Book Synopsis:

An utterly charming and heart-warming love story and the perfect tonic for difficult times.

Daisy is the night security guard at the Manchester Museum of Social History. She takes her job very seriously, protecting the museum from teenage troublemakers.

Nate works the day shift, though he’d be more suited as a museum guide the way he chats with the visitors. Daisy doesn’t approve: how does he find it so easy to talk to strangers?

For five minutes each day their shifts overlap at handover. He passes the torch over to Daisy – always with a smile on his face, and she asks him for a full report of the day, which he gives reluctantly. It’s the only interaction they have… until mysterious things begin to happen at the museum.

They soon discover they have a lot more in common than they realised… and their investigations uncover more than just the truth. Could they have feelings for one another?

The Handover is available in ebook and hardback now. You can purchase your copy using the links below.

My Review:

The Handover is a compelling, heartwarming and uplifting read which was just what I needed.

Firstly the two main characters in this book were absolutely brilliant. I so enjoyed slowly getting to know the two of them over the course of the book, finding more out about their past and what makes them tick. They are both quite awkward, lonely souls so it was wonderful to see their developing friendship and the affect it had on their lives. I felt very sorry for Daisy and wished I could give her a hug. She’s very socially awkward and likes things done in a certain way which initially frustrated me but as the book went on I ended up finding quite endearing.

The story has a steady pace to it and I felt there was always something going on to make me want to keep reading. There’s some quite serious subjects discussed in the book and I think it’s fair to say none of the characters have had an easy life but the author manages to balance this with some funny moments, some of which had me laughing out loud. I loved that Nate’s nicknames for things became used by other people, even Daisy despite her best intentions, and I laughed so much at what Daisy accidentally calls the dinosaur. It made the story very heartwarming to read about and I found I really liked spending time in the character’s company.

The mystery part of the story was wonderful to read about, particularly the enthusiastic updates Nate gives his son as it helps the reader see things from a child’s perspective which I thought was very clever. I absolutely loved watching the characters slow build their relationship and felt very sad when I finished the book, leaving them behind.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Trapeze for my copy of this book.

About The Author:

David Barnett is an author and journalist based in West Yorkshire. After a career working for regional newspapers he embarked upon a freelance career writing features for most of the UK national press. He is the author of the critically-acclaimed Gideon Smith series of Victorian fantasies, published by Tor Books, and teaches journalism part-time at Leeds Trinity University. David was born in Wigan, Lancashire, in 1970 and is married to Claire, also a journalist. They have two children, Charlie and Alice.

Book Synopsis:

Now I’m in charge, the gates are my gates. The rules are my rules.

It’s an incendiary moment for St Oswald’s school. For the first time in its history, a headmistress is in power, the gates opening to girls.

Rebecca Buckfast has spilled blood to reach this position. Barely forty, she is just starting to reap the harvest of her ambition. As the new regime takes on the old guard, the ground shifts. And with it, the remains of a body are discovered.

But Rebecca is here to make her mark. She’ll bury the past so deep it will evade even her own memory, just like she has done before. After all…

You can’t keep a good woman down.

A Narrow Door is available in ebook and hardback now. You can purchase your copy using the links below.

My Review:

This was a well plotted, atmospheric thriller which is somehow the first thriller I’ve read by this author.

The story is told from the point of view of Rebecca and Roy with the two characters seeming to represent the past and the future with their views which made for very interesting reading. Roy was my favourite character as I loved his enthusiasm and the way he had with his pupils which often made me smile as I read. He is quite old fashioned with some of his views and as such I wasn’t always on his side. Rebecca was a different character as she was bold and very ambitious lady who was determined to change things in the school. She has quite a dark past where a few hard hitting topics are mentioned and these helped soften her in my eyes and feel sympathetic towards her.

The mystery side of the story revolves around the discovery of the body, Who it is and what happened. Through flashbacks we learn a bit about the characters and what happened back in Rebecca’s brother was at the school. The author cleverly creates plenty of suspense through Roy and Rebecca’s discussions as well as leaving clues for the reader to try to follow. There were lots of fabulous twists and misdirection that had me changing my mind continuously over what might have happened which I always enjoy.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and would definitely like to read more thrillers from this author in future. This is the third book in the series but could easily be read as a standalone, like I did.

Huge thanks to Tracy for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Orion for my copy of this book.

About The Author:

JOANNE HARRIS is an Anglo-French author, 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. She is an honorary Fellow of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, and in 2013 was awarded an MBE by the Queen.

