#BlogTour THE BOOK BINDER’S DAUGHTER by JESSICA THORNE #BookReview @bookouture

Excited to be with you today as part of the  Blog Tour for the magical THE BOOK BINDER’S DAUGHTER by JESSICA THORNE. 
My thanks to the author, publisher and Noelle for putting the tour together and letting me be part of it all!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Book: The Bookbinder’s Daughter 

Author: Jessica Thorne

 Pub Day: Sept 20th 2021

Buy Links: 

Amazon: https://geni.us/B09BCSKJ46social

Apple: http://ow.ly/iciE50FG1VL

Kobo:  http://ow.ly/47Kp50FG1Uc

Google: http://ow.ly/UqkO50FG2jS

The song surrounded her now, the murmuring of the library insistent, and her foot took the first step on the winding stairs. She knew it wasn’t entirely a dream. It was the library calling her, its magic driving her.

When Sophie is offered a job at the Ayredale Library – the finest collection of rare books in the world, and the last place her bookbinder mother was seen when Sophie was just a teenager – she leaps at the chance. Will she finally discover what happened to the woman she’s always believed abandoned her?

Taking in the endless shelves of antique books, the soaring stained-glass windows, and the grand sweeping staircase, usually shy Sophie feels strangely at home, and is welcomed by her eccentric fellow binders. But why is the Keeper of the Library so reluctant to speak about Sophie’s mother? And why is Sophie the only person who can read the strange spells in the oldest books on display, written in a forgotten language nobody else understands?

The mysteries of the library only deepen when Sophie stumbles upon an elaborately carved door. The pattern exactly matches the pendant her mother left behind years ago, engraved with a delicate leaf. As the door swings open at her touch, Sophie gasps at the incredible sight: an enormous tree, impossibly growing higher than the library itself, its gently falling golden leaves somehow resembling the pages of a book. Amidst their rustling, Sophie hears a familiar whisper…

‘There you are, my Sophie. I knew you’d come back for me.’

An absolutely spellbinding read about long-hidden family secrets and the magic that lurks between the pages of every ancient book. Perfect for fans of The Ten Thousand Doors of January, The Night Circus and The Binding.Author Bio

Jessica Thorne saw Star Wars at an impressionable age and life was never the same. She’s loved fantasy, romance and science fiction ever since and spends her time looking for adventure – in the pages of her books.

Sometimes she is Ruth Frances Long and won the European Science Fiction Society Spirit of Dedication Award for Best Author of Children’s Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2015.

Social Media

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JessThorneBooks/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jessthornebooks

Website: http://www.rflong.com/jessicathorne/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessthornebooks

MY REVIEW

A magical library. Secrets. Danger…. what’s not to love!?  This was a wonderfully magical read and is the kind of book that you totally lose yourself in! I know I did!

Sophie is at the heart of the story and is desperate to make her father proud who she has recently lost, whilst wanting to learn more about her mother who disappeared from her life when she was younger.  The more she discovers about the mysterious library where she gets a job as a bookbinder, the more the mysteries of the past become a little clearer.  And why is she the only person who can understand the language of some of the oldest books in their care?!

When her dreams start to lead her towards uncovering secrets from the past, she is unsure of what she will find or just who to trust along the way and you find yourself anxious on her behalf!  I loved the mystical feel of it all and the way the story flows and how she begins to emerge from the shell she had found herself living in because of the past trauma she’d gone through.  

I was enchanted by this story and just loved the magical library setting alongside a cast of intriguing characters.

★★★★

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#BookReview THE BELOVED CHILDREN by TINA JACKSON @fahrenheitpress #TheBelovedChildren

ABOUT THE BOOK

“There is some really atmospheric storytelling and joyful language at play here, with Jackson as an entertaining mistress of ceremonies.” – Ben East, The Observer

What can we say about this book from Tina Jackson except that it’s something very special indeed.

Three young women; Chrysanthemum, Rose & Orage are thrown together on the stage of Fankes’ Theatre during the closing days of the Second World War performing as The Three Graces.

It’s there they come under the spell of wardrobe mistresses Dolores and Janna – a chance encounter that will guide and change all of their fates forever.

