Five on Friday - June 26, 2020

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you all had a good week - I took off yesterday and today so I had a short work week and it was awesome! (I spent all day yesterday cleaning and organizing my teenagers room, but it really needed to be done) and today is my husband's birthday so we are celebrating today! 

ONE 

Cinderella is Dead and I Killed Zoe Spanos were provided as review copies - this post contains affiliate links

It's Summertime and I'm so excited to start diving in to my Summer reading list! (If you are a bookworm too and are on Goodreads, I would love to connect - you can find my Goodreads here!) I really love seeing what everyone is reading! I will read every genre and am always looking for more recommendations! For the start of Summer, I've been really in to Young Adult books and more specifically, lots of fantasy! 

So, the young adult books I'm planning on reading this Summer are:

• All The Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace ~ all I know about this book is that there is mermaids, magic, pirates and princess and it sounds perfect for Summer! 
• Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi ~ I actually picked this up based on how beautiful the colour is, and then found out it's about magic, colour and adventure and I can't wait to read this one! 
• A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow ~ I have started making more a conscious effort to pay attention to reading books from authors of all backgrounds, and that includes more black authors. This is a new release and it's been very hyped up - it's got mermaids and friendship but also addresses issues such as racism and sexism! 
• House of Dragons by Jessica Cluess ~ five royal houses are battling for a throne with a liar, a soldier, a servant, a thief and a murder, plus there better be some dragons! 
• Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte ~ the description of this book is "Four dead queens. Three days to catch a killer. Two forbidden romances. One shocking twist you won’t see coming." Sold. I didn't even have to read anymore! 
• Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron ~ this is described as girls teaming up to overthrow the kingdom in this unique retelling of Cinderella set 200 years after the fairytale - I love a good fairytale and haven't actually read many re-tellings, so I was very excited to get in to this one! I'm about halfway through this book at it's been good so far, but it's still building up before I will really know how it all plays out! 
• I Killed Zoe Spanos by Kit Frick ~ this is about a girl who takes a Summer job in a town where she looks very similar to a young girl who has been missing since New Years Eve and she ends up unravelling the story and confessing to the crime; but, it isn't that straight-forward! I read this and thought it was a good, Summer murder-mystery and I like how all the characters were all woven together! 
• The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow ~ this is another book that I picked up because the cover was so beautiful - it is about a young girl in the early 1900's that finds a book, magic doors and adventure! I finished this and really liked it - the writing is so descriptive and the characters are so developed and it's just a good read! 

What do you reach for in the Summertime? 

TWO 

Last week I tried some new recipes and both were really good! 

I made this Banana Zucchini Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting and it is so good! The zucchini makes it so moist and light tasting and the frosting is so good. Yum Yum Yum! 

I also made homemade Ranch Dressing and it was really good (but it also made a lot more than I expected!) I got this from Jaclyn Hill's video, it's not something I wouldn't have made myself but I do love homemade dips and dressing. 

THREE 

I have been on a bit of book buying kit, and I was very excited to place an order for used and bargain books from The Next Page - I picked up a few classics as well as a couple of books for series I'm trying to complete! 

FOUR 

Here's a few of the palettes of the week that I have been using lately - I used the Too Faced Tutti Frutti Sparkling Pineapple Palette and as usual I loved it (here's a past review on it and it was one of my Best of 2019 makeup discoveries!) Then I used the ColourPop Take Me Home and had a bit of an opposite feeling - I couldn't wait to hit pan on this palette (if you saw in my 20 in 2020 project pan) as the formula had just turned really powdery and I hit pan during this week and now it's going to be decluttered! 

Then, I used the Storybook Cosmetics Wizardry and Witchcraft palette and I still love this palette - it's good quality and it's just so pretty (I may be a little biased because of the theme but I do like it - you can see my original review on the palette here!) And last week I used the Too Faced Hot Buttered Rum palette which is fantastic - it was actually my top palette that I purchased in 2019 and it's a shame that it was limited edition because it is one of the best Too Faced formulas! 

FIVE 

It's the end of the month so that means declutter time! I am only tossing a couple of products this month - this warm vanilla sugar lotion is so old I can't even try and use it anymore (I don't even want to guess how many years old this is). Also this nail stamping plate just doesn't work well so its gotta go. The Kosmea mask was good, it's just old and I haven't used it that much and same with the elements lotion. 

I hope you all have a great weekend!