NaNoWriMo

For those of you who may not have heard of NaNoWriMo before, it is 'National Novel Writing Month' and the aim is to write 50,000 words in the month of November. For more information check the website here.

Back in 2012 I attempted NaNoWriMo and it's safe to say it didn't exactly go to plan. I didn't even get a fifth of the way through the word goal and if I remember rightly my story was, to be quite honest, horrendous. While I wanted to attempted it the following year I was just too busy and I knew there was no point even trying it, as I did not physically have the time to write due to school being pretty hectic at the time.

But that leads us to this year, where I have a lot more time and have found friends who also thought it would be fun to attempt NaNoWriMo 2014 so after a few conversations about it and setting up a Facebook chat between the three of us, we have decided to do it and motivate each other. I think one of the issues I had back in 2012 is that no one knew I was doing it, meaning I had no one to motivate me when I was finding it difficult to write. I was so worried about not finishing it that I decided the best option was to not tell anyone I'd started it. This year I've decided that I'm not going to do that. While it would be annoying if I don't manage to finish it, that's not the point for me. I love to write, as you can probably tell my the fact I run four separate blogs, but I've never seriously attempted writing something as long as a novel, so this will be a very new experience for me!

If you're looking for a writing buddy, feel free to add me as one!

Have you done NaNoWriMo before? Are you attempting it this year? If you've got any tips for me leave them below! I have a feeling I'll need them!

Lucy x

5 Fun Facts About A Book And A Brew!

As it's been a busy few weeks and I've not got much reading done, I don't have a book review for you today. I thought instead I'd do a different kind of post for a change and realised there are a few things you may not know about A Book And A Brew. So here we go! I present to you some fun facts you may not have known about A Book And A Brew!

1) If you comment on my blog, I will without a doubt check out your blog.

As I'm still at a stage where my blog is relatively small in the blogosphere I don't get many comments on what I post. This means I have the time to have a little nosey look at who is commenting on my blog and what their blog is like. Very often I will then proceed to follow them on bloglovin so if you want a new follower on there and think I'd like your blog, leave me a subtle comment some time! (Or just a very obvious one below telling me you think I'd like your blog and we should be friends either works)

2) This is not my only spot on the internet.

Something that may come as a bit of a surprise is that this is not my only blog. I have a few other ones such as my personal/lifestyle blog lucytregidon and my beauty blog itslucyslook. Some of you may wonder why I don't just throw everything in together on one blog but I've found as a reader of other blogs I am often far more interested in one style of post. I may enjoy someone's book reviews but not be quite so fond of their beauty posts. That's why I like to keep things separate, so people know where they stand with each blog! I'm also a musician and as such have a YouTube channel. I don't upload videos regularly (we're talking a few a year) but if you'd like to head over there and watch a few of my videos, leave me some feedback and maybe even subscribe while you're there you'd make me a very happy Luce.

3) I love the name of this blog more than you probably realise.

It's such a great feeling when you have an idea and instantly think it is a brilliant idea. It's even better when you do that and then still think months later that it's a brilliant idea. For a long time this blog was called thebeautyinwords.blogspot.co.uk but it never really sat right with me. It wasn't what I wanted my blog to represent and it didn't capture my writing style at all. That's when I thought of A Book And A Brew. I shared the idea with one of my best friends who was as excited as I was by it meaning it wasn't one of my ideas that only I find good (that does happen quite often) and I proceeded to change the url. Not only that, but I also created a google account (although 'abookandabrew' was taken so I had to miss the first 'a' off which was why my contact email is 'bookandabrew@gmail.com') and then later a twitter account.

4) The banner for this blog is more perfect than I could have ever hoped and I didn't even give my friend my ideas when I asked her to make it for me.

For those of you who aren't aware, my banner was made by my wonderfully talented friend Ishani. Knowing she was good at this sort of thing, I asked if she could consider making me a banner because I was really struggling. That was all I said and she got back to me very quickly with the design you can see at the top of the page. It was exactly what I had in mind and I feel like it encompasses the spirit of my blog so perfectly I will never be able to thank her enough.

5) I'm 17.

Those of you who pay attention to the side bar will already know this but I feel some of you may have accidentally over looked it. I am 17 meaning I am still in school and blogging has to be a secondary thing for me no matter how much I love it. You may have noticed that blog posts decrease dramatically during term time and although it is sometimes that I don't have enough time to write posts then, it's often that I don't have the time to read the things I want to review. I try to schedule posts so I keep uploading regularly although it's not always possible as I'm sure anyone in their last year of school will tell you!

