Genre: Poetry, Autobiography

​I picked up this little gem of a collection at it's launch night at the Union Chapel in Islington, London - just over a week ago, and I loved it. Click here for a write up of this launch event.

Plum had everything you would want from a ​contemporary collection of poetry.

Poet, Hollie McNish, provides the reader with an in-depth autobiography within the pages of this book. She does this is a clever, funny and very unique way.

What is evident is that Hollie is focused on 'thought processes' around growing up and life experiences.

However, what makes this resonate deeply is it's powerful gritty realism and the relatable context included within its pages.

The syntax and structure of the book flowed seemlessly and it's rhythm allowed the mind to drift along to hollies words.

An example of one of Hollies poems from the book, 'Language Learning', below:

I gave this five out of five stars because frankly it delivered on every level. I could not fault it in any way.

Go get yourself a copy - you won't be disappointed...

Genre: Art, Biography, Culture, Poetry

Ok, so I admit it - I went into reading this book thinking "Oh, it's just an art book." Well, 'Dalí' is so much more than that.

​Dawn Ades has created a book that provides not only a biographical outlook on Dalí's professional life, but has also provided a psychological insight into his motivations, passions and influences.

Sociological influences were also highlighted within the book emphasising the prevalence of these on Dalí's thought processes in relation to his masterpieces.

There were frequent occasions within this book where the internal workings and occasional conflict of the Surrealist movement were brought to the readers attention - especially with the disagreements between Dalí and André Breton (the movements founder). 

Throughout the book I kept thinking, "Gosh, I never knew that", which shows that this added tremendously to my knowledge around Dalí and his work.

Ades' writing style was easy to read and digest and where there were in-depth psychological, scientific or artistic terminology used this was carefully and skillfully explained and laid-out. 

My reasoning behind awarding a whopping five out of five stars for this book is because it has everything anybody needs to know about Salvador Dalí and his creative works - and so much more.

I would highly recommend this book to any creative, artistic or Dalí enthusiast - check it out now...

Genre: Romance, F/F, Adult Fiction, Erotica, LGBTQI.

This Foreign Affair is the 4th novel within the Pink Bean series and it certainly rose to the expectations laid out by it's predecessors.

Within the narrative of this novel Bliss cleverly links the Pink Bean and French Kissing series' together with the formation of a relationship between Zoya and Camille.

What is evident from the outset is that Harper is using this association between the two serials to explore the dynamic of a 'long distance' relationship - but this is done to the extreme.

By merging the Australian and French cultures in this novel posed an element of risk of alienating one culture from the other and by having one appear more dominant over the other.

However, Harper has managed to eluded this in such a masterful way by featuring the story within both countries. Yes, this story is told in the voice of Zoya​, but we do seem to get both sides of the story.

Personally, the story was nostalgic - bringing back memories of times travelling to see the person I love. It brought a tear to my eye in places where I strongly resonated with the characters and the tribulations that they faced.

Much like in Harper's previous novels within the Pink Bean series I gave this a whopping five out of five stars because of how much this struck a chord with me. Loved every word and chapter of this book.

Check it out, but make sure that you have read the previous books within this series beforehand in order to have the right amount of context to the narrative.

Definitely looking forward to seeing what direction the Pink Bean series goes next. Watch this space folks...