My Bookish Weekly Wrap Up – 28th January 2023

Hello!! Happy Saturday!! We’ve almost made it to the end of January… will it ever end?!  I’m hoping the cold weather will come to an end but I have a fear February might keep us chilly for a while longer!

But that could be good for reading time!! And it’s been a good past week with 4 books finished! But then I may have been naughty and added 2 books to the Netgalley shelf and treated myself to 2 more books from the Waterstones sale….. it’s their fault!!

Here’s my look back!

BOOKS FINISHED

EMILY WILDE’S ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF FAERIES by HEATHER FAWCETT – 3.5 STARS

ASHES AND STONES by ALLYSON SHAW – 5 STARS

SLOW by BROOKE McALARY (audiobook) – 4 STARS

KATE AND CLARA’S CURIOUS CORNISH CRAFT SHOP by ALI McNAMARA – 3.5 STARS

BOOKHAUL

We shall start at Netgalley…

VITA AND THE BIRDS by POLLY CROSBY 

publication date – July 2023

A haunting mystery for fans of Eve Chase, Kate Morton and Kate Mosse.
1938: Lady Vita Goldsborough lives in the shadow of her controlling older brother, Aubrey. Trapped and isolated on the East Anglian coast, Vita takes solace in watching the birds that fly over the marshes. But then she meets local artist Dodie Blakeney. The two women form a close bond, and Vita finally glimpses a chance to escape Aubrey’s grasp and be as free as the birds she loves.

1997: Decades later and in the wake of her mother’s death, Eve Blakeney returns to the coast where she spent childhood summers with her beloved grandmother, Dodie. Eve hopes the visit will help make sense of her grief. The last thing she expects to find is a bundle of letters that hint at the heart-breaking story of Dodie’s relationship with a woman named Vita.

Eve and Vita’s stories are linked by a shattering secret that echoes through the decades, and when Eve discovers the truth, it will overturn everything she thought she knew about her family – and change her life forever.

THE FURY OF KINGS by  R.S.MOULE

publication date May 2023

No Cover Available… yet!!

In the shadow of Eryispek—a mountain said to have no summit—a dark power is stirring. Storms rage in the frozen heights. Unexplained disappearances shake the kingdom below. And old enemies are sharpening their swords…

Andrick the Barrelbreaker first led an army at sixteen.

His victories secured the throne of Erland for his brother and shattered the rebellious noble houses in the West. Decades later, a fragile peace still holds.

But when the king’s only son is murdered, Erland is plunged into crisis. The new heir will stop at nothing to secure his claim. The king, maddened by grief, stalks the halls and hidden passages of his keep, growing more unpredictable by the day.

As war and magical disaster loom, Andrick must decide between protecting his family and marching out to serve a brother he barely recognizes.

His children must also choose their destinies.

Training in the practice yard every day, Orsian dreams of fighting beside his father. Now, for the first time, he faces the brutal reality of battle.

And Pherri is haunted by very different dreams—of figures struggling up the mountain, of a voice more chilling than the wind, of blood on the snow. Only she can resist the darkness that waits on the slopes above…

Race through the pages of an epic new series and enter a world of intrigue, battles and destiny that will leave you breathless. The Erland Saga is a classic fantasy adventure, perfect for fans of George R.R. Martin, John Gwynne and Raymond E. Feist.

And then Waterstones led me astray… again!!

ANTHEM by NOAH HAWLEY (signed copy)

From the visionary bestselling author of Before the Fall and The Good Father, an epic literary thriller set where America is right now . . . and the world will be tomorrow.

America spins into chaos as the last remnants of political consensus break apart. Against a background of environmental disaster and opioid addiction, debate descends into violence and militias roam the streets – while teenagers across the world seem driven to self-destruction, communicating by memes only they can understand.

Yet the markets still tick up and the super-rich, like Ty Oliver, fly above the flames in private jets.

After the death of his daughter, Ty dispatches his son Simon to an Anxiety Abatement Center. There he encounters another boy called the Prophet. And the Prophet wants him to join a quest.

Before long, Simon is on the road with a crew of new comrades on a rescue mission as urgent as it is enigmatic. Suddenly heroes of their own story, they are crossing the country in search of a young woman held in a billionaire’s retreat – and, just possibly, the only hope of escape from the apocalypse bequeathed to them by their parents’ generation.

Noah Hawley’s epic literary thriller, full of unforgettably vivid characters, finds unquenchable lights in the darkest corners. Uncannily topical and yet as timeless as a Grimm’s fairy tale, this is a novel of excoriating power, raw emotion and narrative verve, confirming Hawley as one of the most essential writers of our time.

AMY & LAN by SADIE JONES

This is the story of how we came to Frith. And we’re never, ever, ever leaving.’

Amy Connell and Lan Honey are having the best childhood, growing up on a West Country farm – three families, a couple of lodgers, goats, dogs and an orphaned calf called Gabriella Christmas.

The parents are best friends too. Originally from the city, they’re learning about farming: growing their own vegetables, milking the goats, slaughtering chickens and scything the hay–

‘Mind your eyes! Don’t break your neck! Careful!’

The adults are far too busy to keep an eye on Amy and Lan, and Amy and Lan would never tell them about climbing on the high barn roof, or what happened with the axe that time, any more than their parents would tell them the things they get up to – adult things, like betrayal – that threaten to bring the whole fragile idyll tumbling down…

And then there is this months’ book from Goldsboro Books.. and it looks beautiful!

THE THINGS WE DO TO OUR FRIENDS by HEATHER DARWENT

She’s an outsider desperate to belong, but the cost of entry might be her darkest secret in this intoxicating debut of literary suspense following a clique of dangerously ambitious students at the University of Edinburgh.

Edinburgh, Scotland: a moody city of labyrinthine alleyways, oppressive fog, and buried history; the ultimate destination for someone with something to hide. Perfect for Clare, then, who arrives utterly alone and yearning to reinvent herself. And what better place to conceal the dark secrets in her past than at the university in the heart of the fabled, cobblestoned Old Town?