Set in the dying days of vaudeville theatre and laced with mysticism, fortune tellers, ghosts, and evocative descriptions of the closing days of the War – The Beloved Children will literally make you laugh out loud and perhaps even shed the odd tear.

The Beloved Children is wise, funny, heart-breaking, joyous, poignant, and entirely entirely enthralling.

Tina Jackson has conjured characters that you will fall unapologetically in love with and placed them in a world that you won’t want to leave.

If any Fahrenheit book is ever going to be nominated for The Booker Prize it’ll be this one.

“This book genuinely weaves a spell around the reader and once you make friends with Janna, Dolores, and The Three Graces you’ll never want to be without them in your life again.”

PUBLISHED BY FAHRENHEIT PRESS

PURCHASE LINK

PUBLISHER WEBSITE

MY REVIEW

What a special little book this turned out to be! I’m always delighted to find a little gem of a story and if you’re looking for something that’s a little bit magical, emotional, funny and imaginative then look no further!

Set around the three characters of Rose, Chrysanthemum and Orage whose paths cross when they are all young girls auditioning for a theatre show, this is their story of how they became family and where life took them all. They are all very different personalities but they click and I just loved how they looked out for one another during their time at the theatre, through love, disappointments, secrets and lots more!

This starts out at the end of the war and you just can just picture life backstage at the theatre and it really brings back those ‘old days’ theatre feels! It was so easy to picture in your mind as you followed the story unfold – you could almost smell that dusky scent and hear the performers preparing to go on stage.

As the girls grow up into women, life throws them different curveballs and as you become more involved with them as characters then it did get quite emotional to see what they had to go through. There are many twists in their life journeys, and the always imposing characters of Dolores and Janna were always around to whip them into shape!

The story also had the viewpoint of 60 years later, with Rose and Chrysanthemum looking back on their lives together – the memories of special moments shared and troubled times faced – it was very difficult not to fall in love with these characters as they all went through so much and made them realise the importance of the roles that they all played in the life on one another. The real definition of the dysfunctional family that they became to one another!

One of my books of 2020!! Glorious stuff!!

★★★★★

My thanks to the team at Fahrenheit for the advanced reader copy in return for a fair and honest review.

#BlogTour THE ONCE AND FUTURE WITCHES by ALIX E HARROW @Tr4cyF3nt0n @orbitbooks #bookreview

A huge delight to be the lastest stop on the Blog Tour for the magical THE ONCE AND FUTURE WITCHES by ALIX E.HARROW. My thanks to the author, publisher and Tracy of Compulsive Readers for putting the tour together and letting me be part of it all!

ABOUT THE BOOK

In 1893, there’s no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box.

But when the Eastwood sisters–James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna–join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women’s movement into the witch’s movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote-and perhaps not even to live-the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive.

There’s no such thing as witches. But there will be.

PUBLISHED BY ORBIT BOOKS

PURCHASE LINKS

Amazon

hive.co.uk

blackwell’s

MY REVIEW

It’s witchy and it’s wonderful!! Buy it!!! 

How’s that for an easy review haha!! I absolutely adored every single second I spent in the company of the Eastwood sisters – all very different and not even in each others lives for a number of years UNTIL they are drawn together to fight the unfairness of a world that seems set on destroying women wanting to be heard.  Seen but not heard seems to be the order of the day but for these women that is not how they want things so despite their differences they come together to form a united front in fighting for what is right.

This is a story of strong women, of overcoming adversity and for standing up for what you believe in.  Their lives haven’t been easy and there are grievances between them but in fighting this common battle they grow closer together again and it was just such a wonderful story to read.

Many in New Salem want the past of their town forgotten and will do whatever it means to keep the old ways gone, but changing times are upon us so June, Beatrice and Agnes are at the centre of the efforts of the women’s movement. It’s an angry book, but inspiring and beautifully written from the  slow pace at times, to the revelations of the past and I just completely lost myself in the world created.  In the 3 main characters, Alix has conjured (sorry!) up such fascinating and polar opposite characters – you can see yourself in all of them – but they have that determination to keep fighting for what is right despite the obstacles put in front of them and the danger they put themselves in.

 I loved her previous book, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, but think I loved this even more!! Definitely one of my books of 2020!!