So there we have it! 5 fun facts about A Book And A Brew! Let me know if you enjoy this kind of post. It's something a little different to the norm but I enjoyed writing it so I hope you enjoy reading it and I'd be happy to do more things similar in the future! 

Lucy x

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

228 Pages

Rating: 3/5

Format: ebook

Buy it: thebookdepository (paperback)


After seeing endless good reviews of this book, when I saw it was available on amazon kindle for £1.99 I decided to give it a shot. I went in to it not knowing anything about it because I'd heard it was best to go in blind and while I still agree that it is best to not know the plot, I didn't enjoy it as much as I was expecting to.


I had to convince myself to keep reading with this book which is usually not a good sign. If I hadn't heard so many good reviews I would've probably given up with it and that is something I very rarely do. I can see why people enjoy it as the good points raised are definitely things I can see, but I just did not enjoy it at all.

It would seem that this is a real marmite book: you'll either love it or you'll hate it. Unfortunately I didn't love it but that doesn't mean that you won't.

Have you read We Were Liars? What did you think of it? Did you love it or hate it?

Lucy x

The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey

457 Pages

Rating: 4/5

Format: paperback (library copy)

Buy it: thebookdepository

The Fifth Wave is a dystopian novel in which humans are being destroyed in waves. Cassie, her father and her brother have survived until now but as they anticipate the fifth wave things start becoming more difficult. When Cassie and her family are separated she does everything she can to reunited them, but it's not quite as simple as that.

I picked this up when I was at the library last mainly because I'd heard people talking about it online. For a while I wasn't convinced by it. I found the beginning to be a little repetitive and I think the same book could probably have been written in less pages but overall it was definitely a good book. I found I couldn't put the book down for the last 100 pages or so and didn't really want it to end when it did, but at the same time I doubt I'll read the rest in the series (I didn't actually realise it was a series until I started reading it and added it to my goodreads). 

Overall it's a good book but I didn't find it particularly mind blowing.

This book is great for anyone who likes dystopian novels like The Hunger Games or Divergent and if you enjoy that type of book I'd definitely recommend it.

Have you read The Fifth Wave? What did you think of it?

Lucy x

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

325 Pages

Rating: 5/5

Format: Paperback

Buy it: thebookdepository

Eleanor is the new girl in town and doesn't fit in at all. Park is the boy on the bus who tries to be as invisible as possible. They slowly open up to each other and fall for each other with the help of mix tapes and comic books. As it says on the back of the book, 'they fall in love the way you do the first time, when you're young, and you feel as if you have nothing and everything to lose.'

I've been reluctant to read Eleanor & Park for a while. I've seen so many reviews online saying it's incredible and I didn't want to go into it with high expectations just for it to not meet them. That being said, after I read Fangirl a few weeks ago I knew I had to read this. Eleanor & Park is one of those books that deserves all of the hype it gets.

By far my favourite thing about Rainbow Rowell's writing is how realistic her characters are. Her characters are flawed. They are not perfect. They have traits about them that are not desirable and that's what makes them so fantastic. I find I get much more attached to a character who is imperfect because they just seem all the more real. Eleanor, Park and all of the people around them feel so real that I couldn't help but love this book.

I had been warned by a commenter on a blog post where I'd mentioned that I wanted to read this soon to have tissues at hand for the ending so I was on the look out for something sad to crop up the whole way through the book but I still didn't think it would play out as it did. Although I'm much more of a fan of happy endings, as most of us are really, I completely see why the ending was necessary and it just added to the realism of the whole story.

I would definitely recommend this book. It warns on the back of the book that it's not suitable for younger readers but for anyone older than about 14 I would recommend it. It's a fantastic and realistic book that deals with very real, very important issues.

Have you read Eleanor & Park? What did you think of it?

Lucy x 

84 Ribbons by Paddy Eger*

345 Pages

Rating: 3/5

Buy it: thebookdepository

As someone who has always loved dance, particularly ballet, I was interested in this book as soon as I saw the cover, but I have to say I was a little disappointed. While this is a good book, it wasn't as good as I was expecting which is possibly partially my fault for having expectations that were too high.

