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Christmas with the Princes by Hannah Langdon #PublicationDay #NetGalley #NetGalleyUK

Christmas with the Princes

by Hannah Langdon 

I wouldn’t usually read a Christmas book this early in the year, but I requested this on NetGalley when I found out that Hannah Langdon had very sadly passed away, suddenly and unexpectedly, after a short illness. Her author friends were keen to get as many people as possible to pre-order and/or request on NetGalley so, of course, I was more than happy to support. My heart goes out to Hannah’s family, friends, and colleagues.

This book is a gorgeous read! I was completely swept away with the romance of it, and it didn’t matter to me at all that we’re a little way off Christmas yet. I don’t think there’s any reason why this book would have to be read exclusively at Christmas time, although it would certainly enhance your enjoyment of the festive season.

Laura is a private nurse who is embarking on a new position at the estate of Lyonscroft. She is to care for Marilise, who is a wonderful character. The two of them hit it off straight away and Laura soon settles in. She is struggling with grief and immersing herself in her work seems to be her only option for now. She is also trying to avoid her sister’s wedding plans for as long as possible. A sister who is the polar opposite of Laura, self-centred and entitled.

When Laura first meets Nick Prince, and his beloved dog, in a hedge rescue situation, she doesn’t realise he is the heir to Lyonscroft. As she gets to know him further, he does nothing much to warm himself to her initially, but she soon has a softening effect on him, and he starts to grow on her.

As their romance blossoms, Lyonscroft begins to embrace Christmas like never before, bringing light, laughter, love, and excitement to a house previously devoid of joy. A brighter future for the heir indeed.

A beautiful story which I loved!

I need to catch up with books one and two now. I wish I had discovered Hannah Langdon before now.

** Many thanks to the publisher for my ARC via NetGalley **

A swoon-worthy tale of second chances and Christmas magic that will have you believing in holiday miracles!

When Laura Wilde arrives at the snow-dusted English estate of Lyonscroft for Christmas, she’s fleeing her sister’s wedding chaos and seeking refuge in her job as a private nurse. But this enchanting manor holds secrets – not least why the devastatingly handsome heir, Nick Prince, seems determined to keep everyone at arm’s length…

Nick wants nothing more than to escape Christmas and sell the family estate, but Laura’s arrival changes everything. As she cares for his beloved grandmother, the spirited Princess Marilise, Laura finds herself caught between two worlds: the warmth and wisdom of an extraordinary woman with stories to tell, and the guarded heart of a man with a past he doesn’t want to talk about.

But when Laura transforms the cold, unwelcoming house into a magical Christmas wonderland, something shifts. Between unexpected dog rescues and stolen moments under the mistletoe, Laura must decide: will she play it safe and stick to her carefully ordered life, or risk everything for a love that could heal them both?

Perfect for fans of Heidi Swain, Beth Moran and Phillipa Ashley.

Happy reading!

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Atticus Arnott’s Great Adventure by Caroline James @CarolineJames12

Atticus Arnott’s Great Adventure

by Caroline James 

What a fabulous, feel-good story this is! I absolutely loved it!

I love Atticus. My heart went out to him at the start. He doesn’t find much joy in life since he lost the love of his life. His son has taken over his farm and turned it into a thriving business, but Arnott just isn’t interested in it much. He takes himself off for walks with his dog, Ness, and generally just tries to stay out of everyone’s way. So sad.

One day though his grandson convinces him to renovate his old campervan, giving it a new lease of life. Atticus decides to bite the bullet and drive it to Spain. I’m not sure I’d be that brave at my age, let along 70. Little did he know just how much this was going to change the rest of his life.

His daughter welcomes the change in him and supports his sense of adventure.

His son, not so much. He’s not the most likable of characters although I can understand how some children, however old they are, find it difficult to accept a parent moving on after the death of the other. Brother and sister couldn’t be any different to each other.

I loved joining Atticus on his travels, meeting his new friends, letting his hair down, and learning to embrace life again. I would absolutely follow his Instagram account!

