This Week In Books #127

I am joining in with the lovely Lipsy from Lipsy’s Lost and Found’s feature which highlights our week in books. I shall be sharing what I’m reading now, then and next! I won’t be showcasing my new books as I do that on a Saturday. I’m really excited by this feature as I loved sharing my recent reads. My book reviews published on my blog are often WAY behind what I’m actually reading, so this is a good feature to keep you up to date!

Book images go to Goodreads!

  

NOW– Five Years From Now– Paige Toon– I’m currently around half way through this book. I really like Paige Toon’s writing. It’s so easy to read and is perfect for when I’m super busy! It’s about a relationship that’s discussed in 5 year intervals. It moves from 40 to 15 and then sometimes back again. It’s super easy to follow.

THEN– Tattooist Of Auschwitz– Heather Morris– This is the next book Beth and I will be reviewing as part of our ‘Talking About’ feature. I’m really looking forward to reviewing it with her. I think our review will be out next week, so keep an eye out!

NEXT– I Believe In A Thing Called Love– Maurene Goo– I’ve had this book for so long now. I think it’s time to read it.

What are you reading this week? Let me know!

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Ten Hidden Gems

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It’s all about love of lists, love of literature and bringing bookish people together. 

This week’s list is all about hidden gems. Books that we love that we don’t think get enough loving in the blogosphere.

As ever, click on the book image to get to Goodreads.

I absolutely loved this book when I read it a few years back. I don’t see it around enough! It’s a sad book, but so worth reading.

This book was beautifully written!

Alison Rattle is so underrated! I’d recommend all of her books for beautifully written historical fiction.

Some beautiful characters are within these pages. I adored this story.

You might know Alex through her YA and middle grade reads, but she has written some stonking adult fiction too. This is great for those that love fairy tales.

This was such a unique read!

I thought this was a brilliant read. It reaches different ages too as my Gran loved it!

This is quite possibly my favourite chick-lit. I love Paige Toon’s writing!

I definitely judged this book by its cover. I thought it was going to be a New Adult/Fifty Shades book… it wasn’t.

Tell me about your hidden gems. Feel free to leave a link to your post and I’ll stop by!

The Last Piece Of My Heart

How did I get it?:
I bought it!

Previously reviewed by the same author:

• The Longest Holiday
• Johnny’s Girl  (novella)
• Thirteen Weddings
• The One We Fell In Love With

Jessie Jefferson

• The Accidental Life of Jessie Jefferson
• I Knew You Were Trouble
• All About The Hype

Synopsis:

Meet Bridget, a successful travel journalist with ambitions to turn her quirky relationship blog into a novel. But, after numerous rejections from publishers, she accepts an alternative proposition: Nicole Dupre died leaving behind a bestselling novel and an incomplete sequel, and the family need someone to finish it. Bridget is just thankful to have her foot in the publishing door. But as she gets to know Nicole’s grieving family, and the woman behind the writing, Bridget’s priorities begin to change …

Thoughts:

I’m a bit of a fan of Paige Toon if you hadn’t noticed already. Her books are always so easy to read and I feel like they have more depth than your average piece of women’s fiction/chick-lit. Paige’s books are often filled with amazing characters and very strong female leads. I can’t really ask for more in a book like this one.

As with all of Paige’s books, characters turn up that you meet in other books. This time, we learn more about Bridget. Bridget is a travel-writer and she’s used to travelling the world. Bridget’s focus at the moment is her blog, where she’s recounting stories of meeting up with her ex-boyfriends to get the pieces of her heart back that she left with them. Bridget is back together with her first love and she’s determined to give all of her heart to him. Her agent likes her writing style and says it’s similar to another writer, Nicole. Unfortunately, Nicole has recently passed away. They want Bridget to write Nicole’s sequel to her highly successful book. If Bridget is successful, it will open the doors to her own book being published.

