Tishylou's World

 Hi, hello, welcome!  So, with this being a comeback, some of you will already know me, while some of you may not. You might have known me from "back in the day" of Twitter and blogging, long before Booktok. This post is to help reintroduce myself and fill you in on where I've been and why I stopped blogging for a while.  I started book reviewing in around 2009, had a blog on Wordpress but got locked out of it, and moved over here. I have always loved blog tours and sharing author posts etc, and am hoping to bring that back. It may take me a while to get back into the swing of things, so please bear with me.  So, here's what you might have missed... I suffered the greatest loss of my life in December 2023 when my husband, Steve, passed away. He was in renal failure and dialysis wasn't improving his quality of life, so he chose to stop treatment. We had 2 weeks together before he took his final breath. I can't explain that kind of loss to someone who hasn't...

Hello there! I realise it has been ages since I wrote a non-book related post. There has been lots going on,  lots I could have told you, but none of it seemed blog-worthy. As you may know, it's Mental Health Awareness Week. That is something which was only really brought to my attention a year ago when my own struggle became clear. I'm not going to go into the way it all started, most of you probably know from my social media presence this time last year. But now, one year on, I am ready to talk openly and fully about my journey with Depression and Anxiety. I was first diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder 12 months ago this week. That was the first time I'd ever really heard of it and it scared me. I was newly single, seeking medical care for these issues for the first time in 13 years. I had just read Mad Girl by Bryony Gordon and it awoke something in me. I was put on Propanalol to help with the physical symptoms of the anxiety and, a year ago yesterday, I had...

MY LIFE IN BOOKS BY TRISH HILLS @TISHYLOU Charlotte's Web by EB White . This is the first book I remember reading as a child. I still have my really old, battered paperback copy and also found a beautiful old hardback too. This book is so beautifully written and so poignant. I can't read it any more, it makes me cry, but I still hold it fondly as a favourite.   The Babysitters Club Series by Ann M Martin. This series basically shaped my “tween” years. They were fun, clever, inspirational. The girls (Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, Mallory, Jessie, Stacey, Dawn) formed a club to give childcare to all the neighbourhood kids. They were organized, professional, caring and most of all, fun. I started babysitting aged 12 because I wanted to be like them. I even became a qualified first aider and got my babysitting certificate! Pet Semetary by Stephen King. This was the first “grown-up” novel I ever read. I was terrified but wanted to read something naughty that I wasn...