Month: December 2018

Movie Monday: Married by Christmas and Call Me Mrs. Miracle #MovieReview #ChristmasMovie #Christmas #MarriedByChristmas #CallMeMrsMiracle

Movie Monday is a feature here on my blog, in which I’m rambling about movies I’ve watched lately.

This week I watched two not-so-new Christmas movies and I enjoyed them very much.

Married by Christmas

This weekend I spent in my home town house, with my parent. My father loves movies so he has so many movie programs subscriptions: HBO, Pickbox, Cinestar, you name it!

I was so happy to see that on Pickbox they had a category Christmas Movies, so I decided to enjoy some movies from there (and I plan to watch more when I visit again for Christmas).

Married by Christmas was the one with an interesting premise. Two sisters competing each other because the one who marries first will inherit the family company.

I really liked this movie. It was more on a serious side, because the main theme is serious, but it also has romance and overall is so enjoyable that I would recommend this one to watch if you’ll have a chance.

Also, it’s pretty short (1h and 27min) which is great in my opinion.

Call Me Mrs. Miracle

Call Me Mrs. Miracle is the one I enjoyed more. It has a nice romance but it also has many subplots that give the completeness to the story.

It follows a man who is a store manager and a woman who takes care of his nephew after his mum died and his father is on a mission because he’s a solder.

This movie is an adaptation of a novel written by Debbie Macomber. She is a well known romance writer with several movie adaptations, and I just realized that I have never read a book by her, which is a shame.
I decided that that will change because I really enjoy watching those fluffy movies and I am sure I would enjoy her books too.

Call Me Mrs. Miracle was filmed in 2005 so it’s pretty old, but since it is one of Hallmark movies, I think it’s available to watch for free on television.

It is also on a shorter side (1h and 30min).

I really enjoyed watching Call Me Mrs Christmas and I recommend it to watch if you like cheesy, relaxing Christmas movies.

Midwinter’s Eve Giveaway Hop

Welcome to Midwinter’s Eve Giveaway Hop, hosted by BookHounds.

In this giveaway, I am giving you a chance to win any book for 15 US$ or less, from The Book Depository.
You can choose one or more books, as long as you stick to a budget.

The giveaway is international as long as TBD ships to your country.

If for some reason TBD do not ship to your country, you can choose kindle ebooks for the same amount of money (US Amazon because that’s the only one I can purchase ebooks for others from).

After you enter this giveaway, don’t forget to visit other blogs for more giveaways.

 

You can enter here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway
https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

  • This giveaway is international as long as The Book Depository ships to your country.
  • You must be 18+ old to enter or have your parent’s permission to enter (because I’ll need to ask you to give me your address so I could send the book to you).
  • I am not responsible for the shipment, but am responsible to order a book on time (The Book Depository is responsible to deliver you a book on time and in a good condition).
  • Once chosen, winner will be emailed and will have 48 hours to reply, otherwise another person will be chosen as a winner
  • NO CHEATING! Cheaters will be disqualified

Good Luck!🙂

 

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Book Reveiw: Calling Mrs Christmas vy Carole Matthews #BookReview #CallingMrsChristmas #Chicklit #Christmas #ChristmasReads

Title: Calling Mrs Christmas
Author: Carole Matthews
Publisher: Sphere
Date: October 29th, 2013
Pages: 452
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased

Synopsis (from Goodreads): Cassie Smith has been out of work for a while but she has an idea. Drawing on her love of Christmas, she begins charging for small things: wrapping presents; writing cards; tree-decorating. She’s soon in huge demand and Cassie’s business, Calling Mrs Christmas, is born.

Carter Randall wants to make Christmas special for his children so he enlists Cassie’s help, and his lavish requests start taking up all her time. Thank goodness she can rely on her partner Jim to handle the rest of her clients.

