Good afternoon everyone I was so excited to receive a copy of this fabulous looking book this week. I’m such a huge fan of this author so I can’t wait to read this book soon.

I’ve been wearing the lanyard at work and I’ve had lots of people commenting on it.

A Lesson In Cruelty is published on the 11th April 2024. Find out more about the book below.

Huge thanks to the lovely Rosie for sending me a copy of this book.

Book Synopsis:

They say you can’t always get what you want. But you can take it.

Anna wants a fresh start. She doesn’t believe she deserves it, but after three years behind bars she has finally paid her dues. Most of them, anyway.

Lucy craves the attention of the only man she can’t have, her alluring Oxford professor. He’s married – not for the first time. Maybe she should be next in line?

Marie the recluse has been locked up for too long. She’s not ready to be free, but some rules are meant to be broken.

Everyone wants a perfect life. But not everyone is prepared to take it.

Unless someone decides to teach them a lesson.

About The Author:

Harriet Tyce was born and grew up in Edinburgh. She graduated from Oxford in 1994 with a degree in English Literature before gaining legal qualifications. She worked as a criminal barrister for ten years, leaving after having children. She completed an MA in Creative Writing – Crime Fiction at UEA where she wrote Blood Orange, the Sunday Times bestselling novel, winner of a gold Nielsen Bestseller Award in 2021. It was followed by The Lies You Told and It Ends At Midnight, both also Sunday Times bestsellers. She lives in north London with her family and two dogs. Follow Harriet on Twitter and Instagram @harriet_tyce

Good morning everyone I hope you had a good Valentine’s Day. I realised yesterday I hadn’t done my normal Spell The Month post yet this month!

F- The FOXGLOVE King by Hannah Whitten

E- ENLIGHTENMENT by Sarah Perry

B- BIG Swiss by Jen Beagin

R- Clara READS Proust by Stéphane Carlier

U- UNLADYLIKE Lessons In Love by Anita Murray

A- ANCESTRY by Simon Mawer

R- RIVER East River West by Aube Rey Lescure

Y- YELLOW FACE by Rebecca F. Kuang

I actually misspelled February the first time and had to be corrected by my daughter. To quote Eric Morecambe I had all the right letters but not necessarily in the right order!

We have another busy day today. I’m working this morning which is always fun and it’s really busy at the moment which is really nice to see. My eldest is going bouldering with a friend and my youngest two are going to their grannies which they love. They’ve been promised croissants from the local deli so keep asking me when they’re going. Then after I’ve finished work we have friends coming over for a catch up which will be lovely.

What are your plans today?

Good evening everyone I was excited to receive a copy of Us In The Before And After by Jenny Valentine through the post this week.

It sounds really good and I can’t wait to read it soon.

Huge thanks to Sarah from Simon And Schuster for sending me a copy.

Out 6th June 2024!

Book Synopsis:

A tear-jerking, heart-breakingly beautiful novel from the award-winning Jenny Valentine, perfect for fans of Adam Silvera, Kathleen Glasgow and Laura Nowlin.

There is one side of that moment, and the other

Before

After

I have dreamed about it ever since

At the start of a long, hot summer best friends Elk and Mab face the fallout of a sudden death, and the lifelong consequences of a single tragic act.

An intensely emotional story that raises questions about love, ghosts, and the unshakeable bonds of friendship.

About The Author:

Jenny Valentine is an award winning writer for Young Adults. She moved house every two years when she was growing up and she has just moved house again, probably not for the last time. She studied English Literature at Goldsmiths College, which almost put her off reading but not quite. Her first novel Finding Violet Park won the Guardian prize in 2007 and since then she has written six more, including Broken Soup and Fire Colour One, as well as Iggy and Me, a series for younger children, and the middle grade series, A Girl Called Joy. Her work has been published in 19 countries.

In 2017 she was the Hay Festival International Fellow, spending the year meeting and learning from teenagers all over the world. She lives all over the place and has two daughters.

Book Synopsis:

2002

Danny arrives at Manchester University determined not to hide from the world any longer. This is the year his life will begin.

He locks eyes with a handsome stranger across the hall at the Freshers’ Fair. It starts with a wink and soon Danny and Guy are best friends.

2022

Now, both single for the first time in years, Danny and Guy return to the confetti-covered streets of the Gay Village for Manchester Pride.

After years of shared adventures and lost dreams, Danny finally plans to share the secret he has been keeping for two decades. He has always been in love with Guy.

Could this weekend be the end of a twenty-year friendship . . . or the start of something new and even more beautiful?

My Review:

Oh I so loved this book! It was such a heartwarming, thought provoking but funny read that I will be recommending it to everyone.

