Blogger Bookclub: Techbitch by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza

Buy this book: Kindle/Paperback

It seems like forever since I wrote about a book on this blog, after trying (and failing) to keep my Bloggers Kindle Book Club alive, I found an existing and thriving blogger bookclub to join in the hopes that I will continue to read at least one book a month!

Imogen Tate, editor-in-chief of Glossy magazine, is a legend in the fashion world. But when she returns from a sabbatical to find her twenty-six-year-old former assistant, Eve Morton, behind her desk, she realises times are changing.Armed with a business degree, naked ambition and an iPhone, Eve announces she has been brought in to turn Imogen's beloved magazine into an app. With herself at the helm.In this terrifying new world, Imogen is almost invisible. In place of her team of dedicated staff is a constantly evolving line of twenty-something bloggers at their desks day and night ('Only losers need sleep!'), amateur snaps instead of elegant photo shoots, and a URL address in place of Imogen's glossy pages.But Imogen isn't ready to give up her hard-earned career without a fight. Where Eve has Twitter followers, Imogen has experience, talent and real relationships, and she's prepared to fight for the fashion world she knows and loves. Even if it means going to war with a ruthless Techbitch . . .

First Impressions: As soon as I read the title I thought this book would be right up my street, I'm a big lover of books that have some link to the digital age. Even better is that this book was about a fashion magazine, it reminded me very much of when I used to watch Ugly Betty, what a TV show that was!

During Reading: I am not lying when I say that I simply couldn't put this book down, I read this within two days because I couldn't bare to leave it on a cliffhanger. This book is very much 'The Devil Wears Prada' however the roles have been reversed, and in this case the seasoned fashion expert is being pushed out by the young technically minded newcomer. Imogen has her world turned completely upside down, not only by her ill health, but also by her ex-assistant, Eve, who is turning her beloved magazine into an app/website. To make matters worse Eve is a total nightmare techbitch who forces her team to work themselves to the bone, and ridicules them constantly. I don't know how the other girls felt when reading this book, but I know that I just wanted to reach into the pages and give Eve a sharp slap. The whole reason I couldn't stop reading this was because I was desperate for Eve to get her comeuppance. I won't spoil it for you, but the ending is definitely very satisfying if you are rooting for Imogen, which I honestly was throughout the entire book.

Final Verdict: I loved this book, so much so I can see myself picking it up in a few months and reading it all over again. If you love books based around the fashion world, or even around websites/blogs then you will love this book. It has the perfect amount of bitchiness to keep you frantically turning the pages, without getting entirely frustrated with it. I can even forgive the use of tech-slang such as YOLO in this book because the rest of it was just too good! 

Rating: 5/5 Techbitch Slaps

To find out what the other bloggers thought of the book, click the links below!

Leanne / Lorna / Lizzie / Charli / Sarah

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes

I recently subscribed to a Magazine called Food Heaven, but then received a notification from them to say I will not receive my first issue of the magazine until February! I decided I couldn't wait until then because I wanted some inspiration for my Christmas baking, so I went out and grabbed the latest issue of Cupcake Heaven as I definitely do not bake enough cupcakes. Flicking through I immediately found this recipe and knew I had to try it out for myself. So as well as making cupcake batter for this recipe you also have to make cookie dough! To make 12 cupcakes you will need...

For the Cookie Dough:

- 100g Unsalted butter

- 75g Caster Sugar

- 1 medium egg

- 1 tsp Caramel flavour

- 125g Plain Flour

-1 tsp baking powder

- 100g Dark chocolate chips

For the Cupcake Batter:

- 150g Unsalted Butter

- 150g Caster Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla extract

- 3 medium eggs

- 150g Plain flour

25g Cocoa powder

2tsp Baking powder

For Decorating:

- 150g Unsalted butter

- 275g Icing sugar

- 1 tsp Vanilla extract

So you want to start off by making the cookie dough, which is not only used for little cookies on the top but also inside the cupcakes! So to make the cookie dough you need to beat together the butter and sugar until creamy, beat in the egg and caramel flavour, and then sift in the flour and baking powder, finally adding the chocolate chips and then combining this with your hands until you form a dough.