When Carter asks Cassie to join them on a trip to Lapland, she knows she shouldn’t go. As much as tries, Cassie can’t deny how drawn she is to Carter and everything he has to offer, but she still loves her warm-hearted Jim. Suddenly Cassie finds herself facing a heart-breaking choice that could change her entire life.

Review:

Warning: This book talks about cheating.

Calling Mrs Christmas was on my tbr list for two years now. When I first found out about this novel it wasn’t available on TBD, then last year I was all missed-matched when it comes to reading, but this year I finally bought myself a copy.
I’m not going to lie: what won me when it comes to Calling Mrs Christmas was it’s gorgeous cover. I mean, isn’t this the most wonderful festive book cover that you have ever seen?
Plus, it’s festive, and you know how I feel about festive stories!

Our main character and narrator is Cassie Smith who is at the desperate place in her life. She has no job, so she and her boyfriend are struggling financially, and there is also depression that comes with it.

I think the author did an amazing job describing what it feels like to be unemployed when the state is not one’s choice. 

Some time around Christmas, Cassie gets an idea to start a business in which she would organize Christmas events and decorations for others. She calls her company Calling Mrs Christmas and after a while, her business really starts to kick off.

Here is where a millionaire Carter comes in. He employes Cassie to prepare his house for Christmas, but to also spend time with his family in Lapland.

Spending time away from her boyfriend Jim, in beautiful Lapland with handsome Carter, takes it’s tool on Cassie. She starts to develop feelings for Carter and is torn between two men: her beautiful, kind boyfriend who was there for her when she was at her lowest, and good-looking, rich Carter who could take away all her financial worries.

Even though I didn’t like how Cassie behaved from the Lapland point to the end of the story (and how unprofessional she was), I have to admit that the author managed to invest me in the discussion would it be better for Cassie to stay with a kind man or to start a new relationship with the rich one.
I mean, in a romantic world we would all agree that you should follow your heart, but in the real world, our hearts sometime do not know what they want, and also, we all know that one is happier when is financially stabile.

The story is written in first person, following Cassie’s POV, but some chapters are written in third person, following Jim’s POV (Jim is Cassie’s boyfriend).

I liked the story and I think it’s a good festive book, even though if I’m being honest there are much better festive novels out there.
However, that is just my opinion, and judging by Goodreads reviews, some readers find Calling Mrs Christmas a perfect Christmas story.

I would still recommend it, but don’t keep your opinions too high.

Movie Monday: A Monster Calls #MovieReview #MovieMonday #Movie #AMonsterCalls

Movie Monday is a feature here on my blog, in which I’m rambling about movies I’ve watched lately.

This week I watched the saddest movie ever, and that is all I’ll say.

A Monster Calls

A Monster Calls is a well-known novel by Patrick Ness. It is a middle grade novel that talks about the boy who’s mother is sick, and the way he deals with her sickness, with the possibility of losing her.
I haven’t read the book, even though I always wanted to.

This week I had a chance to watch the movie, and even though I planned to read the book before, I decided I would give a movie a try anyway.

I watched it alone, and I am so glad I did, because the whole time while watching it, I was a mess. This movie destroyed me with it’s sadness and I was crying the whole time.
I watched many sad movies in my lifetime, but I have never ever cried so much, as I did when watching A Monster Calls.
I also have a need to stress out that I am not a big crier.

The story is not only sad, but also very beautiful. I can’t compare the book and the movie since I haven’t read the book, but I can tell you that the movie is very well done. I liked not only story, but the picture and the effects too.

It has 7,5 points on IMDb site, and it’s for a reason.

I’m not going to tell you too much about it, because I think it’s the best to go into it without much expectations, but I will tell you that this movie is not pure drama, but has fantasy elements too (the monster our main character created to deal with his mother’s sickness) and some parts are also animated (stories that the monster tells).

The cast is well known which surprised me. Felicity Jones plays the mother, Sigourney Weaver grandmother, and Liam Neeson gives his voice to a monster.

I think A Monster Calls is one of those movies/stories which after you finish you feel like you gained something out of it, like you are wiser then you were before.

