Back in November 2021 I started doing my Thursday Time Travel posts. I have had a great time doing them, and I thought that it would be even better if other people joined in with me and we could all have a look at each others past and present reads.
Time Travel Thursday takes a look at what you were reading this Thursday last year, or the year before, or even before that (I have only just got back into reading so my back catalogue needed some building up!). You then look at what you are currently reading and compare them.
“book”, “read”, “book blog”, “easy read”, “don’t miss out”, “fiction”, “what were you reading last year”, “entertaining”, “what should I read next”, “past reads”
Welcome to Top 5 Wednesday! Hosted by Goodreads T5W group this week it is books that I am obsessed with! I have had quite a good run of 5 star books recently, but even with those there are some that are just that bit better than 5 stars. Here are the books that I wanted to give more than 5 stars to and therefore books that you should definitely read!
“book”, “read”, “book blog”, “easy read”, “don’t miss out”, “fiction”, “entertaining”, “what should I read next”, “what book do you recommend”, “books to get me out of a reading slump”, “popular books”
“When seventh grader Monty Hyde moves for the fourth time in two years, it’s the same old story. New neighborhood, new school, new bullies, no friends. With his dad working all the time and his older brother too popular to notice, he’s the lonely outcast yet again. That is, until he finds a mysterious replication serum in his basement and decides to make a friend. From scratch.
But when his creation turns out to be a stinky, hairy eight-foot-tall monster that might be eating the neighborhood kids, Monty knows he must undo his experiment. STAT!
Problem is, it’s the best friend he’s ever had.”
I am on the Blog Tour for this book on 23 May so keep your eyes peeled for my review on here, Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter! I am only a couple of chapters in, but I am enjoying it so far!
“An insightful, delightful new novel from the number-one New York Times bestselling author of Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation.
One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn’t see coming….
Nora Stephens’ life is books – she’s read them all – and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.
Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters’ trip away – with visions of a small-town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.
If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again – in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow – what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.”
I have only just started this and whilst it is a good book, I am not mad on it at the moment. We shall see how I feel once I am further in!
“For centuries, the mysterious dark-robed figure has roamed the globe, searching for those whose complicity and cowardice have fed into the rapids of history’s darkest waters-and now, in Sarah Perry’s breathtaking follow-up to The Essex Serpent, it is heading in our direction.
It has been years since Helen Franklin left England. In Prague, working as a translator, she has found a home of sorts—or, at least, refuge. That changes when her friend Karel discovers a mysterious letter in the library, a strange confession and a curious warning that speaks of Melmoth the Witness, a dark legend found in obscure fairy tales and antique village lore. As such superstition has it, Melmoth travels through the ages, dooming those she persuades to join her to a damnation of timeless, itinerant solitude. To Helen it all seems the stuff of unenlightened fantasy.
But, unaware, as she wanders the cobblestone streets Helen is being watched. And then Karel disappears. . . .”
I have made a good start on this and I am not sure about it. I got a bit confused about the time period that it was set in and sometimes the way that it is written confuses me. We shall see once I am further in – maybe I just need to get used to the style of writing?
““In this world, you either become a shark, or you become lunch.” – Jim Dixon
A decade after Jim Dixon’s fall from grace, after the events that burnt his career on Wall Street, his past is catching up to him. Zurich had been the perfect place for a fresh start, a place where he could be a big fish in a small pond. The secretive world of Swiss high finance, a world of deception, greed, and excess, where everyone lies for one or another reason, provided the perfect cover. Until she showed up.
Meeting the socialite daughter of his former client was just a courtesy, nothing more. Another spoiled princess looking for VIP tickets to the opera, or a private shopping session at Louis Vuitton. So he thought. But Christina Rosenbaum was not the typical second generation heiress. This was the meeting that would set it all in motion.