Bridget travels to Cornwall to meet Nicole’s husband. Nicole’s husband Charlie shows her the notes that she wrote for her sequel. Through reading Nicola’s notes, Bridget learns more about how she wanted the sequel to go.
Bridget finds that there are lots of similarities between her and Nicola, including feelings towards her husband, Charlie…

I absolutely warmed to Paige’s characters straight away. Bridget was fun and adventurous and often made me smile. Charlie was sweet and adorable with his baby daughter, April. I grew to love them both. Paige Toon sure knows how to write beautiful male characters. Charlie’s determination to bring up April made my heart swell. He was clearly struggling with juggling childcare, work and his grief. His story touched my heart.

This book is a great beach read and perfect for fans of women’s fiction. It has light humour but also a lot of depth between its pages. Yes, parts of it were predictable, but that really didn’t affect my enjoyment.

Would I recommend it?:
Of course!

Charlie and April stole my heart!

This Week In Books #117

I am joining in with the lovely Lipsy from Lipsy’s Lost and Found’s feature which highlights our week in books. I shall be sharing what I’m reading now, then and next! I won’t be showcasing my new books as I do that on a Saturday. I’m really excited by this feature as I loved sharing my recent reads. My book reviews published on my blog are often WAY behind what I’m actually reading, so this is a good feature to keep you up to date!

Book images go to Goodreads!

NOW

I usually really lap up Louise O’Neill’s books. They push the boundaries and intrigue me. I’m enjoying this book, but it’s not the 5 star that I thought it might be.

THEN

I read this short story before I started Almost Love. I enjoyed it and wished it was longer! My review is up already as it was an ARC from May. Oops. See my review HERE.

NEXT

After reading two heavy going books, I’m in need of some light fiction!

What are you reading this week? Let me know!

Stacking The Shelves #167

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you’re adding to your shelves, be it buying or borrowing. From ‘real’ books you’ve purchased, a book you’ve borrowed, a book you’ve been given or an e-book they can all be shared!

Bought:

I have heard so many good things about this book! I’m intrigued…

I adore Paige Toon’s writing, so I hope to read this book soon!

What have you added to your shelves recently? Let me know!

Round up of The British Book Challenge 2016

It’s that time of year again… time to reflect on the British Books I’ve read this year for the British Books Challenge. I read a grand total of 66 British books! (I shall add anymore to this post if I read more between now and 1st January) Yay!

The challenge involves reading 12 books from British authors, so I think we can safely say I smashed that number! 😉 I really enjoy finding British authors to read as much of my reading is dominated by US authors (they are amazing though!) Linked below are the reviews of the 66 British books that I read!

1. Lighter Than My Shadow– Katie Green
2. For Holly– Tanya Byrne
3. Am I Normal Yet?– Holly Bourne
4. The Demon Headmaster– Gillian Cross
5. The Unbelievable Top Secret Diary of Pig– Emer Stamp
6. The Haunting– Alex Bell
7. In A Dark, Dark Wood– Ruth Ware
8. The Number One Rule For Girls– Rachel McIntyre
9. Carrie’s War-Nina Bawden
10. The Sin Eater’s Daughter– Melinda Salisbury
11. Radio Silence– Alice Oseman
12. The Samaritan– Mason Cross
13. Moving– Jenny Eclair
14. More Of Me– Kathryn Evans
15. The Next Together– Lauren James
16. The Boy In The Dress– David Walliams
17. Consumed– Abbie Rushton
18. V is for Violet– Alison Rattle
19. Read Me Like A Book– Liz Kessler
20. Follow Me Back– Nicci Cloke
21. Noble Conflict– Malorie Blackman
22. When I Was Invisible– Dorothy Koomson
23. Poppy’s Place– Karina Charman
24. The Horse and His Boy– C.S. Lewis
25. Orangeboy– Patrice Lawrence
26. Always With Love– Giovanna Fletcher
27. The Moonlight Dreamers– Siobhan Curham
28. According To Yes-Dawn French
29. The Borrowers– Mary Norton
30. Swimming To The Moon– Jane Elson
31. The Castle– Sophia Bennett
32. The Woman Next Door– Cass Green
33. Songs About A Girl– Chris Russell
34. Maggot Moon– Sally Gardner
35. Shtum– Jem Lester
36. The One We Fell In Love With– Paige Toon
37. My Embarrassing Dad’s Gone Viral– Ben Davis
38. Cuckoo– Keren David
39. Harry Potter and The Cursed Child– J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, Jack Thorne
40. All About The Hype– Paige Toon
41. The Girls– Lisa Jewell
42. Head Over Heels– Holly Smale
43. Crush– Eve Ainsworth
44. Perijee and Me– Ross Montgomery
45. How Not To Disappear– Clare Furniss
46. A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding– Jackie Copleton
47. Looking for JJ– Anne Cassidy
48. A Boy Made Of Bricks– Keith Stuart
49. Robyn Silver- The Midnight Chimes– Paula Harrison
50. Isadora Moon Goes To School- Harriet Muncaster
51. The Last Act of Love– Cathy Rentzenbrink
52. Time To Say Goodbye– S.D. Robertson
53. On The Other Side– Carrie Hope Fletcher
54. Beautiful Broken Things– Sara Barnard
55. The Widow– Fiona Barton
56. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase– Joan Aiken
57. Dead Romantic– C.J.Skuse
58. Haunt Me– Liz Kessler
59. Missing, Presumed– Susie Steiner
60. Strange Star– Emma Carroll
61. Ballet Shoes– Noel Streatfeild
62. The Lie Tree– Frances Hardinge
63. Into The Trees– Robert Williams
64. Lighthousekeeping– Jeanette Winterson
65. Infinite Sky– C.J. Flood
66. The Sleeping Prince– Melinda Salisbury

