She’ll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen.

In the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, when Prince Kol’s father and older brother are killed by an invading army of magic-wielding ogres, the second-born prince is suddenly given the responsibility of saving his kingdom. To do that, Kol needs magic—and the only way to get it is to make a deal with the queen of Ravenspire, promise to become her personal huntsman…and bring her Lorelai’s heart.

But Lorelai is nothing like Kol expected—beautiful, fierce, and unstoppable—and despite dark magic, Lorelai is drawn in by the passionate and troubled king. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the dragon huntsman—who she likes far more than she should—Lorelai does everything in her power to ruin the wicked queen. But Irina isn’t going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose.

The Review: I first read this book last year but for some reason I just couldn’t connect to the story or characters and so I ended up skim reading it and rating it two stars. But since then I’ve never forgotten about this book and whenever I thought of it I always felt like I didn’t give it enough of a chance so I decided to try again from the start and you know what? I’m so glad I did because I thoroughly enjoyed it the second time around. 

The Shadow Queen is a re-telling of one of my most loved fairy tales Snow White. I’ve read the author’s work previously so I knew she is a good story teller so of course I was excited to see what she’d do with this story and I was really surprised by how good it was. There are actually only a few similar traits to the original story but otherwise the author made this story her own and bought something new to the readers. It’s a story dark and quiet twisted story about betrayal, magic, love, loss and revenge all tied up in a fantasy world full of dragons, witches and poisonous apples that pop from people’s mouths. 

Loreali was a fantastic character and definitely one that you can root for and admire. She’s a teenage girl who has lost so much in just her short time but if anything it makes her stronger. She doesn’t wallow in it, she uses that grief to achieve the results she wants and no matter how many time she gets set back she continues to push through. I loved that about her. She’s a strong character and YA stories definitely need more character like her. 

For me the gem of this story was the twist on The Huntman’s story. Having the Huntman from a neighboring kingdom but one who is also a Draconi which basically another word for Dragon. So Kol is a Dragon Huntsman – it definitely added for the entertainment in this story. I adored Kol. I loved how loyal he was but I also loved that he wasn’t perfect. He made mistakes and is willing to admit to it. 

The romance between Loreali and Kol is a slow burning one but once you spot straight away. I was a fan from the start. Enough said! 

In all, The Shadow Queen is a really enjoyable dark retelling with a twist – perfect for any YA fantasy fans! 

Thank you to Balzar & Bray for giving me the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review. 
 
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