One Of Us Is Lying #BookClub

Hi everyone!

This time in the Book Club, I'm reviewing One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus. As I'm typing this, it hasn't even been half an hour after finishing this book. I just had to get my thoughts out about this one, because it's just that good.

First, a tiny summary. Five students are in detention together, and one ends up dead. The remaining four are suspects of murder, and with the secrets that they've been bottling up, all of them seem guilty of committing the crime.

Photo by me ©

Let's start by saying that this story has kept me on my toes from beginning till' end. It's a perfect blend of The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars. The story's told from the four students' perspectives, so you get to know everyone little by little.

In the beginning, I seriously could not trust myself to rely on anyone. I told myself to not get too attached to any character, but failed miserably. The way that I got an insight in every person's life just made me feel empathy towards every single one of them. It became hard to not fall in love with them all. It simply made nearing the end of the story that much more terrifying, because if it was one of the four, I knew my heart would break.

Although I'll keep my mouth shut about the ending, it's safe to say that the entire book is sprinkled with plot twists. Some seemed so obvious afterwards that I was surprised I hadn't caught on sooner.

All in all, this was one incredible story. Very well-written, interesting and diverse characters (and their developments), and a stunning ending. Hats off to this one.

Love, Faith

Entering the New Year

Happy 2018 everyone!

It's only been 2 days into the new year, but mine has already been off to a rocky start. To begin with, I had spent my NYE at my cousin's house, playing games, drinking, bonding. I might've just had one drink too many and ended up with my head in the sink at 4 in the morning. Yes, you read that right; not the toilet, but the sink. Why, you ask? I was dizzy, I couldn't think properly, so my head just went straight to the closest thing it could reach before I barfed over the floor. The worst part was that my cousin's current boyfriend, whom I'd just met that night, went to clean up my mess. What a way to make a first impression, am I right?

So with a horrible headache, I got tucked into bed, and cursed myself when I woke up hardly 5 hours later. Thankfully, I did feel a whole lot better. After realizing the first week of Christmas break which was filled with festivities was over, stress started to settle in. The week right after break, I've got my second round of exams. I had opened a total of zero books and I had about 6 days left.

Today, I woke up late, so I had to skip my morning workout, but then still had to run errands; do laundry, buy groceries and clean the house. It's been a stress-filled day and it's not even over yet. Yet here I am, procrastinating and typing out a new blog post instead of studying. But hey, what's new? With 5 days to spare, I'm scrambling to get things done in time, and I'm seriously doubting myself. I certainly won't give up though, I still have hope.

Photo courtesy of Brandon Woelfel

So it hasn't been the best start to 2018 for me, but I strongly believe that it can only go uphill from here. I've got my resolutions written down, my room is cleaner than it has been in months, my fridge is stocked up with fruits and veggies and I've got about 10 alarms set and ready to go off tomorrow morning.

As a result of how my year has been going so far, it inspired me to write about this. Even though it's a new year, my problems, my habits, my personality, they don't change. I'm still the same person that I was three days ago. I don't magically become better, healthier or smarter. It doesn't happen overnight, it's a gradual process. With that said, a fresh start always feels nice, and entering a new year sure does feel like a new start, but there's not much that changes. You just keep going with life and keep bettering yourself, step by step. There's currently 363 days left of this year to become the person you want to be. Hell, you've still got the rest of your life. Take it slow and forgive yourself if your year hasn't begun with the greatest start you could ever imagine. It hardly ever does.

When I look back to one year ago, I do notice how much better I've been doing, but it is with hard work and some fallbacks that I've come where I am right now. It took a lot of time, but I'm truly happy with what I've achieved so far. I am planning on making more changes and improvements in 2018, and I hope I'll come through. I will keep you updated.

Love, Faith

What Is Self Love?

Self love is feeling refreshed and anew. It's taking gorgeously smelling baths, putting on a face mask, shaving, painting your nails.

Self love is dealing with and clearing the notifications you've been avoiding, and then turning your phone completely off.

Self love is going to sleep early, and not setting an alarm for the next morning.

Self love is making time to do the things you love; whether that's pursuing an art or training for a sport.

Self love is allowing yourself to treat yourself on a pizza, a cake, that fancy handbag, whatever.

Self love is buying and wearing the clothes that you want, and feeling good in them.

Self love is knowing that if you're in the middle of doing school work, and your head is getting dizzy, and your hands are starting to shake, it's time to go the fuck to sleep.

Self love is drinking a decent amount of water every day.

Self love is not comparing yourself to other people. Self love is not feeling the need to compete with them.

Self love is realising your worth and not letting anybody make you feel small.

Self love is letting go of grudges that you've been holding, and instead, forgiving others.

Self love isn't selfish. It's a priority.

Photo courtesy of Brandon Woelfel

Study Tips

Hi everyone! Hope your November is going well so far!

