Good morning everyone and happy Saturday. I was lucky enough to receive a copy of The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce this week.

She’s one of my favourite authors so you can imagine my squeals when I opened it at the shop- much to the amusement of our customers who immediately wanted to know what book had got me so excited.

Huge thanks to the lovely Alison Barrow and Doubleday for sending me a copy of this book. I can’t wait to read it!

The Homemade God is out on the 17th April 2025 and you can find out more about the book below.

Are you a fan of Rachel Joyce? What’s your favourite book she’s written?

Book Synopsis:

There is a heatwave across Europe.

Goose and his three sisters gather at the family’s house by Lake Orta in Piedmont, Italy. Their father, a famous artist, has recently remarried a much younger woman and decamped to Italy to finish his masterpiece. Now he is dead. And when they arrive there is no sign of his new wife or his final painting.

Alhough the siblings have always been close, the things they learn that summer – about themselves, their father and their new stepmother – will drive them apart before they can come to any kind of understanding of what their father’s legacy truly is.

Wonderfully atmospheric and suspenseful, this is at heart a novel about family, about sibling relationships: what holds a family together and what might fracture it forever.

About The Author:

Rachel Joyce is the author of the Sunday Times and international bestsellers The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Perfect, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, The Music Shop, and the New York Times bestseller Miss Benson’s Beetle, as well as a collection of interlinked short stories, A Snow Garden & Other Stories. Her books have sold over 5 million copies worldwide, and been translated into thirty-six languages. Two are currently in development for film.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book prize and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Rachel was awarded the Specsavers National Book Awards ‘New Writer of the Year’ in December 2012 and shortlisted for the ‘UK Author of the Year’ 2014.

Rachel has also written over twenty original afternoon plays and adaptations of the classics for BBC Radio 4, including all the Bronte novels. She lives with her family near Stroud.

Book Synopsis:

Three first dates and an art-world mystery – it’s going to be a busy Christmas for Darcy. All I Want for Christmas is a cosy winter romance from Karen Swan, author of Christmas By Candlelight.

Can she find love this Christmas?

Christmas in Copenhagen is a magical time of year but Darcy Cotterell isn’t feeling festive. Newly single, again, she’s not even going home for Christmas. Instead she will be spending her holiday finishing her art history PhD. Her best friend, Freja, has other ideas. She signs Darcy up to a dating app, determined that she won’t be lonely this Christmas.

Darcy agrees to three dates – but her mind is on work, not play: an unknown portrait by Denmark’s greatest painter has been found and she is tasked with identifying the woman in the painting. During her research, she encounters sexy, arrogant lawyer Max Lorensen – who happens to be bachelor number one! The attraction is instant but, knowing they must work together, they abandon the match. Or try to. But their feelings are undeniable – until Darcy discovers Max has an agenda . . .

My Review:

All I Want For Christmas is a gorgeously festive, absorbing book which is perfect for reading this festive season.

Firstly having grown up in Germany I’ve always loved how European cities look at Christmas and especially the wonderful Christmas markets they have there so this book instantly appealed to me. The author has done a great job of creating some fantastic characters who I enjoyed getting to know throughout the book. My favourite characters were definitely Darcy and her fabulous best friend Freya. I loved how real Darcy seemed and how, even though I really liked her as a character, I also found her incredibly frustrating at times.

I thought this book had two storylines running through it. One was the slow burn romance between Darcy and Max which was fun watching develop. I wasn’t too sure about Max to begin with and my opinion kept changing as the story went on. I liked that the author wasn’t scared to play with the readers emotions and that a happy ending wasn’t necessarily guaranteed. The other part of the story was a mystery surrounding a lost painting which I found fascinating to follow, particularly as I enjoyed learning about the history behind the artwork.

Overall, as you can probably guess, I really enjoyed this book and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone wanting a great festive read. There were a lot of surprising twists that kept me guessing and I loved watching the two storylines slowly reach a satisfying conclusion.

Huge thanks to Chloe from Pan Macmillan for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book.