Good morning everyone I’m a proud mum today as I’m posting my son’s first review. Douglas is 8 and a very keen reader, particularly when the books are about magic. He decided to sit down and write a review himself for this book as he really enjoyed it.

Book Synopsis:

Best friends Dave and Albrecht are going undercover. They must disguise themselves as wizards to enter the notoriously secretive Wizarding Guild, in order to free their friends and stop the most evil wizard of them all – Terrence. Luckily, they have the perfect book to help them on their quest, the amazing, the brilliant, Wizarding for Beginners!

Wizarding For Beginners is out now in paperback. Purchase your copy using the links below.

Douglas’s Review:

The story was about a talking goat and a small dragon called Dave and they snuck into a wizard’s castle to find out what Terrence was doing, maybe something mischievous?

I like magic books because I find them interesting as magic is amazing! My biggest dream is that I can do magic in real life and really impress people. For me it was an adventure book but you might look at it differently. It was like an action-packed book with lots of funny parts.

My favourite character was the talking goat who saved everyone’s life. I liked reading about him as I found him very funny, exotic and a bit embarrassing. The dragon and the goat were great friends because they used great teamwork and had excellent confidence together as well. I related most to the dragon as I love books, plus if I was magic this would be a good book to have as I could look up ways to help my friends.

It was an amazing book to read. The title when I started reading was really exciting and the book was actually really cool and exciting, an adventure for me. I hope you enjoy it too.

About The Author:

Elys Dolan is an author and illustrator currently living and working in Cambridge. She works predominantly with ink, newfangled digital witchcraft and coloured pencils (of which she is the proud owner of 178, but can never seem to find a sharpener). When not doing pictures and making things up Elys enjoys growing cacti, collecting pocket watches and eating excessive amounts of fondant fancies.

In recent times Elys has been shortlisted for the AOI Awards, the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the Branford Boase Award and the Roald Dahl Funny Prize. She won the 2018 Laugh Out Loud Picture Book Award with Mr Bunny’s Chocolate Factory.

Good morning everyone and welcome to another addition of Music Monday. Today I’m featuring Light Pollution by the fantastic Plastic Sun. I first heard about this song through Joshua Woo’s twitch stream, where it has quickly become one of my favourite songs to request.

Light Pollution is the seventh single from Plastic Sun and was created through an improvised jam session in the rehearsal studio. It’s a song about city life, specifically London, and has a deeper meaning about escaping the franticness of a busy lifestyle and finding comfort in the ones you love . (Taken from the press release).

To try and recreate the feeling of the improved jam session the track was performed live in the studio and has overdubs on the top.
Light Pollution is being released with an additional track: Strange Parade.

You can follow Plastic Sun on social media or you can watch Josh on twitch by clicking on the links below.

How To Listen:

Plastic Sun’s Music is available to listen to on all the major streaming platforms or you can buy a copy via Bandcamp. Below I’ve linked the official lyric video for Light Pollution and a video of Josh performing the song. Check out their YouTube channel for more great videos!

Music Monday Playlist:

You can now listen to Plastic Sun and all previously featured Music Monday artists on a special playlist I’ve created on Spotify.

Thanks for reading and happy listening!

Book Synopsis:

Could one rare plant hold the key to a thousand riches?

It’s the summer of 1822 and Edinburgh is abuzz with rumours of King George IV’s impending visit. In botanical circles, however, a different kind of excitement has gripped the city. In the newly-installed Botanic Garden, the Agave Americana plant looks set to flower – an event that only occurs once every few decades.

When newly widowed Elizabeth arrives in Edinburgh to live with her late husband’s aunt Clementina, she’s determined to put her unhappy past in London behind her. As she settles into her new home, she becomes fascinated by the beautiful Botanic Garden which borders the grand house and offers her services as an artist to record the rare plant’s impending bloom. In this pursuit, she meets Belle Brodie, a vivacious young woman with a passion for botany and the lucrative, dark art of perfume creation.

Belle is determined to keep both her real identity and the reason for her interest the Garden secret from her new friend. But as Elizabeth and Belle are about to discover, secrets don’t last long in this Enlightenment city . . .

And when they are revealed, they can carry the greatest of consequences.

The Fair Botanist is published in ebook and hardback on the 5th August 2021. You can pre-order your copy using the links below.

My Review:

Ooh i really enjoyed this book. Every now and again a book comes along that you know instantly that you’ll enjoy and this allows you to just relax into the book to go wherever it takes you This book was one of those books as I thought this was a truly wonderful read. It was thoroughly absorbing and almost magical at times which I enjoyed tremendously.

