I hope you all had a lovely, book filled, reading relaxation filled Christmas.
I thought I would do a blog post on my new books, that I received for Christmas. There’s quite a variety of genres so I have some cool new additions to my bookcase.
Let’s take a look!
The Perfect Lie by Jo Spain.
‘He jumped to his death in front of witnesses. Now his wife is charged with murder.
Five years ago, Erin Kennedy moved to New York following a family tragedy. She now lives happily with her detective husband in the scenic seaside town of Newport, Long Island. When Erin answers the door to Danny’s police colleagues one morning, it’s the start of an ordinary day. But behind her, Danny walks to the window of their fourth-floor apartment and jumps to his death.
Eighteen months later, Erin is in court, charged with her husband’s murder. Over that year and a half, Erin has learned things about Danny she could never have imagined. She thought he was perfect. She thought their life was perfect.
But it was all built on the perfect lie.‘
Christmas at the Little Waffle Shack by Helen Rolfe
‘Heritage Cove is in full swing for the festive season and as the temperature dips, who will be lucky in love this Christmas?
It’s December in Heritage Cove and along with the village Christmas tree, frosty mornings and the promise of the most wonderful time of the year, the new waffle shack is about to open. And its owner isn’t a stranger to the Cove, because after all this time, Daniel is back to make amends with his brother Harvey – as well as a few other locals he might have offended along the way.
Fairly new to the village, local blacksmith Lucy has kept up the pretence of being with her ex for the sake of his gran but she’s fed up with all the lies. Determined to come clean and live the life she wants to live, she’s devastated to find that her attraction to Daniel is tainted by the fact he’s hiding a few things of his own. And his secrets are ones she isn’t sure she’ll ever be able to get past.
Heritage Cove is full of friendship and community; it’s a welcoming place people visit and never want to leave. But will it work its magic for Daniel and Lucy?‘
Beyond the Wand by Tom Felton.
This is Tom Feltons Autobiography. He played Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series. I am really looking forward to reading this.
Fantastic Beasts and where to find them by JK Rowling.
This is the Original Screenplay of ‘Fantastic Beasts and where to find them’. This is the script of the film.A great addition to my collection.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling.
‘As the Order of the Phoenix keeps watch over Harry Potter, troubled times have come to Hogwarts in a year filled with secrets, subterfuge and suspicion. The deliciously dark fifth instalment of Jim Kay’s inspired reimagining of J.K. Rowling’s classic series is an epic artistic achievement, featuring over 160 illustrations in an astonishing range of visual styles.‘
A lovely haul.
I also got a voucher that I can use to buy more books! 😁
It’s always a good Christmas when you have a new Heidi Swain to read. They are the most festive, cosy, comforting Christmas fiction and perfect for this time of year.
Whether it be trip to Wynbridge, a stay at Wynthorpe Hall or a visit to Wynters one thing is guaranteed, you’ll have a fun, festive, friendly (sometimes fraught) time with lots of Christmas cheer and brilliant characters.
Reading a Heidi Swain Christmas book is like visiting old friends for Christmas, but from the comfort of your own home!
My favourite one is ‘Mince Pies and Mistletoe at the Christmas Market’ because it is the first Heidi Swain book I ever read.
Let’s take a look at them all…
This is the most recent release, this November, based at Wynthorpe Hall.
‘A Christmas Celebration.’
‘When Paige turns up unannounced at Wynthorpe Hall, she discovers the place she knew when she was growing up has changed beyond all recognition. She’s only planning to stay for a short time, but is quickly pulled into local life.‘
‘Mince Pies and Mistletoe at the Christmas Market.’
‘Ruby has finished with university and is heading home for the holidays to save up for her trip around the world in January. Against her father’s wishes, she takes on a stall at the local market, and sets about making it the best Christmas market stall ever. There’ll be bunting and mistletoe and maybe even a bit of mulled wine.‘
‘Underneath the Christmas Tree’
‘Wynter’s Trees is the home of Christmas. For the people of Wynmouth it’s where they get their family Christmas tree, and where Christmas truly comes to life. But for Liza Wynter, it’s a millstone around her neck. It was her father’s pride and joy but now he’s gone, she can’t have anything to do with it. Until her father’s business partner decides to retire and she must go back to handle the transition to his son Ned.‘
‘The Winter Garden’
‘Freya Fuller is living her dream, working as a live-in gardener on a beautiful Suffolk estate. But when the owner dies, Freya finds herself forced out of her job and her home with nowhere to go. However, with luck on her side, she’s soon moving to Nightingale Square and helping to create a beautiful winter garden that will be open to the public in time for Christmas.’
