I liked the premise of this one, but it did get a bit samey with the descriptions of the coffee and going back in time. I think that was partially because it is very similar in style to What you are looking for is in the library! But I did enjoy it! I don‘t think I will rush to get the next one, but I will probably read it in the future :)

#DogsOfLitsy #ReadingBuddy

This was my choice for #FoodAndLit #Venezuela

The MC Adelaide is trying to survive during a period of unrest, and following her mothers death. While it was interesting to read of her struggles, it was difficult to keep track of what was happening at times, and the background wasn‘t fully fleshed out. I also found it very hard to like the character.

Overall it was good enough to keep reading, but only just. In the end it wasn‘t my cup of tea ☕️🫖

I enjoyed this one.

5 people in the same community end up at the local library getting recommendations from the librarian. While they know they are dissatisfied with their lives, these book recommendations and accompanying bonus gifts help them to realise what they want and that they are already turning their lives around. Overall a good slow paced read.

#BookSpin

Based on a true story, a Caiman is adopted by a man named Faoro. The Caiman can come and go as she pleases, plays with the neighbourhood children, and is part of his life even after he gets married.

This was a sweet (and sad) children‘s book and a quick read for #Venezuela #FoodAndLit

My April #BookSpinBingo board

My #BookSpin is What you are Looking for is in the Library
2 is coming up a lot lately, so my #Doublespin coincides with my #Roll100 again, which is The Easy Life in Kamusari

My #Roll100 for April is the tagged book.
I got this ebook a few years ago as part of Amazon‘s world book day, so I am looking forward to giving it a go!

March #BookSpinBingo roundup :)

I got through 3 books:
• Pachinko (food and lit)
• The Thursday Murder Club
• and Written in the Blood (Roll 100 and Bookspin)

I met 2 of my #MarvellousMarch goals by finishing the books I was on with, but didn‘t quite make it to starting another book or reading my doublespin.

As some of these books were bigger and I had a busy month, I am pretty pleased with this ☺️

I couldn‘t remember much about The String Diaries, but I got swept up in this sequel!

The main character and her daughter from book 1 have been with the Hosszu eletek for the last 15 years, and are working on a fertility programme to improve the races birth rate. But the Hosszu eletek volunteers are not enough, and a new threat to their race, the Tolvajak, thought to be extinct are now hunting down their young.

#Roll100 #BookSpin #SeriesLove2024

The Thursday Murder Club meets once a week to go through cold cases. But now they have their first real life murder mystery!

I really enjoyed this cosy mystery and the audio was excellent.

#SeriesLove2024 #MarvellousMarch

What a beautiful sunny morning for the start of #MarvellousMarch

I am working today and possibly tomorrow but I have hopes that I can complete the following goals:

• Finish Written in the Blood (about 50% through currently)
• Finish The Thursday Murder Club (on audio)
• Start another book

I was a little behind on my #FoodAndLit cooking but all caught up now ☺️

We made Korean fried chicken and kimchi fried rice for our main, and pavlova for dessert

#Korea #NewZealand

The story followed a Korean family, starting in Korea and ending in Japan. Covering a time period of 4 generations, there are a lot of hard topics, but it didn‘t feel like any were focused on too much as it was about the family during those times.

I don‘t really know how to describe it better… but I enjoyed it 😂

#FoodAndLit

My March #BookSpinBingo board

My #BookSpin once again aligns with #Roll100 which is Written in the Blood
My #DoubleSpin is Alpha Night

Only got through three books for feb #BookSpinBingo. And they were on the same line! So close and yet so far 😂

I read:
• The Picture of Dorian Gray (roll100 and doublespin)
• Potiki (foodandlit)
• and Archangel‘s Resurrection (Bookspin)

Another great addition to the Guild Hunter series.

This one focuses on the era spanning love story of 2 Archangels, Alexander and Zanaya. But we still get to see some of our favourites from previous books, and see how the world has started to recover from the plague of reborn left after the war.

#BookSpin #SeriesLove2024

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, so looking forward to finally getting around to book 2!

