Ashley has no family to spend the holidays with when Emma invites her to spend Christmas at her Manor house, she immediately accepts.Not long after arriving, Ashley begins to suspect everything isn't all Christmas merriment she becomes aware of a sinister figure lurking in the woods and an unsolved murder hanging over the family.I loved how this book was told through journal entries from the past and present, it was creepy, addictive reading.⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
pickThis novel begins when Maisie is 13. Maisie begins working as a servant in a grand manor with a huge library. Maisie has a love of reading and is drawn to deep issues of the mind and learning. The story progresses through WWI and its aftermath. The scarring of bodies and minds. Maisie Dobbs, Psychologist and Investigator. I enjoyed this novel and will continue reading the series. 4/5⭐️
Christmas #bookhaul, part three (the final part!): SFF & classic fiction
I have Goudge‘s Pilgrim‘s Inn on my shelf & have been waiting to read it since I discovered it‘s book 2 in a series—now I own book 1!
I got Brigands & Breadknives almost immediately after my library added it to Libby, only to find that I most certainly should have read Bookshops & Bonedust first. I own Bonedust, and now I can come back to Brigands at my leisure ⤵️
pickThis was an impulse buy when I was shopping for new lamps at Homesense ( TJ Maxx) where I spotted quite the collection of current books for sale ( I have to get my fix somewhere now that 🇨🇦 Costco doesn‘t sell books anymore 😢) this story follows the Christmas rom-com formula ( with some unsubtle nods to Love, Actually among others) and it‘s delightful ❤️
#12Booksof2025 March
This tale of domestic warfare fought between a genteel but hard up British lady and her crass American tenant in the immediate aftermath of WWII, read with the #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub, was my favourite read in March.
#fridayhappyreadinghour a friend gifted me with a Friday Happy reading hour glass so here I am breaking it in 🍷 with a plethora of candles burning. We had a transformer blow and then a bunch of trees go down in an ice storm. We currently have power but we are surrounded by people who don‘t 😬 the city and hydro workers are not having a relaxing Boxing Day ☹️
I didn't receive any books for Christmas, but I did get a BAM gift card, so I bought some for myself. #nevertoomanybooks #neverenoughshelves
so-soThe Twelfth Enchantment is a slow burn—maybe too slow for its length—but the third act saves it. Lucy, cheated out of her inheritance and pushed toward marriage, is drawn into a hidden supernatural war after a mysterious stranger arrives with a message for her. Written in a Jane Austen–inspired style, the dialogue shines, though the long descriptions sometimes stall the momentum.
Part 3: I reread the Hunger Games series, multiple Jane Austen novels and modern retellings in honor of her 250th birthday, the Glenbrooke series, and The Martian Chronicles in honor of its 75th anniversary.
Five Bonus Reads:
- The Lantern of Lost Memories by Sanaka Hiiragi
- The Life of Chuck by Stephen King
- Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy
- I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai
- To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