A beautifully written, heart-warming read which left me with a smile and happy tear.

** Many thanks to Caroline James for my gifted Kindle copy **

When seventy-year-old Atticus Arnott drives his beloved campervan from the rainy hills of Cumbria to the golden coast of Spain, his village is left reeling. With only his loyal collie, Ness, by his side, Atticus sets out in search of sunshine and serenity—but his journey of travel and self-discovery in Spain soon brings surprises he never imagined.

Back in Ireland, Atticus’s daughter Mary is facing a crisis of her own. As her picture-perfect life starts to crumble, she must find the courage to put herself first for once and rediscover the dreams she set aside long ago.

From a later in life romance to an uplifting women’s fiction story about family, Atticus Arnott’s Great Adventure is a heartwarming travel romance story perfect for fans of escapist holiday read fiction. Proof that it’s never too late to start over, this delightful romcom will inspire readers to embrace the unknown with open arms.

Happy reading!

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The Harbinder Kaur series, books 2-4 by Elly Griffiths

I am SO behind with writing reviews I thought I would write one overview for the rest of the DS Harbinder Kaur series which I have listened to consecutively on Audible recently….

The Postscript Murders 

Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Elly Griffiths (Author), Nina Wadia (Narrator), Quercus (Publisher)

When an elderly lady with a heart condition dies suddenly, as sad as it is, you’d be forgiven for assuming there’s nothing suspicious with that. Peggy is a fascinating character, and Harbinder soon realises that not all is as it first seems.

Another excellent crime thriller with plenty of twists and turns.

Bleeding Heart Yard 

Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Elly Griffiths (Author), Candida Gubbins (Narrator), Jane Collingwood (Narrator), Nina Wadia (Narrator), Quercus (Publisher)

I really enjoyed the unusual storyline of this book. Centred around DS Caitlin Fitzgerald. A detective with a secret of her own. A secret she’s had to bury in order to function and live a ‘normal’ life. I can’t even imagine how anyone would begin to do that. Thirty years later, she finds herself attending a school reunion where things take a sinister turn and I couldn’t wait to find out how it was all going to end. Shocked!

The Last Word 

Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Elly Griffiths (Author), Nina Wadia (Narrator), Quercus (Publisher)

This book focuses more on characters featured in book two, The Postscript Murders, Natalka and Edwin, with Harbinder more of a featured character. Natalka and Edwin now run a private detective agency and Natalka now lives with Benedict.

I like that these characters are awarded their own book in the series, although I did miss Harbinder.

Another enjoyable whodunnit which reminded me of The Thursday Murder Club in a way.

I really like Harbinder as a person and a detective. This book/series is full of fabulous characters and compelling storylines. I really liked the narrator of this series too. Does anyone know if there will be a book five?

I.C.Y.M.I

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths. Audible Audiobook – Unabridged #BookReview

Happy reading/listening!

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Cinderella’s Fling With The Billionaire (Sun, Sea and Swept Away Book 2) by Rachael Stewart @rach_b52

Cinderella’s Fling With The Billionaire (Sun, Sea and Swept Away Book 2) 

by Rachael Stewart 

Oh, my goodness! What a gorgeous read this is! I can always trust Rachael Stewart to make me smile and warm my heart. She writes such beautiful characters, often with difficult pasts, who manage to find happiness with each other despite the odds. I love it!

Maria is a single mother of an eighteen-year-old daughter. It has been just the two of them for a long time after Maria’s painful split from her daughter’s father. She is determined not to be answerable to any man again.

Then in walks Tim. Obviously easy on the eye, Maria can’t resist a night of fun. One night only. No strings attached.

Fate has other ideas though and I loved how their story unfolds.

Tim is just gorgeous. I think in Maria’s situation I might snatch him up without a second thought, but I understand her reluctance. Having good looks and being a billionaire is not enough to convince her to surrender her heart again in a hurry. Her daughter will always be her priority. Tim’s daughter is his priority too, but after devastating loss he isn’t ready to give up on the first woman who has made him feel the way he hasn’t for a long time.

