Movie review: Nativity 2

Donald Peterson and his wife are expecting their first child. Donald has just gotten a new teaching job at St. Bernadette's, but he doesn't know what he's in for... His new class is spoiled rotten by the slightly loony classroom assistant Mr. Poppy. He's led the children to believe they will compete in the yearly Song for Christmas competition, even though the school has no funds for it. As Christmas nears and Donald tries to bring order back in his class, he will find out just how determined Mr. Poppy and the children are!

Book review: Heroic Measures

Gwen Spencer choose to become a nurse to get away from the home of her vengeful aunt, but it became her passion. When America enters WWI in 1917, a call goes out for health personnel to go to France and Gwen volunteers. But she soon discovers that what she signed up for includes chaos, primitive conditions and braving bombs and men crazed by the horror of the war. Still Gwen finds joy and fulfillment in her job and working alongside a doctor with drinking problems, she even rises above herself and finds a new calling. And then there's Adam Farleigh, the British army captain, whom she keeps bumping into and whom she can't stop thinking about.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten books I'm dying to read in 2014

 Top Ten Tuesdays is a weekly meme, created by the blog The Broke and the Bookish

I know, it's hardly Tuesday anymore... But I really liked this weeks topic and it got me thinking about the books I want to read in 2014. So here are my 'Ten books I'm dying to read in 2014'. (Because I don't always keep up with the newest releases, these are both books to be released next year or books new-to-me)

New releases in 2014:

1. Cress (Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer



I read both Cinder and Scarlet this year and enjoyed them tremendously. So I can't wait to read how the saga of well-known fairytales set in a futuristic world will continue!

TV review: Downton Abbey series 4

It's hard to believe it's already the fourth series of Downton Abbey I'm writing this review about. It seems like yesterday this series first started and now it's become a fixed event on the calendars of period drama fans around the world! After the shocking ending of last year's Christmas Special, series 4 starts with a house in mourning. Mary can barely get through the days, but the estate needs managing. Tom, by now at home in his role of estate manager, tries to coax Mary out of her stupor and interest her in the running of the estate. Edith is set to meet her friend and editor Michael Gregson in London for the first time in half a year. Where will their relationship go? Downstairs, lady's maid O'Brien has suddenly left and the replacement is a familiar face who might cause trouble at Downton. The younger members of staff are still mixed up in their love troubles, while Alfred tries to further his dream of becoming a chef.  
I tried to keep this review spoiler free.   

My bookshelf link-up

Multiple people on the blogs I follow have been doing this link-up in the last few day: What's on your bookshelf? by Modern Mrs. Darcy
Now I dearly love to read books, but I also like to look at them, so I love these kind of things!



This is my single bookcase. As you can see, it's getting rather full. Might be time for a second one in not too long a time!

Book review: Blackmoore

Kate Worthington is trying to prove to the world that she's not like her flirtatious mother and sister. She even goes as far as vowing she's never going to marry. In stead, she has other dreams: visiting India with her spinster aunt. Her mother promises to let her go when she has received and declined three proposals of marriage. A visit to Blackmoore, the family mansion of her childhood friend Henry Delafield seems like the perfect opportunity to secure these proposals. But as she reconnects with her old friend, Kate has to face all the things which which she kept secret over the years and also face that there is one wish even more dear to her than a trip to India.

Televison review: The Cazalets

The Cazalets are a large upper-class family with a family estate in Sussex. Before the WWII, all the family used to take their summer holidays here, but now it's become a permanent home for the women and children, away from the dangers of the London Blitz. Eldest Cazalet brother Hugh (Hugh Bonneville), wounded in WWI, is trying to keep the family timber business running. His wife Sybil is in poor health, but tries to hide this from her husband and daughter Polly. Edward Cazalet (Stephen Dilane) lands himself a desk job in the air force. He spends a lot of time in London and not always on his own... Daughter Louise wants to be an actress, even though her mother tries to push her into more 'useful' work. Youngest brother Rupert (Paul Rhys) joins the navy, leaving his second wife Zoe and teenage daughter Clary worrying for his safety at home.