March 2025 reading round up

March has actually been a fairly good reading month for me, and I'm definitely on target to complete my Goodreads challenge which this year is 100 books! Here's everything I read in March with quickfire reviews... 

The Daughter by T M Logan

This was my first audiobook of the month, and I really enjoyed it - I love T M Logan anyway, and I do kind of wish I'd read a physical copy of this as I think it might have hit even better, but this was a great thriller about a missing young woman and a mum who will not give up. Great twists, interesting plot, heavy drama. 4 stars!

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

I read this for our book club pick in March, and enjoyed it more than I thought I would - the twist is phenomenal, but it does beg the question of does a good twist make a good book? Because the more we chatted about it at book club, the more we found flaws and realised just how much of the story is left almost unfinished. Also, all of the characters are really quite unlikeable. That being said, still an enjoyable read. I gave it 3.5 stars in the end!

The Love of my Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood

This has been sat on my shelves since my bestie bought it for my birthday last year - chosen by her because of the ombre sprayed edges, which I hugely appreciate. I'd heard that it's pretty funny so when I was feeling unwell and very sorry for myself towards the beginning of the month I decided to pick it up. And ohhh it didn't disappoint; funny, poignant, heartfelt, lovely... there are no words to describe just how much this book made me laugh and cry, and if I could give it six stars I would. Utterly charming. Favourite read of the year so far.

Fangirl Down by Tessa Bailey

I am a sucker for a spicy sports romance, and even though this one was about golf (??) I still absolutely devoured it, and really enjoyed it. I'm a big fan of Tessa Bailey's writing, and this one had a genuinely nice plot as well as fun, interesting characters and good sex scenes without really too much cringe. 4.5 stars from me!!

Breakaway by Grace Reilly

Speaking of cringe, this one has bucket loads of it - I didn't hate it, but it was definitely a bit of an ick to read. I don't think this is a particularly well written book, but if you like a LOT of spice then you will enjoy it. And of course there's a nice little hockey/college storyline which is fun. I gave this 3.5 stars personally...

Stealing Home by Grace Reilly

I definitely preferred this one to Breakaway, as it was much less cringe - another college romance featuring rich kids and heartbreak. The plot of the books in this series is pretty much the same, as with most romance novels, but it was still a fun enjoyable read. 4 stars!

Heartless by Elsie Silver

My second foray into Elsie Silver's work, and of course the second in her Chestnut Springs series. As cowboy romances go, this is a good'un and I can see why everybody loves these books - they're not as good as Paisley Hope's Silver Pines series, imo, but this is a cute age-gap/single dad romance set on a ranch with a delightful slow burn situation. 4.5 stars!

Powerless by Elsie Silver

My favourite of the Chestnut Springs series so far, because childhood friends to lovers is a gorgeous trope and the FMC in this book was such a strong character - I loved seeing her internal transformation. There isn't anywhere near as much spice in this one, but what there is is well written. The book has great pacing and I really really enjoyed it. 4.75 stars for this one.

Reckless by Elsie Silver

Winter and Theo absolutely charmed me; I did feel this one was a little random as we don't know much of either character before this book, however it was a gorgeous story and I absolutely fell in love with their little family. Plus, bull riding is such a VIBE. 4 stars!

Hopeless by Elsie Silver

The final book of the series and honestly my least favourite - really she could have stopped at book 4, I didn't feel connected to either of the main characters in this one and I felt they lacked a connection to each other. It's a sweet story but honestly very 'meh' for me - a 3.5, it just doesn't live up to the rest of Chestnut Springs!

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

My final read of March and wow, what a way to close out the month. Truly, utterly, sensational - so cleverly crafted, so gutwrenchingly sad, so powerful. Haymitch has always been one of my favourite characters and to see an insight into why he is the way he is was equal parts upsetting and uplifting. A beautiful 5 stars from me.

Here's hoping April is an equally good reading month as March was!

What ways can you save money in 2025?

Looking to save money this year? Whether you are struggling to make ends meet, saving up for something specific, or simply looking to improve your financial situation, there are many ways to reduce your expenses and enhance savings throughout 2025. Keep reading to discover a few of the best strategies to consider.

Implementing Effective Budgeting Techniques

People often overspend each month because they do not control spending with a budget. Creating a detailed budget to monitor income and expenditures can help you identify areas to make savings as well as ensure that a percentage of your monthly income goes straight into savings. Digital budgeting tools and apps can simplify the process of creating and monitoring a monthly budget.

