Good morning everyone and happy Sunday. I’ve been lucky enough to receive this fabulous looking book post this week.

⭐In The Weeds by B. K. Borison
⭐ Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong
⭐Consumed by Greg Buchanan
⭐ Someone You Know by Erin Kinsley

Most of these are for blog tours and as I’ve read books by these authors before I’ve got high hopes for these ones.

Huge thanks to the tagged publishers for my copies of these books.

Today I’m hoping for a quiet day as I’d like to read more of my book and we’re going over to my mum’s later which is always nice .

What are your Sunday plans?

In The Weeds by B. K Borison

Evelyn St. James isn’t the kind of woman you forget. Beckett Porter certainly hasn’t. One incredible weekend in Maine and he’s officially a man distracted.

So when she suddenly appears on his farm as part of a social media contest, he’s . . . confused. He had no idea that the sweet and sexy woman he met at a bar is actually a global phenomenon: social media influencer Evelyn St. James.

Feeling disconnected from her work and increasingly unhappy, Evelyn is trying to find her way back to something real. She returns to the last place she was happy – Lovelight Farms and the tiny town of Inglewild. It has absolutely nothing to do with the hot farmer she spent two incredible nights with. Nothing at all . . .

In the Weeds is the second book in a series of interconnected standalones following the three Lovelight owners.

Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong

The only way to win, is to survive.

Every year, thousands flock to San-Er, the dangerously dense capital twin cities of the kingdom of Talin, where the palace hosts a set of deadly games. Those confident in their ability to jump between bodies can enter a fight to the death – for the chance to win unimaginable riches.

Princess Calla Tuoleimi has been in hiding for five years, ever since she murdered her parents to free the people of Talin from her tyrannical family. Only one person stands in her way of finishing the job: her reclusive uncle King Kasa. However, she knows he always greets the victor of the games. If she wins, she will finally get the chance to kill him.

Enter Anton Makusa, whose childhood love has lain in a coma since they were both ousted from the palace. He’s deep in debt trying to keep her alive. Which means his last chance at saving her is entering the games and winning.

When Anton proposes an unexpected alliance with Calla, they quickly find their partnership spiraling into something all-consuming. But before the games close, Calla must decide what she’s playing for – her lover or her kingdom. For no matter what, only one of them can walk out alive . . .

#1 New York Times bestselling author Chloe Gong’s adult epic fantasy debut, inspired by Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, is a fiery collision of power plays, spilled blood, and romance amidst a set of deadly games.

Consumed by Greg Buchanan

On a lonely farmstead, a 70-year-old woman falls down outside and, unable to move, is consumed overnight by two of her pigs.

It seems like a tragic accident, except the woman was well-known photographer Sophia Bertilak – and inside her house, someone has removed all her photos from their frames, seemingly erasing her past…

The first photo Sophia ever took remains her most infamous: a missing girl who was never seen again. Forensic veterinarian Cooper Allen is drafted in for the post-mortem – and slowly becomes obsessed with the victim, her family, and the crimes she brought to light decades ago.

As Cooper pulls on a dark thread of deception, secrets and lies, she begins to unravel the case – as well as herself…

Someone You Know by Erin Kinsley

SOMEONE KILLED YOUR DAUGHTER. SOMEONE YOU KNOW…

Your daughter isn’t answering your calls.
She’s not replying to your messages.

You rush to her house.
She’s slumped in the basement, dying and alone.

You desperately call for help.
She whispers a single word: ‘pushed’.

Someone is keeping secrets.
And it must be someone you know…

Well this was some amazing book post to come home to today. I’ve heard lots of great things about this author so I’m very excited to read this book, especially as it’s the start of a brand new series.

Huge thanks to the tagged publisher for sending me a copy of this book along with this fabulous tote bag!

Have you read any of the Secret Shanghai series?

Book Synopsis:

The only way to win, is to survive.

Every year, thousands flock to San-Er, the dangerously dense capital twin cities of the kingdom of Talin, where the palace hosts a set of deadly games. Those confident in their ability to jump between bodies can enter a fight to the death – for the chance to win unimaginable riches.

