On Saturday I went along to Edinburgh for my first time at Blook Club. It's not a typo, it's bloggers + books so anyone who blogs or reads/comments on blogs or on twitter can join in. The beautiful and wonderfully chatty Zoe of the fabulous blog Conversation Pieces set it up and chooses a book every 6 weeks or so and those of us who can, all meet up in Edinburgh for drinks, cake, book talk and general chat (I even managed to convince a few to have dinner after this one since it was a Saturday and hubby was working late!)
I had planned to make a cake myself to take along (first impressions and all that!) but sadly got distracted on Friday night by Mahj's amazing steak salad and then slept in on Saturday (which was much needed after the last 3 weekends away!) I ended up rushing around trying to decide what to wear (the pink skirt won again, styled with a white vest and yellow bag this time) and almost missed the train!
After making my way to the venue, a very cute room piled with books and quirky lighting at the back of a bar in Leith, I was glad to catch and meet Zoe at the bar before having to enter the room full of strangers. She instantly made me feel welcome and was chatting away making my worry of awkwardness joining an already established group melt away. Everyone was lovely and I felt quite happy joining in with my thoughts on the book and other random chat all afternoon!
I think there were 12 of us in total this time and the book this month was Daughter of Smoke and Bone which everyone seemed to love, including myself! I actually started reading it a bit late, on the Monday, and hoped I would enjoy it so I would read it fast enough to be done in time for Saturday. I needn't have worried, the combination of a great story with such elaborate worlds and characters plus a quiet time at work meant I finished it by the Tuesday evening!!
The book is aimed at young adults and is a fantasy adventure story but with the inevitable bit of romance. What I, and everyone else, loved about it among other things was that the main character was a very likeable and strong female (with blue hair, which I would love to be able to pull off, I imagine her to be like Louise from Oh My Honey) and the descriptions of Prague and the other worlds in the book. I actually quite like fantasy TV and films, such as Grimm and Stardust, and although I haven't read many fantasy books (other than the obvious Twilight and True Blood books), this one makes me want to read more, specifically non-vampire ones. I can't wait for the sequel!!
We also got to enjoy the delights of @adizzygirl's amazing Macarons (which I forgot to get the recipe for but will be insisting she sends me! ;) ) and @Domestikate's cookies which I couldn't try as they had peanut butter in but they looked delicious!
aDizzyGirl was also my train buddy home and after a delicious meal at Chop Chop with Zoe and her husband Neil, Kirsty, and mysparethoughts, we had a great time chatting all the way back to Glasgow! We even got to meet the famous and adorable Smidgen as Fin came to meet Kirsty after dinner and in true cheesy Bex style, I insisted everyone pose for a photo by the restaurant, before Neil kindly took one of just the Blook Clubbers.
(I was also highly impressed with the coordination of the asafemooring family with Smidgen's purple collar matching Fin's trainers and jacket AND Kirsty's eyeshadow!)
You might also notice that I have now acquired a denim jacket as planned and it was a bargainous £14 random find from Primark!! It's a brilliant fit, very comfy and warmer than I expected which was an added bonus as it was freezing in Edinburgh on Saturday!
Sadly my evening didn't end as well and I realised when I had switched trains in Glasgow to go home that I had left my favourite scarf (which you may have even noticed on the blog that I have been wearing a lot!) on the other train and went running back but it had already left and nothing has so far been handed into lost property :( I am properly gutted as I really loved that scarf with it's butterfly wing print and varying degrees of turquoise which just seems to go so well with so many outfits and am still trying to be hopeful that it will turn up. I've been told that the train will have gone to the depot where it will have been cleaned and any lost property is collected and eventually returned to the lost property department at the station so I will keep checking, fingers crossed!
I had planned to make a cake myself to take along (first impressions and all that!) but sadly got distracted on Friday night by Mahj's amazing steak salad and then slept in on Saturday (which was much needed after the last 3 weekends away!) I ended up rushing around trying to decide what to wear (the pink skirt won again, styled with a white vest and yellow bag this time) and almost missed the train!
After making my way to the venue, a very cute room piled with books and quirky lighting at the back of a bar in Leith, I was glad to catch and meet Zoe at the bar before having to enter the room full of strangers. She instantly made me feel welcome and was chatting away making my worry of awkwardness joining an already established group melt away. Everyone was lovely and I felt quite happy joining in with my thoughts on the book and other random chat all afternoon!
The book is aimed at young adults and is a fantasy adventure story but with the inevitable bit of romance. What I, and everyone else, loved about it among other things was that the main character was a very likeable and strong female (with blue hair, which I would love to be able to pull off, I imagine her to be like Louise from Oh My Honey) and the descriptions of Prague and the other worlds in the book. I actually quite like fantasy TV and films, such as Grimm and Stardust, and although I haven't read many fantasy books (other than the obvious Twilight and True Blood books), this one makes me want to read more, specifically non-vampire ones. I can't wait for the sequel!!
We also got to enjoy the delights of @adizzygirl's amazing Macarons (which I forgot to get the recipe for but will be insisting she sends me! ;) ) and @Domestikate's cookies which I couldn't try as they had peanut butter in but they looked delicious!
aDizzyGirl was also my train buddy home and after a delicious meal at Chop Chop with Zoe and her husband Neil, Kirsty, and mysparethoughts, we had a great time chatting all the way back to Glasgow! We even got to meet the famous and adorable Smidgen as Fin came to meet Kirsty after dinner and in true cheesy Bex style, I insisted everyone pose for a photo by the restaurant, before Neil kindly took one of just the Blook Clubbers.
(I was also highly impressed with the coordination of the asafemooring family with Smidgen's purple collar matching Fin's trainers and jacket AND Kirsty's eyeshadow!)
 |
| Smidgen clearly getting bored of all the photos now, having a big yawn! |
Sadly my evening didn't end as well and I realised when I had switched trains in Glasgow to go home that I had left my favourite scarf (which you may have even noticed on the blog that I have been wearing a lot!) on the other train and went running back but it had already left and nothing has so far been handed into lost property :( I am properly gutted as I really loved that scarf with it's butterfly wing print and varying degrees of turquoise which just seems to go so well with so many outfits and am still trying to be hopeful that it will turn up. I've been told that the train will have gone to the depot where it will have been cleaned and any lost property is collected and eventually returned to the lost property department at the station so I will keep checking, fingers crossed!
3 comments:
Awww, love this! Glad you had such a good time... made my Monday morning to read this.
(And can I put 'beautiful and wonderfully chatty' on my CV or something... best compliment ever! Though I'd say exactly the same of you, you know!) x
Ha ha famous and adorable! Smidgen's ears will be burning! I'm glad you noticed the colour-coordination, we do try ;)
Blook club is ace :)
So glad you enjoyed it.
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