'Happiness can be found in the darkest of places if one remembers to turn on the light'
Author: Roseanne's Blog
I'm Roseanne :) 33. Married to Tim 💗 I'm a Harry Potter fanatic ⚡ and a Bookworm 📚 I started this blog to document our wedding planning and its grown from there!
Working in education, in a early years setting, means that I am constantly surrounded by Childrens books. I also have two nephews and a niece who I love reading stories too.
I love childrens books and they are a brilliant way to engage, excite and capture a childs brilliant imagination.
So, I thought that each week I would do a ‘Weekly Feature’ of a children’s book, to share with you some of the beautiful books out there.
2020 has shone a light on the reality of racism, in all its forms.
Sparked by the Black Lives Matter protests, which stemmed from horrific injustices such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor (to name a few) we are informing and educating ourselves on the wrongs of a nation, (well I hope you are) with regard to black lives and their treatment. People are educating themselves on black heritage and culture… and learning all about black history is such an important part.
‘A genuine change must first come from within the individual, only then can he or she attempt to make a significant contribution to humanity.’
Dalai Lama
This is why educating and informing ourselves is so important and Black History Month is the perfect opportunity.
Black History Month began in 1987, in order to celebrate and bring a focus to the history and contributions that black people have made to the UK.
Black history is almost completely forgotten in most traditional history curriculums.
One of my favourite mediums of information is of course print & books.
I have been purchasing some books over lockdown and in the recent weeks. These books were recommended by many people that I follow on my blogs Instagram page.
They touch on the stories and injustices of black people and they are certainly eye opening.
I would particularly recommend ‘Just Mercy’ by Bryan Stevenson, (although this is focussed on the American Justice system it is still such an important read)
Amazon have a great Black History section that offers book suggestions for both adults and children.
These include:
•Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga •Black British History: New Perspectives, Edited by Hakim Adi •Black Poppies: Britain’s Black Community and the Great War by Stephen Bourne •Black, Listed by Jeffrey Boakye
& for children..
•Bedtime Inspirational Stories – 50 Black Leaders who Made History: Black History Book for Kids by L A Amber. •Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison •Black Heroes: A Black History Book for Kids: 51 Inspiring People from Ancient Africa to Modern-Day U.S.A by Arlisha Norwood. •Coming to England: An Inspiring True Story Celebrating the Windrush Generation by Baroness Floella Benjamin.
I have also been listening to Podcasts on Spotify, a brilliant resource. There is a Black Lives Matter & Black History Now playlist.
This playlist is brilliant and I’m enjoying the ‘Inspirational Black Life Stories’ And the ‘BLAM UK: Black History Bites.’
𝕆𝕟𝕖 𝕝𝕖𝕗𝕥 𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕧𝕖 & the Crime/Detective Books Series.
By Helen Phifer
I stumbled across Helen Phifers books whilst browsing on the Kindle app, on my phone. Now, I totally get the merits of a Kindle but I am defaintly team ‘Physical Book’. However, when I discovered her books I couldn’t resist and they were only available as a Kindle download. I was hooked immediatly and here I am, three separate, stand alone detective series later and I am still throroughly enjoying her books.
Heres a general review of her books as a whole. The most recent that I have read being ‘One Left Alive’
‘One Left Alive’ is part of her newest series ‘Detective Morgan Brookes Series’. Her books are Crime and Thriller Novels and its no suprise that they are bestselling.
They are gripping from the get go. The horrific murder/s that gets the ball rolling, in the beginning of the book, will both horrify and intrigue you in equal measure. You will have to find out what has happened and you won’t put the book down until you do. If, like me, you are a horror fan then Helen’s books will be right up your street. There are always moments of pure, on the edge, ‘oh my god, I don’t want to read on but I must’ moments that will keep you hungrily reading until the end. (They are not for the squeamish readers amoung us!)
The characters are so relatable and are ‘normal’ people, and even with the strong police element, they and the storylines, aren’t overly complicated. Its quite fascinating to look into the police process. I love police dramas on TV, such as Line of Duty, and its almost like reading a episode. And as I said, the investigation is easy to follow, but it always keeps you on your toes and is never predictable.
With regard to the characters, I like how you are following ‘the story’ but also their story too. You are always rooting for them to succeed both professionally and personally.
As soon as I read and finish one I always want more, so thank goodness there are a few in each series. The second book of this series is in preorder already.
I was genuinely gutted when I got to the last book in her ‘Annie Graham’ series. Gutted.
ᴍʏ ᴏᴠᴇʀᴀʟʟ ʀᴀᴛɪɴɢ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴇʀɪᴇꜱ: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)
I hope you liked this review! I am going to try and do a review for each different genre that I read.
I recently reviewed the childrens fantasy series ‘The Land of Stories’ by Chris Colfer, (any Disney lovers young and old will love this series) So, check that review out here.
As always any book recommendations are ALWAYS welcome.
Here is the penultimate quarter of my reading challenge for 2020.
July, August, September
And in a honesty it hasn’t been a very impressive one. I’ve found myself quite busy and unable to focus, as well as I would like, on my reading, which is a bit annoying.
But, none the less, here we are!
Lets have a look at what I have read during this quarter…
Books I’ve read:
Just Mercy: A story of justice and redemption By Bryan Stevenson
Cuckoos Calling By Robert Galbraith
Roald Dahl‘s Book of Ghost Stories
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparkes
Sorry Not Sorry By Naya Rivera
This quarter was quite a mixed bag.
Just Mercy was more of an ‘educate myself’ book choice and that it has been.
The injustice of the American ‘justice’ system is abhorrent and it’s definatly an eye opener in terms of how easy some people have it and how some people have so much power just because of the race/family/country they are born in.
I have been meaning to read the Robert Galbraith books for a very long time and I just haven’t got round to it.
I am glad that I finally did because I really enjoyed it and I loved the characters especially.
I have read The Notebook several times but it is a Nicholas Sparks fave of mine and I just fancied going back to it. I read it in just over a day and it was great.
I have quite a few books ready and waiting for the final quarter and I want to make it a goodun’.
I’ve got a Christmas book blog post idea too!
Also, you can check out my Insta ‘RoseannesBlog’ as I post regularly on there too.
Pets make a great addition to any family, they are someone to cuddle, someone to talk to, someone to look after, someone to love.
This probably seems like a really random blog post but I started this blog to document one of the most important days of my life (our wedding) and since then I have found it my place to write about the things I like, that make me, me as well as the things that are important to me in my life.
I’m so sad to say that our guinea pig Captain died yesterday, Sunday 20th September 2020 😭💛 He was such a lovely chap! An old boy at 6 years and 2 months old. Our first pet together (with Remus 💚) back in 2014, when we moved into our flat.
You were adorable when we saw you at Pets at Home, we both knew you were coming home with us! We’ll miss you squeaking to say hello (or FEED ME) as we come in the front/lounge door.
Thanks for being my little lockdown buddy.. you were great company!
We’ll miss you Captain (Gothmog) Byford💛 🐹 . RIP Buddy X
I did a spot of baking this weekend after a busy week at work. I find it quite relaxing (as long as the recipe is simple!)
I made a Banoffee pie for a family BBQ (Link to my blog post recipe here ) & a banana bread cake. This one is for my mum. I had plenty of left over, very ripe bananas!
I love documenting what we get up to in the Summer holidays.
Though thanks to Covid we didnt actually have a Summer ‘holiday’, I also didn’t have to work this Summer, so I had all six weeks to enjoy, have fun and relax ready for Sept!
So, without further ado, let’s have a look at what we got up to…