A massive thank you to Kirsty from Overflowing Library for hosting this challenge this year.

As this is one of my favourite challenges, I am definitely on board for 2017. In 2017, the challenge will be hosted by Michelle from Tales of Yesterday. Sign up here!

Top Ten Books To Read If Your Book Club Loves Women’s Fiction

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the wonderful The Broke and The Bookish. For this week’s list we are listing ten books that you should read if your book club loves a bit of women’s fiction. I used to read this genre ALL THE TIME and I recently was feeling the love for women’s fiction, hence this list! Here we go…

Book images go to Goodreads

Billy and Me- Giovanna Fletcher

Giovanna Fletcher’s debut novel was brilliant. I find her writing so engaging to read. The story is cute!

Johnny Be Good- Paige Toon

Paige Toon is one of my favourite writers in the genre. She’s definitely an autobuy author for me. I find her books so easy to devour. She often uses characters in different books, so you get a sense of familiarity.

P.S. I Love You- Cecelia Ahern

A beautiful book which is way better than the movie, so if you haven’t read the book but loved the movie, I urge you to check this one out. It’s a stunning read.

If You Could See Me Now- Cecelia Ahern

One of the reasons why I like Cecelia Ahern’s books so much is because they’re so magical but at the same time there’s usually some inspiration or insight to be gained from them. This one is about a woman who ends up with an imaginary friend…

Me Before You- Jojo Moyes

It couldn’t be a woman’s fiction recommendation list without recommending one of my favourite books of all time Me Before You. I know people are probably bored of seeing this book on my list, but I just can’t help it!

The Undomestic Goddess- Sophie Kinsella

I love Sophie Kinsella’s writing. She’s an incredibly easy to read author. I’ve lapped all of her chick-lit books up. Wonderfully funny at times and sometimes a little ridiculous but that’s what makes them fun.

A Walk To Remember- Nicholas Sparks

I’m a bit of a sucker for a romance tale and Nicholas Sparks does them well. This one is incredibly moving. I adored it and actually enjoyed its movie adaptation too.

The Husband’s Secret- Liane Moriarty

Love this book! It’s more of a thriller so it would definitely appeal to those that don’t love women’s fiction, but I also think it fits nicely into this genre too. It’s a really compelling read.

Rachel’s Holiday- Marian Keyes

This is a story about a woman who takes recreational drugs. She goes to rehab because she thinks it’s going to be like a holiday. It’s a heart-warming read which has some incredibly fun moments within it!

The Ice Cream Girls- Dorothy Koomson

I really enjoy Dorothy Koomson’s writing. It’s much deeper than you might expect. I find her writing so enjoyable to read. It never fails to grip me.

What have you done for your Top Ten list this week? Feel free to leave a link to your post and I’ll stop by!