Firstly I loved the two main characters, who I enjoyed spending time with throughout the book. Bella was my definite favourite though. I absolutely loved her attitude to life and her independent, firey personality especially during a time when women weren’t expected to behave like that. She’s someone I think I’d like to have known in real life as I think she’d be great fun to hang out with. Elizabeth is a very different character, especially at the beginning, she’s more demure then Bella and less worldly but it was so nice to watch their friendship develop.

The author has included some real life historical figures into the story which I thought was very clever. It was interesting to learn more about them, especially as I didn’t know much about some of them. It gave me a little thrill to see how they were woven into the story. The historical details in this book were superb too and I found it fascinating to see how different things were in Scotland, with woman enjoying more freedom then woman in England which I hadn’t realised before.

Overall I loved this book and was sad when it ended which is always a sign of a great read. The mystery side of the book was well done and helped make sure I kept turning the pages, while the wonderful characters made the story very memorable. I have kept thinking about this story long after I’ve finished reading it and will definitely be recommending it to others.

Huge thanks to Stevie Cooper for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book which I’ll be putting on my keep forever shelf.

About The Author:

Sara Sheridan is an Edinburgh-based writer of over 20 books including cosy crime noir mysteries set in 1950s Britain and historical novels based on the real-life stories of late Georgian and early Victorian explorers. She has also written non-fiction, as well as books for children.

Sara has been named one of the Saltire Society’s 365 most influential Scottish women, past and present.

Every year across the UK local libraries, in association with The Reading Agency, do a reading challenge to encourage children to keep reading over the summer. This is because children’s reading levels can drop dramatically over the summer holidays which makes it harder for them when they go back to school.

Children can choose their own books from a wide variety of different genres (including audiobook) and can set how many books they’d like to read. 6 is the recommended amount but it can be higher or lower depending on age and ability. Local libraries but on a lot of activities during this time to try and encourage the children and to help make library visits more fun.

If they complete the challenge the children will get a wrist band for their efforts and are also rewarded at school too.

Ethan’s selection:

1. Twirly Woos: Up
2. In The Castle by Anna Milbourne
3. Peppa Pig: Night Creatures
4. My First Busy Jobs
5. Busy Day: Astronaut by Dan Green
6. Play Hide & Seek with Frog
7. Making Tracks: Park

Ethan is only three so can’t read on his own yet but he can still earn himself a wristband by reading books with mum and telling the librarian all about them.

Lydia’s Selection:

1. Read it Yourself: Thumbelina
2. Bertie and the Big Balloon by Sue Graves & Helen Jackson
3. The Messy Cake by Sue Graves
4. Josie the Jewellery-Making Fairy by Daisy Meadow
5. Violet the Painting Fairy by Daisy Meadow
6. Martha the Doctor Fairy by Daisy Meadow
7. Charlotte the Sunflower Fairy by Daisy Meadow
8. Kitty the Tiger Fairy by Daisy Meadow

Lydia is five and has just starting learning to read at school. She has chosen a few books that she can read herself and a few of her favourite fairy books that she can read at bedtime with me. She has done simple reviews at school and, like her brother, is keen to do some reviews too.

Douglas’s Selection:

1. Dogs and Doctors by Elen Caldecott
2. The Rats of Meadowsweet Farm by Dick King-Smith
3. Harry’s Mad by Dick King-Smith
4. MegaStar: The Incredible Diary of Fin Spencer by Ciaran Murtagh
5. Best Babysitters Ever by Caroline Cala
6. Alien In My Bellybutton by Jimmy Mars
7. Super Stan: Trash, Bang, Wallop by Elaine Wickson
8. Super Hero School: Alien Attack by Alan MacDonald
9. Wild Friends: Elephants Never Forget

Douglas is eight so is able to read on his own. He’s always been an enthusiastic reader and really enjoying visiting the library to make his choices, which he did completely on his own. He has said that he’d like to try to write some reviews for them so hopefully I’ll have some to share soon.

What did you think of our selection? Is anyone else doing the reading challenge? Let me know in the comments below!

Book Synopsis:

From one of the most imaginative writers of her generation comes an extraordinary vision of the future.

Ven was once a holy man, a keeper of ancient archives. It was his duty to interpret archaic texts, sorting useful knowledge from the heretical ideas of the Burning Age – a time of excess and climate disaster. For in Ven’s world, such material must be closely guarded, so that the ills that led to that cataclysmic era can never be repeated.

But when the revolutionary Brotherhood approaches Ven, pressuring him to translate stolen writings that threaten everything he once held dear, his life will be turned upside down. Torn between friendship and faith, Ven must decide how far he’s willing to go to save this new world, and how much he is willing to lose.

