March 2017

Meet Celaena Sardothien. Beautiful. Deadly. Destined For Greatness.

In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake. She got caught.

Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament - fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin's heart by mended?

This book was recommended to me ages ago by a friend, so I made sure I added it to my ever growing To Read book list. I was excited to read it as my friend, and other people (YouTubers/Bloggers), loved this book so much. I was even more excited to pick it up after reading A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, it was in that book series (man I can't wait for the third book!) that I really enjoyed her writing style and decided what the hell so bought the entire Throne of Glass series, well what was published anyway.

I dove into this series having so much hope for it, and then couldn't get through more than a few chapters at a time. The first 100 pages took me over 5 months to get through! I just couldn't get into it, but I kept reading, praying it would get better as everyone said it was amazing. This is always my biggest problem, I always give a book at least the first 100 pages to excite me, if it doesn't I don't read it anymore.

Thankfully it was around the 100 page mark this booked really picked up, and then I wasn't able to put it down and literally read the rest of it within 24 hours. Now if I can read a book (or at least the majority of it) in that short amount of time, it's a great book in my eyes. Sure I struggled through the first 100 pages not being able to get into it, but I can assure you if you have the same problem - keep reading!

This book had mystery, magic, humour and love all thrown into one. Celaena is such a badass warrior who has clearly gone through some terrible stuff in her life time, I love her attitude and love that she isn't just some young girl who wants to be saved, she knows what she wants and she goes for it. So if you're a lover of Fantasy/Young Adult fiction with a very strong female lead - read it!! I'm currently reading the second book and it's even better, plus no slow start.

If you've read the book let me know your thoughts in the comments below, I'd love to know what other people think about it.

I've left the link to Book Depository below so you can find the book, and no I'm not paid by them or anything, it's just the website I use to buy all my books. I've also left my Goodreads account link so we can be friends!

You can find Throne of Glass on Book Depository
My Goodreads account

6:00 PM No comments

In January of 2016 I went on a 5 week holiday to America, okay so it was mainly all Disney...but we went to New York a couple of days before going on our Disney Cruise.

For travelling Australian's this is how long it takes you (roughly, depends where you leave from) to get to New York. For me my travel day consisted of:

Townsville - Brisbane = 2 hours

Brisbane - Los Angeles = 13 hours

Los Angeles - New York = 5.5 hours

Yes, that's roughly 20.5 hours of flying time...not including all the time spent sitting at airports between flights, going through customs etc. It is a big day!

Tip: Try and find a flight that leaves Australia in the morning - this means you will get to America on the same day. For example I left Brisbane at around 11am and got into Los Angeles at 6am. It then meant my flight to New York was all during the day and by the time I arrived in New York it was 8pm and time for bed. I found I didn't suffer much jet lag and found it very easy to get accustomed to the time change.

During my New York stay I stayed at the Row NYC. This hotel, although not entirely the cheapest but not overly expensive, was so close to Times Square I loved it! Being so close to Times Square meant we were close to shops, restaurants...everything! Or it at least felt that way.

It's a very modern hotel and the room we stayed in was a Superior room with two double beds. I was with my parents and my sister and yes it felt small, but this was New York. We only used our room to sleep in and get ready for the new day. Plus for us it was still bigger than a cruise room and we are very used to cruising together in the same room. The beds were comfortable, we got free wifi and the entire room was very clean. I would definitely stay here again if I go back to NY some day.

I had 3 full days in New York which felt like enough time as a first timer to the city. In this time I was able to tick off so many tourist attractions I wanted to see, some I definitely would go back to do again. My family and I were a bit worried on how we'd do it all but after recommendations from friends we bought The New York Pass.

This pass gives you entry into many of the attractions around New York including tour buses. We figured out before hand that with this pass we'd save money on all the attractions we wanted to fit in our 3 days in NY - so definitely check it out. Have some sort of plan though on what you want to see. If you don't plan to do many attractions this might not be for you.

What my family and I loved about this though was the hop on - hop off bus tours we had access to. We could travel around New York and when they mentioned particular attractions we'd hop off check it out and then hop on another bus later and keep moving along.

