Good morning everyone and happy Saturday! Here are some of the books I’m hoping to read this January:
❤️Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge by Lizzie Pook 🧡The House Of Broken Bricks by Fiona Williams 💛One Love by Matt Cain 💚 Piglet by Lottie Hazel 💙Legends And Lattes 🩵The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen 💜Anna O by Matthew Blake 💟The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose 🩷One Of The Good Guys by Araminta Hall 💞 Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross 🤍 Death On The Lusitania by R L Graham 🩶Holmes, Marple & Poe by James Patterson & Brian Sitts 🖤The Woman On The Ledge by Ruth Mancini 🤎The Book Of Doors by Gareth Brown
I’m not going to get through all of these but as a huge mood reader it’s nice to have options! Out of these I’m hoping to read Piglet and One Of The Good Guys first as I’ve heard lots about them.
Today I’m hoping for a quiet morning as my youngest two are back at clubs this morning so I should be able to sneak in some reading as my eldest will be playing on his Xbox. I’m currently reading Godkiller by Hannah Kaner which I’m really enjoying and When I Sing, Mountains Dance as part of my #24countriesin2024 challenge. I’m not sure how I feel about it yet but it’s definitely different!
What January read are you most looking forward to?
Good morning everyone I’m taking part in the 24 Countries In 2024 challenge this year. The idea is to read 24 books set in 24 different countries during year. I’m looking forward to getting out of my comfort zone and trying out different books then I’d normally read.
I have got a tentative list of books I’m thinking of reading as part of this challenge but it’s subject to change as I’m a bit of a mood reader. You can see my current list in my stories.
If you have any recommendations do let me know!
My first two books for this challenge:
Days At The Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa (Japan 🇯🇵)
The Japanese bestseller: a tale of love, new beginnings, and the comfort that can be found between the pages of a good book.
When twenty-five-year-old Takako’s boyfriend reveals he’s marrying someone else, she reluctantly accepts her eccentric uncle Satoru’s offer to live rent-free in the tiny room above his shop.
Hidden in Jimbocho, Tokyo, the Morisaki Bookshop is a booklover’s paradise. On a quiet corner in an old wooden building, the shop is filled with hundreds of second-hand books. It is Satoru’s pride and joy, and he has devoted his life to the bookshop since his wife left him five years earlier.
Hoping to nurse her broken heart in peace, Takako is surprised to encounter new worlds within the stacks of books lining the shop.
And as summer fades to autumn, Satoru and Takako discover they have more in common than they first thought. The Morisaki bookshop has something to teach them both about life, love, and the healing power of books.
Quirky, beautifully written, and movingly profound, Days at the Morisaki Bookshop will appeal to readers of Before The Coffee Gets Cold, The Cat Who Saved Books, and anyone who has had to recover from a broken heart.
A Winter In New York by Josie Silver (USA🇺🇲)
Where better to start again than New York?
Iris arrives in the city of dreams, intent on restarting her culinary career, and leaving her recent heartache behind.
Wandering the streets at a famous food festival, Iris feels like she’s living in a movie. Then she stumbles upon a gelateria that looks strangely familiar. Inside, she meets Gio: a perfect leading man with an irresistible smile – and a crisis of his own.
As fate would have it, Iris is the one person with the answer to his problem. She just can’t tell him that . . .
So, can Iris finally let go of the past – and let herself fall in love?
Mummy has always loved Christmas. Sure, the kids turn into demons, the dinner gets burnt to a crisp and Aunt Louisa’s general staggering inappropriateness sends Mummy reaching for the nearest maximum-strength festive tipple, but nevertheless, for her, Christmas is always special.
This year, she wants nothing more than to perfectly fig up the pudding and sit by the fire reading aloud from A Christmas Carol to a rapt, rosy-cheeked audience. But, just like all Mummy’s best-laid plans, this year’s Festive Vision is in danger of being totally derailed by her chaotic family. There’s not much chance of any action under the mistletoe, and the kids are just not playing ball.
Can Mummy find her silver lining after all and bring the whole family together for one moment of harmony, so they can finally proclaim ‘Verily You Are the Queen of Christmas’? Or should she get stuck into the festive spirits and just let it all go?
My Review:
Why Mummy Drinks At Christmas is a funny, relatable book that makes you feel better about your own parenting experiences.
Firstly I have been a huge fan of this series from the start and have enjoyed following the family through all their ups and downs. The story is told from the present day as Mummy tries to come to terms with the possibility of a Christmas without the kids and through a series of flashbacks detailing Christmases past. As a mum of three I found this book hugely relatable and often found myself laughing out loud from all of their Christmas experiences. I did find the book unexpectedly emotional too as it made me think about Christmas’s in the future when my kids might not be around. It definitely made me want to embrace the chaos of Christmas more while I could.
