As a book lover, I’ve been using Audible for a couple of years now and never thought to actually write about it but I’ve recently been talking about it a lot to friends and thought I’d share my view. Please note that this post will contain affiliate links which means should you choose to sign up to this service I will receive a small commission at no cost to you.
What Is Audible?
Audible is an audio book service provided by Amazon. You can listen on a laptop or through the free app on Android, App Store and on Kindle. You can sign up through Amazon or through the Audible website. Your Audible log on is usually the same as your Amazon log on.
How much does Audible cost?
As a new user you can sign up for a free 30 day trial. You can then continue to subscribe for £7.99 a month. This buys you one credit which will buy you any one book. I personally thing this is excellent value for money considering most of the books available are over £15. This gets you one book a month, but if you choose to you can sometimes buy extra credits for more audio books or just pay the cost of the audio book with cash.
How do you cancel Audible?
You can cancel at anytime and any books you have purchased with credits or received for free you will be able to keep forever. You can even just sign up and get the free book with the 30 day trial, just make a note of the date you signed up and cancel within one month.
How many devices can you have it on?
I have used Audible on my laptop, my kindle and both mine and my partners phone. Once an audio book is downloaded from the account, it remains on the device until deleted. So you can have several audio books on one device from other accounts.
What books are available on Audible?
I have found a great range of books available on the service including old favourites and many best sellers. Audible has introduced me to knew authors thanks to the recommendations. There are some fantastic series like Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones and Harry Potter. I really love listening to Miranda Hart’s books on there which are read by her and really do make me laugh when listening in. There’s books for children too like the How to Train Your Dragon series which my six year old daughter absolutely loves.
Verdict
I think Audible is a great service and well worth the money. I would really recommend taking advantage of the three 30 day trial and getting the first book for free.
If you decide to sign up to Audible – you can do so by clicking the ad below, which will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you, or you can sign up direct through Amazon and start a free, 30 day trial, get yourself a free book and even cancel before the 30 days is up and KEEP your audio book at no cost.
I love video games and I especially love the Final Fantasy series. During September I loved playing 13 and 13-2 again to get me back into things with the upcoming Final Fantasy 15 being released at the end of the month. However, in the middle of all this I had to get myself the day one edition of World of Final Fantasy.
World of Final Fantasy is a little different from the conventional games but it really reminds me of Kingdom Hearts with it’s style, character animation and original worlds and stories with the mash up of Final Fantasy characters. The key difference being that this follows the active time battle combat system that we’re used to seeing in Final Fantasy games.
The whole thing is really very cute. The characters can turn from Jiants to Lillikins which are chibi style animations. Even the monsters, known as Mirages, are cute. The game starts in Nine Wood Hills were twins Reyn and Lann finding out they are Mirage keepers and that they can head out into the world of Grymoire to collect Mirages to help them battle. The gameplay is pretty straight forward, simple and, in my eyes, classic to the older Final Fantasy games. Throughout the story we come to know characters from the older games and visit places that are familiar to those that are fans of the series.
Photo Credit: Gamespot.com
However, World of Final Fantasy is perfect for those that are a little younger and new to the series. The gameplay is very straightforward, the combat can be sped up or left at a pretty slow pace whilst learning the controls and the story is fairly lighthearted but with a darker plot being layered throughout. Evie and I have both really enjoyed playing the game and collecting lots of different Mirages.
One thing I really liked about this game was the addition of Anime style cut scenes, it was a really nice touch and made them really enjoyable to sit and watch. True to the franchise, there are a lot of cut scenes, some being fairly lengthy so it’s great to see these a little differently. I also really liked the addition of the Post Script – to avoid spoilers, I won’t go into it too much but when you think you’ve finished, you actually haven’t! Start to finish the game can easily rack up around 40 hours however, there are many mini adventures, a Colosseum and extra dungeons to complete where level grinding becomes necessary. This can extend gameplay by a fair few 20+ hours so expect a lot from this game. I found later on in the game a Multiplayer option was added which I’ve not tried yet but I think it’s a nice add on.
