The Children of Lovely Lane Review & Giveaway

I’m very pleased to be on the blog tour for Nadine Dorries book The Children of Lovely Lane. Nadine’s first book in the Lovely Lane series – The Angels of Lovely Lane is also available.

The Lovely Lane series is based in 1950’s Liverpool around a group of nurses who are training at the St Angelus Hospital and live the in Lovely Lane nurses home.

The Children of Lovely Lane by Nadine Dorries

Book Description

The nurses of Lovely Lane – Dana, Victoria, Pammy and Beth – are now in their second year and are about to face some truly harrowing and difficult times on the wards.

St Angelus needs a new assistant matron, but the members of the Liverpool District Hospital Board have overruled Emily Haycock and Dr Gaskell in their choice. Enter the mysterious Miss Van Gilder from somewhere down south.

The life of St Angelus is soon disrupted as her proposals turn the running of the hospital upside down and threaten the jobs of the domestics and porters. But Miss Van Gilder harbours a dark and dishonest secret, and the staff – who are used to looking after their own – set out to uncover it.

Will they do so in time, before her meddling begins to affect the morale of the nurses and put the lives of their patients in danger? For one very sick little boy, especially, it will be touch and go.

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How To Indulge In Your Perfect Wedding Day

It’s hard to know what exactly you should splash out on for your wedding day. We all have different priorities – so here are five things you could choose to indulge in for your big day…

Your Food

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If you’re a foodie, then no question this is what you’ll probably be focusing on. Maybe you want a sit down three course meal, or you’d rather have a hot buffet and canapes, or you’re going to go a little wild and hire food trucks for the day. No matter what you choose, your guests will really appreciate a great meal at your wedding and it will be one of the things that your big day is remembered for. Make sure that you test your food before splashing out on it – along with wedding cake testing, this will probably be one of your favourite things to plan for your wedding day! You should also splash out on the drinks for your wedding day – pick out a couple of signature cocktails and have an open bar for at least beer and wine over the course of the day so your guests can relax and let their hair down.

Your Music

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For a lot of us, music plays a big part of our lives. If this is the case for you, then the music at your wedding is something that you’ll want to spend a decent amount of both time and money on. There are a lot of options about music for your big day. If you hire a band, then go for a really good one, and remember that music you can dance to is the key. That means that a swing band will probably be a lot more fun than your friend’s brother’s rock band that does Nickelback covers. If you want a singer, make sure you go to one of their gigs before you hire them to make sure they aren’t too cheesy and that you enjoy their style of music. If you hire a DJ, make sure that their sound system is high quality and talk to them about their playlist before your wedding to make sure that all your favourites are on there. You could also go for a cheaper option and make a playlist yourself – although this might not be the most expensive option, you’ll definitely have to spend some extra time on it.

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The Tidy Tot Review

As you know we are on the weaning journey. When Tidy Tot asked us if we would like to try out their all in one tray kit, I thought it would be a fabulous idea. Hopefully it will help to keep mess to a minimum!

The Tidy Tot Review

What is the Tidy Tot?

Tidy Tot is a fantastic invention by a busy mum of 3. It’s a bib and tray kit that fits together to eliminate the gap between baby and tray. So no food escaping onto the baby’s lap that you only discover when you lift baby from high chair!

The bib attaches to the tray with velcro and is easy to assemble. It will fold away for easy storage and is ideal for taking out and about as well. I love that the whole kit is easy to clean and the bib is machine washable.

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The Best Produce to Grow For Home Storage

Growing your own food is an excellent way to slash money off your food shopping bill, and is a fun and productive hobby to have. Knowing you’ve grown something from scratch is always a proud moment, and it can really help you to appreciate where your food comes from. We can be so used to seeing it packaged in plastic at the supermarket that it’s easy to forget how miraculous it is when fresh produce grows from tiny seeds! While anything you can get going in the garden and enjoy consuming is beneficial, there are some crops that are particularly good. This is because they preserve well, meaning you can enjoy the fruits of your labour long after the growing season comes to an end.

Strawberries

Strawberries are easy to grow in the garden, and are a staple for food storage. Big batches of strawberry jams and jellies are ideal for baking with, or just to slather onto hot buttered toast throughout the year. You could also dry them, and make homemade granola or just use them for cereal toppings. Home dried fruit will last up to a year, so you’ll have plenty of time to use up a big stash. You could go a step further and consider a greenhouse for your garden wooden greenhouses are popular choices. Growing strawberries under cover like this will produce fruit a whole month earlier.

The Best Produce to Grow for Home Storage

Picture source- Pexels

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How to improve your credit score

It’s difficult to really get too excited when you think about debt. It’s not something anyone consciously aspires towards, and some of the statistics relating to debt in the UK are pretty frightening. But one also has to work past natural stigmas and prejudices to consider the two different kinds of debt: constructive and ruinous.

And the former is one which should be embraced when appropriate, and accepted as a force for good. For example, a mortgage is a vital means through which to become a homeowner, personal loans can enhance your life when it comes to things like purchasing a car, or even improve your net worth if it is for something like home improvements.

All of these are dependent on the debt being affordable, and preferably even cheap. So, how to access cheap credit? Aside from the fact that tumbling interest rates continue to help the cause, your credit score is arguably the biggest factor of all. The key is to optimise it as best you can, and, luckily, it’s actually pretty simple…

how-to-improve credit score

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How Do We View Old Age?

Growing up my dad was always older then all my friends dads, but I never viewed him as old. In fact he’s more young at heart than my mum who is a lot younger than him. He says “you are as old as you feel”.

But as a society how do we view old age?

People nowadays are so much into their looks it’s unreal. You hear about plastic surgery stories from people trying to stay young and botox injections to make wrinkles disappear.

Everyone wants to live in a Peter Pan world of never growing up.

I’m sure if you asked an 18 year old what age would you associate with being old, I bet they would say something like 60. What about the middle aged? What would they say? 70? Now how about asking the older generation. I believe they would say something like 75+. So as you can see people’s perception of age can vary a lot.

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This leads onto the question – Why are so many people scared of old age?

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