2024

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

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Goodreads Monday: 23/12/2024

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

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Goodreads Monday: 16/12/2024

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 hope everyone has had a good start to the week. I haven’t had any teaching today so it has been a day of Christmas prep and making up Etsy orders.

My chosen book this week is another Christmas read that I am hoping to read this month.

Death Comes at Christmas edited by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane

The award-winning Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane invite you to a festive gathering of bestselling, critically acclaimed and award-winning writers in tribute to classic, British period crime stories. From locked room mysteries on Christmas eve to devilish whodunits and tales of simmering rivalries unfolding at the dinner table, these thirteen original seasonal tales will delight and shock at every twist and turn. So, unwrap the presents, pour a mug of mulled wine and follow the bloodstained footprints through the freshly fallen snow as winter descends and darkness lurks in the shadows.

Featuring stories by: Fiona Cummins, Angela Clarke, A.K. Benedict, Susi Holliday, J.T. Ellison, David Bell, Sarah Hilary, Claire McGowan, Tina Baker, Sam Carrington, Liz Mistry, C.L. Taylor, Helen Fields, Russ Thomas, Tom Mead, Vaseem Khan, Samantha Hayes & Belinda Bauer

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Goodreads Monday: 9/12/2024

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 hope everyone has had a good start to the week. I had my last day of school today and can now enjoy some time off until I’m back in January. I really hope this means more reading!

My chosen book this week is one I have recently treated myself to.

I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest with You by Miranda Hart

I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest With You. I know – what an intriguing title!

Basically, I have had an unexpectedly difficult decade – there have been surprising joys, but also deep revelations and challenging lows. I shall be honest about those, because what I discovered in the difficult times were my, what I call, treasures. Treasures – practical tools, values, ways, answers researched from some great scientists, neuroscientists, therapists, sociologists (all the ‘ists’) out there, that have genuinely led to a sense of freedom, joy, peace and physical recovery I never would have thought possible. Life now, amazingly, with what I will share, is – SUCH FUN! (always important to quote your own catch phrases. . .)

If you fancy having a read, then I hope my story might help your story. After all, we are in this beautiful, mysterious, challenging life together. Rest assured there are funny stories along the way – we will have a laugh too, my dear reader chum. Oh, and I couldn’t possibly say if there is a love story in it . . . (There is – shush) Exciting.

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Goodreads Monday: 11/11/2024

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 about not being about the last few days. My poor laptop decided to give up the ghost and I hadn’t done any scheduled posts. I really missed my blogging world!

My chosen book today is one that I have recently added to my TBR and I hope to be on my December TBR.

The Christmas Stocking Murders by Denzil Meyrick

A case shrouded in secrets.
It’s just before Christmas, 1953. Grasby and Juggers are investigating a puzzling murder in the remote village of Uthley’s Bay. A fisherman has been found dead on the beach, with a stocking wound tight round his throat.

A festive mystery for one and all.
Hundreds of pairs of stockings, in neat cellophane bags, soon wash up on the shore. A blizzard cuts off Grasby and Juggers from help, and the local innkeeper is murdered. Any remaining Christmas cheer goes up in smoke as the villagers refuse to talk, leaving the two detectives chasing false leads in the snow.

A winter wonderland with no escape.
To make matters worse, Grasby can’t stop thinking about stockings. Why does everyone seem to be enjoying strangely high standards of hosiery, even beneath their oilskins? Who is the sinister bespectacled man snooping around their hotel? And how can they solve the murder when everyone in the village is a suspect?

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Goodreads Monday: 4/11/2024

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.

Happy Monday Everyone!

I hope everyone has had a good start to the week. I have had an unexpected day off today so this meant a spontaneous adventure.

My chosen book to feature off my Goodreads TBR this week is another that has been sat on my TBR for a very long time. It is another book by my absolute favourite author and historian. Next year I plan on reading as much Alison Weir as I can.

