Good morning everyone today for Two For Tuesday I thought I’d share two books which I think would make perfect Halloween reading. I had planned to read these before Halloween but life got in the way so I’m hoping to read them both soon as I think they’d be great Autumn reads too.

Today we’re planning to go to our local English Heritage place to hear some spooky tails then the kids want to have a Halloween disco later and I’m hoping to introduce them to my favourite Halloween film Hocus Pocus as they’re finally old enough.

What are your Halloween plans?

The Black Feathers by Rebecca Netley

Where ghosts tread, black feathers fall . . .

When Annie marries widower Edward Stonehouse and arrives at Guardbridge, his estate on the Yorkshire moors, she thinks she has finally put darkness behind her.

She is mistaken . . .

Edward’s sister, Iris, still lives in the family home. A taxidermist and medium, she urges Annie to watch out for black feathers – claiming that they mark the spot where a spirt has visited.

At first, Annie dismisses her warnings. But, before long, an eerie almost haunting feeling takes over her.

What exactly happened to Edward’s first wife? Why is Iris so disturbed?

And should Annie be watching for signs from the dead – or rather is she the one being watched?

SET ON THE YORKSHIRE MOORS IN THE 1800S, THE BLACK FEATHERS IS A GHOSTLY TALE OF MAGIC AND WICKEDNESS.

A Haunting In The Arctic by C. J. Cooke

Something has walked the floors of the Ormen for over a century.

Something that craves revenge…

1901. On board the Ormen, a whaling ship battling through the unforgiving North Sea, Nicky Duthie awakes. Attacked and dragged there against her will, it’s just her and the crew – and they’re all owed something only she can give them.

1973. Decades later, when the ship is found still drifting across the ocean, it’s deserted. Just one body is left on board, his face and feet mutilated, his cabin locked from the inside. Everyone else has vanished.

Now, as urban explorer Dominique travels into the near-permanent darkness of the northernmost tip of Iceland, to the final resting place of the Ormen’s wreck, she’s determined to uncover the ship’s secrets.

But she’s not alone. Something is here with her. And it’s seeking revenge…

Good morning everyone and Happy Halloween.

I was tagged by the lovely @mrs_hs_favourite_books
to share some of my favourite things!

📚Special edition books with pretty spredges
🕯️Candles
🍫 Chocolate
☕Pretty mugs
🧦cosy socks or slippers (I ask for some new ones every Christmas)
🧣Pretty scarfs
🍷Wine
🔖 Homemade bookmarks (preferably made by my kids)
📓Cute notebooks
🎶 Discovering new music (mug featured is from one of my favourite musicians Joshua Woo)
🍂Autumn leaves
🚸 Spending time with my kids
👜Cute bags
💐Fresh flowers

I’ve tagged a few people on Instagram who might want to take part but, as always, no pressure.

It’s Half Term this week and we’re off to our local National Trust to join in some Halloween activities. The kids want to have a Halloween disco later and I’m going to finally show them Hocus Pocus my favourite Halloween film.

Happy Halloween!

Match Your Balloon Monday (In Barney’s voice- “It’s going to be a thing”!)

Good morning everyone and happy Monday.  It’s the start of half term for us and my daughter’s 8th Birthday today! She’s very excited and woke me up every hour last night – so I’m rather tired

She got this beautiful balloon for her birthday and wanted me to do “one of my book photos” with it. 

🩷Cursed Crowns
💛 Supper For Six
💚Well Met
💜That Bonesetter Woman
🩵Evil Eye
💚Once Upon A Frosted Star
🩷 Belladonna by Adalyn Grace

All these books are tbr, though I am half way through Belladonna and Once Upon A Frosted Star which I’m hoping to finish soon.  I’m on the blog tour for Supper For Six on Saturday so I’m reading that one next. 

Do you have anything nice planned this week?

Good morning everyone and happy Saturday! I was tagged by the lovely @mrs_hs_favourite_books to share a black and orange stack recently.