I thought this book had a great pace to it and even in the quieter bits I was just happy reliving Christmas with the family and glad that the chaos described wasn’t happening to me for once. This book had a lovely message to it that it’s best not to try and get to stressed about Christmas or to stop making it too perfect as it will never happen as you think.
Huge thanks to Indie Thinking and Harper Collins for my copy of this book which was perfect for curling up with over the festive period.
About The Author:
Gill Sims is the author of the hugely successful parenting blog and Facebook site ‘Peter and Jane’. Her first book,Why Mummy Drinks, was the bestselling hardback fiction debut of 2017, spending over six months in the top ten of the Sunday Times bestsellers chart, and was shortlisted for Debut Novel of the Year in the British Book Awards. The four Why Mummy titles have sold nearly a million copies across all formats to date and are published in eighteen territories worldwide.
She lives in Scotland with her husband, two children and two Border terriers, because apparently one terrier didn’t cause her enough trouble.
Gill’s interests include drinking wine, wasting time on social media, trying and failing to recapture her lost youth and looking for one of the dogs when he decides to go on one of his regular jaunts, while trying to stop the other one eating unspeakable things.
Good morning everyone and happy Wednesday. I’m taking part in the 24 in 2024 challenge where you have to read 24 books that have been on your tbr list for ages. Here are the books I’m hoping to finally read this year:
❤️ Talking At Night by Claire Daverley 🧡Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree 💛Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano 💚The Good Liars by Anita Frank 💙Tom Lake by Ann Pratchett 🩵The Square Of Sevens by Laura Shepherd -Robinson 💜The Stargazers by Harriet Evans 💟The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon 🩷 Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross 💕Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson 🤍 Starling House by Alix E Harrow 🩶 Good Material by Dolly Alberton 🤎A Haunting In The Arctic by CJ Cooke ❤️In Bloom by Eva Verde 🧡What You Are Looking For Is In The Library by Michiko Aoyama 💛 Curious Tides by Pascale Lavelle 💚Beartown by Fredrik Backman 💙A Quiet Contagion by Jane Desmond 🩵The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern 💜 Assistant To The Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer 💟The Salt Path by Raynor Winn 🩷Joan by Katherine J Chen 💕Geneva by Richard Armitage 🤍The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
I might change some of these as I realised I’d missed a few that I wanted to read like A Terrible Kindness, When We Were Villains, The Secret History and Station Eleven so if I read those instead I’m still counting it 🤣
I’m also taking part in the 24 countries in 2024 challenge and might use some of these for that challenge too (evil laugh).
Have you read any of these? Which one would you read first?
Good morning everyone! Today on Two For Tuesday I’m featuring my two favourite books of 2023.
🩷In Memoriam by Alice Winn
A beautiful, gripping love story set among the horrors of WW2. I absolutely loved this book when I read it and often recommend it when customers ask for book suggestions at the shop. I’ve gone on about it so much that one of my colleagues is going to buy it when it comes out in paperback so she can see what I’m going on about 🤣
💞You Don’t Have To Be Mad To Work Here by Dr Benji Waterhouse
This is a memoir of a psychiatrist working in the NHS. The reader follows Benji throughout his career as a psychiatrist with each chapter dedicated to a patient he treated. I found it fascinating to learn more about the role of a psychiatrist and more about mental illness in general. Benji’s relaxed writing style made the book easy to read and I loved his ability to poke fun at himself for his mistakes. This book is out in May 2024 and I highly recommend reading it.
As it’s a favourites post I thought I’d also feature my pumpkins again as they were a favourite photo prop last year!
Good morning everyone! I hope you all had a great New Years Eve. We had a quiet night at home with grandparent’s playing a few of the games the kids got at Christmas, including Monopoly which got interesting as everyone was surprisingly competitive.
I thought I’d share a few bookish New Year’s Resolutions that I’m hoping to stick to this year:
Read for fun! It’s OK to DNF a book
Don’t panic if you feel you are not reading a book fast enough – you can always post other bookish content.
Try not to take on too many blog tours/ read-a-longs. Remember you’ve enjoyed reading what you fancy.
Remember to update Goodreads
Listen to more audiobooks
Try not to buy too many books (probably not going to happen)
Do more reels on Instagram as you enjoy them and don’t worry about the views!
There are so many great books coming out this year and I’m so excited to read them all. I have quite a few January books to read which I’ll be sharing later this week and I’m hoping to be more disciplined with my reading so I get to read them all!
Good morning everyone and Happy New Year for later! I can’t believe it’s the end of another year. I’d like to take the opportunity to thank everyone again for all their support this year. I started this blog just under 7 years ago, never thinking that I’d get one follower never mind the amount I’ve managed to gain on the various platforms I’m on.
