Bubblesreview

Book blogging yogini

Female

Norfolk , United Kingdom

17. May

Joined: Feb 5, 2019

Bookstagramer who loves reading and reviewing books. I'm a quick reader, which is quite beneficial for me as I have a constant pile to get through and I'm always topping it up when I see a goodie I can't resist ;). Aside from books, Netflix and films are great options in my life but I can be very opinionated about films, if a film is made from a book then it has to have high standards otherwise it's very disappointing.

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All That Remains: A Life in Death

Sue Black

8.3 (3 Ratings) Rate It

Book

The incredible memoir from the Sunday Times Bestseller. Professor Sue Black breathes new life into...

Added: Apr 6, 2019, 11:29:51 AM

The Secret Diary of a Student Nurse

Christopher Button

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

In 2011 after completing my drama degree in London, and gaining a job as an actor at a prestigious...

Added: Mar 23, 2019, 2:35:44 AM

Twenty Something: The Quarter-Life Crisis Of Jack Lancaster

Iain Hollingshead

9.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Twenty-five is far too young to be having a mid-life crisis, but Jack Lancaster is going to make a...

Added: Mar 7, 2019, 1:32:32 AM

A Note Of Madness

Tabitha Suzum

7.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Life as a student should be good for Flynn. He's one of the top pianists at the Royal College of...

Added: Feb 7, 2019, 12:25:07 PM

Mental health depression manic depression musician young adult madness

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Bubblesreview (110 KP) rated Amazon Echo Dot (3rd Generation) in Tech

Apr 18, 2019

Amazon Echo Dot (3rd Generation)

Home Audio & Theater > Speakers, Smart Home

8.1

(109 Ratings)

Tech Rating

Responsive (3 more)

Loud speakers

Large variety of extra widgets

Small for easy placement

Amazon music isn't free (0 more)

I've had my alexa for a couple of weeks now and have to say it really is fantastic. It was so easy to setup, literally took a few minutes and she was up and running. I use her everyday from the minute I get up to the minute I go to bed. I placed her in my kitchen which is adjacent to my lounge. I found this the most appropriate placement for her as I use her daily for timers when I'm cooking. I love the personalised routines you can create, my morning routine is "alexa, good morning" where she will then tell me a random 'on this day' fact, my daily schedule which is linked to my phone's calendar, the local weather and then she will play my chosen radio station. At night I say "alexa goodnight" where she will then wish me goodnight.
The app is really easy to use and I love looking through all the widgets that you can enable alexa to do, such as: speak in Chewbacca language or tell me a joke. I personally like the daily affirmations or life quotes. You can also meditate with her, that's quite interesting.
The reason my review is 9/10 is because there is an extra subscription charge for Amazon music, 3.99 a month I believe. Perhaps it would be out of kindness for Amazon to allow alexa product buyers a free subscription.
However, I do have the radio on all day anyway so don't really request her to play specific songs.
I'm quite excited to purchase additional alexas to use in other rooms. The drop in ability is fantastic, I drop in on my families devices to check all is well or to have a quick chat, they're like walkie talkies. Brilliant. This ability can be disabled easily for times you don't want anyone dropping in on awkward situations or during the night. I also find the drop in ability good for when I'm away, I can drop in on my cat and talk to him, obviously I don't get a response but I know he can hear me.
Lastly, she's also nice to talk to if you're lonely.
Overall, I'm very much enjoying my alexa and her wide variety of abilities.

Kudos

Bubblesreview (110 KP) rated All That Remains: A Life in Death in Books

Apr 7, 2019

All That Remains: A Life in Death

Sue Black | 2019 | Medical & Veterinary, Mind, Body & Spiritual, Philosophy, Psychology & Social Sciences

8.3

(3 Ratings)

