It’s been four weeks since I started the Cambridge Diet. I’ve had lots of questions about what it entails, so I thought I would share it with you. Here is my review – the good and the bad!

The Diet

Cambridge Diet is a diet invented by a scientist at, yes, you guessed it Cambridge University.

It is what is known as a VLCD (a very low calorie diet). In fact it’s so low you can only do it for 12 weeks at a time, then you have to increase your intake again for at least a week before continuing.

While you are on the diet you only consume around 400 calories a day, and live off your body weight (fat) instead.

In the first two weeks it is an entirely liquid diet. Where you have the choice of soup, milkshake or porridge for your three main meals a day and nothing else. From the third week onwards you can swap one of the liquid meals out for a nutrient bar instead. All meal replacements contain your daily allowance of vitamins & nutrients. If you are a man or over 5 feet 8 inches tall this may be more.

I have been doing it for four weeks and have lost the following amount of weight:

Week One – 10lbs
Week Two – 2.5lbs
Week Three – 3lbs
Week Four – 4.5lbs
Total – 20lbs (or 9.07kg)

Cambridge themselves specify you should usually expect an average of a stone (14lbs or 6.35kg) a month.

Fed up of losing a pound here, and half a pound there, this was the main thing that attracted me to this diet. I wanted quick, decisive results. But that is not to say other conservative diets are not good and may work better for you.

The Science Bit

Now, already I can see a few of you shaking your heads, how can you possibly live on that little food without being ravenous all the time? Well this is where it gets clever…

We all know if you eat too much your body turns it into fat and that when you eat too little it burns this fat.

Time to get a little bit more scientific, if I can manage it!

The ethos of the Cambridge Diet is to put your body in a state called ketosis. Which very simplistically put is when you live off your body fat alone. To achieve this you have to rid it of carbohydrates. Once you reach this haloed state however, you no longer feel hungry.

It takes about four days to go through carbohydrate cold turkey, and these days are pretty hellish. This is because your body has a bit of panic, desperately trying to replenish your supply. Which means quite frankly you’re pretty much hungry all of the time.

My tip, keep yourself busy and drink sparkling water which helps to fill you up. And if this fails go to bed early! But once these days are over things get a lot easier.

If you remember one thing while all this is going on it’s that you must not eat any carbs at all. As soon as you do you will feel hungry and come out of ketosis. If you need to eat, allow yourself a small amount of protein. This was how I got through these early days, eating a small amount of tuna or prawns.

At the weekends I have also a treat and have a little bit of chicken in the evenings. When I say a little bit, I do mean it. I have half a chicken breast on Saturday and the other half on Sunday.

Mind Over Matter

Interestingly, why you may not be physically hungry. This does not take into consideration the tricks your mind plays on you. Strangely, unlike any other diet I have been on, I have found myself craving not cakes, sweets and chips. But, salads, bananas, breakfast cereal and mmm bread.

Medical Advice

After I had decided to give this diet ago, I made an appointment and had an hour long meeting with my consultant Denise Kelly. Who, if you live in Bracknell, I would highly recommend by the way. If you wish to find a consultant near you, simply go to the Cambridge Diet website, enter your postcode and it will show you a list of consultants near your home. I made my decision based on the content & quality of Denise’s personal message. Any consultant that hadn’t bothered to write one or had no photo were immediately dismissed from my selection.

During my consultation, I had to complete a medical questionnaire and the diet and its side affects were explained to me. I was weighed and my body measurements were taken.

Even though I passed the medical questionnaire, Cambridge have written to my Doctor to inform them that I am participating in this diet and some medical conditions need prior medical consent before you can begin.

Also worth noting, this diet is not recommended for breast feeding mothers.

Water, Water Everywhere

I had no idea until I started this diet that 60% of your daily water consumption comes from the food that you eat. So if you’re not eating any conventional food, you’ve got to drink a lot of water!

The diet itself states you should drink a minimum of 2.25 litres a day. From my experience this is nowhere near enough. In fact in the early days when I did drink this little, I found it gave me a headache that could give a hangover a run for its money.

