#Review By Lou of Rainbow Science By Artemis Roehrig @StoreyPub #ChildrensBook #KidsScience #Rainbows

Rainbow Science
By Artemis Roherig

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

A fun science book full of wonder for children. Perfect for exploring every day science with activities for at home or in educational settings. This is a book where science meets the arts truly happens.
Discover more in the blurb and my review below.

Rainbow Science

This colorful book explores the fascinating science of rainbows and includes a pair of fun prism glasses so kids can see rainbows right before their eyes!

I spy a rainbow! But where do rainbows come from? How are they made? Rainbow Science celebrates everything rainbow, from the science of sunlight to the prism in raindrops to how our eyes see all the colors that make up a rainbow, in this colorful activity book. Kids can be a rainbow scientist and learn how to search for rainbows, make their own rainbows with a hose, spin homemade color wheels, blow multicolored bubbles, make a kaleidoscope, and more. Simple materials lists and straightforward, age-appropriate experiment steps are accompanied by scientific explanations for each activity. Engaging illustrations give easy-to-understand explanations about rainbow science and the math and physics of light refraction. Tucked into the pocket on the inside front cover is a fun pair of wearable glasses so kids can see rainbows right before their eyes. This book is a celebration of rainbows for kids who love science experiments, weather, and hands-on activities!

Review

Ever wondered, when you look up in the sky, how a rainbow is formed, where it appears from and how it seemingly, magically happens and shows magnificent colours? This book explains all in a child-friendly way.

It’s quite a fun-packed book full of easy to set up and do activities for children, so they can have fun looking for rainbows and creating their own in many different ways through experiments and crafts. Science meets the arts in an engaging, educational way and is also a book that allows imaginations to flourish too. For that, I recommend this book.

 

#Review By Lou of You Don’t Have to be Mad to Work Here – A Psychiatrist’s Life By Dr. Benji Waterhouse @vintagebooks #DrBenjiWaterhouse #Psychiatrist #NonFiction #Memoir #AutoBiography #MentalHealth

You Don’t Have to be Mad to Work Here:
A Psychiatrist’s Life
By Dr. Benji Waterhouse

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Unlocking the doors of the world of a psychiatrist, this is a fascinating book into a world not everyone has entered for real, but have seen, fictionalised in film and in tv. Find out more in the blurb and what I thought of it in my review below.

You Don't Have to be mad to work here

Blurb

A woman with bipolar flies from America in a wedding dress to marry Harry Styles.

A lorry driver with schizophrenia believes he’s got a cure for coronavirus.
A depressed psychiatrist hides his profession from his GP due to stigma.

Most of the characters in this book are his patients. Some of them are his family. One of them is him.

Unlocking the doors to the psych ward, NHS psychiatrist Dr Benji Waterhouse provides a fly-on-the-padded-wall account of medicine’s most mysterious and controversial speciality.

Why would anyone in their right mind choose to be a psychiatrist? Are the solutions to people’s messy lives really within medical school textbooks? And how can vulnerable patients receive the care they need when psychiatry lacks staff, hospital beds and any actual cures?

Humane, hilarious and heart-breaking, You Don’t Have to Be Mad to Work Here is an enlightening and darkly comic medical memoir – from both sides of the doctor’s desk.

Review

Humans are so complex beings and some require the psychiatrist’s chair as it were. The human mind fascinates me and I figured that it would interest other people and we’ve all heard of (and perhaps some of you have used to services of) a psychiatrist and seen films with the psychiatric chair, so I felt it would be interesting to explore a book that’s by a psychiatrist and from his point of view.

You Don’t Have to be Mad to Work Here is a book that I dipped in and out of, quietly contemplating and isn’t one I felt I could race through, but in saying that, it truly is a fascinating read and you do get swept a long a bit. Not having used a psychiatrist myself, I am nonetheless interested in the profession and it’s interesting to hear from both sides of the desk. Dr. Benji Waterhouse seems pretty candid in how and what he writes.

It tells about the NHS crisis and how it impacts this important profession and debunks the myths. Dr. Benji Waterhouse doesn’t claim to be perfect himself and has had his own share of time in the patient’s shoes too, which made for interesting reading.

I feel it would make an interesting documentary series. You get a real sense of what it is like to be in a psychiatrist’s office and the people who require this profession to be in their lives.

The book is heart-wrenching and darkly humorous as well as humane and sympathetic and understanding as he tells about patients who go through the door into the ward.

This is a book I recommend to see what life is really like in the NHS in the mental health profession part of it.