I loved it! The characters, the yacht, the sunsets, the angst, the romance, the happy ending. I loved it all!

** Many thanks to Rachael Stewart for my review copy **

In this Sun, Sea and Swept Away story, single mum Maria has fought to reclaim her world from her controlling ex. Romance is the last thing on her mind—until billionaire widower Tim walks into her bar, igniting a passion she thought she’d buried. A brief fling was meant to be enough, until they find themselves unexpectedly reunited on a luxury superyacht. Working as a stewardess, Maria is mortified to be serving the man she shared a bed with. Worse still, their attraction is stronger than ever…

Happy reading!

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Geneva by Richard Armitage 

Geneva

by Richard Armitage 

Geneva was our Buddy Read Book Club choice for September. It isn’t a book that had been on my radar beforehand, but I really enjoyed it in the end.

If I’m honest I did find it a bit slow to start, but I soon found myself invested. My heart went out to Sarah Collier. A brilliant scientist facing early onset dementia. I can only imagine. It must be terrifying!

I could understand Sarah’s interest in a potentially life-changing new treatment. I could understand her reluctance to endorse it without knowing exactly what it involves though. I could understand her husband being desperate to go to Geneva in the hope of this new technology being what might save his wife. It was always going to be a challenging trip for them though.

Little did I know.

As the story progressed, I was desperate to find out what was going on and I was praying for Sarah the whole time. I had an uneasy feeling as I turned the pages, but I had no idea why. As I started to realise, I felt a bit sick. Honestly, it’s shocking how deceitful some people can be and the lengths they are prepared to go to get what they want.

A good read!

Our September Buddy Read Book Club pick, Geneva by Richard Armitage, chosen by @the_bookshelf_2023

Read along with –

@beth.booksandblankets

@readswithdanii

@northyorkshirereader

@read.crochet.coffee

@mrs_n_reads

When you have it all
Sarah Collier has been lucky: she’s got a glittering scientific career and a husband who loves her more than anything.
And you start to lose it
But now she’s showing signs of early Alzheimer’s, and the only hope for a cure is in a controversial new technology being unveiled in Switzerland.
You’d go anywhere for help
In Geneva, as events turn dangerous and her memory loss worsens, Sarah has to decide who to trust: the people around her – or, despite her symptoms, herself.

Happy reading!

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Blackout (Dark Iceland Book 2) by Ragnar Jónasson (Author), Quentin Bates (Translator)

Blackout (Dark Iceland Book 2) 

by Ragnar Jónasson (Author), Quentin Bates (Translator)

I had to start Blackout as soon as I’d finished book one in the Dark Iceland series, Snowblind, as I found myself quite invested in these characters. I am even more so now.

In this book we experience summer in Northern Iceland. Very different to the oppressive atmosphere of the dark winters. It sounds like such a beautiful country.

In this book Ari Thor and his colleagues are faced with a complex case whilst dealing with their own personal battles. Full of suspense, I was eager to find out where this story would lead. I thoroughly enjoyed the police procedural aspects of this story. I also enjoyed the story from the perspective of a journalist. As always, I do like learning more about the characters and their personal lives. I know some crime thriller readers don’t, but for me it helps to make them more real and believable. After all, whatever job anyone does it doesn’t necessarily define them.

This book ticks all the boxes for me again. I have already started book 3 in the series, Rupture.

On the shores of a tranquil fjord in Northern Iceland, a man is brutally beaten to death on a bright summer’s night. As the 24-hour light of the arctic summer is transformed into darkness by an ash cloud from a recent volcanic eruption, a young reporter leaves Reykajvik to investigate on her own, unaware that an innocent person’s life hangs in the balance.

