Book Reviews: Second Grave on the Left/It Begins/Rest in Peace

When Charley is rudely awakened in the middle of the night by her best friend who tells her to get dressed quickly and tosses clothes out of the closet at her, she can’t help but wonder what Cookie’s up to. Leather scrunch boots with a floral miniskirt? Together? Seriously? Cookie explains that a friend of hers named Mimi disappeared five days earlier and that she just got a text from her setting up a meet at a coffee shop downtown. They show up at the coffee shop, but no Mimi. But Charley finds a message on the bathroom wall. Mimi left a clue, a woman’s name. Mimi’s husband explains that his wife had been acting strange since she found out an old friend of hers from high school had been found murdered a couple weeks prior. The same woman Mimi had named in her message.

Meanwhile, Reyes Alexander Farrow (otherwise known as the Son of Satan. Yes. Literally) has left his corporeal body and is haunting Charley. He’s left his body because he’s being tortured by demons who want to lure Charley closer. But Reyes can’t let that happen. Because if the demons get to Charley, they’ll have a portal to heaven. And if they have a portal to heaven…well, let’s just say it wouldn’t be pretty. Can Charley handle hot nights with Reyes and even hotter days tracking down a missing woman? Will Cookie ever get a true fashion sense? And is there enough coffee and chocolate in the world to fuel them as they do?

Ok, if you're a regular reader of this blog, you know how much I LOVED First Grave on the Right.  It is up there on my "favorites" list.  Second Grave on the Left, the 2nd book in the series is just as good, if not a little better!  Sarcastic Charley is back again, getting herself in trouble (she wakes up one morning with 3 men wearing suits in her apartment...she proceeds to ignore them & start a pot of coffee, then just stares at them as the coffee brews) and solving mysteries.  Her latest case/mystery to solve is that of Mimi who is Cookie's friend (Cookie is her best friend/employee) who abruptly disappears.  She also has to solve the mystery of Reyes....where IS he???  She does all this while somehow managing not to get herself killed, of which there are many attempts at doing made by different people.  **My fav line from the book:  "You're about as helpful as a spoon in a knife fight."

Charley Davidson—grim reaper extraordinaire, private investigator . . . meh—is practicing her profession under the influence, caffeine and copious amounts of it, due to an extreme desire to induce insomnia. Every time she closes her eyes, Reyes Farrow, the part-human, part-supermodel son of Satan, is there. Only thing is, he’s a tad peeved. She did bind for all eternity, so it’s hard blame him. But 13 days without a wink is bound to bring out the crazy in a girl. So, when a man hires her to find his wife, Charley accepts the job with one goal in mind: Put the man behind bars, and not the wet kind. She can sense the guilt waft off him and vows to find the woman’s body and prove he’s a murderer. 
In the meantime, Reyes is back in prison and none too happy about it . . . so Charley thinks, until she is carjacked by the dark-haired rake, who swears the very man he went to prison for killing is not only alive, but close by. And he wants Charley to find him. 
While a visit to her old friend Rocket sheds no light on Reyes’s situation, Charley finds out the man’s wife is still alive and time is running out. Finding her before she dies would be a miracle, but she has to try. Together with the help of a fashion-impaired receptionist named Cookie, Charley sets out to bring the bad guys to justice. She just hopes Reyes is not one of them. And that she’s not hallucinating from her self-induced bout with insomnia.

All I can really say is, I CAN NOT WAIT UNTIL 1.31.12!  Third Grave Dead Ahead's release date.  I MUST buy it and see what is next for Charley!  Ending  note:  I would like to give a HUGE thanks to Darynda Jones, as I was strictly a "romance/contemporary romance" reader, until I picked up First Grave.  Darynda has opened up a whole new genre for me, and I'm loving it!  :)

Out walking alone one rainy night, Lucy becomes convinced that someone or something is following her. Spooked, she ducks into a cemetery to try and lose her stalker. Panicking in the darkness, she slips and stumbles into an open grave only to discover she is not alone in there. . . . Lucy manages to escape, but she doesn't get away unscathed. She begins having terrifying visions and dreams and she still can't shake the feeling of an unseen presence, always watching, waiting. . . . Who was the girl in the grave? And what has she done to Lucy?