About The Author:

Karen Swan is the Sunday Times Top Three and international best-selling author. Her novels sell all over the world and she writes two books each year – one for the summer period and one for the Christmas season. Her books are known for their evocative locations and Karen sees travel as vital research for each story. She loves to set deep, complicated love stories within twisting plots.

The Last Summer is the first book in her five-book historical series called The Wild Isle Girls, set around the dramatic evacuation of the Scottish island St Kilda in the summer of 1930. It was partly inspired by Karen’s Scottish roots: her father’s family came from Skye, moving to Fort William where Karen was christened and where many of her family still live. Her childhood memories are full of Christmases, Hogmanay and summer holidays spent in the Highlands and she was married there in 2001.

She lives in Sussex with her husband, three children and two dogs.

Visit Karen’s author page on Instagram @swannywrites, Facebook, and Twitter @KarenSwan1.

Good evening everyone I hope had a great Wednesday. I was lucky enough to be sent a copy of this fabulous looking book. I’ve read and loved all of her previous books so I’m very excited to read this book.

Huge thanks to @viper.books for sending me a copy of this book. I can’t wait to read it.

This book is out today the 17th October and you can swipe to see the synopsis.

Have you been to London? What’s your favourite to thing to visit?

Book Synopsis:

He looked as if he had just received some very bad news. In that he was certainly right, for he was perfectly and incontrovertibly dead…

London, 1774. Susan Bell spends her days within the confines of Westminster Abbey, one of many who live in the grounds of the ancient building. Her father, the kindly Dean of Westminster, is always busy keeping the many canons and vergers in check, when not being romantically pursued by forceful widows. Life at the abbey is uneventful, even after the unwelcome arrival of Susan’s cousin Lindley and his unusual scientific demonstrations. That is until the Society of Antiquaries come armed with a letter from King George III, demanding to open the tomb of Edward I.

As the Society prepares to open the tomb, a ghostly figure is seen walking the abbey cloisters, wearing the crown and shroud of the dead king. Then there is further uproar when one of the Antiquaries is found viciously murdered, and the corpse of Edward I is stolen. With her father’s position under threat from the scandal, Susan feels duty-bound to investigate these strange occurrences. Could one of the Society members be harbouring a murderous secret? Or is one of the abbey’s own a killer?

The new historical mystery from the bestselling author of Black Drop, Blue Water and Scarlet Town. Perfect for readers of Andrew Taylor, Laura Shepherd-Robinson and S.J. Parris.

About The Author:

Leonora Nattrass lectured on the literature and politics of the 18th century for almost ten years before running away to Cornwall, where she now lives in a seventeenth-century house with seventeenth-century draughts and knits the wool of her small flock of Ryeland sheep into complicated jumpers.

Her first novel, Black Drop, was a Times Book of the Year and her second, Blue Water, was a Waterstones Thriller of the Month, shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger and longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. Her third, Scarlet Town was a Telegraph book of the year and shortlisted for the CWA historical dagger.

Book Synopsis:

Anna Deerin moves to a remote Cotswold cottage to become a gardener, trying to strip away everything she’s spent all her life as a woman striving for, craving the anonymity and privacy her new off-grid life provides.

But when she clears the last vegetable bed and digs up not twigs but bones, the outside world is readmitted.

With it comes Detective Inspector Hitesh Mistry, who has his own reasons for a new start in the village of Upper Magna.

Drawn in spite of herself to this unknown woman from another time, Anna is determined to uncover her identity and gain recognition for her, if not justice.

As threats to Anna and her new life grow closer, she and DI Mistry will find that this murder is inextricably bound up with issues of gender, family, community, race and British identity itself – all as relevant in decades past as they are to Anna today.

My Review:

I really enjoyed this atmospheric, intriguing mystery which I can’t believe is a debut novel.  

