Recent Blog Posts

  

SUNDAY POST

12 January

This is part of the weekly meme over at the Caffeinated Reviewer, where book bloggers can share the books they’ve read and share what they have got up to during the last week.
It’s been a busy week. Some of it has been enjoyable – but we’ve also got some hefty family stuff going on at the moment, which won’t be fixed quickly and is causing a fair bit of heartache. It doesn’t help that this is landing in the depths of winter. We had a series of very gloomy days, which were also mild – until Wednesday afternoon, when suddenly we looked up to find the inevitable rain had suddenly turned into a blizzard! Thankfully, it had a good manners to disappear by the following morning. I LOATHE snow, which very quickly turns into a mushy mess in our part of the world. And given that they never grit the pavements anymore, it’s also potentially lethal.
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*2024 OUTSTANDING READ*

Review of INDIE Ebook The Green Man’s War By Juliet E. McKenna

11 January

I’m a huge fan of McKenna’s writing – see my reviews of Dangerous Waters – Book 1 of the Hadrumal Crisis, Darkening Skies – Book 2 of the Hadrumal Crisis, Irons in the Fire – Book 1 of the Lescari Revolution, Blood in the Water – Book 2 of the Lescari Revolution, Banners in the Wind – Book 3 of the Lescari Revolution. Her feminist retelling of the Knights of the Round Table in The Cleaving. And four of the other books in her fabulous Green Man series – The Green Man’s Heir, The Green Man’s Foe, The Green Man’s Silence , The Green Man’s Challenge and The Green Man’s Quarry. So it was a lovely surprise to discover there was another offering in the wonderful Green Man series – The Green Man’s War. Would it match the other books in the series for the powerful story-telling, cool worldbuilding and wonderful characterisation?
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Can’t-Wait Wednesday

8 January

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. This week’s Can’t-Wait offering: Echo of Worlds – release date 21st January 2025 by M.R. Carey
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Review of NETGALLEY arc A Language of Dragons by S.F. Williamson

7 January

It was the blurb that caught my eye – Bletchley Park, with dragons??? – sign me up! So I was delighted to get hold of a copy of this one. Would it fulfil my expectations?
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SUNDAY POST

5 January

This is part of the weekly meme over at the Caffeinated Reviewer, where book bloggers can share the books they’ve read and share what they have got up to during the last week.
I hope you had a lovely break at least at some stage over the Christmas holidays and that you enjoyed at least part of it. And I’m wishing you a happy, successful 2025.
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My Outstanding Books of 2024

4 January

There are 16 books my list of Outstanding Books for 2024. Given that I read or listened to 240 books during the year – it’s an achievement to be one of the chosen few. To be clear, not only does a book have to score 10/10 at the time I read or listened to it, but it also has to stay in my memory for all the right reasons.
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A Very Happy 2025 to You All! My 2024 Reads…

2 January

I hope you had a safe, enjoyable festive season. We all had a lovely time celebrating with family and I can hardly believe that we have now started 2025. I’ve had a chance to look through my reading records for last year and have come up with a few statistics.
In 2024 I read 240 books, 118 were audiobooks, 56 were Netgalley review copies and 66 were Kindle ebooks. I didn’t read any print copies – partly because we simply don’t have room for new physical copies and partly because I find ebooks so much kinder on my eyes. I had several long covid relapses during the year, which accounts for the high audiobook count. When I’m laid up in bed, listening to stories is far easier than reading.
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