Weigh out 200g of cookie dough and make 12 cookie dough balls, which then need to chill in the fridge until you have made the cake batter.

Then make the remaining cookie dough into mini cookies, you can make as many of these as possible, but you need at least 12 for the top of the cupcakes, which you can then also chill. Next you need to preheat your oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4 and line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake cases. Then you are all ready to make your cupcake batter which is as simple as throwing all the ingredients into the bowl and mix together until well blended. 

Next comes a bit of a time consuming part, which starts with filling up the cupcake cases half way, then adding the chilled cookie dough ball, before finally filling up the cupcake cases. These need to be popped in the oven for 22-24 minutes. (mine took double this amount of time but I think that was down to the oven I was using being rubbish and old). Once the top of the cupcakes is hard to the touch then they are ready to go! As soon as these are out of the oven turn it up to 190C/Gas Mark 5 and put your mini cookies in for 10-12 minutes until golden. They may still be a little soft when you get them out but they will harden as they cool. 

Once everything is cool you can go ahead and make your butter cream icing by mixing together the butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract. I used the back of a teaspoon to spread on my buttercream icing and I like the fact that it looks kind of messy, almost like whipped cream. Then I cut each mini cookie in half and placed it onto the cupcake like butterfly wings, and finally I placed chocolate chips on top of that. There you have it folks, cookie filled chocolate cupcakes that are sure to impress everyone this holiday season, I'm sure you could even exchange the cookies for gingerbread for the same effect!

Let me know in the comments what you have been baking recently, I would love to know?

Wishlist Wednesday: Video Games #2

Working at a retailer for Video Games can be pretty tough going, mainly when it comes to trying not to spend all of your wages at the place you work! Here are the games that I am currently struggling not to purchase...

1: Fallout 4

2: Call of Duty: Black Ops III

3: The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes

4: Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley
5: Fantasy Life

6: Assassin's Creed Syndicate

7: Lego Jurassic World

8: Lego Dimensions

9: Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam Bros

What video games are you currently playing, are there any that you would recommend for me?

Boyfriend/Girlfriend Tag

I saw this tag post on another persons blog, and I knew that Tim and I had to give it a go! I'm also thinking about the possibility of letting Tim takeover my blog once a week but not quite sure if anyone would like/read it, so let me know in the comments what you think...

When/where did you meet?

Alyssia: We met on a dating wesbite (POF), I got a notification to say that someone had viewed my profile, so I checked it out. He looked cute and seemed like a pretty normal guy, how wrong I was...

Tim: We met on a dating website, and I remember us talking about horror films for a week, before we went on a date.

When did you meet the parents?

Alyssia: I honestly don't remember how long we were together before I met Tim's parents, but I remember going to their house, and his mum being worried of what I would think of their house.

Tim: It was Alyssia's nan's birthday, her mum cooked steak, and I remember being really nervous the entire time, and her dad didn't talk to me at all.

Where/when was your first kiss?

Alyssia: I believe our first kiss was in Tim's car, and he was dropping me home after taking me to Thorpe Park, and that was the night I decided to give our relationship a go. I think I surprised him a little bit when I kissed him.

Tim: We spent the day at Thorpe Park, and then went to dinner afterwards. Then I dropped her home where we kissed in the car. I remember Alyssia's mum called her and asked where she was and Alyssia replied, 'he's dragged me off into the woods to murder me', it made me very worried about what her mum would think of me!

Who said "I love you" first?

Alyssia: I said it first when we spent our first weekend away together in Bristol.

Tim: Alyssia said it first because she had banned me from saying it, but I think we both realised we loved each other at the same time, which was at a fireworks display the weekend before.

What is one thing you wish the other didn't do?

Alyssia: Tim mumbles terribly and it drives me absolutely nuts. Sometimes I have to ask him to repeat himself THREE times before I get it, and I hate that.

Tim: I wish she wouldn't doubt my judgement so much. Sometimes she suggests that I should do things a certain way and then gets annoyed when I do it my own way anyway.

Where was your first date?

Alyssia: He met me in Newbury and we went and sat by the canal and had a good long chat, after that I believe we went to Wetherspoons for dinner, it was all very casual because I wasn't sure I wanted a relationship at the time.