In my stack are:
🖤Hydra by Matt Wesolowski (possibly one of my favourite creepy series ever)
🧡 Supper For Six by Fiona Sherlock
🖤The Fortunes Of Olivia Richmond by Louise Davidson
🧡 The First To Die At The End by Adam Silvera
🖤 Remember Remember by Elle Machray
🧡Songs Of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amelie Wen Zhao
🖤To Cage A God by Elizabeth May
🧡 Midnight by Amy McCulloch

Most of these are tbr apart from Hydra and I’m planning on reading Supper For Six soon for the blog tour!

Today I’m hoping for a quiet morning as my husband takes our two youngest to clubs on Saturday morning, leaving just my eldest who’s happy playing his Xbox with his friends. I’m hoping to get some reading done before dropping my daughter off at a swimming party and then taking the boys to a Halloween party with their cousins.

I’ve tagged a few people who might want to take part but as always no pressure .

What are your weekend plans?

Book Synopsis:

A secret romance was just the start of the story…

Tucked into a crook of the Norfolk coast lies Nelson’s Bar – an idyllic village where time seems to stand still. Maddy Cracey has called this beautiful spot home all her life, as had her husband Adey – until an epic row sent him storming out into a blizzard, with no sign of him since that fateful night.

Six years on, and Maddy’s life in the village has settled into a gentle pattern with her young daughter and Great Aunt Ruthie. However, when handsome stranger Raff turns up with a handful of long-forgotten love letters, their quiet life is upended as family secrets from the past are unearthed.

As Raff and Maddy get to know each other, they grow closer and a love story of their own seems inevitable. But when Maddy receives a mysterious message, she can’t help but wonder whether her own past is as distant as she’d thought it was…

The festive new novel about love, family and the power of words from Sunday Times bestseller Sue Moorcroft, perfect for fans of Sarah Morgan and Phillipa Ashley.

My Review:

The Christmas Love Letters is a beautifully written, heartwarming read that will help get you into the festive spirit.

Firstly I absolutely loved the Norfolk setting, which seemed like a beautiful place to live. The snowy scenes made it feel more Christmassy and I loved the festive spirit that seemed to be oozing out of the village. I’m not a huge fan of snow in real life but I found myself wanting to see the beautiful scenes described in the book for myself.

There are some wonderful characters in this book who I loved getting to know throughout the book. They seemed so real and they soon started to feel like old friends. I absolutely loved Maddie and the way she kept going, despite everything, was wonderful to read about. It was great to see her growing closer to Raff though they did frustrate me at times as I wished I could go into the book and help get them to talk to each other.

Overall I absolutely loved this book and can’t wait to read more from this author in the future. The plot was fairly fast paced and there were lots of twists that kept me guessing. I enjoyed trying to work out the links between the families and following the mystery as it slow unfolded. The Christmas references were really heartwarming to read about and I closed the book with a happy sigh – sad to leave the characters behind but very excited for the Christmas period.

Huge thanks to Rachel from Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the publisher for my copy of this book.

About The Author:

Sue Moorcroft is an award-winning Sunday Times and internationally published author of emotionally compelling, feel-good, page-turning fiction who has reached #1 on Amazon Kindle UK and Top 100 Amazon Kindle US, Canada and Italy. Her novels, short stories, serials, courses and columns have appeared around the world. An army child, Sue was born in Germany and then lived in Cyprus, Malta and the UK.

Good afternoon everyone I was lucky enough to receive this fabulous looking book today. I absolutely love retellings of fairy tales so I’m excited to read this book soon.

Huge thanks to the lovely @chloerose_pr and @bantambooksuk for sending me a copy of this book.

Do you like retellings of fairy tales? What’s your favourite?

Book Synopsis:

Light and dark – this is the destiny placed upon Natasha and Clara, the birthright bestowed on them by their godfather, the mysterious sorcerer Drosselmeyer. Clara, the favourite, grows into beauty and ease, while Natasha is cursed to live in her sister’s shadow. But one fateful Christmas Eve, Natasha gets her chance at revenge. For Drosselmeyer has returned and brought with him the Nutcracker, an enchanted present which offers entry to a deceptively beautiful world: the Kingdom of Sweets.

