ObvItsAmy

Books

Finale – Review

April 26, 2019April 29, 2019by ObvItsAmyLeave a Comment

Title: Finale
Author: Stephanie Garber
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Release Date: 9th May 2019
Rating: ★★★★

The Caraval series has had me gripped ever since I sat down to read the first book, I was absorbed and fell in love with the fantastical world that was presented to me. I also fancy the pants off of Dante, but that’s a tale for another day…

I can say now that Finale did not disappoint. From the first page I was just as hooked as I was when I read both Caraval and Legendary, I actually managed to read it in just two sittings.

There will be light spoilers in this review, so please stop reading now if you want to avoid those. I will try and talk about the book as much as possible without revealing too much.

Synopsis taken from Goodreads:

“Welcome, welcome to Caraval…all games must come to an end.

It’s been two months since the last Caraval concluded, two months since the Fates have been freed from an enchanted deck of cards, two months since Tella has seen Legend, and two months since Legend claimed the empire’s throne as his own. Now, Legend is preparing for his official coronation and Tella is determined to stop it. She believes her own mother, who still remains in an enchanted sleep, is the rightful heir to the throne.

Meanwhile, Scarlett has started a game of her own. She’s challenged Julian and her former fiancé, Count Nicolas d’Arcy, to a competition where the winner will receive her hand in marriage. Finaly, Scarlett feels as if she is in complete control over her life and future. She is unaware that her mother’s past has put her in the greatest danger of all.

Caraval is over, but perhaps the greatest game of all has begun―with lives, empires, and hearts all at stake. There are no spectators this time: only those who will win…and those who will lose everything…”

Continue reading “Finale – Review” →

Crochet

Simple Baby Blanket

April 16, 2019April 16, 2019by ObvItsAmyLeave a Comment

I recently finished another crochet project and this time I did a simple granny square baby blanket. I am an aunt again so I thought I would make a blanket which felt like Easter and was also super cute – luckily I have so much yarn I didn’t have to purchase anything new for this, I simply just used some Stylecraft yarn I already had.

For this I did a simple granny square and then every 2 rows I changed colour, so the blanket is a complete square. I then finished it with a double crochet (UK) border 🙂

Let me know what you think in the comments below and also let me know what projects you’re currently working on.

-Amy x

Books

What I thought – Books I Read in March

April 3, 2019by ObvItsAmyLeave a Comment

This month I read 3 books (I’ve almost finished my 4th one but I will be doing a separate review for that)

Sadie

This took me a while to get into and I did almost put it down and begin reading something else, then a friend told me to try the audiobook. Again I wasn’t feeling it and the narration felt a bit cheesy at times, but suddenly something clicked and I ended up really enjoying it. It is very clever and is laid out as a podcast within a book, so as an audiobook it works really well. It starts quite sad and the tone get progressively darker, which as you know I really enjoy. However it does deal with death of children and can be very difficult to listen too / read throughout.

The Alchemist

I was recommended this by SOOOOOO many people, so when I read it and didn’t like it I felt bad. I don’t know, I understand it’s a different take on a self-help book however I couldn’t distance myself from what it really was. It felt like it was preaching to me and also felt very misleading and just not something I could get into. I didn’t get anything from this – I didn’t get my spiritual awakening it kept talking about and I don’t think I will be recommending this to anyone any time soon.

Snot Girl #13

Snotgirl is back with another amazing comic and I loved it! It was such a good way to bring the story back and also made me howl with laughter. I love Snotgirl because it is a comic based on this era of influencers and does it in such a good way. If you’re interested in me writing up a proper review of the series so far then let me know!

What did you read in March?

-Amy x

Crochet

Glitter Granny Square Blanket

March 22, 2019March 22, 2019by ObvItsAmy1 Comment

I am back with another finished project, I am on a role at the moment! However I have been working on this blanket for well over a year and a delay was caused by the place I buy my yarn not having it in stock for a very, very long time.

But huzzah, here is my finished pastel glitter granny square blanket! I used baby yarn as it’s the softest and all the colours used has a hint of glitter to it. I absolutely love how this blanket turned out, even if it did almost kill me in the process.

I am a left handed crocheter so I struggled picking up my first granny square without it twisting, but if you’re looking for a good tutorial I recommend checking out Bella Coco, who does right and left handed variants of all of her stitches! Here is her YouTube and the beginners granny square tutorial.