Tim: I met her at Newbury canal, we sat on the bank for a good couple of hours and talked, and laughed. Then we went and had some food, we talked a lot about our past, but Alyssia had to go so it was cut short, I could have talked to her all night.

What eye colour do you wish the other had?

Alyssia: I have to admit I am a sucker for Blue eyes, but Tim's eyes are gorgeous, they look brown but if you really study them there are parts that are actually more green.

Tim: I'm lucky, because Alyssia has blue eyes, which I really like.

What TV show is your favourite?

Alyssia: He likes all things nerdy, and I'm not 100% on his favourite but it would be something like Doctor Who.

Tim: She watches a LOT of TV, but I think if I had to pick her absolute favourite it would be Doctor Who. She also loves things like CSI and Horror TV shows like American Horror Story.

Which food do you like/not like?

Alyssia: He doesn't like broccoli, in fact when I met him there were a lot of things he didn't like that he eats now. He loves Parmesan, he'd have it on everything if I let him!

Tim: She hates tomatoes, and she always picks them out of burgers etc. I have never seen anyone hold food with the tips of their fingers in such disgust before. I don't think I could pick her favourite food, but I know that she loves me to cook her Macaroni Cheese, and she also likes when I make my Garlic bread.

Which drinks do you like/not like?

Alyssia: I'm not sure there is any drink he particularly dislikes, but one of his favourites is Strawberry Milkshake, he'll have one whenever he gets the chance.

Tim: When she used to drink alcohol her favourite was Rosé wine, but I think her new guilty pleasure is original coke. I really can't think of a drink she doesn't like...

What am I good at?

Alyssia: He's very good at technical stuff, being a software developer. He's the first person I go to if I have any technical questions. He is also really good at cooking, a skill he's only picked up since we have been together.

Tim: She is very organised, and very good at telling me off! She has amazing people skills, she's just good at talking to people and understanding them.

Do I often make you angry?

Alyssia: He doesn't often make me really angry, but if he does it's normally over something really stupid, and we've normally made up within an hour. We very rarely have an argument that goes on for a long time.

Tim: No, not often. If she makes me angry it's usually when she asks me to do something for her that I really don't want to do, but we've never fallen out over anything serious.

So there you have it everyone, there is a little insight into our relationship for you all. If you would like to see more of Tim on the blog then let me know in the comments below, and I'll see what I can do!

Sunday Spotlight: Colorfy App

Available on iOS and Android

This morning I was scrolling through my Facebook feed when I saw an advert for an app called Colorfy. It was advertised as a colouring book for adults, so my interest was immediately peaked. You all probably know that Adult colouring books are quite in at the moment due to a study showing it to be therapeutic to adults. I myself haven't had a chance to try out this phenomenon as for some reason I kept putting it off. However as soon as I saw this app I thought it was the perfect opportunity to finally give it a go, and that's what I have been doing all morning!

It's a simple as choosing an image, picking your colour scheme and then colouring away. This is also much quicker than traditional colouring as you simply select the colour you want to use and then tap the areas where you want to use that colour. You can also zoom right in to the picture to ensure that you can get all those fiddly areas. My first image to colour was this deer above, and I chose to stick to very autumnal colours, which I thought suited the picture very well.

The second image I was immediately drawn to was this cat. I chose to stick to black and grey for the cat and then various yellows and golds with blue for the patterns. This is because to me the cat look very Egyptian, and golds and blue are the colours that you tend to see in Hieroglyphics, because those are what they had readily available to them. 

Finally I chose to do a simple flower, I actually picked this one so I could show my boyfriend the app because I was getting really excited about it! The thing I love most about this app is how quickly you can complete an image, physically colouring in images like this could take me hours, but I can complete these on my phone in anything from 5 minutes to 30 minutes depending on how picky I am being/how complex the image is.

If you use the free version of this app then you are limited to certain images and a smaller choice of colours. However there is the option to subscribe to this app for £2.29 per week which gives you unlimited access to all of the colours and images. This app also offers a 7 day free trial which I know I will be signing up to! Although I'm honestly not sure if this app is worth the £2.29 per week price tag, maybe if that were per month I might consider paying it. I guess we will just have to see how addicted I get to it over the next week!