When Clare meets Tabitha, a charismatic, beautiful, and intimidatingly rich girl from her art history class, she knows she’s destined to be friends with her and her exclusive circle: raffish Samuel; shrewd Ava; and pragmatic Imogen. Clare is immediately drawn into their libertine world of sophisticated dinner parties and summers in France. The new life she always envisioned for herself has seemingly begun.

And then Tabitha reveals a little project she’s been working on, one that she needs Clare’s help with. Even though it goes against everything Clare has tried to repent for. Even though their intimacy begins to darken into codependence. But as Clare starts to realize just what her friends are capable of, it’s already too late. Because they’ve taken the plunge. They’re so close to attaining the things they want. And there’s no going back.

What is the cost of an extraordinary life if others have to pay? Reimagining the classic themes of obsession and striving with an original and sinister edge, The Things We Do to Our Friends is a seductive thriller about the toxic battle between those who have, and those who covet–between the desire to truly belong, and the danger of being truly known.

CURRENTLY READING

A MARRIAGE OF FORTUNE by ANNE O’BRIEN

HAPPY READING!!

Advertisement

My Bookish Weekly Wrap Up – 7th January 2023

Hello and Happy New Year!!  A whole new year of reading adventures ahead of us all, with all the fun that entails!! Bring it on!!  

And it’s been a promising start to the year book wise!!  Managed to finish off 5 books and avoided Netgalley completely!  Some new books have arrived from the Waterstones sale as well – those vouchers needed spending haha! – and I’ve also received a book to review from the author!

Here’s my look back!

BOOKS FINISHED

THE JOURNEY by JAMES NORBURY – 5 STARS

A GOOD CATCH by FERN BRITTON – 3 STARS

THE THIRD MAN & FALLEN IDOL by GRAHAM GREENE (audiobook) – 4 STARS

SHIVER by JUNJI ITO – 4 STARS

BIRDS by JIM MOIR – 4 STARS

BOOKHAUL

I had vouchers to spend…. there was still a sale on…..

I, MONA LISA by NATASHA SOLOMONS

Listen to my history. My adventures are worth hearing. I have lived many lifetimes and been loved by emperors, kings and thieves. I have survived kidnap and assault. Revolution and two world wars. But this is also a love story. And the story of what we will do for those we love.

In Leonardo da Vinci’s studio, bursting with genius imagination, towering commissions and needling patrons, as well as discontented muses, friends and rivals, sits the painting of the Mona Lisa. For five hundred tumultuous years, amid a whirlwind of power, money, intrigue, the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo is sought after and stolen. Over the centuries, few could hear her voice, but now she is ready to tell her own story, in her own words – a tale of rivalry, murder and heartbreak. Weaving through the years, she takes us from the dazzling world of Florentine studios to the French courts at Fontainebleau and Versailles, and into the Twentieth Century.

I, Mona Lisa is a deliciously vivid, compulsive and illuminating story about the lost and forgotten women throughout history.

THE WEATHER WOMAN by SALLY GARDNER

Neva Friezland is born into a world of trickery and illusion, where fortunes can be won and lost on the turn of a card.

She is also born with an extraordinary gift. She can predict the weather. In Regency England, where the proper goal for a gentlewoman is marriage and only God knows the weather, this is dangerous. It is also potentially very lucrative.

In order to debate with the men of science and move about freely, Neva adopts a sophisticated male disguise. She foretells the weather from inside an automaton created by her brilliant clockmaker father.

But what will happen when the disguised Neva falls in love with a charismatic young man?

It can be very dangerous to be ahead of your time. Especially as a woman.

THE SEVEN MOONS OF MAALI ALMEIDA by SHEHAN KARUNATILAKA

Colombo, 1990. Maali Almeida—war photographer, gambler, and closet queen—has woken up dead in what seems like a celestial visa office. His dismembered body is sinking in the serene Beira Lake and he has no idea who killed him. In a country where scores are settled by death squads, suicide bombers, and hired goons, the list of suspects is depressingly long, as the ghouls and ghosts with grudges who cluster round can attest. But even in the afterlife, time is running out for Maali. He has seven moons to contact the man and woman he loves most and lead them to the photos that will rock Sri Lanka.Ten years after his prize-winning novel Chinaman established him as one of Sri Lanka’s foremost authors, Shehan Karunatilaka is back with a “thrilling satire” (Economist) and rip-roaring state-of-the-nation epic that offers equal parts mordant wit and disturbing, profound truths.

SMALL ANGELS by LAUREN OWEN

A wedding in a small English village attracts a malicious spirit, forcing deep secrets to surface–a hypnotic tale of sisterhood, first love, and hauntings.

As a teenager, Kate found a safe harbor from her parents’ constant fighting in the company of the four Gonne sisters, who lived with their strict grandparents next to Small Angels, a church on the edge of dense green woods. The first outsider to ever get close to the sisters, Kate eventually learned the family’s secret: The woods are home to a capricious, menacing ghost whom generations of Gonnes had been charged with stopping from venturing into the village itself. But as the sisters grew older, braver, and more independent, bucking against the family’s burden, the bulwark began to crack, culminating in a horrifying act of violence that drove a terrible wedge between the sisters and Kate.

Chloe has been planning her dream wedding for months. She has the dress, the flowers, and the perfect venue: Small Angels, a charming old church in the village where her fiancé, Sam, and his sister, Kate, grew up. But days before the ceremony, Chloe starts to hear unsettling stories about Small Angels–and worse, she begins to see, smell, and hear things that couldn’t possibly be real.

Now Kate is returning home for the first time in years, for Sam and Chloe’s wedding. But the woods are coming alive again, and Kate must reconnect with Lucia, the most troubled of the sisters and her first love, to protect Chloe, the village, and herself. An unforgettable novel about the memories that hold us back and those that show us the way forward–this is storytelling at its most magical. Enter Small Angels, if you dare.