The story is told from the point of view of Anna a gardener and Hitesh a Detective Inspector recently arrived in the village in the present day.  Their story is interspersed with a diary like entry from the daughter of Fallow Hall in 1967.  I really like both Anna and Hitesh and enjoyed learning more about their backstory as the book continues.  I found Anna’s job as a gardener particularly interesting as I loved the wonderfully vivid descriptions of what she grows and how she makes everything into produce to sell at the local market.  Hitesh was another fascinating character, and it was lovely watching him become integrated into village life- particularly with his heart warming friendship with the local vicar.  

I thought the book had a gentle pace to it and I enjoyed finding out more about village life as well as the history of the hall.  The relationship and power dynamics between the villagers was interesting to unpick as there was definitely more lurking beneath the surface than I initially realised.  I did guess who the victim was fairly early on, but I actually think that was the authors intention and there is enough uncertainty over who it might be that I had to keep reading to find out if I was right.  The twist at the end was very clever as the reader discovers more about the murky history of the hall and why the victim was murdered.  I must admit that it took me a bit my surprise as I had many theories but had been unable to guess.  

Overall as you can probably guess I enjoyed this book and will be recommending it to people who might like a gentle, cosy mystery involving a very interesting house.  I look forward to reading more from her in the future.  

About The Author:

Born and raised in South Gloucestershire, Bonnie Burke-Patel studied History at Oxford. After working for half a decade in politics and policy, she changed careers and became a preschool teacher, before beginning to write full time. She lives with her husband, son, and needy cat in south east London, and is working on her next crime novel about fairy tales, desire, and the seaside.

Good morning everyone and happy Tuesday. I’ve been wanting to feature this series for a while and as there are now three books in the series, it’s perfect for a Three For Tuesday Post!

The series in order is:
🎃The Pumpkin Spice Cafe
🍪The Cinnamon Bun Bookshop
🌲The Christmas Tree Farm

I’m a huge fan of this series so having two books published in quick succession has been brilliant! I’ve already read The Cinnamon Bun Bookshop which I really enjoyed (I mean it includes a bookish treasure hunt what’s not to love?!) and I’m hoping to read The Christmas Tree Farm very soon. I have a few Halloween books I want to read first before I start on Christmas books.

If you’re a fan of romance books that somehow manage to be cosy and spicy then I think you’ll love this series!

It’s my eldest son’s 12th birthday today and, as luck would have it, he has a half day off school ! I’m working this morning so my mum is picking him up and meeting me at the bookshop so we can take him out for lunch. I’m really looking forward to spending some quality time with him as it sadly doesn’t happen much. I’ll post a picture of his impressive tbh pile later!

Do you read romance books? Any recommendations for me?

All these books are out now and you can find out more about the books below ⬇️

The Pumpkin Spice Cafe

When Jeanie’s aunt gifts her the beloved Pumpkin Spice Café in the small town of Dream Harbor, Jeanie jumps at the chance for a fresh start away from her very dull desk job.

Logan is a local farmer who avoids Dream Harbor’s gossip at all costs. But Jeanie’s arrival disrupts Logan’s routine and he wants nothing to do with the irritatingly upbeat new girl, except that he finds himself inexplicably drawn to her.

Will Jeanie’s happy-go-lucky attitude win over the grumpy-but-gorgeous Logan, or has this city girl found the one person in town who won’t fall for her charm, or her pumpkin spice lattes…

The Pumpkin Spice Cafe is a cozy romantic novel with a grumpy x sunshine dynamic, a small-town setting and a HEA guaranteed!

The Cinnamon Bun Bookshop

When a secret message turns up hidden in a book in the Cinnamon Bun Bookstore, Hazel can’t understand it. As more secret codes appear between the pages, she decides to follow the trail of clues… she just need someone to help her out.

Gorgeous and outgoing fisherman, Noah, is always up for an adventure. And a scavenger hunt sounds like a lot of fun. Even better that the cute bookseller he’s been crushing on for months is the one who wants his help!