Caught between unscrupulous bankers, hedge fund managers, organized crime, state actors, and law enforcement, Jim is left with no choice. One way or another, it will be over before the end of the week. This week would see careers destroyed, lives lost, and fortunes made.”
I am on the Blog Tour for this book on 30 May so keep your eyes peeled for my review on here, Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!
It’s First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday! Hosted by Socrates Book Reviews this is where you share the first paragraph of one of the books that you are currently reading. Each week I will choose a book of the week (which will be one of the books that I am currently reading) and that book will take part in this book blog meme:
This week my book of the week is Book Lovers by Emily Henry
“When books are your life – or in my case, your job – you get pretty good at guessing where a story is going. The tropes, the archetypes, the common plot twists all start to organise themselves into a catalogue inside your brain, divided by category and genre.”
“An insightful, delightful new novel from the number-one New York Times bestselling author of Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation.
One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn’t see coming….
Nora Stephens’ life is books – she’s read them all – and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.
Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters’ trip away – with visions of a small-town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.
If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again – in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow – what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.”
I have just started this book and it is good so far. I am enjoying the main character’s narration. I have high hopes for this book as it is all over Instgram at the moment!
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday! Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, this week it is Books I Was SO EXCITED to Get, but Still Haven’t Read. This happens to me a lot unfortunately. I underestimate the speed of my reading and the time I actually get to read!
They call him the King of Death Row. Randal Korn has sent more men to their deaths than any district attorney in the history of the United States.
A twisted ritualistic killing
When a young woman, Skylar Edwards, is found murdered in Buckstown, Alabama, a corrupt sheriff arrests the last person to see her alive, Andy Dubois. It doesn’t seem to matter to anyone that Andy is innocent. A small town boiling with rage
Everyone in Buckstown believes Andy is guilty. He has no hope of a fair trial. And the local defense attorney assigned to represent him has disappeared. A former con-artist
Hot shot New York lawyer Eddie Flynn travels south to fight fire with fire. He plans to destroy the prosecutors case, find the real killer and save Andy from the electric chair.
But the murders are just beginning. Is Eddie Flynn next?“
“Smart, bookish Belle, a captive in the Beast’s castle, has become accustomed to her new home and has befriended its inhabitants. When she comes upon Nevermore, an enchanted book unlike anything else she has seen in the castle, Belle finds herself pulled into its pages and transported to a world of glamour and intrigue. The adventures Belle has always imagined, the dreams she was forced to give up when she became a prisoner, seem within reach again.
The charming and mysterious characters Belle meets within the pages of Nevermore offer her glamorous conversation, a life of dazzling Parisian luxury, and even a reunion she never thought possible. Here Belle can have everything she has ever wished for. But what about her friends in the Beast’s castle? Can Belle trust her new companions inside the pages of Nevermore? Is Nevermore’s world even real? Belle must uncover the truth about the book, before she loses herself in it forever.”
“The Shadowhunters of Los Angeles star in the first novel in Cassandra Clare’s newest series, The Dark Artifices, a sequel to the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series. Lady Midnight is a Shadowhunters novel.
It’s been five years since the events of City of Heavenly Fire that brought the Shadowhunters to the brink of oblivion. Emma Carstairs is no longer a child in mourning, but a young woman bent on discovering what killed her parents and avenging her losses.
Together with her parabatai Julian Blackthorn, Emma must learn to trust her head and her heart as she investigates a demonic plot that stretches across Los Angeles, from the Sunset Strip to the enchanted sea that pounds the beaches of Santa Monica. If only her heart didn’t lead her in treacherous directions…
Making things even more complicated, Julian’s brother Mark—who was captured by the faeries five years ago—has been returned as a bargaining chip. The faeries are desperate to find out who is murdering their kind—and they need the Shadowhunters’ help to do it. But time works differently in faerie, so Mark has barely aged and doesn’t recognize his family. Can he ever truly return to them? Will the faeries really allow it?