‘Snowflakes and Cinnamon Swirls at the Winter Wonderland.’
‘After calling off her engagement, Hayley, the Wynthorpe Hall housekeeper, wants nothing more than to return to her no-strings fun-loving self, avoiding any chance of future heartbreak. Little does she know, Wynbridge’s latest arrival is about to throw her plan entirely off course . . .‘
‘Sleigh Rides and Silver Bells at the Christmas Fair.’
‘When Anna takes on the role of companion to the owner of Wynthorpe Hall, on the outskirts of Wynbridge, she has no idea that her life is set to change beyond all recognition. A confirmed ‘bah humbug’ when it comes to Christmas, Anna is amazed to find herself quickly immersed in the eccentric household, and when youngest son Jamie unexpectedly arrives home it soon becomes obvious that her personal feelings are going all out to compromise her professional persona.‘
‘The Christmas Wish List’
‘After being let go from her job in a swanky hotel just weeks before Christmas, Hattie is feeling lost. Even more so when her high-flying boyfriend announces he’s landed his dream job in Abu Dhabi and asks her to move with him. Luckily, Hattie’s long-time friend Dolly is on hand to help and invites Hattie to spend one last holiday in the small, festive town of Wynbridge, determined to give her a Christmas to remember . . .’
So many brilliant and different festive stories to choose from!There’s something for everyone.
These are great if you need a cosy Christmas read, a gift for someone (or yourself!!) Or a stocking filler, look no further.
Every year I make Christmas eve boxes for my two nephews (who are brothers) and my niece. They arrived aged between 5 – 8 so still nice and easy to cater for this year.
So, I thought I would share with you the sorts of things that I have got to put into their boxes this year.
Let’s take a look!
We started off with Colouring/Colour by number/puzzle books…
Followed by some fun Christmas craft activities…
This year I go Christmas Scratch art, Christmas characters and a paint your own Santa ornament.
These ranged from £1 – £2 in Wilko so super affordable.
I also added in some funny little novelty ‘Elf Racers’ for them to play with, as well as some tasty treats including chocolate coins (Classic!) and a hot chocolate bomb.
Finally, I added a Christmassy book to each box…
The Works do 3 books for £5 which is awesome when there are three little ones to buy for haha!
Lots of fun and treats to keep them occupied during Christmas eve and the following days.
And a great way to get into the festive spirit and make Christmas eve special.
So on Thursday (15th Dec) we had our final book club meeting of 2022.
It was a smaller affair than usual as lots of the usual group were ill 🤒
The four of us carried on and I chaired the meeting on Sarah’s behalf.
Keepin’ it festive 🎄
We enjoyed discussing Novembers book… ‘The Girls Who Disappeared by Claire Douglas’
I thoroughly enjoyed this boom and it is up there with one of my favourites from the year.
It’s a Thriller about Olivia Rutherford and her friends who are involved in a car accident and when she wakes up they have disappeared and are still missing 20 years later.
I really enjoyed the twists, turns and audible gasps that escaped me as the story started to unfold. It was a very enjoyable and easy read and with lovely short chapters it took me just under two days to read.
I would give it ☆☆☆☆☆ out of 5!
‘The Christmas Murder Game’ by Alexandra Benedict has been chosen as our December Christmas read.
It’s not your usual festive fair but I am looking forward to this as its different to all of the ‘domestic fiction’ easy reader, festive books that I have to read over the next few weeks and January.
So this week we are having our last Book Club meeting before Christmas and the New Year, and I saw a really cute idea online that I thought was perfect to make everyone.
They are book baubles!
So I bought some clear baubles on Amazon, I then set about printing, cutting (lots of cutting) and laminating the tiny pictures of all of the books that we have read at Book Club this year.
I did them double sided so that they looked good inside the bauble from all angles. This did take a little while but I made them in an evening so it isn’t as time consuming as it looks.
These would make a great present for a book lover friend. If you know what they have read this year or maybe just make one with their favourite books in.
They are relatively easy and super effective.
I finished them off by writing ‘2022’ in a silver pen and adding a red ribbon to hang them up.
I know not everyone has a laminater but they looked really effective this way and I was really pleased with the finish.