Experimentation has shown that I need a minimum of 3 litres a day, great for your skin & health but there have been several times where I have considered relocating my laptop to the ladies bathroom at work!

A tip if you do end up doing this diet – I have downloaded a Water Counter app for my iPhone and tap it every time I finish a glass of water. It’s really handy to keep track.

For any diet coke junkies or wine lovers like me, be warned! You can only drink water, black or herbal tea and black coffee. Not even diet drinks as they contain citric acid.

If You’re Squeamish Look Away Now

I promised myself that this would be a candid review, so it’s only fair that I talk about the side affects I’ve encountered. This is not all of the side affects listed on the website, just the ones I have experienced.

One of the well publicised side effects is what is described as slightly ‘fruity’ breath. This has been a major source of paranoia for me. The very thought fills me with horror! You can’t have any chewing gum on the diet, so my trusty bottle of breath freshener had become my constant companion. I’m going through at least a bottle a week. Either I have very polite friends & colleagues or this remedy is achieving the desired affect.

The second, most problematic and some what ahem, delicate issue has been my inability to go to the toilet properly. Which has also caused me on occasion, some considerable amount of pain. As a consequence I have found myself taking laxatives on average about twice a week. Which firstly is something I’ve never experienced before, but also not something I want to be doing long term.

On advice, I purchased some herbal tablets (Psyllium Husks), which are meant to solve the problem. My fingers are crossed!

Maintenance

Finally and perhaps most importantly I want to tackle the issue of maintenance. One of my biggest concerns when I went for my first consultation was if I lost the weight quickly, would I put it back on just as fast when I begin to eat normal food again.

I plan to try and exist on the Cambridge liquid diet for three months in total, after which I will hopefully have lost three stone. Now, after three months of abstinence, you cannot simply start eating normally again. Cambridge have a 7 step programme to introduce food back into your diet slowly. By the end of this programme you will be on your recommended daily allowance of calories. Teaching you how to eat healthily and and about portion control.

However, after 4 weeks on this diet. I’ve already began to learn some very interesting things about myself. The biggest thing, I don’t eat when I’m hungry. By not eating food at all you really begin to question your relationship with food. So far it’s been an interesting journey.

Summary

The Cambridge Diet is a very fast and effective means of weight loss. But, it’s not for everyone. It’s not a wonder diet, it has side affects that you need to consider before you start. There is something very exhilarating about losing weight rapidly, and seeing a difference in yourself and clothes right from the very first week.

If you’ve tried other diets unsuccessfully and don’t believe a diet can work for you, this one may very well do.

Disclaimer

I’m not a scientist & I’m not a weight-loss consultant, this is simply my interpretation & experiences of this diet. I recommend that if you’re seriously considering doing it you read the Cambridge Diet website thoroughly and meet with a Cambridge Consultant.

posted by Laura
Tags: bracknell, cambridge diet, cambridge weight plan, diet, dieting, milkshake, weight loss
Filed under: Weight Loss

At a wedding last month, some of my relatives were talking about their ‘bucket list’. You know, things to do before they ‘kick the bucket’.

Maybe it’s because I’m younger, but this is something I’ve never really considered before. So I thought, as I’m a lover of lists, that I would give it a whirl.

I don’t mean it in a morbid way, just a fun ten things I’d like to have done with my life before I finally meet my maker.

Here goes…

1.      First and most importantly …. become a Mum, a Gran and if I’m really lucky a Great Gran.

2.      To become a published author of a fiction book – preferably more than one

3.      Have a song or even an album recorded in a professional studio – it doesn’t have to ever be released. I’m happy for it to be just for me and the only person who will ever wear it out is my Mum

4.      Swim with dolphins – a touch cliché perhaps, but still…

5.      Go to Venice, Thailand, Paris, Lapland, New York, Niagara Falls and back to Barbados again  – yes they all count as one!

6.      Have a night at the Opera – don’t tell my singing teacher but, while I’ve been learning opera for years I’ve never seen a live, professional performance of one (shhh!). Anyone fancy going with me?