Children of England by Alison Weir

At his death in 1547, King Henry VIII left four heirs to the English throne: his only son, the nine-year-old Prince Edward; the Lady Mary, the adult daughter of his first wife, Catherine of Aragon; the Lady Elizabeth, the daughter of his second wife, Anne Boleyn, and his young great-niece, the Lady Jane Grey. These are the players in a royal drama that ultimate led to Elizabeth’s ascension to the throne–one of the most spectacularly successful reigns in English history.

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Goodreads Monday: 28/10/2024

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 hope everyone has had a good start to the week. I have had a fab day of reading which made a nice change.

My chosen book to feature this week is another Alison Weir that I have wanted to read for a very long time.

The Lady in the Tower by Alison Weir

On 2 May, 1536, in an act unprecedented in English history, Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife, was imprisoned in the Tower of London. On 15 May, she was tried and found guilty of high treason and executed just four days later.

Mystery surrounds the circumstances leading up to her arrest – did Henry VIII instruct Thomas Cromwell to fabricate evidence to get rid of her so that he could marry Jane Seymour? Did Cromwell, for reasons of his own, construct a case against Anne and her faction, and then present compelling evidence before the King? Or was Anne, in fact, as guilty as charged?

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Goodreads Monday: 21/10/2024

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 hope everyone has had a good start to the week. I have been busy making up and sending out orders for my Etsy shop today. The Halloween bookmarks are proving rather popular which is great as they are some of my favourites as well.

My chosen book to feature this week is another that has been sat on my TBR for way too long. I have read the first book of the series and I have bought the rest of the books in the series but have yet to read any!

August 1572: Minou Joubert and her family are in Paris for a Royal Wedding, an alliance between the Catholic Crown and the Huguenot King of Navarre intended to bring peace to France after a decade of religious wars. So too is their oldest enemy, Vidal, still in pursuit of a relic that will change the course of history. But within days of the marriage, thousands will lie dead in the streets and Minou’s beloved family will be scattered to the four winds . .

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Goodreads Monday: 14/10/2024

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 hope everyone has had a good Monday so far. My Monday has been jam packed with work so sadly not much reading achieved but I’m hoping to catch up tomorrow.

I have two long forgotten bookcases in our house and I mean forgotten. However, just recently I have rediscovered these bookshelves and the books on them. So many of these books I had forgotten I even owned and here is one of them.

Yvonne Carmichael has worked hard to achieve the life she always wanted: a high-flying career in genetics, a beautiful home, a good relationship with her husband and their two grown-up children.

Then one day she meets a stranger at the Houses of Parliament and, on impulse, begins a passionate affair with him – a decision that will put everything she values at risk.

At first she believes she can keep the relationship separate from the rest of her life, but she can’t control what happens next. All of her careful plans spiral into greater deceit and, eventually, a life-changing act of violence.

Apple Tree Yard is a psychological thriller about one woman’s adultery and an insightful examination of the values we live by and the choices we make, from an acclaimed writer at the height of her powers.

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Goodreads Monday: 7/10/2024

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 hope everyone has had a good start to the week. I have had a busy day teaching but I have also managed a bit of reading.

My chosen book to feature this week is one by my favourite author and historian Alison Weir.

Mary I Queen of Sorrows by Alison Weir

Adored only child of King Henry VIII and his first wife Katherine of Aragon, young Princess Mary grows up as the sole heiress to the English throne. But her father wants a son, and soon Mary’s world begins to fall apart.

With her parents’ marriage – and England – in crisis, Mary is banished from the court and kept apart from the mother she adores. The King promises to restore his daughter to favour, but first Mary must do something for which she will never forgive herself.

She seeks solace in her faith. But when her brother Edward VI dies, she finds herself fighting for the crown – and for her life. Emerging triumphant, all seems fair for the reign of Queen Mary. And then, very quickly, things began to go badly wrong…

MARY I. HER STORY.

Alison Weir’s new Tudor novel, a tale full of drama and tragedy, tells the story of how a princess with such promise, loved by all who knew her, becomes the infamous Bloody Mary.

Happy Reading