I can’t wait to pop mine on my tree – what a great year for book club books it has been.
As a self confessed book lover I thought I would share my Christmas tbr (to be read) list…. I thought it might offer a little inspiration if you are looking for something good to read this festive season.
Let’s have a look…
(Synopsis are from Amazon)
‘Carmen has always worked in her local department store. So, when the gorgeous old building closes its doors for good, she is more than a little lost.
When her sister, Sofia, mentions an opportunity in Edinburgh – a cute little bookshop, the spare room in her house – Carmen is reluctant, she was never very good at accepting help. But, short on options, she soon finds herself pulling into the snowy city just a month before Christmas.
What Sofia didn’t say is that the shop is on its last legs and that if Carmen can’t help turn things around before Christmas, the owner will be forced to sell. Privately, Sofia is sure it will take more than a miracle to save the store, but maybe this Christmas, Carmen might surprise them all… ‘
‘She’s snowed in with the family. The only problem? They’re not her family.
A family gathering This Christmas the Miller siblings have one goal – to avoid their family’s well-meaning questions. Ross, Alice and Clemmie have secrets that they don’t intend to share, and they are relying on each other to deflect attention.
An uninvited guest Lucy Clarke is facing a Christmas alone, and the prospect of losing her job – unless she can win a major piece of business from Ross Miller. She’ll deliver her proposal to his family home in the Scottish Highlands and then leave. After all, she wouldn’t want to intrude on the Miller’s perfect family Christmas.
A Christmas to remember When Lucy appears on the Miller’s snow-covered doorstep, she is mistaken for Ross’s girlfriend. But by the time the confusion is cleared up, a storm has hit and Lucy is stuck. As everyone settles in for a snowed-in Christmas, tensions bubble to the surface and suddenly Lucy finds herself facing a big family fallout with a family that isn’t hers… ‘
‘Elderly widow Sabine knows this will be her last Christmas in her beloved home, Mitras Castle. Determined to make it just like the ones she remembers from her childhood, she employs Dido Jones of Heavenly Houseparties to help with the big day.
Dido is enchanted by the castle as soon as she steps through the imposing front door. And as Christmas day approaches, her feeling of connection to the old house runs deeper than she first thought.
But when the snow begins to fall and Sabine’s family arrive at the house – including Dido’s teenage crush Xan – tensions rise around the castle’s future and long-buried mysteries begin to unravel…
As past secrets come to light, can this still be a magical Christmas to remember?’
‘Maggie hasn’t told this story in years. More than two decades ago, she fell in love. She was sixteen and far from home, waiting to give her baby up for adoption. Bryce showed Maggie how to take photographs and he didn’t judge her for the way her belly swelled under her jumper. They had the perfect first kiss. Theirs was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of love.
Now, as Maggie sits by the Christmas tree in her gallery telling her story, surrounded by the photographs that made her famous – the photographs Bryce never saw – her new gallery assistant asks her a question. If she had one wish, what would she wish for this Christmas?
Maggie always thought she knew the answer to that question. But before she can say ‘I’d go back to that winter with Bryce’, she stops herself. It is all she has ever wanted but suddenly here, on this dark night under the twinkling stars, there is something else she wants. She wants to find her baby.’
‘It was supposed to be Christy Sullivan’s perfect Christmas escape – a dream trip to Lapland with her family and best friend, Alix. But facing a make-or-break marriage crisis, Christy desperately needs time alone with her husband, Seb. Her solution? Alix, along with Seb’s oldest friend, Zac, can take Christy’s daughter on the planned Lapland trip, and they will all reunite there for Christmas Day. After all, what are friends for?
There’s nothing Alix won’t do for Christy, but Christy’s plan to save Christmas is testing their friendship. Especially as Alix and Zac have a difficult history of their own.
As long-held secrets unravel, and unexpected romance shines under the Northern Lights, can Christy and Alix find the courage to fight for the relationships they really want? And could this Christmas escape save the precious gift of each other’s friendship? ‘
‘The first fall of snow can be fatal… A year has passed since DI James Walker cracked his biggest case yet, and he’s hoping for peace and quiet this festive season.
But across the fells, a local farmer returns home on Christmas Eve to find footsteps in the fresh snow that lead down to his unused basement – and no footsteps leading away. Days later, his body is found, alongside those of his wife and daughter.