And then I was very lucky to receive this copy from the author in return for a fair and honest review…

NEW BEGINNINGS FOR THE SURPLUS GIRLS by POLLY HERON

Manchester, 1923: Jess Mason is determined to make her own way in the world. When she’s appointed manager for Holly Lodge, a new home for old soldiers, she must convince the owner that she can run things just as well as any man – if not better.

To everyone around him, Tom Watson seems a cheerful and sociable man, but he has secretly vowed to go through life alone. However, when he takes on the renovation of Holly Lodge and meets Jess, the walls he has built around himself start to crumble.

As the opening of the new soldiers’ home proves to be less than straightforward, Jess must fight tooth and nail to hold on to her precious new role. And with her affections for Tom growing stronger by each day, she can’t help but wonder if there is room in her life for both love and the career she’s always dreamt of.

CURRENTLY READING

THE IT GIRL by RUTH WARE (audiobook)

HAPPY READING!!

My Bookish Weekly Wrap Up – 31st December 2022

Hello! Happy Saturday!! And happy last day of 2022!! Where did it all go?! I’m glad to see the back of it to be honest, and just hope 2023 brings happier days! 

So it’s been bit quiet on the reading front this week, but hope to get back on it next year!  Just 2 books finished this week, and I’ll save my haul for a separate post as Santa & Gift vouchers has resulted in a bumper book pile!!

Here’s my look back..

BOOKS FINISHED

CARRIE SOTO IS BACK by TAYLOR JENKINS-REID (audiobook) – 4 STARS

WRONG SORT OF GIRL by HELEN BRIDGETT – 5 STARS

BOOKHAUL

I’ve stayed away from Netgalley!! Yay me!!

CURRENTLY READING

BIRDS by JIM MOIR

HAPPY READING!!

My Bookish Weekly Wrap Up – 17th December 2022

Hello! Happy Saturday!! It’s been the week we had some snow! And it’s been blooming freezing!!  Hopefully warmer days are on the way now!!

On the book front it’s been fairly steady!  Just 2 books finished – I need to pick the pace up again! – and 4 newbies added to the Netgalley shelves! Maybe 2023 is the year I get to clear my NG shelves… yeah right!!

Here’s my look back!

BOOKS FINISHED

HOPE, MISTLETOE AND A CHRISTMAS PROMISE by JULIET ARCHER – 5 STARS

THE VIRAGO BOOK OF WITCHES by SHAHRUKH HUSAIN – 4 STARS

BOOKHAUL

Too many lovely books on Netgalley for me to add this week!

A MARRIAGE OF FORTUNE by ANNE O’BRIEN 

publication date – January 2023

England, 1469. As the War of the Roses rages on, Margaret Paston knows that there is only one way to survive the loss of the Paston’s family seat, Caister Castle: a fortunate marriage for one of her unruly daughters. A favourable match will change the future of her family overnight but a scandal will ruin the Paston name forever…

INK BLOOD SISTER SCRIBE by EMMA TORZS

publication date  – July 2023

Joanna Kalotay lives alone in the woods of Vermont, the sole protector of a collection of rare books; books that will allow someone to walk through walls or turn water into wine. Books of magic.

Her estranged older sister Esther moves between countries and jobs, constantly changing, never staying anywhere longer than a year, desperate to avoid the deadly magic that killed her mother. Currently working on a research base in Antarctica, she has found love and perhaps a sort of happiness.

But when she finds spots of blood on the mirrors in the research base, she knows someone is coming for her, and that Joanna and her collection are in danger.

If they are to survive, she and Joanna must unravel the secrets their parents kept hidden from them – secrets that span centuries and continents, and could cost them their lives

THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX by HOLLY SMALE

publication date – May 2023

Cassandra Penelope Dankworth is a creature of habit.She likes what she likes (museums, jumpsuits, her boyfriend Will) and strongly dislikes what she doesn’t (mess, change, her boss drinking out of her mug). Her life runs in a pleasing, predictable order. Until now.She’s just been dumped.
She’s just been fired.
Her local café has run out of banana muffins.Then, something truly unexpected happens: Cassie discovers she can go back and change the past.Now, Cassie should be able to find a way to fix the life she accidentally obliterated. And with time on her side, how hard can it be…?

IN A THOUSAND DIFFERENT WAYS by CECILIA AHERN

publication date – April 2023

Alice sees the worst in people.

She also sees the best.
She sees a thousand different emotions and knows exactly what everyone around her is feeling.
Every. Single. Day.

But it’s the dark thoughts.
The sadness. The rage.
These are the things she can’t get out of her head. The things that overwhelm her.

Where will the journey to find herself begin?

CURRENTLY READING

                           THE GREAT CHRISTMAS COOK OFF by HELEN BUCKLEY

HAPPY READING!!

My Bookish Weekly Wrap Up – 26th November 2022

hello all! happy saturday!! And another week of lots of wind and rain! Make it stop!!!

Happy to report my reading slump is over so this past week I managed to finish 4 books, and there was also some lovely bookpost and a few newbies over at Netgalley I just had to have!!

Here’s my look back!!

BOOKS FINISHED

ISAAC AND THE EGG by BOBBY PALMER – 4 STARS

THE GOLDEN MOLE by KATHERINE RUNDELL – 5 STARS

THE WHISPERING MUSE by LAURA PURCELL – 5 STARS

NOW SHE IS WITCH by KIRSTY LOGAN – 4 STARS

BOOKHAUL

Was very lucky to receive 2 books from the publishers to review..

THE TOLL HOUSE by CARLY REAGON

The past isn’t always dead and buried . . .

A house with history. That’s how the estate agent described the old toll house on the edge of the town. For Kelda it’s the perfect rural home for her young son Dylan after a difficult few years.

But when Kelda finds a death mask concealed behind one of the walls, everything changes. Inexplicable things happen in the house, Kelda cannot shake the feeling of being watched and Dylan is plagued by nightmares, convinced he can see figures in his room. As Dylan’s behaviour becomes increasingly challenging, Kelda seeks answers in the house’s mysterious past. But she’s running out of time.

Because something has awoken.

And now it won’t rest . . .

