Hi all and happy Sunday.  I can’t believe in a week we’ll be opening our presents from Santa.  Another month just flying by! I am quite looking forward to this week though as I only have to work two days and one of those is my team’s Christmas dinner and drinks so it’s not really work at all.  It will make up for this past week which went a bit pear shaped with a last minute two day trip to London and back-to-back meetings.  Not what I had expected to be happening but, on the plus side, a lot was actually accomplished – which I don’t normally say with meetings.  Another plus side was my husband was also in London so we ended up being able to have a rather random “date night” as we had nothing planned and most places we tried to eat at were fully booked with Christmas parties.

It did, however, mean that I didn’t get much time to spend visiting blogs, commenting or responding to comments.  I hope to make up for that this week and apologies if you have commented on a post and I haven’t responded…I am not being rude, just very, very, behind.  I feel like I need to say on the plus side again but on the plus side I did get four posts up because for once I was ahead of the game and two were already written (phew!).  This is what I posted….

On Monday I wrote about how much I loved the library and why (they really are the best thing ever as far as books go)

On Tuesday I joined in with Diana at Bibliophile by the Sea for the Tuesday intro.  This week I’ve gone with a non-fiction book, Wedlock by Wendy Moore which looks at the life of Georgian heiress (and great-great-great-great grandmother to the Queen) Mary Eleanor Bowes – which is proving quite dramatic to say the least.

On Wednesday I posted the first of two reviews, Witness by Caroline Mitchell which I really enjoyed despite feeling quite ambiguous about the central character’s behaviour through most of the book.

On Thursday I wasn’t so lucky with the book I reviewed, Tell Me No Lies by Lisa Hall.  I don’t know if my expectations were too high after reading some really positive reviews but I just couldn’t get suspend my belief for long enough to get into the story and didn’t gel with the central character.

And then that was it I’m afraid – though, all in all, not too bad at all given how the week ended up (which also meant little reading and no book buying or requesting). How was your week?  Are you counting sleeps to the big day yet?  Just in case, and because it’s the only time of the year I can enjoy these without feeling guilty, I am leaving you with another Christmas song.  This time one that we’ve been practicing for the past month as my daughter had to sing it as her Christmas performance.  Enjoy and have a good week.

Emma

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 to see what other bloggers have read, written about or just added to their shelves.

Happy Sunday everyone – I hope you are having a good week and that the sun is shining as much where you are as it has here this weekend. It feels like summer has finally arrived and I hope it continues as the school holidays are due to start here next week and there is nothing worse than trying to entertain a six year old in the rain.

So I can have plenty of free time during the break, I have been working like a crazy woman, including quite a bit of travelling, which means my blogging (writing and visiting) is still not quite back on track. I am visiting blogs at random times, and not as many as I normally do, and am sure I’m missing on some great post. It just feels like it can’t be helped. I am managing to get some reviews posted though…

My Sister’s Grave by Robert Dugoni was a book I was excited to read and wasn’t disappointed by. It was a clever piece of crime writing with a really likeable central character. I am hooked and will be reading the rest of the series if they are all this goo.

The Girl With No Past by Kathryn Croft had been sat on my Kindle for ages and I couldn’t actually remember what it was about when I started reading. I’m glad I did start though as it was a tense suspense (rhyming not intended) that kept me turning the pages and, for once, a final twist that didn’t leave me wondering why it had been added on.

The travelling does mean that I have had lots of time on trains to read, I just haven’t written up on the books. I really need to plan ahead for those busy days but I do so much of that at work I hate to do it with my hobbies. How do others cope with busy periods – do you plan or just not post and not worry? And how was your week – any recommended reads?

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 to see what other bloggers have read, written about or just added to their shelves.

Good morning, hope everyone is having a good Sunday and had a good week. Mine has been good, making the most of the sunshine we saw earlier in the week by spending time outside and ending with a couple of days in London with a group of girlfriends I haven’t seen for about a year. It has been great to catch up, though I may have drank a little bit too much wine.

