This was SO good! I‘ve been reading quite a bit of crime fiction recently and this definitely stood out.

It‘s about the disappearance of a missing student and the story is told in a mix of interviews with her friends and family which were conducted by Evelyn Mitchel for a book she was writing, and emails between Evelyn and the author Joseph Knox. (It‘s all fiction)

I was gripped and couldn‘t put it down. Crime fans will love it. Out 16th June.

Do any of you lovely Littens have a blog I can follow?

I‘m just getting into book blogging and I‘d love to see other people‘s pages.

Pop your links below! ⬇️

Finally getting back to my Jack West Jr re-read.

I read Adrian Tchaikovsky‘s latest this week and REALLY enjoyed it!

This is the first in a new trilogy and there‘s some great characters and world building.

Full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3986592884

I was passing the book shop yesterday so HAD to pop in. And now I‘ve collected enough points that I have (c8 to spend on my next visit so now I HAVE to go back.

Looking forward to catching up with this series before the lasts part comes out later this year.

It‘s pretty miserable weather today in Derbyshire. Perfect for a day curled up with a good book!

What are we all reading today Litsy? I‘m reading an ARC of the tagged book for an upcoming blog tour.

Here we go.......

“Flynn Rider - the animated floppy haired wise-ass scoundrel boy of my dreams.” 😂

I don‘t know if it‘s just coincidence but I‘ve seen a lot of love for Tangled on social media recently. Personally, I love it....and I think it‘s better than Frozen...*gasp* 😱

Anyway, I‘m halfway into this book and LOVING it so far!

One of my favourite places.

I have a day off in a few weeks, I‘m coming back with a picnic and a book.

Book mail!!

Not been on Litsy for ages, not sure if it‘s because I‘ve had a bit of a run of “meh” books or what.

This was one was good though, definitely had me gripped, especially towards the end.

These are my February reads. The tagged book was my favourite, closely followed by Eve Brown. The rest were really only okay for me.

#monthlyroundup

We moved house in August and I still haven‘t yet got a hone for my books. They‘re still in the boxes I packed them in.

But books find a way! I now have this pile in my bedroom which consists of birthday and Christmas presents, library books and books from a book subscription.

For now, the top of my chest of drawers can be their home.

Mine is the tagged book, closely followed by Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift

I‘ve seen a lot of excitement on bookish social media this week about the release of A Court of Silver Flames.

I‘ve read ACOTAR but it didn‘t set me a light. I‘m wondering whether to give it another chance.

Does it get better after the first one? Or if I didn‘t like that am I unlikely to enjoy the rest of the series?

It‘s easy to ignore that laundry in the background when you‘ve got a new book and the last slice of lemon tart to eat! 📚🍋

Happy Valentines Day Littens! ❤️

Who is your favourite book love interest?

This was great, it gave me such a book hangover!

One woman is left alive after a global pandemic in 2023. What will she do? How will she cope?

The author acknowledges the timing of this release, though it was started before the Covid-19 pandemic. I hope that the book does well regardless as I thought it was excellent.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Book 10 of 2021.

Book Mail!!

I‘d forgotten my Bert‘s Books subscription was due so it was a lovely surprise when the postie brought this this morning.

There‘s Only One Danny Garvey by David F Ross. Might even convince hubs to read this one! ⚽️

Just having a sort out and came across a travel diary I‘d kept whilst we were on our honeymoon. Had a little chuckle at my enthusiasm to find a LIBRARY in the hotel!

Edit: The tagged book was why I was reading, though I found The Girl with All the Gifts on the library and read that too.

I‘ve got a few days holiday coming up and, whilst I‘ve got lots of jobs in the house to get done, I‘m going to enjoy some quality reading time!

January round-up. #bookreport

Favourite book: Exit followed by There‘s No Such Thing as an Easy Job

7 novels
2 graphic novels
5 ARCs
2 from my re-read of Matthew Reilly‘s Jack West Jr series

Absolutely brilliant! My first 5 ⭐️ read of 2021. Bauer writes excellent plots, she‘s my favourite crime fiction writer.

This will be compared to The Thursday Murder Club (which I enjoyed) due to the age of the protagonist and I don‘t know if it will be as successful but it should be because it is the better book.

😂

And the binge continues.....

Girl A is an impressive debut from Abigail Dean. It interweaves the story of Lex‘s present day life with that of her upbringing which keeps the reader engrossed as we look to find out both what happened and the impact it had on Lex and her siblings. The book is well written and each of the siblings is fully realised; the dynamics between them both then and now are also compelling. 3.5 stars
Book 3 of 2021

Excuse the poor formatting, it‘s an ARC but this line about things to be enjoyed made me chuckle!

I feel ya Mrs Large. I feel ya.

I spent nap time yesterday finishing book 1 in the Jack West Jr series instead of doing housework or catching up with sleep myself. I‘m re-reading them all ahead of the penultimate book which comes out next week.

These books have completely implausible plot lines & action sequences and Mr Reilly is a little over keen on the use of italics and exclamation marks but they are perfect escapism & such good fun. Perfect for lockdown times.

Book 4/2021

I‘ve just picked these up from the library. Time to catch up before reading the penultimate book in the series this month!

