Morning all and welcome to a truly glorious Sunday where the sun is shining and, as a result, I have to say all feels right with the world. Plus, it’s father’s day – an excuse for us to eat, drink and get just a little bit merry, which we’ll be doing when my parents come over later today. It will be a nice end to a rather busy weekend – lots of kid’s activities yesterday plus I very stupidly agreed to make ice-cream for the first time and not using a machine…Mary Berry promised me it was easy (but can you trust her really?). We haven’t tried it yet so hopefully it will be tasty enough to have been worth the effort.
As for the rest of the week, there isn’t much to report other than I worked, worked and worked some more (sound familiar to anyone?). I also got some blogging done. Here’s what I posted…
On Monday, I reviewed My Sister by Michelle Adams, which I liked but didn’t love thanks mainly to not liking the characters. It’s a debut though so I need to be a little generous here because I think with a few tweaks (for me) it could have been pretty good.
On Tuesday, I introduced my latest read, Guiltless by Viveca Sten, the third in the Sandhamm series which I am very much enjoying, even if a lot of people seem to end up dying on an island that boasts a population of just a few hundred!
On Wednesday, I reviewed Cold Kill by P. J. Tracy, a mother and daughter writing team who have created a great world of characters. This one wasn’t my usual read in that there were conspiracy theories and international espionage involved but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
On Thursday, I wrote about my habit of judging books by their covers and how it’s not done too badly for me, even though I know it’s something I shouldn’t do.
On Saturday, I shared the books I’d added to my shelves this week – no surprise there is plenty of crime and mystery!
And that’s it for my week. How was yours, reading and otherwise?
Emma x
This week, I’m linking in with Kimba at the Caffeinated Book Reviewer and her Sunday Post and with (a little early) Katherine at Book Date for It’s Monday, What Are you Reading? Head over by clicking on their badges below to see what other bloggers have read, written about or just added to their shelves.
One Readers Thoughts 
So how was that ice cream? 😀 I find that making it even with a machine can backfire soooo badly. How did it go?
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It was really good…it just too forever. Plus as it had clotted cream and double cream, I put on 10 stone with one bowl!
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😀
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Sounds like you will be having fun today. We’ve done the homemade ice cream thing. I got Still Lake through Prime for free and then paid another 3.00 for the audiobook. I am looking forward to it. Loving all the titles in your haul.
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It was…a good weekend, shame I had to work again today!
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Guiltless looks tempting…and I also got Stillhouse Lake.
Enjoy your week, and thanks for sharing. Here are MY WEEKLY UPDATES
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Guiltless was a really good read…I hope I like Stillhouse Lake.
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As usual you’ve been a terrible bookish influence with your books this past week! I completely trust Mary Berry but I have a feeling her idea of easy is different from my idea of easy! I’ll be curious to see how the ice cream comes out. I have an ice cream maker but haven’t pulled it out this summer. I need to get to ice cream making. Have a great week!
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I have to say the ice cream was delicious and. It to hard to make by hand BUT it did take a long time – I think there were three times of leaving it to free for three hours and then mixing it again.
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Homemade ice cream! I hope it was amazing! Have a great week 🙂
Here’s my Sunday Post 🙂
Jo-Ann
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It was better than I could have hoped but It didn’t half take a long time!
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I find myself curious about what you wrote about My Sister, perhaps because the tag line ‘family has the power to harm us the most’, snagged my interest. I’m wondering were the characters weak or the characterization, because I feel like characters don’t have to be likable for them to be believable or credible, and especially compelling, if they are well drawn, one being a matter of personal preference (and not necessarily a fault of the book or the writing, especially if their unlikability was intentional) and the other a matter of literary merit…so I guess I was curious as to which it was. p.s. hand made ice cream is a roadside delicacy where I live; don’t think I’d attempt it myself though…how’d yours turn out?
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I think for me I can cope with characters I don’t like if I find them intriguing or understand their behaviour. Here Irini was damaged because of her past. I got that. What I didn’t quite understand were her choices after that. It felt like she was behaving in certain ways to move the plot forward / create a twist and it didn’t feel natural. Elle was more of a struggle. She is basically someone with a mental health problem who needs help yet she is portrayed as calculating and as a psychopath. I didn’t like how her illness was portrayed and used, again, to move the plot forward. I don’t think the writing was bad at all, it just felt a little forced and a little clunky, possible the result of this being a debut. Not sure if that answers your question?
Emma
P.s. Ice cream was lovely…Mary Berry did me proud.
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You did. I hear where you’re coming from.
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Hope you had a wonderful father’s day! I’m off to go read your post about covers …
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I did, though bit too much white wine to celebrate the gorgeous weather 🍻
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Interesting selection of books. Summer vacation has begun and so has the extreme heat. Come see what I’m reading.
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Hope the ice cream making goes really well. Covers are important to books and often complement them really well.
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It was delicious if rather calorific. I think covers are important, though my habit of picking them up without even reading the blurb maybe not so smart (sometimes)
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I hope you had a great day father’s day with your parents and… how did that ice-cream come out??? 🙂
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It was great. The ice cream was yummy … Felt rather smug when we were eating it 😀
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Glad the ice cream turned out — and if you made it yourself, the calories don’t count, right?
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I have to tell myself that…653 a serving!
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Sorry about being so ridiculously late – the world has slightly fallen on my head just now…:)
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No worries. Thanks for still visiting and I hope all ok.
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Hm… the jury is out on whether all is okay right now… In the meantime, hope you’re having a less eventful week-end than I am!
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Glad you had a lovely week-end – and you certainly had a great week reading and blogging! I love the sound of Stillhouse Lake and have a great week-end this time around…
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It really was. I do hope I like Stillhouse Lake as it sounds perfect for me!
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I look forward to hearing what you make of Stillhouse Lake…
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