Overall World of Final Fantasy is a fun, relatively straight forward adventure for all to enjoy. World of Final Fantasy is available on Playstation 4 and PS Vita
Goldenhand by Garth Nix – 4th Book in The Abhorsen Series
Are there any books you read as a teenager that you would love to have just one more book to read in the series? Well, I was recently offered the chance to review Goldenhand, the latest in the amazing Garth Nix Old Kingdom series. Other books I’ve read include Sabriel, Lireal, Abhorsen, Clariel and Across the Wall so I was thrilled to receive my copy of Goldenhand. If you are interested in reading this Young Adult fantasy series and haven’t before then I highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of Sabriel, because this post is going to assume that you have read the previous stories and therefore may contain some spoilers to their plot content. You’ve been warned!
If you’d like to read the original Old Kingdom trilogy (Affiliate Link) you can do so on Amazon
When I first found Sabriel I was looking through the Young Adult fiction books in WHSmiths and after reading the blurb decided to give it a try. As soon as I read it I was completely entranced into this world that had been created. As a child I loved reading a series called Tim and the Witches and The Buccaneers which probably got me interested in fantasy novels. Sabriel was different though. The idea of Necromancers was so interesting and I loved reading about this new world full of magic. The way Nix describes Death just completely captivated me and I eagerly wanted to read on and find out more about each gate and precinct. I remember this book having a really terrifying edge too. The scene were Sabriel is chased by the Mordicant really got my heart racing. It was the scariest thing I’d read in this type of novel but I loved it. I followed on by reading Lireal, which I think is my favourite book of the series, and then Abhorsen which was an epic end to the trilogy.
After that I missed the series and frequently re-read each book. I have them on my kindle, hard copies and I have Sabriel as an audiobook read by Tim Curry who does a fine job of bringing the series to life. It’s safe to say that this my absolute favourite young adult fantasy series by miles. Years later, as an adult, I found out about the Across the Wall set of short stories and Clariel. Both of these stories tie in with the newest book in the Old Kingdom, which I have just finished, Goldenhand.
Goldenhand Book Review
Goldenhand starts just after Abhorsen and The Creature in the Case (Across the Wall) and is named because Lireal, now the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, lost her hand in the binding of the Destroyer. Her nephew, Prince Sameth, has created a new hand for her which emits a golden glow and has earned her the nickname Goldenhand. I received a hardback copy of the book for the purpose of this review which has a beautiful black and gold dust cover to sink that name home just a little bit more.
We start in the Prologue in which Sabriel and Lireal are together in Death looking for Chlorr of the Mask. Chlorr was a constant enemy in the previous books and didn’t really die the final death so the two are hoping for a way to send her beyond the ninth gate and Sabriel suspects she has a tie to life in someway. We then move on to the events shortly after the Creature in the Case in which Lireal crosses over the wall to defeat a very powerful creature.
Whilst all this is happening we are introduced to Ferrin, a young girl from one of the many clans in the steppe, an area North of the old kingdom and one of twenty clans that unwillingly serve the Witch with no Face. Ferrin has a very important message that she must deliver to Lireal and goes through an incredibly tough journey to get there.
What I love about this book is that Nix has created a group of strong, likeable, independent and wonderful women. These women save their home time and time again. They save the men in their lives. They are taught to be warriors, fighters and in some cases they literally step into Death to defeat powerful enemies. Yet they still have husbands, romances, children and full lives that any woman would want. They are powerful mages and they battle with swords. They are inspirational and an excellent fiction series for young women.
Sabriel is a confident woman from the first book and has grown more so as an adult. She is not without a sense of humour, yet she always comes across as very strong and stern. Nick comments that he has been intimidated by Sabriel, probably because she is an important person, because he also comments on how kind she is. This reinforces that women can be successful and strong but still nurturing. They can be exactly who they want to be.
Lireal is somewhat of an outsider when we first meet her in the second book. She is a quiet girl, a loner, and has been brought up in a world that can’t understand her until she meets the Disreputable Dog, her first and very best friend. The dog brings out Lireals true strength and throughout the series we know Lireal as a very intelligent character with a daring nature. She faces a lot of danger in the series. I think I identify with Lireal a lot because she never quite fit in with life when she was younger and it took her a while to find her true path. When she did she really began to shine and I think this gives hope to those that, maybe as a young women, don’t feel as confident or sure of themselves but that doesn’t mean they won’t find the thing they are best at. It shows that whatever your background you can still go on to do great things.
