Author: theblindscribe

Where'd I Leave It Wednesday

The Feet of Flavour Fest

theblindscribe

Hello! Happy Wednesday everyone! This week feels like it’s going by super quickly, does anybody else feel that? It’s already halfway through the week – it’s been a productive one at least. On Monday I got to see my boyfriend again after way too long apart, we had a lovely picnic. And yesterday I finally got out of my reading slump and read two books – The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater and Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab if you’re interested in my thoughts on these I’ll be putting up book reviews for them soon. They really helped get me out of my slump and now I’m desperate to just keep reading the next book on my TBR.

So today… is the second installment of Where’d I Leave It Wednesday, it’s only a short story for today, and the story for today happened around two years ago at the Plymouth Flavour Fest. In case you don’t know what that is, it’s a big market in the middle of the town centre (I believe it’s a South West of England festival) where each of the stalls has a variety of food, drinks and even a few craft stalls. The food and drink stalls are often pretty generous with their free samples as well – I’m never going to complain about that!

I was very interested in some particular stalls (ahem *the stall with the jam sponges on it*) that had food that I have a particular weakness for (I really love jam, okay) on them. And I will admit to you – but you have to promise to never tell anyone – I might have had more than one free sample…. alright I had about three or four I admit it! I’d also persuaded my Mum to buy a couple to take home with us which I can tell you, I thoroughly enjoyed later. I promise I shared – I let the rest of my family have one to share between them.

Anyway, I was so distracted by the scent of homemade jam and sponge cake that had just come out of the oven (honestly, I can smell it now while I’m typing this) that I lose track of everything going on around me. It was only when I turned to walk away with my Mum that I noticed something was wrong. I couldn’t move my cane. It felt like it was properly lodged in something but I couldn’t see a single thing it could have been stuck in. I tried to just pull on it as hard as I could but it would not budge. I tried to jiggle it and shake it free from whatever it was stuck in but that didn’t work either. By this time my Mum was itching to get away from the crowds so she wasn’t very impressed with the hunt the cane scenario that was happening. But it was my Mum that finally figured out where it was stuck – a woman’s shoe.

A living human woman who was stood next to me and now had the end of my cane trapped down the back of her shoe. And she had noticed it. You might be asking what did you do about it? I’ll tell you. I pulled my cane really hard and straight up, freeing it from the back of her shoe and then I turned around and walked away. I wonder if she still remembers this day… I certainly do because there’s no way that my family are ever going to let me forget that I got my cane trapped in a woman’s shoe.

That’s it for today’s post! I hope you all enjoyed reading it!

Book Reviews

Book Review: Peter Swanson’s Rules For Perfect Murders

theblindscribe

I have recently finished reading Rules for Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson and I really enjoyed it, in this book review I will give star ratings for four categories and write a little about each of these. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. I hope you all enjoy reading my book review!

This is a cleverly plotted, fast paced, whodunnit full of twists and secrets. It focuses on a man called Malcolm Kershaw who works at a bookstore that specializes in selling mystery/thriller books. Then he becomes involved in a murder investigation. This novel contains elements of the great Golden Age era of crime fiction like Agatha Christie yet still manages to make itself unique in both it’s premise and structure. The reader follows the POV of Malcolm, following both the present and the secrets of his past that slowly emerge throughout the novel.

Plot:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

This novel is an entertaining plot that kept me guessing from the very beginning. It was well thought out and from the technical point of view every scene led into the next in a brilliant and clever way. The secrets were hinted at and clues were sprinkled throughout leading to a (in my opinion) satisfying ending. I am usually pretty good at managing to guess the ending before it happens but with this novel I had no chance, the story swept me up and so many theories were spinning around my head. That is one of the reasons I gave this novel 4 stars for plot.

Characters:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

As for characters there are a lot of them, but the main ones are Malcolm Kershaw, his two bookstore employees, FBI Agent Gwen Mulvoy, his old friend Marty Kingship and married couple Brian and Tess Murray. Although each of the characters had very defined personalities from each other for me it felt like they were lacking in some way. Malcolm, was not a very likeable character I didn’t particularly have strong feelings for or against him but I was still engaged in his story. The two bookstore employees I feel could have been developed further, they are distinct and personally I felt they were likeable – the only two characters who I felt were likeable in this novel – but they weren’t that interesting. I would have liked to have seen more of Agent Gwen Mulvey, she features more in the first half than the second half and I felt her character could have been explored better. The other three characters I didn’t find to be all that likeable either but again they were well thought out and had an impact on the story.

