Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post hosted by Jen @That’s What I’m Talking About, where bloggers discuss a wide range of topics from books and blogging to life in general. Weigh in and join the conversation by adding your thoughts in the comments. If you want to do your own post, grab the questions from Jen’s blog and answer it on your own.
Do you follow your favourite authors on social media?
Do you interact with them?
The reason I joined Facebook was to follow and interact with my favourite authors. I still belong to a handful of author groups but it’s quite rare for me to use the platform anymore. I’m not quite sure how I used to manage to spend a good chunk of time online AND read an, albeit under 200 pages, book every two days. I’m lucky to read one book a week these days and spend no more than 10 minutes on Facebook. I rarely go on Twitter, and don’t have Instagram or TikTok but use Goodreads frequently.
Welcome to my weekly round-up post where I link up with The Sunday Post hosted by Kimberley @Caffeinated Reviewer as well as TheSunday Salon meme hosted by the wonderful Deb @Readerbuzz. Do please pop by their blogs and show them a little love 💗.
Life Last Week
Whilst I’m not an ardent royalist the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II felt like too historic and important an occasion to ignore. Three moments will stay in my mind. The first was when the coffin was carried up the steps of St George’s Chapel, I think I was as anxious as the soldier pallbearers must have been. The other two moments were more poignant in tone, the first being the removal of the Sceptre, Orb and the Imperial State Crown. It had such an air of finality about it. The other moved me more than I had expected and that was when the lone piper walked slowly out of St George’s Chapel, his lament of Sleep, Dearie, Sleep fading with distance.
In other news, the older-by-a-minute son visited Glasgow. His train journey there started smoothly but was hit by minor delays. However, the journey home was a nightmare from the start, since problems with the overhead lines meant that trains couldn’t leave Glasgow trains station. His journey started with a long coach journey to Carlisle, a long wait for a very delayed train which was packed as all the other trains were cancelled. It was so late he couldn’t make his connection to Nottingham and the train company had to provide a taxi for an hour and a half trip from Stafford. He finally arrived home in the very early hours of the morning relieved but exhausted.
Last Weeks Books
I managed to complete an arc that, whilst enjoyable, was longer than the plot warranted and a Book of the Month read that was nice but forgettable. I didn’t mind too much since it was a kindle unlimited read.
Currently Reading
If you knew how your love story ends, would you dare to begin? From the outside, Lorelai is an ordinary young woman with a normal life. She loves reading, she works at the local cinema and she adores living with her best friend. But she carries a painful burden, something she’s kept hidden for years; whenever she kisses someone on the lips, she sees how they are going to die. Lorelai has never known if she’s seeing what was always meant to be, or if her kiss is the thing that decides their destiny. And so, she hasn’t kissed anyone since she was eighteen. Then she meets Grayson. Sweet, clever, funny Grayson. And for the first time in years she yearns for a man’s kiss. But she can’t…or can she? And if she does, should she try to intervene and change what she sees? Spellbinding, magical and utterly original, With This Kiss is one love story you will never forget.
Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish meme created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and is hosted by Aria @BookNookBits. Each Friday, there is a discussion topic for bloggers to write about, this week we will be discussing…
Reading seasonally by Mikaela @ Mikaela Reads
Prompts: Do you read seasonally? Do you like a beach read in summer, a spooky book in the autumn and holiday-themed ones in winter? What’s your favourite season? Do you have any favourite seasonal reads?
Great prompts! So without further ado, Do you read seasonally? Do you like a beach read in summer, a spooky book in the autumn and holiday-themed ones in winter? I don’t specifically choose books to fit the season BUT if I’m reading a very seasonal book then I do prefer it read it at the appropriate point in the year. I wouldn’t not read a Christmas book at some other point in the year, but chances are that I won’t enjoy it as much as if I had read it in December.
I find most books I read are fairly “season-less”, particularly since my favourite genres are Fantasy and Science Fiction/Space Opera.