Book Rating

Pros:
▪ Descriptive
▪ Very fascinating
▪ Surprisingly life-affirming
Cons:
▪ Could be a possible military/trauma PTSD trigger
What an incredible book. When I first picked this up I was sceptical about reading it right now, I thought this was going to be a dark, depressing read about death. It certainly is about death but surprisingly not in a dark or depressing way.
I've been suffering with a bereavement since November after my best friend was killed in a road accident, hit by a drunk driver. I have been struggling quite a bit with this and there doesn't seem to be any support for people struggling with bereavement, there is one local charity that provides free counselling but I'm currently on a 16+ week waiting list before they can even assess me to see if they can help me.
So you can see why I was hesitant to read this, however, after reading some reviews on it i took the risk and dived in. I'm glad I did.
I found this actually very refreshing and life-affirming, it's made me see life and death in a different way and I feel like it's helped me cope a little better whilst I wait for counselling.
The chapter about the authors personal experience with bereavements was nice to be reminded that everyone deals with grief in their own ways, even if it may seem odd to others.
I really enjoyed reading the scientific parts of this book aswell, as detailed as some of it was it was actually really interesting. It was also nice to learn about all the different options available now days for what happens to our bodies. Donating your body to a medical school is one option I wasn't even aware of.
The epilogue was a tear jerker, I admit I struggled to read through those last pages. It was very personal to Blacks family and very detailed about her wishes when her time comes.
I highly respect Black for making such a personal memoir published.
This was an emotional, uplifting, scientific memoir that I highly recommend.

Kudos (1)

Bubblesreview (110 KP) rated Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in Books

Mar 25, 2019 (Updated Mar 25, 2019)

Pros:
▪ Unique story
▪ Short Story
▪ Extra short story at the back
Cons:
▪ Boring start
▪ Constructed poorly
▪ Not much to offer if you know the plot twist (who doesn't right?)
Ok so for as long as I can remember I've always known the basis of the story of Jekyll and Hyde, particularly when someone would have a mood swing another would note that they're acting like Jekyll and Hyde, for example.
However, I've never actually read the story.
A quick read it was, less than 100 pages, it's the shortest story I've read yet. Considering the amount of tv/film recreations of this story I was shocked to find its so short and it's really not very descriptive on terms of Mr Hydes character in particular, which is what the author was aiming for.
If you already know the twist in this story then the book won't really get you revved up, I found it very dry and bland. I can however imagine that back in the 1880s this book would've been an incredible read and very different and creative.
I'm not going to conclude by saying this book was awful because it's far from it, it does have good parts.
The last chapter in particular, Henry Jekylls full statement, was the best part of this book, it's the only part that kept me intrigued, it's just getting there that's the problem.
Aside from the boring background story of the lawyer and the will, the actual story of Jekyll and Hyde and the way Jekyll comes about finding Hyde is actually something of a mind blowing creation, and very original.
This particular print had an extra short story afterwards, the bottle and the imp, now this story I did find intriguing, it captivated me. I found it similar to Aladdin with a magic lamp, but in a much shorter story and a magic bottle and an imp instead of a lamp and genie.

Kudos (5)

Bubblesreview (110 KP) rated Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine in Books

Mar 21, 2019

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

Gail Honeyman | 2017 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry

8.6

(80 Ratings)

Book Rating

Pros: ▪ Character is relatable ▪ Laugh out loud moments ▪ unpredictable storyline (although I did catch on pretty quick)
▪ Realistic mental health
No cons today!
Oh Eleanor! What an absolute incredible story. She is the most relatable character I have read about so far in any book.
Like many others this book isnt what I had expected, I'm not really sure what I was expecting but this certainly wasn't it, I avoided reading this for so long because it had been hyped up so much I didn't want to be disappointed. I was not disappointed, actually pleasantly surprised!
I have to admit, I did catch on to the plot twist that is revealed at the end, quite quickly, but even so once I had read it I put it down and thought wow, such clever writing!
This is the first 10 rating I've given since Alex Michaelides, The Silent Patient, after reading that I didn't expect to find another 10 rating so soon.
Gail Honeyman has such a unique yet genuine way of writing, she perfects the descriptive writing concerning mental health and loneliness and keeps it extremely realistic and relatable. I have read many books now where the main character has complex mental health issues but usually the authors get a bit too unrealistic with it, however, Honeyman keeps it realistic, so much so it almost feels like reading a memoir. I wish it was a memoir because I'd love to meet Eleanor in real life and just give her a big hug!
Nobody should ever feel lonely, even more so whilst dealing with mental health, unfortunately that is reality for too many people nowa days.

