Author Visit: Dawn Barker

Fun times, peeps, fun times! Grab yourself a glass of something bubbly – because the sun is shining where I am and it’s a Bank Holiday weekend so why would you not; I’ve already been on the bucks fizz this morning – and make yourself comfortable because today I’m chatting with the lovely Dawn Barker about her novel Let Her Go, and writing in general.

Blog Tour: True Love at the Lonely Hearts Bookshop

Exciting times here today guys! The lovely True Love at the Lonely Hearts Bookshop was released earlier this month and to celebrate I get to share a fun little extract with you. 

Review: One of Us is Lying

One of Us is Lying

This is the kind of book you’d binge watch. I mean seriously, it’s like everything you spend your hangover watching on a Sunday. If its not adapted then I’ll be the most surprised ever and I never say this because THE BOOK IS BETTER but this is crying out to be dramatized and that, it’s a compliment, it really is. I’ve seen it likened to The Breakfast Club and Pretty Little Liars and Riverdale and YES. Also Gossip Girl and maybe a little bit Nancy Drew and Poirot – that’s just me though. Also, considering the The Breakfast Club is well, The Breakfast Club and PLL and Riverdale are both Netflix shows that I binge watched like a pro, it was probably a given that this book was going to tick all the boxes for me.

It did.

Quickfire Reviews: Beach Edition

It’s time for a little bookish catch up, mostly because I want to talk about the books I read when I was away last weekend because that is what I do when I am placed on a beach for 4 days with nothing to worry about and no place to be: I read. I didn’t read as much as I thought I was going too actually, because it was hot, man. The kind of hot that leaves you unable to do little more than lie with your eyes closed and dip in and out of the sea. What I did read, though, was pretty good, which – well that’s excellent isn’t it, because nobody wants to read something shit on holiday (or ever).

So, quickfire reviews. Here we go.

The Mid Year Freakout Tag

So a thing that happened is that I realised that it’s almost August and I hadn’t done any kind of halfway-through-the-year-recap because I am apparently the most tardy ever. So I thought ‘hmm yes best get on that because better late than never, right’ and figured I’d do it now, and then I've seen this post doing the rounds and decided it was a tag I was just going to steal because it’s a fun twist on my usual Top 5 Books Jan-June. So pull up a chair and grab a cup of tea (or a gin if you’re that way inclined which I absolutely am) and let’s chat about the first half of the year in regards to all things bookish. What fun.

THE MID YEAR FREAKOUT TAG (and how I wish I could make the pretty graphics that all the other blogs have but whatever I can’t so let’s just move on).

Review: Truth or Dare

Truth or Dare - Non Pratt

Sooo in my ILLUMICRATE subscription box (which you should all go and subscribe to because it’s lush) there was a book – two books actually but let’s not over complicate – and that book was Truth or Dare by Non Pratt. And I won’t lie: I’ve heard of Non, but I hadn’t heard of this book at all. I liked the cover though (call me fickle, whatever) and after I finished The Hate U Give I thought I’d give it a go mostly because it was there and I wasn’t in the mood to tackle my usual WHAT SHALL I READ NEXT dilemma.

Daddy, My Daddy

So, today is Father’s Day, a day to celebrate Dad’s everywhere and with that in mind, and because I feel like this blog should perhaps maybe be a little bit more than all the reviews all time, I’m going to talk about Dads with daughters because I’m a daughter who genuinely honestly 100% believes her Dad is the best man she ever met and a million times better actually than any on this list. It was a fun list to compile actually because there’s a lot of them and some are good and some are bad and some are downright nuts and it made me happy. & also made me want to do some serious re-reading. & I know you want to know who made the cut, so sit down ,grab a cup of coffee and take a look and then drop me a comment and let me know who your favourite bookish Dads are. I WANT TO KNOW.

Ooooh, actually let's make a list. I love a list.  

Review: Flight of a Starling

Flight of a Starling - Lisa Heathfield

Rita and Lo, sisters and best friends, have spent their lives on the wing – flying through the air in their trapeze act, never staying in one place for long. Behind the greasepaint and the glitter, they know that the true magic is the family they travel with.

Until Lo meets a boy. Suddenly, she wants nothing more than to stay still. And as secrets start to tear apart the close-knit circus community, how far will Lo go to keep her feet on the ground?

Oh, but my heart.

Review: The Names They Gave Us

The Names They Gave Us - Emery Lord 

When it all falls apart, who can you believe in?

Everything is going right for Lucy Hansson, until her mom’s cancer reappears. Just like that, Lucy breaks with all the constants in her life: her do-good boyfriend, her steady faith, even her longtime summer church camp job.

Instead, Lucy lands at a camp for kids who have been through tough times. As a counselor, Lucy is in over her head and longs to be with her parents across the lake. But that’s before she gets to know her coworkers, who are as loving and unafraid as she so desperately wants to be.

It’s not just new friends that Lucy discovers at camp—more than one old secret is revealed along the way. In fact, maybe there’s much more to her family and her faith than Lucy ever realized.  

I won’t lie: my expectations weren’t all that high for this book. I read When We Collided recently and was disappointed but The Names They Gave Us, the new book from Emery Lord, resonated with me, in ways I wasn’t quite prepared for. 

It’s about a girl called Lucy, she’s a Christian, heavily involved in her Church – her Dad is a pastor – and spends every summer at the Church camp her parents run. Her faith is a part of her, a deeply ingrained part of who she is and then her Mum gets diagnosed with cancer and her faith begins to waver and the book, basically, is an exploration of that: of faith, of the lack of it, of grief and loss and growing up.

& it’s good.

Quick May Wrap-Up

Perhaps I’ll do this every month because why would I not. I mean, with the BEST WILL IN THE WORLD – and let me tell you, my will is good – I never ever get to review all of the books that I want to review and this seems like a nice little way to make sure that the books I don’t manage to spotlight get a mention. And I can talk all about all the other stuff that’s been going on also, because my life is nothing if not fascinating. I mean, I read a lot and I sleep and lot and I drink a lot of coffee and why would you not want to hear all about that?

So, let’s do it. Let’s talk about May.