★★★★★

#BlogTour ORFEIA by JOANNE M.HARRIS #BookReview #Orfeia @Joannechocolat @gollancz @RandomTTours

A huge delight to be the latest stop on the Blog Tour today for ORFEIA by JOANNE HARRIS. My thanks to the author, publisher and Anne of Random Things Tours for letting me be part of it all and sharing my review!

ABOUT THE BOOK

The stunning new novella from No 1 bestselling author Joanne Harris:

 Orfeia is a gender-flipped retelling of the Orpheus Myth, beautifully illustrated by Bonnie Helen Hawkins When you can find me an acre of land, Every sage grows merry in time, Between the ocean and the sand Then will you be united again. So begins a beautiful and tragic quest as a heartbroken mother sets out to save her lost daughter, through the realms of the real, of dream, and even into the underworld itself. But determination alone is not enough. For to save something precious, she must give up something precious, be it a song, a memory, or her freedom itself . . .

Praise for Joanne’s previous novellas: 

“It may be a little book, but it has considerable power to enchant” – METRO on A Pocketful of Crows 

“Love, treachery, the call of the ocean: this wintry modern fairy tale features all three… perfect for anyone who loves a good story.” MAIL ON SUNDAY on The Blue Salt Road

PUBLISHED BY GOLLANCZ

PURCHASE LINKS

Goldsboro Books  – signed first edition

hive.co.uk

Blackwell’s

Joanne Harris is an Anglo-French writer, whose books include fourteen novels, two cookbooks and many short stories. Her work is extremely diverse, covering aspects of magic realism, suspense, historical fiction, mythology and fantasy. In 2000, her 1999 novel CHOCOLAT was adapted to the screen, starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. 
CHOCOLAT has sold over a million copies in the UK alone and was a global bestseller. She is an Honorary Fellow of St Catherine’s College, Cambridge, and in 2013 was awarded an MBE by the Queen. Her hobbies are listed in Who’s Who as ‘mooching, lounging, strutting, strumming, priest-baiting and quiet subversion’. She plays bass guitar in a band first formed when she was 16 and runs the musical storytelling show Storytime. Joanne lives with her husband in Yorkshire, about 15 miles from the place she was born. Find out more at http://www.joanne-harris.co.uk or follow her on Twitter @Joannechocolat

MY REVIEW

A truly magical retelling of the Orpheus myth that draws deeply on the emotions of loss and grief and the journey that your state of mind may take you on in those darkest times.

Fay is struggling to cope with the loss of her daugher Daisy.  She is drifting along, feeling out of place and without purpose.  She has turned to a counsellor to try and help her make sense of where she finds herself  but she finds herself going through the motions of life and just telling the counsellor what she thinks she wants to hear without really acknowledging the pain she is feeling.

She takes to running at night and feels more at home amongst the darkness and is led on a journey by those she meets to a place where she is led to believe she can save her daughter.  

Abandoned London is the place she finds herself, a place that has been taken over by nature, a wild place and somewhere she feels more at peace than anywhere else of late. There are those there to help her but some want to lead her on the wrong path and get her to make the wrong choices – who does she believe?

What i loved about this book was the emotion and the despair that Fay felt was so believable.  When grief has you alive but not living.  Her world had been shrunk by the darkness around her and she was struggling to see any light.

I really love these re-tellings! And the beautiful illustrations work so well alongside the story.  

A magical, emotional and captivating tale.

★★★★★

#BlogTour The Strawberry Thief by Joanne Harris #BookReview @Tr4cyF3nt0n

Extremely honoured to be taking part in the blog tour for THE STRAWBERRY THIEF by JOANNE HARRIS today, and my thanks to the author, publisher and Tracy Fenton for letting me be part of it all and to share my thoughts on this wonderful book!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Published in hardback/ebook/audiobook on 4 April 2019, priced £20.00/£10.00/19.99

The compelling new Chocolat novel, published 20 years after Joanne’s Harris’s original bestseller

Vianne Rocher has finally settled down. Lansquenet-sous-Tannes, the place that once rejected her, has become her home. With Rosette, her “special child”, she runs her chocolate shop in the square, talks to her friends on the river, is part of the community. Even Reynaud, the priest, has become a friend.

