Book Review And Preview: Opening Belle By Maureen Sherry

This is a book review and sneak preview of Opening Belle by Maureen Sherry that is due to be published by Simon and Schuster on 2 February 2016.

Maureen Sherry was born and raised in New York City, she has 4 children, and before becoming an author was a high powered managing director on Wall Street. As well as fiction, Maureen has written children's books.

This novel is loosely based around the author's own experiences of working in a broker firm on Wall Street, New York City. It is also being made into a movie Opening Belle staring Reese Witherspoon that is due to be released in 2017.

Set in New York City in 2007, this is the story of Isabelle a 30 something career woman, who is juggling being a Mum to three young kids, a loving wife to her stay at home husband and working full time in her high powered job on Wall Street.

It was interesting to see life inside a Wall Street precinct, and male chauvinistic work environment, and a career woman trying to balance home and work life. Towards the end of the story it went into mostly money talk, banks and lending, explaining the lead up to the impending financial crises that hit America. Paired with friendships with work colleagues and so called love interests that were so far fetched I simply stopped enjoying the book - it all seemed so unrealistic.

The writing style is fun and modern, but the story line doesn't resemble a real life working woman (in my humble working woman opinion!). If it wasn't for the witty and funny words carrying it along I don't think I would have finished it.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in an insiders view into the financial market and the lighthearted life of a career woman.

I give this book 3 stars out of  5

Jarrah Jungle's Star Rating:

1 Bad - I'd rather eat brussel sprouts topped with anchovies than read this again
2 Not Good - I'd rather watch paint dry than read this again
3 Ok - I'm sitting on the fence - its not great but not terrible either
4 Good - I'd give up a bottle of the worlds best champagne for this read
5 Great - I'd pass up a date with Johnny Depp for this read

Opening Belle can be purchased from the author here and Simon and Schuster

Sharing my book review on Good Reads here and Netgalley

Disclosure:  NetGalley partner with bloggers such as me to help promote authors and their books and I was given this ebook published by Simone and Schuster to review. As always, all opinions are my own.

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My Word For The Year 2016: Change

Instead of making a list of new year resolutions that I know I won't stick to - I come up with just ONE WORD that I will adhere to, think about and live by for the year ahead.

The idea of having ONE WORD originally came from the lovely blogger Maxabella Loves and you can link up your ONE WORD with Maxabella Loves here until the end of January.

My previous words for the year have been: 

2012  Decision

2013  Embrace

2014  Motivate

2015  Love

Last year my word LOVE was absolutely perfect and it was at the forefront of my mind when I planned our engagement party and our wedding.

I made sure that it was always in my mind that it was all about the love ..... It wasn't a time to be stressed or anxious, it wasn't about a fancy wedding dress or spending a fortune and going into debt, but to live the year reminded of Mr P and I and our love for one another.

Nawwww who knew I could be so loved up and mushy mush! 

Now for this year's word, usually it's that one word that jumps out at me when I start to think about the year ahead, the projects and plans, the goals and dreams I'm thinking about and hope to achieve this year. 

With that in mind, my word for 2016 is:

CHANGE

There are so many changes happening this year in my home life it is both scary and exciting all at once! So this whole year is going to be about CHANGE: Growing, adapting, taking risks, facing challenges, it's all about CHANGE.

On the domestic front, I am now a married woman (yipee!) and that has been a big change in itself! Although Mr P and I have lived together for 7 years it does feel different now we are officially husband and wife and there are some changes (including name changes!) that need to be worked out and sorted through now that we are Mrs and Mr P !

I'm still very much in the newlyweds stage and find the whole being married thing very exciting, we both grin like love struck teenagers whenever we say husband and wife and I hope I still get a buzz out if it well after the honeymoon period is over!

There will be changes afoot in our beloved Jarrah Jungle home this year too.

We will finish all the renovations inside and out and once it's all complete we will most likely put our house up for sale (if the Perth property market improves). 

It is a bittersweet feeling knowing we've put our blood, sweat and tears into renovating our home and turning it into our love nest. But we feel we are ready for a change, we have outgrown our first home now, our wants and needs have changed, and we are ready to find a new place.