Firstly I loved the two main characters and really enjoyed following them through the book. They both seemed so real and I loved that they had flaws or hangups like everyone does as it helped endear them both to me. It was really heartwarming to see them both find themselves in university and to see them grow more comfortable in their own skin a they get older. I found it very shocking to see some of the reactions people had towards them being gay though and some of the sentiments expressed in this book made my blood boil, especially Guy’s parents who thought ‘ he would grow out of it’. It made me wish that I could go into the book and give both the boys the hug I think they both needed at times. Guy and Danny’s friendship was so lovely to follow and I loved how they always contacted each other, over anyone else, when they needed support. 

I actually went to university in 2002 so I remember this period well and I really enjoyed reliving my youth in this timeline. I went to clubs, drank wkd’s (as bottles were deemed less easy to spike) and danced along to all the music mentioned in this book. The reference to everyone wearing cargo pants made me laugh out loud as it was so true. I actually ended up listening to a lot of the music mentioned while I was reading and teaching the kids some of the dodgy dance moves to One Love by Blue.

I thought this book had a great pace to it and there always seemed to be something happening to keep me reading. Even in the slightly slower moments I just enjoying hanging out with the wonderful characters and their friends, reliving my youth precariously through them. The romance side of the story was well done and I loved watching the two grow slowly closer throughout the years. I had quickly warmed to the two of them and had to keep reading as I really wanted them to get together. 

This is the second book I’ve read by this author and in my opinion he keeps getting better and better! I’m very excited to read more from him in the future. 

Huge thanks to the lovely Joe Thomas from Headline for kindly sending me a copy of this book. If you are looking for a heartwarming, romance book to read this Valentine’s Day (or anytime) then I highly recommend this one.

About The Author:

Matt Cain is a writer, broadcaster, and a leading commentator on LGBT+ issues.

He was Channel 4’s first Culture Editor, Editor-In-Chief of Attitude magazine, has written for all the major national newspapers, and is a regular presenter on Virgin Radio Pride. He’s also an ambassador for Manchester Pride and the Albert Kennedy Trust, plus a patron of LGBT+ History Month.

Matt’s first two novels, Shot Through the Heart and Nothing But Trouble, were published by Pan Macmillan. His third, The Madonna Of Bolton, became Unbound’s fastest crowdfunded novel ever. In 2021, The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle was published by Headline Review and Becoming Ted followed in 2023.

Born in Bury and brought up in Bolton, Matt now lives in London with his husband, Harry, and their cat, Nelly.

*This post was written and posted by Joanna Park on her blog Over The Rainbow Blog. If you see it anywhere else it has been stolen*

Good morning everyone and Happy Valentine’s Day.  I thought it appropriate to share a rainbow romance stack with you today!

❤️The Runaway Heiress by Emma Orchard
🧡 Divorced (Not Dead) by Harper Ford
🧡 Unladylike Lessons In Love by Anita Murray
💛 Token by Beverly Kendall
💚 Love light Farms by B. K. Borison
🩵Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score
💜 When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein
💟 Icebreaker by Hannah Grace
💜 Business Or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon
💟The Book Of Love by Kelly Link
🩷Girl, Goddess, Queen by Bea Fitzgerald
🤍 Anatomy by Dana Schwartz
🤎King Of Greed by Ana Huang

This stack is a real mix of old favourites and books I still need to read.  I’m currently reading When Grumpy Met Sunshine and loving it so far.  I don’t think I’ve laughed so much at the beginning of a book for ages.

I’m hoping for a quiet morning with the kids before taking my daughter to a play date and then I’m working this afternoon which is always fun.  We’re getting lots of young readers in the shop as it’s half term which always makes me smile. Stu and I don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day but we’re hopefully sitting down for a nice meal later if the kids let us.

I’ve tagged a few people on Instagram who might want to share a romance stack but, as always, no pressure!

Have you got a favourite romance book?

*Please Note: This review was written by Joanna Park and posted on her blog Over The Rainbow Blog. If you see it posted elsewhere it has been stolen. 

Book Synopsis:

THEY CALL ME THE LUCKY ONE. THEY DON’T KNOW I LIED.

Nine years ago, Charlie Colbert’s life changed for ever.

On Christmas Eve, as the snow fell, her elite graduate school was the site of a chilling attack. Several of her classmates died. Charlie survived.

Years later, Charlie has the life she always wanted at her fingertips: she’s editor-in-chief of a major magazine and engaged to the golden child of the publishing industry.

But when a film adaptation of that fateful night goes into production, Charlie’s dark past threatens to crash into her shiny present.

Charlie was named a ‘witness’ in the police reports. Yet she knows she was much more than that.

