Thursday, 4 March 2021
Review: The Dog Share by Fiona Gibson
Suzy Medley is having a bad day…
… when a shabby terrier turns up at her door. Just like Suzy, Scout has been abandoned, although only Suzy has been left with a financial mess and a business in tatters thanks to her ex.
Suzy takes Scout in and her chaotic world changes in unexpected ways: strangers have never been more welcoming and her teenage kids can’t wait to come home to visit.
Then a chance encounter on a windy Hebridean beach makes things more complicated, because Suzy isn’t the only one who needs a friend.
Scout has plenty of love to go round… but does Suzy?
Review: Ok if you're going into this book thinking this is going to be all about dogs then far not. Scout is a main character in this book but Suzy is really our main character and she is great fun to spend time with. We also get to meet Ricky who is a male character who get's to have feelings and insecurities-huzzah! The thing that I really loved about this book thought was the setting. I love spending time in Scotland and we got to see a Scottish Island, distillery, Glasgow and Oban in this book-what more could you want.
Fiona Gibson has a talent for writing female character later in life. We always get to read about the happily ever after but what about when that happily ever after comes to an end and you're turning fifty and you want to know what comes next? Fiona Gibson allows her characters to get to that point and guides us as readers as to what happens next. She tells it like it is and Suzy reacted in a great way to every that Fiona threw at her. She was just a sensible human and we all need more of those in our lives right now!
As already mentioned Ricky is a male character who is allowed to have insecurities and emotions of his own. Due to the fact that we have chapters from Suzy's point of view and chapters from Rickey's point of view we get to explore what is going on inside Ricky's mind. He has had it just as tough as Suzy and I love that he is having to care for both his son and his father on his own. We get to see the toll that takes on him and how it causes him to look for love an affection is the most unlikely of places.
Yes of course we have Scout the dog and we get to see him go through the recuse process and all of that entails but can we talk about the Whisky distillery for a moment please? I may not be a dog person but I am a whisky person and I loved the idea of Suzy having this distillery hanging over her. She visits the distillery with her husband during happy times but now it is hanging a little like the rock around her neck and I loved learning about the ins and outs of running that business-it really stuck out as a unique feature of a romcom novel to me.
The things I really took away from this book were the fully formed characters, the great setting and the inclusion of a distillery in this novel. Fiona Gibson once again weaves a great tale. I listened to this on audiobook and the narrators did a great job even with the different between an inner Hebrides accent, an Oban accent and a Glasgow accent. Highly recommend!
Wednesday, 3 March 2021
Guest Review: A Fatal Flaw by Faith Martin
Oxford, 1960
As the city of Oxford prepares itself for the inaugural Miss Oxford Honey Beauty Pageant at The Old Swan Theatre, excitement is in the air.
Then, tragedy strikes the competition when one of the leading contestants is found dead.
Initially, the authorities assume her death was suicide. But after a malicious series of pranks and blackmail attempts are reported, WPC Loveday and Coroner Clement Ryder are called upon to solve the case.
In an atmosphere of fierce competition, the list of suspects is endless. Could what have started as harmless fun become a deadly race to win the prize?
With time running out, the duo need to spot the killer before tragedy strikes again…
Review: This is book 3 in a series of murder mysteries in which Oxford city coroner Clement Ryder joins forces with WPC Trudy Loveday to investigate cases of suspicious death. The books are all set in and around Oxford in 1960s, and all the stories can be read as standalones.
In this case, the duo becomes involved with the mysterious death of one of the contestants in a beauty pageant being run by a local business man. At the inquest, the jury records an open verdict, allowing Dr Ryder and Trudy to pursue their investigations into what could have been a suicide or a murder. At the same time, there is a series of incidents in the theatre where the pageant is to take place, increasing suspicion that this could be a case of foul play. The pair of investigators are drawn into the world of beauty and fashion as they take undercover roles in the pageant and come to understand what a dangerous case this is.
I really enjoyed this mystery. There were so many twists and turns to the story that I was unsure whether they would ever manage to unearth the truth before somebody else was murdered, and, indeed, whether Dr Ryder or Trudy might come to harm. The clues to the identity of the perpetrator were set out so skilfully that I couldn’t decide who it might be. Definitely a good ‘whodunnit’. I am enjoying this series and watching as the professional and personal relationship between the police constable and the coroner develops. Dr Ryder pays Trudy the respect that is lacking in her colleagues in the police force. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series.
Tuesday, 2 March 2021
February 2021 Reading Wrap Up
February was a pretty good reading month for me. I actually really enjoyed having quite a structured plan to my reading. I had a Christina Lauren book to read each month. I had some ebooks saved for the 24 in 48 readathon and then I had 3 book to movie adaptations that I wanted to read right before the movie/show came out and so that helped with what to read and when. Does anyone else sometimes thrive with just a bit more structure?
As always, my books will be organised into the kind of books I read and I will leave links to any reviews/videos I have already posted!