Hazel didn’t go looking for romance, but as the treasure hunt leads her and Noah around Dream Harbor, their undeniable chemistry might be just as hot as the fresh-out-of-the-oven cinnamon buns the bookstore sells…

The Christmas Tree Farm

Kira North hates Christmas. Which is unfortunate since she just bought a Christmas tree farm in a town that’s too cute for its own good.

Bennett Ellis is on vacation in Dream Harbor taking a break from his life in California. And most importantly, taking a break from his latest run of disastrous dates.

After a run in with Kira in her fields, Ben has no intention of offering to help the grumpy owner set up her tree farm, despite the fact she’s clearly got no idea what she’s doing.

Kira knows she should stop being so stubborn, but her farm is not all cute and cozy like people always show on social media, it’s borderline dangerous with no heating, and she’d rather no one saw it.

But somehow fate finds Ben at Kira’s farm once more, and as Kira watches him swing an ax at the first tree, she finds herself appreciating his strength and questioning why she refused help in the first place…

Book Synopsis:

It was only when the bones of the first devoured victims were discovered that the true nature and power of these swarming black creatures with their razor sharp teeth and the taste for human blood began to be realized by a panic-stricken city. For millions of years man and rats had been natural enemies. But now for the first time – suddenly, shockingly, horribly – the balance of power had shifted . . .

My Review:

The Rats is a chilling, gripping and thoroughly scary read that I won’t be forgetting about soon.

Firstly I’ve never been a huge fan of rats and this book really hasn’t improved my opinion of them. I think the thing that hit me most about this book is how plausible the situation described in the book could be. Rats have a history of spreading disease so mutant rats that attack humans doesn’t seem like that much of a stretch.

The author does a great job of describing 1970’s London with all the grime and class differences that were perhaps more apparent at the time. There is a lot of gory descriptions in the book which are quite graphic at times so might not be to everyone’s taste. I felt that these were in keeping with the situation though and weren’t overdone just to get a reaction however.

I thought this book has a great pace to it, though there are some much needed slower moments amongst all the chaos. The characters seemed incredibly real so I really felt for them and all they were experiencing. This made the book quite emotional at times as I wanted to ensure that all the characters were ok. The ending was very dramatic and I’m now very intrigued to read more in this series.

If you like gripping, horror stories which are perfect for spooky season than I highly recommend this book. Be aware though it’s really not for the faint hearted!

About The Author:

James Herbert was born on April 8, 1943 in East End, London, England, UK. He was a writer, known for The Unholy (2021), Deadly Eyes (1982) and The Survivor (1981). He was married to Eileen O’Donnell. He died on March 20, 2013 in Woodmancote, Henfield, West Sussex, England, UK.

Good afternoon everyone I hope you are having a good Saturday. I’m excited to be involved in a special book loop where the same book gets sent around different bloggers to annotate and write how they feel about the book.

This book arrived today having already been annotated by the author and Sally who will be reading the audiobook. I’ve not done much annotation in books so I’m looking forward to trying it with this book.

Huge thanks to Alex Harwood from @quercusbooks for sending this to me.

Out 13th February 2025!

Find out more about the book below ⬇️

Book Synopsis:

Perfect for fans of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and Remarkably Bright Creatures, this is a charming, witty and profoundly moving novel about what it feels like to grow up neurodivergent.

‘Wise and playful and tender and beautiful’ Bobby Palmer

Little Alien lives with her mum and her dad in the South-East of England. Her mum has a ‘how-to’ guide for every situation, and her dad is always kind and always right. And there is her best friend Bobby, who coincidentally has a bob.

But it is only when Little Alien sees a documentary about the Voynich Manuscript – a mediaeval codex written in an unknown language and script – that she begins to suspect that there are other people who feel just like her. Convinced that translating this manuscript will offer the answers she needs, she sets out on a journey that will show her a delicious taste of freedom.

So begins Little Alien’s story, told from the perspective of an older, wiser linguist, whose guidance will help Little Alien navigate a world that makes her feel like she doesn’t belong.

About The Author:

Alice Franklin lives and works in London. She has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Life Hacks for a Little Alien is her debut novel.

