I adore Halloween but this is the first time I have ever carved a Pumpkin. They’re not exactly prize winning, but I am proud all the same. I’m also delighted that my son is completely into Halloween this year and has loved the dressing up, the pumpkins, the stories about ghosts and skeletons (FunnyBones is a favoruite) and most of all the chocolate!

Hope you’re having a Spooktacular day!

Elizabeth Scott is one of my favourite authors, so I was delighted
that she had two books out in 2011. Between Here and Forever and As I Wake. Being a contemporary girl I was more excited for Between Here and Forever, but As I Wake surprised me.

Ava wakes up not knowing where she is, or who she is. Her adoring
mother Jane claims she lost her memory. But as Ava has
frightening flashes of a different past she begins to suspect secrets
are being kept. When a mysterious boy, who features prominently in her
fragmented memories, turns up Ava finds herself searching for the
truth, no matter what the cost.

As I Wake is full of tension and uncertainty. I wasn’t quite sure what or who to believe, or where the book would take me. I loved unravelling the pieces with Ava though and I appreciated that the world of the book, and the central mystery wasn’t over explained. In some books that vagueness would drive me crazy, but it really worked here. It added to the atmosphere, and the main pull of this book is the atmosphere.  All the time I was reading I had this sense of unease, I was worried about the characters, and I was utterly sucked into Ava’s confusion. 


One of the things I love most about Elizabeth Scott’s work is how she absolutely nails characters into your heart and As I Wake is no different, I loved Ava, Jane and Morgan. No one writes relationships quite like Elizabeth Scott. I always end up falling for her boys, but she also writes brilliant parent/child relationships and I really liked the one in As I Wake.


 I loved how things wrapped up (even though it wasn’t what I’d expected) and found myself thinking about the novel, and the ideas explored, a long time afterwards. It’s one of those books you want to discuss with people and see if you noticed the same things, or felt the same way.

I highly recommended As I Wake both fans and non fans a like.

It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up.

As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, everyone’s motivations to survive begin to change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life-and death-inside.

When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

To celebrate Friday I thought I’d share my favourite (of this series) Strictly Come Dancing routine. If anyone reading is also a Strictly fan please wave your hand in the comments 🙂

Strictly is appointment tv in my house and this season is fabulous. It’s a great line up, and although I am loving Alex, Anita, Harry, Chelsee, Russel and (surprisingly) Robbie Savage, my heart (and vote) belongs to Jason Donovan.

I was totally in love with Jason when he first appeared on Neighbours, way back when. I saw him as Joseph in the West End, and even saw him live in concert. I adore him on Strictly. He’s so into it and last weeks performance was hysterical and brilliant, just watch it and see!

Happy Friday Everyone!