Subscription Boxes

Twisted Tales FairyLoot Unboxing

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After skipping last month’s box, I am back on the game with February’s box.

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And I am glad about it, because look at that gorgeous exclusive book cover in hardback (and let’s go clockwise):

  • The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert. One of those books I was really excited about and this is my absolute favourite cover so I am SO glad about it.
  • Grimm Tales mug by Aunjuli Art. This is a dreamy mug so I am very happy for the design.
  • Poisonous Apple bath salts by Little Heart. I am eager to try them out!
  • Little Red Riding Hood woodmark by Ink and Wonder.
  • Fairyscoop, Twisted Tales theme card and bookmark.
  • The Witch and the Ginger Bread House socks by Fairyloot.
  • Hinterland Candle by Wick and Fable.
Subscription Boxes

Bookish Teas Anniversary Box

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Bookish Teas makes the most amazing teas. They are inspired by books and characters and it is just the best tea I’ve had.

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The anniversary box was gorgeous, just look at all the goodies. Going clockwise, starting with the print on the left:

  • Anniversary Print by Kim Carlika. This is super dreamy, a lot of lovelies coming out of a cup of tea.
  • A pretty tin of fruit tea which is the anniversary tea.
  • All the feels candle by Glittering Flames, this has a soft flowery smells, quite interesting.
  • French Kiss tea, a green tea blend inspired by Anna and The French Kiss.
  • Thus with a Kiss I Die, a blend of black tea inspired by Romeo & Juliet.
  • Anna and the French Kiss sticker, which is very cute and it has a lovely romantic feel.
  • Anniversary tea mirror.

 

Subscription Boxes

Into Dystopia Book Box Club Unboxing

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As you may already know (if you don’t you’ll soon find out), I have been subscribed to Book Box Club since they started and this box didn’t disappoint (it also had me guessing the book like crazy!)

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So let’s start this unboxing from the theme card (it’s at the bottom of the picture):

  • Into Dystopia theme card.
  • Orphan Monster Spy publisher’s promotional postcard.
  • Outwalkers by Fiona Shaw. Such a difficult book to find but it does look so gorgeous!
  • The Hazel Wood bookmarks (there’s a few others around the picture).
  • Orange Zest Gnaw chocolate (it is yummy, survival supplies indeed!)
  • Supplies to Stay Alive list pad by Bread and Jam. I love the fact that it has a magnetized strip at the back so it has gone on my fridge for all my shopping lists.
  • Handmaid’s Tale Cuff by Beautifully Bookish. It has the pseudo latin quote on it and it is very pretty (I tried very hard to show it off here in the picture but failed).
  • The Belles promotional postcard.
  • Dauntless Tea by Craft Tea Company. It has lemon grass so it absolutely wins in my books.
  • Scrolled clubhouse invite
  • And a gorgeous silver arrow pen by Book Box Club. It is amazing.

Another gorgeous box by the girls of Book Box Club. You can use code MOON17 for 5% off a subscription.

Subscription Boxes

As Cold As Ice Ninja Book Box

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Ninja Book Box is all about indie books and indie/small businesses and it shows in their boxes.

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Starting with the gloves and going clockwise (the theme was about winter survival and cold):

  • Blue fingerless gloves, they are really soft and I love the mix of stitches in them.
  • Ninja Recipe for a Baked Alaska (pun in the name of the dessert to fit the theme).
  • Lanolin lip balm to help protect your lips (but lanolin in general is good) by Little Beau Sheep.
  • Lime and dark chocolate bar by Kentish Chocolates (my boyfriend loved it! I usually share my chocolate bars with him but this one he chomped away and wouldn’t share).
  • A snowflake charm by Ninja Book Box.
  • A swing kit in a small mason jar which is adorable and sweet and definitely helpful.
  • And the book, Dead of Winter by Gerri Brightwell.

I have to admit, I had forgotten i had subscribed to their boxes rather than purchased a one off for the anniversary box,  so this box was a suprise (woops). But it was a pleasant (and apparently yummy too) one!

Subscription Boxes

February Fantasy Leafer Box Unboxing

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Here we go with Leafer Box, an easy accesible box, and of course it was about Love (and talking of love, I love that tissue paper they use in the boxes!)

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Let’s see what was inside, starting from the book and going clockwise:

  • Where Demons Fear to Tread by Stephanie Chong.
  • A beautiful silver feather necklace (it is glittery and very pretty).
  • Maya Gold Green & Black’s chocolate (there’s always chocolate in their boxes and I always rush to take the unboxing picture so I can dig in)
  • Heart bookmark, the little heart charm is very sweet.
  • Homemade candle, it smells softly of flowers and it’s a soft baby pink.

All in all a lovely box once again.

If you’d like to buy one, you can use code KESTREL10 for 10% off. You can find them here in several genres.

Book Review

The Fallen Kind Vol I: Ghosts Of Nunchi Review

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The author was kind enough to provide me with a copy of the book for a honest review (he even signed it, which made me SO happy!!!!)

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The Fallen Kind Vol I: Ghosts Of Nunchi by M. Almelk

Following an apocalyptic near mass extinction, the lifeforms left behind on Casi – a planet of intriguing creatures and haunting landscapes – must find reason for their unexplained survival. 

In their bid to discover a mysterious place in which hope and desire still exist, Evan and Beveridge find they are not the only souls searching for the elusive Promised Land… 

Vol I of The Fallen Kind series.

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20pxMoonKestrel Logo2 20pxMoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Let me start this by saying that the actual story was quite interesting and I kept wondering if they would be able to find the Promised Land or not and what would happen between them.