7.      Win an acknowledged award for something – not just a swimming certificate

8.      Own a beetle cabriolet with customised art work  – ok it’s a bit materialistic, but I love them

9.      Have a house big enough to have a room that’s my very own library – it will probably never happen, but I can dream!

10.   Learn to dance… properly

What about you? What ten things do you want to do with your life? Share in the comments or why not even write your very own blog post on the subject?

posted by Laura
Tags: 10 things to do before you die, ambitions, bucket list
Filed under: General Discussion

All someone has to do is mention the name to cue some serious behind the hand chortling from the person you speak to.

Producing visions of 50+ year old housewives whittling their time away somewhat lasciviously, hidden away from their pipe and slipper loving husbands. Others may roll their eyes at the thoughts of women secretly getting their kicks off to tantalising ‘bodice rippers’. That of course being one of the more polite terms for them.

So it may, or may not come as a surprise to you then that Mills and Boon is booming.

Interestingly, they were one of the first publishers to embrace the growth in ebook sales. Which perhaps gives you a better insight into the real age of their readers. Selling over a million ebooks last year. In the UK, Tesco has seen a 57% increase in digital downloads.* I can see a few eyebrows raising behind your computer screens. Indeed. The average Mills and Boon reader apparently is a young, high flying 30 something woman. Not the stereotypical middle aged woman most people envisage.

Now, a couple of years ago or so I stumbled across the romance genre. It started like all of these things often do quite innocently. I picked up a novel expecting it to be Urban Fantasy and instead discovered it to be Paranormal Romance.

What’s the difference? Not as big as you would expect. You can get a gritty romance that’s not afraid to tackle difficult issues and they’re available in many different genres. Of course it will always have a love story that will more often than not leave you with a smile on your face.

With my love of arse-kicking, strong female protagonists, I’d of thought I’d of hated them. So a little unexpectedly (well from my point of view), I really enjoyed it and began to explore the genre further. I’ve discovered I’m a sucker for a love story and that ultimate happy ending.

However, not all romance books are rosy. As with any book it’s got to have a well written plot and rounded, believable characters. I also personally cannot bear page after page of sex scenes, finding it quite repetitive. But I shall stop there as I’ve written about this before. (See my previous blog post Sex and Plot).

But I’ve never ventured down the slightly taboo Mills and Boon route.

If you know me, you will probably know that I have aspirations of being a writer and have for a long time. I have slogged away for the last three years and produced 280,000 words and twenty chapters so far. One day, I will have it finished.

Yet, it was with some amount of speculation that I reviewed the following competition sent to me by someone on Twitter www.romanceisnotdead.com.

I’m sure you know what I’m going to say before I even write it. Yes, it’s a writing competition. To write a Mills and Boon novel.

A myriad of thoughts ran through my head.
Can I?
Should I?
Along with – what will people think?

Then common sense pervaded. Should I really care what people think?

I think the real question here is what constitutes a good book. Just because it’s published by Mills and Boon does it make it poorly written? Who are we to judge when we’ve never even read one? Is it so wrong for a girl to dream of that knight in shining armour and escape the every day grind with a happy ever after?

In reality, I’ve probably got a one in a million chance of winning the competition. But that’s bedside the point. If I never try, I’ll never know.

And so I’ve just downloaded my very first Mills and Boon book, after all a writer needs to know their market.

Off I go ready to dive in to the heady heights of love.
Wish me luck!

*Source: http://www.sidewaysnews.com/arts-culture/mills-boon-ebook-sales-soar (25 June 2010)

posted by Laura
Tags: books, mills and boon, reading, romance, writing
Filed under: Books & Book Reviews

Do you ever watch those people who are absolutely passionate about exercise with envy? With their sweaty, smiley faces as they happily head off on a cold winter’s evening for an hour or so of punishment, or forego a nice Sunday afternoon reading so they can push their bodies to the limit.

My husband’s a member of that super exercise club. With three bikes and counting, he cycles a minimum of 80 miles each week and comes back from each ride with a grin on his face that would make Goofy proud. And I often wonder what I need to do to be part of this club. Because, on a serious note my waistline could do with it!