THE VIRAGO BOOK OF WITCHES by SHAHRUKH HUSAIN

For Daughters of the Moon, folklorist Shahrukh Husain has gathered more than fifty tales of witches and witchcraft from more than thirty cultures worldwide. Here are femme fatales who sap men’s strength and lure them to their doom, cannibalistic hags who prey on abandoned children, shape-shifters who can change themselves and others into animals and worse, and wise women who render aid and comfort in sometimes inexplicable ways.

And over at Netgalley…..

THE DARLINGS OF THE ASYLUM by NOEL O’REILLY

publication date – December 2022

To marry is madness.
To escape is impossible.
Noel O’Reilly returns with a gripping historical novel about a woman locked in a Victorian asylum against her will…

She wakes in a strange, stark room. Through the bare walls she hears muffled cries and yells. The label on her unfamiliar, starched gown reads PROPERTY OF HILLWOOD GRANGE LUNATIC ASYLUM. Her heart thumps as a key rattles in the lock…

In 1886, a respectable young woman must acquire a husband. Violet Pring’s scheming mother has secured a desirable marriage proposal from an eligible Brighton gentleman. But Violet does not want to marry. She longs to be a professional artist and live on her own terms.

Violet’s family believes she is deranged and deluded, so she is locked away in Hillwood Grange against her will. In her new cage, Violet faces an even greater challenge: she must escape the clutches of a sinister and formidable doctor and set herself free.

This tantalizing gothic novel from Noel O’Reilly tells a thrilling story of duty and desire, madness and sanity, truth and delusion, told from within a Victorian asylum.

NORWAY by CLAUDIA MARTIN

Presented in a landscape format and with captions explaining the story behind each entry, Norway is a stunning collection of images celebrating this striking country.
 
Did you know that Oslo is the only capital city in Europe where you can go cross-country skiing? Just take your skis on the metro to the suburbs and ski off from the platform across the frozen, snowy landscape. Stretching so far from north to south, and from west to east—the country reaches further east than St. Petersburg—Norway has a larger number of different habitats than almost any other European country. It has Scandinavia’s most spectacular fjords, steep mountains, pretty fishing villages, beautiful beaches—and continental Europe’s largest glacier. From remote settlements within the Arctic Circle to Oslo’s lively city life, from the northern lights to the white nights when the sun never sets, from sculpture gardens to immense bridges linking the country’s many islands, Norway is a fascinating exploration of this increasingly popular tourist destination.

JAPAN by MELANIE CLEGG

Presented in a landscape format and with captions explaining the story behind each entry, Japan is a stunning collection of images celebrating the world’s most vibrant country.
 
From shrines to megacities, from paddy fields to high-speed trains to the latest in digital technology, Japan is a fascinating mix of the ancient and modern, of East and West. Featuring castles and hot springs, remote volcanic islands and intense high-rises, delicate tea ceremonies and busy cities, medieval bridges and modern flyovers, Japan presents outstanding color photographs depicting a wide range of perspectives on Japanese life. From farming to engineering, war memorials to the devastation of the Tohoku tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disaster, the beauty of Kyoto to the bustle of Tokyo, a great many sides to the Land of the Rising Sun are explored.

CURRENTLY READING

BAD BLOOD by SADIE RYAN

HAPPY READING!!

My Bookish Weekly Wrap Up – 19th November 2022

Hello and Happy Saturday! It’s been a foggy, wet and windy week here so I’m missing those sunny days of Summer!

And the miserable weather seems to have affected my reading mo-jo!   I’ve hit a reading slump and that is not good as the books keep piling up LOL!! So just 1 book  finished this week and that was an audiobook!  But did that stop me visiting Netgalley!? Of course not!! 4 new additions to the shelves there  – oops!!

Here’s my round up!

BOOK FINISHED

DRIFT by CARYL LEWIS (audiobook) – 4 STARS

BOOK HAUL

Netgalley… evilness!!

THE ENGLISH FUHRER by RORY CLEMENTS

publication date – JANUARY 2023

Autumn 1945 – Off the east coast of England, a Japanese sub surfaces, unloads its mysterious cargo, then blows itself to pieces.

Former spy Professor Tom Wilde is enjoying peacetime in Cambridge, settling back into teaching and family life. Until a call from senior MI5 boss Lord Templeman brings him out of retirement.

A nearby village has been locked down by the military, its residents blighted by a deadly illness. No one is allowed in or out.

There are rumours the Nazi machine is still operational, with links to Unit 731, a notorious Japanese biological warfare research laboratory. But how could they possibly be plotting on British soil – and why?

What’s more, Wilde and Templeman’s names are discovered on a Gestapo kill list. And after a series of assassinations an unthinkable question emerges: could an Englishman be behind the plot?

OUR HIDEOUS PROGENY by C.E.MCGILL

publication date – MAY 2023

A gothic adventure story, a classic tale with a feminist twist, a story of ambition and obsession, forbidden love and sabotage…

‘It is not the monster you have to fear, but the monster it makes of men.’

Mary is the great-niece of Victor Frankenstein. She knows her uncle disappeared in mysterious circumstances in the Arctic but she doesn’t know why or how. She and her husband are trying to make a name for themselves as paleontologists but, in 1850s’ London, scientific success requires wealth and connections – neither of which they possess. But then Mary discovers some old family papers that allude to the truth behind her great-uncle’s past, of his attempts to create a living being and the creature that ultimately killed him. Perhaps this idea will prove to be their salvation… Their quest takes them to the wilds of Scotland and to a game of cat and mouse with a rival who is out to steal their secret.

Our Hideous Progeny is a sumptuous tale of ambition and obsession, of forbidden love and sabotage; an adventure story that blends classic, immersive storytelling with contemporary themes.

ARE YOU HAPPY NOW by HANNA  JAMESON

publication date – February 2023

At a New York City wedding, on a sweltering summer night, four people are trying to be happy.

Yun has everything he ever wanted, but somehow it’s never enough.
Emory is finally making her mark, but feels the shame more than the success.
Andrew is trying to be honest, but has lied to himself his whole life.
Fin can’t resist falling in love, but can’t help wrecking it all either.