Ari Thór Arason and his colleagues on the tiny police force in Siglufjörður struggle with an increasingly perplexing case, while their own serious personal problems push them to the limit. What secrets does the dead man harbour, and what is the young reporter hiding? As silent, unspoken horrors from the past threaten them all, and the darkness deepens, it’s a race against time to find the killer before someone else dies…

I.C.Y.M.I

Snowblind (Dark Iceland Book 1) by Ragnar Jónasson (Author) Quentin Bates (Translator) @ragnarjo @OrendaBooks

Happy reading!

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Snowblind (Dark Iceland Book 1) by Ragnar Jónasson (Author) Quentin Bates (Translator) @ragnarjo @OrendaBooks

Snowblind (Dark Iceland Book 1)

by Ragnar Jónasson (Author), Quentin Bates (Translator) 

I won the first five books in the Dark Iceland series some years ago now and I’m so glad I’ve finally had a chance to start reading them.

What a start to a new series Snowblind is!

Ari Thór Arason is a likable character. A rookie policeman who accepts a first job in Siglufjörður without consulting his girlfriend (she is not happy) and moves away without properly sorting out their relationship.

Typically, a town where not much happens and no-one locks their doors, Ari Thor soon finds himself thrown in at the deep end with two investigations whilst also managing to jeopardise his relationship further by easily having his head turned by a local woman.

The relentless snow and continuous darkness of Siglufjörður is quite claustrophobic for the residents and for the reader. I could easily imagine the oppressive atmosphere and how it would take some getting used to.

I enjoyed the police procedural aspects of this story along with getting to know Ari Thor and his colleagues. I do enjoy an insight into their personal lives as well as enjoying a good mystery.

Fast-paced, tense, and suspenseful. I loved it!

I have already started book 2, Blackout. I’m invested in these characters now.

Siglufjörður: an idyllically quiet fishing village in Northern Iceland, where no one locks their doors – accessible only via a small mountain tunnel.

Ari Thór Arason: a rookie policeman on his first posting, far from his girlfriend in Reykjavik – with a past that he’s unable to leave behind.

When a young woman is found lying half-naked in the snow, bleeding and unconscious, and a highly esteemed, elderly writer falls to his death in the local theatre, Ari is dragged straight into the heart of a community where he can trust no one, and secrets and lies are a way of life.

An avalanche and unremitting snowstorms close the mountain pass, and the 24-hour darkness threatens to push Ari over the edge, as curtains begin to twitch, and his investigation becomes increasingly complex, chilling and personal. Past plays tag with the present and the claustrophobic tension mounts, while Ari is thrust ever deeper into his own darkness – blinded by snow, and with a killer on the loose.

Taut and terrifying, Snowblind is a startling debut from an extraordinary new talent, taking Nordic Noir to soaring new heights.

Snowblind:10th Anniversary Edition: including NEW Dark Iceland series prequel, Fadeout.

Happy reading!

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Coming Up Trumps: A Memoir by Jean Trumpington 

Coming Up Trumps: A Memoir 

by Jean Trumpington 

What a fascinating lady who led a remarkable life! I admit that I didn’t know who she was before I read this book. I must have picked it up at a book sale somewhere as I love a good memoir and I’m glad I did as it was highly entertaining!

Told with candour and wit it very much reads like you’re sitting with her over tea and cake whilst she regales you with stories from her life. And what a life! A mostly charmed childhood, a land girl followed by work at Bletchley Park. A successful marriage, motherhood, a political career, and a stint as the mayor. There isn’t much she didn’t pack in to her 96 years! This book takes us past her 90th Birthday as she determines to continue to enjoy her life to the max whilst she can. Quite the inspiration with a cracking character! She also loved Staffordshire pottery so she’s alright by me 😉

I hope she is resting in peace after her very long and full life.

Forthright, witty and deliciously opinionated, Jean Trumpington’s Coming Up Trumps is a wonderfully readable account of a life very well lived.