However, there was a lot of jumping of points of view and too many characters (I confused a couple every now and then, so yeah Law and Levi kept getting a bit jumbled for example). But I cared for them all and wanted to have them reach their goal.

Plus the book has some illustrations to help you visualise things and I also enjoyed that. Bonus for sure.

One thing that would’ve helped a lot would’ve been a glossary. But all in all if you like sci-fi and futuristic reads, give this a try.

 

 

Subscription Boxes

Truth & Lies Wildest Dreams Unboxing

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Third Wildest Dreams box I have received.

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Let’s start with the book and go clockwise:

  • The Truth and Lies of Ella Black by Emily Barr. I’ve heard a lot about this book so I am looking forward to reading it.
  • Lies Require Commitment candle by Taken Moons Candles. It smells of cherry and has glitter.
  • Hogwarts houses bookmark
  • Veritaserum (truth) tea by Rosie Lea Tea and teabags (I now want a test tube wooden rack to display my teas).
  • Sweets, which I love.
  • Signed bookplate
  • Letter from the author.

Another sweet box from Wildest Dreams :), which sold out and apparently March’s Family Ties box is almost sold out! I am so happy for Zoe 🙂

Book Review

When My Heart Joins The Thousand Review

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I am not sure how I ended up deciding this was a book I wanted to read but I did and I am so glad for that.

When My Heart Joins The Thousand by A.J. Steiger

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Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20pxMoonKestrel Logo2 20pxMoonKestrel Logo2 20pxMoonKestrel Logo2 20pxMoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

I do not have any of the conditions any of the main characters feature so this is just my review from my point of view. However I have worked supporting people that present autism.

I was impressed by the way Alvie is presented and how you as a reader have to wonder if she is asking questions or not same as the characters interacting with her.

Admittedly, that first chapter was confusing as can be and it made me wonder if I actually wanted to read this, but then as I got into the story I was rooting for each and every one of them and wondering about both of their pasts.

The half fox is just lost because of some incogruencies that are minimal but that bugged me throughout the book. Otherwise it is amazing and I cannot recommend it enough.

Moon recommends

Definitely reading When My Heart Joins The Thousand, and if you don’t get the reference or need a refresher, why not read Watership Down too?

Book Review

The Ice Garden Review

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In case you didn’t know I am mild to medium photosensitive/photophobic (it does NOT mean I am scared of light or pictures). This basically means an allergy to light and it can be just the sun, any source of UV light, etc. It varies, it is not very common (it took 12 years to get diagnosed) and it makes life difficult (to me it is normal but it does mean I have to do certain things other people think are odd).

What has this got to do with the review? Well, I found out two books which have a main character that present photosensitivity. The first one is The Ice Garden.

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The Ice Garden by Guy Jones

 

Rating:

The premise is lovely and I actually really enjoyed the representation in this book, and the whole ice garden part was beautiful. I do really wish there were more books around like this one.

It slightly made me think of The Secret Garden and Little Princess (but in a good way) and I rushed through it. I felt happy at the end, and was glad about it all.

As I meantioned above my levels are mild to medium so I do not get rashes/bruises as horrible as Jess did, but I do get rashes and it was intersting to see how it is difficult to have a normal life when it is not mild.

I think one of my favourite things was the whole representation of the illness/condition and how it affects you but also that there is hope and that you can have a life despite it. I am glad Guy Jones decided to write about it (even I do not know what made him choose to do so).

Moon Recommends

If you like fantasy, quick reads and would like to read about photosensitivty, I definitely recommend this little book. The only other book I know about that represent photosensitivity is Lovely, Dark and Deep by Justina Chen (which I will be reviewing as soon as I can get hold of it).

 

Announcements

Hiatus on Deviant-art

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This is going to be a rambling wordy post so feel free to skip it.

I have an account on Deviant-Art (DA) that I have had for over 11 years. And after a lot of umming and erring I made the decision to leave it be.

When I started the internet wasn’t as “full” as it is now and it was quite inspirational to see my artwork there. However as the community grew there, white knights appeared telling you that your artwork (fanart) was a rip off and you had to take it off. There was also the fact that you could spend ages on the site and get no views or anything in return despite working hard on it.

To give you an idea of how much work there was, here’s my stats. Notice how many comments I have given compared to the ones I have received.

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Please ignore the journals and deviations I had many more but I set almost everything to storage.

As you can see, there has been a LOT of effort put into it. However I stayed round DA because I was part of two groups and was helping out in both of them.

Then last year, after having helped out hugely for 3 years, I had a glitch where I couldn’t see my notes during the weekend, and without telling me or even letting me explain what had happened they kicked me out. No explanation, no nothing. It wasn’t until after I asked another member to upload my information that I had missed during the weekend that someone told me it was due to my not replying to notes for a weekend.

Worst part was that I contacted them back and explained the situation, but they never got back to me and completely ignored me afterwards, as if I wasn’t good enough and I had never contributed to it at all. It hurt me and made me want to give up there and then with the site.

I still had the other group and I kept with it until around Christmas when life got a little busy and I wasn’t keeping up with it, so I politely told them I couldn’t keep doing it (despite wanting to).

Without those groups connecting me to DA, I realised there was too much negative in it for me. It wasn’t bringing views or commissions. It wasn’t giving me a platform to socialize with artists (most of them were more critical and harmful than helpful) and it was making me sad.

I have stored over 200 deviations and deleted most of my journals there (11 years worth of artwork and writing). I do not know if I will go back to it or not but for now I am keeping away from it.

And it has been very freeing, as I don’t have all that negativity over my artwork and writing.

It does mean you guys will be getting some of my writing posted here every now and then like yesterday’s poem. Hope you don’t mind!