Sam's Fireside - Cosy Book Reviews & Recommendations

“So you thought a sneak attack with mistletoe would help me get in the Christmas spirit?” 🎄💋 The audiobook contains Teddy Hamilton (sigh)! Review done! 😂 Only kidding! The other narrators are great, and I do love a multi-cast narration. 🎧  Mistletoe All the Way  has scooped me up from autumn and gently placed me down, slap bang in the middle of Christmas. 🎄❄️✨ I loved it. I've only just realised that I enjoy a story that features a miserable main character — in this case Noah as the Grinch — who slowly and surely, as if by the magic of Christmas, finally begins to see what all the fuss and happiness is about. 🎅🏻❤️ I love the addition of the older characters, and Eloise's feisty grandmother and her 'boyfriend' Henry are brilliant. They are supportive, independent and certainly aren't taking any nonsense from anyone. 👵💕 I also enjoyed the added suspense and mystery as Eloise investigates Stephen to find out just what he's up to. And the fact that she...

“Food without wine is like a car without wheels.” 🍷🚗 The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules was my August read for #NeglectedFaithfulsReadingChallenge and a book that's been sitting on my shelf for a while. I think it originally came from a charity shop a few years ago. 📚 Anyway, I enjoyed it, even though it's kind of a cosy mystery, which really isn't my thing at all. 🔍 I laughed at the antics of the four elderly characters as they attempted to find a better way of life than the care home in which they currently reside. 👵👴😂 I'm not sure they went about it in quite the right way, though — I mean, robbery, blackmail, extortion and deception never really got anyone anywhere! 😂🙈 If you treat this book as the humorous, comedic and fun mystery that I think it's meant to be, then you'll enjoy it. It's a lighthearted and entertaining read, so don't go expecting high-stakes thrills and suspense. 😄📖 Instead, sit back, have a giggle and enjoy the a...

“Hollowpark Hall protected its own, and she would never leave.” The Belladonna Maze is another book that's been sitting on my NetGalley shelf for far too long, and, as usual, as I was reading it, I found myself wondering why I'd left it for so long! This one gave me all the feels! It's packed with mystery and suspense, and twists that might have appeared somewhere at the back of my mind, but ones I didn't actually believe — until I had to! 😱 I love a dual-timeline story, and The Belladonna Maze didn't disappoint. We flit back and forth between the 1840s and 2007 to discover the secrets of Hollowpark Hall and its maze, the secret passages and the residents who never leave. 👻🏚️ Thank you to @megbatsbooks for suggesting we read this one together. I'm finding it a lot more fun to buddy read than I thought I would! 📚💕 A very belated thank you to Head of Zeus for the free copy of The Belladonna Maze by Sinead Crowley. All thoughts are entirely my own. 📚💕 About ...

“I feel no need to break the silence. This silence is perfect – this silence is sparkly.” I love Scrabble, and seeing the cover of this book just made me want to listen. The story is about Wordle, but you catch my drift! 😉🔤 I play an online app version of Scrabble every single day with my Mum and, although we might not talk all the time, we both know each other is OK if we've played our turn. 💕 I think that's why the whole idea of communicating through a word game really appealed to me. Emily and John are so cute, and both a little nerdy. Emily just needs to realise that she's happier in a small town rather than a big city! I loved the small-town vibe, the friends Emily makes and the house she lives in. 🏡💕 It's a cosy listen and Katie was a lovely narrator. I will definitely pick up more books that Amy has written. 🎧📚 A very belated thank you to Libro.fm & Avon Books for the free audio copy of A Five-Letter Word for Love by Amy James. All thoughts are entirel...

“She would work hard, save money and buy every single book that she liked.” A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith was the August choice for #classiclitbookclub. I hadn't heard of this book, let alone read it, but I was absolutely blown away. 📚❤️ I can't even explain why. I loved the writing, the characters and the insight into 1900s Brooklyn. There isn't much of a story, not a lot happens, and yet so much does. Am I making sense? 🤔 All Francine wants to do is learn, to read as many books as she possibly can and to try and get herself, her brother and her mother a better life. 📚✨ The children's life is tough. They have little money, an alcoholic father and a mother who works as many jobs as she can to make ends meet — but still, it's not enough. And yet, for the most part, they are happy. I found the story an honest depiction of what life would have been like for those living in poverty in Brooklyn in the early part of the twentieth century. Yes, it's bleak....

"To think of any one of them not there anymore was to think of a hole at the heart of a mosaic." I really enjoyed this story. It sent me reeling back forty years to my days of reading the Famous Five and Secret Seven books by Enid Blyton. It had the same sort of cosy mystery feel for younger readers. 🥰📚 I loved that Meredith, Macy and Colin joined forces to try to solve the murder, with the assistance of a dotty old lady who also lives in the hotel. 🔍🏨 This is one of those stories where you want to be a kid, living alongside the kids and helping them solve mysteries. With secret passageways, corridors and lifts that guests aren't allowed in, it's exciting and fun, and a really cool way to introduce kids to reading and enjoying books on their own. ✨🔎 Thank you to Scholastic for the free copy of Murder at the Ivy Hotel by Emily Hourican. All thoughts are entirely my own. 📚💕 About the Book Twelve-year-old Meredith and ten-year-old Macy feel like the luckiest girls...

"As soon as she walked through that exit, the spell would be broken, and she'd be back to reality." I had a physical and audio copy of this book but chose to listen to it during our long, long hot summer in the UK. ☀️ I really enjoyed it. The characters were funny, and Maggie especially, I thought, had a very sarcastic sense of humour. 😏 Maggie and Flick bounced off each other — once they actually decided they wanted the same thing — to bring down the man who had wronged Maggie. 👀 As the two travelled across Europe, chasing a cruise ship, I slipped into their adventures with them. I mean, who wouldn't fancy a flutter in Monte Carlo or a cocktail in Sicily?! 🍸🇮🇹 The twist towards the end was unexpected but kind of made sense as to why Flick was so invested in Maggie's story. 🤔 A very belated thank you to Pan Macmillan for the free print copy and to Libro.fm & Zibby Books for the free audio copy of So, I Met This Guy... by Alexandra Potter. All thoughts ar...