In this characteristically trenchant memoir, the indomitable Jean Trumpington looks back on her long and remarkable life. The daughter of an officer in the Bengal Lancers and an American heiress, Jean Campbell-Harris was born into a world of considerable privilege, but the Wall Street Crash entirely wiped out her mother’s fortune.

At fifteen the young Jean Campbell-Harris was sent to Paris to study but two years later, with the outbreak of the Second World War, she became a land girl. However, she quickly changed direction, joining naval intelligence at Bletchley Park, where she stayed for the rest of the war. After the war she worked first in Paris and then on Madison Avenue, New York, with advertising’s ‘mad men’. It was here that she met her husband, the historian Alan Barker, and their marriage, in 1954, ushered in the happiest period of her life before embarking on her distinguished political career, as a Cambridge City councillor, Mayor of Cambridge and, then, in 1980, a life peer.

Happy reading!

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Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter @CaraHunterBooks

Murder in the Family

by Cara Hunter 

Having never read a book without chapters before I have now read two in the same month! This one was a completely new format for me, written as a true crime documentary, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to get on with it at first, but I raced through it. I read it in two days, which is very quick for me. I was well and truly gripped and I think the format helped to keep me turning those pages.

A true-crime show is re-opening a twenty-year-old cold case to finally find out the truth about who murdered Luke Ryder. His stepchildren are helping with the investigations and the truths they discover along the way are nothing short of shocking. As the story unfolds it becomes more tense and the need to find out what really happened intensified. I thought I had it sussed at one point and was convinced I was right as I read on, but nope! How wrong was I! I would never have guessed. Absolutely heart-breaking.

Clever. Very clever! I loved it!

** This was our August ‘Buddy Read Book Club’ read chosen by @afsa.ahmed

Read along with…. @erin_reads_alot @fiction_book_reviews @mrskp_reads @northyorkshirereader @mrs_n_reads @booknook.mama

Great choice, Afsa! **

IT WAS A CASE THAT GRIPPED THE NATION

LUKE RYDER’S MURDER HAS NEVER BEEN SOLVED

In October 2003, Luke Ryder was found dead in the garden of the family home in London, leaving behind a wealthy older widow and three stepchildren. Nobody saw anything.

Now, secrets will be revealed – live on camera.

Years later a group of experts re-examine the evidence on Infamous, a true-crime show – with shocking results. Does the team know more than they’ve been letting on?

Or does the truth lie closer to home?

Can you solve the case before they do?

The truth will blow your mind.

Happy reading!

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Out of Sorts by Aurélie Valognes (Author), Wendeline A. Hardenberg (Translator) 

Out of Sorts

by Aurélie Valognes (Author), Wendeline A. Hardenberg (Translator) 

I really, really enjoyed Out of Sorts. Ferdinand Brun is a cantankerous old git, but I couldn’t help but like him. I can understand how he would frustrate his neighbours though!

He’s a fascinating character and I love how much he loves Daisy. My heart broke for him when he lost her. His attitude towards his daughter and his ex-wife made me sad, but I love how Juliette and Beatrice endeavour to change him. Even at his grand age, they are quite determined!

A heart-warming read. Sad, but funny. Ultimately uplifting. I loved it!

** According to Amazon I purchased the Kindle copy of Out of Sorts on the 3rd of December 2015 **

Ferdinand Brun hasn’t always been a grumpy old man. Many years ago, he was a grumpy young man. Now he’d much rather spend time with his canine companion, Daisy, than any of his nosy neighbors. But as his behavior becomes increasingly peculiar, his daughter grows concerned and begins to consider moving him into a retirement home.

In order to maintain his freedom, Ferdinand must submit to an apartment inspection by his longtime enemy, the iron-fisted concierge, Mrs. Suarez. Unfortunately, he’s never tidied up a day in his life. His neighbors, precocious ten-year-old Juliette and vivacious ninety-two-year-old Beatrice, come to the rescue. And once he lets these two into his life, things will never be the same. After an eighty-three-year reign of grouchiness, Ferdinand may finally learn that it’s never too late to start living.

Happy reading!