Maximising Savings with a High-Interest Account

It is important that you put the money you save to work to maximize returns. This is why you should put your savings in a high-interest account that will grow and compound over time. This could be easy access if you need to access the money or locked in a fixed-term account (which offers the best interest rates). Interest rates have remained high in recent times, so you want to compare different accounts to find the most competitive options.

Reducing Utility Bills Through Energy Efficiency

Many people in the UK have been struggling with their energy bills in recent times, particularly during the winter months. This is always an area where you can find ways to make savings, such as:

💜 Using energy-efficient appliances
💜 Using a smart thermostat
💜 Turning off unused devices
💜 Washing clothes on a cold setting
💜 Air drying clothes
💜 Bulk cooking
💜 Taking cooler and/or shorter showers

Small changes can make a big difference over the long term when it comes to energy consumption, so combining the above could make a big difference.

Exploring Cost-Effective Transportation Options

Transport is another major cost for many, especially those who commute daily. There are a number of ways to save money on transport, including:

🚴🏻 Cycling/walking
🚞 Public transport
🚙 Car-sharing schemes



Car insurance is a large and essential cost for many, but you may be able to make savings by adopting telematics insurance, which rewards safe driving with lower premiums.

Utilising Cashback & Reward Programs

Cashback offers, loyalty cards, and reward programs can lead to significant savings over time. There are many popular cashback websites in the UK, including Topcashback, Quidco, and KidStart.

Embracing DIY & Second-Hand Purchases

A do-it-yourself approach to home repairs and buying items like furniture and clothing second-hand can also help you make huge savings. The second-hand marketplace is constantly growing, which means that it is becoming easier to find high-quality second-hand goods for a fraction of the original price.

These are a few of the best ways to make savings in 2025. Combining a few of these methods together could help you make significant savings this year and improve your financial situation.

One hike a month in 2025

2025 is a big year - I'm turning 30, getting married, and also really focusing on my health. I'm currently on a slow & steady weight loss journey, having lost just over 2 stone, and I'm trying to stay on top of hydration and supplements and so on. As part of this, I am also aiming to complete one hike per month throughout 2025. I'll be adding to this blog post each month to share which hike I've done and how I found it!

January's hike: Millennium Walkway, New Mills

We drove here on a very cold Saturday, planning to do this 4 mile loop walk. We parked up and walked down to the Torrs Hydro, across the Millennium Walkway itself and through some woody areas - however, we didn't plan particularly well and definitely didn't end up doing the loop - we actually just walked back on ourselves, so we were totally off route. We still managed to get a good 5k steps in, and the views were great, it just wasn't exactly the hike we had planned!

February's hike: Helsby Hill, Cheshire

This was a nice early morning hike, only around half an hour from home. We parked up in the nature reserve car park, then headed up the (very steep) road to the bottom of Helsby Hill itself. It's not too much of a steep hill, and the views at the top across Cheshire, Wirral and Liverpool were brilliant - it was fairly windy but the sun was shining, and we did end up walking through the nature reserve too which was cool and well worth combining with the hill hike. Only around 3k steps so not a huge hike by any means, but a really enjoyable one.

March's hike: Moel Famau, Flintshire

Our biggest yet - alarms set for 4.30am, we drove into Wales to walk the Jubilee Tower circular at sunrise. We arrived at the carpark at 6am, and it was already looking super cloudy. Nevertheless, we set out on the 5.5k circular route, taking the 'less steep' option where we could. Mind you, this is still incredibly steep in a lot of places, with plenty of heather and bramble and narrow paths to navigate. The higher we got, the foggier and cloudier it became meaning we didn't actually see anything in the way of sunrise - and when we got to the tower itself, we couldn't see a thing. However, it was a great sense of achievement to complete the hike! It was also the first time we'd taken Daisy (my parents' dog who we often look after) on a hike with us, and she loved it.

April's hike: Castell Dinas Bran

The hike we originally had planned for April was cancelled, so last minute my fiancée and I decided to travel up to Llangollen to hike up to Castell Dinas Bran. We actually got engaged in Llangollen so it holds a special place in our hearts, and we've never had the chance to do this particular hike - it's a train and bus away from us, taking around 2 hours to get there, but was so worth it.

