Book Synopsis:

Midsummer, the Dorset coast

In the shadows of an ancient wood, guests gather for the opening weekend of The Manor: a beautiful new countryside retreat.

But under the burning midsummer sun, darkness stirs. Old friends and enemies circulate among the guests. And the candles have barely been lit for a solstice supper when the body is found.

It all began with a secret, fifteen years ago. Now the past has crashed the party. And it’ll end in murder at…

THE MIDNIGHT FEAST

My Review:

The Midnight Feast is a fast paced, gripping read that I’d rate as one of her best yet! It’s going to be a difficult book to review as I don’t want to give anything away.

The story of set in Dorset with all the action taking place in or around a new hotel that has opened and caused much controversy. Through two timelines we learn more about the hotel’s past and more about the characters we meet there. I think it’s fair to say the hotel has a rather colourful history and I enjoyed discovering more about it as the story continues. There’s a little bit of folklore included into the story which added a bit of unpredictability and helped to add a bit of mystery to what was going on at the hotel.

I thought the characters were all marvellous creations and I enjoyed following them throughout the book. In alternate chapters we hear from four main characters and I loved piecing together the mystery of what was going on at the hotel through them. I started off not liking any of them as they initially seemed so full of themselves, although this opinion did change as the book continued and I discovered more about their backstory. It was interesting to learn more about their connection to the hotel and how it relates to what’s happening in the present day.

Overall I absolutely loved this book and will be recommending it to everyone. I was immediately drawn into the story and into the lives of the characters. The book had a great pace to it with lots of twists that I didn’t see coming which I always love. It was great fun trying to figure out the mystery of what was going on at the hotel and how everything connected. The ending was brilliant, especially that fantastic last line, and I found it very satisfying to see how everything concluded.

Huge thanks to Indie Thinking from Harper Collins for sending me a copy of this book.

About The Author:

Lucy Foley is a British novelist, most well known for her crime thrillers which include The Hunting Party and The Guest List.

After studying English Literature at Durham University and University College London, Foley became a fiction editor, penning her debut novel The Book of Lost and Found in 2015 alongside her day job. Two more novels followed in 2016 and 2018 before she achieved the breakout success of her first crime thriller, The Hunting Party (also 2018). A gripping whodunit set in the Scottish wilderness, the book became her first Waterstones Thriller of the Month in November 2019, a feat Foley replicated in September 2020 with her next page-turning mystery The Guest List. The Paris Apartment, set in a sinister Montmartre apartment block, was published in March 2022.

Good morning everyone and happy Tuesday. I was a huge fan of The Kamogawa Food Detectives so you can imagine my excitement when I heard there was going to be another edition to the series.

The Restaurant Of Lost Recipes is out 3rd October 2024 and I can’t wait to read it soon.

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

Find out more about The Restaurant Of Lost Recipes below ⬇️

The Restaurant Of Lost Recipes by Hisashi Kashiwai

The Restaurant of Lost Recipes, translated from Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood, is the second book in the bestselling, mouth-watering Japanese sleuthing series for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, and follows on from The Kamogawa Food Detectives.

Tucked away down a Kyoto backstreet lies the extraordinary Kamogawa Diner. Running this unique establishment are a father-daughter duo who serve more than just mouth-watering feasts.

The pair have reinvented themselves as ‘food detectives’, offering a service that goes beyond traditional dining. Through their culinary sleuthing, they reconstruct beloved dishes from the memories of their customers, creating a connection to cherished moments from the past.

Among those who seek an appointment include: a one-hit wonder pop star, finally ready to leave Tokyo and give up on her singing career, wants to try the tempura that she ate to celebrate her only successful record and a budding Olympic swimmer who desires the bento lunch box that his estranged father used to make him. The Kamogawa Diner doesn’t just serve meals – it revives lost recipes and rekindles forgotten memories. It’s a doorway to the past through the miracle of delicious food.

The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai

The first book in the bestselling, mouth-watering Japanese sleuthing series, The Kamogawa Food Detectives is perfect for fans of Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Before the Coffee Gets Cold.

What’s the one dish you’d do anything to taste just one more time?

Down a quiet backstreet in Kyoto exists a very special restaurant. Run by Koishi Kamogawa and her father Nagare, the Kamogawa Diner treats its customers to wonderfully extravagant meals. But that’s not the main reason to stop by . . .

The father-daughter duo have started advertising their services as ‘food detectives’. Through ingenious investigations, they are capable of recreating a dish from their customers’ pasts – dishes that may well hold the keys to unlocking forgotten memories and future happiness.

From the widower looking for a specific noodle dish that his wife used to cook, to a first love’s beef stew, the restaurant of lost recipes provides a link to the past – and a way to a more contented future.