Lush Christmas Haul

Last week I attended the Lush Christmas event in Reading at The Oracle, and I managed to spend a lot more money than I intended to. So I thought I would make a haul video sharing everything that I bought with you. I warn you, this is a very long video, so if you do not have the time or patience to watch the full video I will place a list of all of the products underneath the video.

Here is what I bought:

- Golden Wonder Bath Bomb

- Dashing Santa Bath Bomb (Free from Basingstoke Lush)

-Lush Luxury Pud Bath Bomb (Free from Basingstoke Lush)

- Santa's Lip Scrub

- Veganese Conditioner

- Celebrate Body Lotion

- Magic of Christmas Bubble Wand

-Peeping Santa Bubble Bar

- Bar Humbug Bubble Bar

- Brightside Bubble Bar

- Melting Marshmallow Moment Bath Oil

- Big Bang Bubble Bar

- Star Dust Bath Bomb

- Yog Nog Bath Bomb

- Lord of Misrule Bath Bomb

- Father Christmas Bath Bomb

- Cinders Bath Bomb

Have you bought anything from the Lush Christmas range yet? What is your favourite?

Baby Brothers Birthday Cake

It seems now my passion for baking has returned that I am now forever doomed to be the family Birthday Cake maker, as not two weeks after making a cake for my nan, it was my brothers birthday, and I was asked once again to bake for the occasion. I did ask my brother what kind of cake he wanted hoping he would come up with an idea for a design but his answer was simply, chocolate cake. Believe it or not when I was a kid I wasn't a big fan of cake, unless it was a fruit cake (weird I know), and even to this day, whilst I have grown to love cake I am not a big fan of chocolate cake! So feeling rather uninspired I googled chocolate cake and found this recipe from Good Housekeeping which I thought looked nice, and then I just had to tackle some form of decoration. So I decided to trawl Pinterest, and after typing in Chocolate Cake I found my inspiration cake!

Courtesy of bakingmad.com

The thing I loved most about this cake was that the decoration looked so simple yet really attractive, so I decided to base the design on this, but as my brother requested a chocolate cake, I decided to cover it in several different kinds of chocolate, instead of sweets.

The recipe for this cake required the following ingredients:

For the Cake:

225g Unsalted Butter
225g Plain Chocolate
450g Caster Sugar
175ml Milk
4 Medium Eggs
150ml Sour Cream
250g Plain Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
40g Cocoa Powder

For the Icing:

200g Plain Chocolate
50ml Double Cream
40g Golden Syrup
200g Unsalted Butter
250g Icing Sugar

For the Decoration:

2 boxes of milk chocolate fingers
2 boxes of white chocolate fingers
5 'share bags' of your favourite treats (I used, Malteasers, Milky Bar Buttons, Magic Stars, Revels, and Mars Mix)

I started by making the cake mix, which first involved melting the butter, sugar, chocolate and milk in a pan until smooth. Once this was done I left this to cool completely before moving to the next step. Once the chocolate mixture was cool I mixed in the eggs and sour cream using a stand mixer, until combined. Finally adding the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and giving it a final mix. This then went into my prepared tin and then sat in the oven for 1 hour and 45 minutes, which felt like forever...

Once the cake was out of the oven and cooling I moved on to the icing. This involved melting togther more chocolate, cream and golden syrup until smooth, again leaving this to cool. Then I moved onto making a buttercream by whisking together softened butter and caster sugar. Once this was done I combine the chocolate and buttercream mixtures, and then set this aside to set until the cake was completely cool. Once the cake was cool I carefully levelled the top, and then cut the cake in half horizontally to give two layers. These were sandwiched together by some of the icing, which I then used to cover the rest of the cake. Before the icing had a chance to set I lined the outer edge with the chocolate fingers alternating between milk and white chocolate. The final step was to place the different kinds of chocolate on top of the cake, which I had far too much fun doing... I actually think more chocolate went into my mouth, than on the cake, but that's one of the perks of baking!

Here is the finished result, which I think looks great. I cannot stress enough how easy this cake was to make and decorate, so if you see this and would like to have a go, please don't be put off! This would be the perfect cake to impress friends and family with because who (other than me) doesn't like chocolate cake?

Have you baked anything this week, leave a link in the comments so I can have a nosey!