The truth about that night will shatter everything she’s worked for. Just how far will she go to protect it?

My Review:

Everybody Who Could Forgive Me Is Dead is a dark, compulsive read that was surprisingly thought provoking.

Firstly I found the characters in this book very intriguing and enjoyed following them throughout the book. They were all quite unlikable characters, who all had secrets and I enjoyed slowly discovering more about them. Charlie was a particularly interesting character who I wasn’t sure how I felt about. On one hand I really felt for her as I learned more about how deeply the incident has affected her and how much it has changed her life but on the other I really didn’t know if I could trust her or her version of events. I had a very uneasy feeling about her and found I had to keep reading as I had to find out more about her.

The story is told in two timelines one following events in the current day and the other flashing back to the night in question. I thought the book started off a little slowly as the author sets the scene and we find out more about the characters but soon picks up and becomes very hard to put down. The author does a great job of cleverly withholding information from the reader until the end so I was never completely sure what was going to happen next. There were lot of surprising twists that kept me guessing and although I did guess the ending it didn’t detract from my overall enjoyment of the book.

This is author’s debut novel and I’d definitely be interested in reading more from her in the future. Huge Thanks to Beth from Little Brown for sending me a copy of this book. If you like thrillers that make you think then I highly recommend this one.

About The Author:

Hi! I’m Jenny, a writer and editor from London. My debut novel, EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD, will be published by St. Martin’s Press (US) and Little, Brown (UK) on February 6, 2024.

My work has been featured in ELLE, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Bustle, Harper’s Bazaar, and more. I spent ten years in New York, where I worked as a senior editor for Bustle and the deputy editor at Marie Claire. Now the digital director for Marie Claire, I live in London with my husband and our rescue dog, Captain. When I’m not knee-deep in Google Analytics, an edit, or a manuscript, I’m a fierce advocate for developmental coordination disorder, known in the U.K. as dyspraxia, which I was diagnosed with when I was nine.

Good morning everyone today on Two For Tuesday I’m featuring two books by the lovely Liz Hyder.

I read The Gifts a while ago and absolutely loved it so I was very excited to learn she had a new one coming out. This was particularly so as The Illusions is about the early illusionists which have always intrigued me.

I run the bookclub for Rossiter Books in Malvern and The Illusions is our February book club read. I was very excited to learn Liz lives near Malvern and she has agreed to come talk to us as our next book club! I can’t wait to learn more about her book and about the illusionists.

Q: If you could do magic, what would you use it for?
A: I’d use it to summon things to me. The amount of times I’ve left things upstairs or forgotten my tea in the kitchen when I’ve just sat down – it would be useful 🤣

The Illusions by Liz Hyder

What if you had real magic within you . . . ?

The utterly spellbinding new novel from the celebrated author of THE GIFTS

1896. As a group of illusionists prepare for a grand spectacle, one young woman, Cecily Marsden, harbours a secret. For she possesses impossible powers – powers she little understands.

Meanwhile Eadie Carleton, a pioneering early film-maker, struggles for her talent to be taken seriously, and a talented magician, George Perris, begins to see the potential in moving pictures. But in order to achieve his dreams, George must first win over Miss Carleton . . .

As Cecily, George and Eadie’s worlds collide, Cec finds herself facing the fight of her life to save the grand performance from sabotage – and harness the real magic held deep within her . . .

The Gifts by Liz Hyder

It will take something extraordinary to show four women who they truly are . . .

October 1840. A young woman staggers alone through a forest in Shropshire as a huge pair of impossible wings rip themselves from her shoulders.

Meanwhile, when rumours of a ‘fallen angel’ cause a frenzy across London, a surgeon desperate for fame and fortune finds himself in the grips of a dangerous obsession, one that will place the women he seeks in the most terrible danger . . .

THE GIFTS is the astonishing debut adult novel from the lauded author of BEARMOUTH. A gripping and ambitious book told through five different perspectives and set against the luminous backdrop of nineteenth century London, it explores science, nature and religion, enlightenment, the role of women in society and the dark danger of ambition.

About The Author:

Liz Hyder has been making up stories for as long she can remember. Bearmouth, her debut young adult novel, won a Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the Branford Boase Award, and was chosen as the Children’s Book of the Year by The Times.

The Gifts, her acclaimed debut novel for grown-ups, was published in the UK in 2022 and in April 2023 in the US. The Illusions is out in June 2023 in hardback in the UK. Liz has a degree in drama from the University of Bristol and was, once upon a time, a member of the National Youth Theatre. Originally from London, she has lived in Shropshire for over a decade.