I picked It Begins up after reading the back cover, it sounded REALLY good.  I have to say, I wasn't overly impressed at first, and the ONLY reason I kept reading after the first few chapters is because I logged onto Goodreads & saw that most people LOVED the book and the author, Richie Tankersley Cusick (who is the author of numerous horror novels, including The House Next Door, April Fools, and several Buffy the Vampire Slayer books.)  I figured it would get a lot better if that many people liked it.  I WAS right, it DID get better.  The story-line is really a good one.  What I didn't like is the over-explanation/rambling of Lucy (main character).  I guesstimate that I skimmed over approximately 30% of the book, and I don't feel as I missed out on anything.  


In a nutshell, Lucy who has just lost her mother, is forced to leave her home, friends and everything she knows, to move in with her Aunt Irene (who her Mother could not stand and barely ever talked about) and her Step-Cousin Angela, even though neither of them really want her there and don't go out of their way to be hospitable. Then she meets Byron, a sexy boy that all the girls want but can't have, as he keeps to himself, but he has a dark secret only for Lucy.

Still stalked by an unseen force and plagued by unspeakable visions, Lucy feels she cannot carry on for much longer—especially now that Byron, the one person who understood what she was going through, is dead. No one else believes her. She is still alone. And still in grave danger.

That said, I liked it enough to go on and read the 2nd book, Rest In Peace, and will be purchasing the 3rd & 4th books in The Unseen series as well to see how it all ends up.  I'll do a final review after the 4th book (Sin and Salvation), just to wrap up my opinion on the series overall.


I know a lot of book reviewers will go into graphic detail of the book, often including spoilers.  I don't/won't do that, for the simple fact that I HATE spoilers.  I just want to be given a brief overview and general opinion on a book.  I figured if I want that, there have to be others who prefer that also.  If you want spoilers/more detail, my reviews are not the place for you, unfortunately.  

To Go Bespoke Or To Not Go Bespoke

Bespoke model made by my friend, for his friend

Let me first define what bespoke means. By definition from a dictionary, in what would be termed as 'old speak,' it would mean 'spoken for.' As in, a garment that is spoken for by someone, is owned and was created specifically for them and no one else. It will fit them perfectly (at least in theory) and should not fit anyone else in that same manner as we are all shaped differently.

Now that we have the definition out of the way, we can begin to talk about what it means to go bespoke, whether or not it is better than RTW or MTO and whether or not it is worth it's price. First off, you will have to bear in mind that I have made bespoke shoes, I own several pairs of them and wear them regularly, so in a sense, I am somewhat bias on the subject at hand, but will try to be as objective as I can be. And to also make a point of clarification, let's say that bespoke is strictly going to be something that was made by hand, not by machine, as I believe that this coincides with the true definition of what it means to be a bespoke product (at least in terms of shoes and suits...).

Riccardo Bestetti bespoke model

Is it worth it?

To answer this question will very much depend upon you, the person who is in prospect of buying them. You will have to ask yourself several questions:

1. Do I have messed up feet that cause me pain?
2. Is it extremely hard to fit my foot into a ready to wear shoe?
3. Can I afford it without blinking an eye?
4. Do I care about what goes on my feet?

You will usually find that the common consensus is as follows: If your feet are fairly straight forward (i.e. they are normal and can fit very comfortably into most RTW shoes, then you truly do not NEED a bespoke shoe. Now this has nothing to do with wanting one but simply the fact that if you have good feet then you do not fall under the category of people that get bespoke for health purposes. Because of this, being worth it or not will be entirely up to how you perceive the importance of fit, design, and the ultimate in superior quality. I cannot answer this for you, but can tell you that the bespoke shoes that I own, fit me better than the rest of the shoes that I own, and because of that are therefore more comfortable. But then again, I do have a slight problematic foot that is relatively flat, narrow and very low volume, which makes it hard to fit into RTW shoes that don't have narrow widths. 

