living in dreams

The sky was clear. There were no clouds, no thunder, no nothing. Yet the girl on the beach wished with all the might of her aching heart that some sort of disruption might shake this calm. A flash in the heavens, a crackle of electricity in the air, a growl of stormclouds. Just anything, anything that might tell her that it had all been a dream, that she would see him again, well and whole.  Please, she begged, please . Her silent petition hung alone in the air until a gentle breath of wind whisked it away. Her heart was heavy.  She thought she knew pain. Yet this fresh heartrending, relentless, agonising misery clung stubbornly to her chest, weighing down every bone in her body, forming new yet well-known tears at the corners of her swollen, colour-shifting eyes. Well, colour-shifting, yes, but for the last three days, a dull red had rimmed those once-sparkling orbs, born from endless nights of tears.  Above her weary wet eyes swept locks of dark hair. It had g...

 Started: 15/3 Finished: 25/3 Language: ⭐️⭐️⭐️☆☆ Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ Characters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ Genre: Historical fiction, romance, drama Synopsis When Elinor Dashwood is forced to move away from her beloved home estate in Sussex with her mother and sisters to a much simpler Devonshire cottage, she would never have anticipated the wild, figurative (and literal) storms that would envelope her and her sister Marianne's lives. Thrown into a reckless relationship with an unfamiliar albeit dashing stranger, Marianne finds her life turned upside down, while on the other side, Elinor must struggle with the weight of a painful secret that threatens her own future and romance. Jane Austen delves into the two stark characteristics of sense, which quiet, thoughtful Elinor embodies, and sensibility, displayed by passionate, hotheaded Marianne. Throughout the novel, Austen masterfully reveals that not all is as it seems to be, and what a person says may not indeed be the full truth. T...

D eep under the mountain, poor Bilbo crouched in a corner. His ring was on and his eyes were closed. The only thing he could do now was hide and wait. Presently, he heard a strange crescendoing whistle over the great beast's earth-shattering bellows, and he opened his eyes and saw a flash of purple light! A terrible roar followed, and Bilbo guessed that the dragon's match had come. I will not bore you with the details of what followed, as Bilbo himself had indeed no notion of what was happening, but will take the liberty of skipping ahead if you allow me. Thank you for making it thus far, dear reader, if you have indeed followed from the very beginning.    Presently, an unexpected silence fell upon all those who were near. Bilbo slowly rose. The quiet weighed unnaturally on his ears, which had grown accustomed to the piercing blasts and explosions. He slipped off the ring and looked at the devastation around him. The chamber was utterly destroyed. Gaping holes in the roof and ...

"Now you are in for it at last, Bilbo Baggins. You went and put your foot in it that night of the party, and now you have got to pull it out and pay for it!"    Through the deep murky tunnel the hobbit crept, carefully placing one thickly-haired foot in front of the other. Soon it grew warm. He knew that his journey would not be long in ending. Sure enough, he came upon a great door not long afterwards, and his little hobbit head peeked cautiously through.  It was still lightless in the chamber, but Bilbo could make out large, dark mounds all about the room. "Treasure and gold," he thought. "But where is the dragon?" He had never seen a dragon before, but had expected that he would recognise one immediately upon seeing it.   Some have great wings like the wind Some have fire and fierce wrath, Some have venom on their long teeth Some have hides like armour, tails like steel, tongues like spears, eyes piercing bright: some are great & golden Some are gre...

 "Don't just follow your heart. Your heart will betray you." -Podo Helmer, The Wingfeather Saga: North! Or Be Eaten  (Andrew Peterson)

Started: 13/2 Finished: 5/3 Language: ⭐️⭐️⭐️☆☆ Structure: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ Engagement: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ Genre: Memoir, autobiography, Christian living, (light) romance Synopsis The deep and emotional tale of a Christian convert, Surprised by Oxford  allows the reader to follow literature student Carolyn Drake as she embarks on an unexpectedly life-changing journey during her time studying at Oxford. With a loose Catholic background and a discouraging father-daughter relationship behind her, Carolyn steps into the prestigious school, treading cautiously in the footsteps of C.S. Lewis, Lewis Carroll, J.R.R. Tolkien and many more renowned authors before her. A whirlwind of surprises and groundbreaking discoveries greet her, leaving in her place a changed woman whom she would not have recognised a few years earlier. Thoughts This was certainly a very deep and thought-provoking read! As is common in Oxford students, Carolyn is an immensely deep thinker, and in this memoir, she...