We had glorious blue skies without a cloud in sight, and we did find this hike a challenge; it's so vertical, meaning we had to stop a good few times, but it really is worth it. The views were absolutely mesmerising, and we felt so good having done it. The full hike, up to the top and back down, is around 3.5km with 214m elevation. This took us just over an hour, with a nice stop at the top to admire our surroundings. I'd highly recommend this one if you want to challenge yourself!

Stay tuned to see the rest of my 2025 hiking routes, and follow me on Strava if you're interested in seeing more!

AD | How to improve your family home

The quality of your home can make a big difference to your quality of life. A little bit of renovation, or a major extension, can often provide you and your family with the space you need to thrive. But if you’re thinking about investing in changes, it’s worth thinking about which are going to offer the greatest value. Let’s consider some popular modifications...

Embracing Open-Plan Living

For several decades, open-plan has been the default option for those wishing to create a sense of space and freedom. This has been the case for a simple reason: open plan is very effective. When you remove unnecessary dividing walls, you can see further, which is fantastic for driving out claustrophobia. It also becomes easier to adapt a given space for several purposes and create a sense of community among family members who might be occupying different parts of the space. In a kitchen diner, for example, you might have one person cooking while another does their homework at the dining table.

Enhancing Energy Efficiency

If your home is more energy efficient, then it will also be cheaper to run in the long term. New-built homes often come equipped with the latest energy-efficient technologies, setting a benchmark for sustainability. But you can bring existing homes up to standard by making the right investments.

Photo by Raul Petri

Upgrading a boiler is an obvious example. But you can also find savings by making small investments, here and there. Loft insulation, LED bulbs, and the adoption of simple energy-saving habits, like not overfilling the kettle, can make a big cumulative difference in the long run.

Creating Multi-Functional Spaces

If you want to get the most out of the space available to you, then having different spaces serve multiple purposes can be extremely powerful. If your home office can double as a guest room, and your living room can double as a gym, then you might get much better use from the space available to you. This is great when you’re catering to a growing family.

Incorporating Outdoor Living Areas

Gardens, patios and balconies are a great way to extend your indoor living space. During summer, they can be particularly powerful. You might use a well-developed patio, for example, to host family gatherings – or to host parties for children and their friends.

Photo by Vlad Bucur

Prioritising Safety and Accessibility 

According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, most accidents occur in the home. This is unsurprising, since the home is where most of us spend most of our time. But it does follow that, if you want to reduce the risk for yourself and your family members, you’ll make a few choice upgrades. The installation of the right lighting, child-proofing measures like locks on cupboard doors, and stairgates, can all be effective.

Making your home family-safe is so important, and so is fun! Check out how we've made our house a bit more baby-friendly since the arrival of my niece...

48 hours in Budapest

I've recently got back from a gorgeous trip to Budapest with my fiancée, and I promised I'd share a bit of an itinerary of everything we got up to. Here goes! FYI, we landed late Monday night and flew home Thursday morning - so we really only had 48 hours to explore Budapest properly... because of this, I've split our trip into the two full days we had, as we didn't really do anything on the Monday night and Thursday morning. Hopefully this makes sense!

Day 1 in Budapest

We were staying in the Heroes Square area, which was perfect for getting into the city easily. We downloaded the BudapestGO app and bought 72-hour tickets, allowing us to use the buses, trams and trolley buses. Side note, you DO need your data switched on whenever you use the ticket!

Our first stop was Fisherman's Bastion, so we got the bus right over the Chain Bridge and got off at the bottom of the castle funicular. From here we had a wander through the park to see some stunning views, then got confused and headed back down to the bottom to get the bus to the bastion itself. We could have walked it but we got a bit muddled, and it is super steep so it's great that there's a bus which drops you right at the bastion.

We really enjoyed wandering up and through Fisherman's Bastion - it's a great spot for photos and the views are amazing, plus it's FREE. You can pay to go up one side of it, but if you opt for the other side (on the left as you're looking out over the Danube) there's a bar/restaurant there where you can stop for a drink and enjoy some stunning scenery. This is called Halaszbastya and we paid roughly £11(GBP) for a mocktail and a cappuccino; well worth it in our opinion. We sat outside and it was just perfect!