But when old Narcisse, the florist, dies, leaving a parcel of land to Rosette and a written confession to Reynaud, the life of the sleepy old village is once again thrown into disarray. The arrival of Narcisse’s relatives, the departure of an old friend and the opening of a mysterious new shop in place of the florist’s across the square – one that mirrors the chocolaterie, and has a strange appeal of its own – all seem to herald some kind of change: a confrontation, a turbulence. Perhaps, even, a murder…

PURCHASE LINKS

Goldsboro Books – signed first edition £20

hive.co.uk  £15.85

waterstones  signed edition £20

About the Author

Joanne Harris is an Anglo-French writer, whose books include fourteen novels, two cookbooks and many short stories. Her work is extremely diverse, covering aspects of magic realism, suspense, historical fiction, mythology and fantasy. In 2000, her 1999 novel CHOCOLAT was adapted to the screen, starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. CHOCOLAT has sold over a million copies in the UK alone and was a global bestseller. She is an Honorary Fellow of St Catherine’s College, Cambridge, and in 2013 was awarded an MBE by the Queen.

MY REVIEW

It’s magical, it’s beautifully written, it’s emotional,  it’s dark, it’s heartbreaking…. I ADORED IT!!  

We re-visit Vianne  and she is settled and still running her wonderful chocolate shop, with help from her daughter Rosette who is described as a ‘special child’ and who has made so many friends amongst the locals with her innocence and inquisitive nature.

One of her friends is Narcisse, the florist, and when he sadly dies and leaves Rosette her a plot of land in his will things begin to change for all of them. There’s resentment from the relatives of Narcisse, and bewilderment from other locals and Vianne herself as to why he would do such a thing.  It all becomes much clearer as time goes on…

We get to enjoy this story from a number of perspectives – Vianne, Rosette are the main narrators but we also  hear the story of the local Priest who has also been left something by Narcisse which opens up a much darker side to the story and shows the impact of  living life with regrets and secrets.  

The new arrival in the village also plays a big part in the relationship between Vianne and Rosette, as the curiousity of Rosette becomes too much for her to keep away despite her mum’s warnings.  

Rosette’s story is entrancing. She knows she is different from the other children but that doesn’t stop her following her heart and all she knows she has learnt from life and her experiences.  She doesn’t speak but finds different ways to communicate her thoughts and fears and is such a gentle soul that you just warm to her immediately.  Obviously her mother is very protective towards her and sees the prejudices of others who don’t understand her ways and often look down on her, so that makes her even more determined that life should remain as simple as possible for her sometimes that control just seems a little too smothering.

There was just so much to enjoy about this book!  I found it drew me in immediately and the different threads and ripples from events were all played out so well, alongside watching the different characters dealing with what they perceived as threats to their way of life and peace of mind.

It was an utter delight to read and I’m already itching to go back and read the whole Chocolat series all over again!

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

#BookReview The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden #PublicationDay

About the book

One girl can make a difference…

Moscow has burned nearly to the ground, leaving its people searching for answers – and someone to hold accountable. Vasya finds herself on her own, amid a rabid mob that calls for her death, blaming her witchery for their misfortune.

Then a vengeful demon returns, renewed and stronger than ever, determined to spread chaos in his wake and never be chained again. Enlisting the hateful priest Konstantin as his servant, turmoil plagues the Muscovites and the magical creatures alike, and all find their fates resting on the shoulders of Vasya.

With an uncertain destiny ahead of her, Vasya learns surprising truths of her past as she desperately tries to save Russia, Morozko, and the magical world she treasures. But she may not be able to save them all…

Published by  Del Ray

Purchase Links

hive.co.uk  £9.89

waterstones  £9.99

MY REVIEW

A wonderful and fitting ending to an extraordinary Trilogy – if you haven’t read this series yet and you love tales of fantasy, magic and folklore, then I highly recommend these books by Katherine Arden as I’ve been captivated from start to finish, and am eager to go back and read them all again very soon!!