A Cornish Recipe for Murder ( The Nosey Parker Mysteries #5) by Fiona Leitch
A cosy mystery whodunnit sprinkled with romance and drizzled with women’s fiction A Cornish Recipe for Murder is a sure-fire winner. This was the first book I’ve read by Fiona Leitch and not only did she do a great job of writing an engaging and riveting tale, but she also created a wonderful character in Jodie Parker. One I couldn’t help but immediately empathise with and relate to.
The story is written in first person, with Jodie’s inner monologue more akin to a conversation with a friend. I’m sure there is a fancy English Literature word that should be used to explain this style of narration to the audience, but I’ll just describe it as warm, witty and wonderful! Despite my not having read any of the previous books in the series, the author can help the new reader “catch up” with little one-liners and brief descriptions. This was done very cleverly, I hope, so as not to bore those who are more familiar with the series and its recurring characters.
Murder aside this book had me smiling, giggling and outright laughing pretty much from start to finish. There is a whole slew of side characters, some central to the ongoing story arc and others more important just within this book. Every single person was finely crafted and not only did they each have a distinct personality but felt so real that I’m almost expecting to see an episode of British Baking Roadshow on the TV.
These are just such a warm hug of a book that I know I will be reading more of the series. I loved that the focus wasn’t just on crime, but that we shared in Jodie’s life and escapades too. The foreshadowing was good, with enough clues not to feel that the resolution came out of nowhere. Clever use of red herrings and misdirection meant that the culprit wasn’t immediately obvious – and to be honest, unlike Jodie, I was less interested in who the murderer was and much more interested in nosy parker-ing into her life!
When popular TV baking contest and national institution ‘The Best of British Baking Roadshow’ rolls into town and sets up camp in the grounds of Boskern House, a historic stately home near Penstowan, former police officer Jodie ‘Nosey’ Parker finds herself competing to represent Cornwall in the grand final.
But with a fellow contestant who will stop at nothing to win and a drag queen host with secrets of their own, Jodie discovers that the roadshow doesn’t just have the ingredients for the perfect showstopper cake, but also for the perfect murder…
And when a body is found in the grounds of the house, Jodie is drawn into another high-stakes case along with local DCI Nathan Withers.
Can Jodie expose the culprit? Or will the murderer become the real showstopper?
Shifter Mate Magic (Ice Age Shifters #1) by Carol Van Natta
I actually finished this month’s book, so that’s already a big positive compared to most of the TBR challenge books I’ve (tried to) read. The theme is Animals and what fits the bill better than a shifter PNR book?
The hero in this one is a bear shifter whilst side characters include coyote shifters, a leopard shifter and a wyvern.
I love the author’s Space Opera books, so when I saw this on sale I jumped at the chance to buy it. What can I say? If you enjoy a light and frothy, super steamy, sweetly romantic shifter romance then I’m sure you will love this.
I felt this lacked depth and challenge, two things that are essential for me to love a book. My emotions remained detached from the story, everything felt very “nice” but also very bland. The main characters are likeable, the problems are quite quickly resolved and everything is fairly swiftly tied up with a neat bow.
I did read it all, it was that bad I couldn’t finish the book, but it was instantly forgettable too. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.
Synopsis A lonely bear shifter meets his mate. She’s running for her life and doesn’t have time for romance. Pregnant Jackie Breton just escaped from a corrupt feline pack intent on selling her half-shifter baby to the highest bidder. She’s smart, independent, and has a desperate plan to keep her baby safe: Get away from the pride as fast and far as possible. Trevor Hammond, prehistoric bear shifter, has been rejected by everyone in his life for… being born, basically. Well, except for the beloved aunt who raised him. He’s built a career as an independent trucker, but life would be much better with someone he can hold in his arms and claim as his own. When Jackie meets Trevor at a truck stop, his bear demands he help her. His aunt even calls with a dire warning: Get Jackie to the magical sanctuary town in Wyoming before she’s killed. Jackie thinks he’s sexy as hell, but too good to be true. She doesn’t trust shifters. With the feline pride hot on her trail, however, Trevor and the quirky town of Kotoyeesinay might be her only chance for survival. Even Trevor’s indomitable bear may be no match for the dangerous enemy seeking retribution.