 

#Review By Lou of Will Young’s Light It Up Tour – Touring Now! 5/5 stars @willyoung @willyoungofficial #Music #Gigs #Concerts #UKTour

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Welcome back to touring Will Young! It was well worth the wait, but I hope he tours more now. Find details of the places and dates of the Light It Up tour after my review. The album is also Out Now!

Will Young Album

This was one of the most intimate and relaxed gigs I’ve ever been to and it was an absolutely amazing night at The Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh. He now continues on a UK tour of intimate venues.

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It was Will Young and his keyboard player. The two were relaxed, engaging with the audience through music and Q&A and at times, looked like they were just jamming in their own space. You could tell they were just having so much fun, with smiles on their faces and the talent oozing through the music. Their fun was infectious and carried through the audience, making this a terrific, entertaining night.

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With a mix of new songs from his latest album, Light It Up to creating melodies of well-known songs from previous albums, that joined perfectly well together and audience participation parts to join in some of the singing, this was a perfectly put together gig. He surprised people with a jazzed up version of Leave Right Now and something slightly different with Evergreen, his debut single. It all worked perfectly. This was a gig that had it all from the earliest songs to the latest and left you wanting more.

I feel this is a great way to go with gigs. Intimate venues and reasonably priced tickets and a whole mix of songs and chat. Will Young pulled it off perfectly!
Now, if only he would increase the gig dates to encompass even more places, like Stirling, Fife and other nearby places. I would go to this gig again.
It had one of the best vibes of an intimate gig.

Find album and gig details here: Will Young Webpage
On another note, Will Young wrote a memoir: To Be A Gay Man. You can find details and my review from 2020 here: https://bookmarksandstages.home.blog/2020/10/09/bookreview-of-to-be-a-gay-man-by-will-young-willyoung-penguinrandom-eburypublishing/

wp-17282080761176171555871299431625The support was American, Casey McQuillen, who has a lovely voice and plays both electric and acoustic guitars, playing and singing her own songs as well as popular covers.
Casey McQuillen has been seen on the Kelly Clarkson show and American Pop Idol.

 

#Review of The Outerlands By Eddie Farrington If you like #BenMiller try #TheOuterlands #MiddleGrade #Kidslit #ChildrensBook

The Outerlands
By Eddie Farrington

Rating: 4 out of 5.

The Outerlands would suit middle-grade readers who enjoy books by Ben Miller. Thanks to Eddie Farrington, I have had the opportunity to write a review of this adventurous/fantastical book.

The Outerlands

Blurb

Moo doesn’t believe she’s a hero. She doesn’t believe in much anymore, not since mum mysteriously disappeared.

She just wants to be left alone to play Sword Quest on her computer, but when her little brother gets himself kidnapped by the Tooth Fairy and her army of Midnight Fairies, Moo finds herself thrust into a dangerous adventure of her own.

Could her mum and little brother’s disappearances be linked? What in the world is the Tooth Fairy doing with all those teeth anyway? And why is the only person willing to help Moo navigate her way through the magical lands of the Outerlands insisting he is the eighth brother of a very famous seven?

A perilous adventure with earthquakes, a power crazed King, pirates, dragons and even mountains that throw rocks at people awaits, and at the heart of it all is Moo’s desperate search to believe again.

Because with belief Moo has the power to save a world, without it, she will help to destroy it.

Review

Adventurous and mysterious, The Outerlands tells a compelling story with mythical creatures and magical lands, this aside, there is an earthly, grounded element as well and the two are intelligently weaved together.

Moo is a character you can really get into to follow on her adventure. She is the hero of the piece, not that she would see it like that, it isn’t how she views herself. Life is insurmountably hard. Her mum has gone mysteriously missing and her brother gets kidnapped by a tooth-fairy, very quickly it’s easy to really feel for her. The adventure itself is all encompassing and becomes quite the page-turner as you want to know what happens next and where the world she finds herself in leads her.

Moo has quite a lot of pressure on her shoulders. She has to learn to believe as she comes across different creatures or everything will be destroyed. At its core, it’s a powerful message to give children and the parents/teachers who read the book to children, to be a child and allow imagination to grow in whatever direction or essentially childhood diminishes quickly.

The world-building of the fantasy/adventure/mystery book makes this rather fun and will take children’s imaginations to far off lands to meet a host of different characters, even the mountains are a character in themselves.

I recommend this adventurous read!

#Review By Lou of Happy Ever Afters with Sharon Gosling, Heidi Swain and Rebecca Ryan – a panel at Edinburgh Women’s Fiction Festival@EdWomensFicFest @sharongosling @WriteBecsWrite @Heidi_Swain #TheSecretOrchard #ThePhilosphyOfLove #HomeForChristmas

Happy Ever Afters
Sharon Gosling, Heidi Swain and Rebecca Ryan
Interviewed by Sara-Jade Virtue from publisher, Simon & Schuster

This was a thought-provoking panel with well-crafted questions centred around happy endings and what that meant to them.

