Good morning everyone here are the books I’m hoping to read in February.
⭐ Sorry, Bro by Taleen Voskuni
⭐The Daughter In-Law by Fanny Blake
⭐The Elopement by Tracy Rees
⭐ Twelve Secrets by Robert Gold
⭐ My (extra) Ordinary Life by Rebecca Ryan
⭐ When I First Held You by Anstey Harris
⭐ The Year Of Living Danishly by Helen Russell
⭐ The Garnett Girls by Georgina Moore
⭐ Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia Of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
⭐ My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor
⭐ Becoming Ted by Matt Cain
⭐Heart Bones by Colleen Hoover
⭐ Someone Else’s Shoes by JoJo Moyes
Sorry Bro, The Daughter In-Law, The Elopement and The Garnett Girls are for blog tours. The Year Of Living Danishly is the non fiction book I’m hoping to read this month and I’m hoping to fit in some of the other books too though they might change depending on mood and book purchases.
I’m impatiently waiting for my copies of Weyward and The Exiles to arrive as I know I really want to read those. Too many good books to read!
In the UK, someone is reported missing every 90 seconds. Just gone. Vanished. In the blink of an eye.
DCS Kat Frank knows all about loss. A widowed single mother, Kat is a cop who trusts her instincts. Picked to lead a pilot programme that has her paired with AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity) Lock, Kat’s instincts come up against Lock’s logic. But when the two missing person’s cold cases they are reviewing suddenly become active, Lock is the only one who can help Kat when the case gets personal.
AI versus human experience. Logic versus instinct. With lives on the line can the pair work together before someone else becomes another statistic?
In the Blink of an Eye is a dazzling debut from an exciting new voice and asks us what we think it means to be human.
My Review:
I’d been hearing lots of great things about In The Blink Of An Eye so when I was approved to read it on netgalley I was naturally very excited, though nervous as to whether it would live up to the hype but it completely does. In fact I’d say that it’s one of the most original, gripping and thought provoking thrillers I’ve ever read!
Firstly I really liked the characters in this book who were on the whole a very likeable bunch and not your average stereotypical detectives. I like that they all seemed to actually like each other and it was good to see each of them bringing something different to the investigation. Kat was an interesting main character that I sympathised a lot with not least because I’m dreading the day my children are teenagers. I admired her for her strength and passion for her job but she also frustrated me at times with her absolute conviction she was right.
The AI part of the story was really fascinating and helped give the story an original feel to it. I found it interesting to explore it’s strengths and weaknesses in an investigation which made me wonder if we will see something similar in a real case soon. Some of the dialogue between Kat and Locke (the AI) was hysterical, making me laugh out loud as Locke tries to understand the nuances of human behaviour.
I found this book incredibly gripping and I sailed through it in a couple of days as I couldn’t put it down. The story is very fast paced and there always seemed to be new developments happening to keep me glued to the page. I kept trying to guess what had happened to the missing people but there’s no way I could have guessed that brilliant ending and how twisted it was. I can’t wait to read more from this author and am looking forward to reading the second book in the series.
Huge thanks to Simon and Schuster for my copy of this book via Netgalley.
About The Author:
IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE is my crime debut and first UK published book.
As well as being an author, I hoover up books, so I love hearing from other readers. I spend a lot of time on twitter talking about the books and TV shows that I love, how the writing is going or just chatting about random stuff like the weather, kids, and food. I’ve recently joined TikTok and Instagram, but twitter is really where I hang out if you want to see what I’m up to and maybe hear a bit about book 2 in the series… See you there, and thanks again for taking a look at my book!
You can find me on twitter: @JoCallaghanKat or (less often) Instagram: @JoCallaghanKat or (even less often) TikTok @JoCallaghanAuthor
Jo works full-time as a senior strategist, where she has carried out research into the future impact of AI and genomics on the workforce. After losing her husband to cancer in 2019, she started writing In The Blink of An Eye. She lives with her two children in the Midlands, where she is currently writing the second novel in the series.
Good morning everyone today for Two For Tuesday I’m featuring two books by Adam Silvera. I haven’t actually read either of these yet but I’ve heard good things so want to get to them soon. Yes I did buy the sequel before reading the first book but I got tempted by the gorgeous special edition in the sale..😂
Have you read either of these?
The First To Die At The End
It’s the night before Death-Cast goes live, and there’s one question on everyone’s mind…
Can Death-Cast actually predict death, or is it an elaborate hoax? Orion has waited years for someone to tell him that he’s going to die, given his serious heart condition. Valentino has a long and promising future ahead of him and only registered for Death-Cast after his twin sister nearly died in a car accident.