Notes from the Burning Age is the remarkable and captivating new novel from the award-winning Claire North that puts dystopian fiction in a whole new light.

Notes From A Burning Age is available in ebook and hardback now. You can purchase your copy using the links below.

My Review:

I’m a huge fan of this author, so a new book is always cause for great excitement. Once again the author has written a highly imaginative, compelling and thought provoking read which I really enjoyed.

Firstly the thing that always strikes me about this author is her amazing imagination. She just has this ability to create these fantastic worlds which are great fun to explore and spend time in. I found this world particularly fascinating as it seemed to be both post apocalyptic but also similar to the world we live in now. Whatever happened, the technological advances have been kept with things like text messages and Twitter mentioned in the book which I thought very interesting.

As always with this author there are some hidden meanings behind the story which I found very thought provoking and it was very enjoyable to unlock these from the narrative. This time it’s about caring about our environment which is obviously a very current issue. Throughout the book the author describes what might happen if we don’t start learning from our mistakes. I liked the way she did this, weaving it subtly into the story without seeming preachy.

This book was part thriller, part dystopian with a great pace to it which kept me turning the pages as I had to know what would happen next. There were lots of twists that kept me guessing and also a few funny moments that made me smile. The descriptions of the music concert with the Beatless and Beyondsee being a particular highlight. It did take me a little while to get used to the characters and the different organisations but once I had it sorted I was hooked! I definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves thrillers or dystopian fiction as I think they’d enjoy this book too.

Huge thanks to Tracy Fenton for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Orbit for my copy of this book.

About The Author:

Claire North is a pseudonym for British author Catherine Webb. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August was her first novel published under the Claire North name, and was one of the fastest-selling new SFF titles of the last ten years. It was selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club, the Radio 2 Book Club and the Waterstones Book Club promotions. Her next novel Touch was published in 2015 to widespread critical acclaim and was described by the Independent as ‘little short of a masterpiece’. Catherine currently works as a theatre lighting designer and is a fan of big cities, urban magic, Thai food and graffiti-spotting. She lives in London. Find her on Twitter as @ClaireNorth42.

Book Synopsis:

Kieran Elliott’s life changed forever on a single day when a reckless mistake led to devastating consequences. The guilt that haunts him still resurfaces during a visit with his young family to the small coastal town he once called home.

Kieran’s parents are struggling in a community which is bound, for better or worse, to the sea that is both a lifeline and a threat. Between them all is his absent brother Finn.

When a body is discovered on the beach, long-held secrets threaten to emerge in the murder investigation that follows. A sunken wreck, a missing girl, and questions that have never washed away…

The Survivors is available in ebook and hardback now. You can purchase your copy using the links below.

Book Synopsis:

I’m a huge fan of this author and always get very excited when I hear she has a new book out, waiting until I have lots of free time so I can enjoy it properly. I was not disappointed as I thought this was another absorbing, atmospheric read which I thoroughly enjoyed.

The thing I alway love about this author is her ability to draw the reader into the story and the setting so that the reader feels they are actually there following the action alongside the characters. The descriptions of the town were very vivid and helped me to imagine it in my mind. It’s certainly a beautiful place and one that I think I’d love to visit. I was especially intrigued by the caves and would love to have explored them myself to see what’s down there. The sky in the story, with the storm that’s threatening helped to add to the atmosphere in the story I felt as there was always a sense something was going to happen.

The story starts at a steady pace but steadily increases as the story goes on. I really enjoyed the gradual unravelling of the story which helped keep me guessing as to what happened. Just when I thought I had figured it out something would happen to make doubt creep in and send the story in a different direction. I was absolutely convinced I had figured it out at one point but was proven wrong at the end.

I thought the ending was brilliant very emotional and quite poetic in a way. It definitely left it’s mark on me and I’ve continued thinking about it long after reading. This is the author’s fourth book and I can’t wait to read more in the future.

Huge thanks to Little Brown publishers for my copy of this book via netgalley.

About The Author:

Jane Harper is the author of the international bestsellers The Dry, Force of Nature and The Lost Man. Her books are published in more than forty territories worldwide, and The Dry has been released as a major film in Australia starring Eric Bana. Jane has won numerous top awards including the CWA Gold Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel, the British Book Awards Crime and Thriller Book of the Year, the Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year and the Australian Indie Awards Book of the Year. Jane worked as a print journalist for thirteen years both in Australia and the UK and now lives in Melbourne.