Dialogue and writing:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I became invested in the novel because of the dialogue in the very first scene. It helped to heighten tension when it was needed and it helped lighten the tone when the novel needed balance as well. The dialogue, or lack of from some characters, provided personality and created an image of the characters for me. The writing style was easy to navigate, it flowed well in my opinion and it didn’t feel forced in any way. That was one of the main reasons I enjoyed the novel, usually I am a fan of character driven novels rather than plot driven novels but because of Swanson’s writing style and the engaging dialogue I found myself enjoying the read.

Overall:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

So, overall I rated this novel four stars because even though I wasn’t invested in the characters I truly couldn’t put the book down, I had to know how it ended. If you enjoy novels where you aren’t sure who you can trust then I would recommend Rules For Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson. (One note I will make is that if you want to read The Red House Mystery by A A Milne, Malice Aforethought by Anthony Berkeley Cox, The A B C Murders by Agatha Christie, Double Indemnity by James M. Cain, Strangers On A Train by Patricia Highsmith, The Drowner by John D MacDonald, Deathtrap by Ira Levin or The Secret History by Donna Tartt I would recommend reading them first because Malcolm is fond of giving spoilers to these books).

Synopsis/Blurb:
Years ago Malcolm Kershaw wrote a list of his ‘Eight Favourite Murders’ for his Old Devils mystery bookshop blog. Among others it included those from Agatha Christie’s The A.B.C Murders, Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers On A Train and Donna Tartt’s The Secret History.
Now just before Christmas, Malcolm finds himself at the heart of an investigation – as an FBI Agent believes someone may be re-enacting each of the murders on his list.

Uncategorized

The Birthday List Bickers

theblindscribe

So.. if you don’t know my birthday is in March (I’m going to be 22! – That feels strange) and, as she does every year, my Mum asked me to write a birthday list. It takes me multiple days to write a list, one – because I have a lot of things to write on the list and two – because I have very few things to go on the list.
Meaning – I end up with a list of about 50 books (not even half the books that I ACTUALLY want) but the only thing on my list is books.
Every year my Mum and I have the same conversation “is that it?” “Mum, there’s like fifty books on it” “but it’s only books” “yes Mum, that’s all I want”.

This year I’ve branched out a bit, now don’t get too excited – I haven’t had a personality switch and asked for clothes or films or a garden patch (although I did very unrealistically ask for a greenhouse every Christmas between the ages of five and fifteen). I asked for a book cart. A green one, obviously because green is the best colour and the thing that is going to hold my most precious items (books – in case you hadn’t guessed) needs to be the best colour, in other words not one I’m going to get bored of anytime soon. There was a beautiful yellow one but my family acted like if I got that one they’d have to permanently wear sunglasses to enter the room it was in. It wasn’t that bright. I am looking forward to getting it, it’s sea green and it reminds me of the colour of the Little Mermaid’s tail. It is going to go next to where I sit in the living room and then all I have to do is just reach out my hand and grab a book! Easy Peasy! Much easier than having to climb up my bed (yes, I have to climb a ladder to get into my bed I usually imagine I’m scaling a castle wall don’t judge me.)
Fair warning, once I get my book cart it’s going to feature in pretty much all of my Instagram photos for the foreseeable future because I’m already in love with it and it hasn’t even arrived yet…

Has anyone else got a book cart? Also, I’d take a guess that the book cart is going to be as tall as me, maybe even taller… I’m a very short person and they look pretty big. That will be an interesting experience trying to push that around – like a tea trolley lady except you can’t see them behind the cart so it’s just like a voice without a body.

That’s it for today’s post I hope you all liked it! Comment and let me know if you like it, or if you didn’t, or if you just want to talk about books (or anything really) I’m always happy to talk and make friends!
My next post is going to be tomorrow, Monday, and it is going to be my first book review on the blog, come back tomorrow and check it out if you are interested.

Book Tags

20 Questions Book Tag

theblindscribe

Hello bookish people!
It is finally Friday, and Friday’s are for doing fun bookish things. So today I am doing the 20 Questions Book Tag that I saw on @Paper Fury’s blog. It looked like it could be fun so I decided to have a go at doing it as well. I hope you all enjoy it!

  1. How Many Books Are Too Many For A Series?
    Hmm… if I am enjoying a series then there’s never too many books because you know I’m going to keep coming back and buying them all BUT if I’m not completely obsessed with a series then I’d say I lose interest after about the 4th book. My perfect amount is probably a trilogy.

2. How Do You Feel About Cliffhangers?
Ah cliffhangers, the the stomach-dropping feeling when you don’t know how long it will be until you can get your hands on the next book in the series and complete the story. Inside I’m throwing the book against the wall and screaming because it hurts my soul to leave a story unfinished.