In this land of snow and sugar, Natasha is presented with a power far greater than Drosselmeyer: the Sugar Plum Fairy, who is also a giver of gifts . . . and a maker of dread-filled bargains. As Natasha uncovers the dark destiny laid before her birth, she must reckon with powers both earthly and magical . . . and decide to which world she truly belongs.

About The Author:

ERIKA JOHANSEN grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. She went to Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania before attending the celebrated Iowa Writers Workshop, where she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree. She eventually became an attorney but she never stopped writing. Her debut was the international bestseller, The Queen of the Tearling – the first novel in a remarkable sequence. This was followed by the acclaimed The Invasion of the Tearling, The Fate of the Tearling and a prequel, Beneath the Keep. Erika now lives in England.

Good morning everyone I was tagged by the lovely @always_need_more_books and @helen_t_reads to take part in this potion challenge. The idea is to make a spell using book titles.

From the Spell Book of Hester this spell has to be created Under The Tamarind Tree.

You will need:
✨ A drop of Salt Blood
✨Some Black Feathers
✨ A Jar Of A Thousand Boy Kisses
✨ Six Crimson Cranes

Mix it together in a Ripe pumpkin. Take 19 Steps to the left and leave it on the doorstep of The House Of Broken Bricks to get rid of all Bad Men.

I have tagged a few people who might want to take part but, as always, no pressure.

What would you make a spell for?

Good morning everyone and happy Wednesday. I was tagged by the lovely @r4ch4elreads to share some books with Aqua Green Spines. Unfortunately I didn’t have too many of those so I think I’ve managed to move more into a green stack than Aqua Green (sorry Rachel)!

The books I’ve featured are:
💚The Other Side Of Mrs Wood
🩵Well Met
💚The Giant On The Skyline
🩵The Physician’s Daughter
💚That Green Eyed Girl
🩵73 Dove Street
💚A Lady’s Guide To Fortune Hunting
🩵Other People’s Husbands
💚A Single Thread
🩵The Cloisters
💚Zero Days

Unusually for me I’ve actually read one of these books – A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier which I highly recommend. This is actually my precious signed copy I got when I met her at Cheltenham Festival a few years ago.

I’ve tagged a few people on Instagram who might want to join in but, as always, no pressure.

See any favourites here?

Good afternoon everyone I’m very excited to receive a copy of this fabulous sounding book recently. I tend to love books about families so this book really appeals to me.

Huge thanks to @faberbooks for sending this to me I’m very excited to read it soon.

Out January 2024

Book Synopsis:

Ain’t nothing wrong with being broken. Nothing at all. You’re like these houses, not a whole brick in em and look how strong they are.

As Tess traces the sunrise over the floodplains, light that paints the house a startling crimson, she yearns for the comforting chaos of life as it once was. Instead of Max and Sonny tracking dirt through the kitchen – Tess and Richard’s ‘rainbow twins’ – Tess absorbs the quiet. The nights draw in, the soil cools and Richard fights to get his winter crops planted rather than deal with the discussion he cannot bear to have.

Secrets and vines clamber over the broken red bricks and although its inhabitants seem to be withering, in the damp, crumbling soil Sonny knows that something is stirring . . . As the seasons change, and the cracks let in more light, the family might just be able to start to heal.

This is the story of a broken family, what they see and what they cannot say laid bare in their overlapping perspectives. It is a tale of life in the cracks, because in the space for acceptance, of passing and of laying to rest, the possibilities of new energy, light and love, are seeded.

About The Author:

Fiona Williams holds a BSc (Hons) in biological sciences from the University of Westminster and an MA with distinction in creative writing from Bath Spa University. She is the winner of the 2021 Bridport Prize, Peggy Chapman-Andrews First Novel Award. Originally from south-east London, she now lives with her family on the Somerset Levels. She is currently completing a PhD in creative writing at the University of Exeter. The House of Broken Bricks is her debut novel.