I first discovered Matthew Reilly 20 years ago when Ice Station was published a friend gave me his copy to take on holiday. I was hooked!

I haven‘t read any for years but I feel like this is the perfect time to escape into one of his adventure stories.

Has anyone read this book? I got it in a Secret Santa exchange with Bert‘s Books where I have a book subscription.

Pictured behind is the chaos of life with a 9 month old. 4 year old relayed chaos out of shot! It‘s hard to get much reading done with these two around.

I LOVE Nathan W Pyle webcomic strips.

Here‘s one about libraries!

Getting in on the #weeklyforecast action.

Hoping to finish No Such Thing as an Easy Job, as well as the audio of Power Hour. Both are from Netgalley so I can get reviews submitted then. After that, I think I‘ll crack on with Ready Player Two from my Christmas pile.

My bookish Christmas presents! I hope all you Littens had a Merry Bookish Christmas! X

#truth

In amongst the chaos of toys & dragging the baby‘s grabby hands away from the tree (see beads hanging off), I‘ve been reading this ARC.

Erma is conducting research on CYO adventure books, girls are going missing around her campus & she‘s facing a disciplinary after allegations are made against her by a former student.

It‘s intriguing from the off & in bits...it gets a little...well, batshit. Not going to be top of 2020 but an interesting read!

This was WONDERFUL! It was so much more than I expected. I‘d hope people wouldn‘t dismiss this as fantasy/paranormal and not bother as I think it‘s got more to give. It‘s a love story, or in fact several, played out over hundreds of years.
It reminded me of a few of Taylor Jenkins Reid‘s books, mostly because of similar settings in some of the lives.
One of my favourites of 2020.

I have a book subscription with Bert‘s Books and Bert has just announced a Secret Santa book exchange! A great way to give a gift and get a gift and support an independent bookseller.

https://bertsbooks.co.uk/product/secretsanta/

I discovered the Bromance Book Club series during lockdown and it‘s been a nice distraction from all the doom and gloom.

This latest entry is a friends to lovers style story. These books are fun for romance readers as the book club discusses the use of tropes on romance and turns typical male characterisations on their heads.

Looking forward to book 4!

Baby is napping so me and the crew of the Saardam are going to see what the devil is going on on this ship.

*pony is irrelevant but pretty!

I‘m so pleased to have read this book! It was by far the best book I‘ve read for a while.

From the opening pages I was struck by the quality of Boyd‘s writing, it‘s wonderful. He has crafted some truly interesting characters in this book, each of whom was beautifully developed & we get to know each of them as the story progresses.

A measure for me of how well I‘ve thought of a book is whether I‘ll recommend it & I will definitely do so here.

I‘ve just been catching up on this on BBC iPlayer. It‘s not doing anything good for my TBR!

Favourite guests so far have been Sarah Pascoe and Richard Osman.

#betweenthecovers

I‘m preaching to the converted here but I wish people would use the library more. Loads of people don‘t know about half the services they provide. I‘m such a huge library fan and have been since I was a kid. It‘s hard to get there during lockdown but I love the e-book and audiobook services you can use these days.

Image from Sno-Isle Libraries Facebook page (nowhere near me though!)

This book collects together short comics about what it means to be “normal”, in childhood, at work, in love and more.

The artwork is simplistic yet effective and the humour is a great blend of sarcastic and oddball. All of them were amusing and several had me laughing out loud! The artist does a great job of mining everyday life for those relatable moments but then taking them a step further to highlight some of the absurdities of modern life.

I follow Susie Dent on Twitter and love the forgotten words she shares. She has a book coming out, Word Perfect which I am definitely going to buy but had to feel for her when I saw this tweet, especially given the book‘s name. 🤦🏼‍♀️

I just found out that another book (well, novella) in The Simple Wild series is coming out in December! Yaaaay!

I only started reading romance novels in the last few years really and The Simple Wild has been one of my favourites!

KINDLE USERS - HELP!

I have an old style simple kindle, no backlight. I was lucky enough to have a small win on the lottery last night and am considering treating myself to a new kindle.

But I don‘t know what would be best. Does anyone have any recommendations? I‘ve got enough to cover a paper white but it‘s my birthday soon so I could wait and see if I get any money to stump up for an Oasis. Is it worth it?

thanks!

I just finished the audio of Shadow & Bone. I read the Six of Crows duology a few years ago and really enjoyed it but hadn‘t read the original Grisha verse trilogy.

The plot is pretty trope heavy but the world building is great. I love that Bardugo used tsarist Russia as inspiration for this fantasy setting rather than the more common medieval England. The description of clothes, food etc were really immersive.

Continued....

I‘m SO excited to have been approved for a copy of this on Netgalley!

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle was one of the most inventive and original books I read last year so I‘m excited to see what Stuart Turton is following it up with.

It‘s published on 1st October so I may not get it read before publication date but it‘s moved straight to the top of the list!

Happy Friday Littens! 🥂

What‘s everyone reading this weekend? 📚

I‘ve got the ARC of Trio to finish (really enjoying it so far) and this graphic novel that I picked up from the library.

Hopefully the kids will give me some reading time!