Birthday Book Haul đŸ“š

Hi guys 👋🏼

So it was recently my birthday, and I got quite an awesome haul of books – the perfect present I’d say.

I thought I would share the books that I received with you.

Let’s take a look!


The Summer Job by Lizzy Dent

‘Birdy Finch just got her dream job. The trouble is, it’s not hers… It was a simple accident. Well, maybe a tiny fib. Ok, maybe an all-out, blatant, mayhem causing lie. Because the life Birdy has just claimed as hers actually belongs to her bestfriend, Heather. Obviously she’ll tell Heather (eventually). And the first guy she’s properly liked in for ever (probably). Absolutely nobody will know – just till she sorts herself out… So can Birdy carry off a Summer at a luxury Scottish hotel pretending to be a world-class wine expert? And can she find the courage to fall in love, even if it means telling the truth?’
Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

Daisy Darker is arriving at her grandmother’s house for her eighteenth birthday. It is Halloween, and Seaglass – the crumbling Cornish house perched upon its own tiny private island – is at one with the granite rocks it sits on. The Darker family haven’t all been in the same place for over a decade, and when the tide comes in they’ll be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours. When the tide goes back out, nothing will ever be the same again, because one of them is a killer…’
Never Never by Colleen Hoover & Tarryn Fisher

‘Charlie Wynood and Silas Nash have been best friends since they could walk. They’ve been in love since the age of fourteen. But as of this morning… they are complete strangers. Their first kiss, their first fight, the moment they fell in love… every memory has vanished. Now Charlie and Silas must work together to uncover the truth about what happened to them and why. But the more they learn about the couple they used to be… the more they question why they were ever together to begin with.’
The Humans by Matt Haig

‘There’s no place like home, or is there? After an ‘incident’ one wet Friday night where he is found walking naked through the streets of Cambridge, Professor Andrew Martin is not feeling quite himself. Good sickens him. Clothes confound him. Even his loving wife and teenage son are repulsive to him. He feels lost amongst an alien species and hates everyone on the planet. Everyone, that is, except Newton, and he’s a dog.’
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

‘Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average women. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out there is no such thing. But its the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Forced to resign, she reluctantly signs on as the host of a cooking show, Supper at Six. But her revolutionary approach to cooking, fuelled by scientific and rational commentary, grabs the attention of a nation. And soon a legion of overlooked housewives find themselves daring to change the status quo. One molecule at a time.’
Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

‘Everybody knows Daisy Jones and the Six. Their sound defined an era. Their albums were on every turntable. They sold out arenas from coast to coast. Then, on 12 July 1979, Daisy Jones walked barefoot on to the stage at the Whitby. And it all came crashing down. Everyone was there. Everyone remembers it differently. Nobody knew why they split. Until now…’
Breathless by Amy McCulloch

‘Journalist Cecily Wong is offered the chance of a lifetime: to join an elite team on one of the world’s tallest mountains. But from the start things start to fall apart. An unexplained their. A horrible accident. A terrifying note: there’s a murderer on the mountain. Six strangers set our. How many return?’
With this kiss by Carrie Hope Fletcher

‘From the outside, Lorelai is an ordinary young women with a normal life. She loves reading, she works at the local cinema and she adores living with her bestfriend. But she carries a painful burden; whenever she kisses someone on the lips, she sees how they are going to die. Lorelai bas never known if she’s seeing what was always meant to be, or if it’s her kiss that decides their destiny. And so, she hasn’t kissed anyone since she was eighteen. They she meets Grayson. Sweet, clever, funny Grayson. And for the first time in years, she yearns for a man’s kiss. But she can’t… can she? And if she does, should she try to intervene and change way she sees?’
The Last Party by Clare Mackintosh

‘On New Year’s Eve, Rhys Lloyd has a house full of guests. He’s celebrating the success of his lakeside holiday homes, and has generously inviting the village to drink champagne with their wealthy new neighbours. By midnight, Rhys will be floating dead in the freezing waters of the lake. On New Year’s Day, DC Ffian Morgan has a village full of suspects. She grew up in the tiny community, so the murder suspects are her neighbours, friends and family- and Ffion has her own secrets to protect. With a lie uncovered at every turn, soon the question isn’t who wanted Rhys dead… but who finally killed him.’
The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell

‘Early morning: On the foreshore of the River Thames, a bag of bones is discovered. Human bones. DI Samuel Owusu quickly sends the bag for forensic examination. The bones are those of a young women, killed by a blow to the head many years ago. Also inside the bag is a trail of clues which lead DI Owusu to a mansion in Chelsea where, thirty years previously, three people lay dead, while a baby upstairs waited for someone to pick her up.’
The Dinner Lady Detectives by Hannah Hendry

‘Margery and Clementine work on the front line serving meals to the students at Summerview Secondary School. They are enjoying a peaceful middle-age together in the idyllic town of Dewstow, but their calm life is shattered when their kitchen manager is found dead. The police are adamant that it’s an open-and-shut case of accidental death. However, Margaret and Clementine are convinced there’s something far more nefarious going on. As they investigate and inch closer to the truth, someone will stop at nothing to keep the pair quiet. Will the perpetrator get their just-desserts before their time runs out?’
Harry Potter Character Compendium
The Hobbit & the Lord of the Rings Trilogy Box Set

I am currently reading.. ‘Never Never by Colleen Hoover & Tarryn Fisher

Have you read any of these books?


Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

A Book Review: The Curfew đŸ“š

Hi guys 👋🏼

So, last months Book Club book was ‘The Curfew’ by T M Logan.


I am already a big fan of T M Logan’s books, and this was my recommendation to the club this month.

This books genre is thriller.

The Curfew by T M Logan

Here is a brief overview of the plot:

The Curfew:
Andy and Laura are good parents. They tell their son Connor that he can go out with friends to celebrate completing his exams, but he must be home by midnight.

The Lie:
When Connor misses his curfew, it sets off a series of events that will change the lives of five families forever.

The Truth?
Because five teenagers went into the woods that night, but only four came out. And telling the truth might mean losing everything..8.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO? ‘


Some opinions on the book:

  • This book was a really interesting thriller, it definitely kept you guessing.
  • It is interestingly written from the perspective of the Dad which is a bit different, I enjoyed that.
  • There is a really good twist at the start that I enjoyed, although I have to say there aren’t as many as there usually are in his books.
  • There are some interesting characters, I especially liked the little sister Harriet.
  • I think the ending of this book lets it down a little, it’s a little unrealistic.

Out of 5 stars I would give this book ☆☆.5



I enjoyed this book but I would recommend some of his other books ie: ‘The Holiday’ and ‘The Catch’ above this one.

Have you read this book?
What did you think?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

Edinburgh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Hi guys 👋🏼


D A Y • O N E

First stop, airport breakfast. Are you even going away if you don’t have one?!?

We flew quite early on our first day (half a good idea as you get a whole day, half a bad idea as we were knackered and needed a nap before dinner)

Once we had landed we got the tram from the airport to the town centre, which was cool.

We then found our accommodation, left our bags and headed out to look around and book a tour. We had been hoping to book the tour that day as we had prebooked some others, unfortunately there were no slots available so we booked it for the second day.

We had a little bit more of a look around. The architecture and city centre are amazing, its such a beautiful place.

We found this awesome place for some lunch. How cool is it!! Bats are my favourite animal so I fell in love with this place immediately. It was really quirky and unique inside too, I love finding independent places like this.

Once we had enjoyed our food we wandered back to our accommodation as we could now check in. Hubby listened to the football whilst I had a nap as I was knackered thanks to the end of term/early start. It was much needed.

We got up and ready for the evening and went to a delicious Italian (our favourite) which we had spotted earlier.

We just had a chilled evening as we were both travel tired and wanted to be ready and raring for the next few days.

A brilliant start to the trip!


D A Y • T W O

For our second day, we headed back down to the Royal Mile for our first tour of the day.

Our first tour was called ‘The Real Mary Kings Close’. It is an hour long guided tour where you learn all about the history of the different closes and the people who lived there. Our guide was brilliant in character and really funny, which made the experience that bit more fun too.

After the tour, we hung around the Royal Mile for a bit, had some lunch and a drink before our second tour.

Our second tour was a history of the old town. It was so interesting and really cool learning about the different buildings all around the Royal Mile and their significance in the growth and development of Edinburgh.