Princess Calla Tuoleimi has been in hiding for five years, ever since she murdered her parents to free the people of Talin from her tyrannical family. Only one person stands in her way of finishing the job: her reclusive uncle King Kasa. However, she knows he always greets the victor of the games. If she wins, she will finally get the chance to kill him.

Enter Anton Makusa, whose childhood love has lain in a coma since they were both ousted from the palace. He’s deep in debt trying to keep her alive. Which means his last chance at saving her is entering the games and winning.

When Anton proposes an unexpected alliance with Calla, they quickly find their partnership spiraling into something all-consuming. But before the games close, Calla must decide what she’s playing for – her lover or her kingdom. For no matter what, only one of them can walk out alive . . .

1 New York Times bestselling author Chloe Gong’s adult epic fantasy debut, inspired by Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, is a fiery collision of power plays, spilled blood, and romance amidst a set of deadly games.

About The Author:

Chloe Gong is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Secret Shanghai novels, as well as the Flesh and False Gods trilogy. Her books have been published in over twenty countries and have been featured in The New York Times, People, Forbes, and more. She is a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she double-majored in English and international relations. Born in Shanghai and raised in Auckland, New Zealand, Chloe is now located in New York City, pretending to be a real adult.

You can find her on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok under @thechloegong, or visit her website at http://www.thechloegong.com.

Good afternoon everyone it’s been a while since I did a reading update so I thought I’d let you know what I’ve been reading!

⭐Last – Coming To Find You by Jane Corry

⭐ Current – God Is An Octopus by Ben Goldsmith

⭐ Current – A Perfect Golden Circle by Benjamin Myers

⭐Next – Forth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

I’m reading God Is An Octopus as part of the Tandem Collective read-along. I’m a little behind as life is getting in the way but I’m really enjoying it at the moment. As someone who’s also lost a child I’m finding it very comforting. I’m also reading A Perfect Golden Circle which is our book club choice this month. I’m actually leading the book club this month which is very exciting – though a bit nerve wracking too…

I’m then excited to start Fourth Wing which is a book I’ve heard so many good things about.

I’m working today and the kids are going to the balloon festival in Worcester which sounds interesting and hopefully to their reading group if their dad remembers.

What are you currently reading?

Good morning everyone I was lucky enough to receive a copy of this fabulous sounding book recently. I always love books that involve folk lore and that stretch my imagination so I can’t wait to read this soon.

Huge thanks to the lovely publishers for sending this to me.

Do you have a favourite folklore/ fairy tale?

Out 7th September 2023

Book Synopsis:

Twice upon a time – for that is how some stories should continue . . .

Phoebe, an eight-year-old girl, lies comatose following a car accident. She is a body without a spirit, a stolen child. Ceres, her mother, can only sit by her bedside and read aloud to Phoebe the fairy stories she loves in the hope they might summon her back to this world.
But it is hard to keep faith, so very hard.

Now an old house on the hospital grounds, a property connected to a book written by a vanished author, is calling to Ceres. Something wants her to enter, and to journey – to a land coloured by the memories of Ceres’s childhood, and the folklore beloved of her father, to a land of witches and dryads, giants and mandrakes; to a land where old enemies are watching, and waiting.

To the Land of Lost Things.

For anyone who loved THE BOOK OF LOST THINGS and for all readers who enjoy dark, beautifully written fables that explore the heart of the human condition: love, loyalty and sacrifice.

About The Author:

John was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1968 and has, at various points in his life, worked as a journalist, a barman, a local government official, a waiter and a dogsbody at Harrods department store in London. (A dogsbody, for our North American friends, is a ‘go-fer’.) He studied English in Trinity College, Dublin and journalism at Dublin City University, subsequently spending five years working as a freelance journalist for The Irish Times newspaper. He divides his time between Dublin and Portland, Maine; makes regular donations to the wine industry; and keeps a number of dogs in a remarkable degree of comfort.

Book Synopsis:

They’re your best friends.

Lucy and her husband do everything with their closest friends Cora and Scott. They’ve even bought a beach house together to enjoy summers with their kids. They’re more than friends: they’re family.

They’re hiding something.

