Me, Myself and Mini Me by Charlotte Crosby

The one where I became a mother.

Charlotte Crosby is a woman of many talents - reality TV star, CBB winner, businesswoman extraordinaire, social media queen, star of the BBC's Charlotte in Sunderland - and now a MAM ! Since her number 1 Sunday Times bestseller Brand New Me, she has travelled the world, started a new family business, met the love of her life, supported her mum through breast cancer, suffered the loss of her beloved Nana Jean, and had baby daughter Alba, her perfect bundle of joy.

In Me, Myself and Mini Me, Charlotte talks us through the rollercoaster of these last few years and opens up about the realities of pregnancy and parenthood, with her trademark warmth and humour. Packed full of heartfelt poems, flashbacks to hysterical life plans from years gone by, and touching letters to her younger self, Charlotte invites you to join her for the latest chapter of life in Crosby Manor.

Charlotte is fab, I loved her through Geordie Shore, and have loved her since. I really enjoyed listening to this one, even though Charlotte wasn’t narrating it, and learned a few new things about her. I love hearing about her becoming a mam, her little Alba is gorgeous. I was really sad to hear about Charlotte's Mam, Letitia, discovering she had breast cancer, I knew about this through social media before I read the book, but it was so sad listening to Charlotte talking about it and the effect it had on them all. 

A great book, funny stories and life lessons as told by Charlotte, a great read.

I Promise It Won’t Always Hurt Like This by Clare Mackintosh

Grief is universal, but it's also as unique to each of us as the person we've lost. It can be overwhelming, exhausting, lonely, unreasonable, there when we least expect it and seemingly never-ending. Wherever you are with your grief and whoever you're grieving for, I Promise It Won't Always Hurt Like This is here to support you. To tell you, until you believe it, that things will get easier.

When bestselling writer Clare Mackintosh lost her five-week-old son, she searched for help in books. All of them wanted to tell her what she should be feeling and when she should be feeling it, but the truth - as she soon found out - is that there are no neat, labelled stages for grief, or crash grief-diets to relieve us of our pain. What we need when we're grieving is time and understanding. With 18 short assurances that are full of compassion - drawn from Clare's experiences of losing her son and her father - I Promise it Won't Always Hurt Like This is the book she needed then.

I received a copy of this from Netgalley and the publisher Little Brown in return for an honest review, thank you. I also purchased a beautiful personally signed copy too which I received on release day with a special message from Clare.

This book is beautiful. I cried, I smiled, I laughed, and I hurt reading it. But it was something that was needed. Clare talks about losing her twin son at only 5 weeks old, add having to navigate life and grief while still raising her twin boy who survived. And it’s not pretty most of the time. She talks in raw detail about the grief, the sadness, not being able to get out of bed, wondering how she could carry on and love her children while she has so much loss in her heart. 

We all have loved and lost, and we will go through it all again. I have lost people, but losing My Grandma back in 2004 when I was 19 hit me the worst of all. It’s something I still struggle with sometimes, but it does get easier with time, it just never goes away.

I can’t even imagine losing a child, my heart broke for Clare reading this, and I cried multiple times. But this book is so honest, I really think anyone can read it and relate to different parts throughout. I highlighted so many parts in the ebook, and one quote that stood out to me massively was this:

A goodbye is more than a moment, and you’ll find the right time – and the right way – to say yours.

Only I know how and why this resonated with me so much, but it’s true.

Clare, thank you for writing this, thank you for sharing your story with us all. I know Alex would be extremely proud of you.

The Stranger in Her House by John Marrs

 

A stranger has infiltrated your family…and now he's taking over.

Paul's just here to help, or so he claims-sent by a charity for vulnerable people to do odd jobs for elderly widow Gwen. But for Gwen's daughter Connie, there's just something about Paul that rings alarm bells from day one. He's a little too kind, a little too involved…Worse still, Gwen seems to have fallen under his spell.