A bestseller in Japan, The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai, and translated from Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood, is a heartwarming celebration of good company and the power of a delicious meal.

Perfect for readers of Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop and Days at the Morisaki Bookshop.

About the author:

Hisashi Kashiwai, the author of The Kamogawa Food Detectives, was born in 1952 and was raised in Kyoto. He graduated from Osaka Dental University. After graduating, he returned to Kyoto and worked as a dentist. He has written extensively about his native city and has collaborated on TV programmes and magazines.

Good afternoon everyone I was excited to receive a copy of The Dagger And The Flame last week. I’ve been a big fan of this author’s previous books and, as this one is being compared to Leigh Bardugo who is one of my favourite authors, I can’t wait to read this one soon.

Huge thanks to Simon and Schuster for sending this to me.

Out 26th September 2024.

Book Synopsis:

From the number one bestselling author Catherine Doyle comes the most fiery enemies-to-lovers romantasy of the year. Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Leigh Bardugo and Stephanie Garber.  

In the dark underbelly of a beautiful city, two rival assassins are pitted against each other in a deadly game of revenge, where the most dangerous mistake of all is falling in love…

In Fantome, a kingdom of cobbled streets, flickering lamplight, beautiful buildings, and secret catacombs, Shade-magic is a scarce and deadly commodity controlled by two enemy guilds: the Cloaks and the Daggers – the thieves and the assassins. On the night of her mother’s murder, 17-year-old Seraphine runs for her life. Seeking sanctuary with the Cloaks, Sera’s heart is set on revenge. But are her secret abilities a match for the dark-haired boy whose quicksilver eyes follow her around the city?

Nothing can prepare Sera for the moment she finally comes face-to-face with Ransom, heir to the Order of Daggers. And Ransom is shocked to discover that this unassuming farmgirl wields a strange and blazing magic he has never seen before…

Among rumours of monsters stalking the streets and the rival guilds grappling for control of Fantome’s underworld, Sera and Ransom are drawn together by something more than just magic and must face a deadly choice – forgiveness or vengeance? Kiss or kill? Dagger or Flame?

About The Author:

Catherine Doyle grew up in the West of Ireland. She holds a BA in Psychology and an MA in Publishing.

Her award-winning and bestselling middle grade début, The Storm Keeper’s Island is set on the magical island of Arranmore, where her grandparents grew up. The sequel, The Lost Tide Warriors, was published in July 2019, with the third to follow in March 2021. Catherine’s modern re-imagining of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, titled The Miracle on Ebenezer Street, was published by Puffin books in October 2020. She is also the author of the Young Adult Blood for Blood trilogy (Vendetta, Inferno and Mafiosa), which is often described as Romeo and Juliet meets the Godfather.

Book Synopsis:

One week in Cape Cod. The perfect family holiday. What could possibly go wrong…?

For the past two decades, Rocky has looked forward to her family’s yearly escape to Cape Cod. Their rustic beach-town rental has been the site of sweet memories, its quirky furniture and mismatched pots and pans greeted like old friends.

Now, sandwiched between her children who are adult enough to be fun but still young enough to need her, and her parents who are alive and healthy, Rocky wants to preserve this golden moment forever. This one precious week when everything is in balance; everything is in flux.

But every family has its secrets and hers is no exception.

With her body in open revolt and surprises invading her peaceful haven, the perfectly balanced seesaw of Rocky’s life is tipping towards change…

Out 6th June 2024

My Review:

Oh I did love this book. It was such a warm hearted read and so beautifully written that I know it will stay with me for a long time.

The family was such a wonderful creation that I enjoyed getting to know throughout the book. I liked the fly on the wall glimpse into the family’s holiday which meant I felt like one of their family included in their banter and holiday traditions alongside them. This is a family who obviously love each other and it was so lovely to see this relationship close up. I’m dreading my kids growing up and this book made me feel much more relaxed about it as the author describes how the relationship with grown up children can change and that it can still be fun but it a different way.

This book isn’t particularly fast paced but that’s part of it’s charm as it gives the reader more time to hang out with the fabulous characters. The author has cleverly created the slow, almost hypnotic feeling you can get on holiday which I thought was very clever. There were some moments that made me laugh and some very emotional moments which made me cry as the family deal with a few surprising revelations. I really didn’t want the book to end and felt almost bereft when their holiday ended as I’d have happily hung out with the characters far longer.

Huge thanks to Alison Barrow from Doubleday for sending me a copy of this book. One of my books of the year!

