April 2015 - Rachel Bustin

The postman and comping fairy have been very kind to me over the past week and delivered these wonderful books and goodies. I always get so excited to receive books!

It’s Not Me It’s you by Mhairi McFarlane came from a Twitter win with AvonBooksUK. It’s a modern romantic fiction novel perfect for summer reading. I love the cute little button badge and postcard that arrived with it. Touches like these make the win more special to me, it shows care and attention to the reader.

A Few Words for the Dead by Guy Adams was sent to me by DelReyUK Books from a competition they were running on Twitter. This novel is a spy-thriller with a supernatural twist. It is the third book in the Clown Service series by Guy Adams. I think if you like spy-espionage thriller type books with sci-fi and fantasy thrown in this will be right up your street!

I felt very lucky to win this goody pack with MIRAInk on Twitter. The book is called Talon by Julie Kagawa It is the first in the Talon Saga. I loved the feel of the book cover as it’s like dragon scales! The goody pack contained a poster, sneak preview of the next book and the most gorgeous blue necklace. I am looking forward to getting stuck into this fantasy series, I mean who doesn’t like a good dragon book?

The necklace was so pretty that I had to show you a close up photo! From what i can gather there was a choice of what colour dragons egg necklace you would have received, mine was cobalt.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and would love you to follow me on Bloglovin and Facebook to keep you up to date with more like this.

Rachel xx

I received this book at the beginning of the month from a Goodreads giveaway that I won. As you probably know from my previous post (A fantastic book win – Patalosh) it came beautifully packaged and I was so eager to start reading it! It is a high quality hardback copy.

Patalosh – The Time Travellers is written by Z. Altug and Tracey Gensler. It is a novel aimed at kids around 10-12 years of age I would assume, although I was not disappointed as an adult reader. It’s a fantastically written sci-fi / fantasy time – travel adventure novel.

The plot of the story involves 10 year old Orion Spence and his adventure around space and time to find his parents who have been kidnapped by an evil emperor called Daaggerd. Orion’s companions include Sir K who is the first officer on their airship Exploricus, Pen the penguin and a host of other little buddies that they pick up on their travels.

Orion is a very brave chap and goes through a lot to rescue his parents. His quest to help him find his parents starts with finding 7 keys across all the continents in different time periods, to open the Ancient Book of Spells. The clues to the keys discovery hide in his medallion that only he can read.

One thing that I really adore about the book is the authors creation of a new world called Patalosh. Orion’s parents are Taloshians from Patalosh and have special powers but Orion is a ‘non’ Taloshian and is a regular kid from Earth.

The book contains many illustrations throughout which is fantastic for the imagination of a kid. There are 73 chapters which are fairly short but perfect for keeping the attention of younger readers. Some of my favourite parts of the book are the additional information sections that have been included. These range from a guide to the Exploricus and Orion’s family tree, to a Patalosh Pumpkin Pie recipe!

Once I got into the book I kept referring back to the front cover image and wondered why there were pumpkins on the front cover. This confused me for a while, until I reached chapter 41 and Orion describes how much the people of Patalosh love pumpkins and pumpkin pie.

The only thing about the book I didn’t quite like was the amount of characters that kept being introduced throughout the book and they were not being developed enough. I found it easy to forget them after a while.

The ending of the book I quite liked, it did seem to end with what I think would be further development for future books in the series. These I would love to read!

I would definitely re-read the book again one day. It was great fun! When I was a kid I would have loved to have found an adventure book like this one.

That is why I am giving Patalosh -The Time Travellers 4 stars out of 5.

Rachel xx

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Disclosure: The views and opinions expressed on this post are purely my own

The are the gorgeous flowers I won this week over on Twitter with InterfloraUK on Wednesday. They are simply stunning! I had them delivered for my mum.

Rachel xx

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Over the past few years orchids have become very popular for indoor plants. You can find them in almost every supermarket nowadays at various prices and in many different colours. The orchid below was given to me about 4 years ago when we just moved into our first house. It is still going strong by following a few a tips on how to care for your orchid.

Due to the popularity of my previous hints and tips posts (book reviews, photography and caring for cacti) I have decided to continue the series, so here is another set of 7 hints and tips, this time on how to care for your orchids.