We were shown the ‘only official’ Harry Potter merchandise shop on our tour, so at the end of it, we queued up (yep, it’s so popular you have to queue) and we went in. It was so cool, the decor is insane! And there’s so much cool merchandise.

We rounded off the evening with ‘The Best Fish & Chips in Edinburgh’ which tbf were pretty delicious. I even tried a battered Mars bar, which was really yummy.


D A Y • T H R E E

We enjoyed a yummy breakfast at our ‘hub’ Accommodation before walking the length of the Royal Mile to Holyrood Palace.

I always loved the Queen, so it was cool to see Holyrood Palace and its grounds. We didn’t have time to go in, which was a shame, but it was a lovely day, so we went for a walk through the garden and admired it from the outside.

We also had a look around the Scottish Parliment building, which was interesting, too. You had to go through proper airport style security to get in, which was a bit mad (but understandable).

We then walked all the way back up the Royal Mile to Haymarket station where we met my Uncle.

He lives in a different part of Scotland, so we arranged to meet up with him for a day while we were close by. We took the bus together and went to Edinburgh Zoo.

It was an unprecedented hot day in Edinburgh, and everyone had obviously decided to do the same as us and visit the zoo… the queue was mad, but we got in eventually, and we had a lovely day.

It is such a lovely zoo and a really good variety of animals, some which they don’t have in our local zoo.

We especially enjoyed seeing the different types of penguins (the King penguins are amazing!) and the Gentoo penguins, as well as the Sun Bears, Sloths, and most incredible of all, the Giant Panda!!

That is an animal I never thought I would actually see, and it was so cute.

We rounded off a brilliant day with a delicious Italian before we headed back to our respective homes. It was one of my favourite days of the holiday and it was great to catch up.


D A Y • F O U R

For our penultimate day, we had an earlier start. Again, we enjoyed a hotel breakfast before heading back to the Royal Mile for our Harry Potter tour!!! Exciting ⚡️

Here is a little rundown of some of the cool things that we saw…

Harry Potter Walking Tour ⚡️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

1. Outside The Elephant House Cafe where JK often wrote ✍️🏼
2. Sorted into our houses at the start of the tour 💛
3. Tom Riddles grave 🪦
4. Hogwarts inspo for the exterior, houses & alot of interiors eg Great Hall 🏰
5. Victoria Street, the inspiration for Diagon Alley 🪄
6. Outside the shop that is believed to have inspired Flourish & Blotts Bookshop 📚
7. Bank of Scotland, inspo for Gringotts
8. The Balmoral Hotel where JK finished writing the last ever Harry Potter book ⚡️📚
9. On the Royal Mile, the main body of this monument inspired parts of the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets 🐍
10. JK Rowling’s Handprints on Edinburghs very own ‘Walk of Fame’ 🖐🏼✨️

Once we had some lunch, we headed to the National Museum of Scotland. They had a Doctor Who exhibition that we wanted to look around.

It was really good, we enjoyed looking around the exhibits.

We even went inside a Dalek!

We had a brief look around some of the animal areas of the museum before we headed back for a chill before dinner.

We went back to our favourite Italian ‘Pomo’ one last time for some delicious food.

I had been eyeing up the frozen Raspberry Daiquiri all week, so I decided to have one ok our last night… it was amazing.

We then headed back to the lovely bar we visited earlier in the week – The Hanging Bat 🦇 we got a cocktail each to round of the evening.


D A Y • F I V E

Our final day!

We went out for breakfast at a little cafe before heading to the Royal Mile one last time.

We went to the Writers Musuem, where they have rooms all about three famous Socttish writers; Robert Louie Stevenson, Robert Burns, and Sir Walter Scott.

We then walked down to the new town and had a look around, had a drink,and even got to get right up close to ‘The Balmoral’ (as mentioned in the HP tour on Day 4) which was really cool.

Finally, we headed to the castle to have a closer look before we left. We didn’t get around to going in, but to be honest, there is so much to do that we could definitely visit again.

The views of Edinburgh from up by the Castle were amazing, too.

We rounded off the trip with one last lunch stop at The Hanging Bat 🦇

We’re going to miss this place!

We then grabbed our things and headed off to the airport.


All in all we had a brilliant trip- Edinburgh is beautiful and we got so lucky with the weather. There is SO much to do and it would definitely be great to go back.

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