If you love hot alphas, magic, and thrilling chase scenes, you’ll love Shifter Mate Magic, the first book in USA TODAY bestselling author Carol Van Natta’s fun, action-filled, steamy-hot Ice Age Shifters™ series.
Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post hosted by Jen @That’s What I’m Talking About, where bloggers discuss a wide range of topics from books and blogging to life in general. Weigh in and join the conversation by adding your thoughts in the comments. If you want to do your own post, grab the questions from Jen’s blog and answer it on your own.
For audiobook listeners: what hobby do you enjoy while listening?
I’m not an audiobook fan, so at first glance this isn’t a topic for me. However if I could find an audiobook where the narrator’s voice didn’t distract me from the story then the main time I would listen to an audiobook would be whilst driving to and from work or doing housework – neither of which count as hobbies. The activities I would class as my hobbies are reading, travelling and walking in the local countryside with my hubby and I wouldn’t listen to an audiobook whilst doing any of those things,
Welcome to my weekly round-up post where I link up with The Sunday Post hosted by Kimberley @Caffeinated Reviewer as well as TheSunday Salon meme hosted by the wonderful Deb @Readerbuzz. Do please pop by their blogs and show them a little love 💗.
Life Last Week
We are two members of staff down at work, one of whom is my co-manager, so it’s been yet another incredibly busy working week and that looks set to continue for a couple more weeks yet. My apologies if it takes me a few days to respond to comments and come visit your blogs!
My youngest child started her first job today. She didn’t get a part time job whilst doing her A-Levels as first Covid and then undiagnosed-until-recently ADHD meant she struggled with her studies and prioritised those. She’s working in a care home to gain experience that will, hopefully, help her successfully apply for a paramedic sciences course at University next year. It was straight in at the deep end with three successive 14 hour shifts! She only gets 1 day off before doing 2 more shifts of the same length, but it does mean she only has 1 day of work the following week.
Last Weeks Books
An arc, a TBR challenge read and a library ebook made up this week’s reading material. I actually own another 3 books in the Ice Age Shifter series, based on this one I won’t be rushing to read them soon. It was very “candyfloss” in nature, sweet and easy to consume but soon forgotten. The arc was a little slow at the start – it has a LOT of different points of view. However, once I got into the story I absolutely loved it. Fractured was definitely my favourite book of the week and has inspired me to try and include MORE library books and maybe fewer arcs in my future reading.
Currently Reading
Only Anna knows the truth about Cinderella: The pauper turned queen wasn’t the victim, but the bully. Anna fled when the castle guards came to arrest her mother and sister on Cinderella’s orders. But leaving them in bondage at the Fairy Godmother’s workhouse? Out of the question. Disguised as a young man and taking the name of Ansel, she’ll do whatever it takes to free her family and set the record straight. Will, a former royal huntsman, was nearly killed for dissenting Cinderella’s rise as queen in the wake of the sudden death of the king and his son. He hatches a plan to take Cinderella down, and encounters Ansel, who wants revenge just as much as he does. Drawn together by a common goal and burgeoning feelings neither can ignore, Will and Ansel enact a plan to assassinate the queen. But when that goes awry and buried secrets come to light, they’ll have to choose: continue running from their pasts or accept themselves in order to forge a new future together.
Looking forward to…
… autumn walks.
… making green tomato chutney.
… harvesting crab apples at work (they’re not quite ready yet!).
The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer @ Crazy-For-Books. It is now hosted by Billy @Coffee Addicted Writings. Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end the following Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt featuring a book related question. The hop’s purpose is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.
It can depend on the genre, though generally, I like my heroines strong, no-nonsense and with a snarky sense of humour. A cross between Ellen Ripley (Alien), Sarah Connor (Terminator) and Maleficent just about hits the mark though in a rom-com I’m not averse to a Bridget Jones-type character.