In this final part Vasya is back and is cast as the bad guy and is hellbent on righting those wrongs and save those she loves. There is heartbreak, humour and heroic actions throughout as she travels through different worlds, meeting the weird, the wonderful and the dangerous along the way. I laughed, I cried ( a lot!) and it was just one of those stories that took you to places you least expected, let alone you could ever imagine and Vasya seems to be one of those characters who has her flaws but still manages to get you onside. Pity anyone who crosses her!!

This part of the trilogy is definitely the darkest and the most complex of all 3 books, but such an absorbing read and I’m really going to miss the characters and world that was created – thank you Katherine Arden!! 

✮✮✮✮✮

#BookReview The Blue Salt Road by Joanne M.Harris

About the book

An earthly nourris sits and sings
And aye she sings, “Ba lilly wean,
Little ken I my bairn’s father,
Far less the land that he staps in. 
(Child Ballad, no. 113)

So begins a stunning tale of love, loss and revenge, against a powerful backdrop of adventure on the high seas, and drama on the land. The Blue Salt Road balances passion and loss, love and violence and draws on nature and folklore to weave a stunning modern mythology around a nameless, wild young man.

Passion drew him to a new world, and trickery has kept him there – without his memories, separated from his own people. But as he finds his way in this dangerous new way of life, so he learns that his notions of home, and your people, might not be as fixed as he believed.

Beautifully illustrated by Bonnie Helen Hawkins, this is a stunning and original modern fairytale. 

Published by Gollancz

Purchase Links

Goldsboro Books– signed first edition

hive.co.uk

waterstones

MY REVIEW

A beautiful book, both inside and out, telling the story of Selkies and how the wants and whims of Folk can change their destiny and their way of life. 

The author does a wonderful job of exploring the folklore behind Selkies and weaving a wonderful tale of how selfish someone can be in their desire to get what they want, at the expense of the happiness of the other person. 

The two main characters are fascinating creatures – a young selkie prince is bored of his life in the water and dreams of walking on land amongst the ‘Folk’, and Flora is sick of being on her own and hears of a way to meet the man of her dreams. As time goes by, both of them begin to question the way their lives are turning out and it is an absorbing tale that unfolds of how the past has a way of catching up with you and that the truth is never far away.

I loved the magical feel of this story and the illustrations throughout are also exquisite and add the perfect finish to this book. I loved it!

🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊

#BookReview Flames by Robbie Arnott

About the book

A young man named Levi McAllister decides to build a coffin for his twenty-three-year-old sister, Charlotte—who promptly runs for her life. A water rat swims upriver in quest of the cloud god. A fisherman named Karl hunts for tuna in partnership with a seal. And a father takes form from fire. 

The answers to these riddles are to be found in this tale of grief and love and the bonds of family, tracing a journey across the southern island that takes us full circle.

Flames sings out with joy and sadness. Utterly original in conception, spellbinding in its descriptions of nature and its celebration of the power of language, it announces the arrival of a thrilling new voice in contemporary fiction.

Published by Atlantic Books

Purchase Links

Book Depository  £11.34

hive.co.uk  £9.75

Waterstones  £12.99

MY REVIEW

I have found myself totally mesmerized by this book! A wonderful debut and very difficult to sum up, other than it was pure escapism and I was transfixed by the characters, the settings and the overall feel of the book!

It’s about a family who see female relatives return after they die only for them to burst into flames and die once again soon after. It’s about a brother caring for his sister, except she doesn’t interpret it that way and runs away to deal with her own adventures. Its about a man called Karl connecting with nature, hunting with his seal, coping with family life and haunted by things he sees.

It’s a book written in a variety of styles – from first person views, to letters between an author and Levi seeking help, poignant thoughts of an Esk god being caught by an ape, and to diary entries from a Ranger on a farm estate seeing wombats being killed on a daily basis and trying to get to the basis of why.

At times this book is utterly bonkers and I think that is why it made it so brilliant for me as a reader. You honestly didn’t know where the story would lead to next, the language is spellbinding and intoxicating and it combines the natural world with the magical elements of fairytales, whilst dealing with families and grief and how it affects people so differently.

This is a very special debut and I cannot wait to see what the author creates next!