And then the world begins to end. The four of them watch as one of the wedding guests sits down and refuses to get back up. Soon it’s happening across the world. Is it a choice or an illness?

Because how can anyone be happy in a world where the only choice is to feel everything – or nothing at all?

An intensely compulsive novel for anyone who has ever felt hopeful and helpless in one breath, ARE YOU HAPPY NOW is about how you keep living when the world is on fire. Perfect for fans of Emily John St. Mandel’s Station Eleven, Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, Patricia Lockwood’s Nobody is Talking About This and Naomi Alderman’s The Power.

THE WITCH AND THE TSAR by OLEYSA SALNIKOVA  GILMORE

In this stunning debut novel, the maligned and immortal witch of legend known as Baba Yaga will risk all to save her country and her people from Tsar Ivan the Terrible—and the dangerous gods who seek to drive the twisted hearts of men.

As a half-goddess possessing magic, Yaga is used to living on her own, her prior entanglements with mortals having led to heartbreak. She mostly keeps to her hut in the woods, where those in need of healing seek her out, even as they spread rumors about her supposed cruelty and wicked spells. But when her old friend Anastasia—now the wife of the tsar, and suffering from a mysterious illness—arrives in her forest desperate for her protection, Yaga realizes the fate of all of Russia is tied to Anastasia’s. Yaga must step out of the shadows to protect the land she loves.

As she travels to Moscow, Yaga witnesses a sixteenth century Russia on the brink of chaos. Tsar Ivan—soon to become Ivan the Terrible—grows more volatile and tyrannical by the day, and Yaga believes the tsaritsa is being poisoned by an unknown enemy. But what Yaga cannot know is that Ivan is being manipulated by powers far older and more fearsome than anyone can imagine.

Olesya Salnikova Gilmore weaves a rich tapestry of mythology and Russian history, reclaiming and reinventing the infamous Baba Yaga, and bringing to life a vibrant and tumultuous Russia, where old gods and new tyrants vie for power. This fierce and compelling novel draws from the timeless lore to create a heroine for the modern day, fighting to save her country and those she loves from oppression while also finding her true purpose as a goddess, a witch, and a woman.

CURRENTLY READING

ISAAC AND THE EGG by BOBBY PALMER

HAPPY READING!!

My Bookish Weekly Wrap Up – 12th November 2022

Hello and Happy Saturday!! We’re running out of them fast for 2022 eh! Christmas is everywhere you look now… and I’ve started making a list of books I want to buy with any gift vouchers I may get from Santa this year haha!!

And on to books…. It’s been an okayish week for books although looking at my GoodReads target I seem to be way behind other years numbers and I don’t know why!!  I managed to finish 4 books this past week, got 2 newbies from Netgalley and got some lovely bookpost too!! Here’s my look back!

BOOKS FINISHED

THAILAND by NARISA CHAKRABONGSE – 5 STARS

DEVILS AND SAINTS by JEAN-BAPTISTE ANDREA – 4 STARS

HIDDEN PLACES by CLAUDIA MARTIN – 5 STARS

THE SLOW LANE WALKERS CLUB by ROSA TEMPLE – 4 STARS

BOOKHAUL

Just a couple to tempt me at Netgalley this week….

THE GOLDEN OLDIES BOOK CLUB by JUDY LEIGH

publication date – December 2022

Ruth the librarian fears she’s too old to find love, but a discussion about Lady Chatterley’s Lover makes her think again.

Aurora doesn’t feel seventy-two and longs to relive the excitement of her youth, while Verity is getting increasingly tired of her husband Mark’s grumpiness and wonders if their son’s imminent flight from the nest might be just the moment for her to fly too. And Danielle is fed up with her cheating husband. Surely life has more in store for her than to settle for second best?

The glue that holds Combe Pomeroy together is Jeannie. Doyenne of the local cider farm and heartbeat of her family and community, no one has noticed that Jeannie needs some looking after too. Has the moment for her to retire finally arrived, and if so, what does her future hold?

From a book club French exchange trip, to many celebrations at the farm, this is the year that everything changes, that lifelong friendships are tested, and for some of the women, they finally get the love they deserve.

THE LAST TALE OF THE FLOWER BRIDE by ROSHANI CHOKSI

publication – February 2023

A sumptuous, gothic-infused story about a marriage that is unraveled by dark secrets, a friendship cursed to end in tragedy, and the danger of believing in fairy tales—the breathtaking adult debut from New York Times bestselling author Roshani Chokshi.

Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada. He was a scholar of myths. She was heiress to a fortune. They exchanged gifts and stories and believed they would live happily ever after—and in exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past.

But when Indigo learns that her estranged aunt is dying and the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, the bridegroom will soon find himself unable to resist. For within the crumbling manor’s extravagant rooms and musty halls, there lurks the shadow of another girl: Azure, Indigo’s dearest childhood friend who suddenly disappeared. As the house slowly reveals his wife’s secrets, the bridegroom will be forced to choose between reality and fantasy, even if doing so threatens to destroy their marriage . . . or their lives.

Combining the lush, haunting atmosphere of Mexican Gothic with the dreamy enchantment of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a spellbinding and darkly romantic page-turner about love and lies, secrets and betrayal, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.

And in the post…..

a lovely Christmas card and book from @Sara-Jade and the Team BATC crew

Set in a charming little Scottish town, The Bookshop of Second Chances is an uplifting story of fresh starts and new beginnings by a hugely talented debut author.
 
Thea’s having a bad month. Not only has she been made redundant, she’s also discovered her husband of nearly twenty years is sleeping with one of her friends. And he’s not sorry – he’s leaving.
 
Bewildered and lost, Thea doesn’t know what to do. But, when she learns the great-uncle she barely knew has died and left her his huge collection of second-hand books and a house in the Scottish Lowlands, she seems to have been offered a second chance.
 