3. Hardcover or Paperback?
Hardcover. I’d definitely choose a hardback book over a paperback one, I know they’re more expensive but thinking about paperbacks and their cracked spines.. I just can’t do it. Also, on the practical side – hardcovers usually have slightly larger print and well, you know, every little helps.

4. Favourite Book?
That is an extremely difficult question to ask someone who loves books! But I’ll give it a go.. hmm, probably The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. It’s whimsical and magical and it has BOOKS in it and a masquerade party and great characters and.. I could go on and on all day about this book but I won’t I’ll just say that if you haven’t read it I would recommend it.

5. Least Favourite Book?
I don’t have a least favourite book. There have been a few books I didn’t enjoy but I won’t name any here, if you want to know what books I did and didn’t enjoy I will be putting up weekly book reviews starting on Monday so check them out, I will always be honest within my reviews!

6. Love Triangles, Yes or No?
No. No. Nope. No. NO! I do not like love triangles. Do I still enjoy books that happen to have love triangles in? Yes, I do. But will it lessen my enjoyment of it? Also, usually yes. (I’m just going to pretend that the ACOTAR series doesn’t include a love triangle because that series is amazing.)

7. The Most Recent Book You Couldn’t Finish?
Well.. the answer for this one is Charmcaster by Sebastien De Castell, the third book in the Spellslinger series. Now, it wasn’t that I didn’t finish the book because I wasn’t enjoying it or I wasn’t feeling it at the time because I was loving it – the problem was that I was reading it at like 4 AM because I’d woken up desperate to read something (does anyone else ever get like that?) and it was the first book I saw but I was actually still really tired so I had to go back to sleep.

8. A Book You’re Currently Reading?
That would be Bridge Of Souls by Victoria Schwab because my pre-order of it arrived yesterday and I couldn’t wait to dive into it. It’s not on my March TBR but shhhh, that doesn’t matter.

9. The Last Book You Recommended To Someone?
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. My friend and I have pretty much the same reading tastes and she also loves books about Fae, and they don’t get much better than Cardan.. anyway, I lent the book to her and then we went into another national lockdown. So.. she still has my book. I asked her if she’d send me photos of it each week so I knew it was safe but she said no.

10. Oldest Book You’ve Read By Publication Date?
My answer to this is the same as PaperFury’s – Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. I had to read it for my University classes.

11. Newest Book You’ve Read By Publication Date?
Definitely the Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab that I’m currently reading as it’s publication date was the 4th March 2021.

12. Favourite Author?
I know I can’t pick just one for this! Here’s a short list: Philippa Gregory, Terry Pratchett, V E Schwab, Kerri Maniscalco, Stephanie Garber….

13. Buying Books or Borrowing Books?
Buying. I like owning my books so that I can just grab them and read them whenever I want to.

14. A Book That You Dislike That Everyone Seems To Like?
Hmm.. I’m going to go for the Guest List by Lucy Foley, I didn’t exactly dislike this book but I picked it up because I saw a lot of people on BookTube loving it and it didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

15. Bookmarks Or Dog Ears?
Dog ears would ruin my books so there is no way I will be doing that! I always have a bookmark handy for when I start reading.

16. A Book You Can Always Reread?
Anything by Stephanie Garber or Kerri Maniscalco, the Villains series by V E Schwab, the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead… the list goes on

17. Can You Read While Listening To Music?
Nope. I like there to be quiet when I am reading and music makes me daydream so it would be difficult to read at the same time.

18. One POV Or Multiple?
That depends on the book. Usually I prefer one POV because it’s easier to follow the story that way, in my opinion, but I can get on board with multiple POVs if the characters are good (cough*Six Of Crows*cough).

19. Do You Read A Book In One Sitting Or Over Multiple Days?
Physically, I can do either. Mentally, if I can’t read the book in one sitting and I have to put it down for more than a few hours it is much harder for me to pick it up again.

20. Who Do You Tag?
Everyone! Anyone who wants to do this tag! It was pretty fun to do, if you have different opinions or want to talk to me about anything bookish let me know in the comments!

Where'd I Leave It Wednesday

Miss Templeton In The Lecture Hall With A Cane…

theblindscribe

Happy Wednesday Everyone!
So, I thought I would just quickly explain what my Wednesday posts are going to be all about.
I am notorious for leaving my white cane in the most random of places and it’s retrieval is nearly always both awkward and comical. For where’d I leave it Wednesday, which is what I’m going to be categorizing these posts as, I will be sharing some of the stories about the places I have left it and the scenarios that has put me in. I will also be sharing some other stories just about things I have experienced as a visually impaired girl trying to get about. Let me know if you enjoy these – or not.
And with that…. here’s the first story!