Don’t think I haven’t tried. There’s an unused bike sitting in my shed, which I’ve cursed and sweated up hills, while my husband has politely cycled circles around me. My Wii-fit sits patiently in my front room for its occasional quarterly (if it’s lucky) usage. I’ve done exercise classes, ugly machines and fought frizzy hair and scary swimsuit syndrome at my local pool.

About five years ago I actually succeeded at some sort of exercise. While on one of my many weight loss drives I trained for a 10k run. A huge feat for me in terms of fitness. Marathon runners look away now! At the peak of my training often getting in from work after a 12 hour day, I would run two or three miles every other day and then a four or five mile run at the weekend. It was hard, I encountered multiple blisters and discovered what on earth shin splints were. Before this adventure I’d run no further than the end of my road. For me, it was an amazing achievement.

But, at the end of it all as I walked away with my shiny gold medal, I have to admit that part of me was glad to be getting back on with my life. It was an achievement, a goal, but not an enduring passion.

In fact the only exercise that I can ever seem to look forward to is my nightly jaunt with my canine companion Boris. But that’s simply walking, and my worry is that it’s just not cardio vascular enough for my overall health. Sadly walking never really gets you out of breath.

So is it just the case that some people don’t like exercise or am I still waiting to discover that hidden sport that will embrace me in its obsessive arms?

Hmm, maybe it’s time I bought a trampoline, an ab-master pro or maybe a sexy old thigh master. There’s got to be something out there I love surely?

posted by Laura
Tags: exercise, gym, swimming, weight loss, Wii fit
Filed under: General Discussion

Back in February I wrote a blog post about my indecision over whether to buy an ereader or not. My main concerns over this purchase were:

1. Cost: why aren’t ebooks cheaper?
2. Technology: will I buy lots of new ebooks and the format then becomes obsolete?
3. Should I hold on and wait for the iPad?
4. Would I miss the paper experience and sharing books with my friends?
5. I wanted a pretty one, I’m a typical girl, I like pink, I can’t help it!
6. Would the page turn technology keep up with the speed of my reading?

A month later, my procrastination is over and I am now in possession of a shiny new Sony Touch Digital Book.

The main driver behind my decision was storage. There is no escaping the fact that I absolutely love books and I don’t plan on giving up this obsession… ever. But, sadly my house really cannot take any more. You’ve heard about the lady and her cats, well I’m the lady and the books, I feel one day their mass will smother and kill me. Suffocation by narrative.

There’s also handbag space. While I no longer work and commute into London every day, I still go into town on a regular basis for client meetings. There’s nothing more irritating than being near to the end one a book and having to cram two into your handbag. With my nifty new ereader I can now carry over 350 with me or 13,000 with a memory card.

So how does it stand up against my concerns? Well, firstly while there’s a great array of digital books past their copyright available for free, new ebooks are still too expensive in my opinion. I can’t share them with my friends or more importantly my sister. And, there’s no lovely new book paper and print mixture smell.

Yet, despite these complaints, I love it!

I can carry hundreds of books with me wherever I go. I can download a new book in minutes without having to wait for my Amazon delivery. Nobody knows what I’m reading, I can read the trashiest novel without some snoot raising their eyebrows over their Financial Times.

The e-ink technology is superb, there’s no flicker and after my first couple of pages I was knee deep in my novel and didn’t give the lack of paper a second thought. As the action started to enthral me I barely registered that I was clicking a button to turn a page instead of feeling the swoosh of crisp paper. It has a dictionary included so if an author decides to puzzle me with a new word I can look up its meaning then and there without puzzling all day until I can get to a computer and Google it.

The battery life is pretty good to, I think it depends on your reading volume, but so far it seems to be living up to the two week manufacture promise. Appearance wise, I got it in red, it may not be pink, but it’s still rather stylish.

Essentially, if you love books, read a lot of books and travel an ereader should become as essential as your iPod. Forget sentimentality, the experience is just as good as the paper one and better for the environment too. My only hope is that technology finds a way for be able to lend and share them with friends, it’s the one thing I can see I’m really going to miss.

Side Note: Why Sony?

