Hello!
I hope everyone has had a good start to the week so far. I’ve not managed any reading yet but I am hoping to do some reading later.
I currently have a huge pile of books on my landing which is one of my many TBR piles. I really want to reduce this pile so that is the inspiration for my January TBR.
I doubt I will manage to read all of these books but I’m hoping to make a reasonable dent in the TBR.
Happy Reading
Hello!
I hope everyone has had a good weekend so far. I am back teaching tomorrow and I must admit I will miss my extra reading time. Blogging has been back on track this week but I still have a few book reviews to catch up with.
Blog Posts
Currently Reading
Unleashed by Boris Johnson is my current buddy read with my best friend. We are reading a chapter today and really enjoying it so far. I have also recently started A Three Dog Problem and I am thoroughly enjoying it so far.
Happy Reading
Hello!
December was definitely my best reading month of 2024. Most months in 2024 I was lucky to read 3 or 4 books but in December I managed to finish a massive 9 books! I have fallen slightly behind with my book reviews though sadly. I promise I will catch up soon.
Statistics
Books
Pages: 64
Format Read: Hardback
Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲
New Book
Pages: 448
Format Read: Hardback
Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲
New Book
Pages: 240
Format Read: Hardback
Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲
New Book
Pages: 336
Format Read: Hardback
Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲
New Book
Pages: 368
Format Read: Hardback
Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲
Review to follow
New Book
Pages: 106
Format Read: Hardback
Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲
New Book
Pages: 14
Format Read: Hardback
Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲
Old Book
Pages: 48
Format Read: Hardback
Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲
Review to follow
New Book
Pages: 75
Format Read: Hardback
Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲
Review to follow
New Book
New Books: 8
Old Books: 1
24 Books in 2024: 14/24
Goodreads: 45/40
Happy Reading
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.
Happy New Year!
I hope everyone had a good New Year’s Eve. I’ve had a lovely day of reading today which has been bliss. I’m still reading my Christmas books until 6th January but I have also started my first buddy read of the year.
What I am Currently Reading
Unleashed by Boris Johnson is my buddy read and we are aiming for a chapter a day. I’m a bit dubious of A Christmas Ghost Story so far but I’m hoping it proves to be good.
What I have Recently Finished Reading
I have just finished my reread of the Hogfather by Terry Pratchett and absolutely loved it. My reviews of these books will be posted very soon.
What I Think I will Read Next
I have a huge pile of books sat on my landing and they are all TBR. I’m not sure what I will next but I’m very excited about these.
Please drop me a comment with your WWW Wednesday and I will head over for a visit.
Happy Reading
Murder at the Christmas Emporium by Andreina Cordani
Blurb
It’s Christmas at The Emporium, a bespoke gift shop hidden in the depths of London’s winding streets featuring handcrafted delights unavailable anywhere else. Tinsel coils around the wooden beams, lights sparkle in the windows and the open fire crackles comfortingly. As closing time approaches after a busy trading day, only a few customers drift towards the exit – but they find they cannot leave. The doors are locked.
What initially seemed an innocent mix-up turns sinister as the shopkeepers seem strangely uninterested in lending assistance. The festive cheer has all but disappeared among a growing feeling of unease – and then a chilling discovery is made in Santa’s grotto.
For those that survive the night, it will be a Christmas to remember.
Review
This is my first book by Cordani and I chose it because I loved the cover and the title of the book. Thankfully I was not disappointed!
I loved this book because it gave me real Charlie and the Chocolate Factory vibes with Agatha Christie vibes. It was a weird concoction which worked brilliantly together and although it was set in modern day London, at times you could almost say it was set in Victorian times with a bit of Dickens Christmas thrown in as well.
Montagu Verity is definitely the Willy Wonka character in this book. He is a born and bred showman but he also has a sinister side to him which starts to emerge as the story goes on. He also knows a disturbing amount about his special guests.
This book has historical flashbacks which helps build up the story and connects all the modern events together. Each chapter builds on what has happened before and starts to create a rich tapestry of facts for the reader to try and unravel.
I really liked the mix of characters in this book and although I struggled with Merry’s character to begin with she definitely became a favourite. I also really liked Fran and Knives. The descriptions in this book were stunning and it really made me want to visit a Christmas Emporium. I could not put this book down and give it 5 out of 5 Dragons.
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Purchase Links
Bookshop.org | Waterstones | WH Smith
(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)
About the author
Andreina Cordani is a writer and journalist who writes fiction for adults and young adults.
Goodreads Monday is now hosted by Budget Tales Book Club. All you have to do is show off a book from your TBR that you’re looking forward to reading.
Hello!
Apologies for the recent silence. Christmas is a really busy period for myself and my husband so I just decided to take a week off blogging and enjoy my free time reading Christmas themed books.
Welcome to my last Goodreads Monday of 2024!
My chosen books today is a recent buy but by one of my favourite authors which is now an auto buy author for me. I also have to catch up on her back catalogue as well.
The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
1950s Hollywood: Every actress wants to play Salome, the star-making role in a big-budget movie about the legendary woman whose story has inspired artists since ancient times.
So when the film’s mercurial director casts Vera Larios, an unknown Mexican ingenue, in the lead role, she quickly becomes the talk of the town. Vera also becomes an object of envy for Nancy Hartley, a bit player whose career has stalled and who will do anything to win the fame she believes she richly deserves.
Two actresses, both determined to make it to the top in Golden Age Hollywood—a city overflowing with gossip, scandal, and intrigue—make for a sizzling combination.
But this is the tale of three women, for it is also the story of the princess Salome herself, consumed with desire for the fiery prophet who foretells the doom of her stepfather, Herod: a woman torn between the decree of duty and the yearning of her heart.
