Hello! It’s hot!! So I’m indoors in the shade having a catch up with some reviews and seeing what’s been going on in my bookish world – and it’s been a busy one!! Managed to finish 5 books this week so happy with that, have managed to avoid going anywhere near Netgalley… but have managed to add 5 physical books to my shelves (one of which was a book I won!) so my hauling skills may need a little working on again!
Here’s a look back at my week…. grab yourself an ice-cream and get comfy for this one!
BOOKS FINISHED
A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe by Alex White – 4 stars
read this for the #What The Fuck Book Club’ on Twitter run by the lovely @EliAllison3 and it made for an enjoyable adventure!
Meet Me In Monaco by Hazel Gaynor/Heather Webb – 5 stars
Read this ahead of a blog tour – loved every single glamorous moment of it!!
Lanny by Max Porter – 5 stars
Just wonderful!!
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann – 5 stars
Reading 1,000 pages was well worth it! Amazing!!
The Old Dragon’s Head by Justin Newland – 4 stars
Another blog tour read, and a perfect piece of escapism
BOOK HAUL
The Bookshop on the Shore by Jenny Colgan
Won a gorgeous proof of this from MYVLF and I’m so looking forward to reading this!
A grand baronial house on Loch Ness, a quirky small-town bookseller, and a single mom looking for a fresh start all come together in this witty and warm-hearted novel by New York Times bestselling author Jenny Colgan.
Desperate to escape from London, single mother Zoe wants to build a new life for herself and her son Hari. She can barely afford the crammed studio apartment on a busy street where honking horns and shouting football fans keep them awake all night. If she doesn’t find a way out soon, Zoe knows it’s just a matter of time before she has a complete meltdown. On a whim, she answers an ad for a nanny job in the Scottish Highlands, which is about as far away from the urban crush of London as possible. It sounds heavenly!
The job description asks for someone capable of caring for three “gifted children”, two of which behave feral wolverines. The children’s widowed father is a wreck, and the kids run wild in a huge tumbledown castle on the heather-strewn banks of Loch Ness. Still, the peaceful, picturesque location is everything London is not—and Zoe rises to the challenges of the job.
With the help of Nina, the friendly local bookseller, Zoe begins to put down roots in the community. Are books, fresh air, and kindness enough to heal this broken family—and her own…?
THE STARS NOW UNCLAIMED by DREW WILLIAMS
Having recently loved A CHAIN ACROSS THE DAWN I thought I’d read book one in the series!
In an effort to save the universe, she just might destroy it. THE STARS NOW UNCLAIMED is the incredible debut by a brilliant new voice in science fiction, perfect for everyone who loves READY PLAYER ONE, STAR WARS, MASS EFFECT or just a really huge battle…
AN IMPOSSIBLE MISSION
A century ago, a mysterious pulse of energy spread across the universe. Meant to usher in a new era of peace and prosperity, it instead destroyed technology indiscriminately, leaving some worlds untouched and throwing others into total chaos.
AN UNSTOPPABLE ENEMY
The Justified, a mysterious group of super-soldiers, have spent a hundred years trying to find a way to restore order to the universe. Their greatest asset is the feared mercenary Kamali, who travels from planet to planet searching for gifted young people and bringing them to the secret world she calls home. Kamali hopes that those she rescues will be able to find a way to reverse the damage the pulse wreaked, and ensure that it never returns.
THE END OF THE UNIVERSE
But Kamali isn’t the only person looking for answers to unimaginable questions. And when her mission to rescue a grumpy teenaged girl named Esa goes off the rails, Kamali suddenly finds herself smack in the centre of an intergalactic war… that she started.
AND THAT’S JUST THE BEGINNING
BLONDE by JOYCE CAROL OATES
In her most ambitious work to date, Joyce Carol Oates boldly reimagines the inner, poetic, and spiritual life of Norma Jeane Baker — the child, the woman, the fated celebrity and idolized blonde the world came to know as Marilyn Monroe. In a voice startlingly intimate and rich, Norma Jeane tells her own story of an emblematic American artist — intensely conflicted and driven — who had lost her way. A powerful portrait of Hollywood’s myth and an extraordinary woman’s heartbreaking reality, “Blonde” is a sweeping epic that pays tribute to the elusive magic and devastation behind the creation of the great twentieth-century American star
THE LODGER by LOUISA TREGER
The first biographical novel about Dorothy Richardson, peer of Virginia Woolf, lover of H.G. Wells, and central figure in the emergence of modernist fiction
Dorothy exists just above the poverty line, doing secretarial work at a dentist’s surgery and living in a seedy boarding house in Bloomsbury, when she is invited to spend the weekend with a childhood friend. Jane recently married a writer who is hovering on the brink of fame. His name is H.G. Wells, or Bertie as he is known to friends.
Bertie appears unremarkable at first. But then Dorothy notices his grey-blue eyes taking her in, openly signalling approval. He tells her he and Jane have an agreement which allows them the freedom to take lovers, although Dorothy is not convinced her friend is happy with this arrangement.
Not wanting to betray Jane, yet unable to draw back, Dorothy free-falls into an affair with Bertie. Then a new boarder arrives at the house—striking unconventional Veronica Leslie-Jones, determined to live life on her own terms—and Dorothy finds herself caught between Veronica and Bertie. Amidst the personal dramas and wreckage of the militant suffragette movement, Dorothy finds her voice as a writer.
The Lodger is a beautifully intimate novel that is at once an introduction to one of the most important writers of the 20th century and a compelling story of one woman tormented by unconventional desires.
THE MUSEUM OF BROKEN PROMISES by ELIZABETH BUCHAN
received a copy from Readers First
The stunning new novel from bestselling Elizabeth Buchan. The Museum of Broken Promises is a beautiful, evocative love-story and a heart-breaking exploration of some of the darkest moments in European history.
Paris, today. The Museum of Broken Promises is a place of wonder and sadness, hope and loss. Every object in the museum has been donated – a cake tin, a wedding veil, a baby’s shoe. And each represent a moment of grief or terrible betrayal. The museum is a place where people come to speak to the ghosts of the past and, sometimes, to lay them to rest. Laure, the owner and curator, has also hidden artefacts from her own painful youth amongst the objects on display.
Prague, 1985. Recovering from the sudden death of her father, Laure flees to Prague. But life behind the Iron Curtain is a complex thing: drab and grey yet charged with danger. Laure cannot begin to comprehend the dark, political currents that run beneath the surface of this communist city. Until, that is, she meets a young dissident musician. Her love for him will have terrible and unforeseen consequences. It is only years later, having created the museum, that Laure can make finally face up to her past and celebrate the passionate love which has directed her life.
CURRENTLY READING
Tigers In Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann
☀☀☀
Hope your week has been as productive book wise!! And I hope the week ahead is just as fruitful!!
HAPPY READING!!
Books and Me! 
So many great books! Happy reading.
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thank you!
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Congratulations on winning the Jenny Colgan, we’re book twins! 🤣🤣🤣
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haha twinsies!!
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