I also recommend using a stitch which allows you to continuously add each granny square, as I chose the option of adding one granny square at a time…it’s safe to say I never want to use this process again!

What do you think of this blanket? I just finished it in time for Easter too and the colours are very Eastery!

You can follow me on Instagram for more of my crochet updates as I am working on a project too.

What projects are you working on right now?

-Amy x

Stitching

Fierce Queen – Commission

March 11, 2019March 11, 2019by ObvItsAmy2 Comments

I recently have been super busy working on my first ever cross stitch commission, with this I worked with the person who commissioned me to design and come up with the colour theme for the project.

The project was for a friend of hers who was having a bit of a hard time and this was to boost her spirits and show her that she is a strong Queen, with an obvious love of RuPaul’s Drag Race too…

Here is the finished project, which I absolutely loved working on.

xstitch

What do you think of this and the colour theme we went for, also, what are you working on right now?

-Amy x

Books

What I thought – Books I read in February

March 6, 2019March 6, 2019by ObvItsAmyLeave a Comment

This month I read two books only, I’ve been doing a lot of stitching which I will share with you in a seperate post, however I loved both!

Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle – Audio book

The first book I read was the audio book version of Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and I absolutely loved it. Now, I tried the book version of this a few months ago and I struggled to get into it, however audible had a buy one get one free offer and this was reviewed so highly I thought I’d give it a shot. The narrator for this book was Jot Davies and he was incredible, I actually think I came away from this thinking it was my favourite audio book I’ve listened to so far. Jot’s voices for individual characters were convincing and not cringe-worthy (we’ve all listened to an audio book when that happens…), I genuinely felt so invested into the book. This was a 17 hour long audio book which I listened to in HUGE chunks because I was so in love with it. I always listen to my audio book at speed x1.25 and sometimes this can distort the voice, however because Jot reads the book quite slow it sounded absolutely fine – this can sometimes be a make or break for some people!

If you are someone who was not feeling the book I highly recommend the audio book as I loved it, there were twists and turns around every corner, each character was developed so well that when you switched between them you felt as though you knew them. I love dark fiction and although this may not have been as dark as something like The Corset (which I read previously) I still really loved the vibe of Evelyn Hardcastle. The only way to describe it is like a real life game of Cluedo, that I would love to play.

What Makes Girls Sick and Tired – Preview

The second book I read was one I received through Netgalley, What Makes Girls Sick and Tired. I put together a few words and popped it up on Goodreads so I’ll paste those below.

A short but straight to the point read – as a woman myself I can completely relate to almost all of the examples of things included in this book. It’s frustrating that we have to keep reminding people of simple things but this book does it in a very blunt way which I really liked.

The illustration was presented nicely and this would be a good book to have within schools to educate both young boys and and girls.

I think this is a really powerful and important read for everyone and if you get a chance to give it a quick sit-down I recommend it, some of the stats featured in the book are also a fascinating reality check.

I am aiming to read around 4 book in March – including a few graphic novels on top which I received for my birthday. Wish me luck and see you all soon!

-Amy x

*please note I sometimes use Amazon Affiliate links within my posts, you do not have to use these but any revenue will go back to my website 🙂

Books

My Son, The Killer – Review

February 11, 2019February 12, 2019by ObvItsAmy2 Comments

I have been reading this on and off since around October, but I finally sat down and finished it this week and thought I would put together a review for you. (Just so you’re aware I received an ebook version via Netgalley.)

I really wanted to read this because as most of you know I love True Crime and this was a story I’ve read about and listened to podcasts about, if you are not aware this book is based on Luka Magnotta the Ice Pick Killer who appeared in the video ‘1 Lunatic 1 Ice Pick’. I will pop the description below and begin my review after that. This book is available to buy now.

