Sam's Fireside - Cosy Book Reviews & Recommendations

I've literally just finished this book and I can't stop smiling, for lots of reasons, just one being that the lovely Donna Ashcroft has included me in the acknowledgements of her latest book. As a book blogger, it's the little things like this that make all the reading and reviewing worthwhile. The entire book made me smile, it was Christmassy, and cuddly, and cosy and I loved it. I have to admit there were tears at the end, but I promise, they were happy tears. Christmas Resort is a holiday village in the Scottish Highlands where it's Christmas all year round and where people visit to experience mince pies, hot chocolate, sparkling reindeer statues, crackling log fires and twinkly fairy lights everywhere. Many of the people who live, work and visit Christmas Resort find themselves on a journey of self-discovery and through a myriad of emotions usually leave in a better place than when they arrived....or just don't leave at all! I'd thoroughly recommend that you...

I don’t live in the US, and I’ve never visited New England, but now I want to go and visit the fictional town of Seabreeze and stay at Cove Hill Inn. I want to watch the snow falling, make gingerbread cookies and curl up in front of a roaring fire. The Christmas Promise is my second Christmassy read. It’s beautiful and warm and cosy and romantic and I thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in Charlotte’s family’s lives for just 24 hours, because that’s how long it took me to read it. Granted, I was in the car for 6 of those hours (I wasn’t driving) and I read for the whole time! Charlotte is on a mission to discover the history behind a painting she’s recently purchased for the art gallery she works at and the answers will hopefully lie in the small coastal town on Seabreeze. If you’re ready for a Christmas read then I’d thoroughly recommend that you get yourself a copy of this, make yourself a hot chocolate, pretend that it’s already snowing outside and lose yourself in this snuggly stor...

I was lucky enough to receive an Advance Listening Copy of Steggie Belle & the Dream Warriors from the author, and I was really honoured to be one of the first to listen. We are told the story from the point of view of a man called Zoofall, who has shut himself into his room to tell us the tale. Steggie is the boss in the dreamworld and Zoofall is the new recruit. This book is full of fantasy, myth and magic and goes far, far beyond the world of even lucid dreaming.  I simply loved how Zoofall came to realise that he was different and that he could travel throughout the dreamworld on quests and adventures. Even when you’re dreaming, the world is full of bad people as well as good ones and yes, there is a fair share of enemies for the band of warriors to contend with whilst they’re asleep! Elias Pell has such a fantastic imagination, writing the story as he does, it’s full of amazing imagery and to me, the sign of a great author is one who can make you believe that what you are...

The Traitor by Ava Glass may well be up there with my top reads of 2023. It was soooooo good! I turned the pages so quickly, I’m surprised they didn’t rip! It was simply brilliant, very James Bond-esque, fast-paced, and full of spies, traitors and gadgets. I was just over halfway through when I thought I’d worked out who ‘the traitor’ was and I was right, although as the book progressed I did begin to have my doubts! Working out who the baddie was didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book at all. In fact, it probably made it more fun as Emma and her colleagues tried to work it out, too. I loved the vivid descriptions which Ava Glass produced as she wrote about Emma’s time on the yacht and in the various European cities. It all just felt so warm and inviting, a great contrast to what was going on in the spy world! The Traitor is the first book I have read from Ava Glass and although it’s the second in the series, I really don’t think this matters. It can definitely be read as a stand...

I love this new team of Detectives Beth Katz and Dax Styles that D.K Hood has created. They’re back with a new serial killer to bring down. A serial killer who has a very weird set-up, which only becomes more strange as you read further. As with the first book, I was hooked. I wanted to finish it to discover whether weirdo got his comeuppance, but I also didn’t want it to end. Beth doesn’t like these bad guys in the world and sometimes both she and Styles go rogue and go a little off-piste to remove them from society, but this is what makes both of them such interesting characters. I’d definitely want her on my side in a fight! I’m hoping I don’t have to wait too long for the next book, but in the meantime, check those trigger warnings and get yourself off to the bookshop. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read Shadow Angel by D.K. Hood. Book Description An absolutely addictive and nail-biting crime thriller (Detective Beth Katz Book 2): In a dark cabin, a yo...