Just last week we started to seriously look for a new home, we ventured out to a few home opens and drove around the suburbs we are looking at moving to, to see if we like the area.

This will be a massive change if we move suburbs and we are researching shops, transport, dog parks, and everything else that needs to be considered when you move .... a big yard for Lexi is a must on the wish list too!

If we do sell and move house, this will mean changes to the Jarrah Jungle blog - the whole reason for me starting this blog was to document the adventures of first time home renovating.

Over the last 5 years I have grown to love and rely on this creative space of mine and so long as I have a home to decorate and improve on - I'm sure I will always have content and ideas to write about here. Let's face it, no matter where I live there's always going to be home improvement projects to tackle, decorating ideas, recipes and dinner parties to be thrown, so the blog will still be here with the same home loving content.

Who knows we may end up with a complete gut and renovate home again and it could be Jarrah Jungle 11 all over again!

Of course, it wouldn't be a new year resolution without a healthy option included right!

Mr P and I are both trying to change our diet and eat more fresh produce and less sugar (have you seen That Sugar Film? Scary stuff!).

We are both pretty healthy home cooks already, but are making a conscious effort to include more fresh vegetables and salad in every meal and less processed packaged ingredients.

It's just a matter of being organised, menu planning meals each week, and making sure we have plenty of healthy food in the fridge. I'm sure this change will be an easy one to make and our bodies will thank us for it.

It's shaping up to be a big year of changes and I'm really excited about it ..... A change is as good as a holiday right! 

How are your new year resolutions going? Do you have a word for 2016?

You can link up your ONE WORD with Maxabella Loves here until the end of January

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Book Review: The Grass Is Greener By Loretta Hill

In 2015 I read 35 books and this year I plan to beat that total by reading 40 books! 

This is my first book review for 2016 - I regularly review books here on the blog every Monday and I'm always looking for new books to read so if you have any suggestions on books you loved that I should add to my reading list please let me know in the comment section.

This is a book review of The Grass Is Greener By Loretta Hill that was recently published by Random House Australia on 4 January 2016.

Loretta Hill is one of my favourite West Australian authors and this is the third rural romance I have read by her. Before Loretta pursued being a writer full time, she graduated from the University of Western Australia and began work as a structural engineer.

This is the story of best friends - Bronwyn and Claudia who think the grass is greener in each other's lives and want to swap places.

Bronwyn is from a high profile legal family and is a lawyer in a Perth city law firm while Claudia who's also a lawyer has spent the last few years helping her family run a vineyard down south in Yallingup, Western Australia.

The girls swap places and Claudia moves into Bronwyn's city apartment and starts work in her dream job and kicks off an office romance. Meanwhile Bronwyn moves in with Claudia's family on the vineyard and her feelings for the brothers she had a crush on many years ago rekindle.

Each chapter alternates between the two girls and both their stories are entertaining and engaging. Although as it is a book about the best friends I thought there would be more communication between the girls than their was and I think the story would have had more substance if the girls had been closer and communicated more as best friends would.

I really liked reading about my home town of Perth, the bars, restaurants, and places they visited. There was also mention of the characters in The Maxwell Sisters and is another novel written by Loretta Hill which is well worth a read.

Overall, this is a perfect Summer holiday novel, it's light hearted and an easy to read romance.

I recommend this book to readers who enjoy chick literature and rural Australian romance.

I give this book 4 stars out of  5

Jarrah Jungle's Star Rating:

1 Bad - I'd rather eat brussel sprouts topped with anchovies than read this again
2 Not Good - I'd rather watch paint dry than read this again
3 Ok - I'm sitting on the fence - its not great but not terrible either
4 Good - I'd give up a bottle of the worlds best champagne for this read
5 Great - I'd pass up a date with Johnny Depp for this read

The Grass Is Greener can be purchased from the author here and Random House Australia

Sharing my book review on Good Reads here and Netgalley

Disclosure:  NetGalley partner with bloggers such as me to help promote authors and their books and I was given this ebook published by Random House Australia to review. As always, all opinions are my own.

For exclusive extras and daily updates ... follow Jarrah Jungle on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

[Image via Random House Australia]

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Summer Holidays - Christmas + New Year

I've had a blissful few weeks off work enjoying the Summer holidays at home and even managed a mini getaway down south for a few days.