During my 3 day stay in New York I visited the:

9/11 Memorial & Museum

A must see if you're in New York! Obviously it can be quite a sad experience but it's part of New York's history and it truly is interesting to see everything and hear some of the stories from the people who lived through it.

Ferry - Statue of Liberty

I didn't go to the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island, instead we caught a ferry that took us right past it. It even slowed down and allowed us to take some happy snaps. This was so easy and I would recommend everyone doing this. Plus our ferry did have a guide who pointed out many different things along the way.

Top of the Rock - Rockefeller Centre

I loved this experience! I'd say do this over the Empire State Building. For one, you actually get to go to the very top and stand outside with no cage surrounding you - just unlimited views. Plus the elevator ride up is awesome. If you do this and Empire State, do one in the day and the other at night. I did this at night and loved it - I actually think it worked better to do this a night. Also, from this you get a pretty good view of the Empire State Building, so something to think about.

Empire State Building

I felt like this was a must do of New York, but I actually liked the Rockefeller Centre better. Sure the Empire State Building was beautiful, and I can now say I've been there because I feel like most people want to go there, but to me it felt overcrowded. I don't even think I went on a busy day and it felt crowded, maybe going in the morning isn't the best time, I'm not sure. But is the view worth it? Yes it is. Make sure you visit either this building or the Rockefeller Centre because seeing New York from that high up in the sky is pure magic.

The Highline

My sister actually found this and I'm glad she did. The Highline is a walkway, or park, built in Manhattan on an elevated section of a disused railroad. It was so nice to walk above all the streets and just go on a stroll through New York. It surely would be far more vibrant and beautiful in Spring when all the trees and plants and alive and blooming, but I still really enjoyed it.

Wicked on Broadway
My #1 goal in New York, see a Broadway show - and if that was Wicked even better. I'd been wanting to see Wicked for the longest time and I'm so happy I finally did, such an amazing show! We ended up buying tickets off some people selling them in the street, not sure if this is the best way but it was easy and I think we saved money. If you love theatre or musicals this is a must do, not just Wicked but going to Broadway in general.

Central Park
Another must do of New York. The day I went was my coldest day there so I felt like I didn't enjoy it as much as a should've. It was pretty cool to see the pond frozen over and snow covering parts of the grass, and to be honest I liked how the trees had no leaves, it was different. Once again it'd be far better to go in Spring or Summer so you can actually enjoy the park and it's entirety. I'd definitely go back there to explore more.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met)
I'm a massive Gossip Girl fan, so naturally I had to go here just to sit on the steps (you'll understand if you watch Gossip Girl). I then spent only an hour or so, which was not long enough, exploring the different exhibitions. I'm a big ancient history nerd so I was freaking out a little at all the different displays you find in there.

American Museum of Natural History
So it was mainly my sister that wanted to go here, and I'm glad we did, such a neat museum. And if you're wondering, yes this is the museum of Night at the Museum (well based off it, I think they only used external shots in the movie) so if you love that movie, go here. This museum is a more modern museum in my opinion. Where The Met is all beautiful floors, things hung on walls and statues, this museum felt more interactive and more up with the times if that makes sense, as much as I love ancient history, I think I actually preferred this museum.

Grand Central Station
My family and I just walked through here just to see it. It's in so many movies and tv shows, I'm glad I did. Such a majestic building and it really is a quick and easy sight to see. If you're a lover of architecture, you'll love it.

Finding Neverland on Broadway
We picked this show randomly, I'd heard of it and never seen the movie so we thought why not. Plus we had the pleasure of seeing Matthew Morrison and Kelsey Grammer perform. This show was brilliant, really sad and I bawled my eyes out, but beautiful. I loved the set and I loved how certain scenes came to life on the stage, it really was magical to see.

Times Square
Finally, Times Square. Go be one of those people that stands on those steps and takes a picture from the top - trust me it's worth it.

And that was my time in New York done. A busy 3 full days, but I got to see so much and I'm so glad I did. Next time I definitely will not go in winter, I like the cold but not that much. Also I vlogged my holiday, the first video is below if you want to check it out.

And now I leave you with a heap of happy snaps - enjoy!

6:00 PM No comments

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