Wow! What a start to a brand-new series by D.K. Hood. Detective Beth Katz is great, I loved her and her sidekick, Dax Styles. We have recently visited Montana, so the mentions of bears and elk, and the scenery, had me invested from the beginning. Hood brought me right into the heart of the story with her writing, describing scenes in such detail I could almost smell the metallic tang of the blood and the yummy smells of TJ’s diner. Beth has her own unique way of dealing with serial killers, but you’ll have to read Dark Angel to discover just what that is and what happened in her tragic past. There are lots of trigger warnings so check these out before you buy the book, but as long as you’re ok with them all and you enjoy an FBI police procedural with a difference, then I’d highly recommend Dark Angel. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review Dark Angel by D.K. Hood. Book Description A gripping and unputdownable FBI agent thriller (Detective Beth Kat...

I cried, I laughed, and I talked aloud to the characters. I’ll Miss You This Christmas is my first seasonal read for 2023 and it’s set the bar high for the others on my TBR. I had to shout at Emily and Rory often throughout the book. They were frustrating and neither of them was admitting to what they wanted, which was ultimately each other. Felix was adorable, and I loved how he was communicating with his Mum. Such an awesome thing to do to keep her memory alive. Baxter was a sweetie but I have to admit, I was a little worried that he’d get squished somewhere on all those long train journeys! Lucy Mitchell writes sensitively about some heart-crushing subjects and she does so with love and compassion. If you want a book for Christmas, then I’d definitely recommend asking Santa for this or just buy it for yourself at any time of year. Hell, I read it in 30 degree heat in the garden in September! Thank you to Bloodhound Books for the opportunity to read and review I’ll Miss You This Chri...

This weekend was hot, far too hot to do anything at all. This is unusual in September in the UK, but there you have it. I needed something easy to read that was going to require zero effort, so I reverted back to my childhood and picked up one of my Enid Blyton books. The Island of Adventure is the first in the Adventure series and one I haven’t read for aeons! I remembered the characters' names, Philip, Dinah, Jack and Lucy-Ann, but that’s all I remembered. I didn’t recall how they met or how their adventures started, so it was like going in as a first-time reader. The Island of Adventure is fast-paced, exciting and, as the title suggests, adventurous. I love Enid Blyton’s writing, her sense of wit and all her old-fashioned ideals. You know the ones, where women should stay at home and do the housekeeping, the kids should probably be at boarding school and the Dad earns the money. Well, as long as you see past all this - the book was first published in 1946, so just keep that in y...

If you love witches, fantasy, magic and a book that can make you believe all this could be real, then I can guarantee you will love The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. Mika Moon packs up all her belongings and takes herself and her dog to a remote location in Norfolk, and very quickly finds herself wrapped up in the trials and tribulations of Nowhere House. Until I started listening to this book, I had no idea that it was set in Norfolk in the east of England. I moved here just last summer, so a book set in the same place I’m living gets a huge tick. Then I found out that the author lives just a few miles up the road in Norwich, a city in Norfolk, so I get even more excited! Each and every character is unique and quirky and lovable. There’s excitement and magic, spells and romance, acceptance and family and love. I listened to this as an audiobook, and the narrator, Samara MacLaren, was outstanding. She brought the characters to life and added atmosphere along the way. ...

Classic Lit Book Club’s August read was The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and I was so excited to read this one. I chose the Wordsworth Edition just because the cover was so pretty. I had already seen the movie, the one with Leonardo DiCaprio, but I couldn’t remember much about it apart from the parties! I gained so much more from reading the book. Gatsby very much wanted to be the life and soul of the party and thought he could buy people’s love and affection. It was sad that most of the people (in fact probably all of them apart from Nick) couldn’t have cared less about Gatsby. They turned up to his parties, had a good time at his expense, and went home again.   I really disliked Daisy, whether it was intentional or not, she used people. In my opinion, she was selfish and didn’t think about how her actions would affect those around her. The ending is tragic and not something I remembered from the movie. I kept going back over the same page time and again, asking myself wh...