The last thing Connie wants is a stranger meddling in the safe routine she's built around Gwen. She loves being the one Gwen turns to for cooking, cleaning and company. But the more Paul visits, the more Gwen is relying on him. By the time he conveniently finds himself between homes and has no choice but to move in, Connie is certain he's trying to push her out completely.

It's her word against his, though, and as her attempts to unmask him become ever more desperate she's not the only one left wondering if she's lost her grip on reality. But when events start spiralling rapidly out of her control, should Connie wage all-out war on Paul and risk losing Gwen forever-or has that been his plan all along?

I devoured this book! I always hear amazing things about John Marrs books, and I’ve only read one before this one (and loved it), so obviously I now plan to read them all haha.

This is a proper twisty thriller which had me guessing all the way through. I could not stop reading! Lets just say I hated Paul, you will find out why when you read it, and you may think you know why, but you won’t. Honestly this book threw so many theories around, I got whiplash reading it. It’s madness, and brilliant. I don’t even want to say anything more as I may end up soiling something, so lets just say read it, and let me know what you think haha!

Thanks for keeping me entertained Mr Marrs, looking forward to reading more of your stories!

Friends, Lovers, and The big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry

 

The beloved star of Friends takes us behind the scenes of the hit sitcom and his struggles with addiction in this candid, funny, and revelatory memoir that delivers a powerful message of hope and persistence.

In an extraordinary story that only he could tell, Matthew Perry takes readers onto the soundstage of the most successful sitcom of all time while opening up about his private struggles with addiction. Candid, self-aware, and told with his trademark humour, Perry vividly details his lifelong battle with the disease and what fuelled it despite seemingly having it all.

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing is an unforgettable memoir that shares the most intimate details of the love Perry lost, his darkest days, and his greatest friends.

I am a huge Friends fan, so of course I knew as soon as this was announced that I’d be reading it. I also knew as a proud bookworm, I would buy it on release day and it would sit on my shelves for months before I read it. Why did I wait so long? I’m glad my friend Kath asked if we should make this our buddy read in February, i love our chats and this one was no different.

My heart broke over and over again reading/listening to this (yes I know, I got the audiobook version too and flitted between that and the hardback). I kept thinking about how he was doing well, he was in rehab, it might work… to suddenly remember he isn’t here, and it seemed all his hard work was for nothing. He talked about wanting kids, I can’t believe he never got to experience that. I cried more than a few times.

But I also laughed, his comic side showing every now and again. I smiled as he remembered fondly being on the set of Friends, remembered friends and lovers (did I know he was once with Julia Roberts? I can’t remember if I did!), and talked with great love about his mother. He truly loved her, his beautiful mother. 

He had a hard childhood, his father leaving when he was young, his mother not being around a lot due to work, but the hardest times ever were ahead of him, when the drugs took hold. How many times he tried to get sober, did get sober, then something happened to knock him back all over again. I’m so glad he did get there in the end, he done so well and he had to have been proud of himself for that.

The stories of surgeries and medical treatment were enough to make anyone realize he had so much trouble, the colon surgery hit hard as the same thing happened to someone very important to me (not through drugs), it was like reliving it again.

I was quite sad after finishing this one, and I still am thinking about it now. I’ve not watched an episode of Friends since Matthew passed, I will, but it’s not going to be the same anymore. Friends was a huge part of my growing up, dashing to the settee every week with my sister and parents, ready for the next episode. Rewatching old episodes years down the line, knowing so many phrases and having favourite episodes and scenes.

So with tears in my eyes, a smile on my face, and love in my heart, I want to say thank you Matthew, for all of it.

#books #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookblog #bookblogger #bookreview #matthewperry #friendsloversandthebigterriblething #addiction #friends #chandler 

Lion by Saroo Brierley

 

As a five-year old in India, I got lost on a train. Twenty-five years later, I crossed the world to find my way back home.

Five-year-old Saroo lived in a poor village in India, in a one-room hut with his mother and three siblings...until the day he boarded a train alone and got lost. For twenty-five years.