My thanks to Readers First for the copy in return for a fair and honest review.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

#BlogTour Where the What If Roams and the Moon is Louis Armstrong by Esther Krivda #RandomThingsTours

Extremely delighted to be hosting the stop today on this fantastical Blog Tour! My thanks to the Author and Anne of  Random Things Tours for giving me the opportunity to be part of it all!

ABOUT THE BOOK

“Esther Krivda’s debut novel, Where the What If Roams and the Moon Is Louis Armstrong, is a special kind of book, the kind of book that warrants many readings and a future CliffsNotes edition. It is a long, heady emporium of a book. Krivda herself describes it as a modern psychological fairy tale. Indeed, there are fairies in this book. But her own description almost belies, or at least oversimplifies, the ambitious nature of this marvelous and virtuosic work. This is the kind of book that scares off publishers, intimidates readers, and announces a major literary talent. …” —★★★★★FIVE STAR CLARION REVIEW

Sophia Oomla leaves the talking world. When her teacher calls on her. When her classmates speak to her. But at midnight, when no one can hear her, no one can see her, she finds her tongue. In fact, she is the Star-of-the-Talking-World, and a vamp, too, who can strut and hold forth and thunder away in her very own clandestine Midnight Movie Star School. For Sophia Oomla only wants to talk in the Talking-World the way Movie Stars do, the way her Mother does. Because surely they are from the Land-of-the-Perfect, and not from the land that she comes from, the Land-of-the-Timid-Tongues. Because wordless-ducklings from that land get sentenced to see speech therapists for non-communication, like she’s been.

Eloquent in one place, but not another?
Do you smell a paradox, Readers?

The magical creatures sure did. They lived in our protagonist’s head and know all about minds and thinking, except why this girl could be so very confident in one place and so very faltering in another. Those creatures needed someone who not only understood the problem but who would write a book about it. Which lead their noses right smack to me, another falterer and a writer besides. Those sniffer-extraordinaires must’ve sniffed my own about-faces – like when my inside-me is dying to write but my outside-me can’t type a word. So those tricksters drafted me to narrate Sophia’s story. But those imps weren’t finished; they knew that paradoxes were running amok in her parents’, the Oomlas, minds as well and they insist I tell their story, too.

‘Where the What If Roams and the Moon Is Louis Armstrong’ wonders why somebody is one way on the outside, but inside, something else entirely. Can the Oomlas, can I, can we, live with our paradoxes? Or will each of us collapse like a house divided? And it wonders, too, about those nagging voices within, some of whom, in this story, take the form of magical creatures who wouldn’t leave the Oomlas alone (or me, either). Just who are those voices? Who is that interrupting us, haunting us, stopping us from going on our merry way? Who really is inside us calling our shots? Our parents, the universe? Where do they end and our true selves begin? And how can we be who we really are if there are so many others inside us? And just who exactly is that pest inside Sophia who keeps comparing her voice to her Mother’s? And who is that nagging voice within me that wouldn’t let this writer write? Will Sophia ever stop believing it? Will I?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

Esther Krivda has acted; studied ballet; worked as an admin in the movie studios in LA and in a talent agency in NYC; and loves to sing and draw faces. But she didn’t discover writing til she took a course in Stop Motion Animation and soon found out her movie would need a script. And that’s when she got the idea of a little girl who cries out but only the man-in-themoon hears her. She never turned the idea into a Stop Motion Animation movie but she did turn it into this novel, her first.

Author Website

Author on Twitter

MY REVIEW

Where to even begin?!!  This is no ordinary story and very difficult to review – in a good way! There’s just so much going on that it’s impossible to put it all into words! It’s a huge beast of a book (over 650 pages!) and a little daunting when I first got my hands on a copy! BUT don’t be scared!! Once you open up the pages and enter the world of Sophia you will soon fall under the spell and find yourself whisked away to a world of escapism, imagination and just a wonderfully fantastical place to be!

Sophia is the true star of this book.  She’s the daughter of 2 very successful parents, and feels a little forgotten.  She finds that nobody really wants to listen to her true voice and only really shows herself at the ‘movie star school’ she sets up at home late at night.  She is smiten by old movies and the glamour, and it becomes her life and passion – falling asleep at school in class becomes a thing, and the response of those around her?!  She needs a speech therapist.  To her parents there’s always a practical fix to problems that come their way when it comes to Sophia – throw money at a problem and it can be solved….