If you’re considering purchasing your very first ereader too, you may wonder why I chose the Sony? I did spend a good few days vacillating over the Sony or forking out and paying for a Kindle to be shipped internationally. The main benefit of the Kindle for me was its 3G technology, meaning I could buy books any time, anywhere. But the biggest reason that I decided against it was that I could only buy books from Amazon. Amazon ebooks are locked in a proprietary format, so that they can only be read on Kindles. I cannot transfer it to another reader and I’m locked into whatever price Amazon decides to set.

The Sony ereader takes ebooks in an ‘epub’ format, which is becoming an industry standard. Think Blu-ray versus vs HD-DVD, you want to make sure you’re backing the winning technology

The theory being that in the future should my ereader become as old as my much loved Casio cassette player, I will just be able to transfer by books to a new reader rather than replace them all once again.

I will have my eye on the market as the iPad becomes available, but I dismissed it for three reasons. It will not be e-ink, so there will be glare which will cause eye fatigue. At present it will not be released in the UK with iBooks, my assumption is they’re still negotiating with UK publishing rights, and thirdly the price. It is expected the retail in the UK at around the same price it is in Dollars in the US, hardly fair for us Brits. I’m not an expert, this is just my humble opinion.

posted by Laura
Tags: digital books, ebooks, ereader, ipad, Kindle, sony touch ereader
Filed under: Books & Book Reviews

Yesterday was World Women’s Day and it got me thinking about what it means to be a women in the noughties. There are lots of topics I could have written about, but I ended up contemplating the well discussed issue of size.

I ended up here after a discussion with a colleague a couple of weeks ago. She had to do a review of a women’s fashion website and one of her complaints was that they used real models, who couldn’t have been more than a size 10. Her feedback was she wanted to see gorgeous slim, long legged women wearing the clothes she was thinking about buying, and not a women you could walk past in the street. This surprised me because it’s the distinct opposite of how I feel. I’m fed up of air-brushed, over processed women, who never let a piece of chocolate pass their lips being used in advertising.

How many times have I coveted something in a store, yet I know that as soon as I take it into the changing room I’m going to be sorely disappointed? While I don’t want garments to look like they’re dressed on a sack of potatoes, I relish the chance to be able to see them on more realistic models.

Debenhams received a lot of press coverage a couple of weeks ago by introducing a trial of size 16 mannequins in their Oxford Street branch. I hope it goes well. John Lewis have tried this before with size 14 models in one their stores and they didn’t roll it out, which leads me only to assume that it did not generate the impact they were hoping for. Maybe my colleague was right and people want to see things on skinny models looking gorgeous, rather than a more realistic representation?

But, the idea does leave me feeling a little sad.

While I don’t advocate an unhealthy lifestyle of no exercise and junk food, why has it become unacceptable for a woman to be anything but stick thin in modern society?

Was I the only one who was saddened when the beautiful and voluptuous model that was Sophie Dahl slimmed down to conform to the catwalk norm?

Think back to the recent Dove marketing campaign. Featuring, real women. It has to be one of my favourites. Equally, Bobbi Brown launched a new campaign last week, in which she decided to feature her friends wearing her make up instead of models. Personally, I think the results speak for themselves. Take a look at www.bobbibrown.co.uk/prettypowerful they are warm and inspiring.

Now, I can actually see a few of you wondering, so I think it’s fair of me to say that I’m far from skinny myself. Dressing in at a curvy size 16, which may be the UK average, but I’ve had a love, hate relationship with my weightwatchers journal for years. However, like that much coveted Mulberry handbag, to me a size 8 seems totally unattainable. I like to aspire to things I can and do achieve. I know that even if I could achieve it I could never healthily maintain my body at size 8 status, let alone the infamous size zero, which is a UK 4. And, in all hand on heart honesty, I don’t want to be. However, a curvy size 12 absolutely.

Please don’t think I’m disparaging slim women either. There are many women who are naturally slim, healthy and gorgeous.

But, why as women do we pressure ourselves to be something we can never be? With the world of celebrity and people famous just for well, being famous, my greatest frustration with the noughties is our obsession with image over substance. Why can we not celebrate who we are instead of we think we should be?

posted by Laura
Tags: bobbi brown, curvy women, debenhams, dove, Size, size zero, sophie dahl
Filed under: General Discussion

posted by Laura
Tags: book review, broken, kelley armstrong, werewolves
Filed under: Books & Book Reviews

Sex.