About The Author:

Catherine Newman is the author of the kids’ how-to books How to Be a Person and What Can I Say?, the memoirs Catastrophic Happiness and Waiting for Birdy, the middle-grade novel One Mixed-Up Night, and the grown-up novels We All Want Impossible Things (Harper 2022) and Sandwich (Harper 2024). She edits the non-profit kids’ cooking magazine ChopChop and is a regular contributor to the New York Times, O, The Oprah Magazine, Cup of Jo, and many other publications. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, with her family.

Good morning everyone and happy Friday. I absolutely love gold and silver foiling on books so I thought I’d do a flat lay showing some of my favourite new books with foiling on them!

(From left to right)
❤️ Broken Threads by Mishal Hussain
🧡 They Dream In Gold by Mai Sennaar
💛 The Library Of Broken Worlds by Alaya Dawn Johnson
💚 The Knowing by Emma Hinds
💙 The Book Of Fire by Christy Lefteri
🩵Babel by R F Kuang
💜The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
🩷 When The Moon Hatched by Sarah A Parker
🤍 A Demon’s Guide To Wooing A Witch by Sarah Hawley
🩶The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable

All of these are tbr but I’m hoping to read a few of them soon. Huge thanks to all the publishers for sending me the gifted copies it’s really appreciated.

It’s the last day of our holiday today and it looks to be a really sunny one so we’re delaying leaving to spend a bit more time at our favourite beach. I’ve been loving reading on the beach (though I have got a little burnt) and I’m looking forward to reading a few more pages of Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors which I’m really enjoying so far. Sadly my excema hasn’t enjoyed the beach and I have very sore hands atm but hopefully they’ll go down when we’re home.

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

Have you read any of these? Which should I prioritise?

Good morning everyone and happy Thursday.. I really enjoy creating these Tell A Tale stacks so I thought I’d share another one today. For those of you not familiar with this challenge the idea is to create a story using book titles.

Here’s my attempt:

ONE PERFECT COUPLE and
A SPY LIKE ME
Went NIGHTWATCHING
To see some DEADLY ANIMALS
As part of THE FAMILY EXPERIMENT
Into EXTINCTION.
Which will hopefully lead to a CONVICTION
For THE HUNTER.

I can’t work out whether this works or not but hopefully it does make sense 🤣 All of these are tbr but I’m hoping to read some of the soon.

It was a lovely sunny day here yesterday so we went to one of my favourite beaches and had a great time. I actually managed to read about 60 pages too which was great. We then went to Croft castle for a look around and saw a steam train which the kids were very excited about. We’re all a bit burnt today sadly as the sun was a bit hotter than we thought so we might be finding some shade today.

Do you have a favourite thriller writer?

Good morning everyone and happy Wednesday.  We’re half way through our holiday and I realised I hadn’t said what books I ended up taking on holiday with me.

❤️ The Spell Shop by Sarah Beth Durst
🧡 Crossing The Line by Simone Soltani
💛The Silence In Between by Josie Ferguson
💚Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors
💙 Goodbye Birdie Greenwing by Erika Walker
🩵 Welcome To Glorious Tuga by Francesca Segal
💜The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley
🩷You Are Here by David Nicholls

There’s no way I’m going to read all of these but I like to have a few options to choose from. I’m currently reading The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley and hoping to start Blue Sisters next.

It was a bit grey yesterday so we decided to walk along the beach front to Bournemouth which turned out to be much longer than expected as it took us nearly two hours.  It was lovely walking along the sea front though and seeing all the different activities on offer down there.  We were all rather exhausted when we got there so Stu treated us to a pub lunch which was really appreciated and then we looked around the shops.  My mum and aunt had kindly given the kids some pocket money for their holiday which they were eager to spend.  My little girl got some cute stationary while my youngest got a cuddly toy Hulk which says ‘Hulk Smash’ when you press his tummy and he enjoyed playing with that around town- much to the amusement of passersby.  We then went to the arcade but it was too busy so we didn’t stay long. Before catching the bus home which was the kids favourite part!

Have you read any of these books?

📚Two For Tuesday: New Romance Books

Good morning everyone today for Two For Tuesday I’m featuring two of the fabulous romance books I’ve purchased recently.

For fans of Hannah Grace and Lauren Asher, CROSS THE LINE by Simone Soltani is an unmissable sweet and spicy, brother’s-best-friend, Formula 1 sports romance.

As I might have mentioned once or twice (ok a lot) I absolutely love books with spredges and as I’ve heard great things about both these books I had to grab them when I saw them! I’ve not read any formula one romances yet so I’m very intrigued and as a huge fan of Ice Breaker I’m excited to try Collide soon as it’s being compared to it.

It’s the second day of our holiday and it’s raining this morning so we might go explore Bournemouth more or take the kids to the cinema if there’s anything good on.