Before the curtain comes down, there will be tears and tragedy aplenty in this sexy Technicolor saga.
Happy Reading
Goodreads Monday is now hosted by Budget Tales Book Club. All you have to do is show off a book from your TBR that you’re looking forward to reading.
Hello!
I can’t believe it is nearly Christmas! I am rather behind on my planned reading for December but I’m hoping to have some quiet days soon.
My chosen book to feature this week is another Christmas book I want to read.
A Christmas Ghost Story by Kim Newman
Lynda and her teenage son Rust prepare for Christmas, hanging fairy lights and making decorations. The first door of the advent calendar is opened, but the chocolate inside tastes off. Rust receives his first Christmas card, it’s unsigned and the message is aggressive rather than festive.
The cards keep coming, one each day and each more sinister than the last, and a frightened Lynda recalls a seasonal TV show from her childhood that featured similar happenings, and while she remembers it vividly, there is no evidence that it was ever broadcast…
As their Christmas cheer is gradually poisoned, with real dead robins replacing plastic ones, the turkey rotting in the freezer and Rust becoming increasingly unwell, Lynda begins to wonder if her childhood Christmases were in fact as joy filled as she remembers…
A terrifying tale of seasonal dread from a master of horror.
Happy Reading
Hello!
I hope everyone is all ready for Christmas. I have been wrapping Christmas presents today but I’m still rather behind on the Christmas prep. However, the blogging and the reading has been going well this week.
Blog Posts
Currently Reading
It is time for my Christmas tradition of reading Nutcracker and Mouse King over Christmas so I have started reading this today.
Happy Reading
Everyone this Christmas has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson
Blurb
My name is Ernest Cunningham.
I’m not a detective. I just happen to have a knack for what makes mysteries – and murderers – tick. I’d hoped, this Christmas, that any killers out there might be willing to take a break for the holidays.
I was wrong.
So here I am, backstage at the Christmas show of world-famous magician Rylan Blaze, whose benefactor has just been murdered. From the magician’s assistant to the hypnotist, my suspects are all professional tricksters. Masters in the art of misdirection.
My clues are even more of a mystery:
A suspect covered in blood, with no memory of how it got there.
A murder committed without setting foot inside the room where it happens.
And an advent calendar. Because, you know. It’s Christmas.
Solving the murder is the only gift I want this year.
But can I catch a killer, and make it home for Christmas alive?
Review
I will be honest I picked this book up not realising it was part of a series but to be honest it worked fine as a standalone book and I didn’t feel the story lacked anything because I hadn’t read the previous books.
This book was a very easy read for me and I really enjoyed it being set in Australia. I think it was my first festive read set in a hot country. A real change from my usual wintery reads that I usually read this time of year. I also liked the main character Ernest Cunningham and I liked how he worked but I did find him a little bit big headed at times and this made him a little annoying.
I really enjoyed the storyline of this book and how Cunningham worked out who the murderer was. His methods were very methodical and he reminded me a great deal of Agatha Christie’s Poirot. The way it was all done was very clever.
The main problem I had with this book was that the characters were just rather unremarkable and very forgettable. Other than Ernest and maybe one other character I couldn’t tell you any of their names or anything really about them. I just felt like all the effort was put into the plot and not the characters which was a shame.
I did enjoy this book but I wasn’t bowled over by it and to be honest I’m not sure I will return to the world of Ernest Cunningham but maybe I will one day. I give this book 3 out of 5 Dragons.
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Purchase Links
Bookshop.org | Waterstones | WH Smith
(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)
About the author
Benjamin Stevenson is an award-winning stand-up comedian and USA Today best-selling author. He is the author of the globally popular ‘Ernest Cunningham Mysteries’, including Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone, which is currently being adapted into a major HBO TV series, and Everyone on This Train is a Suspect. His books have sold over 750,000 copies in twenty-nine territories and have been nominated for eight ‘Book of the Year’ awards.
The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke
Blurb
Nineteen-year-old Merowdis Scott is an unusual girl. She can talk to animals and trees—and she is only ever happy when she is walking in the woods.
One snowy afternoon, out with her dogs and Apple the pig, Merowdis encounters a blackbird and a fox. As darkness falls, a strange figure enters in their midst—and the path of her life is changed forever.
From the internationally bestselling and prize-winning author of Piranesi and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an enchanting, beautifully illustrated short story set in the Strange universe. Featuring an introduction by Susanna Clarke and gorgeous illustrations from Victoria Sawdon truly worthy of the magic of this story, this is a mesmerising, must-have addition to any fantasy reader’s bookshelf.
Review
I bought this short little book for my husband who is a huge fan of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell but I fancied a short wintery read so I picked it up at the beginning of December for a quick read.
I loved the illustrations in this book and for me the illustrations were the best thing because I just thought the story itself was really lacking. Sadly for me the book was just too short. I needed a bit more character development, I wanted to know more about the Merowdis and her sister. I definitely think this would have been better as a full novel.
My opinion of this book is that it is rather forgettable. To be honest if it wasn’t for the blurb I wouldn’t have remembered the main character’s name and I definitely can’t remember the sister’s name. The main thing I remember is the pet pig called Apple because how can you forget a pet pig called Apple?
The story felt like Clarke was aiming for a Grimm’s fairytale feeling but for me it just missed the mark. I was quite excited for this book but sadly it just was a bit beige. I give this book 3 out of 5 Dragons.
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Purchase Links
Bookshop.org | Waterstones | WH Smith
(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)
About the author
Susanna Clarke (1959) is an English author who has published novels and short stories. Her debut novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and her set of short stories The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories are all set in a magical England.
Lady Book Dragon 