I would highly, highly recommend it.

Sunday Post (Weekly Wrap Up Dec. 3rd-9th) #SundayPost #BookBloggers #Reading #WrapUp #Bloggers

Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

This meme was created for bloggers to spotlight posts they published in the week, as well as to talk about what they plan to write in the week that’s coming.

Sunday post is also great opportunity to showcase books we got in the week behind us.

Hi Guys!

Today I’m just tired and I don’t feel very chatty, but I am looking forward to blog hop for the rest of the day.

We planned to visit Christmas market in Zagreb today, but since it will be raining we have to reschedule it for another time. It messed up my blogging and real life plans, to be honest, but it is what it is. I hope we’ll watch some good movie instead.

Last Week on Book Dust Magic:

Monday: I talked about book I read in November

Wednesday: I talked about Lush Christmas products I purhased

Friday: I reviewed A Winter Beneath the Stars by Jo Thomas

 

Next Week on Book Dust Magic:

Upcoming reviews:

  

Book Haul:

 I was so happy when I received this ARC of The Day We Met by Roxie Cooper. I requested it via email, but didn’t get any reply, so I was sure there were non left or that I didn’t make a cut.
But oh my, I can’t even tell you how happy I am to hold this baby in my hands, since it is on of my most anticipated books of 2019. It will be my next read.

 

Currenly Reading:

 I’m reading this novel(la) my colleague borrowed me few weeks ago. I’s in Croatian and it’s really short (I was too lazy to take picture so I grabbed this one from Goodreads instead).

Giveaway:

 There’s still giveaway going on on my Twitter page. All you have to do to enter is follow me and rt my tweet, it’s international and you can win a book A Christmas Kiss and 4 chocolates. You can ENTER HERE.

 

That is it!
Let me know what’s been going on with you, what you’ve been reading or watching this week and feel free to leave your links so I can visit you.
Have a lovely Sunday!

Book Review: A Winter Beneath the Stars by Jo Thomas #BookReview #WomensFiction #BookLovers #Winter #Sweden #AWinterBeneathTheStars

Title: A Winter Beneath the Stars
Author: Jo Thomas
Publisher: Headline Review
Date: November 29th, 2018
Pages: 368
Format: Physical ARC
Source: from Publisher for a review

Synopsis (from Goodreads): 

Escape to snowy Sweden in the gorgeous new novel from the author of Late Summer in the Vineyard and Sunset Over the Cherry Orchard. Fans of Jill Mansell and Milly Johnson will love this unforgettable winter story from Jo Thomas. 

Halley has been running from her problems for years.

On a courier trip to Tallfors, deep in Swedish Lapland, everything is going to plan. Halley has her bag, with two precious wedding rings inside for delivery… until she doesn’t.

The only way to save the wedding is to team up with mysterious reindeer herder Bjorn, the one person who can lead her across the snowy tundra to be reunited with her bag.

On a journey of a lifetime beneath the stars, with only the reindeer and a bad-tempered stranger for company beside the fire, Halley realises that she will need to confront her past heartaches in order to let the warmth of love in once more…

Review:

If you follow me for a while, you know that year 2018 will be remembered in my reading life as a year I discovered Jo Thomas.  So far I read three of her books and loved them all. Sunset Over the Cherry Orchard made me fall in love with Thomas’ writing and made me want to read everything she wrote, while The Olive Branch won my heart completely and is now one of my all time favorite books.

I can’t even tell you how happy I was when I got A Winter Beneath the Stars unsolicited in my mailbox (thanks to wonderful Becky Hunter). I read it immediately because I didn’t want to wait, but I’m writing my review 1,5 months after finishing the book, so please forgive me if it’s not the best one.
The most important thing is that I really, really liked (loved it actually) it and that if you love funny chick lit stories, you will too.

The story follows Halley who has a job to deliver important wedding rings in Sweden. Things get complicated when her bag is switched in the airport, and now she has to find a guy who’s bag she got with hope that the rings are still in the bag and that her job will be successfully completed.