Glitz, glamours, and Shadowhunters abound in this heartrending opening to Cassandra Clare’s Dark Artifices series.”
When America won the Revolutionary War, its people offered General George Washington a crown. Two and a half centuries later, the House of Washington still sits on the throne.
As Princess Beatrice gets closer to becoming America’s first queen regnant, the duty she has embraced her entire life suddenly feels stifling.
Nobody cares about the spare except when she’s breaking the rules, so Princess Samantha doesn’t care much about anything, either . . . except the one boy who is distinctly off-limits to her.
And then there’s Samantha’s twin, Prince Jefferson. If he’d been born a generation earlier, he would have stood first in line for the throne, but the new laws of succession make him third. Most of America adores their devastatingly handsome prince . . . but two very different girls are vying to capture his heart.”
“DOWN – Pinhole is the first book of an explosive new trilogy by international bestselling author, Glenn Cooper. A cross between DANTE’S INFERNO and GAME OF THRONES, DOWN is part historical thriller and part fantasy-adventure, a thought-provoking, page-turning, epic saga that explores the consequences of evil and transports readers to a world unlike any they have ever experienced.
John Camp heads up security at a world’s largest super-collider tunneled around London. Scarred by his wartime experiences, he’s been fighting his demons and putting his life back in order. High on his priorities is his new relationship with physicist Emily Loughty, the collider’s beautiful and accomplished Scottish research director.
When the collider starts up it hits its projected energy target but then inexplicably continues powering much higher. In the blink of an eye Emily disappears and a rough-looking man appears in her place. In fear and confusion the man barrels out of the lab and disappears. His identity may be the only clue to what has happened.
John volunteers to embark on a mission to try and rescue Emily and when the collider is powered up again he finds himself in a strange and terrifying world, geographically identical to Earth but very different. It’s a place some call Down, eternally populated by those who’ve committed the most unforgivable acts of evil during their lives. Here in a world with but a few glimmers of hope, kings and dukes, including infamous historical figures, battle perpetually for supremacy.
In a race against time, John must navigate the terrible landscape of Down and bring home the love of his life before they are trapped for the rest of their lives.
Glenn Cooper, a Harvard graduate, archaeologist, physician, former biotechnology CEO, screenwriter and film producer, has written ten thrillers that have sold over six million copies in thirty translations.”
“In this gripping page-turner, an ex-agent on the run from her former employers must take one more case to clear her name and save her life.
She used to work for the U.S. government, but very few people ever knew that. An expert in her field, she was one of the darkest secrets of an agency so clandestine it doesn’t even have a name. And when they decided she was a liability, they came for her without warning.
Now she rarely stays in the same place or uses the same name for long. They’ve killed the only other person she trusted, but something she knows still poses a threat. They want her dead, and soon.
When her former handler offers her a way out, she realizes it’s her only chance to erase the giant target on her back. But it means taking one last job for her ex-employers. To her horror, the information she acquires only makes her situation more dangerous.
Resolving to meet the threat head-on, she prepares for the toughest fight of her life but finds herself falling for a man who can only complicate her likelihood of survival. As she sees her choices being rapidly whittled down, she must apply her unique talents in ways she never dreamed of.
In this tautly plotted novel, Meyer creates a fierce and fascinating new heroine with a very specialized skill set. And she shows once again why she’s one of the world’s bestselling authors.”
“Have you stopped believing in happily ever after?
Women today are settling for less than we want when it comes to men, relationships, sex, and marriage. But we don’t have to, argues Elizabeth Kantor. Jane Austen can show us how to find the love we really want.
In The Jane Austen Guide to Happily Ever After, Kantor reveals how the examples of Jane Austen heroines such as Elizabeth Bennett, Elinor Dashwood, and Anne Elliot can help us navigate the modern-day minefields of dating, love, relationships, and sex. By following in their footsteps—and steering clear of the sad endings suffered by characters such as Maria Bertram and Charlotte Lucas—modern women can discover the path to lifelong love and true happiness.