Blog wise, I posted two reviews this week, both of which were for books I really enjoyed and wish I’d read sooner. The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood wasn’t what I expected and so a nice surprise when I read it. I expected a standard piece of crime writing but got something more complex and ambiguous in a story involving a missing child and what people will do to protect their secrets. The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndza was a great police procedural and introduction to a new crime series as detectives searched for a serial killer and battle the British establishment.

Book wise, I finished Closed Circles (see my Tuesday intro) and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children which has been on my to read list forever and I picked up from the library (link to goodreads). I only picked up one book though, recommended to me after I posted my review of The Woman in Black – it’s the first in the Simon Serralier series by Susan Hill…

Having transferred to the small cathedral town of Lafferton from London’s “Met,” police detective Freya Graffham explores her new community and becomes fascinated by Chief Insp. Simon Serrailler, her enigmatic superior. Though she fits well within the local police force, she finds herself unable to let go what seems like a routine missing persons report on a middle-aged spinster. When yet more townspeople turn up missing, her hunch is verified and a serious police search begins, bringing her into closer proximity with Serrailler at the same time it exposes her to danger.

And that’s it for me. What about you – what have you been reading and doing?

emma

This week, I’m linking in with Kimba at the Caffeinated Book Reviewer and her Surnday Post and with (a little early) Katherine at Book Date for It’s Monday, What Are you Reading? Head over to see what other bloggers have read, written about or just added to their shelves.

Hi everyone – happy Sunday! I hope you’re having a good week and weekend. Mine has been filled with work this week but also fun. It’s my wedding anniversary this week so went out for a lovely meal last night, just my Hubble and I, and today we are doing a pub lunch with family. It’s also a long bank holiday weekend here too so – weather permitting- we’ll be heading out somewhere nice for a day trip tomorrow too.

Despite being out a lot for work this week, I managed to get two reviews posted this week – The Woman in Black, a ghost story by Susan Hill which I first read 20 years ago and has stood the test of time and The Girls by Emma Cline which is set in 1969 and is based on the Manson family. I loved this book and think it’s one of my favourites of the year so far. For those who aren’t sure, you can get a taster of how Emma Cline writes from her short story Marion, which I wrote about here.

Book wise, I finished my Tuesday Intro book, Deliver Her, which I enjoyed and will be reviewing this week and The Last Lullaby by Carin Gerhardsen (you can read on overview in last week’s update). I also picked up a couple of new books…

It’s a beautiful day for a regatta—until one of Sandhamn Island’s most prestigious residents is killed aboard his sailing yacht.

Oscar Juliander was a rich lawyer and deputy chairman of the prestigious Royal Swedish Yacht Club. While at first his death seems like a tragic accident, there is evidence of foul play. Police detective Thomas Andreasson teams up with local lawyer Nora Linde to investigate. As they work to uncover clues, they face resistance from an elite world where nothing but appearance matters.

When the rich and powerful inhabitants of Sweden’s idyllic island getaway come under scrutiny, Thomas and Nora must work closely and secretively to seek justice.

She is the girl with the dragon tattoo—a genius hacker and uncompromising misfit. He is a crusading journalist whose championing of the truth often brings him to the brink of prosecution.

Late one night, Blomkvist receives a phone call from a source claiming to have information vital to the United States. The source has been in contact with a young female superhacker—a hacker resembling someone Blomkvist knows all too well. The implications are staggering. Blomkvist, in desperate need of a scoop for Millennium, turns to Salander for help. She, as usual, has her own agenda. The secret they are both chasing is at the center of a tangled web of spies, cybercriminals, and governments around the world, and someone is prepared to kill to protect it . . .

What about your week – how has it been? What have you read?

Emma

This week, I’m linking in with Kimba at the Caffeinated Book Reviewer and her Surnday Post and with (a little early) Katherine at Book Date for It’s Monday, What Are you Reading? Head over to see what other bloggers have read, written about or just added to their shelves.

Hi all – hope you are having a good weekend and have had a good week.

My main news this week is our kitten finally got to come home with us. We’ve been waiting for what seems like forever because he was so small when we found out about him from the rescue centre. He’s just 8 weeks old now and so cute it means everything else this week has basically faded into the background. In between been completed distracted I did manage to get some reading and blogging done though…just to say!