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Sharon Gosling, Heidi Swain, Rebecca Ryan

The consensus was ‘Happy Ever Afters‘ involved working through problems/issues so couples can be together and/or for characters to be happy within themselves.

There was much discussion about how women’s fiction includes more communities, friends, family and how they all bring love as well as part of it being happy within yourself and relationships. They seem important messages to me and shows how romance/women’s fiction has evolved.

Sharon Gosling talked about tending to go to dark, imperfect places, with characters working out who they are ie reflecting life, and reaching a state of hope. On her latest book, The Secret Orchard, which is said to be a feel-good book about family, belonging and finding peace, she talked mentioned the history of apple and her fascination by how orchards survive for so long. In-relation of her book, she talked about how the past and future come together in the sisters and relates it cleverly back to the apple trees in the orchard. I haven’t read this book yet, but it sounds good.

I haven’t read The Secret Orchard, but I have read, reviewed and enjoyed:
The Lighthouse Bookshop  and  The Forgotten Garden

Rebecca Ryan, author of Philosophy of Love, is interested in women’s lives. She chose to write about people’s experiences of perhaps not having a traditional ‘happily ever after,’ but one of reflection and figuring life out.
She talked about how readers go into books with expectations. She reckoned there is a need to go into darker themes to see characters heal and how it’s about the journey, hope is happily ever after.
There was much discussion about how pivotal moments like sadness to go along with the romance, it makes it more like real life, which I found pleasing. I think it makes these books relatable on different levels.
Here is my review: The Philosophy of Love
Heidi Swain writes both standalone and series. She has a book published twice a year, one for Summer and another for Christmas. Her latest Summer book was:
The Holiday Escape. See my review below.Home for ChristmasHome For Christmas is her latest festive book (soon I will be reviewing this, so watch out for that). Having heard Heidi Swain talk, read previous Christmas books and reading her latest, she well and truly oozes with Christmas cheer and comfort, even though she has recently had a hard time at this time of year. Her answer was to be indulgent and create a character, a woman who she would love to spend time with and for us all to discover, who loves Christmas.
She reckons Home For Christmas was her favourite so far.Heidi Swain also gave insight in to the fact doesn’t write the same series back to back, which makes it interesting. I, personally quite like this as keeps everything fresh, since I like both her series and standalones.

Heidi Swain has written many books. Here are some reviews of books I’ve read and enjoyed.
The Summer Fair                 That Festive Feeling      The Holiday Escape
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Rebecca Ryan, Sara-Jade Virtue,                Morningside, Edinburgh
Heidi Swain, Sharon Gosling
Church in Morningside

#Review By Lou of Modern Family: Love, Drama and Defying Tradition with Georgina Moore and Melanie Cantor at Women’s Fiction Festival in Edinburgh @EdWomensFicFest @GeorginaMoore @melaniecantor #TheGarnettGirls

Modern Family – Love, Drama and Defying Tradition
Georgina Moore and Melanie Cantor

The Garnett Girls                                The F List

This panel was fascinating, entertaining and such a wonderful hour’s talk of sisters, family and all the different types of relationships in the world. It truly shows that traditional romance has changed and evolved from the days of it being just boy meets girl, it is more about how families relate to each other as well as a budding or growing romance. It truly was an hour’s talk and it felt quick, which is the sign of a good talk, that as well as it captivated me.

Georgina Moore, author of the fabulous The Garnett Girls, lives on a houseboat.
In-terms of fiction, she mentioned enjoying Little Women and The Ya-Ya Sisterhood.

I had the privilege of reviewing her debut novel, The Garnett Girls in hardback. It is now also available in paperback.
Love makes you do things you never knew you were capable of…. It follows Margo, who had a love affair with Richard, but it implodes. Readers also meet her daughters and follow their lives and how they relate to each other.
There are secrets to uncover…
Here is the link to my review of this character led book: The Garnett Girls Review

Georgina Moore has revealed to be writing her second book, which I just know I would like to read and review, based on such a strong debut.

Melanie Cantor is the author of Death and Other Happy Endings and most recently, The F**k It! List. A rare time when you can legitimately swear at a book festival and on my blog. I haven’t read this, but it is said to be an uplifting, laugh out loud read about a woman who is forced to re-evaluate her life at the age of 40.
Melanie Cantor, interestingly talked about empowering women, which Georgina Moore also contributed to and it felt hopeful and uplifting.

Pictures are of me with Georgina Moore, Morningside and church where the festival was held

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