Sam's Fireside - Cosy Book Reviews & Recommendations

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I read a lot of historical fiction, particularly based on facts surrounding World War II, but never before have I read anything that focused on Russian women who became pilots to fight for their country. I didn’t realise this was a thing and now I have to know whether there were any other women who flew and fought for their country during that time. Suzanne Kelman has done an amazing job with this book and decided to continue writing it and publish it at a time when Russia incited another war. However, the world needs to read about these amazing women and what they achieved and what is going on right now shouldn’t take our admiration away from that.  Nadia and Tasha are incredibly brave sisters who cope with so much discrimination as they attempt to infiltrate the world which has, until now, been dominated by men. We Fly Beneath the Stars is laced with expectation, love, and happiness, but a great deal of sadness and pain. I don’t want to give you any spoilers, but look out f...

⭐⭐⭐⭐ I loved this, and I was so utterly thrilled that the author, Elaine Taylor, reached out to me and asked me to review her first book, Time and Chance in Market Linborough. A fictional village in the Leicestershire countryside, Market Linborough is home to a variety of residents, young and old, families, and single parents, with the local pub, The White Rose, the centre of village life. Ella and Adam are our protagonists and each has their own gremlins in the closest when it comes to previous relationships. However, I guarantee that when Adam becomes Ella’s knight in shining armour in the middle of a snowstorm, you will just want to keep on reading to find out what happens to our complicated couple. I have just moved from Leicestershire, and throughout the book, I wondered where the author had based Market Linborough on, and whether it was somewhere, I had visited. I wanted to wander through the snow with the dogs at my side, just as Ella did and perhaps visit the secret pool in...

⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Wife’s Promise is the first in the Goswell Quartet, (Tales from Goswell), by Kate Hewitt, and although I’ve only read the first one, I am looking forward to reading the others. Written across two timelines and with two protagonists, Alice in the 1930s and Jane in the present day. A shopping list and the vicarage are the only two things they have in common as they both leave their home cities and move into the vicarage in Goswell, Cumbria. Both are finding it difficult to fit into village life and settle down. I really enjoyed The Wife’s Promise, and was rooting for them both as the book progressed. I wanted them to get out and about, immerse themselves in village life, make friends and make the vicarage their home. I was frustrated with Jane. In particular, she was needy and selfish and I wanted to shake her up a bit, and get her to see what she had right on her doorstep! Alice’s story was a little sadder, and as the war approached, things became even harder for her. If you e...

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐   This is a pretty awesome book and the first in the Jimmy and Andrew adventure series. Jimmy is a young lad who has always wanted a dog, and so, for his ninth birthday, his Dad takes him to the rescue centre and Jimmy chooses Andrew - or rather Andrew, chooses Jimmy! Written as a children’s book, this will easily entertain and educate adults, too. I certainly didn’t know about some things Goldstein writes about, in particular, the Egyptian history he explains in great detail, through Andrew (yes, the dog)! As we travel on Jimmy’s adventures, if there are words or situations that he doesn’t understand, these are explained to him and consequently, any kids reading the book will learn lots of new stuff too. I googled American Stonehenge, and it really exists, although in New Hampshire, not Washington State. Something else that I wasn’t aware of but loved reading about. Think Enid Blyton’s Famous Five, meets Harry Potter with some aliens thrown in and you’ll have a good idea of...

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I can’t believe that I have had this sitting on my shelf for about a year, and I’m only just getting around to reading it. It was so, so good, I think it will become one of my most favourite reads. Essentially, our protagonist, Nora, is on the brink of death but gets the opportunity to see what her life would have been like if she had made alternative choices about many things. However, no life is perfect, as Nora comes to realise. The Midnight Library was one of those books that left me with a book hangover. I can’t stop thinking about it and I wake in the middle of the night, just wondering what my life would be like if I had made different decisions along my journey. What if I had said yes to that cinema date with a boy I had a crush on when I was 14? What if I had gone to college? What if I hadn’t said yes to that first date with my husband?! I am beyond happy with my life as it has turned out, but you just never know what might have been. If you feel yourself in a bi...