Sam's Fireside - Cosy Book Reviews & Recommendations

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. I listened to One Summer in Crete by Nadia Marks as an audiobook, mainly whilst pottering around in the garden. I love to lose myself in a good story whilst spending time in one of my happy places and I definitely found a great story in this heartwarming book from Nadia Marks. Calliope (Calli) is a thirty-something young woman who believes her world has ended when a long-term relationship disintegrates and the chances of her having children diminishes. However, after a few months, Calli picks herself up and embarks on a photography assignment on the Greek island of Ikaria. Whilst there, she makes many friends and begins to enjoy her life again. Calli travels from Ikaria to Crete, where her mother is from and where she still has some family. She settles down, making friends on the island and enjoying the relaxing way of life, with dawn swims each morning and many revelatory conversations with her aunt. Could Crete be the place Calli has been searching for and could it become her...

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I t was an honour to be asked to read and review Interland (Interland Series Book #2) by Gary Clark before the publication date of 26 April 2021, and I would like to thank the author for this opportunity. Once again it was a delight to read a Gary Clark novel and a joy to discover the next adventures for Jay, Cassie and Stitch. Towards the end of Gary Clark’s previous novel, The Given, Jay and her friends discovered the Interland and found safety from the warped government officials on the outside. However, it is quickly becoming apparent that the outside world is on a downward spiral, Jay’s friend Cassie has gone missing, and the Readers are slowly getting closer to ruling in a way they believe is right. Jay, therefore, has no alternative other than to leave the safety of the Interland, search for Cassie and find out what is going wrong on the outside. Accompanied by her friends, and with the help of the energy of the elements around her - the land, the sea, the creatures and...

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐This review is for Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. Eleanor has been sitting on my 'to be read' shelf for a few months now, bought in the middle of Lockdown 1.0 after it was recommended by a million and one members of the various Facebook book groups that I belong to. I loved Eleanor, she is a bit scary, unhinged, friendless - at least at the beginning - and yes, ever so slightly weird. But she's addictive, I couldn't get enough of her! Eleanor Oliphant has absolutely no social skills, her daily life follows a strict routine, from what she eats and drinks, and when, to how she conducts herself at work and heaven forbid if she actually needs to talk to anyone, other than her mother, who she speaks to on a Wednesday via telephone. During the course of the novel, Eleanor meets Raymond, a work colleague, and then Sammy, an elderly gentleman who she helps when he falls over in the street.  The story follows the three of them as their lives inter...

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This review is for The Butterfly Box by Santa Montefiore.  I was lucky enough to discover this in a box of giveaways outside a neighbour's house and I am always on the lookout for something new to read!  I have heard other people discuss Santa Montefiore novels, but this is the first time I've read one, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It coincided with a delightfully warm, three days in March in the UK, during lockdown 3.0, and I spent the majority of my time outside in the sunshine, enthralled in this book.   The story is set primarily between Chile and Cornwall, with Federica Campione being the main character in the book.  With a Chilean father and an English mother, the novel begins with Federica as a 6-year-old girl who idolises her father, and despite his many absences, in her eyes, he can do no wrong.   The story follows Federica as she grows to become a young woman, and we join her on her journey through life, loves, hardship and torment....