Review: Wait For You by J Lynn

5/5 Stars

I know, I know. It has been a shamefully long time since I last posted a review but to be honest there has been nothing I have read recently that has been all that much to write home about. I was stuck in a massive reading slump for a while and I finally found a fabulous book to get me out of it so I thought that I better let you all know my thoughts on it. I have had this book since autumn last year after absolutely falling in love with the blurb, but as always it got lost in a sea of pretty and fabulous books so it has taken a little while to get around to reading it.

Avery is starting college, far away from her home, ever critical parents and her past. She wants just one single thing - to start over and have a normal life with noone knowing what had happened to her five years ago when she was only fourteen and what made her closed and uncomfortable around others. But what she is not expecting is Cameron - popular, extremely good looking and real charmer who is determined to get to know her better. But will Avery be able to run away from her past forever

This was my first dip into the writings of Jennifer L Armentrout and I can say without a doubt that I get it now. I understand the hype over her books. From the beginning I was absolutely enraptured by the mindset of Avery and her take upon the word. Avery kind of broke my heart at the beginning - she just seemed so very alone. She had plenty of coping mechanisms to get her through the day but she’s not really living, just moving on from one day to the next. I felt so sorry for her – the people that should have been there to cherish her and care for her had really let her down when she needed them most and she’s reached the point where she trusts no one and cannot comprehend why people are now being nice to her.

She literally crashes into Cam on her way to her very first class and it soon transpires that they are neighbours and they get to know each other slowly. Cam – le sigh!! Cam is just wonderful. Every girl needs a Cam. He’s funny, charming, endearingly over-confident, thoughtful, attentive, caring and HOT – I could continue to rain down superlatives but I think you get the gist, right? I pretty much adored him right from the get go. I loved the way he asked Avery to go out with him on an almost daily basis – he never gave up and just waited for her to slowly come around even though she took hard to get to a whole new level.

This here is my ideal book. Let's get this straight, while I am partial to the odd book with completely a completely original storyline and I do love fantasy novels, above all I love books that make me feel something. Books that make me keep on reading until 3am desperate to know the fate of a budding relationship. Books that make me shed a tear over the hardships that characters have overcome to get to where they are at that moment. And books that make me clutch my pillow and want to squeal at the unbelievably cheesy cute moments that fill my stone cold heart with the good old warm fuzzies. This book did all of that things.

Summer of Freedom

Earlier today I sat my very last exam of my high school career. The past 6 years of my life that I have shared with the same crazy bunch of people is well and truly over and I don't really know how I feel about it. I made a post about 3 weeks ago on the night before my last day of high school and I thought that I would follow that up with a little something on the eve of my last exam. 

It's always a very strange feeling when exams are over, you have a years worth of knowledge that you no longer require and a body so stressed out you feel like your brain is about to liquidate and run out your ears (gross!). The end of exam season always signifies a new beginning but the only new beginning I have ever encountered has been the start of a new school year, but obviously this is not the case this time. 

I think the biggest thing is that I don't quite know what to do with myself. For the past few years generally all of my free time has been filled with homework, studying, worrying about homework and studying or procrastinating to avoid homework and studying. I have none of that now. It feels like I have nothing to work towards in a way which is an unsettling feeling as if you have been following my blog for a while you will know that I almost always set goals to aim for. I don't have any goals at the moment. 

In some ways I feel like that is a good thing, that I can just live a little. Just be. But on the other hand I have the knowledge that at 9am tomorrow morning I am headed into work where I will be 5 days a week for the next 4 months. In some respects I feel like I will just be watching the summer pass me by as by the time I get a day off I just need to relax a little after a hectic week and have no desire whatsoever to go looking for adventures. 

I want to make a list, a summer bucket list of sorts. I used to do this when I was younger, make a colourful list in a pretty little notebook of all the things I wanted to accomplish over my 6 week break from school that inevitable ended up gathering dust under my bed somewhere. This year I want to check off a few things before I go off to University in September. Am I being over assumptious? 100% yes. Of course I am. But I'm damn well going to try.

Ask me now what I want to put on this list and I will tell you I have no idea. This wasn't even what I had planned for this post but let's just roll with it. I shall keep you updated (I promise I will this time) on my summer goals and maybe even write a little blog post on how each of them turns out. We will just have to wait and see how everything turns out.

All things come to an end

I am writing this on the night before my final day of high school. Today I had my last taught periods in the school that I have been going to for the past 6 years and with the friends I have known for the last 13. Tomorrow I will go back into the school for one final time as a student to say goodbye to teachers who have taught me for 3 years in some cases and experience my first taste of a graduation ceremony of sorts. It's a bittersweet feeling.

