Se7en’s Fabulous Fun Post #280

It has been cold… it is the time of year when we lurch from sunny spot to sunny spot with a pile of books. The only way to really keep warm is to keep moving… so we have been moving!!!

Otherwise… busy, busy, busy… it appears to be the season of heaps of visitors from everywhere… and interesting outings that we will be blogging about this week…

Lovely Links from This Week

Today is mid-winter… which is all good for us, because from now it is getting that little bit closer to summer every single day!!! Not to mention the northern hemisphere is all about summer – providing all the lovely summer inspiration that we need!!!

1. Firstly, Imagine Childhood has a Catching Summertime GiveAway on right now… and they have had a blog revamp this week… everything, absolutely everything to love!!!
2. The Best Camping Foods… A Round Up by the lovely Aimee on Simple Bites…
3. And I think We All Need to Find our Bridge, such a great read on Slow Your Home.
4. Take a peak at Babble Dabble Do and how to make a Lemon Volcano, or teeny tiny dancers…
5. Such a great and mindful post on The Rebelution this week: I’m Not Waiting Anymore (and You Shouldn’t Either).
6. For When You Lose It (because you’ll lose it) on Lusa Organics.
7. And my absolute favourite post of the week… “Family is a Verb” do not pass go, just head straight over to A Holy Experience for this post.

And the se7en + 1th link:

8. A Blast From the Past:
   • 2009: Se7en Recipes and Tips for Bulk (Frugal) Vegetable Shopping.
   • 2010: Se7en + 1 on Starting Solids.
   • 2011: Se7en Million fairy Tale Puppets and How to Make Them.
   • 2012: In a Deep Mid-Winter…
   • 2013: How to Gift a Father on Father’s Day.
   • 2014: The Hungry Season, Feeding South Africa’s Cities… A Review.

Book of the Week

Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen, published by Penguin Random House South Africa: This is teen read, and a coming of age book… I think we have all felt like Sydney, the invisible gal, from time to time. Sidney has grown up under the shadow of her apparently brilliant and astonishing brother, Peyton, who in theory can do no wrong and in practise ends up with a string of misdemeanours and ultimately a serious offence for drunk driving. Still, in the eyes of his parents, he can do no wrong and it can’t possibly have been the fault of the “golden boy.” It is not a case of Peyton is perfect and Sydney is the opposite, rather a case of Peyton is perfect and Sydney is totally invisible.

Sydney changes school and makes new friends, you breathe a sigh of relief for Sydney but that’s only chapter three… and there is obviously more to come. As her friendship with the Chatham family strengthens, you feel that this could be the break that Sydney needed. The Chathams own a pizza parlour, and are once again proof that there is no such thing as an ordinary family. There is a romance with the caring Mac, and a friendship strengthened by lollipops with his sister Layla, who is one of those bubbly girls that makes heaps of wrong decisions. And then there is another sister Rosie, who has drug issues as a result of a career changing accident, which dashes her Olympic dreams. And finally the Chatham kids have a chilled out father, whose character is balanced out by their mother who suffers from MS. The characters are real and charming and you feel a sense of relief that Sydney has found a haven in the world.

Two families faced with extreme challenges, from opposite sides of town… and they cope with them in completely different ways. Despite being a teen read, don’t for a moment think this book is a your average fluffy teen romance and I would reserve it for older teens to read. A lot of issues are raised in this book, not least a very creepy friend of her brothers that hangs out at Sydney’s home. You spend a lot of time wishing that her mother particularly would notice the creep factor… and of course she doesn’t. The point is… a lot of issues are raised in this book and they are issues that teens have to cope with and there should be a safe platform for them to talk about them. This book is a conservation starter, and you will find yourself relating to Sydney… and thinking about her long after you have closed the book and moved on.

Saint Anything was given to us by Penguin Random House South Africa, we were not paid for this review and the opinions expressed are as usual our own.

That’s us… Hope your weekend has been a fabulous one and we are so looking forward to another week of blogging with you all… not to mention a GiveAway…