Review: A Christmas Wedding by Paige Toon

The short story eBook sequel to Thirteen Weddings, from bestselling author Paige Toon. 

Four years ago, following that fated thirteenth wedding, Bronte fled the UK and has been happily burying her head in the sand ever since. But when an email lands in her inbox from Alex, it seems her past might be about to catch up with her right here in Sydney. Is it time for Bronte to finally face her demons?

With links to The Last Piece of My Heart, Lucy in the Sky and One Perfect Summer, this short story ebook sequel to Thirteen Weddings is a must for all fans of Paige Toon.

Get ready for Christmas with a heartwarming short story from Paige Toon.

Review: Oh wow, it was so great to catch up with characters from all of those books mentioned above again! Seriously, if you are a Paige Toon fan then this is a must-read for you. All of the characters that had cameos in this story had full on parts to play in the development of the story and we also got to find out what was going on with them, so although the main arc of the story is about Bronte, there are so many little extra min sub plots in here that really this is about all of your favourite characters. 

Although this is a novella and therefore a quick read, the books takes place over quite a long period of time and so, boy does a lot happen in a short amount of pages. This book is seriously action packed with plenty to keep you turning those pages and wanting to find out what is next for Bronte. Its so hard to properly evaluate the events and the characters in this novella without giving away any spoilers so apologies for being vague but seriously, it is jam-packed with action!

This book also has multiple settings, which I also appreciated! I enjoyed getting to travel around with Bronte a little, of course seeing other characters along the way helped too! One of my favourite things about Paige's novels is that sense of escapism and even though this is only a short read, you still get that with this novella-brilliant. 

I did find that sometimes I had forgotten the plots that some of the other characters had been involved in as they were brought into the book, but the fact that they all had a little catch up, a sort of 'where are they now?' type of reminder really helped so I wouldn't worry too much if you rad the other books mentioned in the blurb a while ago. If you haven't read the other books though, I would definitely recommend reading those first so that you won't be spoiled for them if you decide to go back to them after reading this novella. 

This was the perfect length for this time of year because we run of out time so quickly around the holidays. This is a great excuse to carve out some time for yourself and get away from the hectic food buying and eating and sit down and really enjoy, just like i did! 

Click the link to order your copy now: UK

Review: It Started With a Tweet by Anna Bell

Could YOU survive a digital detox?

Daisy Hobson lives her whole life online. But when her social media obsession causes her to make a catastrophic mistake at work, Daisy finds her life going into free-fall . . . 

Her sister Rosie thinks she has the answer to all of Daisy's problems - a digital detox in a remote cottage in Cumbria. Soon, too, Daisy meets a welcome distraction there in Jack, the rugged man-next-door.

But can Daisy, a London girl, ever really settle into life in a tiny, isolated village? 

And, more importantly, can she survive without her phone? 

Review: This is one of those books that will hook you in right from the word go because it is such a character driven novel, you will feel like you are hanging out with a friend and watching her as her life falls to pieces and she works out how she is going to build it back up again. Parts of this book felt a lot like Sophie Kinsella's latest novel in that sense and then there ere other parts that had me crying with laughter one moment and then thinking about my own life and evaluating it in others.

So there's my summary, but what did i especially like about these characters and the way I was made to think?

I really loved the fact that the main character of this novel had flaws. She is just like everyone else and so I found he really easy to relate to right from the word go. She also has friendships and family relationships that she ought to be able to rely on but she's not sure whether she can or not, something which is becoming increasingly more common as friendships and families are spread further and further across the globe.

The relationships that the main character has and the relationships that she develops with new people that she meets over the course of the novel are all really interesting to read about and to watch change and grow. I loved that she developed more of a relationship with her sister, more out of necessity than anything and the fact that she develops new relationships with people who get to know her outside of her London life, that was a really interesting difference to draw on when reading.

There are some real comedy moments in this book. Things happen and people say things and they had me laughing out loud. But this book did make me think about my own addiction to my phone and to social media. I am sure that this book wouldn't have taken me as long to read if I hadn't stopped every few chapters to Tweet about it or to update on Goodreads, or check my Instagram notifications and I have noticed other people's phone usage IRL since as well.

Thank you to Anna Bell for writing a novel and characters that are so easy to relate to, so entertaining but made me think at the same time. I so enjoyed this book and I think you will too.

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

January 2018 TBR

How is it January 2018 already? It seems like only last month I was making my January 2017 TBR! Who knew what a good reading year it would turn out to be?

As usual I will divide my TBR into January releases and other books I would like to get to. Having got a few books over the holidays and borrowed several from the library from my hold list, I would like to declare January's reading theme to be 'books I already have' whether that's kindle books, physical books, audiobooks or library books...

January Releases

February Releases 

Other books I WANT to read

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten New To Me Authors I Read in 2017

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists over there at The Broke and the Bookish. I'd love to share my lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

I read so many new authors in 217. Thankfully most of them either had 2 books out last year or else had a back catalogue I could access - yey! So here are ten-or so-out of the many that I loved (I've not included debut authors, only those who were new to me)

 

  

December Wrap Up

So December was a busy month for me, I read way less this December than I did last year, I think because my parents came over to visit, we went to Disneyland, I was pretty much still jetlagged,  so I read nothing basically when they were here, not so good. I did really enjoy everything I read this month though, so that counts as a definite win in my book.

As always, I will divide my wrap up into the kind of books I read and leave links to any reviews.

Ebooks

My Review

My Review

Audiobooks

My Review

 

Physical Books