Month: December 2020

Recent Reads: Confessions of a Forty-Something F##k Up by Alexandra Potter

Posted on by Pam

My review:????

Confessions of a Forty-Something F##k Up by Alexandra Potter is about Nell Stevens, who is feeling like she has failed.  She’s left her fiancé in America and moved back to the UK, and is renting a room in someone else’s house.  She’s looking around at her friends who are married with children, and feels alienated from them.  

She gets offered a job to write obituaries, and jumps at it.  She meets Cricket, an 80 something year old widow, on her first interview, and they become unlikely friends.

This is a lovely story of finding yourself, changing your life and friendship.  I really enjoyed it, and loved Cricket!

Confessions of a Forty-Something F##k Up by Alexandra Potter was published on 31st December 2020, and is available to buy from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Alexandra Potter on her website, Facebook or Instagram.

I was given this book in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Pan Macmillan.

The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal (Lady Astronaut book 2)

Posted on by Pam

My review:?????

Spoilers ahead, as this is book 2 in the Lady Astronaut series!

The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal starts in 1961.  The Moon colony has been established, and so now it’s time to travel to Mars, to look to establish a colony there.  Not everyone is thrilled at the prospective of people leaving the Earth, and so have established themselves as Earth First.

Elma wants to go to Mars.  She’s conquered becoming an astronaut, even one who takes the occasional Miltown, but now she’s growing board. 

Another amazing book, with the right amount of pace, scene setting, maths, and rocket science.  It’s such an interesting look into traveling to space at this time, and the aspirations of so many.

The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal was published on 21st August 2018, and is available to buy from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Mary Robinette Kowal on her Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or her website.

You can read my review of book 1 in this series, The Calculating Stars here.

Recent Reads: The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal (Lady Astronaut book 1)

Posted on by Pam

My review:?????

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal starts in 1952, when a huge meteorite crashes into the US, and many cities are lost, including Washington D.C.

Elma is the one who works out the implications of the environmental impact of the meteorite, and her husband Nathanial and she campaign for the US to start exploring space as a viable option for humanity in the coming years. 

Elma is a pilot and is a mathematician, and so she becomes a calculator (think of the film Hidden Figures).  But Elma’s ambitions don’t end there – she wants to be an astronaut!

I really enjoyed this book, and loved the way it was written.  The misogyny and racism of the time is very clear, and not glossed over.

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal was published on 3rd July 2018, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones, and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Mary Robinette Kowal on her Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or her website.

Recent Reads: Growing Under Cover by Niki Jabbour

Posted on by Pam

My review:????

Growing Under Cover by Niki Jabbour is a guide for how to grow vegetables all year round under cover, with an aim to have a pest free garden.

There’s lots of photos, and information on how to grow vegetables from seed in the ground, and when the best time is to start growing things.  It also gives you a guide for where to start with covers.

I felt this was a good book with instructions, and gave me a good starting point for what I should start looking for.

Growing Under Cover by Niki Jabbour was published on 22nd December, and is available to buy from Amazon, Waterstones and BookShop.org.

You can follow Niki Jabbour on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Storey Publishing.

Recent Reads: Plant Partners; Science-Based Companion Planting Strategies for the Vegetable Garden by Jessica Walliser

Posted on by Pam

My review:????

Plant Partners; Science-Based Companion Planting Strategies for the Vegetable Garden by Jessica Walliser is about the best way to grow plants together so that your vegetables don’t get eaten by bugs, for instance!

It has lots of plant partners suggested, and tells you about using other plants instead of bean poles, how to attract pollinating insects, using plants for weed management, and disease management.

It has a lot of beautiful photos, and tells you about why you are putting these plants together.

It’s a good book if you’re looking to grow organically, or if you just want to stop an insect from eating your vegetable plants!

Plant Partners; Science-Based Companion Planting Strategies for the Vegetable Garden is due to be published on 22nd December, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.

You can follow Jessica Walliser on her website or on Twitter.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Storey Publishing.

Recent Reads: Pastry and Poison by Carole Fowkes (A Terrified Detective Mystery Book 7)

Posted on by Pam

My review:???

Pastry and Poison by Carole Fowkes has Private Investigator, Claire, looking in to the poisoning of bakers in the area.  Her fiancé, Police Detective Brian Corrigan, is on the same case, and so there’s some friction there.