Good afternoon everyone I hope you’re having a good day. I was lucky enough to receive a copy of The Saturday Place by Alice Peterson last week. It sounds really good and I can’t wait to read it soon.

Find out more about the book below.

Out 14th March 2024.

Book Synopsis:

Three perfect strangers who help each other to believe in love again

Holly’s husband died, and she’s lonely. She needs to do something to save herself, quickly. Next thing she knows she’s interviewing for a voluntary cooking job, surprised to be ambushed by a scruffy man who looks like he has a past.

Angus has messed up. He’s lost the respect of his family and has none for himself. If it weren’t for his brother and friend who run the café, he’d be sleeping on the streets. Angus is about ready to give up – until he meets Holly, who sparks something in him.

Then Lauren arrives from the homeless shelter. She came to London with nothing but an old train ticket, a teddy bear, and the clothes on her back. With no family, no home, no friends, she doesn’t know what love is. People scare her. She’s terrified of Angus and Holly. At first.

Each of them finds themselves in the Saturday café at a time when they need something to grab hold of. It might have to be each other…

About The Author:

I have published two non-fiction books, and ten novels, including the critically acclaimed A Song for Tomorrow, and my bestselling title, Monday to Friday Man. My latest novel, The Saturday Place, will be published by Bedford Square Publishers in March, 2024.

My writing is romantic, powerful and emotional, and my storylines always include hard-hitting and thought-provoking themes, such as addiction and disability. My next novel touches on homelessness. My protagonists often have to overcome adversity, based on my own experience of a professional tennis career cut short at the age of 18 when I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. I have never played tennis again, a sadness that will always be with me, but I have very much filled that void with writing. I am drawn to true stories and aim to write with deep compassion, empathy and humour about issues that resonate with my growing readership and that I believe have the potential of reaching and touching millions more.

I live in west London where I am currently training to be a psychotherapist. My most favourite thing is walking my best buddy, my handsome Lucas Terrier, Mr Darcy, in the park.

Good morning everyone and happy Sunday.  I’ve been lucky enough to receive some amazing book post this week:

❤️The Saturday Place by Alice Peterson
🧡 Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth
💛The Lost Paths by Jack Cornish
💚Five Nights by Rachel Wolf
💙The Amendments by Niamh Mulvey
🩵As Young As This by Roxy Dunn
💜Eliza Mace by Sarah Burton & Jem Poster
💟The Lifeline by Libby Page
🩷In Memory Of Us by Dani Atkins
💞Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Slater by Nicci French
🤍Where They Lie by Claire Coughlan
🩶 Fourteen Days by various authors

Huge thanks to all the tagged publishers for sending these to me it’s really appreciated.

I’m working today which I always enjoy, but I’m going to visit my grannie for a bit first.  She can’t hear very well any more so communication is difficult but it’s nice to see her.  I’m then hoping to come home and read some more of The Escape Room which is very intriguing so far.  Escape Rooms never really appealed to me before anyway but after reading this I’m definitely not doing one – ever!

What are your Sunday plans?

Good afternoon everyone I was very excited to receive a copy of this fantastic sounding book yesterday. I absolutely love this author’s books so I can’t wait to read her new one soon.

Huge thanks to the lovely Chloe from Pan Macmillan for sending me a copy of this book.

Out 25th April 2024

Book Synopsis:

A thrilling page-turner about sisterhood, secrets, love and murder by Sally Hepworth, the New York Times bestselling author of The Soulmate and The Mother-in-Law

It’s not just secrets buried at Wild Meadows.

For as long as they can remember, Jessica, Norah and Alicia have been told how lucky they are. Rescued from their own family tragedies, they were raised by a loving foster mother on an idyllic farming estate and given an elusive second chance for a happy family life.

But the girls’ childhood wasn’t quite the fairy tale everyone thinks it was. And when a body is discovered under the home they grew up in, the three foster sisters find themselves thrust into the spotlight as key witnesses.

It’s time for them to return home as adults. The only question is are they innocent victims or the prime suspects for murder?

With darkly comic timing and insidiously twisting plots, Sally Hepworth’s novels are guaranteed to keep you turning the pages . . .

About The Author:

Sally Hepworth is the New York Times bestselling author of nine novels, including The Good Sister and The Soulmate. Her latest novel, Darling Girls, was released in Australia in September 2023, and will be released in North America in April 2024.

Drawing on the good, the bad and the downright odd of human behaviour, Sally writes incisively about family, relationships and identity. Her domestic thriller novels are laced with quirky humour, sass and a darkly charming tone. They are available worldwide in English and have been translated into twenty languages.

Sally lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her three children and one adorable dog. She has recently taken up ocean swimming (or to put it more accurately, ocean dipping)