It sells.

It entertains.

This is nothing new. We all know this, it’s been doing so for thousands of years. You can find it wherever you look. On the television, in film, in your daily newspaper, on the internet and in your favourite novel.

But after reading a novel the other week with a little more ‘action’ than I cared for, it got me thinking about sex and plot. At what point is it entertaining and furthers the story and when does it become gratuitous?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not a prude. There are times when I’m reading a book and it skips ahead to the – and they woke up cuddling the next day – and I can find this as frustrating as the infamous – and we woke up and it was all a dream – cop out. Frustrating and boring.

But, by the same token I really cannot bear pages and pages of vapid sex scenes, that I just end up flicking through until the book goes back to the narrative.

Let me take Laurell K Hamilton’s Anita Blake Vampire Executioner series as an example. The first six books are action packed, page turning thrillers. I love them. Then enter what is called ‘the ardeur’, a plot device that means Anita has to have sex otherwise she dies. Hmmm. My favourite character suddenly descends into immoral promiscuity. Books that were once superb crime/supernatural dramas, become filled with empty virtually pornographic scenes. Scenes that neither further the plot or the character development particularly in my opinion.

Somewhat ironically, the character development in Hamilton’s books are so good that find myself reading the next book to find our what happens to them, even if I do end up skipping past half the pages.

The urban fantasy genre in general tends to pull no punches and is gritty, real and provocative both in terms of plot and narration. Which is why I’m such a fan. I love a good sex scene almost as much as I look forward to a violent fight scene or battle. But what I cannot bear is sex or violence for no reason.

So where is that line for writers and readers? Interestingly it seems to me the more sex scenes a book has, the more repetitive and unoriginal it becomes. I read a book for its plot and character development, because I want to know what happens or who the person is going to become. While I like fantasy, I also want on some level my characters to emulate human behaviour. Not become an adult industry double.

Whether it’s a good fight scene or passionate love scene, you could argue there’s some amount of titillation involved, but without context it becomes meaningless. If it goes on too long or does not further the story it might as well not be there at all. Essentially, when I read a book, all I want is to be entertained and a good writer needs to find this balance.

posted by Laura
Tags: books, laurell k hamilton, sex, sex and plot
Filed under: Books & Book Reviews

I am, without a doubt, a book publisher’s dream. Simply because I love books; I love to read and I couldn’t imagine my life without them. Back in my commuting days I could devour as many as three books in a week (I kid you not), but this has reduced of late to a more sedentary pace of one a fortnight.

But this passion comes with a few storage issues. I may re-read my books regularly, but there is still a rapid stream of paper bound beauties pouring into my house on a regular basis. I have visions of one day waking up and no longer being able to see daylight as they have been piled so high, or being buried alive and eventually eaten by bookworms.  Ok, I exaggerate a little, but you get my point, there’s only some many I can stuff onto my bowing bookshelves or in a box (or two) under my bed.

Last year, I went on holiday to Egypt, my husband planned to do his Advanced Open Water Diver course out there so I went prepared. I had more books in my bag than I had knickers. Knowing in advance that the airline would have a problem with my literary overindulgence I also paid for an excess baggage allowance. Some women take too many shoes, I take books. Well shoes can be an issue to, but that’s another story.

Now, the obvious answer to my book storage sagas would of course be an ereader, and I’ve been umming and ahhing over one for about a year. But, I just can’t seem to be able to make my mind up.

There are a few barriers that seem to be getting in my way:

1.COST.

Why aren’t e-books cheaper? Surely the cost of digital books is much cheaper than the print, production and distribution costs for their printed counterparts?

2.TECHNOLOGY

The technology is relatively new and there are bound to be bigger and better ereaders emerging in the future. Fine, like my mobile I’m happy to upgrade it at a later date. But I want to be able to take my digital library with me. I’m already planning on replacing some of my favourites novels in digital format, I don’t want to have to do so again. Epub seems to be emerging as the proprietary format of choice, but big players like Amazon have their own chosen only usable on a Kindle. What if I got to the expense of purchasing all of these and then when my ereader joins the pile of obsolete technology I will have just thrown my money away?