Goldenhand is a wonderful book, with many strong messages. I have really enjoyed reading this book and it’s tied up any lose ends about the series really well. It was a great adventure and it was very interesting to read about many new characters and places that we haven’t yet been able to visit in the previous Old Kingdom books. I would reccomend this series to anyone that loves fantasy. It’s much better than the typical young adult novels we find and would really suit anyone that enjoys fantasy, steam punk, alternative universe style stories. The book RRP’s at £14.99 and will be added to my Christmas gift guides this year.
Goldenhand by Garth Nix is the fourth in the Old Kingdom series. Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/2nLgqCe
A few weeks ago I began a collaboration with Flux, a UK based period subscription box and have just recently had my box come through the post! I have to say I am really impressed. Each box starts from £3.50, comes once a month and is in discreet, perfect letterbox fit packaging. Periods aren’t exactly the best thing for a lot of us ladies and it’s not great to be caught short…you know, like that guy who is protesting tampon tax thinks…so having a little box come every month just before you’re due means you won’t be caught short.
So how does it work?
Flux works by you creating your ideal box. You can choose between pads or tampons, the size, how well the absorb, if you need pantyliners before or after and thicker pads for night time comfort…fantastic. They are covering the whole of your period and they know every woman has a different flow. My box came with a mix which included five pads and five tampons.
Who is it for?
Every woman that is having periods. This is the sort of thing I would like to do for my daughter when the time comes because it’s not nice when it first happens and you feel crappy and a little box like this would be nice and mean that there’s always a supply personalised to them in the home.
What’s in the box?
So of course there’s the supply of pads and/or tampons. You choose your preference so each box is personal to you. The box comes with your supply for your period and also a little grouped up handbag size selection so that you can pop it in should you be expecting to come on in the next few days.
Each box also came with a lovely bar of chocolate and two bags of tea. Chocolate and tea is good for the soul and can really help when you’re feeling a bit down and hormonal thanks to Mother Nature.
The chocolate bar in the pack isn’t just you’re everyday Freddo either, it’s a good quality, yummy chocolate bar which makes all the difference. Mine was a belgian white chocolate and raspberry bar with a dark chocolate drizzle from The Chocolate Place.
I also got a Welcome to the Club showing the colours of the different types of pads and the lovely newsletter which has a monthly mind boggler, a warm and welcome introduction, some interesting information about strong women, this month featuring Gloria Steinem and they are doing some good for women truly in need.
Flux has been able to make it’s first donation to a homeless drop in centre. Flux want to make sure that all woman have access to the protection they need for their periods, especially the homeless and vulnerable. There message is something I completely agree with and feel strongly about because they don’t want to just provide women with these products but dignity. You can find out more at thehomelessperiod.com
What are you waiting for?
Head on over to Flux right now and get started on your monthly box! It’s for the same price you’d be spending in stores anyway but is delivered regularly and with treats. Plus you’ll be helping vulnerable women. What’s not to like? If you’re happy with your box feel free to share the message on social media with @fluxboxes and #owntheflow
Disclaimer: I was send a box from Flux for the purpose of this reviews. I genuinely think this is awesome and all opinions remain my own.
I recently received the lovely Rub Rub Rub Shower Scrub in the Hello Gorgeous gift box – brilliant, by the way – and I’ve been looking for other ways to use this fantastic shower scrub because it smells heavenly and is full of sea salt and lemon juice which are full of antibacterial properties and so can be used for all sorts of things. The pot does come with a hefty price tag so I wanted to find as many uses for the pot as possible. Here are my 6 top ways to use Rub Rub Rub Shower Scrub.
Photo Credit: Lush
As a body exfoliator. Rub onto wet or dry skin, step into the bath or shower to rinse. Smells great, leaves skin feeling lovely and soft and is a fantastic body scrub, which is probably what it’s most used for.
As a foot scrub. Fancy a little home spa pedi? This scrub is rough enough to get rid of those dry patches on your feet.
Help clear dodgy nails. Again, antibacterial properties, might help any fungal nails stop being so…fungal!
Hair volumiser spray. Add a little to warm water in a spray bottle, shake up and spray before drying your hair for a bit of extra volume and a lovely scent.
Hair cleanser. If you use shampoo, try this every other wash to cleanse the hair naturally. The sea salt is also a great balance for greasy hair.
Face scrub. Great to cleanse the pores and help heal the skin, it’s quite rough so use sparingly. The lemon juice and salt can help draw out spots and dry out acne.
So there are my top 6 rub rub rub scrub tips. Have you used this body scrub before? What did you think? Any extra uses?