Mr P and I gave ourselves a complete renovating free break which is a first for us - we didn't tackle any projects around the house and put the tools down for the first time ever! 

We really enjoyed ourselves over the break catching up with friends and family, went swimming, slept in, had movie marathons, read books, just really relaxed and recharged the batteries which is just what the Dr ordered after a really hectic and busy end to 2015. 

We dog sat as well so even Lexi had a buddy to hang out with over the holidays!

We had a busy Christmas Day having lunch with Mr P's family which was a traditional roast lunch with hot meats and vegetables and delicious desserts. 

Then dinner with my family was a typical Aussie Christmas feast of seafood and salads. We stayed over on my parents farm which was really relaxing and the dogs loved it being able to run free and breathe in the fresh country air.

Boxing Day we caught up with more of my family and had a picnic down by the Mandurah foreshore making the most of the hot and sunny weather.

After the Christmas festivities we went on a road trip and stayed down south with Mr P's family on their vineyard property near Manjimup, Western Australia which is about 3.5 hours drive from home. 

We worked in the vineyard lifting wires to help the vines grow, went marroning and fishing in the dam, had cocktail hour every afternoon with cheese and wine, bbq dinners out on the deck overlooking the property, we had the best little family getaway with our furbaby Lexi she loved being able to run around in all that open space.

For New Years Eve we drove back from Manjimup during the day and went to a Mexican Soiree party that night with lots of delicious Mexican food and tasty mojito cocktails. 

I made my yummy Mexican layered dip which was a party favourite and we lit up the sparklers, did the count down, and I started the New Year with a kiss from my now husband Mr P!

2015 had some incredible highs but it also had some lows too and I'm really looking forward to new challenges and exciting adventures in 2016.

I hope you had a Happy Christmas and enjoyable New Year and a fun holiday season. 

What did you get up to for Christmas and New Years? 

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Merry Christmas + A New Year Wish

It's that time of year again when I'm getting ready to sign off the blog for the year

But before I do I just want to share a little recap of life and home lately and what the future holds for the Jarrah Jungle blog in 2016 .....

On life lately .....

This year I've had so many highs with some of the most special moments of my life ..... I had an amazing engagement party, a dream wedding, married the love of my life and had some awesome honeymoon adventures travelling around the USA. 

But I've also had some lows health-wise which has knocked me for a spin and I'm still recovering from. When you have issues with your health you really start to re-evaluate your life and the way that you live, who you want to spend your time with and what you want to spend your time doing.

I've been doing a lot of soul searching lately and hope that 2016 will bring more of what makes me happy and my heart sing!

On the home front

The plan for next year on the home front is to finish our house renovations so we can spend time in the house and really enjoy what we've done before we sell it and move on - we will most likely sell our beloved Jarrah Jungle next year and also the block that we are subdividing.

It is really just the exterior we are working on now - in the backyard we need to put up fences, a deck and landscape and in the front yard we also need to landscape. 

The inside of the house has been finished and completely renovated which is a great feeling and I just love what we've done with our own hands - our blood, sweat and tears have turned a neglected old house into our very own love shack and beloved home.

On being an office chick ... for 19 years!

On the work front I have 2 weeks off while the office shuts down for the Christmas Break and will re-open in the New Year. I love that the whole company closes so everyone has a break.

When I go back to work in January 2016 - this will mark 19 years that I've worked with the same company which is more than half my life and is just an incredible milestone for me. In January 2017 I will get my 20 years long service leave (I've already had my 10 years long service leave!) which is something I'm very much looking forward to!

I have worked full time, 5 days a week, for 19 years, without any more than the standard 4 weeks leave a year - that's a lot of alarm clocks I've hit the snooze button on over the years! 

On the blog - Jarrah Jungle

I have been wondering about the future of my blog for 2016 - I've been blogging for 5 years now and it still feeds my creative side and I feel proud of the Jarrah Jungle name that I've created. 

But people are blogging a lot less nowadays and instead are choosing to share via social media - tweeting, instagraming or posting on Facebook. Social media is great for quick engagement but I still think you need the blog as a landing pad. 