Orion and Valentino’s paths cross and they immediately feel a deep connection. But when the first End Day calls go out, their lives are changed for ever – one of them receives a call . . . the other doesn’t
They Both Die At The End
A love story with a difference – an unforgettable tale of life, loss and making each day count in the INTERNATIONAL NO. 1 BESTSELLING book of TIKTOK fame, clocking up 80 million views and counting! The First to Die at the End, the prequel to They Both Die at the End, is now available to pre-order in hardback, coming October 2022.
On September 5th, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: they’re going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: there’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure – to live a lifetime in a single day.
Another beautiful, heartbreaking and life-affirming book from the brilliant Adam Silvera, author of More Happy Than Not, History Is All You Left Me, What If It’s Us, Here’s To Us and the Infinity Cycle series.
About The Author:
Adam Silvera is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of THEY BOTH DIE AT THE END, MORE HAPPY THAN NOT, HISTORY IS ALL YOU LEFT ME, INFINITY SON and INFINITY REAPER. He has also co-written WHAT IF IT’S US and HERE’S TO US with Becky Albertalli. He was born and raised in the Bronx and now lives in Los Angeles. He is tall for no reason.
Good morning everyone! January has been a bit of a rubbish month so I’ve been distracting myself with books and reading.
Here are some of the books I’ve been tempted to buy this month and can’t wait to read them soon.
Have you bought any books recently? Have you read any of these?
The Drift by C. J Tudor
Survival can be murder . . .
Hannah awakens to carnage, all mangled metal and shattered glass. Evacuated from a secluded boarding school during a snowstorm, her coach careered off the road, trapping her with a handful of survivors.
Meg awakens to a gentle rocking. She’s in a cable car stranded high above snowy mountains, with five strangers and no memory of how they got on board.
Carter is gazing out of the window of an isolated ski chalet that he and his companions call home. As their generator begins to waver in the storm, the threat of something lurking in the chalet’s depths looms larger.
Outside, the storm rages. Inside each group, a killer lurks.
But who?
And will anyone make it out alive? . . .
Encyclopaedia Of Faeries by Emily Wilde
Enter the world of the hidden folk – and discover the most whimsical, enchanting and heart-warming tale you’ll read this year, featuring the intrepid Emily Wilde. . . Emily Wilde is good at many things: she is the foremost expert on the study of faeries; she is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world’s first encylopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people
So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby
But as Emily gets closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones – the most elusive of all faeries – she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she’ll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all – her own heart.
Bad Fruit by Ella King
LILY IS A GOOD DAUGHTER
Every evening she pours Mama a glass of perfectly spoilt orange juice. She arranges the teddy bears on Mama’s quilt, she puts on her matching pink clothes. Anything to help put out the fire of Mama’s rage.
MAMA IS A GOOD LIAR
But Mama is becoming unpredictable, dangerous. And as she starts to unravel, so do the memories that Lily has kept locked away for so long. She only wanted to be good, to help piece Mama back together. But as home truths creep out of the shadows, Lily must recast everything: what if her house isn’t a home – but a prison? What if Mama isn’t a protector – but a monster . . .
From hot new talent, Ella King, comes an unforgettable story about a family gone bad . . .
Becoming Ted by Matt Cain
A charming, joyful and surprising story about love, friendship and learning to be true to yourself, Becoming Ted will steal your heart.
Ted Ainsworth has always worked at his family’s ice-cream business in the quiet Lancashire town of St Luke’s-on-Sea.
But the truth is, he’s never wanted to work for the family firm – he doesn’t even like ice-cream, though he’s never told his parents that. When Ted’s husband suddenly leaves him, the bottom falls out of his world.
But what if this could be an opportunity to put what he wants first? This could be the chance to finally follow his secret dream: something Ted has never told anyone …
The Snow Hare by Paula Lightarowicz
Lena has her life mapped out. While her sister obsesses about fortune-telling gypsies and marriage, Lena studies the way the heart works. She isn’t going to let being a girl stop her from becoming one of Poland’s first female doctors. But the world has other plans for Lena. Instead of university she finds herself a reluctant army wife, lonely and unmoored by the emotions of motherhood. And as she tries to accept a different future from the one she wanted, the threat of global war becomes reality. Lena must face just how unpredictable life can be.
Deemed Enemies of State by the invading Soviets, she and her family are exiled from their Polish village to a work camp in the freezing hell of Siberia. It’s here, despite the hunger and back-breaking work, Lena learns something remarkable; it is possible to fall in love even at the edge of life. And for that love, Lena must make a decision, the consequences of which will haunt her for ever.
Tender, brutal and passionate, The Snow Hare is about living with impossible choices and our incredible ability to cultivate hope in the darkest places.
Good morning everyone today I thought I’d share a Sunday Shelfie of all the special editions I have.