Kudos (1)

Bubblesreview (110 KP) rated The Language of Kindness: A Nurse's Story in Books

Mar 17, 2019

Pros:
• Daily insights into a nurses life
• Beautiful and emotional
• Insight into the NHS
• Promotes kindness
Cons:
• Bit to self-indulgent
• it's missing something, a flow
• Ended a bit abruptly for me
Christie Watson was a nurse for twenty years. Taking us from birth to death and from A&E to the mortuary, The Language of Kindness is an astounding account of a profession defined by acts of care, compassion and kindness.
@mooksterbooks bought me this book after I thoroughly enjoyed This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay.
I absolutely LOVE reading memoirs of nurses and doctors and seeing inside the NHS system.
Watson wrote her memoir in more of an attempted flowed novel unlike Kays diary entries take. I won't compare the two books too much but I must say I did enjoy the presentation of Kay's diary entries.
Looking at other reviews on this book I found that there is mixed views and some not very nice comments on it. I don't agree with the ones who say this was hyped up too much as I feel it wasn't hyped up at all, but I do slightly agree on the ones who feel it was a little too self-indulged and didn't flow too great.
Aside from this, I can't say I didn't enjoy this book, I really did enjoy reading it and I was a little saddened when it ended. I loved all the beautiful stories and the emotional ones, it bought me joy, sadness and a passion to promote caring and kindness.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading memoirs, to those who like to see the truth behind the masks of nurses and doctors but I wouldn't recommend this to people who have anxiety about hospitals as some parts were a bit too honest and gory.

Kudos

Bubblesreview (110 KP) rated The Catcher in the Rye in Books

Mar 13, 2019

Pros:

A classic?
Cons:

20th century, quite dated

No real plot?
Ok I'm sorry to say this but I'm going to disappoint you all with this review. If you've read this and you adore it and are the ones who say "It's a classic" or "It's an essential read" then don't read anymore of this review.
I hated it. To be completely honest, it was the most boring book I've read yet. From the first page to the last page I struggled to get through it. It took me 4 days, for a fast reader thats a long time especially considering its only 220 something pages long. There was nothing exciting going on, there was no story, no beginning, no middle, no end. It was just it. To make things worse it had no synopsis at all so when you're reading it you literally have no idea what to expect. The author liked to repeat some words, a little too much, which really got quite frustrating. Words like "phony", "goddam", "crumby", and "ba**ard". I don't know, maybe it's a likeable book for some, but for me it just didn't do anything.

Kudos

Bubblesreview (110 KP) rated The Silent Patient in Books

Mar 13, 2019

The Silent Patient

Alex Michaelides | 2019 | Crime, Mystery, Thriller

8.3

(39 Ratings)

Book Rating

Pros:

Psychological

Unexpected twist

Cliff-hanger
Cons:

The cliff hanger and plot twist is so intense I can't cope ?
I'm not sure where to start with this. This is the first book that has literally left me speechless. There was many moments where I gasped out loud and had to close the book to take in what I had just read. It's so psychologically twisting you get dragged into this plot and then everything you have just read gets scrumpled up and blown up into the biggest plot twist I have ever read.
One minute you feel like you know the characters well enough to suspect the ending but then all of that changes and you're left feeling sorry for some characters you once doubted and hate towards characters you once loved.
The author has written this so well and concluded it with an intense cliff hanger.
I would love to go into detail about the story but I can't physically do that without ruining the experience of actually reading it, so all I can say is, if you haven't read this then what the heck are you waiting for?
.
I also just found out that this is being made into a film, this doesn't surprise me! I really hope they do it justice. This author is sensational.

Kudos (2)

Bubblesreview (110 KP) rated The Maze Runner in Books

Mar 13, 2019

The Maze Runner

James Dashner | 2011 | Children

8.0

(55 Ratings)

Book Rating

Pros:

Lots of action

Suspense from page 1

Fast paced (once past the slowish start)
Cons:

More questions than answers at the end
*deep breath* ok here we go. So, this took me slightly longer to finish than I'd hope. I watched the films only days before starting this, I don't think that helped. I should've learnt my lesson by now, read the book before watching the films! My issue was, the film was almost entirely different from the book, if it weren't for the same character names and wording than you could easily mistake the film for not even being connected to the book, it's that bad. Ok, not that drastic but seriously though it's pretty bad.
The first half of the book was a little slow but still had plenty of suspensful moments and action. The second half is when it really began to pick up and from here is when it got interesting for me because it had no similarity to the film so it was like I was reading a story I had no idea how it was going to end. The ending really smashed it and made it for me but it did leave me with too many questions than answers, which is what the author usually aims for but perhaps TOO many questions is not that great.
Overall this is a really fun book to read, the characters are all really well described and you quickly gain strong connections with them, I really like the strong use of descriptive writing when it comes to the smell of things.
I do have the rest of the series which I plan on reading but for now I feel I need a break between each book but I'll definitely be picking up book 2 soon!