Ebooks
Physical Books
Audiobooks
This Month's Videos
Monday, 1 March 2021
Blog Tour: Review of Kissing Lying Down by Kate Tough @lovebookstours
Today is my stop on the tour for Kissing Lying Down by Kate Tough. I have a review of this short story collection for you today and if you like the sound of that you can click here to order your copy now. Don't forget to check our the other stops on the tour for more exclusive content and reviews.
Here's what it's all about...
Gordon knows what Gabby wants but he hates to do what he’s told; Chrissy stalks the internet to find what her fiance wouldn’t give her; three friends reunite during a heatwave and their evening gets better and better, until it doesn’t.
In these relationship tales, many are burned by their pasts while scanning their horizons... A woman wonders if passing strangers have a better sex-face than her boyfriend; a birthday meal goes sour at the offer of no-strings dessert.
Navigating the on and offline worlds of pairing up, this spiky collection of short stories delves deep, with dark humour, into what it takes to strap on a smile through thirty-something failure and make human connections in the modern age.
Review: What I loved most about this short story collection was the variety between each of the stories. I felt like I could relate to each of them on some level. Some I found disturbing on some levels which thrilled me and others I found amusing or touching. That's the great thing about a collection like this there really is something to connect to on every level. I definitely didn't connect with a couple of the stories as much as I did the others but I found enjoyment in each of them in some way.
I was also truly envious of the way the writing style differed between each of the offerings in the book. Some are written in first person, some in third and some in a poetic almost staccato way. I loved this change between each one and really enjoyed the fact that the first story in this book is thoughts interspersed with snippets from online dating messages. I have always said that you could fill many humorous tomes with just online dating messages we've all received!
Another thing I really appreciated in this book was the variety of settings between the stories. Although many have a common theme of Glasgow (my favourite city in the world) many are set in other places as well and so not only are you meeting new characters with each story and experiencing a whole new narrative, you're also traveling to new homes, inside new minds and exploring new settings.
On a final note. I also really enjoyed the different take on relationships be they casual or long term, new or old. No relationship fits the cookie cutter mould that we read about in romance novels and whilst that is often a nice escape I really enjoyed getting a taste of the real ways people experience their relationships or the journey to get there. Parts of one story were definitely hard to read (there are content warning included before that story) but it was also very really, totally believable and easy to empathise with. Overall I really enjoyed this collection and would definitely recommend giving it a go!
About The Author
Kate Tough is a fiction writer and visual poet.
Her novel, Keep Walking, Rhona Beech (Abacus, 2019) is available from all usual outlets. It’s the retitled second edition of, Head for the Edge, Keep Walking (Cargo) which has had five stars on Amazon since 2014. The book is a funny and moving account of how a thirty-something office worker in Glasgow, with a clumsy tendency to speak her mind, puts her life back together after it spectacularly falls apart.
Readers have noted that the novel reminds them of a book about someone called Eleanor Oliphant, although Kate’s novel appeared prior to that one, in 2014, when it got good attention in the Scottish media. It’s great that readers can enjoy both books and a bonus that people who like one character have an opportunity to discover the other one.
Kate’s poetry pamphlet, tilt-shift, was Runner Up in the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award, 2017 and her piece, 'People Made Glasgow’, was selected as a Best Scottish Poem 2016. Recently, her work was included in Makar/Unmakar: Twelve Contemporary Poets in Scotland and she’s an invited poet at STANZA in 2021. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow.
Last year Kate adopted a cat with very long tail who shares his name with the Prime Minister of Britain – the rescue centre gave him that name – but now that she knows him better (the cat, not the Prime Minister) she’d have chosen the name Rocket, because of the way he shoots from underneath furniture at unbelievable speeds.
Kate understands that life isn’t an easy ride and she lives in perpetual awe of her fellow humans; getting out of bed each day and getting involved. On a general basis, if she sees the sun rising and swims lengths in a tide pool, then its not a bad day.
For occasional updates from the author about new work, writing tips and audio clips, subscribe via the button on Kate’s website at www.katetough.com
March 2021 TBR
It's time for my March TBR (already right?) I read a lot of books last March, can't think why, so this March kind of has a lot to live up to. I will be taking part in the Kindle clear-out readathon from 13th-19th March, I will be vlogging this and making a TBR over on my channel so keep an eye out there for an update on that...
Then in another bid to read some of the books on my shelf I will also be doing Mike Gayle March. If you would like to join me on that the books I will be reading each week will be listed below-let me know in comments if you want to buddy read any of these with me!
Other than that I have a couple of March releases left to read as well as April releases and a book vs movie book yey!
March Releases
4th March
4th March
18th March
April Releases
29th April
29th April
Mike Gayle March
Week 1 (Meets Buzzwordathon Challenge)
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Bonus Nonfiction Read
Book Vs Movie
Kindle Clearout Books
Here's my bingo board to meet the challenges...
I will follow all the hosts and write reviews of the books that I read. And here are the books from my TBR that meet those challenges...
This is an eARC and a most anticipated read.
This is a buddy read and my most recent purchase
This is one of my favourite authors and is also an eARC
This is one of my favourite authors, a most anticipated read and is also an eARC
This is a new to me author and I know its nonfiction so that doesn't count as a 'trope' per se but its one of my favourite topics of non fiction so I'm calling it.
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