Tuesday 28 June 2011

Darkhouse by Karina Halle

I received this book from the Author as part of the First Reads promotion on the Goodreads website.

When I read the description of this book, I just had to apply to read it and luckily I got picked, here's what was dangling on the hook that snared my interest so much:
There’s always been some­thing a bit off about Perry Palomino. Though she’s been deal­ing with a quarter-life cri­sis and post-college syn­drome like any other twen­tysome­thing, she’s still not what you would call “ordi­nary.” For one thing, there’s her past which she likes to pre­tend never hap­pened, and then there’s the fact that she sees ghosts. Luck­ily for her, that all comes in handy when she stum­bles across Dex Foray, an eccen­tric pro­ducer for an upcom­ing web­cast on ghost hunters. Even though the show’s bud­get is non-existent and Dex him­self is a mad­den­ing enigma, Perry is instantly drawn into a world that both threat­ens her life and seduces her with a sense of impor­tance. Her uncle’s haunted light­house pro­vides the per­fect cat­a­lyst and back­drop for a hor­rific mys­tery that unrav­els the threads of Perry’s frag­ile san­ity and causes her to fall for a man, who, like the most dan­ger­ous of ghosts, may not be all that he seems.
I have to say right off that as keen as I was to read this book, once I started I found it a bit hard going, it was almost like trying to wade through treacle to get into it BUT after the first couple of chapters I found it got easier as I got used to the style of writing and was caught up by the plot. 

I didn't find Darkhouse particularly frightening but there were moments when I just had to keep reading to find out what happened next and to make sure that everyone was OK! The interaction between Perry and her family gave more understanding to the choices that we're told she's made in the past and why she's doing what she does through the book. She's easily likable as are her Sister and Cousins, even Uncle Al has his moment to star when he tells her the history of his lighthouse.
As a first book I'd say this sets up the interaction between the major characters very well, at the end you are left wanting more, to know what happens not just in the work between them but also in their personal life. That Perry is attracted to Dex is painfully obvious to all but his feelings towards her seem confused to me and I cant wait to discover what they really are and how that relationship will develop. Also I really hope to find out more about 'Creepy Clown Lady'. Who she is, what she is even and what she knows about our two protagonists. 

I cant wait to get my hands on Red Fox and see what happens next!




Thursday 23 June 2011

Another week closer to Christmas :-D

And it's another 2lbs lost on the diet

Something I noticed over the weekend is how I see myself, I still struggle to see the weight I've lost even though I know I've lost a lot (jeans that I couldn't get on at Christmas are now too big for me) but I've figured out why, or at least I think I have. Because I'm mostly still wearing the same clothes, they're quite baggy on me now and I see the outline of me where the clothes hang which is making me look quite a bit bigger than I am. Luckily I have a good stock of clothes that I've kept from when I was gaining the weight to use as I slim down but right now the next size down (which is quite a few sizes down from my biggest) are still a bit tight. So I'm stuck, do I wear uncomfortable clothes slightly too small  which make me look fatter than I am or do I wear baggy clothes which hang loosely and make me look bigger than I am .... it's a tough choice but hopefully I wont be stuck in this area for much longer. With the way the weights coming off and my shape's changing I cant see it being much longer till the smaller clothes all fit me comfortably and I will be happy again ...... for a while at least
 

Tuesday 14 June 2011

It's back & a well overdue update

popworm
YAY at last! for the last 2 weeks every time I've tried to log in here and update on my diet I haven't been able to sign in but that bug seems to be fixed now *touch wood* so I can write my update on how the diets going and my other fab news!
I'll start with the diet as that's the best news really, I've lost another 4lbs since I last updated this so I've now lost 34 lbs (nearly 2 and a half stone) since January 10th when I started the Slimfast plan. To say I'm happy with this would be a huge understatement, I'm thrilled. Everything is getting so much easier for me and I'm finding so many things so much easier to do, I'm so excited about what the future can bring now but I know I have to do this sensibly this time so that i can keep the weight off. Hopefully by next Christmas I'll be maintaining at a level I'm happy with :-)
santabear
In other news I've finally won a designer handbag! Anyone who knows me even a little bit will know how excited I am about this, I cant wait to go collect it! Yes, I didn't read all the T&C's properly when I entered but Dave is being lovely and driving me up to York to collect it, really good job he doesn't mind driving as we have a lot coming up over the next month!
 driving