These are all very special to me and I often take them down just to look at them. My daughter always shows everyone who comes to our house mummy’s special books too. Look below to see what edges go with what book.
Today we’re off to a Chinese New Year celebration which includes dragon dancing and martial arts demonstration. There’s also rabbit painting which my daughter wants to do. I’m hoping to squeeze in a few more pages of The Stardust Thief too as I’m really enjoying it!
Good morning everyone and happy Friday! I’m looking forward to spending the weekend curled up reading (if the kids let me). I thought I’d do a little reading update today to show you what I’ve been reading, what I’m currently reading and what I’m hoping to read next!
Have you read these? What are you currently reading?
Last: River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer
I’ve just finished the beautiful River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer which I reviewed on my blog yesterday. It’s a very emotional true story about the woman who, after slavery, went looking for their children.
Now: The Mysterious Case Of The Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett
I’m a huge fan of this author and have been hearing lots of great things about this book so I had to buy myself a copy. I’m enjoying it so far, the story being told in the form of emails and WhatsApp messages threw me a little to start with but I think I’m getting used to it now.
Next: The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah
This is a book I’ve been seeing all over Instagram. It sounds really good – filled with magic and hidden world that I was very intrigued. I decided to buy myself a copy and see what the fuss is about. I’m looking forward to reading it really soon!
We whisper the names of the ones we love like the words of a song. That was the taste of freedom to us, those names on our lips.
Mary Grace, Micah, Thomas Augustus, Cherry Jane and Mercy.
These are the names of her children. The five who survived, only to be sold to other plantations. The faces Rachel cannot forget.
It’s 1834, and the law says her people are now free. But for Rachel freedom means finding her children, even if the truth is more than she can bear.
With fear snapping at her heels, Rachel keeps moving. From sunrise to sunset, through the cane fields of Barbados to the forests of British Guiana and on to Trinidad, to the dangerous river and the open sea.
Only once she knows their stories can she rest. Only then can she finally find home.
Inspired by the women who, in the aftermath of slavery, went in search of their lost children.
My Review:
Wow this was a beautifully written, emotional story that will stay with me for a long time.
Firstly I loved the vivid descriptions in this book that made me feel I was actually there experiencing everything alongside the characters. The Caribbean seems like a beautiful place and I enjoyed seeing what flowers and animals they had there. The writing in the book has a lyrical style to it which helps draw the reader into the story. It sometimes felt like the river Rachel travels along was the narrator in the story because of this and it gave the book a kind of dream like quality to it.
Rachel was a strong lady who I thought was incredibly brave after all she’s gone through. As a mum myself I know I’d do anything to get my kids back in a similar situation so I really sympathised with her and wanted her to succeed in finding her children. I felt it took a while to get to know her properly though as the reader is thrown straight into the story and it takes a while for her background story to be explained.
Overall I really enjoyed this story which is hard to believe is the author’s debut. It’s a very emotional read and my heart broke reading about the hardship of life in the plantation and how awfully the slaves were treated. Rachel’s journey to find her children was definitely not an easy one and I found myself very invested in the story, wanting to keep reading to see if she finds her children. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Headline for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Eleanor Shearer is a mixed-race writer and the granddaughter of Windrush generation immigrants. She splits her time between London and Ramsgate so that she never has to go too long without seeing the sea. For her Master’s degree in Politics at the University of Oxford, Eleanor studied the legacy of slavery and the case for reparations. Her fieldwork was in St. Lucia and Barbados. The inspiration for River Sing Me Home came to Eleanor after she discovered a tiny footnote in an exhibition she was attending about the Windrush. Mothers in slavery in the British colonies lived in constant fear of their children being sold. When the Slavery Abolition Act came in in the 1830s, it didn’t mean freedom, so many mothers went in search of their lost children.
At first sight, Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet. He thinks himself surrounded by idiots – neighbours who can’t reverse a trailer properly, joggers, shop assistants who talk in code, and the perpetrators of the vicious coup d’etat that ousted him as Chairman of the Residents’ Association. He will persist in making his daily inspection rounds of the local streets.
But isn’t it rare, these days, to find such old-fashioned clarity of belief and deed? Such unswerving conviction about what the world should be, and a lifelong dedication to making it just so?
In the end, you will see, there is something about Ove that is quite irresistible…
My Review:
A Man Called Ove is a beautiful, touching and heartwarming book that I really enjoyed.
It did take me a few chapters to get into the book but I soon found myself absorbed in the story and in Ove’s life. The story is told from Ove’s point of view in the present day with flash backs from important moments from Ove’s past.
I absolutely loved Ove and enjoyed following him throughout the book. His grumpiness annoyed me at first but as I got to understand him more his behaviour became more endearing. Beneath all the grumpiness there lurked a heart of gold as he helped all of his neighbours and became closer to them. His relationship with his cat was hilarious to follow, particularly the thoughts Ove pretends the cat has.