Running away to a little town where no one knows her seems like exactly what Thea needs. But when she meets the aristocratic Maltravers brothers – grumpy bookshop owner Edward and his estranged brother Charles, Lord Hollinshaw – her new life quickly becomes just as complicated as the life she was running from…
 
An enchanting story of Scottish lords, second-hand books, new beginnings and second chances perfect for fans of Cressida McLaughlin, Veronica Henry, Rachel Lucas and Jenny Colgan.

And these 2 lovelies from the Fahrenheit Press subscription…

CASH RULES EVERYTHING AROUND ME by ROB GITTINS

Morrissey Jarrett is fresh out of prison and back on the streets of his hometown Cardiff.

During his enforced absence the city has been re-developed to within an inch of its life and a disoriented Morrissey falls back into old habits as he scams, schemes, and steals whatever he needs to survive.

Morrissey has big dreams though. Dreams of making one last huge score, dreams of leaving his life of crime behind, dreams of reuniting with the love of his life and dreams of walking off into the sunset with her. Happy. Ever. After.

All he needs is a plan.

Luckily, the circles Morrissey frequents provide ample opportunities for ill-gotten gains and soon the perfect job literally falls into his hands.

And so, along with a hastily assembled crew of misfits, Morrissey embarks on planning the perfect heist. With all their eyes fixed steadily on a payday that could change their stars forever –  all they have to do is keep their heads down, play it cool, and follow the plan to the letter. 

What could possibly go wrong?

FIRST DEAD BODY by TONY R.COX

For cub-reporter Simon Jardine the sight of his first dead body marks the beginning of his working partnership with the hardened, hard-drinking, hard-grilling crime hack Dave Green.

At the scene of the crime Green realises he knows the victim and instinctively feels that something doesn’t quite add up.

Aided by private investigator Tom Freeman, Green and Jardine set out to find out what really happened, but as their investigation probes deeper they find themselves drawn into a murky world of criminality and corruption that reaches right into the very heart of the establishment.

Can they uncover the truth about why a young man with a bright future was found lying dead in an alleyway and still manage to keep themselves out of harm’s way?

CURRENTLY READING

THE WINTER GUEST by W.C.RYAN

HAPPY READING!!

My Bookish Weekly Wrap Up – 1st October 2022

Hello all and Happy October!  How the flip did that happen?!!  Got a lovely surprise out on a local walk too this past week when this little stoat appeared for a quick pose!!  Put a smile on my face as it’s been a very emotional week with the unexpected passing of a dear friend 😦 

So on to books, and  I haven’t really been in the reading mood much so just 2 books finished this week but Netgalley and bookshops led me astray so 2 new NG shelf additions along with 4 physical books!

here’s my look back.

BOOKS FINISHED

MISTLETOE AND MAYHEM AT THE LTTLE SHOPPING MALL by HANNAH PEARL – 5 STARS

THE CHRISTMAS CASTLE IN SCOTLAND by JULIE CAPLIN – 4 STARS

BOOKHAUL

Naughty Netgalley tempted me with these this week…

HEX APPEAL by KATE JOHNSON

publication – October 2022

It’s just a bunch of hocus pocus…

Essie Winterscale lives in a huge and ever-changing house in the village of Good Winter, in deepest, darkest Essex. She lives with various witches of various ages, one of whom is still a bit salty about having been burned at the stake in 1635, one who keeps accidentally casting fertility spells, and one who knits things that create the future.

All Essie ever wanted was to have a normal life but in the end she found herself drawn back to Beldam House because she just can’t stop her witchiness (although the ability to instantly chill wine is pretty awesome, even she has to admit).

Into this coven of chaos stumbles gorgeous, clueless Josh, their new landlord – and he’s just discovered his tenants haven’t paid rent since the 1700s! As Josh is drawn further into the lives of the inhabitants of Beldam House, Essie is determined to keep him at broomstick’s length. That is, until a family secret, lying hidden for centuries, puts Josh firmly under her spell…

WEYWARD by EMILIA HART 

publication – February 2023

Three women. Five centuries. One secret.

‘I had nature in my heart, she said. Like she did, and her mother before her. There was something about us – the Weyward women – that bonded us more tightly with the natural world.
We can feel it, she said, the same way we feel rage, sorrow or joy.’

In 2019, Kate flees an abusive relationship in London for Crows Beck, a remote Cumbrian village. Her destination is Weyward Cottage, inherited from her great Aunt Violet, an eccentric entomologist.

As Kate struggles with the trauma of her past, she uncovers a secret about the women in her family. A secret dating back to 1619, when her ancestor Altha Weyward was put on trial for witchcraft…

Weyward is a stunning debut novel about gender and control – about the long echoes of male violence through the centuries. But more than that, it is a celebration of nature, female power and breaking free.

And then I went shopping….

TREACLE WALKER by ALAN GARNER

Treacle Walker is a stunning fusion of myth and folklore and an exploration of the fluidity of time, vivid storytelling that brilliantly illuminates an introspective young mind trying to make sense of everything around him.

‘Ragbone! Ragbone! Any rags! Pots for rags! Donkey stone!’

Joe looked up from his comic and lifted his eye patch. There was a white pony in the yard. It was harnessed to a cart, a flat cart, with a wooden chest on it. A man was sitting at a front corner of the cart, holding the reins. His face was creased. He wore a long coat and a floppy high-crowned hat, with hair straggling beneath, and a leather bag was slung from his shoulder across his hip.

Joe Coppock squints at the world with his lazy eye. He reads his comics, collects birds’ eggs and treasures his marbles, particularly his prized dobbers. When Treacle Walker appears off the Cheshire moor one day – a wanderer, a healer – an unlikely friendship is forged and the young boy is introduced to a world he could never have imagined.