While Sophia is struggling with life, her parents are dealing with their own lives and the problems that brings their way.  Their daughter is missing out on their attention and she’s paying the price of their success.   What will it take to make them see how their daughter is struggling?

Sophia isn’t totally alone though – she has 5 fairies living inside her head… yes you read that right! And they are there to ‘guide’ her, while also causing trouble and creating their own merry havoc!  I told you this book was unique!! The way of storytelling does take a while for you to come to terms with, but it works! We get the story with interruptions from both the narrator and the fairies which adds a great sense of humour and fun and really helps to portray those ‘voices’ that we all have in our heads either cheering us on or holding us back!  They are full of wisdom and can see the real Sophia and try and get the rest of the world to see her too.

I am really struggling to put into words how this book made me feel – it’s one of those stories that needs to be experienced! It’s mad, imaginative, magical, endearing, touching, fantastical and just plain bonkers! While you are reading it takes you out of yourself – just what books are there to do!  It’s not one of those you can pick up and read in one sitting!  I read it in stages of about 50-100 pages a day, and found this a great way to really enjoy my time with the characters and let me reflect on what I’d read before diving in again for the next crazy part of the journey!

It’s quite a pertinent story for the times we live in – everyone has busy lives and it is easy to miss what is happening just under our noses, and spend time concentrating on the wrong things. There are so many important messages that come through over the storyline, from taking time to appreciate the little things, teaching children to be themselves and really shows just how powerful fairy tales are in helping children deal with the world around them.

This is a book to be enjoyed by those of all ages – not the very young though! – and I will never look at the moon the same way again!! 😉

🌛🌛🌛🌛🌛

#BookReview Sky Song by Abi Elphinstone

‘A shimmering thrill-ride of a book. I loved every page.’ Lauren St John

‘Sky Song made my heart sing – I loved it!’ Kiran Millwood Hargrave

‘A dazzling snowstorm of an adventure, with hope at its heart’ Emma Carroll

About the book

‘Abi Elphinstone’s books are full of adventure, wit, heart, and, above all, bravery’ Katherine Rundell

‘Once an adventure digs its claws in, there is not an awful lot you can do about it. Especially when magic is involved . . .’

In the snowy kingdom of Erkenwald, whales glide between icebergs, wolves hunt on the tundra and polar bears roam the glaciers. But the people of this land aren’t so easy to find – because Erkenwald is ruled by an evil Ice Queen and the tribes must stay hidden or risk becoming her prisoners at Winterfang Palace.

Join Eska, a girl who breaks free from a cursed music box, and Flint, a boy whose inventions could change the fate of Erkenwald forever, as they journey to the Never Cliffs and beyond in search of an ancient, almost forgotten, song with the power to force the Ice Queen back.

This is a story about an eagle huntress, an inventor and an organ made of icicles. But it is also a story about belonging, even at the very edges of our world . . .

Published by Simon & Schuster

Purchase Links

Amazon UK

MY REVIEW

A stunning read, in the tradition of the classic children’ stories, that had me under its’ spell from the first page!

It’s the story of good vs evil! Poor Eska is trapped in a castle by the Ice Queen who is desperate for her to speak so she can feed on her voice to gain the immortality she craves. There is something different about Eska that leaves the Ice Queen to cherish her voice even more. But Eska knows nothing of her past as she has had her memories taken from her, so she is feeling alone but determined to be free.

Flint is searching for his place in the world too. His brother is the chief of their tribe and Flint wants to do all he can to impress him. Even if that includes crazy schemes to break into the Palace to free their Ma! When he does break in he sees Eska who begs him to help her escape and his kind heart doesn’t know how to say no.

When they both flee the palace, we get to see their friendship bloom while they travel across dangerous territories. Eska just wants to know who she is and where she came from, while Flint is just desperate for his inventions to be praised by his brother.

Add in some amazing animal guides, a magical and fantastical world, brave quests and adventures and you’ll find that this is such a wonderful escapist read for those of all ages! It is full of courage and the message to believe in yourself and it was just a delight to read!

                                                  ❄❄