Welcome to my Stacking The Shelves post hosted by Reading Reality. I haven’t done one of these posts in a while, however I have felt better today and thought that I would share my most recent Blog Tour sign up, Sylvia by Maithreyi Karnoor:
Book Description From Goodreads:
“Longing to connect to his ancestral roots, Cajetan Pereira has taken up residence near one of the rare and mystical Baobab trees in South India. Into his world walks Sylvia, a young woman in search of a story. They bond over their new-found relationship, until one day consumed by regret, Sylvia disappears.
In a rich kaleidoscope of tales, Sylvia is glimpsed in the lives of other characters as a colleague, friend, wife and lover, until she comes back into focus as she finds herself becoming whole once more – but is it too late?
Brimming with exquisite prose, Sylvia is a beautifully woven tapestry of the ways in which we leave indelible imprints on each other’s lives.”
I am on the Blog Tour for this book on 12 May 2023 so keep your eyes peeled for my review on here, Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!
What have you been stacking your shelves with this week?
“A magician-turned-sleuth in pre-war London solves three impossible crimes.
In 1930s London, celebrity psychiatrist Anselm Rees is discovered dead in his locked study, and there seems to be no way that a killer could have escaped unseen. There are no clues, no witnesses, and no evidence of the murder weapon. Stumped by the confounding scene, the Scotland Yard detective on the case calls on retired stage-magician-turned-part-time-sleuth Joseph Spector. Who better to make sense of the impossible than one who traffics in illusions?
Spector has a knack for explaining the inexplicable, but even he finds that there is more to this mystery than meets the eye. As he and the Inspector interview the colorful cast of suspects among the psychiatrist’s patients and household, they uncover no shortage of dark secrets—or motives for murder. When the investigation dovetails into that of an apparently impossible theft, the detectives consider the possibility that the two transgressions are related. And when a second murder occurs, this time in an impenetrable elevator, they realize that the crime wave will become even deadlier unless they can catch the culprit soon.”
I am on the Blog Tour for this book on 8 February 2023 so keep your eyes peeled for my review on here, Goodreads, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!
“One minute Lou is happily employed, with a perfect flat. The next, her home and job have gone. Suddenly she has to start over.
The last thing Lou wants is to move to a tiny Cotswolds village. She certainly doesn’t intend to work for curmudgeonly eighty-year-old Edgar Allsopp. But Edgar is about to make her the kind of promise nobody could ignore. In return, she secretly vows to help him fall in love with life again.
Foxwell is also home to Remy, whose charm and charisma are proving hard to ignore. But Lou hasn’t recovered from the last time she fell for a charmer. She needs a distraction – and luckily one’s about to turn up.
Secrets never stay hidden for long in Foxwell, nor are promises always kept. And no one could guess what lies ahead…”
I am on the Blog Tour for this book on 24 January 2023 so keep your eyes peeled for my review on here, Goodreads, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!
Such a short amount of reading time this evening that writing this will probably double the time I spent reading! I managed to read a couple of pages of my Blog Tour book Dashboard Elvis Is Dead by David F Ross (so that I can say that I have at least made a start!) and a few more pages of my library book A Bookshop Christmas by Rachel Burton. I was planning on reading a bit of Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, but I was just too tired!
I have high hopes for Dashboard Elvis Is Dead even after the tiny amount that I read and I am still enjoying A Bookshop Christmas.
I hope that you had a good Tuesday and enjoyed my Top Ten Tuesday – Thankful Freebie post. Tomorrow on the Blog it’s WWW Wednesday and Top 5 Wednesday.
“book”, “read”, “book blog”, “new”, “recommended”, “easy read”, “don’t miss out”, “fiction”, “reading slump”, “entertaining”, “what should I read next”, “what books do you recommend”
“One minute Lou is happily employed, with a perfect flat. The next, her home and job have gone. Suddenly she has to start over.
The last thing Lou wants is to move to a tiny Cotswolds village. She certainly doesn’t intend to work for curmudgeonly eighty-year-old Edgar Allsopp. But Edgar is about to make her the kind of promise nobody could ignore. In return, she secretly vows to help him fall in love with life again.
Foxwell is also home to Remy, whose charm and charisma are proving hard to ignore. But Lou hasn’t recovered from the last time she fell for a charmer. She needs a distraction – and luckily one’s about to turn up.
Secrets never stay hidden for long in Foxwell, nor are promises always kept. And no one could guess what lies ahead…”
I am on the Blog Tour for this book on 24 January so keep your eyes peeled for my review on here, Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!
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.
This week I have chosen The Will by Rebecca Reid (click for link to Goodreads) to be published 10 November 2022.
Book Description From Goodreads:
“The Mordaunts aren’t like most families . . .
For one, their family home is Roxborough Hall – a magnificent, centuries-old mansion in the Norfolk countryside. For another, the house isn’t passed down from parent to child – but rather to the family member deemed most worthy.
Cecily Mordaunt is dead. On the evening of her funeral, her family will gather for dinner and each will be given a letter, revealing who is the next custodian of Roxborough Hall.
The house is a burden, a millstone, a full-time job . . . but they all want it. And some are willing do anything to get it.