When a colleague passes around photographs from her honeymoon in the Maldives, Lucy is shocked to see Scott in one of the pictures, his arm around another woman.

The truth will change everything.

Then news breaks that the woman from the photograph has mysteriously vanished. Why was Scott there and what is he hiding?

As Lucy looks for answers, her whole life begins to unravel. If the lies start here, where do they end?

EVERYONE IS ALREADY LOVING THE COUPLE IN THE PHOTO . . .

My Review:

The Couple In The Photo is an entertaining, easy read that I raced through in a few days.

The story starts slowly as the author describes the characters lives which helps lull the reader into thinking that everything is just mundane and ordinary. Things soon become very interesting with the discovery of the photo however and my mind was whirling with the possibilities of what it could mean- especially when it’s discovered that the lady in the photo is missing.

I couldn’t decide whether I liked the main character Lucy or not. On one hand I admired her determination to discover the truth but in the other I found her inability to let it go a bit annoying at times. I did feel for her though as it can be awful discovering that a friend isn’t like you thought they were.

The author gradually increases the tension in the book as Lucy discovers more about what happened and there’s some interesting twists that kept my reading. I did guess some of what was going on and guessed who the murderer was fairly early but I felt this didn’t detract from my enjoyment of watching the story unfold and I had to keep reading to discover whether I was right!

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

About The Author:

Helen Cooper is a writer of psychological thrillers from Derby, England.

She has taught English and Academic Writing in both Further and Higher Education and was Head of Learning Enhancement at the University of Birmingham. She has a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent University and has been published in Writers’ Forum, Mslexia, the Lincolnshire Echo and Derbyshire Life. She was shortlisted for the Bath Short Story Prize in 2014 and came third in the Leicester Writes Short Story Prize in 2018. The Downstairs Neighbour is her first novel.

Helen has also co-authored two books on academic writing for university students, ‘Where’s Your Argument?’ and ‘Using Feedback to Boost Your Grades’, published by Macmillan International and written in collaboration with Michael Shoolbred.

Good morning everyone I’ve been seeing this challenge around Instagram and I’m curious to find out if anyone likes the same books as me.

❤️10 points for every book you’ve read

💛 5 points for every book your currently reading

💚 2 points for any books on your tbr list

💔 -1 for any book you DNF’d

Comment your score below!

I found this challenge very interesting as I tend to give away my books after reading so the fact I still have these books proves I must have liked them. I would have included Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo and The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper but I think I must have lent them out as I can’t find them. If you’ve read either of those or have them on your tbr count these too!

Book Synopsis:

For Inspector Hunkeler the New Year begins with a most unwelcome phone call. He is summoned back to Basel from his holiday to unravel a gruesome killing in a gardening allotment on the city’s outskirts. An old man known as Anton Flockiger has been shot in the head and found hanging from a butcher’s hook from the roof of his garden shed – like butchers hang the carcasses of dead animals. Hunkeler must deal not only with the quarrelsome tenants of the allotment but with the challenges of investigating a murder that has taken place outside his jurisdiction, across the French border in Alsace. The case becomes increasingly mystifying when Hunkeler stumbles upon a sinister Second World War connection. What exactly happened in the Alsatian village of Ballersdorf in February 1943? And how are those events connected to the case?

My Review:

The Murder Of Anton Livius is a gripping, twisty read from a new author for me.

Firstly I really like Hunkeler who came across as a hard working, likeable character that was easy to get behind. I liked that he didn’t just take the obvious answer to his investigation and instead probes deeper until he discovers the whole truth behind the murder. He’s also a very funny guy and some of his interactions with his colleagues were hilarious to read about. They helped break up the tension at times, which was needed as some parts of the book get very intense.

The book is told in the present day but part of the investigation involves events that happened in world war two when French men were forced to enlist in the German army. I hadn’t read much about this so found it very interesting to learn more. It must have been such a hard thing to do and heartbreaking to fight for a cause you didn’t believe in.

This book had a great pace to it and I soon found myself absorbed into the story. The author does a great job of building up the tension and atmosphere in the book so it quickly becomes hard to put the book down. I liked how Hunkeler methodically works out the clues and the dead ends are slowly whittled down until the truth is revealed.