As many of you will know, high school didn't hold many fond memories up until this year. Before I reached my final year in the hell hole I couldn't wait to leave and in some respects I am still excited at the prospect of this time in my life coming to an end. This year however has seen me change a considerable amount. I am much more confident in myself and I have found it a lot easier to make friends. I have gone to having only two close friends so around 20 or so people that I feel completely comfortable around which for me is a shocker. This year has also made me more sure of what I want to do in the future and for that I will never forget it.

The idea that this time tomorrow, actually in around 15 hours from now, I will no longer be a high school student is terrifying. Yes, I still have exams to sit starting next week before I'm finally free but officially I will no longer be in the education system. The next taught class I have will be a lecture in September that I will be paying five grand a year for. That's whats scary. Moving to Glasgow and leaving everything behind is finally starting to feel real and it is making me second guess myself. Not about moving but about whether I'm ready to move five hours away from everything that I know.

I think my main issue is that this year I have become comfortable. I have expanded my previously minuscule comfort zone, occasionally still stretching the walls, but the thought of having to leave it scares me. I'm worried that when I'm no longer in this bubble of comfort I will no longer feel as secure and go back to my old ways of constant anxiety and never ending worrying. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm scared to leave school as I'm unsure as to whether I've actually changes or whether I've just become comfortable in the school environment. But I guess its time to find out.

I have made plans with friends for over the next few months in order to ensure I do keep in contact with them and have things to look forward to. For example, tomorrow after graduation me and some friends are driving to the nearest city, around an hour away, with a massive playlist of roadtrip music to sing along to and the intentions of going to see Age Of Ultron and go get some pizza. It's good to have things to look forward to I find that it helps me move forward and not get stuck in how I'm feeling at the time.

I guess I should go and get on with preparing my outfit for tomorrow since we are all dressing up, but I just thought I would write something quick so that I can look back on it in the future, maybe when I'm in uni to remind myself of how silly I was being, or later when I'm preparing for my next graduation which will be more exciting than this one. Well, wish me good luck for tomorrow, I just hope I don't cry to much and look like a crazy person.

My little European adventure

So if you've been following this blog for a little while then you will know that at the end of last month I was going away on a trip away to Belgium and Paris for a few days. I've compiled some of my favorite photos here to share with you, and you can find more over on my Instagram page. 

One of the war grave sites we visited in Belgium. Witnessing the vast expanse of graves, of which many held no names, was such an incredibly moving experience.

First view of the Eiffel Tower from the bus, my favorite moment of the trip. It was such an incredible moment being able to witness this monument that is adored all over the world. I just feel so honored to have had the chance to visit it never mind go up it. 

My favorite building in Paris, the Notre Dame. We unfortunately only got to witness it from the boat while on our river cruise but it is certainly something that I look forward to visiting at a later date. I am already mentally planning another trip to Paris.

Diksmuide, Belgium. This was the cute little town that we stayed at whilst in Belgium. It's such a pretty traditional village to wander around.

The Arc de Triomophe in Paris.This is as close as we got due to time restrictions but I cannot begin to describe how beautiful it is in real life.This photo does not do it justice.

The view of some of the pretty buildings while going
on the boat down the Seine river in Paris. Even the houses in Paris were incredibly beautiful.

Again, a photo from when we were on the
river boat cruise.

So as you can see I had a brilliant time in Belgium

 and Paris. I'm limited as to what photos I can 

post as most include photos of my friends 

and I don't feel comfortable sharing those without 

their consent but if you want to

 see more head over to my instagram. 

Disneyland Paris!!

Life Update: April 2015

Just a quick post to apologise for the complete lack of posts over the past few weeks. Life has a habit of getting crazy every so often and this has just been one of those times where I have needed some time to actually come to terms with what is happening.

I have been inundated with school work recently and that coupled with work has left for very little time to allow myself to come to terms with the fact that my school days are numbered and very soon I will be moving out. (more in a blogpost to follow shortly) I was also away from home for over a week at the tail end of last month, again I will be writing a blog post about my travels pretty soon and it shall include all the photos from my little European adventure. 

Along with that I have been in a massive reading slump that I have only just managed to drag myself out of thanks to some pretty damn good books that I've been reading, and it goes without saying that I will also be making a blog post about them in the near future too.

February Favorites

So it is nearing the end of the month again and I decided that since I haven't done a monthly favorites for a while that it's about time that I did. There have been quite a few things that I have been loving this month, from beauty to books, so keep reading for a look into what has been tickling my pickle this month.

Beauty

I have been drawn back to my trusty Mac Creme de la Femme this month. Back in summer this used to be my everyday lipstick but was traded out for Rimmel 107 during the autumn months. Since the weather is getting nicer and it's beginning to go into spring then it is the perfect lipstick to add a subtly hint of colour to the lips.

