January Round Up #RoundUp

Yey! The longest month of the year (it's about 150 days right?) has ended.

During those 179 days I was lucky enough to read The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy. A retelling of the classic fairy tale set against the backdrop of occupied Poland during World War Two. It had all the elements of the fairy tale and then some. What a blinder to start the year with!

198 days in and I was reading (devouring) The Sixth Wife by Suzannah Dunn. A historical fiction book about Henry VII's sixth wife that surprisingly didn't include Henry. I really enjoyed it, as I do with most books in this genre.

My socks were blown off by the fantastic ending of Changeling by Matt Wesolowski on day 222. My first Blog Tour of the year and book number three in the Six Stories series. Wesolowski just gets better and better.

Cull by Tanvir Bush was my last Blog Tour for the month taking me to day 356. This disturbingly believable book featured a blind protagonist, a fabulous guide dog and a villain brilliantly named, The Good Doctor Binding. An interesting read.

By day 483 I had read and fallen in love with The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. The Book Club's #BookOfTheMonth it was awarded a solid 8 and I could practically quote the whole book the writing was so good.

Read of the Month.

It has been an absolute brilliant start to 2019 (best ever?) making it difficult to choose a #ReadOfTheMonth. Changeling comes close, The Thirteenth Tale stole a special place in my heart but The True Story of Hansel and Gretel for blending fairy tale and war drama seamlessly whilst still being true to both just edges it. It's also probably not on a lot of peoples radars and I love shining a spotlight on books that might otherwise have passed you by.

Added to my shelf

Dear Husband,

It really isn't my fault when I head out to Book Club with one book and return home with 9 more. Blame my lovely friends at Book Club, and our daughter for whom 8 of them are for, and Matt Wesolowski for mentioning The Cliff House has a Tamzin in it (spelt differently BUT a Tamzin non the less) and our book shelves for not being big enough to keep them all on, and...........

Love Your Wife.

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Mount by Jilly Cooper #inbetweeny

I'll start this blog with a warning, this post does contain spoilers. So if you haven't read the book then please don't read this blog, yet. Of course you should read this post just wait a little while until you've read the latest installment of Rupert Campbell Black (RCB). Warnings out of the way I'll begin. I was massively looking forward to reading this book having hugely enjoyed the previous ones. RCB is my (not so) secret trashy pleasure and has been for many years. This book had all the ingredients of a classic, pages of wonderfully named characters, a few tortured souls and of course RCB with all his horses, dogs and now grandchildren. The book got off to a good start full of characters from old but also plenty of new ones to mix it up a bit. The horse's really played a starring role in this book but I also really loved Gav and at first Gala. Yep only at first as she went strongly down hill and I bet you can guess why. RCB. Here is where I fell o...

After The Party by Cressida Connolly

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The Familiars by Stacey Halls

"Fleetwood Shuttleworth is 17 years old, married, and pregnant for the fourth time. But as the mistress at Gawthorpe Hall, she still has no living child, and her husband Richard is anxious for an heir. When Fleetwood finds a letter she isn’t supposed to read from the doctor who delivered her third stillbirth, she is dealt the crushing blow that she will not survive another pregnancy. Then she crosses paths by chance with Alice Gray, a young midwife. Alice promises to help her give birth to a healthy baby, and to prove the physician wrong. As Alice is drawn into the witchcraft accusations that are sweeping the north-west, Fleetwood risks everything by trying to help her. But is there more to Alice than meets the eye? Soon the two women’s lives will become inextricably bound together as the legendary trial at Lancaster approaches, and Fleetwood’s stomach continues to grow. Time is running out, and both their lives are at stake." We talked first about the cover of the bo...

Cramlington Book Club

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