Without a neighbour for miles, there are no witnesses and little evidence. And the crime scene has strange echoes of another terrible murder committed at the farmhouse, twenty years earlier…
James knows that to catch this killer, he needs to solve a case that has long since gone cold…’
‘When Paige turns up unannounced at Wynthorpe Hall, she discovers the place she knew when she was growing up has changed beyond all recognition. She’s only planning to stay for a short time, but is quickly pulled into local life.
One night while driving home after delivering library books and shopping to residents she stumbles across an isolated cottage and meets Albert, its elderly and rather grumpy owner. She quickly realises there’s more to Albert than meets the eye and the same can be said for the other man she can’t seem to help running into, handsome but brooding Brodie.
All three of them have a secret and a desire to hide away from the world, but with Christmas on the horizon, is that really the best way to celebrate the season?’
Here is another book review from my monthly Book Club meeting.
I haven’t done one of these in a while as our meetings have been a bit different. Our July meeting was a trip to see ‘Where the crawdads sing’ as the book had been read at Book Club previously, and I have read it and loved it.
August/some of September was devoted to out next read, the one I will be talking about – ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest’.
We decided to go for a classic for August as we all expressed a wish to read more of them! So someone chose One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest.
If you have ever read it (or indeed any classics tbf) they are a bit harder to get into so we gave ourselves longer to read it, seeing us through August and most of September, meeting last week.
So, let’s get into it!
One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest
SYNOPSIS
‘In order to escape the prison labour, McMurphy, a Prisoner, fakes insanity and is shifted to the special ward for the mentally unstable. In this ward he must rise up against a cruel nurse, Ratched.’
THEMES
•Stigma and Mental Health
•Power
•Masculinity/Feminity
•Human Dignity
PROS
It’s a classic and it is always nice to add a few of them to your repertoire.
I really enjoyed the characters and found them to be very interesting, likable, endearing and charismatic – for me, they are one of the best bits of the book.
I also really like how thought provoking it is, in its themes and the way it conveys them through plot devices, imagery and the characters themselves.
CONS
It’s quite a slow burner, a slightly arduous start to the story and a story where ultimately not alot happens (considering the book is over 300 pages.)
It is also written in a very confusing way, sort of disjointed with A LOT of dialogue.
Also, the font is tiny. You feel as if you have read alot but haven’t got very far at all.
I also much prefer a book when there are short, clearly defined chapters – this one didn’t which was a shame!
Rating out of 5:
☆☆☆☆☆ (2.5)
Would you recommend it?
Y / N
Have you read this book? What are your thoughts? 💭
We are halfway through 2022 (HOW!?!) So I thought I would do a halfway round up of what I have read so far…
So far…
Harry Potter and the Philosphers Stone: Minalima Illustratred edition
I know what you’ve done by Dorothy Koomson
Cometh the Hour by Jeffrey Archer
22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling
Her majesty the Queen investigates… The Windsor Knot by SJ Bennett
Trust me by T M Logan
The Sanitorium by Sarah Pearse
The Land of Stories: An Authors Odyssey by Chris Colfer
The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
Love, Locked down by Beth Reckles
Nalas World by Dean Nicholson
This was a man by Jeffrey Archer
Midnight is a lonely place by Barbra Erskine
Walking on Sunshine by Giovanna Fletcher
Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister
The Summer Fair By Heidi Swain
The Baby is not mine by Oyinkan Braithwaite
The Donor by Clare Mackintosh
1. My Favourite book so far: ‘Wrong Place, Wrong Time’
This is an absolutely fantastic book. It had me at the synopsis – never have I sent a synopsis to so many people because it sounds SO good. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I didn’t want to put it down. The characters and their relationships were lovely and it was a great reading experience.
2. The most gripping so far: ‘Wrong Place, Wrong Tim’ & ‘The Hunting Party’
These were both brilliant books for making you say ‘Just one more page’. There was lots of drama, lots going on and lots to keep enticing you to the end.
3. My Least Favourite so far: I know what You’ve done.
Simply because I didnt find it as gripping as Dorothy’s other books and I found the characters less likeable. It did have a good few twists though.
4. Easiest to read: ‘Love Locked Down‘
It was weird reading a book about the madness that was the beginning of the pandemic but it was quite cool reading about something that you’ve actually been through in a relatively light hearted way. I liked the variety of characters.
5. One I would recommend: ‘Wrong Place, Wrong Time.’
The time loop and just the sheer depth of the plot ans suspense made it a fantastic reading experience. I really enjoyed her writing style.