When I say I really, really liked the book, I mean that I loved it, but I wasn’t in love with it. I appreciate the story and it is obvious that the author put so much effort into researching.
However, I feel like I have never clicked with our main character Halley on the level that I’d like, nor did I like our male character Bjorn. Somehow he was dislikeable.

Other than that, Winter Beneath the Stars was really fun to read. I liked getting to know Swedish Lapland and the (few) people who live in that side of the world, as I have never been there nor do I know anyone from there.

Some parts were filled with so much snow and the only thing that was happening was our main characters talking or thinking something to themselves, while sleigh riding and coordinating dogs.
So if I’m being honest, at some point I lose my orientation and forgot for how long we were riding with our characters.

There were two twists or surprises in the story, but I figured them out before they were revealed. I can’t tell you if the reason for that is because the plot was predictable or maybe I would write the story the same way if I was a writer.
Whatever it is, I just want to stress out that I didn’t mind the predictability.

The story is written in first person, from Halley’s POV, but it also has some (small) parts written in third person.

A Winter Beneath the Stars is Jo Thomas’ first winter novel but I hope it won’t be the last, because it brightened my mood when I was reading it, and I am really looking forward to read her other work.
I feel like this author is the one I’ll always like to come back to.

If you’re looking for a light and fun novel to read during winter, look no further: A Winter Beneath the Stars is the one for you!

Tis the Season with Lush @LustLtd #LushHrvatska #SelfCare #MeTime #Cosmetics #LifeStyleBlogger #Christmas

It is no secret that I am in love with Lush products. Ever since I started using them few years ago I feel like my life is sparkled with joy. 
I like to try new things from time to time, but I always come back to Lush, because they are just unique.
I mean it, my week is not complete if I don’t have a nice bath, and Lush Bath Bombs are always my no 1 choice.

I love how the company care about environment and how they have naked products in their supply. They are cruel free company, and am happy to know that my money that I spend on self-care products goes to conscientious firm.

Christmas scents are my favorite, and every year I buy myself Lush products in the amount that will last me trough the whole year.
Since I am very enthusiastic about them, I decided to share them with you.
Most of the products you see are double stacked, but here I will show you only one product of each.

This is not sponsored post and I purchased every single product with my own money.

 

Bathing 

Bathing is my favorite thing to do when I have some me-time. There’s nothing I like more then read a book in the bath, listening to some instrumental music and enjoy myself.
Lush bath bombs are my favorite, but Bubble Bars are right there after them.

This time I decided to go with Holey Night bomb which smells so nice and relaxing, Shoot for the Stars bomb which is my no 1 favorite bath bomb by Lush and I like to use it trough the whole year around so I always buy more then a few to last me long. Next is Perle de Sel which won me with it’s festive smell. It was just amazing and I couldn’t resist.
Butterbear is also one product I like to go back to. It doesn’t make the water looking all fancy, but it makes my skin so soft and I love it so much. The last product on the picture is Puddy Holly bubbleroon which smells like pure Christmas.

 

Showering

Just so you know, when it comes to showering, soaps are my favorite go-to products.
I know that they apparently leave your skin dry, but I like to believe that if you use kind soaps it is not the case. I like how after using the soap I feel really clean, plus I almost always moisturize my skin with body lotion.
On the picture you can see Golden Pear, a Christmas soap which smells just like sweet pears. It’s also pretty soft.
Next to it is Santa’s Belly, which is a shower jelly that smells like apples and is fun to use.

 

 

Body-Care

On the left you can see Sugar Plum Fairy body scrub which I took purely because of the smell.
It smells so amazing, and next time I’ll go to Lush I’ll have to ask them if they have bath bomb or some other product with that smell, because it could be my new favorite.
We all know exfoliation is good to do at least once per week, so there’s never enough of scrub products. This one won’t take too long to finish, unfortunately, because it’s pretty soft.
On the left is Snow Fairy body lotion which smells like my childhood. It smells like candy and bubble gum, like sugar store, like my childhood dreams. I think this is the most popular smell by Lush, and it’s for a reason!