DIARY OF A VOID by EMI YAGI

A prizewinning, thrillingly subversive debut novel about a woman in Japan who avoids harassment at work by perpetuating, for nine months and beyond, the lie that she’s pregnantWhen thirty-four-year-old Ms. Shibata gets a new job in Tokyo to escape sexual harassment at her old one, she finds that, as the only woman at her new workplace–a company that manufactures cardboard tubes–she is expected to do all the menial tasks. One day she announces that she can’t clear away her colleagues’ dirty cups–because she’s pregnant and the smell nauseates her. The only thing is . . . Ms. Shibata is not pregnant.Pregnant Ms. Shibata doesn’t have to serve coffee to anyone. Pregnant Ms. Shibata isn’t forced to work overtime. Pregnant Ms. Shibata rests, watches TV, takes long baths, and even joins an aerobics class for expectant mothers. But pregnant Ms. Shibata also has a nine-month ruse to keep up. Helped along by towel-stuffed shirts and a diary app on which she can log every stage of her “pregnancy,” she feels prepared to play the game for the long haul. Before long, though, the hoax becomes all-absorbing, and the boundary between her lie and her life begins to dissolve.A surreal and wryly humorous cultural critique, Diary of a Void is bound to become a landmark in feminist world literature.

THE BULLET THAT MISSED by RICHARD OSMAN

It is an ordinary Thursday, and things should finally be returning to normal.Except trouble is never far away where the Thursday Murder Club are concerned. A local news legend is on the hunt for a sensational headline, and soon the gang are hot on the trail of two murders, ten years apart.To make matters worse, a new nemesis pays Elizabeth a visit, presenting her with a deadly mission: kill or be killed…While Elizabeth grapples with her conscience (and a gun), the gang and their unlikely new friends (including TV stars, money launderers and ex-KGB colonels) unravel a new mystery. But can they catch the culprit and save Elizabeth before the murderer strikes again?

OPERA OBSCURA by PETER KENT

Many musical and theatrical traditions walk the very narrow path between the sublime and the ridiculous, but perhaps none more so than opera, which, while maintaining an elegant reputation, makes a show out of princes making romantic speeches to soft fruit, noses being accidentally cut off and woodpeckers performing wedding ceremonies.

Opera Obscura is a beautifully illustrated collection that contributes twenty-five brand new impossibly madcap operas to the canon of magnificent absurdities, along with the intricate blueprints for several incredible opera houses and information on of a whole range of almost unbelievably incredible instruments.

CURRENTLY READING

THE COTTAGE IN THE HIGHLANDS by JULIE SHACKMAN

HAPPY READING!!

My Bookish Weekly Wrap Up – 24th September 2022

Hello and Happy Saturday! It’s here again!!  Been an emotional week after the funeral on Monday, and that seemed to throw me off track on the book front! Hopefully normal service can be resumed next week, and I can get a few more reviews done!

I did manage to finish 5 books this week which I’m happy about and I stayed away from Netgalley and didn’t buy any either! Wonders will never cease!!

Here’s my look back!

BOOKS FINSHED

GRAVES OF THE GREAT AND FAMOUS by ALISTAIR HORNE – 5 STARS

BATTLESHIPS by DAVID ROSS – 4 STARS

SECRET GARDENS OF THE SOUTH EAST by BARBARA SEGALL – 5 STARS

ORPHEUS BUILDS A GIRL by HEATHER PARRY – 5 STARS

A TREACHERY OF SPIES by MANDA SCOTT (audiobook)  – 3 STARS

BOOKHAUL

A big fat  ZERO!!!! It can be done!!

CURRENTLY READING

THE WINNERS by FREDRIK BACKMAN

HAPPY READING!!

My Bookish Weekly Wrap Up – 17th September 2022

Hello! Happy Saturday!!  Definitely feeling and looking a little more Autumnal out there now.. the spiderwebs are multiplying daily in the garden!

On to books!  A slower week reading wise with just 2 finishes this past week.  Netgalley got me good again though with  5 new additions – oops!!  Plus I’ve bought 2 new books and got 1 book in the post to review! I need to up the reading and reviewing pace again!!

Here’s my look back…

BOOKS FINISHED

THE JANE AUSTEN REMEDY by RUTH WILSON  – 4 STARS

publication date – 22nd September 2022

HAVEN by EMMA DONOGHUE – 3 STARS

BOOKHAUL

Shall we see how Netgalley made me add so many?!

THE SECRET GARDENS OF THE SOUTH EAST by BARBARA SEGALL

publication date – October 2022

A tour of some of the UK’s most beguiling gardens in the counties of Kent, Sussex and Surrey, the counties that exemplify ‘the garden of England’.

In these three counties a wealth of history and horticulture has combined with geography in the shape of rolling landscapes, wooded valleys and meandering waterways, to provide an attractive and fascinating collection.

They are in villages and towns, as well as in deep countryside, and all are privately owned. Some have been in the possession of the same family for many generations, while others have recently been transformed by new owners. Some open for the National Garden Scheme, while others are open privately and in some cases for just the occasional day for charity.

The stunning gardens explored in this visually rich guide include: Arundel Castle, Denmans, Gravetye Manor, Munstead Wood and Sussex Prairie Garden. The book also includes a gazetteer of other important gardens in the area with location advice, to enable readers to plan a more elaborate tour of this fertile garden area.

Filled with stunning, specially commissioned photographs by Clive Boursnell, Secret Gardens of the South East is a unique guide that opens the gates to the most intriguing gardens in this part of England.

BATTLESHIPS by DAVID ROSS

publication date – October 2022

Battleships features 52 of the greatest warships to have sailed in the last 500 years.
 
Beginning with King Henry VIII’s flagship, Henry Grace à Dieu, this book covers all the main periods of battleship development, including the great sailing ships, such as Sovereign of the Seas, SantissimaTrinidad, and Victory. The advent of steam-driven warships provides the core of the book, beginning with the introduction of Gloire in 1859, and continuing through all the major pre-Dreadnoughts, such as the Inflexible, Maine, and Tsessarevitch. There is detailed coverage of the great battleships of the two world wars, including Derfflinger, Yamato, and Iowa, while the book closes with the last new battleship to be commissioned, Vanguard, in 1946. Each entry includes a brief description of the battleship’s development and history, a color profile artwork, key features, and specifications. Packed with illustrations and photographs, Battleships is a colorful guide for the military historian and naval warfare enthusiast.