Charged with honesty and humor, Kantor’s book includes testimonies from modern women, pop culture parallels, the author’s personal experiences and, of course, a thorough examination of Austen’s beloved novels.
Featuring characters and situations from all of Jane Austen’s books (including unfinished novels, and stories not published in her lifetime), The Jane Austen Guide to Happily Ever After tackles the dating and relationship dilemmas that we face today, and equips modern women to approach our love lives with fresh insights distilled from the novels:
Don’t be a tragic heroine
Pursue Elizabeth Bennet’s “rational happiness” —learn what it is, and how you can find it
Don’t let cynicism steal your happy ending
Why it’s a mistake to look for your “soul mate”
Jane Austen’s skeleton keys to a man’s potential
How you should deal with men who are “afraid of commitment” (from Jane Austen’s eight case studies)
Learn how to arrange your own marriage—by falling in love the Jane Austen way”
“Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and its prequel, Dawn of the Dreadfuls, were both New York Times best sellers, with a combined 1.3 million copies in print. Now the PPZ trilogy comes to a thrilling conclusion with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After.
The story opens with our newly married protagonists, Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy, defending their village from an army of flesh-eating “unmentionables.” But the honeymoon has barely begun when poor Mr. Darcy is nipped by a rampaging dreadful. Elizabeth knows the proper course of action is to promptly behead her husband (and then burn the corpse, just to be safe). But when she learns of a miracle antidote under development in London, she realizes there may be one last chance to save her true love—and for everyone to live happily ever after.
Complete with romance, heartbreak, martial arts, cannibalism, and an army of shambling corpses. Dreadfully Ever After brings the story of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to a thrilling conclusion.”
“Christian Grey exercises control in all things; his world is neat, disciplined, and utterly empty—until the day that Anastasia Steele falls into his office, in a tangle of shapely limbs and tumbling brown hair. He tries to forget her, but instead is swept up in a storm of emotion he cannot comprehend and cannot resist. Unlike any woman he has known before, shy, unworldly Ana seems to see right through him—past the business prodigy and the penthouse lifestyle to Christian’s cold, wounded heart.
Will being with Ana dispel the horrors of his childhood that haunt Christian every night? Or will his dark sexual desires, his compulsion to control, and the self-loathing that fills his soul drive this girl away and destroy the fragile hope she offers him?
See the world of Fifty Shades of Grey anew through the eyes of Christian Grey. In Christian’s own words, and through his thoughts, reflections, and dreams, E L James offers a fresh perspective on the love story that has enthralled millions of readers around the world.
Welcome to my Book Of The Week post! Each week I will highlight one of the books that I am currently reading and use that book to participate in blog memes such as First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, Thursday Quotables and Friday 56.
“An insightful, delightful new novel from the number-one New York Times bestselling author of Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation.
One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn’t see coming….
Nora Stephens’ life is books – she’s read them all – and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.
Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters’ trip away – with visions of a small-town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.
If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again – in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow – what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.”
This book was published on 3 and 12 May and has been all over Instagram. I couldn’t wait to get a copy and this week I will be making a start on it!
Feel free to read my book of the week alongside me and to add links to your posts in my comments box!
“book”, “read”, “book blog”, “don’t miss out”, “fiction”, “what should I read next”, “reading slump”, “entertaining”, “book of the week”, “book meme”, “what book are you reading”, “popular books on Instagram”, “popular books of 2022”
Welcome to the new home of Goodreads Monday! I have taken over the role of host from Lauren’s Page Turners who no longer blogs about books.
Goodreads Monday allows you to post about what books are on your “to read” lists, the progress you have made on your current books and reading challenge, and any other Goodreads news!