Book Synopsis:

Two adversaries. One deadly alliance. Together, can they unlock the truth? 

Sherlock Holmes and his faithful friend, Dr John Watson, have been hired by actor George Reynolds to help him solve a puzzle. George wants them to find out why the audience who comes to see him perform every night are the same people, only wearing disguises. Is something sinister going on and, if so, what?
 
Meanwhile, Holmes’ archenemy, Professor James Moriarty is having problems of his own. Implicated in the murder of a gang leader, Moriarty and his second, Moran, must go on the run from the police in order to find out who is behind the set-up.
 
But their investigation puts them in the way of Holmes and Watson and it’s not long before all four realise that they are being targeted by the same person. With lives on the line, not just their own, they must form an uneasy alliance in order to unmask the true villain. With clues leading them to a hotel in Switzerland and a conspiracy far greater than any of them expected, who can be trusted – and will anyone of them survive?

My Review:

Holmes and Moriarty is a fun, gripping read that is a must read for any Sherlock Holmes fan.  

Although the story focuses on Holmes and Moriarty it is told from the point of view of their friends Watson and Moran.  Out of the two I much preferred Watson who seemed an altogether much more likable chap to the easily offended Moran.  Watson seemed calm and collected when helping with the case whereas Moran just seemed to want to fight everyone.  Neither of the two men seemed to like or trust each other much which made for some interesting, though often amusing, situations in the story.

I though the book was a bit of a slow burn as it does start out very slowly as we learn more about George’s quite bizarre situation but soon gathers pace to become very gripping indeed.  Moriarty has long been my favourite Sherlock Holmes villain so I loved watching the two of them work together for a change.  It was fascinating to see their minds work together as the try to solve the mystery.  There were lots of surprising twists that kept me guessing along with some quite horrific moments which I will remember for a while.  Without giving much away this is definitely not a book to read if you are scared of Spiders!  

Overall I really enjoyed this book and I’m really hoping that there might be a sequel as I’d love to see Moriarty and Holms working together again.  I thought the ending was brilliant and I really enjoyed watching everything come together at the end to a very satisfying conclusion.  More please!  

About The Author:

Gareth Rubin is the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Turnglass. His other books include Liberation Square, a thriller set in Soviet occupied London, and The Winter Agent, a thriller set in Paris in 1944. He lives in London and writes about social affairs, travel and the arts for British newspapers.

Good morning everyone and happy Thursday.  I was tagged by the very inventive @nothing.beats.a.good.book to share a fancy dress stack.  The idea is to share book titles which have Halloween costumes in their titles.

🎃 Apprentice To The VILLAIN by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
🧛🏻‍♀️A WEREWOLF’s Guide To Seducing A VAMPIRE by Sarah
  Hawley
🧼The CLEANER by Mary Watson
🧌We Shall Be MONSTERS by Alyssa Wees
👹 DEVIL’s Breath by Jill Johnson
🧸 TEDDY by Emily Dunlay
🧹The COVEN by Harper L Woods
🐈‍⬛The WITCHES Of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais
👰🏻‍♀️BRIDE by Ali Hazelwood
🦂The EXAMINER by Janice Hallet
🔪A SERIAL KILLER’S Guide To Marriage by Asia Mackay
🐝 HONEYBEE by Dawn O’Porter
🧜🏻‍♀️The SIRENS by Emilia Hart

I know some of these might seem cute costume ideas but add demon in front of them and I think they’d be great Halloween costumes! I haven’t read any of these yet but I’m hopeful to get to some of them during spooky season.

I’m working over lunchtime today which is always fun as it means I’m working alongside someone which is good for a catch up. I’m meeting my friend for lunch and then my daughter has gymnastics this evening.  I’m then hoping to finish Beautiful Ugly which is my current read !

I’ve tagged a few people who might want to take part but, as always, no pressure. If I haven’t tagged you and you’d like to join in please do!

What are you dressing up as this Halloween?