There’s lots going on in this book which made it hard to put down. Some parts of the book were incredibly sad and very heart wrenching, whereas other parts where hilarious and had me laughing out loud, especially some of his interactions with his neighbours. It was great to see how much Ove changes and how different his life is at the end than at the beginning.
The ending was beautiful and perfectly summed up the book completely. I found myself crying but smiling at the same time. I loved that the story seemed to come full circle at the end too.
Huge thanks to Tandem Collective for inviting me onto the read-along and Hodder for my copy of this book. Highly recommended!
About The Author:
Fredrik Backman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Britt-Marie Was Here, Beartown, Us Against You, and two novellas, And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer and The Deal of a Lifetime, as well as one work of nonfiction, Things My Son Needs to Know About the World. His books are published in more than forty countries. His next novel, Anxious People, will be published in September 2020. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children.
It’s not just secrets buried in the garden next door…
Jane doesn’t know her new neighbours very well.
She thought they were nice. She thought they were happy.
She was wrong.
First there’s the explosive rows. Then she catches one of them digging a grave-shaped trench in the garden.
When the truth emerges, someone would kill to cover their tracks…
My Review:
The Wife Next Door is a gripping, twisty and thought provoking read that I really enjoyed. It’s a book that’s going to be difficult to review as I really don’t want to give anything away.
The story is told mainly from the point of view of Jane but we sometimes hear from the wife next door and have flashbacks to Jane’s childhood. I liked Jane who came across as a smart, confident woman. She had a very difficult childhood which has had a long lasting effect on her. I felt very sorry for her and the descriptions of everything she went through broke my heart. I wasn’t too sure about some of the decisions she made in the book though and often found myself cringing or wanting to shout at her as she tries to investigate what is happening next door.
The first half of the book is a bit slower than the second half as the author introduces us to the characters but I still found it very interesting and wanted to find out more about what was going on. The second half is very fast paced with lots of twists and revelations that made it hard to put down. The chapters are fairly short which makes it easy to promise yourself just one more chapter and then read way too late into the night. As mentioned above there are a few scenes that are hard to read so do check trigger warnings before you read.
The ending was brilliant and very unexpected which I always love. It has made me want to re-read the book again to see if I could have guessed earlier.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Harper Collins for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Amanda Brooke is an internationally bestselling author. Her debut novel, Yesterday’s Sun, was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick and since then she has written eleven further books which regularly make the bestseller charts. Amanda lives in Merseyside with a cat called Spider, a dog called Mouse, and a laptop within easy reach.
Zara has always felt a little ordinary next to her spirited best friend Ivy. Even her dreams seem mundane: a boyfriend, marriage, children… Besides, who would pick her when they could choose Ivy?
So when Zara meets Henry and there’s an instant spark, she can’t believe her luck. A wealthy CEO who wants to settle down? He’s perfect… until Ivy insists he’s too good to be true.
As Henry and Ivy repeatedly clash, doubts creep into Zara’s mind. Could it be that Ivy just doesn’t want to share her best friend with anyone else? Or does Henry have a hidden agenda? Zara is caught in the middle, constantly trying to prove who she loves more.
Then someone winds up dead, and Zara realises there’s more to this than jealousy…
From the bestselling author of One Small Mistake comes an addictive new thriller, perfect for fans of BA Paris, Erin Kelly and Lucy Foley.
My Review:
I was a huge fan of this author debut, One Small Mistake, so I was very excited to learn she had a new one book out.
This book drew me in straight away with the rather intriguing prologue that I kept thinking about as I read. There are some fantastic, relatable characters in this book as well as a few toxic ones who I loved to hate . I found myself very glad I wasn’t Zara and was just an observer so I didn’t have to deal with the constant toxicity from Henry and Ivy. It was a bit uncomfortable to witness at times as each character tries to manipulate Zara against the other one. The author has a great way of writing so I often felt I was inside the character’s head and privy to their innermost thoughts and feelings.
This was a very fast paced, gripping read which I found very difficult to put down once I started I flew through it in a few days, with my kindle going everywhere with me just in case I could squeeze in a few more pages. Some of the things covered in this book are hard to read about at times and helped contribute to the claustrophobic atmosphere in the book as Zara struggles to find out the truth. There are lots of twist that kept me guessing and that ending was absolutely amazing!
Huge thanks to Tracy Fenton for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the publisher for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Dandy Smith lives in the Somerset market town of Frome with her fiancé and cocker spaniel. She has an undergraduate and master’s degree in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University and enjoys all things aerial fitness, true-crime and chocolate orange.
Over The Rainbow Blog 