Gaziano & Girling bespoke shoe

Why is it so much more expensive (and time consuming)?

People often seem incapable of fathoming the concept of paying upwards of $3000 for a pair of shoes, yet will happily pay that and even more on a suit....I have never understood this, but will hopefully be able to explain to you why the prices are as so. First off, you have to understand that it is rare that a bespoke maker is able to do the entire process all by himself/herself. You will find that many jobs these days (like closing) are outsourced. And more times than not you don't have all of these people under one roof, so therefore time constraints start to take place as the shoemaker finds themselves waiting for others.

The process is as such:

1. The last maker (and/or pattern maker) comes to measure your foot. At that same time you decide what  shoe you would like to have (i.e. design) and look at the coloring, leather, materials etc. that you like. If you choose something unique, you are creating more work for the pattern maker who will have to cut a new and unique piece of work.

2. They then take those measurements to create a precise mold of your foot, what is called a 'last'

3. After that, the pattern maker will design your pattern by way of the last. That means he uses your specific last to then create your specific pattern. If this design is something unique to you, the pattern maker might take extra long to get it right.

4. After the pattern is cut, they then cut out the leather and give it to the closer to sew all together. This part is usually outsourced so therefore they need to wait on them to complete it.

5. Once the upper is sewn together, they will attach it temporarily to the last to create a trial-fit shoe for you, to make sure that the last fits the way that you would like it to. This process involves you coming back or them coming to you, which increases the total amount of time for the process.

6. Once you have sorted this out (assuming there are no adjustments to be made), you then have to have the shoe 'made,' by the maker (this is the bit that I learned, and as you can see is just one part of the entire process).

Let's just assume that before taxes a bespoke shoe costs £2500 (which is close to the average out here in England). Now let's assume that at best, the shoemakers (owners of the company) take £1000 profit out of that, after all expenses. Now let's just assume that it's a two man firm and they can make 100 pairs a year (which is a very good number in bespoke shoe terms). That equates to £100,000 a year, but divided by 2, coming to a total of £50,000/year for each person. Now, this is all best case scenario, so let's just say that this is a good year for a pair of bespoke shoemakers. So, considering the amount of work put into a year's worth of doing this, it's not all that glorified in terms of making A LOT of money, is it? So, when you ask yourself why a bespoke shoe cost so much, you will see that a lot of work goes into it, a lot of hands touch it and there is not as much profit as you may think....it's far more for the love of making quality shoes then it is for the ambition of becoming rich!

Shoes Below: George Cleverley "Churchill" model, one bespoke, one RTW, can you tell which one?
(Pictures Courtesy Of: Leather Soul)

Can you tell the difference?

Okay, well let's now assume that you don't have problem feet and that money is not an issue. Do you still go for bespoke? Well, I certainly would and the reasons are because, for one, I am a shoe freak. Not only do I want a shoe that no one else has, a shoe that is unique to me, my taste and compliments my wardrobe perfectly but also a shoe that stands out as being made from the best materials around. You instantly see this when you see a bespoke shoe. It's not like you can spot them a mile away on someone's feet but when up close and personal with one, the distinct qualities that make it bespoke are evident and to me speak wonders about the shoe and the person, i.e. someone who appreciates fine footwear. And maybe I am bias saying this because I have spent so much time around both bespoke and RTW shoes, but not only can you tell the difference aesthetically but also in terms of psychologically, as I believe that wearing something that is made for one's self provides a feeling of pride and happiness, much stronger than any RTW shoe can give you....but hey, that's just my opinion! You will have to decide this for yourself...