84 Ribbons is the story of Marta, a teenager in the 1950s, as she moves away from home to join a ballet company. While she's always dreamed of becoming a professional ballerina, her experiences as one aren't exactly what she had in mind. She makes two friends immediately who continue to be her best friends and, of course, there is a love interest.

This book deals with some important issues surrounding the ballet community such as eating disorders and ballerinas overworking their bodies and these issues are dealt with well. My only problem with the way the author deals with these sensitive topics is that they sometimes feel like unnecessary stereotypes. We only meet a handful of dancers throughout the book and the majority of them struggle with one of these two issues. While ballet is undoubtedly a physically demanding profession and it is likely that things were different in the 1950s than they are today, it would've been nice to see more characters who were strong dancers with healthy eating habits, as the majority of dancers do not have eating disorders and reading this book felt like the opposite.

While it was by no means my favourite book, I feel like it is a decent book and I didn't necessarily dislike it. I just wouldn't rush out to recommend it to all of my friends.

Have you read 84 Ribbons? What did you think of it?

Lucy x

*I received a copy of this book for review via netgalley

The Coldest Girl In Coldtown by Holly Black

419 Pages

Rating: 4.5/5

Buy it: thebookdepository

This was another library find that I picked up purely from hearing good reviews about it online and, although I wasn't really expecting much, I was surprised by it! I found it really engaging and it's definitely the type of book that is easy to lose yourself in. I've been struggling a bit recently with finding the motivation to read more than about a chapter without getting bored but I sat and read about 200 pages of this when I woke up today because I couldn't put it down.

The book starts when Tana, the protagonist, wakes up the morning after a party to find herself in a bathtub still in the house of the party. She wanders through the rest of the house expecting to find her friends awake and cooking breakfast but instead finds everyone who had been at the party dead, other than her ex-boyfriend who has been chained up in the same room as a vampire. She very quickly finds out that her ex-boyfriend was bitten by a vampire and when trying to escape, Tana comes very close to being bitten too. So close that she's not sure if the infection has been passed on to her. The story then follows Tana, Aiden (her ex-boyfriend) and Gavriel (the vampire who had been chained up) as they head towards the Coldtown, a quarantine to keep the vampires from infecting humans and what happens once they are inside.

I thought this book was brilliant. It was fantasy that has been written in a way that makes you almost believe it's not. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone in search of a good YA read with believable characters and a strong plot that is not centered around romance. There is some romance in this book but it definitely takes a back seat for the majority of the book.

Have you read The Coldest Girl In Coldtown? What did you think of it? 

Lucy x

History and YA Book Haul (Haul #5)

I went shopping with my parents the other day pretty much solely because it meant I could go and get some stuff I'd been lusting after on the LUSH website (I have a serious addiction to that shop) but when we switched shopping locations and I was left to decide between looking around outdoor type shops with my parents (some of you may not be aware but I am far from the outdoorsy type, I mean I have a blog doesn't that say enough?)  or find something else to do, I decided to wander. That was when I remembered The Works. Some of you may have seen from my Bargain Book Haul post last summer that I love The Works when it comes to buying cheap books. It is a chain of stores in the UK (as far as I'm aware, possibly other countries too) that sell everything to do with arts, crafts and, most importantly, books. And when I say cheap, I mean really REALLY cheap.

Having just finished History AS Level and getting ready to do History A2 next year, I couldn't help falling in love with the history section. Despite there being about a million books I would gladly have bought I limited myself to things I will realistically read.

First, I picked up Andrew Marr's 'The Making of Modern Britain' because my A-Level course is pretty much exactly the same time period as he covers in this and having watched a few episodes of the TV show by the same name in class as well as for revision, I thought it could be useful. I find that on the TV show the information is put across in a very easy to understand way so I'm hoping I'll find the same with the book.

Next up we have 'China Rises' by John Farndon. I will admit, this was a very spur of the moment buy and I've not had any particular interest in China's history, culture or economy before but once I'd read the blurb I thought it could be an interesting read. It mentioned how Britain was the dominant world power of the 19th Century and the US was of the 20th Century and China looks set to become the dominant world power of the 21st Century and that pulled me in. I guess we'll see if this is a hit or miss!

The next book I picked up is the beautiful book 'Remember, Remember (the Fifth of November)' that I fell in love with immediately because of how it looked. When I picked it up and looked at it properly and found out it was, as the cover says, 'The History of Britain in Bite-Sized Chunks' I couldn't resist. I didn't study history at GCSE and picked it straight up for A-Level meaning that, although it has considerably improved over the last year, my general knowledge when it comes to history is really not very good at all. That makes this book perfect for me. From what I can see, each page has an event in British history with it's date and a brief explanation. The first entry is from AD 43 and the last is from 1945, so it's fair to say it's broad!