GRAVES OF THE GREAT AND FAMOUS by ALASTAIR HORNE

Karl Marx is buried in London, John Keats in Rome and Leon Trotsky in Mexico. Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris is today known for the graves of Jim Morrison, Victor Hugo and Oscar Wilde, but when it opened in the early 19th century the owners felt that they needed some star names to make it a desired burial site – and so they had Molière’s body transferred there. Arranged thematically into 75 entries, Graves of the Great and Famous tours the world exploring the resting places of leading artists, thinkers, scientists, sportspeople, revolutionaries, politicians and pioneers. Some, such as communist leaders Ho Chi Minh and Vladimir Lenin, are interred in great mausoleums, where they are visited by millions each year; others are buried in little-known country graveyards. From lives cut short through assassinations – Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln – to those who suffered terrible accidents (Princess Diana), from mobsters such as Benjamin ‘Bugsy’ Siegel and John Gotti to Napoleon and his mistress Marie Walewska, from Nelson Mandela to Eva Peron, Graceland to Highgate Cemetery, the book provides a guide to some of the most famous and unusual graves of the great and the good. Featuring 150 photographs of graves, cemeteries, graveyards and mausoleums, Graves of the Great and Famous is a compact guide to the final resting place of the famous – and infamous.

BECKY by SARAH MAY

publication date – January 2023

Becky Sharp is determined. Determined to get away from the dead-end town where she grew up, determined to make a place for herself in high society and determined to reach the top of the career ladder. And she doesn’t care how many lives she ruins in the process.

Set in 90s tabloid era London, Becky charts the rise and fall of a very modern heroine as she inveigles her way into the highest society, where tabloid millionaires mingle and trade favours and fortunes with royalty and aristocracy, pushes her way up through the ranks at the Mercury newspaper with manipulative scoop after scoop, and eventually orchestrates her own dramatic downfall. These are some of the biggest news stories and scandals of the last few decades, and Becky seems to have something to do with every one of them . . .

In this viciously funny, darkly entertaining and ultimately moving read, the much-loved classic Vanity Fair finds itself in 90s London, and Becky couldn’t be a more perfect fit. For fans of Curtis Sittenfeld’s Eligible, Becky by Sarah May is impossible to put down.

FOUND IN A BOOKSHOP by STEPHANIE BUTLAND

publication – April 2023

Dear Lost for Words,

We are trying to stay at home . . . I am enclosing a cheque and I hope that you will use it to send us some books. Please choose books that we might think are wonderful.

Rosemary

Loveday Cardew’s beloved Lost for Words bookshop, along with the rest of York, has fallen quiet. At the very time when people most need books to widen their horizons, or escape from their fears, or enhance their lives, the doors are closed. Then the first letter comes.

Rosemary and George have been married for fifty years. Now their time is running out. They have decided to set out on their last journey together, without ever leaving the bench at the bottom of their garden in Whitby. All they need is someone who shares their love of books.

Suddenly it’s clear to Loveday that she and her team can do something useful in a crisis. They can recommend books to help with the situations their customers find themselves in: fear, boredom, loneliness, the desire for laughter and escape.

And so it begins.

On to the book I was sent for review by Gallic Books….

ORPHEUS BUILDS A GIRL by HEATHER PARRY

publication date – October 2022

Based on a true story, Orpheus Builds a Girl is a novel of sisterly love, sinister obsession, and the battle for control of the story. A dark, chilling debut novel from award-winning writer Heather Parry.

German doctor Wilhelm Von Tore shares with the reader the story of his one true ove; a love written in the stars, decades in the making, a love so strong it transcended death itself. When Wilhelm emigrates to America he carries with him a vision of a dark-haired beauty, presented to him in his dreams by his beloved late Grandmother. In Key West, Florida, a beautiful young woman is taken to him in the grip of illness, and he recognises her immediately as his promised bride. Despite his efforts, the sickness takes hold and his beloved slips away from him. But Wilhelm will not be kept from his destiny, not even by death. Using research compiled over decades, he sets about attempting to restore his love to her body, so that they might be together forever.

But there’s another voice in this story: Gabriela, and she will not let this version of events go unchallenged. From between the cracks in Wilhelm’s story Gabriela recounts her own memory of her sister Luciana, a fiery and difficult young woman, and the madman who robbed her from her grave.

And then it was time to treat myself… obviously!

FAIRY TALE by STEPHEN KING

Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes into the deepest well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for their world or ours.

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. Then, when Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and his ageing master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from it.

Charlie starts doing jobs for Mr. Bowditch and loses his heart to Radar. Then, when Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a story no one would believe. What Bowditch knows, and has kept secret all his long life, is that inside the shed is a portal to another world.

King’s storytelling in Fairy Tale soars. This is a magnificent and terrifying tale about another world than ours, in which good is pitted against overwhelming evil, and a heroic boy—and his dog—must lead the battle

.THE VANISHING ACT OF ESME LENNOX by MAGGIE O’FARRELL

Maggie O’Farrell takes readers on a journey to the darker places of the human heart, where desires struggle with the imposition of social mores. This haunting story explores the seedy past of Victorian asylums, the oppression of family secrets, and the way truth can change everything.

In the middle of tending to the everyday business at her vintage clothing shop and sidestepping her married boyfriend’s attempts at commitment, Iris Lockhart receives a stunning phone call: Her great-aunt Esme, whom she never knew existed, is being released from Cauldstone Hospital – where she has been locked away for over sixty years. Iris’s grandmother Kitty always claimed to be an only child. But Esme’s papers prove she is Kitty’s sister, and Iris can see the shadow of her dead father in Esme’s face. Esme has been labeled harmless – sane enough to coexist with the rest of the world. But Esme’s still basically a stranger, a family member never mentioned by the family, and one who is sure to bring life-altering secrets with her when she leaves the ward. If Iris takes her in, what dangerous truths might she inherit?

Maggie O’Farrell’s intricate tale of family secrets, lost lives, and the freedom brought by truth will haunt readers long past its final page.

CURRENTLY READING

THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT by MAGGIE O’FARRELL

HAPPY READING!!