This is the story of what happened to Saroo in those twenty-five years. How he ended up on the streets of Calcutta. And survived. How he then ended up in Tasmania, living the life of an upper-middle-class Aussie. And how, at thirty years old, with some dogged determination, a heap of good luck and the power of Google Earth, he found his way back home.

Lion is a triumphant true story of survival against all odds and a shining example of the extraordinary feats we can achieve when hope endures.

I remember watching the movie years ago, and crying and smiling so much I had to go and buy the book. It’s taken me a long time to get to it, but I did. I both read and listened to the audiobook, and I suggest you get to it if you haven’t already.

What a story! How brave Saroo was to do what he did at 5 years old!  A little boy lost, I’m so glad he was smart enough to do some of the things he did, he saved his own life a few times. I was so glad he was adopted by a lovely family, and made a really good life for himself in Australia. 

I loved listening to the parts he talks about sitting with his adoptive mother and describing his village in India, his new mother drawing a map and labelling everything he could remember. No spoilers here as it actually tells you he finds home in the blurb, but that moment when he does, the hope in my heart was huge, I can’t even imagine how it felt for him seeing those images on Google Earth.

What a beautiful story of absolute bravery and love, I’m off to google and find out a bit more information!

Read it, you won’t be disappointed. 

Paris by Paris Hilton

 

Behind Paris Hilton's meteoric rise from Upper West Side club kid to household name lies her self-proclaimed 'superpower' of ADHD and a hidden history that traumatized and defined her. Shocking, funny and surprisingly profound, Paris is the deeply personal memoir of the ultimate It Girl and a stunning inside view of a pop culture phenomenon.

Until, in a revealing documentary, she disclosed that her childhood was shattered by two years of strip searches, isolation, beatings, restraint, and brainwashing within the now infamous 'troubled teen industry', Paris Hilton was simply the billionaire heiress America had watched grow up on television, on the internet, and in tabloids. But there was always more to Paris Hilton than met the eye. Yes, she is the media personality, DJ, entrepreneur, model, singer, actress and icon beloved all over the globe. And yet...

Paris is the story people have always wanted Paris Hilton to tell - the story of who she really is. In this revealing and thought-provoking book, Paris will separate the creation from the creator, the brand from the ambassador, and show the woman who grew up with incredible privilege, but who was also trapped in a world of unreasonable expectation at a moment when young women were humiliated for sport in a gossip economy on steroids. Paris recounts her perilous journey through pre-#METOO sexual politics with grace, generosity, and plenty of fun, rising above a series of heart-wrenching challenges to find healing, lasting love and a life of meaning and purpose.

The parallel story arcs in Paris' braided narrative come to full bloom as a watershed portrait of the Noughties, challenging each of us to question our role in her story and her role in ours. The result is an intimate and unexpected memoir about persona and personification, the price of being young and disobedient, and the complexity of manifesting your dreams after watching part of yourself disappear.

Paris Hilton has always been seen as this daft blonde, who didn’t know much, acted silly and dumb most of the time. But in fact, she is really freaking smart. She runs her own businesses, her loads of her own brands, and is a DJ!! I first came across Paris when she starred in the Simple Life, and loved it. but hearing about her book when it came out made me want to know more about the real Paris. 

Wow, I’d heard about Provo School in the news and socials, but I didn’t know the extent of the things that happened there until I listened to Paris book. What those girls went through, the emotional torture, the physical abuse, the sexul abuse, i’m so glad the school has been shut down now and this shit won’t happen to anyone again. I really like Paris, and I love how she stands for what she believes in. I still can’t believe the stuff she went through, even outside of Provo and the other similar schools, the paparazzi chases sounded so bad. She wanted to be a normal teenager, and it ended with her sneaking out of the house at night, getting into nightclubs, being followed home.

Since finishing this book, I watched Paris’ documentary on YouTube, and it was really good. If you liked the book, go watch the documentary.

I truly wish paris all the best with her life.