In Defense of the Fluffy Romance Novels

Okay, I think this may turn into a series of blog posts. There are many things I need to address in my writings to defend the "fluffy romance." I myself am an avid reader of fluffy romance novels. I have read more than I care to count and I want no longer to be one of those people who shamefully hang their heads when asked what they read.

Why is it that so many people say that Pride and Prejudice is their favourite book? I'll tell you why, be cause it is an acceptable response (it is also quite a good book). It's a response that people won't scoff at. Sure you can love any contemporary indie novel that you like, but if you happen to enjoy a light funny romance book, then you're shallow and have no taste? I'm sorry but that's bullshit.

So I'm going to address some of the main arguments that people have against romance novels.

The first thing I want to talk about is when people say that romance books are predictable. OF BLOODY COURSE they are predictable. Life is predicable. I am a person and I can guess at how life will work out in certain situations. People are confusing predictable with realistic of the situation. Also they always say they can tell what's going to happen with the plot and how they are going to end up together, the whole point of a romance novel is that they end up together... just saying.

Now, I want to move on to the polar opposite: that romance books are completely unrealistic, that this doesn't happen to anyone in normal life. Again, you are reading fiction. If you dislike situations that arn't about to occur in real life then don't read fictional novels. These are romance novels and their target audiences are people who enjoy romance and love the utter impossibility and confidence that this type of love can exist... even if only in an authors imagination.

There are millions of types of books out there and just a moment ago (literally just a moment ago) my friend asked me what her favourite books were and I said Spellbound, (by Cara Lynn Shultz, REALLY good teenage romance book) and she said no, "that looks lame" I know for a fact that she loved that book, that we fangirled over that book for weeks... but she can't even post it on Facebook that she likes it because it's lame and everyone is posting "adult books."

Screw that for a joke, I strongly dislike those literary snobs who judge people on what novels they read, well at least they read! Unlike so many my age.....

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So really got on a rant there, anyway I'll post more in defense of the fluffy romance later, have a nice week,
M xx

Youtube Culture

I really got into youtube about a year and a half ago. I started with Jenna Marbles and then moved on to Zoella, and then to the rest of her friends affectionately named "The British Invasion."
At first I just watched the main channel beauty videos, but as these internet sensations rose to stardom their videos became less and less about what they started out about and more into the relationships and collabs with their friends.
Let me set this straight: I am not complaining.
I love these youtubers, they make me happy when I'm sad and they make my day so much lighter. However I feel that lately I've been relying on their "perfect lives" a bit too much. The viewers seem to forget that these people are human and that when you watch their daily vlogs that you are only seeing 10 MINUTES OF THEIR DAY.
That's ten minutes! that's nothing, I spend more than ten minutes in the shower and that is all you are seeing of their day. Yet during these vlogs you feel like you get to know them, they have conversations with you and you get to know parts of their personalities, and to you it can feel like you would be such good friends. There are probably five million other people who feel they would be best friends with the entire british invasion.
We see ten minutes of their day and feel like we know them so well, but if I were to walk up to them and say hello. They would have no idea I even exist.... doesn't that seem weird to you?
I've never been one to have serious celebrity crushes. It's just so weird that I feel like I know sooo much about them (in reality I don't) and that they don't have any idea who I am or what my life is like.
It feels weird that I can spend an entire day watching their lives and not doing anything with mine... it's kind of sad actually.
I realise for a lot of people that these videos are an escape, they are for me too. It's just that while they are fun and while they make you happy, people need to realise that they only show a very limited amount of themselves. They don't have videos where they bitch about other YouTubers, you don't see their faults.
It is not possible for a person to have NO FAULTS. There is not group of friends in the world where no one is annoyed by ANYTHING another person does.
So while YouTube does offer a utopian get-a-way I think it's important to realise that their lives are not our lives, and that the life you watch them have is basically them having a good time with friends who they love and friends who they play games with. Once you take away the fans and the videos and the fact that they all have amazingly white teeth. Then they are all just human.
And guess what?
So are you.

I do not own this image (as if that wasn't obvious)

How to have a Terrible Holiday

       The art of having terrible holiday is a precise one. When viewing your holiday in retrospect you may only see the bigger picture, but you should also realise that to have a truly awful holiday you must remember the phrase: the devil is in the details. 

       Taking any holiday requires careful planning, but to have a terrible holiday these plans must go awry. When planning your terrible holiday keep in mind connecting flights; there are so many things that can go wrong, almost everyone has a story about missing a plane or what-not. Thus making it ideal. Try to imagine your holiday as an old fashioned scale;  it starts off even, nothing good or bad has happened yet. To have the worst possible holiday the scale must tip completely on the “terrible” side. This will usually happen slowly, freak accidents (i.e plane crashes, natural disasters, fatal illnesses, terrorists taking over the plane, and so on) are too unpredictable. To ensure a horrific holiday it comes down to slowly tilting the scale, and missing your connecting flight will start you in the wrong direction.

      Luggage mishaps come next, you could accidentally leave it on the nature strip (has been known to happen), or, more commonly, it could end up in another country and take weeks to retrieve. This is such a classic, yet brilliant way to start the misery that it cannot be ignored, no matter how cliche. 

      After a long strenuous flight, reaching your holiday destination sounds like a dream, right? Wrong. It turns out that when flying to a different country and booking a hotel online, that you should do quite a bit of research into the hotel, more specifically: make sure that it exists. It is only too easy to make a fake hotel website and trick tourists out of money. If you wish take your holiday to go significantly down on the scale, do as little research into your activities as possible. (Also recommended for those who seek excitement.)

        Another thing to consider when planning a terrible holiday is different cultures; if you are in want of mortification I recommend ignoring it completely. As an example let’s take America, America has a tipping culture, not accounting for this may contribute to  your own extreme embarrassment and generally poor customer service.

       Finally to sink this holiday to the bottom of the ocean, let's talk travel insurance. Who needs travel insurance?

       So, there you have it; a few easy tips to ensuring a truly miserable holiday.