Watering instructions – Water every 5-12 days depending on the temperature of the room, the type of orchid and the time of year. More frequent watering is required during summer months. Always check the watering instructions when you buy the orchid. Orchids prefer soft water.
Support – When your orchid is in bloom support the stems with clips and sticks, which you can pick up from any good garden centres.
Sunlight conditions – Orchids prefer bright indirect sunlight. North or east facing windows during summer and south facing in winter months.
Trimming – Orchids have little nodes (triangular bumps) on the stem and each one is a potential flower bud. So when all the flowers die and fall off, trim the stem down to the lowest node and cut diagonally to stimulate new growth.
Growing media – Orchids prefer moist well drained conditions. There are several types of growing media that can be used: fir bark, rocks, cork, sand and potting soil. Most of the orchids you buy at the supermarkets are grown on bark. Re potting should be done every other year to encourage growth. Remember to remove any dead roots and old compost.
Leaf health – You can tell how healthy your orchid is by looking at the colour of the leaves and checking to see if they are getting enough light. They should be bright green rather than dark green, which tells you that the orchid is not getting enough sunlight if it’s too dark. Reddish green leaves is too much light. If the leaves develop black blotches it most likely has sunburn, through being in a hot sunny window. So move to a north facing window.
Pests and disease – Orchids can be affected by mealybugs, scale and aphids. These can be washed off and treated with insecticidal soap, which again can be found at all good garden centres.

This stunning pink orchid I picked up at M&S at a reduced price.

I love how perfectly formed the flower heads are. The orchid is one of the most highly coveted ornamental plants, and in ancient Greece the orchid represents fertility, because in the ancient Greek language, orchid actually means testicles!

It’s also associated with beauty, love, luxury, strength and wisdom. They have very delicate and graceful flowers which shows perfect symmetry.

Different coloured orchids have different meanings:

Pink, like the one above represent happiness, innocence and joy.
Blue represents spirituality and meditation. They are also very rare.
White stand for beauty, elegance and innocence.
Yellow orchids represent friendship and new beginnings.
Purple symbolises royalty and respect.
Lavender coloured orchids represent grace and feminine beauty.
Green orchids represent health, nature, life and longevity.
Orange coloured orchids stand for boldness, pride and enthusiasm.

My favourite colour orchids are the pink ones and they represent happiness which is how I feel at the moment in my life. What would be your favourite colour orchid?

Rachel xx

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Reflection

Last week I loved joining up with thereadingresidence fantastic Word of the Week linky for the first time so I have decided to join in again. I love the idea of summing up your week with just one word, its like a little diary of your week!

So my word of the week is Reflection. I have decided to use this word as I have been looking back over my blog this week and reflecting on how much I have achieved over the past couple of months in starting up my new blog. It is one of the best decisions I have ever made. I’ve worked hard to build it to where I want it to go and what I want to achieve from it. My husband said to me a while ago why don’t I go for it and become a blogger, I always have something to say! So I took his advice and went for it!

I think one of my main decisions for starting up was due to my work situation. I have recently been demoted due to management restructure changes and wanted something else outside of work to focus my brain on. I have always been a huge book lover, (this came from my mum) and love to potter around outside in the garden, so why not write about things I love? I cannot really pinpoint exactly when I started entering competitions, although it was a few years ago! but I do know it started through Twitter. Retweeting a competition tweet was so easy and once my first win came I have never stopped!

On Sundays my husband and I always take the dog for a walk down to Malpas by the river in Truro. Its one of my favourite places and I always like to reflect on the previous week on what we have been up to.

A couple of weeks back I took this photo of the cement works down there as the sky was so clear and the water so still that it showed the most perfect reflection in the water, so very appropriate for my word of the week: Reflection. #WotW

Rachel xx

While I was off work last week I had more time to comp and therefore won a few more bits than usual. I do believe in putting in lots of effort entering comps will eventually bring rewards. My little belief is that comping is 90% effort and 10% luck! I say it all to my friends who think I’m lucky, and tell them I put the hours in entering and enter 100’s a day so luck isn’t a huge deal to do with it. The odds will be in your favour if you enter loads and loads!

So last week I had these bits and bobs arrive! A gorgeous recipe book stand for the kitchen, a book called The Pointless Book 2, my cute little chocolate Easter egg, a football from Budweiser, So…..? body spray from their instagram comp (which is my first instagram win!), and a bottle of cherry Pepsi with my profile pic on!

The recipe book holder came from a competition with @CranksFood on Twitter. It is a gorgeous teal colour and with it being made of metal very sturdy.

The holder also came with three metal page markers with Starter, Main and Dessert written on them.

I won The Pointless Book 2 from a comp with WHSmith on Twitter. Its a great fun looking book full of dares, challenges, jokes and crazy activities!

It is written by Alfie Deyes and is the second book from his brand of nothingness! It looks great fun I can’t wait to have a read and attempt the hilarious activities! A perfect time wasting book!

Thanks for having a read of my wins, I hope you are enjoying my blog. You can also find me on bloglovin

Rachel xx

Midweek Book Arrivals

Like this:

Book Review: Patalosh – The Time Travellers

Like this:

#MySundayPhoto 26/04/15

Like this:

7 Hints and Tips on Caring for Orchids

Like this:

My Word of the Week 23/04/15

Like this:

A Recipe Holder, The Pointless Book and a bottle of Pepsi!

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Instagram @rachelbustin