Do you have a favourite romance author?

🏒Collide by Bel Khabra 🏒

When Summer Preston’s professor issues her with an ultimatum, she finds herself on an unexpected collision course with hockey captain, Aiden Crawford.

Summer hates everything about hockey, for good reason, but she isn’t going to let that stand in the way of her becoming a sports psychologist.

Aiden loves being the hockey captain, except when his team’s reckless mistakes risk jeopardizing their entire season. When coach puts him forward for a research paper as punishment, he has no choice but to accept.

Summer can’t stand his blasé approach to life, and Aiden doesn’t understand her uptight, scheduled one. They are off to a rocky start, and provoking each other – it turns out – is what they do best.

But losing isn’t something either of them does well. Maybe there’s a way for both of them to win?

🏎️Cross The Line by Simone Soltani🏎️

For fans of Hannah Grace and Lauren Asher, CROSS THE LINE by Simone Soltani is an unmissable sweet and spicy, brother’s-best-friend, Formula 1 sports romance.

Formula 1 driver Dev Anderson’s career is on the line. After a social media disaster leaves him with an angry team and sponsors threatening to jump ship, he needs someone to help save his image. At a party in Monaco, he bumps into the woman who can fix it all. There’s just one problem: she’s his best friend’s little sister. And, okay, maybe there’s another problem―he kissed her last year and hasn’t been able to stop thinking about it since.

Recent college grad Willow Williams needs a job. She may have a talent for seeing the bright side of any bad situation, but it’s hard to stay positive when she’s struggling to get hired. So when Dev offers her a temporary solution, she can’t help but say yes. Even if it means ignoring the crush she’s had on him since childhood.

Willow and Dev are determined to keep things strictly professional, regardless of old feelings and the blazing chemistry between them. But in the glittering and high-stakes world of Formula 1, some lines are meant to be crossed . . .

Book Synopsis:

Sisters Cleo and Robyn may be close in age but their attitudes to life could not be further apart. While Cleo’s a fully-fledged adult with a family, a business and a signature scent, Robyn is still waiting for the instruction manual to Adult Life and success is keeping her houseplant alive. Skating by at her job as an estate agent, she’s adept at avoiding housework, ignoring admin, and evading her mother’s anxious questions about her love life. But then Robyn’s fired in the most publicly humiliating way imaginable – and her chaos catches up with her.

Although Cleo steps in to give Robyn a temporary job in her cleaning firm, it comes with very firm instructions: Robyn must BEHAVE RESPONSIBLY. And that includes meeting the high standards of Jim, her enigmatic supervisor. But when Robyn learns to navigate the catastrophic kitchens and judgemental dogs of total strangers she learns some unexpected truths about her own messy world. No one’s life is spotless…

My Review:

Irresponsible Adult is a fun, heartwarming read that I found hugely enjoyable.

The story follows two sisters Robyn and Cleo who couldn’t be more different from each other. While Cleo lives a fun life with a family and has a successful career, poor Robyn is just about getting by in her estate agents job. That is until she gets fired and has to try new things. It took me a while to warm to Robyn as I initially found her quite annoying and a bit too ditsy. However this opinion changed completely as the book continued and I found myself growing very fond of her indeed. She’s a very relatable character and I definitely saw a little bit of myself in her, especially her lack of admin skills which is something I’m not particularly good at. It was very interesting getting to know her and learning more about her difficult relationship with her family.

I thought this book had a great pace to it and I soon found myself drawn into the story , enjoying hanging out with the fabulous characters. There were some very funny moments which made me laugh out loud as well as some more emotional moments that made me tear up. I loved the cleaning tips sprinkled throughout the book (though I’m not sure I’ll be eating ketchup again) and the slowly growing collection of houseplants that made me chuckle. There were a few surprising twists which took me by surprise and I did like the way the book ended though it did seem a tad sudden. I’m actually wondering if the author is planning a sequel which would be great as I’d love to read more about Robyn.

Huge thanks to Alainna from Hodder for my copy of this book and for inviting me onto the blog tour.

About The Author:

Lucy Dillon grew up in Cumbria and read English at Cambridge, then read a lot of magazines as a press assistant in London, then read other people’s manuscripts as a junior fiction editor. She now lives in a village outside Hereford with a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, an English Otterhound and a Scottish Husband.

Lucy won the Romantic Novelists’ Association Contemporary Romantic Novel prize in 2015 for A HUNDRED PIECES OF ME, and the Romantic Novel of the Year Award in 2010 for LOST DOGS AND LONELY HEARTS.

You can find her on Facebook, Instagram and X/Twitter at LucyDillonBooks. Beware, there are many photos of her dogs.