✨Don’t forget to add your link in the comments section so that we can all see each other’s posts!✨
The book that I have chosen from my Goodreads list this week is:
Book Description From Goodreads:
“Winner of the 2020 Comedy Women in Print Prize Vicky Turnbull has never regretted giving up her career for family life in the suburbs. And apart from being outstandingly good at paintball, no one would ever know that in a past life she was an undercover spy and has been trained to kill a man with her bare hands. Not even her husband, and certainly not the other mums at the school gate.
But beneath the school runs and bake sales, Vicky had never quite said goodbye to the past. So, when a newcomer on the PTA sets alarms bells ringing and MI5 comes calling, she’s determined to prove that despite her expanding waistline and love of pink gin, she’s still every bit the cold-eyed special operative.
When the assignment gets uncomfortably close to home, Vicky must decide if she has got what the job takes after all, and if home is really where her heart is…”
I have had this book on my Goodreads list for a while and finally for my birthday I managed to get a copy on my Kindle. Hopefully I will be able to make a start on it fairly soon, but there is quite a long list!
Have you read it? What did you think?
Currently Reading Progress:
Book Lovers by Emily Henry 6% read
Monty and the Monster by Rhonda Smiley 5% read
Melmoth by Sarah Perry 15% read
Progress on my reading challenge:
I have read 41/97 books!
What book is on your Goodreads list? How is your reading progress and challenge going?
Don’t forget to add your link in the comments so that we can all see each others posts!
“A hauntingly powerful and emotionally charged novel about family secrets, love and loss, identity and belonging.
Two children trapped in the same attic, almost a century apart, bound by a shared secret.
Early 1900s London: Taken from his homeland, twelve-year-old Celestine spends most of the time locked away in the attic of a large house by the sea. The only time Celestine isn’t bound by confines of the small space is when he is acting as an unpaid servant to English explorer Sir Richard Babbington, As the years pass, he desperately clings on to memories of his family in Africa, even as he struggles to remember his mother’s face, and sometimes his real name . . .
1974: Lowra, a young orphan girl born into wealth and privilege whose fortunes have now changed, finds herself trapped in the same attic. Searching for a ray of light in the darkness of the attic, Lowra finds under the floorboards an old-fashioned pen, a porcelain doll, a beaded necklace, and a message carved on the wall, written in an unidentifiable language. Providing comfort for her when all hope is lost, these clues will lead her to uncover the secrets of the attic.”
I am on the Blog Tour for this book on 17 May, so keep your eyes peeled for my review on here, Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
As you know this week included my birthday so we went out for lunch and dinner on the actual day which was nice. We haven’t eaten in a restaurant since before the pandemic so for our 3 year old son it was a bit of a novelty for him! This week also saw our return to a shopping centre near us which was eyeopening… I have managed to finish off a few of my books this week after a pretty slow week last week, so I feel like I have accomplished something!
Hope you have all had a good week. Here’s to next week!
“book”, “read”, “book review”, “book blog”,”recommended”, “easy read”, “don’t miss out”, “fiction”, “entertaining”, “book meme”, “weekly wrap up”, “sunday salon”, “what books do you recommend”, “what books are popular on social media”, “what book should I read next”, “romance”, “mystery”
Welcome to my Sunday post hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer! It’s been another busy blogging week and my birthday! We have had some lovely weather and done some nice things for my birthday (for the first time in two years!).
“book”, “read”, “book review”, “book blog”,”recommended”, “easy read”, “don’t miss out”, “fiction”, “entertaining”, “romance”, “mystery”, “what should I read next”, “what books do you recommend”, “which books are popular at the moment”, “what is everyone reading”
It’s Six For Sunday! Hosted by A Little But A Lot this week’s theme is magical bookish combinations. I have decided to answer this prompt by putting together two polar opposite books (one Thriller with one Romance) that would make an interesting combination:
“book”, “read”, “book review”, “book blog”,”recommended”, “easy read”, “don’t miss out”, “fiction”, “entertaining”, “what should I read to get out of my reading slump”
Budget Tales Book Blog 