Here are some of the fantastic books I received before Christmas:
The Trade Off by Sadie Jones
Holmes, Marple and Poe by James Patterson and Brian Sittis
The Widow’s Choice by Nancy Revell
One Last Breath by Ginny Myers Sain
The Hunter by Tina French
Every Move You Make by C.L Taylor
Quint by Robert Lautner
The Hidden Queen by Peter V Brett
Five Bad Deeds by Caz Frear
Anna O by Matthew Blake
The Principle Of Moments by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson
Fruit Of The Dead by Rachel Lyon
The Philosophy Of Love by Rebecca Ryan
As you can see from this pile i’m a bit of an eclectic reader and tend to read a variety of different books. I’m so excited to read all of these soon as they all sound really good. Huge thanks to all the publicist’s for sending me copies of these books and to the lovely Claire from Always Need More Books for my giveaway win of Holmes, Marple and Poe.
Good morning everyone and happy New Year’s Eve Eve (is that a thing?).
I read Wanderlust by Elle Everhart earlier this year and absolutely loved travelling around all the different countries with the characters. One of the standout parts was the character’s visit to Japan which sounded like an amazing country and has just increased my determination to get there.
When I heard about Abroad In Japan I was immediately intrigued as I wanted to learn more about what it was like living there and to live precariously through someone else. I’ve heard lots of great things about this book so I’m excited to read it soon.
Has a book ever made you want to visit a country? If so which one?
Wanderlust by Elle Everhart
Two rivals. Seven countries. Could this be their chance to fall in love?
Dylan Coughlan has just won a trip around the world. The catch? Her travel partner is a random contact from her phone.
And it’s Jack ‘the Posho’, the man she accidentally ghosted. The two couldn’t be more different, and as the trip kicks off, Jack seems like he’d sooner fling himself into the sun than have a conversation with Dylan which does not bode well for her travel blog. She has to create a hit column documenting her travels…and her love life.
Dylan’s willing to do anything, even if it means embellishing her budding relationship. But as the column’s popularity grows, so does the bond between Dylan and Jack. There’s no denying the fire burning between them.
Will Dylan finally let her heart take flight or will she and Jack come down to Earth with a bump?
The glorious sizzling TikTok rom com perfect for fans of Emily Henry, Ali Hazelwood and Tessa Bailey.
Abroad In Japan by Chris Broad
When Englishman Chris Broad landed in a rural village in northern Japan he wondered if he’d made a huge mistake. With no knowledge of the language and zero teaching experience, was he about to be the most quickly fired English teacher in Japan’s history?
Abroad in Japan charts a decade of living in a foreign land and the chaos and culture clash that came with it. Packed with hilarious and fascinating stories, this book seeks out to unravel one the world’s most complex cultures.
Spanning ten years and all forty-seven prefectures, Chris takes us from the lush rice fields of the countryside to the frenetic neon-lit streets of Tokyo. With blockbuster moments such as a terrifying North Korean missile incident, a mortifying experience at a love hotel and a week spent with Japan’s biggest movie star, Abroad in Japan is an extraordinary and informative journey through the Land of the Rising Sun.
I’ve made 3000 followers on Instagram and, as promised, I have a giveaway to celebrate.
I have one of these beautiful Yoshi book keyrings to giveaway to one lucky winner. There are lots of different options available and the winner can choose which one they’d like.
To enter: ❤️ Follow me on Instagram (don’t follow to unfollow it’s mean) 💛Comment on the post with your favourite book of 2023 💚Tag 3 friends 💜For an extra entry share to your Instagram story tagging me so I can see it for 24 hours
Giveaway closes at 17h00 on the 1st January 2024. The winner must be willing to share their address and I will contact them from THIS account only. Giveaway on Instagram only. Link to my profile below.
Good luck everyone and thank you for all your support!
Good morning everyone, it’s not too late for a Christmas challenge right? I hope not as I have a Christmas Carol Challenge for you today. I saw this on Instagram and knew I had to join in.
🎄 The Ghost Of Christmas Past (a book you’ve loved this year)
I’ve had a really good reading year and have read some fantastic books. The two that stand out for me though are In Memoriam by Alice Winn and The Perfect Golden Circle by Benjamin Myers. Both of these are books I recommend often to others and are on my list for the best books I’ve ever read.
👻 The Ghost Of Christmas Present (A book I’m currently reading)
I’m currently reading two books at the moment which are very different to each other. Why Mummy Drinks At Christmas by Gill Sims and Godkiller by Hannah Kaner. I had planned to just read the Gill Sims book which I’m finding a fun easy read but whilst browsing in the book shop I read a little bit of Godkiller and was immediately hooked. When I got home I searched out my copy and couldn’t stop reading it.
🎁 The Ghost Of Christmas Future (A book I’m looking forward to reading)
There’s so many amazing sounding books coming out on 2024 that I’m excited for but these two are probably the two I’m most looking forward to. I was a huge fan of Jo Callaghan’s first book, In The Blink Of An Eye, so I can’t wait to read more in the series. The Book Of Doors is a book I’ve been hearing lots about and I’m hoping to read it very soon as I’m very intrigued.
What book or books are you most looking forward to next year?
Over The Rainbow Blog 