Books I’m Excited About #4

Hello!

I have started looking at the books that are being released this year and I must admit there are quite a few I am getting excited about and want to preorder.

So here are a few that I hope to order soon.

As Princesses of Crete and daughters of the fearsome King Minos, Ariadne and her sister Phaedra grow up hearing the hoofbeats and bellows of the Minotaur echo from the Labyrinth beneath the palace. The Minotaur – Minos’s greatest shame and Ariadne’s brother – demands blood every year. 

When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives in Crete as a sacrifice to the beast, Ariadne falls in love with him. But helping Theseus kill the monster means betraying her family and country, and Ariadne knows only too well that in a world ruled by mercurial gods – drawing their attention can cost you everything. 

In a world where women are nothing more than the pawns of powerful men, will Ariadne’s decision to betray Crete for Theseus ensure her happy ending? Or will she find herself sacrificed for her lover’s ambition?

ARIADNE gives a voice to the forgotten women of one of the most famous Greek myths, and speaks to their strength in the face of angry, petulant Gods. Beautifully written and completely immersive, this is an exceptional debut novel.

This book looks really interesting and I can’t wait for it to be published. I do love a retelling of an ancient myth.

Addie and her sister are about to embark on an epic road trip to a friend’s wedding in rural Scotland. The playlist is all planned and the snacks are packed.

But, not long after setting off, a car slams into the back of theirs. The driver is none other than Addie’s ex, Dylan, who she’s avoided since their traumatic break-up two years earlier.

Dylan and his best mate are heading to the wedding too, and they’ve totalled their car, so Addie has no choice but to offer them a ride. The car is soon jam-packed full of luggage and secrets, and with four hundred miles ahead of them, Dylan and Addie can’t avoid confronting the very messy history of their relationship…

Will they make it to the wedding on time? And, more importantly… is this really the end of the road for Addie and Dylan?

I read The Flat Share by O’Leary last year and absolutely loved it so I am looking forward to reading her latest book.

The Night Hawks, a group of metal detectorists, are searching for buried treasure when they find a body on the beach in North Norfolk. At first Nelson thinks that the dead man might be an asylum seeker but he turns out to be a local boy, Jem Taylor, recently released from prison. Ruth is more interested in the treasure, a hoard of Bronze Age weapons. Nelson at first thinks that Taylor’s death is accidental drowning, but a second death suggests murder.

Nelson is called to an apparent murder-suicide of a couple at the isolated Black Dog Farm. Local legend talks of the Black Shuck, a spectral hound that appears to people before they die. Nelson ignores this, even when the owner’s suicide note includes the line, ‘He’s buried in the garden.’ Ruth excavates and finds the body of a giant dog.

All roads lead back to this farm in the middle of nowhere, but the place spells serious danger for anyone who goes near. Ruth doesn’t scare easily. Not until she finds herself at Black Dog Farm …

This has been published but I haven’t ordered it yet but I will be honest I won’t be able to hold out for much longer as I love the Dr Ruth Galloway series.

Just three books at the moment but I will be ordering them soon I hope. I always enjoy preordering books as then I generally forget about the order and then when it arrives in the post it proves a nice surprise.

Please drop me a comment with any books you are excited about.

Reading My Height in Books #1

Hello!

So one of my reading challenges for 2021 is to read my height in books. I am 5 foot 7 inches so I think it will certainly be a good challenge.

I am going to take a picture each month with the hopefully ever increasing pile of books.

Here is January’s picture. I will be honest I am not entirely comfortable having my picture taken so apologies for the awkwardness.

January’s books measure at exactly 6 inches with has made me realise I need to read quite a few books for this challenge and some big books at that.

Books Read in January

The Dark Veil by James Swallow

The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O’Donnell

Dissolution by C. J. Sansom

Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey

The Mysterious Affair and Styles by Agatha Christie

Fingers crossed I manage the challenge.

Please drop me comment with your 2021 reading challenges.

Happy Reading

The Weekly Brief

Happy Sunday!

I hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Here is what has been happening on the blog this week.

Posts this Week

Currently Reading

Absolutely loving this so far!

Books Acquired

So there is my week on the blog. I hope everyone has had a good week.

Drop me a comment if you want to chat!

The Willoughby Book Club #5

Happy Saturday!

I do love it when I get a surprise book in the post and today was the day I have been eagerly awaiting since the beginning of the month.

My book was sadly not in its usual gorgeous wrapping due to staff shortages in the company but I got something even better included with my book, a little notebook to write all of my bookish notes in. I do love notebooks, so this was right up my street.

The book that I received was Meet Me In Bombay by Jenny Ashcroft. Jenny Ashcroft is another new author to me but her books have been recommended to me more than once by various people so I am looking forward to reading it.

The voucher code for 10% off a Willoughby Book Club subscription is still valid until the 25th February 2021 if you wish to join this fantastic club and get fabulous books through the post, then click the link below.

Voucher Code

Happy Reading!

Friday Poetry: Sara Teasdale

Happy Friday!

I hope everyone is well and have good bookish plans for the weekend. We might be having some snow over the weekend and my husband and myself love having a walk through the snow so my chosen poem seemed very apt.

A Winter Bluejay

Crisply the bright snow whispered,
Crunching beneath our feet;
Behind us as we walked along the parkway,
Our shadows danced
Fantastic shapes in vivid blue,
Across the lake the skaters
Flew to and fro,
With sharp turns weaving
A frail invisible net.
In ecstasy the earth
Drank the silver sunlight;
In ecstasy the skaters
Drank the wine of speed;
In ecstasy we laughed
Drinking the wine of love.
Had not the music of our joy
Sounded its highest note?
But no, 
For suddenly, with lifted eyes you said,
'Oh look!'
There, on the black bough of a snow-flecked maple,
Fearless and gay as our love,
A bluejay cocked his crest!
Oh, who can tell the range of joy
Or set the bounds of beauty?