#Roll100

This was my pick for #NewZealand #FoodAndLit

It was an interesting look at a Māori tribe trying to keep their ancestral land when developers are trying to convince them to leave. Things get out of hand when the developers realise they can‘t be bought. I don‘t know much about the culture so it was a nice insight into some of the customs.

It took me a few chapters to get into it (and boy were all these men dramatic!) but overall I enjoyed it. Like with a lot of the classics I think more is left to the imagination than adaptations would have you believe (Jekyll and Hyde, Dracula etc all fall into this category). It is atmosphere more than shock value.
Also why are 90% of the book covers and adaptations of a black haired Dorian Gray when he has golden hair? 🤔

#Roll100 #DoubleSpin

And here is my February #BookSpinBingo board.

My #DoubleSpin overlaps with my #Roll100 this month, which is The Picture of Dorian Gray

My #BookSpin fell on a series in progress so is Archangel‘s Resurrection

Started the year well with 4 books finished in January :)

• A Madness of Sunshine (Roll100)
• Smoke Bitten (BookSpin and SeriesLove2024)
• The Scent of Burnt Flowers (FoodandLit)
• and Soul Taken (DoubleSpin and SeriesLove2024)

#BookSpinBingo

Officially caught up with the Mercy Thompson series now!
I do quite like Wulfe so seeing a bit more of him and Zee was quite a nice change.
Another great read!

#DoubleSpin #SeriesLove2024

We made Ghanaian red red today

I don‘t think I was meant to keep the water the beans were in based on pictures, but I stand by my decision as I would 100% have burnt the stew if I didn‘t add at least some water. And it was still very tasty 😂

Served with avocado here as I didn‘t want to make tostones after getting home late, but might do them tomorrow with leftovers ☺️

#FoodAndLit #Ghana

My #Roll100 for Feb.
This one keeps making it onto these lists and then being ignored. So this month is THE MONTH! You will be removed from my TBR, no more excuses 😂

Fleeing the FBI, an American couple go to Ghana. But it isn‘t as easy as they hoped, with the FBI on their tail and a country on the brink of a coup.

This book was okay, but I didn‘t like the small amounts of magical realism scattered in (some references to mermaids, a shapeshifting army, and a magic guitar) and the anticlimactic ending.
I feel like with magical/fantasy elements you need to go all in or just not bother 😂

#FoodAndLit #Ghana

Finished reading my #BookSpin with the pup this morning.
Another excellent instalment.

With such a large cast of characters, I think it could be easy to have very 2D personalities and relationships. But in this series, everyone is well fleshed out and don‘t necessarily just have happily ever afters, they have to work at things. Which is probably what helps keeps this series exciting even after so many books 😂

#SeriesLove2024

My first book of 2024 (finished earlier this week) which has been on my bookshelf for years!

I enjoyed it overall. I felt a little disappointed that the “secrets” from 14 years ago weren‘t really anything that secret at all, or that linked to the missing person. But I liked the pacing and the mystery, despite what felt like a rushed ending!

#Roll100

My goals for #JoyousJanuary are:
• Read Storm Cursed
• Start The Scent of Burnt Flowers 🌹

Little late with my December pick, but it was my winter games team buddy read The Snow Child!

#12BooksOf2023

This was my November favourite. Set in a dystopian Africa, it is magical realism, and super intense in places. But I really enjoyed it and was glad to finally cross it off the tbr pile!

#12BooksOf2023

My October favourite was Fantasticland. I listened to this as an audiobook, which worked really well with the interview style! The narrators were both amazing 🤩

#12BooksOf2023

My January #BookSpinBingo board is ready!

The series I want to focus on first is Mercy Thompson. Since both spins landed on a series in progress, they are both Mercy books ☺️

#BookSpin - Smoke Bitten
#DoubleSpin - Soul Taken

#SeriesLove2024

(Edit: updated to the next one in the series as I forgot I read Storm Cursed last year 🫣)

This was my favourite for September.
It‘s a weird premise - 3 ghosts meet up and discuss the time they knew each other and their relationship with a particular woman - but so good!