Shoes Below: Gaziano & Girling (one bespoke & one RTW)

Loewe Pre-Spring 2012 Bags

2012 for men's clothing by Ermenegildo Zegna

2012 for men's clothing by Ermenegildo Zegna

 

2012 for men's clothing by Ermenegildo Zegna

Sunglasses Ray Ban wayfarer for men in the top of splendor 2012

 Sunglasses Ray Ban wayfarer for men in the top of splendor 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 
  Sunglasses Ray Ban wayfarer for men in the top of splendor 2012

Pointy style statement

Wedges are back in vogue. Look around and you will find fashionistas showing them off in fab designs and colours. Brands like Prada, Versace and Louis Vuitton will be rolling out their wedges in brand new avatars this year. When singer Kelly Rowland stepped out on the red carpet for the X Factor UK press launch, her wedge booties grabbed eyeballs. JLo, Ashley Greene and Taylor Swift are self-confessed lovers of the chunky heels. Back home, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Genelia D’Souza and Dia Mirza are also flaunting them.

The comfort factor makes them very appealing. Fashion designer Prasad Bidapa feels wedges are for everyone, “Wedges look wonderful. Girls always like looking tall and this footwear is also casual enough for everyday use. Unlike stilettos, they support the foot better. Wedges are best suited for daywear and might not work for an evening outing, unless designed in a particular way. They suit any body type, though.” Shoes in metallic hues, particularly in gold and gilver are also trendy. “The must-haves this season are black stilettos and nude heels as they make your legs look longer, a pair of jewelled slippers that look pretty with ethnic wear and slippers that have a silver-gold colour,” he adds.

The versatility of the wedges is another reason people are queuing up to buy them. Veena Jain of One Stop Milano says, “Wedges are oh-so-comfortable. They are very stylish and can be worn with everything, right from party wear to casuals.” She recommends stilettos, wedges and knee-high boots as they are ideal for chilly weather. The fact that wedges are glamorous and comfy at the same time make them a compulsory buy for designer Neetu Gupta. “I love wedges! You can play around with the shape, add a little curve here and some colour there and make them fun. I have a multi-coloured one that is really cool. I bought several pairs of wedges this year. They are dramatic; definitely the heels of the new age,” she quips. Black wedges that are “comfortable when you have to dance long hours,” and shoes with gold and silver bling figure on her must-have list.

Catwalk Empire

Feminine looks, strong colours and a return to 1920s-style Gatsby elegance will rule the runway this year.

It was all very well for fashion icon Coco Chanel to say: ''In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different.'' But it's hard to imagine her wearing clogs, for instance, when everyone else is in Miu Miu glitter pumps.

So what will fashion followers be wearing en masse in 2012? According to Cleo magazine's fashion director, Aileen Marr, there will be a mix of eras - the 1920s, '30s and '90s all get a nod - and bold colours.

''Ladylike is still strong, after years of short body-con dresses, so women will be wearing Peter Pan collars, lace, shift dresses and kitten heels,'' Marr says.

Of course, not all of it will be embraced on these shores. ''The pretty schoolgirl look sounds a bit boring, but Australians will do their own take on it, probably with shorter hemlines and skipping the cardigans for a sleeveless dress to show more skin.''

Spring 2012 Fashion Week in Paris highlighted the schoolgirl look, but where did it originate? British It Girl Alexa Chung had been fashioning her brand of short-skirted teenagerhood for years. The Band of Outsiders is one cult brand picking up the look, with tartan pleated skirts making it into its spring collections.

The Leonardo DiCaprio version of the The Great Gatsby, being filmed now in Sydney, is also having an impact on fashion.

Dropped waists are making a comeback - Camilla & Marc has done them for winter 2012 - as are sunray-pleated skirts and dresses. And all the decadence of that era will hit the mainstream stores, seen in embellished cocktail dresses and ''plenty of bling, like sparkly heels,'' Marr says.