Blog wise, I wrote two reviews. The first was Only The Brave by Mel Sherratt. This is the third in the DS Allie Shenton series, all of which I’ve really enjoyed, and was a cracking piece of crime writing. The second was The Bones of You by Debbie Howells which I was left with slightly mixed feelings about. It was well written, with some great descriptive passages, and the plot was a real page turner but I struggled with the central character so couldn’t lose myself in it completely. For the book blogger hop, I asked whether people used blog rolls and what the benefits were.

Book wise, I finished The Girls by Emma Cline (see my Tuesday Intro for more details) but still don’t feel I’ve left the book behind – it’s rattling around my head – and, after watching the movie, re-read The Woman in Black by Susan Hill which I’d first read over 20 years ago, making me feel old! (Link to goodreads).  I’ll be reviewing both this week. I also picked up a few books, one of which will be my next reads….

When identical twin Coco goes missing during a family celebration, there is a media frenzy. Her parents are rich and influential, as are the friends they were with at their holiday home by the sea.

But what really happened to Coco?

Over two intense weekends – the first when Coco goes missing and the second twelve years later at the funeral of her father – the darkest of secrets will gradually be revealed…

Inspector Conny Sjöberg and his police colleagues are perplexed by the brutal killing of a family in their Stockholm apartment.

With no clues, the murder inquiry starts with working out how was it possible for the mother, who worked as a cleaner, to afford a multi-million dollar property?

Despite a heavily reduced team, with experienced officers ill, injured or mysteriously missing, Sjöberg struggles to keep the investigation on the rails. But Conny has problems of his own – from a woman he cannot get out of his head, to a shocking revelation about his own past – all of which threaten to compromise the hunt for this heartless killer…

When a young boy discovers the body of a woman beneath a thick sheet of ice in a South London park, Detective Erika Foster is called in to lead the murder investigation.

The victim, a beautiful young socialite, appeared to have the perfect life. Yet when Erika begins to dig deeper, she starts to connect the dots between the murder and the killings of three prostitutes, all found strangled, hands bound and dumped in water around London.

What dark secrets is the girl in the ice hiding?
As Erika inches closer to uncovering the truth, the killer is closing in on Erika.

What about you – what have you been up to?

emma

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 to see what other bloggers have read, written about or just added to their shelves.

Hi all, hope you are well. I am finally (well that is) after nearly two weeks of fighting flu and a wisdom tooth infection- it has not been fun! I have, however, been off work as a result which has been – though I shouldn’t say it probably. Because I haven’t been able to do much but lie on the couch and feel sorry for myself, I have also done quite a bit of reading and also catching up on TV shows that are my not-so-guilty pleasure like Supernatural and Vampire Diaries (yes I am a grown woman but there are vampires, I can’t help myself).

Blog wise, I posted two reviews – You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day, a memoir of an actress people will probably recognise from shows like Buffy and Supernatural but who is much more famous for developing one of the first web series The Guild. This book made me laugh out loud, which is hard to do. Then I reviewed Smoke by Catherine McKenzie which was another non-standard book for me but one I really enjoyed. With a forest fire as a backdrop, this book death with friendship and love in a way that felt real vs. over-emotional.

I also wrote about choosing WordPress over blogger for the book blogger hop (it’s as simple as I find it a simpler platform) and in an effort to get my blog a bit more sorted created an A-Z list of all the reviews I’ve done since I started. It’s part of a master plan to also list by author, genre and rating…not sure how long it’ll take me but it’s nice to have the goal.

Book wise, I finished Only The Brave by Mel Sherratt (see my Tuesday Intro for an overview) and The Bones of You by Debbie Howells. Both are crime fiction so it’s back to my usual reading fare. I’ll be writing reviews for these this week. After these I’m not sure but it will likely be either The Girls by Emma Cline or American Sniper, which I saw the movie for and am now really interested to read as it wasn’t the story I expected (links to goodreads).

What about you – how was your week, what are you reading?

Emma

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 to see what other bloggers have read, written about or just added to their shelves.