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Friday Favourites :: 10 September
The favourite I’m sharing tonight is actually tonight – it’s Cosy Reading Night, hosted by the fabulous Lauren from Lauren and the Books! I’ve posted about Cosy Reading Night a few times before (I’ve been joining in since 2016!) – I just love it! I think a night dedicated to cosiness and reading is a dream come true haha. Lauren is such a fantastic fun ‘host’, and it’s always lovey to see what she has planned. This time around my partner and daughter both joined in too. We ordered in burrito bowls for dinner, and had hot chocolate later in the night, and a rainy library ASMR on the tv.…
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Christmassy :: Gingerdead Man :: Maya Corrigan
This holiday season Bayport, Maryland, is a dead ringer for Victorian London. Val and her grandfather are taking part in the Dickens of a Holiday festival. Val is hosting a private tea party serving the festival’s costumed volunteers, who range from Dickens divas like Madame Defarge and Miss Havisham to Ebenezer Scrooge and old St. Nick himself. But one costumed reveler may have gotten the holidays mixed up. The winner of the creepiest outfit, robed in black with a gift bag covering the head—okay, Ghost of Christmas Present, Val gets it—hands out gingerbread men with white icing skeleton bones. This year’s sour Santa has none of the big fellow’s mirth…
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Review :: Dead-End Detective :: Amanda Flower
I’m a big fan of Hallmark’s various Mystery tv series (faves so far are Aurora Teagarden, Murder She Baked, and Crossword Mysteries, but there are so many others I haven’t watched yet!) so when I spotted one of their latest mystery books, Dead-End Detective by Amanda Flower, available on NetGalley I was keen to check it out. I have in fact read one of Amanda’s books previously – Assaulted Caramel, which is the first in the Amish Candy Shop Mysteries series, and which I quite enjoyed. Read on after the synopsis of Dead-End Detective for my review. What is Amanda Flower’s Dead-End Detective about? Darby Piper is in shock. Samantha…
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Review :: A Christmas Wish and a Cranberry Kiss at the Cosy Kettle :: Liz Eeles
I’m keeping this one super short, because to be honest I don’t have a whole lot to say about A Christmas Wish and a Cranberry Kiss at the Cosy Kettle. Here’s the summary from Goodreads: Running from heartbreak, twenty-five-year-old Becca has moved to the cosy village of Honeyford. Living with her best friend Zac in a little stone cottage, and serving mince pies and steaming gingerbread lattes at the Cosy Kettle, is the perfect escape from her past. But starting over isn’t always plain sailing, and Becca’s shyness is holding her back from making her mark on the café. To make matters worse, her crush on blond-haired, blue-eyed local heartthrob…
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Review :: It Won’t be Christmas Without You :: Beth Reekles
This week’s Christmassy NetGalley-athon book is It Won’t be Christmas Without You by Beth Reekles. Here’s the synopsis (from Goodreads)… Eloise, a self-confessed Christmas obsessive, can’t wait for the big day. Devoted to her Michael Bublé playlist, she’s organising the school nativity play and even her gorgeous Grinch of a neighbour, James, can’t get her down. Her workaholic twin sister, Cara, on the other hand, plans to work over the holiday – and figure out what secrets her seemingly-perfect boyfriend George might be keeping from her. The sisters used to be close but since Cara moved to London, everything’s been different. Only, Eloise isn’t giving up just yet, and with…
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Review :: ‘Twas the Knife Before Christmas :: Jacqueline Frost
Synopsis When a body turns up in a larger-than-life candy bowl filled with peppermints on the town square, Holly White is horrified to learn her best friend Caroline is the main suspect. Everyone in town, including Mistletoe, Maine’s sheriff, saw Caroline fighting with the victim on the night of his death. Worse, a custom kitchen knife, engraved with Caroline’s initials was found with him. Now, just ten days before Christmas, Holly’s up to her jingle bells in holiday shenanigans and in desperate need of a miracle. Juggling extra shifts at her family’s Christmas tree farm and making enough gingerbread jewelry to satisfy the crowd is already more than she can…
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Review :: Christmas at Mistletoe Cove :: Holly Martin
Growing up on Hope Island, Eden Lancaster always believed that if you wished hard enough for something, dreams really could come true. But Eden’s greatest wish is also her biggest secret: she has been completely in love with her childhood friend, the charming and attractive Dougie Harrison, for as long as she can remember. And he has no idea. When Dougie leaves his successful life in New York to return home to Hope Island for good, Eden can’t escape her feelings. Her heart is full of hope that her romantic dreams are finally, at long last, going to come true… This Christmas could change everything. But can a lifelong friendship really turn into the…
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Review :: The Beachside Christmas :: Karen Clarke
From Goodreads… When Lily Ambrose needs a fresh start, she remembers her happy childhood holidays in the seaside town of Shipley, and decides it’s the perfect place for a cosy Christmas hideaway. Keen to make new friends, Lily promises to source a celebrity to turn on the Christmas lights. But when reality star Ollie turns up with his cameraman Craig, with plans to make a TV show out of his stay, things quickly go awry. Ollie is gorgeous but unruly, and soon decides that staging a romance with a normal girl – a girl like Lily – is exactly what he needs to save his fading reputation… With new neighbours to…
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Review :: Cosy Christmas Mysteries
We all know I love a good cover, and alongside that I’m a big fan of a pun in a title and a cat on the cover, so it’s kind of surprising that I don’t read more cosy mysteries! This week, though, I do have two cosy Christmassy mysteries to share with you! Both of these I requested review copies of based solely on the titles and covers =) Purring Around the Christmas Tree by Liz Mugavero In the New England town of Frog’s Ledge, the Holiday Light Festival is a Christmas tradition. Killing Santa is not. To bring joy back to the season, organic pet patisserie owner Kristan “Stan”…
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Review :: We’ll Always Have Christmas :: Jenny Hale
You wouldn’t know it from my November/December TBR pile, but I’m a relative newcomer to the cosy Christmas romance/romcom novel. A few years ago (probably in 2013 when I was pregnant at Christmas and had all the feelings!) I got really into Hallmark Christmas movies -you know, those super sweet, small town America (or New York), quirky character, single mum meets handsome dad kind of movies that are so terrible and cheesy that they are actually quite wonderful. My Hallmark Christmas movie obsession (grew) and eventually I figured that since I was enjoying the movies so much it was worth giving a book a try (also, the covers are amazing,…