''When shows like Downton Abbey and Boardwalk Empire become successful, designers are influenced and try to capture that period, too.'' And the mood stays feminine for the colder months, with winter florals coming to the fore.

Grazia editor Kellie Hush says: '''Sweetness' was what Miuccia Prada announced immediately after her spring/summer 2012 show. Pretty is back in force: floaty dresses, '50s and '60s silhouettes and head-to-toe florals. Prada's show was very Grease; Louis Vuitton was over-the-top feminine. Slingbacks and mules are back. It is modern femininity once again. And with The Great Gatsby filming, you can be assured Daisy Buchanan style will be everywhere.''

Also important: a signature coat, such as a pea coat or Carnegie coat, which teams up with shift dresses at midi length. That is not to say that it is all for the girly girl. Making an appearance in the '20s-'30s theme are brogues, loafers, man-style suits for women (double-breasted jackets and double-pleated pants) and flat shoes.

Prints are here for a while - think graphic screenprints of the '90s - as well as strong colours. ''There's a '90s hip-hop feel happening and kids will be wearing oversized sweatshirts and bold message prints, like Katharine Hamnett does,'' Marr says. Why the '90s? ''Streetwise is happening, because everything else from punk to the music-festival look has been done to death.''

She predicts Australian buyers will give the bold colours a thumbs-up. ''They love colour and neon, as they're easy to wear in warm climates.''

Magdalena Velevska has married the '20s feel with neon, and the shades that will be popular are orange and teal.

The colder months will bring autumnal colours: hunter greens, pumpkin oranges and rich burgundies that will make their way even into the coloured jeans popular during summer.

Shoe-wise, platforms are on their way out, although heels are not. Women wanting to reach sky heights can still opt for stilettos, but with a more classic feel and pointy toe.

The It bag is still a box bag, started by Celine, and in accessories, women are trying to make their wrists look unique with a long mass of individual chains, via friendship or charm bracelets.

What else to look out for in 2012? Stripes, flared pants and black and white are all making some headway. Sportswear is still going strong: think motocross and hip-hop inspired. Alexander Wang used padding, mesh and stripes in his collection, while Karen Walker showed off oversized baseball caps.

High-top sneakers are back, with designers such as Lanvin and Opening Ceremony doing their own bling version.

Lace, the feminine favourite, won't just be reserved for clothes, but will turn up on accessories such as bags and shoes.

TRENDS FOR MEN

According to Arthur Galan, who designs clothes for women and men under his label Arthur Galan AG, ''Checks will be very important for men: they will be wearing check coats over check shirts to create a mix of textures. There are rich tones for men as well, in the form of precisely cut jackets in bordeaux, midnight and dark emerald.'' The must-have item for men? ''The skivvy in those winter months, for the true gentleman's look: to be worn under a jacket or shirt.'' And in men's shoes, Galan tips ''the return of the chiselled toe, with more of a pointed chisel than what we've seen in the past. The lace-up is still strong, but the ankle boot is the new item.''

TRENDS FOR WOMEN

Era: 1920s - dropped waists and luxurious dresses.

1990s - oversized T-shirts with graphic lettering.

Colours: orange, teal, red, black and white, bold.

Prints: graphic and florals.

Pants: wide legs, pleated.

Shoes: kitten heels, pointy toes, sparkly.

Fabrics: lace.

News & Images Sources:  http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au

Top 11 of 2011

Today, I've lined up my top 11 manicures of 2011! These are my own personal favourites and it was impossible to put them in any order, that's like asking me to choose between my babies!

This countdown, or rather collection, consists mostly of freehand manis that I made during the 31 Day Challenge or my theme weeks which has made me realise I definitely work best and come up with my best ideas under a little pressure. It's something I need to bare in mind this year and I'll have to come up with more challenges for myself so that in turn, I can come up with some kick ass manicures!

You can click on any of the pictures to go to the original post for more info and pictures.























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