#12BooksOf2023

In December I got through 5 books.
This wasn‘t as many as I was hoping, but life happens ☺️
I didn‘t get to my Bookspin, doublespin, or roll100 though!

• Wolf Winter (Food and Lit)
• Christmas at the Lakeside Resort
• Letters from Father Christmas (Tolkien Christmas)
• T‘was the Night Before Christmas
• The Snow Child (Team Buddy Read)

This was my favourite for August, and my favourite overall for the year. I love a good vampire story!

#12BooksOf2023

Finishing the year with kladdkaka (sticky chocolate cake) for #Sweden #FoodAndLit

Not sure it ended up being the right consistency, but it‘s tasty!

I will not be doing anything for #WinterGames today so here is my final total for the games.

December ended up being a very busy month (lots of weekends taken up with lunches, and a performance, and then I got COVID for Christmas 😂) so I am pretty pleased with my end total. The wordsearch for the books I read really lifted this score!

Have a happy new year Winter Gamers and team #RestingGrinchFace 🥳

Mixing it up for #BookSpinBingo this year by keeping them more vague. Hoping to finish a few series I have on the go, and get through my #TBR ☺️

So this is my list, and my #Roll100 for January!

Lucy Dillon is one of my go to comfort read authors. Romance, happy endings, and dogs! 🐕

This was my July favourite.

#12BooksOf2023

I really enjoyed our #TeamRead for #RestingGrinchFace

Based on the story of the snow maiden or snow girl, an old couple who wanted children but were unable to have them build a child out of snow. After this a child appears every winter and leaves with the summer.
I enjoyed the setting of this one, making their way in Alaska. I found the characters to be quite likeable (which isn‘t always the way in a retelling!)

#WinterGames

I have read a few of Jane Harper‘s books, and they have all been great!
This was my favourite read of June.

#12BooksOf2023

My May favourite was this one. Again this is as far as I have got in the series so far. Something I hope to rectify next year! I was originally disappointed we didn‘t see the same characters again, but ended up enjoying it ☺️

#12BooksOf2023

We have moved on from leftovers (don‘t worry we still have lots of cheese boards in our future though!) to have Swedish meatballs. Disclaimer these are IKEA frozen meatballs, with the IKEA sauce and lingonberry sauce. But I did make the mash 😉

#FoodAndLit #Sweden

I really enjoyed this one in April ☺️

#12BooksOf2023

My favourite book from March for #12BooksOf2023

This is as far as I got through the series. Hopefully I can catch up with it in 2024!

And my favourite from Feb

#12BooksOf2023

I am so forgetful at the minute!

This was my favourite book from January for #12BooksOf2023 ☺️

Like the rest of the year, December is just flying!

I hit 2/3 goals for #DashingDecember
• Finish Letters from Father Christmas ✔️
• Finish Christmas at the Lakeside Resort ✔️
• Read The Snow Child ❌

I started the snow child but am only 14% of the way through. My week was much fuller than I had anticipated, so I am pleased I got that far 😂

#WinterGames #RestingGrinchFace

I kept on top of the #TolkienChristmas buddy read (despite not posting or being super active!)

This was really sweet, but also sad. You could feel how disappointed he was when the kids started growing up and no longer wrote to Father Christmas. The drawings were lovely.
Thanks for putting this on my radar so I could move this up my list @Daisey 🥰

#WinterGames #RestingGrinchFace #DashingDecember
(268 wordsearch words in this one)

This was overall okay. We didn‘t see as much of the miniature horse and dogs as I would have liked 😂

Jenny inherits a lakeside resort with partially built cabins after her father‘s death (which comes at just the right time) and she moves there to finish building them before Christmas. There is some minor attraction to the contractor Luke, that blooms into romance by the end.

But Jenny‘s constant doom and the fast “love” wasn‘t my thing!

My second week of Christmas watches 🙃

• Jingle all the way
• A Charlie Brown Christmas
• Nativity
• Holidate
• The Muppet Christmas carol
• Violent Night

#WinterGames #RestingGrinchFace