Come and escape from the world in some great books!
Another slippery little thriller with everything you would expect from Janice Hallett: an epistolary format using messages, emails, transcripts and, here, extracts from fictionalised accounts of events; vivid characters brought to life through their own (unreliable) voices, a twisty plot. A great, fun read to see the new year in with.
In a world where anyone can cast a life-destroying curse, only one person has the power to unravel them. Kellen does not fully understand his unique gift, but helps those who are cursed, like his friend Nettle who was trapped in the body of a bird for years. She is now Kellen's constant companion and… Continue reading Book Review: Unraveller, Frances Hardinge
In 1963, in a Siberian prison, former nuclear specialist Valery Kolkhanov has mastered what it takes to survive: the right connections to the guards for access to food and cigarettes, the right pair of warm boots, and the right attitude toward the small pleasures of life so he won't go insane. But one day, all… Continue reading Book Review: The Half-Life of Valery K, Natasha Pulley
Liesl Weiss long ago learned to be content working behind the scenes in the distinguished rare books department of a large university, managing details and working behind the scenes to make the head of the department look good. But when her boss has a stroke and she's left to run things, she discovers that the… Continue reading Book Review: Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Eva Jurczyk
Forty years ago, Steven Smith found a copy of a famous children's book by disgraced author Edith Twyford, its margins full of strange markings and annotations. Wanting to know more, he took it to his English teacher Miss Iles, not realising the chain of events that he was setting in motion. Miss Iles became convinced… Continue reading Book Review: The Twyford Code, Janice Hallett
When aspiring novelist Christopher Flinders drops out of university to write his masterpiece (in between shifts as a fish delivery man and builder's mate), his family is sceptical.But when he is taken up by the London editor Owen Goddard and his charming wife Diana it seems success is just around the corner. Christopher's life has… Continue reading Book Review: The Editor’s Wife, Clare Chambers
Synopsis Troy has fallen. The Greeks have won their bitter war. They can return home as victors - all they need is a good wind to lift their sails. But the wind has vanished, the seas becalmed by vengeful gods, and so the warriors remain in limbo - camped in the shadow of the city… Continue reading Book Review: The Women of Troy, Pat Barker
With a month before publication date and notices about it throughout my local Waterstones, it is a fitting moment to thank Faber & Faber and Sally Rooney for giving me a sneak peek at Chapter One of the eagerly anticipated Beautiful World, Where Are You? Cover Firstly, I love the colours here! The blue and… Continue reading ARC Sneak Peek: Beautiful World, Where Are You? Sally Rooney
Synopsis It's the following Thursday.Elizabeth has received a letter from an old colleague, a man with whom she has a long history. He's made a big mistake, and he needs her help. His story involves stolen diamonds, a violent mobster, and a very real threat to his life.As bodies start piling up, Elizabeth enlists Joyce,… Continue reading Book Review: The Man Who Died Twice, Richard Osman
Many thanks to Anthony Horowitz and Penguin Books for the chance to read this ARC, courtesy of NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. I've really enjoyed Horowitz' crime capers in the past as he has played with the form: the Susan Ryeland series (Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders) which interpose Atticus Pund's fiction-within-a-fiction detective… Continue reading Book Review: A Line to Kill, Anthony Horowitz
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Previous Top Ten Tuesday Topics May 4: My Ten Most Recent ReadsMay… Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books of the Second Half of 2021
“Are they supposed to be happy or sad? I mean, is it a celebration of the people who made it, or a memorial to the ones who didn't?” One thing that Jane Harper can do extraordinarily well is to create a sense of place in her writing: her settings, whether they be the oppressive heat… Continue reading Book Review: The Survivors, Jane Harper
“The morning has turned lavishly beautiful. The autumn sun gave the greens of the fields an impossible, mythic radiance and transformed the back roads into light-muddled paths where a goblin with a fiddle, or a pretty maiden with a basket, could be waiting around every game and-bramble bend. Cal is in no mood to appreciate… Continue reading The Searcher, Tana French
A very quick post just to squeeeee a little bit over the two most recent approvals from NetGalley, both character-driven crime novels. The Searcher, Tana French Cal Hooper thought a fixer-upper in a bucolic Irish village would be the perfect escape. After twenty-five years in the Chicago police force and a bruising divorce, he just… Continue reading ARC Book Haul
“In life you have to learn to count the good days. You have to tuck them in your pocket and carry them around with you. So I’m putting today in my pocket and I’m off to bed.” Oh this was a delightful little book! The cosiest of cosy detective stories! Wrapped up in the warm… Continue reading The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman
All it would take - so I believed - was one ruler willing to allow people of different faiths to live alongside one another without persecution, and surely they would begin to recognise that their common humanity superseded the division they had been taught to fear? The Tudor period does hold such a firm and… Continue reading Execution, S. J. Parris
Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices... Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?
Anthony Horowitz... creator of Alex Rider and Christopher Foyle, writer for Midsomer Murders from its inception, trusted with the legacy of Sherlock Holmes and James Bond. If you were ever looking for a safe pair of hands for a light-hearted, entertaining detective novel, Anthony Horowitz is it! His two recent (currently unconnected but very similar)… Continue reading Moonflower Murders, Anthony Horowitz
NetGalley is a wonderful resource for readers and bookbloggers: early and free access to your favourite books? Who wouldn't want that? I used to see the "Many thanks to the publisher for a free ARC" disclaimer on the top of their reviews and wonder how on earth people manage it. It seemed arcane and strange… Continue reading How To Win At NetGalley
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