A couple of weeks ago, I finished two weeks of non-stop studying for my exams, and I barely survived. The peace of mind that has replaced my stress is so refreshing, I can hardly believe it myself. Between all the school work, I've been trying to cram as much as I can into my free time, so much that I can't even call it 'free' time anymore.

In high school, I used to be a really lazy person, I would hardly lift a finger to study for tests and exams. Evidently, it showed in my results. I barely graduated, just a fraction of a point less and I'd have to have done my senior year of high school all over again. Now, a couple years later, I'm in college, and I decided for myself that I needed to change if I wanted to do well. So when the first exams started looming around, I took it very seriously. I wrote my own summaries of nearly every subject. That's right, I wrote. Not typing, no. I wrote it all by hand in a little notebook. People have declared me crazy and my arm and shoulder actually started to hurt after a few days, but I did manage to get it in my head. I couldn't finish every single summary, because it was simply too much, but I could easily revise what I did write down.
All my results have already come in, and I passed them all! I couldn't have been happier when I found out that I didn't have to resit one single exam. Hopefully I can just keep this motivation up, because at this point, I'm just drained.

If you struggle to concentrate while studying or doing homework, here are some of my own tips and tricks that I use.

You probably know this of yourself already; but you should figure out whether you're a morning or night owl. If you're a morning person; go to bed early, get up early and get more work done. If you're a night owl; catch your sleep in the morning, and do your duties in the later hours of the day.
Seriously though, plan around a sleeping schedule that works for you and make sure you get enough sleep!! If you don't rest well, you won't be able to focus and that's already a bad start.

In my opinion, study groups are a great way to do your school work! You can help each other when you're stuck on something, and it makes it more fun as well. If you'd rather study alone, that's obviously fine too. However, don't forget to ask for guidance if you need some! Your peers are in the same boat, so they'll know how you feel. And don't feel afraid to even ask your teacher or lecturer for some more explanation. They're there to help you and are only one e-mail away. Trust me, everyone's happy to help.

Personally, I'm very prone to procrastination. I'll get distracted after trying to read two sentences. I'll scroll a little on my phone, or literally do anything else that has absolutely zero to do with school. If this sounds familiar, here are a few more tips on that.

Make sure your work space is clean. A messy desk means more distractions. I know when I have some notebooks or old magazines lying around, I'll just mindlessly page through them, while I usually never do that. The cleaner your desk, the less procrastinating, meaning you can actually get some work done.

And last but not least, probably the most important tip, yet so many people fail to do it; it's to PUT YOUR PHONE AWAY. And not just away as in stored away in your bag where you can't see it. The most effective way is to put it in another room altogether. Surely you can go a few hours without your phone. For me, it leads to me almost completely forgetting about it and I can properly concentrate on what I'm doing.

At the end of the day though, you've got to know when to put a stop to it. Your brain has its limits, and there's no use in forcing more information into it. I've stayed up well past midnight on some nights, and it would result in my mom come knocking on my door telling me I should go to sleep.

I say this with all honesty and sincerity, if I can do it, anybody can do it. Stay hydrated, take frequent breaks, chug a gallon of coffee and kick ass. Wishing you all the luck on any future exams to come!

Love, Faith

The One Memory of Flora Banks #BookClub

Hello and welcome to the second post in my book club!

I'm going to be reviewing The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr.

I'll start this off with giving you a very quick summary; Flora Banks is a 17-year-old girl who suffers from anterogade amnesia. She hasn't been able to make new memories since she was ten years old. But then one day she kisses a boy, and the next day she remembers it. She clutches onto that memory, and him, because she's so ecstatic about being able to recall something again.

Photo by me ©

I honestly can't tell you any more, or else it would give away too much!! So anyway, I think I finished this book in only a few days, and I've lost a couple of hours of sleep on it too. It's very quick to get into since it already starts out interesting. Note that I'm not a native English speaker, but there's no difficult language throughout the book and it was really easy to read through.

Believe it or not, but Flora is a bright and smart girl. She writes things down on her arms, notebooks or seperate notes to remind herself of important things. If not, she'll have a panic attack. This just means that Flora repeats some things over and over. Of course I understand the concept that she can't help it, but as the reader I find it just a tiny bit frustrating. But then again, the people around Flora probably do, too.

Also, there's a bit of secrecy weaved into the story. You only read snapshots from Flora's thoughts, and it's hard to decide whether or not to trust other people. It's not the most mysterious ever, but it left me with just enough unanswered questions to keep reading. As I went deeper into the story, my confusion just kept increasing, which made it near impossible to put the book down.

Nearing the end of the book, it's got a few little surprises in store. Some nice, some not so much. I thought that it was very bittersweet. It's kind of got an open ending, but there's an indication of what's going to happen next, and I found it very hopeful. It may sound like a love story at first impression, especially after the tiny summary, but it was only after I finished it, that I felt like it's rather a story about discovering who you are.

Overall, I really liked this book. It's a very interesting story and has a unique plot. It grabbed my attention from the moment I started reading and didn't let go until the very last sentence.

Love, Faith