Description taken from NetGalley:

“In 2012, the Canadian Press ignited a firestorm of criticism by naming killer Luka Magnotta as its “Newsmaker Of The Year.” But while the recognition was questionable for its sensitivity, there’s no doubt that few people had captured the public’s attention like the young murderer and internet sensation. A male escort and sometimes model, Magnotta had earned his notoriety by videotaping himself stabbing Chinese student Lin Jun to death with an ice pick and dismembering the body, before posting the video online. After mailing Jun’s hands and feet to elementary schools, he then led Interpol on a manhunt that ended when he was arrested at an Internet café in Berlin where he was reading news stories about himself. An international celebrity in a macabre sort of way, with a legion of fans, Magnotta was brought back to Canada, convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to prison. During this time, Anna Yourkin, his estranged mother, troubled by Magnotta’s abused childhood and her role in that, reconnected with her killer son. Despite his internet fame, Magnotta never agreed to any in-depth interviews. Now Magnotta has given award-winning journalist and author, Brian Whitney (RAW DEAL, THE SHAWCROSS LETTERS) an exclusive look inside the mind of this “social media” killer. Joining Whitney to tell this unique true crime story is Anna Yourkin. The book also contains exclusive photos provided by Yourkin.”

Click read more to read my full review.

Continue reading “My Son, The Killer – Review” →

Books

What I Thought – Reads of January

February 2, 2019by ObvItsAmyLeave a Comment

In January I did not read a lot and this was down to many things, work was very busy for me, also Resident Evil 2 and Kingdom Hearts 3 launched too! So I’ve actually spent a bit more time playing games than reading, which in the light of the things isn’t necessarily a bad thing, sometimes it’s nice to switch things up.

The Corset – Audiobook

THIS WAS SO GOOD! Oh my god, I went into this pretty blind – I’d had it recommended to me by a friend who hadn’t actually read it but people had been telling her how good it was. Now I must say this book was so much darker than I thought it was going to be and the ending has a pretty big twist (that I did kind of figure out but it still really got me even at the reveal), as you all know I love dark books so this was a very pleasant surprise.

I did actually begin reading the book version of this and in the end I found I couldn’t quite get into it, so one month I decided to spend my audible credit on this as the reviews were positive. I’m so glad I did because it changed my perception of the book completely – I throughly enjoyed this audio book and highly recommend picking it up if you have a spare credit and are looking for a new novel with a dark undertone.

My Son, The Killer – Preview

I love true crime and I requested this the second I could! However I haven’t finished this yet, but I read a good chunk in January (it is an early copy from NetGalley) and so far I’m finding it okay. It is split into two perspectives, the Mother (Anna Yourkin) of Luka Magnotta (the infamous Ice Pick killer) and Brian Whitney who comes into contact with Luka quite a few times to ask him his accounts and more about his upbringing.

I am a good half way through the book and so far I’m finding it okay, but not really loving how much is about his past rather than what he actually did. I think it’s almost sympathising with him and upsets me more than it’s not about putting down the person who murdered someone for ‘fame’. However I’m going to stick with it and expect a full review from me in Feb! 🙂

So these are the two books I have tucked into during January, what have you been reading?

-Amy x

*I use amazon affiliate links on my website, so if you purchase through them I gain a little bit of income to improve my site 🙂

Free Patterns, Rupaul inspired, Stitching

Pattern – Choices

January 22, 2019January 20, 2019by ObvItsAmyLeave a Comment

Hi all!

I hope you’re having a lovely week today I thought I would share another iconic RuPaul’s Drag Race quote for you. This one is simply ‘choices’ and is one of my favourite from the whole show!

You can download this pattern for free here!

This pattern is one of my most simple and this would be great for a beginner!

I’d love to see people’s take on this pattern – feel free to tag me on Instagram/Twitter or use the hashtag #ObvItsAmyStitches!

-Amy x

Free Patterns, Rupaul inspired, Stitching

Pattern – Sickening

January 20, 2019January 20, 2019by ObvItsAmyLeave a Comment

Hello!

Just a little short blog post from me as I realised I haven’t shared a pattern with you all in a long time and recently I’ve been getting commissioned to make a few designs – all my patterns on here are free however. You can click on the tags section and find one marked as ‘free patterns’.

And as Rupaul’s Drag Race All Stars has started again I thought I would share one from one of the fabulous contestants, Latrice Royale! So far most of my patterns have been quotes, but once I have a bit more spare time on my hands I’d like to begin making more creative pieces. For now enjoy!

I would say this pattern would be great for someone who has done a simple pattern in the past – so a beginner.

You can download this free sickening pattern here.

I’d love to see people’s take on this pattern – feel free to tag me on Instagram/Twitter or use the hashtag #ObvItsAmyStitches!

-Amy x