From here we walked through the castle district, enjoying the architecture of Matthias Church and the cute buildings - unfortunately during our visit there was a LOT of construction taking place, mainly all over the castle as well as a lot of the roads. This meant we couldn't explore the castle as much as we wanted to, but we did stop for lunch at a little cafe on the corner called Ruszwurm - really tasty and filling sandwiches. We paid about £10pp for lunch and a drink here.

We walked back down to the Chain Bridge and stopped for a few photos; the bridge was the first permanent one to connect Buda and Pest, so it's pretty iconic. Then we jumped on the tram to Gellert Hill, where we visited the cave church - it was £5 for the two of us, and I found it really interesting to hear about the history behind the church and its conception. Definitely worth it for some culture!

On the other side of the bridge I got myself a chimney cake (not worth the hype) and we had a wander along to St Stephen's Basilica. We didn't go in, but it's a beautifully impressive building nevertheless. From here we headed back down the river to see the really haunting Shoes on the Danube. It really is beautiful, and we managed to catch it at golden hour which was particularly stunning. To carry on our sightseeing, we hopped on a tram round to the Parliament Building, which is also a big 'wow' kind of building.

Then it was time to head back towards our hotel area, via Vajdahunyad Castle - a really gothic building within a stunning park, with some brilliant photo opportunities. The sun was setting and the autumnal vibe was really on top form at this point. After some chill time at the hotel we headed off to Margaret Island, which we'd heard great things about - there's a fountain with a light show, and some beautiful bars and restaurants. However, being November, everything was closed and the light show wasn't on which was a real shame but proves you *do* need to do your research! We ended up stopping for a McDonalds because by the time we figured out there was nowhere to eat on the island and made our way back to Budapest itself, we were ravenous.

Day 2 in Budapest

After cramming quite a lot into day 1, we were equally as determined to enjoy our second day of exploring the Hungarian capital. We started with a trip to Cookie Beacon, which we'd seen all over TikTok and had been recommended by one of my colleagues. There was no queue (yay!) and we sat upstairs which was lovely. I had the red velvet oreo cookie and it was genuinely so good - my other half had a coffee which she said was also really nice. I'd definitely recommend, but probably wouldn't say it's worth queueing for ages.

We then hopped on one of the iconic yellow trams and headed to Central Market Hall which again, we'd seen all over social media - huge disappointment, very much like a local town market at home, really nothing special! Such a shame but you live and learn. From here we navigated to the Jewish Quarter of Budapest, where we visited the Ghetto Wall memorial to pay our respects. This is a really interesting area of Budapest, and we stopped for a drink at the gorgeous Twentysix, a bar/restaurant within a hotel filled with gorgeous plants. It's a very Instagrammable spot in Budapest, that's for sure, but the drinks were lovely.

After a lovely mooch back down to the river, it was time for something I'd been waiting for: the Budapest funicular. I'm a sucker for an interesting mode of transport, so we couldn't miss it. It's 5000 HUF per person for a return journey, so just over £10, and while the actual journey itself is incredibly short it's absolutely worth it for the views right across the Danube. Stunning, honestly!

Finding ourselves in the castle area once more, we watched the guards marching into position before heading for lunch at Spíler Biergarten. We had huge burger meals and cokes, and it was £33 for the two of us which is about right for somewhere in the heart of the castle district. Then it was back down on the funicular for stunning views round two.

Our last evening in Budapest was lovely - we stopped for drinks at St Andrea Skybar, which was soooo posh and lovely with really friendly staff who couldn't do enough for us. We both had fancy flavoured lemonades, which came to just under 6000 HUF (£13 ish). Expensive? Yes, but given the setting and vibe we didn't mind. We sat inside as it was really cold but the outside area would be perfect for sunset drinks in the summer!

To round off our 48 hours in Budapest we had booked an evening river cruise down the Danube - I booked this on Get Your Guide which was really simple, and honestly it was amazing. Seeing the city all lit up at night is genuinely breathtaking, and we had the downstairs indoor area pretty much to ourselves which was perfect for us. So romantic! You can choose loads of different versions of this tour, with unlimited prosecco or even a party boat, so there's something for everyone.

We had a short but sweet 48 hours of exploring Budapest - could we have done more? Yes, but it was really nice to enjoy a slower paced city break and I still feel like we packed a lot in. It's a beautiful city with loads to see and do, and it can be as cheap or expensive as you want it to be!