Author: Pam
My review: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Reluctant Entertainer’s Big Boards and More by Sandy Coughlin is a fun guide to serving food on boards, which I’ve noticed have been popular on social media!
This has great photos for showing you how to set the boards up and gives ideas for themes for the boards!
I enjoyed getting ideas for how to put together a board!
I was given access to this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Quarto Publishing!
My review:
The Accidental Medium by Tracy Whitwell is a murder mystery with a supernatural twist as Tanz realises that she really can hear voices of the dead.
I enjoyed this take on a supernatural mystery. It has a touch of horror in places, and some danger.
It’s a good start to what can be a series of cosy supernatural mysteries, and I’m looking forward to reading more!
The Accidental Medium was published on 21st July 2022, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.
You can follow Tracy Whitwell on Twitter.
I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Pan Macmillan.
My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟
100 Plants to Feed the Birds by Laura Erickson has a lot of photos of plants and birds, aimed at North America, but shows the pure breadth of different plants that encourage birds into gardens.
I thought the book was really nice, and I was interested to see just how many different birds liked such different plants!
100 Plants to Feed the Birds was published on 20th December 2022, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.
You can follow Laura Erickson on her website.
I was given access to this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Storey Publishing.
My review:🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄
A Very Merry Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams is the story of Colton Wheeler, a famous country music singer thinks he’s met the woman for him when he meets Gretchen Winthrope, an immigration lawyer, but she runs away from him. A year on, he’s struggling with his career, and she’s trying to make a big decision.
I found this story to be enjoyable, with the right level of Christmas, found family, and family. There was some spicy scenes, some talk about tropes in romance novels and a good amount of serious moments amongst the romance.
One of the themes of this series is that the men have a friendship group where they read romance novels to learn how to do romance right!
This is the fifth book in the series, but I didn’t feel I was confused by anything. I enjoyed this book so much that I’ll be looking for more in the series!
I keep a list of authors whose books I really enjoy and I keep an eye out for! Lyssa Kay Adams is going on that list!
A Very Merry Bromance was published on 1st November 2022, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.
You can follow Lyssa Kay Adams on Instagram and her website.
I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Headline Eternal.
My review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
All I Want for Christmas is Yarn by Lindsay Newns has lovely Christmas project for a crocheter! Some of them are to decorate your home, some are gifts, and some are cuddlys!
This has lovely photos with step by step instruction, and makes lovely looking items!
All I Want for Christmas is Yarn was published on 27th October 2022, and is available from all good bookshops!
You can find Lindsay Newns on Instagram as @lottieandalbert and website of the same name! She also does a subscription service where you get sent a kit, instructions and links to videos!
I was given access to this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to HarperCollins UK.
My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Marple: Twelve New Stories by Agatha Christie; Naomi Alderman; Leigh Bardugo; Alyssa Cole; Lucy Foley; Elly Griffiths; Natalie Haynes; Jean Kwok; Val McDermid; Karen M. McManus; Dreda Say Mitchell; Kate Mosse; Ruth Ware, so 12 short stories, 1 by each author, all with Miss Marple solving crimes in her quiet, overlooked way.
I really enjoyed the different interpretations, and takes on Miss Marple. There are stories set in lots of different places, and with an amazing range of crime and thriller writers!
If you enjoy cosy crime, then I recommend this! And if you haven’t tried any Agatha Christie yet and aren’t sure if you want to, then try this, and go from there!
Marple: Twelve New Stories was published on 15th September 2022, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.
I was given access to this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to HarperCollins UK.
My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Art of the Travel Journal by Abbey Sy is a guide on how to write a travel journal, as you’d guess. It has photos and descriptions of different versions, such as photo, drawings, writing, and a combination.
It has step by step guide for things like collaging, suggestions on how to decide what type of travel journal you might want to do, tips and suggestions for how to do things like making your own watercolour tin.
I thought this was a very inspiring book, with lots of photos and suggestions of people who use travel journals you can follow, and get ideas from!
The Art of the Travel Journal was published on 13th September 2022, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.
You can follow Abbey Sy on Instagram, YouTube and her website.
I was given access to this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Quarto Publishing Group and Quarry Books.
My review:🌟🌟🌟
The Manor House Murder by Faith Martin is book three in the series centring around Monica Noble, wife of a village vicar, and solver of mysteries.
A church conference is being held in the local manor house hotel in Monica and Graham’s village. When an ambitious female cleric dies from her peanut allergy, Graham is a prime suspect and so Monica starts to investigate.
This is cosy mystery, which I hadn’t read any of the previous books for, but didn’t feel like I was missing anything in the story. It’s a light, entertaining story, with the politics you’d expect from a large organisation.
The Manor House Murder was published on 8th November 2019, and is available from Amazon.
You can follow Faith Martin on Twitter and her website.
I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Joffe Books.
My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟
August Kitko and the Mechas from Space by Alex White has giant mechas from space that are arriving on Earth to destroy everything they can see, August has met someone he loves, and has also found that he can get into a mecha and control it, somehow. Maybe its not the end of the world, after all!
A world ending story with giant mechas being the cause is a little different! I liked the story line with an LGBTQ+ positive couple.
This is an adventure book with fast packing and jeopardy around every corner!
If you enjoy Gundam anime or transformers, then I recommend you give this a try!
August Kitko and the Mechas from Space was published on 12th July 2022, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.
You can follow Alex White on Instagram.
I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Little, Brown Book Group.
My review:🌟🌟🌟
In Together We Burn by Isabel Ibañez, Zarela is the daughter of a famous flamenco dancer and a dragonador (matador except for dragons instead of bulls). There is an an accident, and her mother dies.
The story picks up a year later, and Zarela is a flamenco dancer herself, but feeling frustrated as the crowd doesn’t want to see her dances, they want her mothers. Something happens, and Zarela decides the way she can help best is by becoming a dragonader herself.
I found some bits felt out of place – how Zorela feels before her mother dies is too young for a year to pass and her to be 18, and a dancer herself, in my opinion.
I also found money to feel disconnected. It didn’t feel quite right, or explained, so amounts felt inconsistent.
I did enjoy aspects of this book, but there are things that got in my way.
Together We Burn was published on 5th July 2022, and is available from Amazon.
You can follow Isabel Ibañez on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Titan Books.