Lastly, we have a book that feels very out of place in this haul but I bought it at the same time so thought I'd chuck it in. I picked up 'Dash & Lily's Book of Dares' by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan for £1! Told you it was a great place for cheap books! I don't really know much about this book but I know it's had some really great reviews online and I've read a few of David Levithan's other books and he is definitely up there on my list of favourite authors so I couldn't resist.

And there we have it! Let me know if you've read any of these and what you thought about them or even if any of them look good to you in the comments below.

Lucy x

Any of these books take your fancy? Links to buy them below:

The Making of Modern Britain - Andrew Marr - £1.99


(Click image to buy on theworks.co.uk or here for thebookdepository)








Chine Rises - John Farndon - £2.99


(Click image to buy on theworks.co.uk - not on thebookdepository or amazon - sorry!)






Remember Remember - Judy Parkinson - £2.99


(Click image to buy on theworks.co.uk or here for thebookdepository)








Dash and Lily's Book of Dares - Rachel Cohn and David Levithan - £1


(Click image to buy on theworks.co.uk or here for thebookdepository)

Odeful by Jennifer Recchio*

38 Pages

Rating: 3.5/5

Format: ebook

Buy it: thebookdepository

I wasn't really sure what to expect with this. All I really knew was that it was a collection of poems that was released very recently and that it was about 'coming of age in the modern world' but I have to say, I did enjoy reading it!

It's a very short collection and the poems are the lovely kind of poetry that is easy to read but still leaves you thinking after. You could easily read the whole collection in one sitting (which I did) without feeling overwhelmed by it as sometimes happens with poetry and it's a great break from novels if you find yourself falling into a bit of a reading slump.

I read this book in ebook format and I found myself highlighting a lot of little phrases and passages that I wanted to remember later, which I always think is a sign that I'm enjoying something. It was a really easy read but still left me thinking about the words which I thought was lovely. The language used is simple but the phrasing of it is beautiful, meaning you're aware of what the poet is trying to express but it is far from boring.

Have you read Odeful or any similar collections of poems you think I'd like? Let me know in the comments!

Lucy x

*I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher via netgalley.

Bout of Books 11.0: Wrap Up!

The Bout of Books readathon will probably always be my favourite readathon. I mentioned on here before that I love it because there is literally no pressure to read and you can set yourself goals that are realistic for you and I've not found any other readathon that feels as relaxed, which is definitely what works for me.

Although I posted a TBR, I knew I wouldn't stick to those books. I knew I wanted to read Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell but other than that I just wanted to read what I felt like reading, which is what I did. In my mind, the real goal for myself was to read 800 pages in 7 days because that's way beyond what I would normally read in a week. In a typical week I'd say I probably read about 400 pages which means I've managed to double that which is a great achievement for me!

I'm sort of sad to see the end of this readathon. I was enjoying keeping a tally of how much I'd read in the day and then sharing with you how the day had gone. I'd definitely gotten into a routine of blogging every day too! I'm going to try and keep blogging as much as possible for the next few weeks before I go back to school although most of it will be scheduled to appear over the next few months as I know I'm going to be crazy busy when school starts back.

If you found my blog through this readathon, hello and I hope you stick around for a bit! And don't forget to say hi in the comments so I know you're there.

How did the readathon go for you? Was it a success? Let me know in the comments!

Day 1: 142 Pages

Day 2: 86 Pages

Day 3: 78 Pages

Day 4: 120 Pages

Day 5: 60 Pages

Day 6: 216 Pages
Day 7: 136 Pages

Total Read: 838 Pages

Books read:
The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart (started but not finished)

Lucy x

Bout of Books 11.0: Day 6 Update

Day 6 was by far the most productive day I've had of this readathon. I was home all day with nothing that really needed to be done so I just powered through Eleanor & Park and managed to finish it in the early hours of the morning so while I'm not including all of it for my page count for day 6 it does mean I was left to read something else for day 7. 

My page count so far is:

Day 1: 142 Pages

Day 2: 86 Pages

Day 3: 78 Pages

Day 4: 120 Pages

Day 5: 60 Pages

Day 6: 216 Pages

Total Read: 702 Pages

Lucy x