In my first year at University I had a lecture in one of the big lecture halls in the main building on campus, and when I say it was big I mean it can fit about two hundred people maybe even more. I’d already gotten lost on my way to meet my friend, there is nothing like the feeling you get when you’re going up to the fourth floor in a lift and you realize the building you’re meant to be in doesn’t even have a lift! I didn’t want anyone to know that I’d done this so I carried on to the fourth floor, got out, and walked around the floor for about ten minutes until I knew the coast was clear and then I went back to the lift and made my way to the right building.

So then the lecture – I won’t go on about what I was learning in the lecture because, unless you have an interest in memoir writing techniques and lecturers who put books on the reading list because they fancy them, you would be bored reading about it. I should probably mention that I have to sit at the front of the lecture hall – in Secondary School this was always called the spit zone – and I’d already had to use my cane to climb down the steps to reach my seat but during class I keep it folded up under my seat so that I remember where it is.
Well that’s the intention anyway…. picture the scene:

Class finishes, and I get up putting my yellow coat, wooly hat and gloves on and follow my friend to the steps. This time I’m having to use both hands on the handrail to my right to pull myself up each step. They’re those awkward sizes, where it’s too long to only take one step but too short to take two steps – how do you know whether you’re tripping over the steps or because of the steps? – Anyway, I was walking up the steps sideways like a crab and I finally made it to the top and I’m saying to my friend as we leave the lecture hall that it was difficult to get up the stairs today and she said to me “probably because you’re dressed for winter but you’re indoors” – and yes, she had a point but when the class waiting outside had gone into the lecture hall and the door had shut. That’s when I realized I had left my cane in there under my seat.

Now I had two choices – wait outside until the class ended in who knows how many hours or gather up my courage and go back inside the lecture hall and get it. Against my better judgement I chose the second option. The whole time I was back in there I could feel their eyes watching me, you know they say you can feel their eyes burning holes in your back, well it was like that. I wonder if it would have been a better or worse feeling had I been able to actually see their eyes and not just the shaped coloured blobs of people. I got my cane from under the chair, asking the girl sat there to move her legs for me to get it, politely of course. Then I opened it, forgetting that it flicks open to four times the size like a weapon out of a fantasy novel. You can believe I rushed out of that room with my makeshift weapon before I was stared at for almost taking someone’s head off accidentally.

That is the end of the first where’d I leave it Wednesday story! Let me know if you liked it or if you didn’t and next Wednesday I will upload another story.

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Monthly TBRs, Uncategorized

March TBR

theblindscribe

Happy 1st of March. This year is going so fast!
So… last month’s reading was pretty poor but this month seems to be going better already. The 1st of March and I read the first book on my TBR this morning and I must say it was an enjoyable read. I’ve given myself a huge TBR so hopefully I’ll make it through at least most of them before this month is out.

March is a great month, and not just because it’s got my birthday in it…. Okay that’s probably the main reason but also- there’s six of my highly anticipated books of 2021 coming out this month.
Exciting!
I’ll list them at the end of this post so if you’re interested in that keep reading until the end.

So, onto my TBR!

  • What A Way To Go by Julia Forster – I anticipate this being a three star for me
  • Uprooted by Naomi Novik – This could well be a four star, I’ve heard great things about it
  • The Ravens by Kass Morgan and Danielle Paige – I’m not sure if I will enjoy this book or not. I got it in an Illumicrate box and I know it has witches in it so fingers crossed I will enjoy it.
  • The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman – does anybody else LOVE books about books? and libraries of course. This book should be right up my alley.
  • Rules for Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson – I do like a good murder mystery… maybe a four star.
  • The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater – I have been putting off reading this book for over a year and I think it’s about time I read it.
  • The Once and Future Witches by Alix E Harrow – I really enjoyed her first book the Ten Thousand Doors of January so hopefully this one will be the same amount of enjoyment if not more.
  • Nine Perfect Strangers by Lianne Moriarty – again, love a good murder mystery, and I heard that Luke Evans has been cast for a TV/film version of this book so that will be interesting.
  • The Map of Days by Ransom Riggs – I have all of the Miss Peregrines books and I cannot wait tog et back into that world.
  • The Lives of Saints by Leigh Bardugo – I have actually read this at five am this morning and I rated it four stars. I will put up a book review of it very soon!
  • The Library of the Unwritten by A J Hackwith – Libraries?! I’m there!
  • Ever Cursed by Corey Ann Haydu – My friend bought me this because it sounded good so I am looking forward to seeing if I find it as good as it sounds.
  • Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare – I have Chain of Iron on pre-order so I think it’s time I dive into this first book.
  • Finally, A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer – okay I will admit it – this was definitely a cover buy but I am very interested in the story as well.