His beautiful new partner isn’t helping matters, either.  Nor is the worry about how to pay the bills.

As you can see from the title, this is the 7th book in this series, and you can tell that in some ways with the call backs to previous cases, but it doesn’t feel like we’ve missed too much!

This is a light weight read, as you find from cosy crimes.  I found myself irritated with the main character, as she did things that she knew would put her relationship in trouble.

Pastry and Poison by Carole Fowkes was published on 29th September 2020, and is available to buy from Amazon.

You can follow Carole Fowkes on Twitter, Facebook and her website.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to BooksGoSocial.

Recent Reads: The Burning God by R. F Kuang

Posted on by Pam

My review:????

The Burning God by R. F Kuang is the third book in the series, and you really need to have read the two previous books before you read this one!  Fang Runin has won the war, and now has to deal with the after effects, of ruling a devastated land, and the after effects of a civil war.

There are Hesperians, the Dragon Republic, and the remnants of her people, who thirst for revenge.

This is the end of the Poppy War series, and it packs a punch! 

I enjoyed the end to the story, and the ways it tidied up all of the loose story threads.  As with the other books in the series, it’s not going to hide the realities of war, or the sacrifices people make.

The Burning God by R. F Kuang was published on 17th November 2020, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones, and your local independent bookshop.

I’ve read the previous books in this series (The Poppy War and The Dragon Republic), and you can read my review here.

You can follow R.F Kuang on Twitter, or through her website.

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to  HarperCollins for this book.

Recent Reads: Murder in the Snow (A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery Book 4) by Verity Bright

Posted on by Pam

My review:????

Murder in the Snow (A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery Book 4) by Verity Bright is set in 1920, and Lady Eleanor is settling into her role as lady of the manor, and this is her first Christmas.

She is doing the things that they usually do, including hosting an annual fun run in the grounds of the Hall, when someone drops dead of a supposed heart attack, except there is something suspicious about this death.  It’s very like that of her Uncle, whom she inherited the Hall from!

This is the first book in the series that I’ve read, so I’m sure I’ve missed out on some of the character development, but it was an enjoyable cosy murder mystery, all set at Christmas.  

Murder in the Snow (A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery Book 4) was published on 19th November 2020, and is available to buy from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.

You can follow Verity Bright on Twitter and Facebook.

I was given this book in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Bookouture.

Recent Reads: The Extraordinary Hope of Dawn Brightside by Jessica Ryn

Posted on by Pam

My review:????

The Extraordinary Hope of Dawn Brightside by Jessica Ryn is about Dawn Brightside, who is homeless.  She gets a place in St Jude’s Hostel for the Homeless, and she sees all the possibilities.

And I do mean all of them, as Dawn is a dreamer.  Helping out in cafe means she’ll be discovered to be an amazing chef, and find fame and fortune.  And it’s the same for most things.  Her wild optimism means that she’s the person with the can do attitude, which helps when there’s a crisis, like the threat of closure for the hostel.

This was a book that didn’t pull it’s punches.  It wanted you to know about the heartbreak, and the struggle to remain sober.  It wanted you to know about sleeping rough.  It also wanted to you know the community spirit, and how people look out for each other.

The Extraordinary Hope of Dawn Brightside was published on 26th November 2020, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.

You can follow Jessica Ryn on Twitter and on her website.

I was given this book in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to HQ.

Recent Reads: Simply Stitched with Embroidery; Embroidery Motifs for Purses and More by Yumiko Higuchi

Posted on by Pam

My review:????

Simply Stitched with Embroidery; Embroidery Motifs for Purses and More by Yumiko Higuchi is a book of beautiful pattern ideas for sewing, and then creating purses and bags.

There are instructions for how to make the bags up, and you are given the patterns for sewing the lovely motifs, which you could use for anything else, including decorating a face mask!  You are also given instructions for the different stitches.

If you interested in embroidery, then this is a lovely book, with lots of clear photos to help you create something amazing!

Simply Stitched with Embroidery; Embroidery Motifs for Purses and More was published on 1st September 2020, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.

You can follow Yumiko Higuchi on Instagram and her website.  You can also buy from her Etsy store.

I was given this book in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Zakka Workshop.