One family. Eight letters. Who will get what they deserve?“
“Ollie Spencer has started a new life in the idyllic Cornish seaside town of Port Karadow. Throwing herself into her job at the town’s bookshop, A New Chapter, is one way to make friends. The shop is glitzing up for first Christmas and Ollie hopes her inspired ideas will give the shop the edge it needs to dazzle the town.But far from being the Sugar Plum fairy the place needs, Ollie is fast becoming its Christmas pudding. With the bookshop’s success at stake, Ollie turns to twinkly-eyed café owner Max for help. Can he help Ollie to turn the page, and put the sparkle back into her Cornish dream?”
I am on the Blog Tour for this book on 28 November so keep your eyes peeled for my review on here, Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!
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.
“Insurance mathematician Henri Koskinen has finally restored order both to his life and to YouMeFun, the adventure park he now owns, when a man from the past appears – and turns everything upside down again. More problems arise when the park’s equipment supplier is taken over by a shady trio, with confusing demands. Why won’t Toy of Finland Ltd sell the new Moose Chute to Henri when he needs it as the park’s main attraction?
Meanwhile, Henri’s relationship with artist Laura has reached breaking point, and, in order to survive this new chaotic world, he must push every calculation to its limits, before it’s too late…
Absurdly funny, heart-stoppingly poignant and full of nail-biting suspense, The Moose Paradox is the second instalment in the critically acclaimed, pitch-perfect Rabbit Factor Trilogy and things are messier than ever…”
My Review Summary: A lovely book with a relatable main character.
📖PLOT SUMMARY FROM GOODREADS📖
You can tell a lot about a person from what they like to eat..
When Stella Douglas, author of a much-loved but not very successful biography of a forgotten cookery writer, is summoned to see her editor in London, she is dreading being told her writing career is over before it’s even started. But much to her surprise, she finds she is being commissioned to write another book – this time a history of food in England and how the English like to eat. It’s to be quintessentially English and will remind English housewives of the old ways, and English men the glory of their country. The only problem is – all English food is really from elsewhere.
So Stella sets about inviting recipes from all corners of England, in the hope of discovering a hidden culinary gem. But what she discovers is oatcakes and gravy and lots of lots of potatoes.
Longing for something more thrilling, she heads off to speak to the nation’s housewives. But when her car breaks down and the dashing and charismatic Freddie springs to her rescue, she is led in a very different direction…
Full of wit and life, Provenance is a story of discovery, of a modern England emerging from the past and one woman’s desire to make her own way as a modern woman.
💭THOUGHTS💭
I was excited to be a part of this Blog Tour because I have come to realise that I enjoy reading books that have food in them. I have read a few books recently with food involved and I love the way that the food is described. For me it adds something extra to the story, something that makes it more grounded.
The writing in this book was light, yet emotional at times. I loved the different styles of writing that together made up this story (alongside the main character narrating the story you had letters from the public telling their individual stories). There was a lot of description that made you really feel like you were there with the character. Whilst there was a lot of description, it added to the story and went well with the character and her journey. I also enjoyed that the language used was of it’s time. There were words and references that I didn’t recognise as of this present time and I liked being transported to the 1930s via the language.
The chapters were a mix of lengths. They were generally shorter at the beginning and the end and longer in the middle. I therefore felt that I was introduced to the story quickly and the end was quickly wrapped up. I liked that at the end of some of the chapters you got to see the letters that the main character had sent in to her from the public. It broke up the story, yet added to it at the same time. You were able to see what the character was seeing and could understand the difficulties that she was having in trying to write her book.
I loved the main character. She was very relatable and I enjoyed being on her journey with it’s ups and downs. It is quite interesting (and sad) that the things that happened to her are still happening today. I did start to feel quite nervous for her at some points and I think that that is the mark of a good writer! It was more emotional than I thought it was going to be, but I was satisfied with the ending.
The settings were excellent. I loved the descriptions of the places and the main character’s thoughts whilst she was in those places. I enjoyed being taken round the UK and it was eye-opening to see the similarities of what people ate despite being miles apart.
Overall a lovely book with a good mix of adventure and emotion.
“You can tell a lot about a person from what they like to eat..When Stella Douglas, author of a much-loved but not very successful biography of a forgotten cookery writer, is summoned to see her editor in London, she is dreading being told her writing career is over before it’s even started. But much to her surprise, she finds she is being commissioned to write another book – this time a history of food in England and how the English like to eat. It’s to be quintessentially English and will remind English housewives of the old ways, and English men the glory of their country. The only problem is – all English food is really from elsewhere. So Stella sets about inviting recipes from all corners of England, in the hope of discovering a hidden culinary gem. But what she discovers is oatcakes and gravy and lots of lots of potatoes. Longing for something more thrilling, she heads off to speak to the nation’s housewives. But when her car breaks down and the dashing and charismatic Freddie springs to her rescue, she is led in a very different direction…Full of wit and life, Provenance is a story of discovery, of a modern England emerging from the past and one woman’s desire to make her own way as a modern woman. “
I am on the Blog Tour for this book on 21 October so keep your eyes peeled for my review on here, Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!
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