 

Skin-Care

The last but not the least, since skin care is so important to me, I couldn’t resist and I had to buy Rudolph jelly face mask.
It smells like chocolate cake and it clears your skin while leaving it glowy.
I still have to try this one to tell you if it really had that effect (I probably already tried it when you read it so ask me in the comments if you’re curious).

 

 

 

 

 

That is it!
Tell me do you also like to use Lush products and which are your favorite?

Also, if you have any questions for any of these, or want me to write about other products in the future, feel free to let me know in the comments.

November Reading Wrap Up #November #AmReading #BookLovers #BookBloggers

Hi Guys!
Are you ready for the last month of the year? I surely am, and am so excited for the last few books I’ll be reading before the year is over, but firstly, let me show you what books I finished during November.

During November I have read 9 books, and I am pretty satisfied with that.
Now only 9 books keep me from reaching my goal of reading 80 books in 2018.
I mean, I have already reached my Goodreads goal (60 books), but now when I see that I’ve read 71 (in reality, it’s 72 bc one book isn’t listed on Goodreads) I couldn’t help and mentally I increased the number.

These are the books I read in November:

        

My favorite book of the month: 

 

That is it!

Tell me what awesome books have your read this month?

Sunday Post (Weekly Wrap Up November 26th-December 2nd) #SundayPost #BookBloggers #Reading #WrapUp #Blogger

Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

This meme was created for bloggers to spotlight posts they published in the week, as well as to talk about what they plan to write in the week that’s coming.

Sunday post is also great opportunity to showcase books we got in the week behind us.

Hi Guys!

I was sooooo looking forward to this weekend, and now it’s almost over and I feel like it was too short. I think I need vacation, few days off work  wouldn’t be bad.
I am never sick so I don’t think I’ll end up staying home, but since we are already in December I feel better because I know holidays are coming!

I love festive season, and Christmas Spirit hit me hard this year.
Yesterday was the first Advent day for the season in Zagreb, there was big ceremony (I didn’t attend) but I plan to go there next weekend. I can’t wait!

As for me, I am good, I’m just little tired. I feel very productive lately, lots of blog ideas come to my mind and I want to fulfill most of them, plus I started cleaning like a maniac. There is something so satisfying after you wash your house nad it’s nice and shiny, and it smells nice.

In other news, GiGi and I are home alone this Sunday so we decided to have a nice relaxing day, I will read and he will sleep, and in the evening we will watch a movie.

This is him being comfortable:

Last Week on Book Dust Magic:

Monday: I reviewed Every Time a Bell Rings by Carmel Harrington

Wednesday: I reviewed Not Just for Christmas by Natalie Cox

Friday: I reviewed Once Upon a Christmas by Sarah Morgan

Next Week on Book Dust Magic:

Upcoming review: 

I will also talk about my November reading and show you Lush products I enjoy this season.

Book Haul:

Borrowed:

 From work I borrowed Good Me, Bad Me by Ali Land. I was too lazy to take picture. I have already read it and I loved it, I will write a review soon, but I can spoil you and say it’s a 5 stars worth!

For review:

 Wonderful Jenny Platt from Michael Joseph, UK sent me this massive book, because I’ll be participating in the blog tour in January.

Currently Reading:

 I started reading Throne of Glass yesterday and it took some time for me to get used to Maas’ writing style, but it’s good so far!

Giveaway:

 There’s a giveaway right now on my Twitter page. All you have to do to enter is follow me and rt my tweet, it’s international and you can win a book A Christmas Kiss and 4 chocolates. You can ENTER HERE.

That is it!
Let me know what’s been going on with you, what you’ve been reading or watching this week and feel free to leave your links so I can visit you.
Have a lovely Sunday!