Most of you probably don't know what is going on in Poland right now so I'll try to summarise it.

Poland's right-wing government and the Roman Catholic church want to implement a new horrible anti-abortion law. The abortion law is already strict in Poland but now they want to make it even worse.

The new law would mean the girls (no matter what age) and women who got raped and pregnant would not be able to have an abortion. Doctors will be afraid to do prenatal tests in case they damage the foetus. Every miscarriage will be evaluated and investigated and if it turns out to be intentional then the woman would spend from 3 months to 5 years in prison.

* “If I have a 32-week pregnant patient with pre-eclampsia, I have to wait for her and her child to start dying before I can take action,” explained Professor Romuald Dębski during a debate in Parliament last April. “If there is an ectopic pregnancy and bleeding, I can perform a termination. But if there is no bleeding - no immediate risk to life - I have to wait until she starts dying.”

This new law could lead to many illegal abortions and could harm the women.

It's appalling that in the 21st century laws are moving backwards rather than forwards. It really angers me that they've stooped to this level. I don't understand why a group of middle aged politicians and the Roman Catholic church are deciding what women can and can't do with their bodies?!

There was a protest in Poland on Monday when thousands of women didn't go to work/school and boycotted the streets. The protest was called Black Protest/Black Monday and all of the women came out dressed in black. Women in other countries such as France, Brussels and England also came out to support Polish women. Polish women have also received a massive amount of support on social media, especially on Twitter and Instagram. Quite a big number of men also came along with the women to support them.

The Parliament will start to debate the Bill today. If it passes it would result in a breach of international human rights treaties and conventions. 

I'll update you on how the debate went but in the meantime it would mean a lot if you showed your support on either Twitter or Instagram. I'm not saying it just because I'm Polish but because every woman has a right to have a choice as to what to do with her body.

Sylvia

xo

*Reference: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/09/a-dangerous-backward-step-for-women-and-girls-in-poland/

Kate Shackleton heads off to Whitby for a holiday to visit her school friend Alma. However, her holiday is soon cut short as she makes a horrifying discovery at a jeweller's shop. But that's not all, her goddaughter seems to have gone missing. Kate is left to put the pieces of the puzzle together along with her assistant Jim Sykes and the lovely Mrs Sugden.

Rating: 4/5

Death at the Seaside is hitting bookshelves on Thursday 6th October

Do you think you're going to read Death at the Seaside? 

What types of books do you like to read?

Sylvia

xo

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending me a copy of the book.

Is Ivy's version of events from the past thirteen years true or is it all a lie?

Thirteen is a five episode mini series created by BBC. It tells a story of Ivy Moxam, who has escaped after thirteen years of being held captive by her kidnapper. The series explores Ivy's psyche upon her return home in a very sensitive way.

Ivy Moxam is played by Jodie Comer who is a brilliant British actress. I've been a fan of her acting ever since I saw her in My Mad Fat Diary. She portrays the character of Ivy so well, she shows the vulnerability and her disturbed personality in a haunting but an excellent way! It's certainly not easy making relationships with old friends and family after not seeing them for thirteen years and Jodie makes it all just so real and believable.

There are of course other excellent actors such Richard Rankin who plays DI Elliot Crane and whom Ivy gets quite attached to. The actors picked to play Ivy's family fit in so well together Natasha Little and Stuart Graham play parents who pretend to be a perfect married couple in order to make Ivy feel safe, not wanting her to find out how much of a strain her kidnapping put on their marriage.

The story and series has been written and created by Marnie Dickens. I couldn't not mention her as her strong writing deserves the highest of praises. If I find a series interesting I can watch all the episodes in one go and that's what happened with Thirteen. After all, I wouldn't be writing about it if I didn't think it was worth a watch!

Unfortunately a second series is not going to happen and it's a real shame as there are quite a few unanswered questions! My only issue with this series is that it was way too short, you finish watching it and you crave more.

If you prefer comedy then this series is not for you but if you like crime, drama and mystery then go ahead and watch it no matter what age you are!

You can watch the whole 'Thirteen' boxset for free on BBC iPlayer. Go on, what are you waiting for? ;)

Sylvia

xo

Casual is a comedy series based around three main characters: Alex - casual dater and creator of a dating website, Valerie - newly-divorced therapist, and Laura - Valerie's teenager daughter. They are a dysfunctional family who coach each other through the world of dating.

If you don't already know, I'm a quite serious person and I despise comedy films and TV shows. However, Casual is an exception. It's a comedy but it's presented in such a way that you don't actually feel it. The show has been created in a way that generates a very natural reaction from the viewer. 

The actors complement each other so well and their chemistry really radiates throughout the series. I can't even decide on a favourite character because each one of them brings something different to the table. There's some wonderful regulars and guest-stars too such as Leia who is Valerie's assistant and Leon who is just impossible to not love!

Casual is light-hearted but when you look a little deeper there's so much more going on. It's nice to watch the characters casually dating but it's also nice see them dealing with their emotional issues.  It's different from the shows I normally watch but I feel like it's a breath of fresh air, it deals with deeper issues in such a light way. I tried to think of something I don't like about this show but my mind is blank!

 Two seasons of Casual have aired in the past year and they've  been so successful that a third season is in the works and will be aired in 2017 however there's no release date yet. Each episode of Casual is about 30mins long so it's quite easy to watch and it won't overwhelm you like some 1 hour episodes of other shows. If you do decide to watch Casual, I guarantee that you won't want to stop so maybe don't plan anything for the weekend.

Casual is a Hulu original series but as I don't live in the US, I watched it (sorry, binge-watched it) on Amazon Video.  If you don't have Amazon Prime then unfortunately you have to pay  to watch it but in all honesty I think it's worth it. I wouldn't recommend something you have to pay for unless I genuinely thought it was good because I'm not one to waste money. But if you are on a budget then stay tuned for more TV reviews on SILVXR of TV shows you can watch for free.

Have you watched Casual? If not, would you watch it?

Sylvia

xo

I'd be lying if I said I was too busy to write on here, there really is no excuse. I have to admit I've been feeling lost as to what direction I want to take my blog in. I wake up, go on Instagram and Bloglovin' and see perfect, magazine worthy images and beautifully written posts. I feel overwhelmed and I start to compare myself to others and then I just give up.

I started a blog for myself but somewhere along the way I got tangled into the web of perfection and obsessing over follower count, page views and comments. Let's be honest, I don't have a high amount of followers and I rarely get comments on my blog posts but is that all that matters? This blog is supposed to be a somewhat of an online diary to me and I started it to make myself more positive but after over a year of blogging it made me feel the complete opposite. Some of the posts I've written in the past 6 months I've been proud of, but others? I feel like I only wrote them to not abandon this blog completely, rather than because it made me happy.

I'm a perfectionist and I feel guilty if I post half-hearted posts or if I don't post anything at all. Even if the post is good, I beat myself up over my images not being bright enough or thinking they could've looked better taken from a different angle. Also, I'm not the best writer in the world but I try to compare myself to other writers, some who even have degrees in Journalism. I'm being hard on myself but I know I'm not the only one. I don't understand why we feel the need to be perfect and pretend our lives are like those celebrities when really they're not, celebrities aren't perfect. I feel like we are over exposed and we need to take a step back. 

The first step I'm going to take to try and undo my perfectionist ways is to only read a limited number of blogs that I like. Maybe that way I won't feel the need to be so hard on myself? 

What do you think of perfectionism in the blogging world?

Lots of Love,

Sylvia

P.S. Now that I've been honest with you guys and feel relieved I'm going to go and have a piece of carrot cake, you should too ;)