Releases march 2021:
Chain of Iron by Cassandra Clare
Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo
Sweet and Bitter Magic by Adrienne Tooley
Ravage the Dark by Tara Sim
The Queen’s Secret by Melissa De La Cruz
Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab

That’s it for my TBR of this month, let me know if you’ve read any of these and what you thought about them and at the end of March I will post a wrap up and see how well I did!

Monthly Wrap Ups, Uncategorized

February 2021 Wrap-Up!

theblindscribe

We have reached the end of February. February was a very busy month for me.
I had appointments, University classes with issues about who was going to be teaching those classes when the original teacher missed four sessions and didn’t keep in contact…stressful. I started a new job in February! – Which I am enjoying. Also, I finished and sent off my application to study a PhD so fingers crossed I get onto that course.

Because of this it was a pretty terrible reading month for me, I mean I did get some reading done but not half as much as I would have liked. My goals for this blog are to (hopefully) post about four times a week and one will be a book review, so each week I should put up a new book review. Anyway, February’s TBR looked like this:

  • The Guest List by Lucy Foley – I did read
  • Magonia by Maria Daevana Headley – I did not read
  • A mood read that I never ended up choosing a book for…
  • How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black – I did read
  • Charmcaster by Sebastien De Castell – I started to read but did not have time to finish
  • The Darkest Bloom by P M Freestone – I did not read
  • An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena – I did read
  • Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell – I did not read
  • Furyborn by Claire LeGrand – I did not read
  • The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – I did not read
  • The Queen’s Assassin by Melissa De La Cruz – I did not read
  • Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo – I did not read

What I read: I only managed to read three of the books on my TBR this month which were: The Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena, The Guest List by Lucy Foley and How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories. Book reviews for this will be coming shortly but I will say I did enjoy all of these books although none of them were five stars for me.

My favourite read of the month was How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories, it was my first read of the month before my schedule got a little hectic and I spent a good couple of hours throwing myself into the collection of stories. I was very excited beforehand knowing that I got to go back to the world of Cardan and Jude and although I enjoyed the book, it didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

Most disappointing reads: I was very surprised that my most disappointing read was the Guest List by Lucy Foley. I went into the book with very high expectations, I’d seen lots of people on Booktube and Bookstagram absolutely loving this book and I am always up for a good murder mystery, but the constantly changing POV’s and the way the book went left me feeling underwhelmed. As I said my book review for the Guest List will be going up soon if you are interested in hearing more of my thoughts on this book.

Current Reads: currently I am in between books and deciding which book off my March TBR to start reading later today!

On another note – who else is loving the snippet of Six of Crows in the Netflix Shadow and Bone trailer?!

Book Tags, Uncategorized

Getting to Know Me

theblindscribe

For my first post I thought that some of you might be interested in getting to know a little more about me! So read on below some questions and answers!

  1. What is your full name? Olivia Templeton.
  2. What does your name mean? Traditionally before Shakespeare used Olivia in the Twelfth Night, it was just Olive. So I guess my name means peace.
  3. Does your name make any interesting anagrams? Sort of, you can make the word malevolent out of it!
  4. Who did you look up to growing up? That would be the girls in the books I was reading about.
  5. What would your parents have named you if you were the other gender? Connor, apparently!
  6. What is your biggest accomplishment? Being awarded as Plymouth Young City Laureate for a year.
  7. What is your biggest fear? There are too many to list! Haha!!
  8. What has required you to have the most courage? Probably my eye operations I’ve had.
  9. What is your favourite fairy tale? Beauty and the Beast.
  10. What is your favourite quote? “I am a free bird and no net ensnares me”. It’s a powerful quote from Jayne Eyre.
  11. Can you dance? I used to be able to but when your sight starts going it becomes a bit too difficult to continue.
  12. Do you save old greeting cards? Yes. I put everything in a scrapbook.
  13. Do you have pets? Not me, but my sister has the cutest kitten.
  14. Who sent the last text you received? My boyfriend.
  15. Who would you tell first if you found a dead body in your garden? My Sister!
  16. What is your most embarrassing moment? Probably when I pulled my trousers down in the primary school playground in front of everyone!

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