In heroes, I’m kind of a sucker for either the alpha male who is secure enough in his masculinity to allow the heroine her agency. I also love me a good guy who thinks he’s unworthy but only ever does bad things for good reasons (and even then beats himself up about his actions). Occasionally what I really want is a morally grey (or even pitch black) character who is only good for their love interest.
I can’t abide the “too” characters – too nice, too helpful, too kind, too in control, too organised, too perfect and too much. I need my protagonists to be flawed and perfect in their imperfections. I also detest arrogant males who are written as knowing what the female wants better than she does, who ride roughshod over her autonomy and who are very much “do as I say but not as I do”. And I hate the “not like other females” character who is stunningly beautiful but doesn’t know it and can perform feats of the impossible.
Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post hosted by Jen @That’s What I’m Talking About, where bloggers discuss a wide range of topics from books and blogging to life in general. Weigh in and join the conversation by adding your thoughts in the comments. If you want to do your own post, grab the questions from Jen’s blog and answer it on your own.
Do you ever read out of your comfort zone?
And if yes, does it work for you?
Yes, I have read out of my comfort zone but it has only been successful on a few (and I mean few) occasions. The main success has been with cosy mysteries, but a handful of suspense stories would also be on that list. However, it isn’t something I do that often because I read for enjoyment and a big part of that comes from reading inside my comfort zone. As such, choosing a genre or trope that hasn’t worked for me in the past seems rather pointless – particularly when there isn’t enough time for me to read all the books that ARE in my comfort zone and on my TBR list!
Riveting, fast-paced, complex and edge-of-your-seat exciting, Mindwalker was a non-stop thrill ride from start to finish. With strong characters, dangerous secrets, wonderful friendships and dire peril this was a book that, once started, I did not want to put down. Great writing, an engaging plot, sympathetic characters and an excellent pace, there wasn’t one aspect of the story that didn’t work for me. There are many themes explored in the book and each one was executed extremely well.
If you ask I’ll always say I’m not a huge fan of YA books, of course, there always has to be an exception to the rule and Kate Dylan’s book proves to be just that. Sil is more mature than your average 18-year-old but given both the dystopian setting and her experiences as a Walker, it felt very plausible. I found her to be a very sympathetic character, vital since the entire story is told from her first-person perspective.
I loved how the author allowed the reader some agency, especially in that ending. I don’t need everything tied up with a neat bow, life isn’t like that, but we are left with a sense of hope for the future. There are some amazing side characters, Aja and Brinn perhaps could have been a little more developed, they were integral to the plot and I would have liked to have spent more time getting to know them. That is a personal preference though and not an issue with the story.
Finally, I can’t not mention the utterly swoon-some Ryder. A good man prepared to do somewhat bad things for good reasons, how could I do anything else but love him for it? He and Sil made a delightful pair and whilst the romance aspect felt a little rushed, a little light on emotion, on balance I’m happy that it didn’t detract from the main plot.
Mindwalker was an absolute winner for me and is an SF, YA novel I am only too happy to recommend to like-minded readers.
‘Mindwalker is a cinematic gut punch of action and espionage. Sharp-edged, tense and thrilling, you’ll be holding your breath until the last page’ Tasha Suri, author of The Jasmine Throne
Eighteen-year-old Sil Sarrah is determined to die a legend. But with only twelve months left before the supercomputer grafted to her brain kills her, Sil’s time is quickly running out.
In the ten years she’s been rescuing field agents for the Syntex corporation – by commandeering their minds from afar and leading them to safety – Sil hasn’t lost a single life. And she’s not about to start now.
But when a critical mission goes south, Sil is forced to flee the very company she once called home.
Desperate to prove she’s no traitor, Sil infiltrates the Analog Army, an activist faction working to bring Syntex down. Her plan: to win back her employer’s trust by destroying the group from within. Instead, she and the Army’s reckless leader, Ryder, uncover a horrifying truth that threatens to undo all the good she’s ever done.
With her tech rapidly degrading and her new ally keeping dangerous secrets of his own, Sil must find a way to stop Syntex in order to save her friends, her reputation – and maybe even herself.
Life with paper, scissors and glue 