Sam's Fireside - Cosy Book Reviews & Recommendations

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This is just a big, warm, cosy hug 🤗 in a book! I smiled the whole of the way through and just couldn’t get enough of Sasha and Tav. All wrapped up in hot chocolate, Christmas, Santa, reindeer, snow, and lots of Christmas magic. I want to move to the North Pole forest and look after reindeer, whilst experiencing the joy on children’s faces as they see where the elves make the toys and where Santa answers all their letters. I want to see this made into a movie. There must be a scriptwriter out there who can adapt this for the big screen. Imagine having read the book, and then snuggling up with your kids in front of a crackling log fire with a mug of minty hot chocolate each and falling into Santa’s world.  Jaimie writes about all her characters with love and affection. You can tell they would be her friends in real life. There are a few ups and downs along the way but of course, you know everything is going to work out ok in the end, that’s just the kind of book it is.  ...

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thank you to Gary Clark for sending me an ARC of The Dark, the third book in the Interland series. Once again, it was a privilege to be asked, and I loved reading it and falling into the world of Given and Readers. After the downfall of Readers, Jay, and her friends and family, are continuing with their lives and trying to get back to some sort of normality. Jay is working in Alf’s bookshop in a dedicated section on the top floor, which she is dedicated to the history of Given. Collecting books from all over the country, Jay has provided a wealth of information for anyone wanting to learn more.  But something isn’t right. Darkness appears to be just around the corner and Jay, Cassie, Stitch and their friends need a plan of action. They need to discover what is happening and work out how to fix it. As with his previous books, The Given and Interland, Gary Clark has written a real page-turner with The Dark. Full of tension, thrills and nail-biting experiences, The Dark t...

⭐⭐⭐⭐ When a Facebook Group I’m a member of, suggested reading Dracula, coming up to Halloween, I thought I’d give it a go. Never having read it before and not having a lot of time, I thought I’d try it as an Audiobook. I searched through Audible for one I fancied and an abridged version (although not very abridged - it was still almost 18 hours in length) came up, narrated by Mark Gatiss and had excellent reviews. I downloaded it and, for the next few days, I was in another world. I obviously knew the general idea of the story - it’s about a vampire - right? Well yes, it is, but there is so much more to it and I wish I’d picked it up years ago!  No, it’s not very fast-paced and yes, Stoker could have probably written it in half the number of pages, but I thought the story was told well. Gatiss was an excellent narrator. I’m not sure some of my friends across the pond would understand the Yorkshire accent in parts (hell, I’m not sure I got all of it) but it added it to the auth...

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I have only recently heard about Cassandra Clare’s books, but immediately decided they would be the sort of thing I’d really enjoy. Fantasy, paranormal, and magic - what more could I need to enable me to escape once again to another world. I downloaded the Audiobook of City of Bones from Borrowbox and lost myself in Idris, the Shadowhunters’ home country. Fifteen-year-old Clary Fray lives with her Mum in New York City. Just a normal teenage girl, with a normal teenage attitude. However, after a night out in Pandemonium nightclub with her best friend Simon, she realises that the world is not as it seems. Did that young boy really just get killed in front of her and then disappear as though nothing had happened?  Clary is now part of the Shadowhunters world and learns how she can see things that normal humans (mundanes) can’t. She has a swift introduction to demons, vampires and werewolves and discovers that she has powers of her own. Focused on friendship, teamwork and ‘d...

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of Midnight in the Snow by Karen Swan. She’s only gone and done it again and thrown out another belter! Congratulations to Karen Swan for Midnight in the Snow. I loved it, loved it, loved it! Clover Phillips makes documentaries and has recently completed the award-winning ‘Pipe Dreams’, telling Cory Allbright’s story as a world champion surfer. But how can she follow that up? She is going to have to pull something special out of the bag to compete with such an epic story, and she has an idea..... Set predominantly in the Austrian Alps, Midnight in the Snow is picturesque, with beautiful snow-covered mountains and images of brightly coloured skiers dotted along the ski runs. Swan captures the atmosphere amazingly, and I could easily imagine I was up there too (although I’m not a skier, so I would have been drinking hot chocolate and reading a book)! Midnight in the Snow has more than its sha...

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thank you to NetGalley and Aria Fiction for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of Making Waves at Penvennan Cove by Linn B. Halton. Kerra Shaw has recently returned from London to her home village in Cornwall, following the death of her mother and as a support to her father. Kerra is a successful businesswoman and is hoping to invest and support small businesses in the community, whilst maintaining her currently secret relationship with Ross. Only a handful of people know about their relationship, and until the feud between their families ends, Kerra would like it to remain a secret, but this is Penvannan and nothing stays a secret for long.  This is the second book in the series, which I didn’t realise at first and although other reviewers have mentioned that it shouldn’t be read as a stand-alone, I’m not sure it really matters, I found the book very slow, to begin with, and not much seemed to happen for at least the first third of the book and I did even consider not ...

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Secrets of Santorini was my Audiobook of choice as I started to clear my garden and get it ready for winter. What better way to escape from the coming autumnal days than to disappear into the Greek islands for a while! Irini McGuire grew up in a convent school in Dublin, whilst her parents continued with their archaeological career on the Greek island of Santorini. After Irini’s mother, Bridget, suffers an accident, Irini travels to the Greek island to visit her. Once there, it becomes apparent that everything is not as it seems, and in particular, why Irini was sent away at a very early age.  Secrets of Santorini is told from the points of view of both Irini and Bridget, alternating between chapters. I enjoy reading this style of writing and experiencing the story from different angles, and Patricia Wilson excels at it. I found Secrets of Santorini slow to begin with, particularly when we were taken back in time through Bridget’s dreams. As the book progressed though, I w...

Check out some more of my cruise photos here...  Anthem of the Seas 2021 Photos Before the cruise……  I have always fancied at least trying a cruise, but never sure whether I’d actually enjoy it once we were onboard. My husband, Dave, has always categorically said no, not interested, not going, end of story! Then in March 2020, COVID hit the world and for more than a year, most of the world could not travel - not easily, anyway. We had to cancel two US trips, both of which would have encompassed Las Vegas - which those of you who know us, will know, it is our most favourite place in the world.  Now there are a few talented people out there who regularly bring Las Vegas vlogs to YouTube, and one of these is Nicky Furmage . Nicky and his wife Claire decided in July 2021 that they wanted a bit of Las Vegas and found it on Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas, which was currently cruising round the British Isles. After vlogging their cruise, Nicky uploaded their adventures ont...