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
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
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
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
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!
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
I am not great at selfies so I am not looking in the right direction 🤣
#SelfieScavengerHunt #WatchingAHolidayMovie
#WinterGames #RestingGrinchFace
This is a quadruple prompt bauble 😂
• Ornament with an animal on it
• A gift from family or friend
• Ornament that is too big to fit in the palm of your hand
• Ornament that you got this year
This was a Christmas gift from a coworker who knows how obsessed I am with my dog 🐶
Isn‘t it cute?
#ChristmasOrnamentHunt #WinterGames #RestingGrinchFace
This is what I watched in the first week of #WinterGames
The Holiday is a staple Christmas film, and I love the Netflix A Christmas Prince series (anything with Rose McIver in is a win for me 🤣).
I hadn‘t watched nailed it before, but it was pretty good. I don‘t think I could do better without any instructions! And I only watched one episode of The Santa Clauses… I might watch more but it feels weird after the movies
#RestingGrinchFace
I have been so bad at posting (and I got these through in the post ages ago! I am so sorry).
Thank you @AllDebooks for the #Naturalitsy prize (from scarathlon 😱) and apologies I didn‘t let you know it arrived sooner!
I have tried one of the teas which was delicious, and plan to use the mask to pamper myself over the holidays. Pup has found many puddles and patches of mud to play in since 😂
How are we already this far through Dec? 😱
I have now finished work for Christmas! So I am hoping I can get some good reading done!
For #DashingDecember I would like to:
• Finish Letters from Father Christmas
• Finish Christmas at the Lakeside Resort
• Read The Snow Child
And then we will see if I have time for anything else 🤣
#WinterGames #RestingGrinchFace
This was my #FoodAndLit pick for #Sweden
It was very atmospheric, and the characters and story were interesting. The mystery was pretty good as well.
A family move to Blackensen mountain from Finland. When someone is found dead in the marshes, the mother sets out to find who did it. But the other settlers blame the wolves, and then become afraid that it is something more sinister.
I was hoping to read 20 chapters (though I had a hectic weekend and didn‘t write that down anywhere…). I got through 15 chapters… but that‘s over 20% of my book so I‘m going to take it 😂
#20in4 #WinterGames #RestingGrinchFace
Would you believe that the #Snow has actually gone today? On the snow photo challenge day? 😂
I took this picture yesterday on my dog walk, as someone made a snow family and I thought it was cute! ⛄️
#LetItSnow #WinterGamesDailyPhotoChallenge #DailyPhotoChallenge #DecemberDreams #WinterGames #RestingGrinchFace
I didn‘t get chance to watch Violent Night last year, so hoping to watch it this year!
#Santa #DailyPhotoChallenge #WinterGamesDailyPhotoChallenge #WinterGames #RestingGrinchFace