I have been using a new face powder this month and I am pretty sure that there hasn't been a day where I have been wearing makeup that I have not used this powder since I got it. The Seventeen Miracle Matt Pressed Powder is simply brilliant, I have never found a drugstore powder with such a great durability before. I can dust on a bit of this powder in the morning before school or work and my face remains shine free for a good 5 hours at least afterwards. And at £3.99 it is hardly going to break the bank.

Skincare

After a couple of moths of varying products I seem to have a pretty goof skincare routine down now as a result of a few new great products I have picked up. The products that I personally think have been a saving grace for my skin recently are a few from the Body Ship Tea Tree range. The three that I use religiously are the Skin Clearing Toner which is great for oily skin as it completely mattifies the face and leaves it feeling clean and fresh, the Skin Clearing Lotion hydrates the skin and also helps with shine control and I also swear by the Blemish Fade Night Lotion. It initially doesn't appear to have any effect but after applying and leaving to soak in, your skin just feels so much smoother. 

Obviously I have to insert  a few sneaky lush products in here as well. This month I have been obsessed with the limited edition Valentines lip scrub The Kiss. It tastes like cupcakes. That should be enough for you to understand my love of it. Also I tried out the Blackberry bath bomb for the first time as I was intrigued by the fact it contained bergamot oil which is said to be a natural anxiety remedy and lets just say I will certainly be picking up some more soon. 

Haircare

What a surprise, more Body Shop products. When I was down in Glasgow earlier on in the month I obviously stopped off in one of their stores and made the mistake of smelling the banana hair products. I say mistake as I am pretty sure no shampoo will ever measure up now. I absolutely love the smell of artificial banana, you know that banana milkshake smell, so I feel prey to the pretty smell and picked up the shampoo and conditioner. While undoubtedly a more expensive option considering the size of the product and my insanely thick long hair, I cannot get past how good this makes my hair feel.

 Book

Just yesterday I started reading Fractured by Dani Atkins and while I haven't got that far into it yet I am already loving it.

Tv

During my days off ill this month I decided to check out the spin off show of Grey's Anatomy that features one of my favorite characters Dr Addison Montgomery. Safe to say in the space of two days I watched two seasons and am now well into the third and still loving it.

So that is everything that I have been loving this month, feel free to leave some things that you have been loving in the comments.

You are the sun

There are those rare and beautiful moments in life where we feel nothing but pure elation. We are excited for the future, happy about where we are in our lives at that present moment and proud of how far we have come. We have everything to look forward to and good memories to look back upon and friends that are pretty damn great. But when we exude this happiness, to share our own enthusiasm, there will always be somebody there to give us a metaphorical slap on the face and burst out happy little bubble. And personally, those type of people are my least favorite type of people.

For a little while at school this afternoon I let the excitement about moving to a place that I lover overtake me. My classmates and I were enthusiastically trading ideas on university life, how to get all our belongings down there and how they were pretty damn sure that out of our whole year that I am the person who is the most excited. And I know it, I am well aware of the fact that I light up whenever I talk about it and even you will be able to tell from the many a blog post relating to it that I am writing at the moment.

However later on today I was explaining all of this to my grandfather, who I am exceptionally close to, and he coldly informed me that he still doesn't understand how my parents are 'allowing' me to move away. That I will be all alone in a massive city, miss my family and inevitably move home so there is apparently no reason to even go and I should just live her my whole life. I didn't even know where to start trying to argue with him.

Nobody, least of all my parents, have any say in where I move and what I choose to do with my life. That is my decision. But my parents are great about it, I have always been incredibly ambitious and they are aware of how much I live Optometry and want to do this course. Aside from that, I am perfectly aware that I will be moving to a city where I know nobody but so will thousands of other people my age who will all be in exactly the same boat and looking to make friends. I will have 5 ready-made new friends when I move into my halls of residence not to mention others I will meet during freshers and that are doing the same degree as me. And my family, of course I will miss them. But moving away doesn't mean that they will no longer be my family, there are ways to keep in touch and I will be home regularly.

I understand that he is just worried about me and unprepared for the fact that I am no longer a 3 year old girl, but I don't know whether I'm more upset about the fact that he doesn't understand that I am my own person now and that nobody can make my decisions for me or that he suggested I stay in this town that makes me feel claustrophobic and stiffed living an fulfilling life.

I guess what I am trying to say here is do not let anybody else ruin your happiness. Do not let anybody else tell you what you should be. The word is full of sharks and shark have teeth. Don't be a minnow. Be a damn shark. If something makes you happy then go and do it. Don't let what anyone else says or thinks stop you. Understand that these things may be a mistake but they are your mistake to make and your mistake to learn from. This is the time in our lives to make mistakes. To do stupid crap. And to learn from it all to ultimately make us better people in the long run.