Whilst it takes more time and effort to blog, I know my blog will always be here like a journal recording my recipes, book reviews and renovations to date - social media just can't do that as it only holds the most recent information and the rest seems to fall down a black hole and disappear.

I will have to wait and see what the future holds for my beloved Jarrah Jungle blog but one thing I know for sure is that I want to continue writing and creating and sharing content here with you all. I just hope that you will still be on the other side reading and sharing the journey with me! 

There are some exciting and challenging times ahead in the New Year and I'll be back rested and rearing to go in early January 2016.

You can always find me sharing snippets of what's happening on my Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

I want to say a big thank you to all my readers near and far for your comments and kind words throughout the year you guys are awesome! 

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your family, friends, and those that mean the most to you and my wish for you in 2016 is good health and happiness XXX

See you next year!

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Book Club Book Review: Big Little Lies By Liane Moriarty

My Book Club's book choice for the month of November was Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

This is the last book we will read for the year as we have a break in December and then our next book club meet up is in January.

My favourite book club reads this year are The Book Of You - if you love a good thriller you must check it out and this one Big Little Lies - both awesome reads I can't recommend enough!

This is also the last book review I'll do this year - I've read and reviewed 35 books on the blog in 2015!

This is a story told by 3 very different school Mums who become friends as their kids start kindergarten school together.

The story of each of the women's home lives is intertwined with comments from the Police interviewing people at the school about a crime that is committed, but you don't know what the crime is or who the crime is against until the very end.

This was a very funny, fast paced, modern story which dealt with real issues like domestic abuse and bullying, but in a very smart way. I would not call this a mystery or thriller, but more chick literature with a good solid message behind it and a dash of humour thrown in.

The mystery of the crime held out until the very end which makes this such a brilliant read, it kept me entertained and guessing until the last page.

It had everything that makes it a brilliant book - likable and realistic characters, believable lifestyles, I could imagine that this is what life would be like if I had kids that were in school !

I recommend this book to anyone who likes fast paced, entertaining, funny and witty chick literature and Liane Moriarty fans.

I give this book 5 stars out of  5

Jarrah Jungle's Star Rating:

1 Bad - I'd rather eat brussel sprouts topped with anchovies than read this again
2 Not Good - I'd rather watch paint dry than read this again
3 Ok - I'm sitting on the fence - its not great but not terrible either
4 Good - I'd give up a bottle of the worlds best champagne for this read
5 Great - I'd pass up a date with Johnny Depp for this read

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[Image via Dymocks]

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Recipe: Gin And Tonic Oysters

I had to bring a starter for an early Christmas dinner get together with family last weekend and of course it had to be a seafood starter because Christmas in Australia is all about fresh seafood!

Us newlyweds have been indulging in Coffin Bay, South Australian oysters which we shuck ourselves just before serving which means they keep as fresh as can be and still taste like the sea. 

I wanted to make a simple and light dressing to go with the oysters and came across this Gin And Tonic Oysters recipe which I altered slightly - there isn't actually any tonic water in it as the cucumber and rocket juice provide a similar bitter tang that compliments the fresh oysters perfectly.

 

Gin and Tonic Oysters

Recipe Source: Adam Liaw

Makes 24 dressed oysters

24 Oysters (I used Coffin Bay, South Australian), shucked

1 small Lebanese cucumber, peeled, de-seeded and roughly chopped, 

  plus 2 tbs finely chopped cucumber for garnish

1 handful of rocket leaves

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp caster sugar

Pinch of salt

2 tbs gin

1. Juice the cucumber and rocket together. Then separate the liquid from the solids through a fine sieve. Discard the solids.

2. Mix together the lemon juice and sugar, adjusting juice and sugar ratios until it tastes like sweet lemonade.

3. Add all ingredients together - salt, gin, lemon juice and cucumber juice and mix well.

4. Add finely chopped cucumber for garnish.

5. Pour into a bottle with lid and keep in the fridge until ready to serve. 

6. Shuck 24 fresh oysters and arrange on a platter. 

7. Spoon dressing over each oyster ...... and enjoy!

This is a perfect starter dish you can make ahead of time and then simply shuck the oysters and dress the oysters before serving

What's your favourite way to dress oysters?

Sharing with link parties:

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