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.

Good morning everyone and happy Saturday.  I was tagged by the lovely @nothing.beats.a.good.book to share a wonky one word stack.

❤️ Butter by Asako Yuzuki
🧡Teddy by Emily Dunlay
💛Tuga by Francesca Segal
💚Medea by Rosie Hewitt
💙Diva by Daisy Goodwin
🩵Wife by Charlotte Mendelson
💜 Clean by Alia Trabucco Zerán
🩷Birding by Rose Ruane
💞 Scaffolding by Lauren Elkin
🤍 Extinction by Douglas Preston
🩶 Redemption by Jack Jordan

All of these are tbr apart from Diva which I read as part of a Tandem Read-along last month.

We’ve had a busy day today.  My eldest had a playdate with one of his close friends this morning but my youngest stayed home with us as he was up all night with a high temperature and sore head.  My daughter had a swimming lesson this morning but we’ve had a quiet afternoon not chilling on the sofa since due to my youngest being poorly. In between everything else we’re going to be starting to get ready for our holiday next week.

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

What have you been up to today?

Good afternoon everyone I’m excited to be on the cover reveal for The Silence In Between today.

I’m a huge fan of historical fiction especially if it features a period of history that I don’t know much about. I’ve not read much about the Berlin Wall before so I’m very intrigued by the concept of this book. It sounds really good and I can’t wait to read it soon.

Huge thanks to Eloise from Doubleday for sending me a copy of this book.

Out 20th June 2024.

Now available to request on netgalley!

Book Synopsis:

Imagine waking up and a wall has divided your city in two. Imagine that on the other side is your child…

Lisette is in hospital with her baby boy. The doctors tell her to go home and get some rest, that he’ll be fine.

When she awakes, everything has changed. Because overnight, on 13 August 1961, the border between East and West Berlin has closed, slicing the city – and the world – in two.

Lisette is trapped in the east, while her newborn baby is unreachable in the west. With the streets in chaos and armed guards ordered to shoot anyone who tries to cross, her situation is desperate.

Lisette’s teenage daughter, Elly, has always struggled to understand the distance between herself and her mother. Both have lived for music, but while Elly hears notes surrounding every person she meets, for her mother – once a talented pianist – the music has gone silent.

Perhaps Elly can do something to bridge the gap between them. What begins as the flicker of an idea turns into a daring plan to escape East Berlin, find her baby brother, and bring him home….

Based on true stories, The Silence in Between is a page-turning, emotional epic that will stay with you long after you finish reading.

About The Author:

Born in Sweden to a family of writers and readers, Josie Ferguson moved to Scotland when she was two. She returned to Sweden in her twenties, where she completed a vocational degree in Clinical Psychology (MSc). Upon graduating, she moved to London to pursue a career in publishing, something she had dreamed about since delving into fictional worlds as a child, hidden under the duvet with a torch.

She later moved to Asia in search of an adventure and a bit more sun and currently works as a freelance book editor in Singapore, where she lives with her husband and two young children. While training to become a clinical psychologist, Josie learned about the complexity of human nature, something she explores as a writer. She believes books about the past can change the future and she aspires to write as many as possible. The Silence in Between is her debut.