Sara Teasdale

Happy Reading!

January 2021 Wrap Up

Hello!

I can’t believe we are already in February! I think I am the opposite to most people, in that for me January flew by.

So here is wrap up!

Statistics

This is much better than January 2020 as I didn’t manage to finish one book in January 2020 as I was in a big reading slump.

Books

Pages: 463

Format Read: Paperback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review

Pages: 572

Format Read: Paperback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review

Pages: 384

Format Read: Paperback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲

Review

Pages: 258

Format Read: Paperback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review

Pages: 336

Format Read: Hardback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲

Review

Pages: 35

Format Read: Kindle

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review

6/70 Goodreads Challenge

So there is my January. I hope everyone else also had a good January.

Please drop me a comment if you want to chat!

Happy Reading.

WWW Wednesday: 3/02/2021

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

The rules are answer the questions below and share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam’s blog.

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you will read next?

Hello!

I hope everyone is having a good week so far. There appears to be some sunshine here today so I am hoping to get out for a walk in a bit.

So here is what I have been up to in the world of books.

Currently Reading

I am absolutely loving this so far and I can already tell that I will fly through this series.

Recently Finished

I will be honest I did struggle with The Dark Veil and I am beginning to realise that James Swallow is just not an author for me. Here is my review.

The Butcher of Anderson Station was brilliant and a fantastic short story that excellently fills out the back story to Fred Johnson. Review.

What I Think I will Read Next

I will be honest if I had the next in the series then I would go straight on to the next book in The Expanse series but sadly funds are a bit tight for book buying so I must be well behaved and read some of the books I already own. It will definitely be one of these as three of them are from The Willoughby Book Club and I’ve promised myself that I will read at least one of my Willoughby books a month. The others I got in the last Waterstones sale and they are sat tempting me as I type.

The Willoughby Book Club Voucher code for 10% off is still available if anybody is interested: Voucher

Please drop me a comment with your WWW Wednesday and I will head over for a visit.

Happy Reading.

The Butcher of Anderson Station by James S. A. Corey (Review)

The Butcher of Anderson Station by James S. A. Corey

Blurb

A new story set in the world of The Expanse. One day, Colonel Fred Johnson will be hailed as a hero to the system. One day, he will meet a desperate man in possession of a stolen spaceship and a deadly secret and extend a hand of friendship. But long before he became the leader of the Outer Planets Alliance, Fred Johnson had a very different name. The Butcher of Anderson Station.

Review

We first meet Fred Johnson in Leviathan Wakes and we soon realise that he has a past and this short story tells us what that past is. 

I really enjoyed reading this short story as it shows what made Johnson join the OPA and become an advocate for their cause. It also introduces us to Anderson Dawes who is a member of the OPA and we get a brief introduction to his character as well which is really interesting.

I already know the story of Johnson from watching the TV series but it was really heart breaking to read the story of the slaughter of the workers and families of Anderson station. 

I read this short story in one setting and really enjoyed it as it filled in a bit of background story. The more I read of this series the more I fall in love with the writing. I give this story 5 out of 5 Dragons.

🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

Purchase Link

Amazon

About the author 

James S. A. Corey is the pen name of fantasy author Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, George R. R. Martin’s assistant. They both live Albuquerque, New Mexico.

My review of Leviathan Wakes.

The Dark Veil by James Swallow (Review)

The Dark Veil by James Swallow

Blurb

The Alpha Quadrant is mired in crisis.

Within the United Federation of Planets, a terrorist strike on the shipyards of Mars has led to the shutdown of all relief efforts for millions of Romulans facing certain doom from an impending super­nova. But when the USS Titan is drawn into a catastrophic incident on the Romulan-Federation border, Captain William Riker, his family, and his crew find themselves caught between the shocking secrets of an enigmatic alien species and the deadly agenda of a ruthless Tal Shiar operative. Forced into a wary alliance with a Romulan starship commander, Riker and the Titan crew must uncover the truth to stop a dev­astating attack, but one wrong move could plunge the entire sector into open conflict!

Review

Having read and loved the first book in the Star Trek Picard series I was really excited to read this book especially as it was to feature two of my favourite characters, Riker and Troi.

As soon as the book arrived through the post I started to read it and got very excited with the opening scene where we see Riker standing on trial. However, I will be honest my excitement soon waned with this book. I loved reading about my favourite characters and meeting Thaddeus, Riker and Troi’s son, but I just found that the story was very slow moving and frustrated me because of the lack of pace. 

Riker with a family was wonderful to see and the times where he was torn between duty to his ship and crew and duty to his wife and child was very moving. Troi was her usual calming and caring self who brings calm and order to any situation. 

I loved learning more about the back story to the TV series Picard and what has happened a year after the attack on Mars and I found the Jazari fascinating and wanted to learn more about them. I also felt rather sorry for them because due to living so secretly from other species it all sounded rather lonely. Zade was my favourite Jazari and his relationship with Thad was very sweet.

My biggest problem with this book was the lack of pace and at one point I did consider quitting but I am glad I continued reading because once I was past half way the story really picked up and I couldn’t put it down till I had finished it. After finishing this book I realised that I had had the same experience with Swallows book Fear Itself  from The Discovery series. I give this book 3 out of 5 Dragons.

🐲🐲🐲

Purchase Links

Amazon | Book Depository | Foyles | Waterstones | Wordery

About the author

James Swallow is a New York Times, Sunday Times and Amazon #1 bestselling author and scriptwriter, a BAFTA nominee, a former journalist and the award-winning writer of over fifty books, along with scripts for video games, comics, radio and television.