This is actually the third book in the series but it can easily be read as a standalone, like I have done, as anything you need to know is explained.

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

About The Author:

Hansjörg Schneider lives in Basel and began his professional career as a journalist and essayist.
He is the author of a number of highly acclaimed plays and of the bestselling Hunkeler crime series, now with ten titles published.

About The Translator:

Astrid Freuler lives in Lidney, Gloucestershire. She is a young translator from German and has published translations of non-fiction and fiction, including the crime thriller A Shadow Falls by Andreas Pflüger.

Yay for amazing book friends! Today on Two For Tuesday I’m featuring two books that the lovely @lovedreadingthis has passed onto me.

I’ve been hearing lots of great things about The Girls Of Summer and Lucy Atkins has been one of my favourite authors for a while and I’ve loved all of her books. I’m very excited to read both of these very soon.

What do you do with proofs you receive after you’ve read them?

The Girls Of Summer by Katie Bishop

Rachel has loved Alistair since she was seventeen.

Even though she hasn’t seen him for sixteen years and she’s now married to someone else.

Even though she was a teenager when they met.

Even though he is almost twenty years older than her.

Now in her thirties, Rachel has never been able to forget their golden summer together on a remote, sun-trapped Greek island. But as dark and deeply suppressed memories rise to the surface, Rachel begins to understand that Alistair – and the enigmatic, wealthy man he worked for – controlled much more than she ever realized.

Rachel has never once considered herself a victim – until now.

Windmill Hill by Lucy Atkins

One night in a remote hunting lodge with a Hollywood director causes an international scandal that wrecks Astrid’s glittering stage career, and her marriage. Her ex-husband, the charismatic Scottish actor Magnus Fellowes, goes on to find global fame, while Astrid retreats to a disintegrating Sussex windmill.

Now 82, she lives there still, with a troupe of dachshunds and her long-suffering friend, Mrs Baker, who came to clean twenty years ago and never left. But the past is catching up with them. There has been an ‘Awful Incident’ at the windmill; the women are in shock. Then Astrid hears that Magnus, now on his death bed, is writing a tell-all memoir. Outraged, she sets off for Scotland, determined to stop him.

Windmill Hill is the story of two very different women, both with painful pasts, and their eccentric friendship – deep, enduring, and loyal to the last.

Good morning everyone. I’m excited to be on the Tandem Collective read-along for God Is An Octopus by Ben Goldsmith which starts today. I think this book sounds really interesting and I’m looking forward to learning more about Ben’s story.

Have you read this book?

Book Synopsis:

Struggling to comprehend the shocking death of his teenage daughter, Ben Goldsmith finds solace in nature by immersing himself in plans to rewild his farm.

In July 2019, Ben Goldsmith lost his fifteen-year-old daughter, Iris, in an accident on their family farm in Somerset. Iris’s death left her family reeling.

Grasping for answers, Ben threw himself into searching for some ongoing trace of his beloved child, exploring ideas that until then had seemed too abstract to mean much to him. Missing his daughter terribly and struggling to imagine how he would face the rest of his life in the shadow of this loss, Ben found solace in nature, the object of a lifelong fascination. As Ben set about rewilding his farm, nature became a vital source of meaning and hope.

This book is the story of a year of soul-searching that followed a terrible loss. In an instant, Ben’s world had turned dark. Yet, unbelievably to him, the seasons kept on turning, and as he immersed himself in the dramatic restoration of nature in the place where it happened, he found healing.

In God is an Octopus, Ben tells a powerful, immersive and inspiring story of finding comfort and strength in nature after suffering loss and despair.

About The Author:

Ben Goldsmith is a British financier, philanthropist and environmentalist who has been at the forefront of campaigns for more rewilding in Britain and Europe.

Ben founded and chairs the Conservation Collective, a network of locally-focused environmental foundations.

Ben is the Chief Executive Officer of Menhaden, a London-listed, sustainability-themed investment company.

Ben is also a Trustee of the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), one of the world’s largest climate change focused philanthropic funds.

Ben served from 2018 until 2022 as a Non-Executive Director of the UK Government’s Department of Food, Environment and Rural Affairs.