3.THE IPAD

Apple have had the technology sector all a flutter with the news of their iPad for over a year. As a lover of my iPhone  I eagerly awaited development news to see if this would be the ereader for me. Firstly the ereader functionality will not be available for its UK release? What is it about us in the UK that always seem to miss out on the good releases? Secondly, it does not use E ink technology, so there is still the risk of eye fatigue and problems viewing my book when reading in the sun by the pool. Thirdly, of course the price, while it’s much more than an ereader it’s also much more expensive than one

4. SHARING

Any book lover likes to share their passion and what better way than to swap books? The nook is the only ereader so far that allows you to lend a book to someone for a couple of weeks and it’s not available in the UK. So say good-bye to sharing.

5. PRETTY IN PINK

It shouldn’t be important, but it is. Half of them are really ugly. I like pretty colours, you get them in ipods so why can’t you in ereaders? Ok, you can get nice cases and this is probably what I’ll do, it’s what I did for my iPhone. I’m not stupid, I know better technology is more important, but why can’t they look pretty too?

6. SPEED

I’m a fast reader, as my three books a week can attest, will the page turning technology keep up with my superman eyes?

We saw MP3 players revolutionise the music market. They look great, you can share music easily. Are ereaders going to do the same? It seems to me it’s about time the publishing industry got serious about digital.

posted by Laura
Tags: books, ereaders, Kindle
Filed under: Books & Book Reviews

Without a doubt the werewolf books in Kelley Armstrong’s ‘Women of the Otherworld’ series are the best. If I were able to get a chance to talk to the other herself I would ask whether she enjoyed them writing them more, as it certainly comes across that way in the narrative.

For those of you that have not read any of the previous books in the series I would recommend you read them first, I have listed them in order at the bottom of this review.

The books follow the life of Elena Michaels. In a world where werewolves are very real, the condition passed on through a hereditary gene from father to son. Very few humans have ever survived a werewolf a bite and certainly never a woman, which makes Elena the only female werewolf in existence.

In this fourth installment in the series, Elena and her tempestuous mate Clay are now parents and are a little older and a touch wiser. Chasing a stray mutt and investigating a series of mysterious wolf deaths they end up in the frosty Alaskan wilderness.

Alaska is great setting for the novel, its remote and somewhat alien landscape adds to the mysterious and deadly beat of the storyline. As Clay and Elena tackle unsolved crimes, murder, stray mutts and mysterious mythical creatures it made me remember just why I love this series.

It’s the intense relationship between Elena and Clay that always makes the story and it doesn’t fail to deliver again in Frostbitten. They’re are independence, willfulness and strength twinned their all consuming passion for one another is delicious, believable and enough to make women the world over drool.

As we’ve seen in previous novels, being the partner of one of the pack’s most notoriously terrifying werewolves and enforcer comes with its problems and this is no exception. And it is Elena’s time to prove that she is not in fact Clay’s weakness, but his partner in every right. Delving into her childhood in foster care, she has to face up to some old issues in order to face up to future responsibilities.

We see the arrival of some new characters that I hope to see again in later books as well as some faces from Clay’s past we saw introduced in the ‘Men of the Otherworld’ novellas.

There’s a lot more Elena than Clay in the book as well as a twist about Elena’s future that I really didn’t see coming.

My main criticisms of the book are, I would like to see have seen more of the pack, it is mainly centred around Clay and Elena and I missed the witty interactions between them and other pack members that on times make me laugh out loud, and their relationship with the long suffering Alpha Jeremy. I was also disappointed not to see more of their twins in the book and how they were coping as parents, instead they were conveniently at home being looked after Jeremy, giving Elena and Clay free run to frolic, hunt and fight as normal. Which if I’m honest felt like a little bit Continue reading ›

posted by Laura
Tags: book review, Frostbitten, kelley armstrong
Filed under: Books & Book Reviews