My Bookish Weekly Wrap Up – 13th January 2019 #bookblogger

Greetings! The week has flown by, as is the weekend, so time for me to sit down and look back at the last 7 days in my bookish world! And it’s now Day 13 of my ‘No Buy’ January and it’s still going exceedingly well!! Ignoring all the emails from various stores is proving much easier than I thought! The toughest thing is walking past little independant shops where I used to browse – and then buy from! – but I’m sure I’ll be back in those stores soon to help boost their sales!

And that means I have bought ZERO books this week! That feels very weird!! But much needed haha! There may have been a couple visits to Netgalley and some lovely bookpost for me to enjoy so it’s not been all bad! And I’ve managed to finish another 5 books from the TBR pile so yay me!! Just wish I could have stuck to my plan to review a book once I’d finished it – I’m still finding it much easier to pick up another book than get a review written! Must try harder!!

Here’s a look back at what I’ve been reading, what is new on my shelves and what I’m currently reading!

BOOKS FINISHED

Blackberry & Wild Rose by Sonia Velton – 5 stars

Loved this historical fiction story set in 18th century London

Blood & Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson – 5 stars

Another stunning debut historical fiction!

The Sleeping Beauty by Elizabeth Taylor – 3 stars

Struggled with this one! Odd glimpses of humour and sharp with, but overall I just couldn’t get into it!

The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton by Anstey Harris – 3 stars

A mixed read for me!Enjoyable for the most part but quite a frustrating main character!

The Marked Lord by Sharon Ibbotson – 4 stars

Enjoyable regency novel with a touch of the beauty & the beast about it!

BOOKHAUL

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing

Publication Date – March 2019

“The twist at the end of the first chapter made me read through the night” Jane Corry

Introducing the next generation of domestic thriller…

Every marriage has secrets. Everyone has flaws. Your wife isn’t perfect – you know that – but then again nor are you.

But now a serial killer is on the loose in your small town, preying on young women. Fear is driving your well-behaved young daughter off the rails, and you find yourself in bed late at night, looking at the woman who lies asleep beside you.

Because you thought you knew the worst about her. The truth is you know nothing at all.

This is a thriller like nothing you’ve read before…

NETGALLEY

In Exile by Alexandra Turney

Published by Unbound – out 24th January 2019

No one in this city has believed in me for two thousand years. I’m unknown and unloved. And I’m very, very ill.’ He sighed, and the sound chilled her blood. `Give me your hand.’

Dionysus, god of wine and divine ecstasy, is reborn in modern Rome. He doesn’t understand how or why he’s come to be here – a pagan god in a city where he has no believers. But when he meets fifteen-year-old Grace during a chance encounter in the Ghetto, he realises he has found his first new follower.

This is the beginning of Grace’s secret life, as she and her friends overcome scepticism and fear to become his worshippers, drinking his wine and taking part in bacchanals across the city. As the melancholy god lives out his exile, his teenage followers find they have everything to lose. And after the first bloodshed, they know that there’s no turning back…

QUEENIE MALONE’S PARADISE HOTEL by RUTH HOGAN

Published by Two Roads – out 7th February 2019

From the bestselling author of The Keeper of Lost Things and The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes – a novel of mothers and daughters, families and secrets and the astonishing power of friendship.

Tilly was a bright, outgoing little girl who liked playing with ghosts and matches. She loved fizzy drinks, swear words, fish fingers and Catholic churches, but most of all she loved living in Brighton in Queenie Malone’s Magnificent Paradise Hotel with its endearing and loving family of misfits – staff and guests alike.

But Tilly’s childhood was shattered when her mother sent her away from the only home she’d ever loved to boarding school with little explanation and no warning. Now, Tilda has grown into an independent woman still damaged by her mother’s unaccountable cruelty. Wary of people, her only friend is her dog, Eli. But when her mother dies, Tilda goes back to Brighton and with the help of her beloved Queenie sets about unraveling the mystery of her exile from The Paradise Hotel and discovers that her mother was not the woman she thought she knew at all … Mothers and daughters … their story can be complicated … it can also turn out to have a happy ending.

CURRENTLY READING

Insomnia by Marina Benjamin