Sam's Fireside - Cosy Book Reviews & Recommendations

'The sing song of conversation was punctuated by cups clinking in saucers and plates being passed around. A Mad Hatter's tea party of sorts - with less hats and perhaps slightly more madness'. 'It's beginning to feel like all roads lead to Polkerran Point.' In this visit to Polkerran Point, we are with Kate, who has made the move to Polkerran to get away from her ass of an ex-husband, and brought along her teenage daughter Mollie. I predicted that the love-interest this time around would be Dev, and I was right!  Once again, Cass has brought me sunshine and joy with her book, as I excuse myself from real life and disappear into the gorgeous community that makes up Polkerran. I love that Cass can pick me up and deposit me around Anna's kitchen table, as I mingle with the batty locals. Or sit me on Kate's terrace with a glass of wine, listening to the sea in the distance and contemplating life.  The 'Friends' reference at the beginning of each chap...

'A dragon will always catch you when you fall.' This is such an incredible sequel to the first book, and if it was possible, I adored it even more. Opal, Farris and Edmym - I did not see that coming! 🌶️ But they handled the whole situation with maturity and even a little bit of humour! As our adventurers are tasked with their missions, the amazing Jenny Grimes does an awesome job of taking us along for the ride - quite literally in some cases! Who doesn't want to be able to pop into a hole and transport to another realm, or even just get somewhere that little bit faster - it definitely beats catching the bus! I loved Nell and that's all I'm going to say about her, you need to read this for yourself and continue along with Nell on the High Shaedes journey, as they encounter wizards, sarcastic dragons, and make some difficult decisions.  If you haven't read Shaedes of Power, then read that first. If you love Fourth Wing and ACOTAR then I guarantee you will lov...

'Would he be a better person if he drank lemonade instead?' 'At least it might fizz him up a bit!' I don't ever want this series to end, not ever! 💖 I'm sure this is the effect that Ever After Street is having on many readers. This time we get to read Mickey and Ren's story. They are polar opposites, Mickey has dyed red hair like Ariel from the Little Mermaid, she wears seashells in her hair and loves everything mermaid 🧜‍♀️ and believes in fairytales. Ren is sensible, strait-laced and Ava, his teenage daughter thinks he's boring. But together they work - well eventually they do - as they set off on a mermaid adventure together. Ava was awesome, for a thirteen-year-old, she was pretty perceptive and not without her wily ways to try to get her grumpy Dad and awesome new friend together. She's sassy and fun and I liked her a lot.  We have shops like Mickey's Curiosity Shop close to where I live. Sort of antiquey crossed with a jumble sale! 🤣 Y...

'She never stayed in one place for long… Until she felt the sweet sting of love'. A Honey for the Beekeeper was a gorgeous and beautiful book. From beginning to end, it made me feel all warm and cosy inside. Brooke and Gable were adorable, and at first, they appear to be on the very same page, just up for an 'in the moment' relationship. No strings, no ties, and all ready to enjoy spending time together while they're living in the same place. Short-term is what they both want...or is it? If I had the space and an agreeable husband, I'd love to try my hand at beekeeping, what better way to spend those summer days than caring for the delightful honeybees. Surprisingly I learnt quite a lot, just from reading Nina's lovely book! I loved how Nina sensitively dealt with both Gable and Brooke's individual stories, how they come to terms with loss and eventually how communicating with other people, can actually help. If you are in the mood for a cute, sweet rom...

I was disappointed.... I’ve never read a Freida McFadden before, no particular reason, it just hasn’t really been on my radar, plus I have an ARC backlog of 9 million years, plus an endless and ever-growing TBR! But, #bookstabritsbookclub chose The Crash for their May read and so here we are.  I listened to this one and it was enjoyable, if predictable. To be honest, Tegan, who was the female main character was a bit of a wet lettuce. At the beginning I thought she was going to have a lot more spunk than it turned out she had! Hank was two sandwiches short of a picnic and Polly was just devious, manipulative and as mad as a March hare!  There were inconsistencies that annoyed me, and if this had been an ARC, I would have overlooked them - knowing (hoping) they’d be picked up in the final edit. However this wasn’t an ARC and so I couldn’t just ignore them. A couple of people I spoke to said they were part of the story/plot but actually, I don’t think it was. I was disappointed,...

.... when the lives of the people you love are at stake, rules are made to be broken. Have I really not read a Brian Freeman book before? 🙈 Of course I've seen the Jason Bourne movies, and perhaps I did read these before I got back into reading - I can't remember though. Anyway, I loved this, from beginning to end. It was fast-paced, exciting, and there were so many twists and turns, I met myself coming backwards, more than once! Honestly, I was exhausted by the time I took my AirPods out for the final time! At the start I thought Tommy was a bad man, but he really isn't, he loves his wife and daughter more than anything in the world and if he has to kill to avenge their kidnapping, then that's exactly what he'll do. Along the way, he has unexpected assistance from professionals and amateurs alike, all of who are looking for the same outcome.  Scott Brick did a sterling job as the narrator, throwing me into every single scene as though I really was there too, fight...

Just when you were expecting a sweet romance...... ...and once again I dive headlong in without reading the synopsis, 🤣 but hey, it all adds to the excitement and uncertainty of a book right! There I was, pootling around the garden, pulling up weeds, thinking I was listening to a cute little romance, coming from the shores of Loch Ness. The narrators were dragging me in (especially Flint with his Scottish accent) and I was all set for love and romance, and maybe a little bit of resistance from one of the main characters. What I wasn't expecting was the steaminess between Key and Lachlan. But that was fine, I don't mind spice in a book at all, as long as it's done well and this one was. What I REALLY wasn't expecting was the paranormal aspect! 🦕 That's all I'm going to say, I don't want to spoil it for anyone else who doesn't read the book description or reviews. 😝  Apart from the surprise of what I realised I was reading, I loved the story. Nothing w...

 Eye-opening, heartbreaking and insightful. Thanks to #classiclitbookclub I am revisiting many of the books I read as a child or in my teenage years and The Diary of a Young Girl is one of them. I'm unsure whether I read it at school or on my own but I was fascinated and heartbroken, then and now. Fascinated that such a young girl - Anne was just thirteen when he family went into hiding in the 'annexe' - wrote her diaries in such an adult and eloquent way, and despite the hardships surrounding her, she wrote with wit and humour, often making the best of an absolutely horrendous situation. She had a sarcasm about her that made me giggle as I was listening to the amazing narration of Helena Bonham Carter, who brought Anne's personality to life as she retold Anne's writings.  Of course we all know the ending, which was devastatingly heartbreaking, as Anne was eventually captured and sent to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where, at just fifteen years of age, she m...

'All the pieces of herself she'd lost along the way, well, it was time to start recapturing them'. First, my sincere apologies to the author who kindly gifted me a copy of her book back in 2023, and I'm ashamed to say it's taken me two years to read it. Over commitment is my only excuse, but I am trying to do better this year! I adored everything about this book. I loved all the characters, although Tammy was the one exception, she was a real piece of work! Each of them bring their own unique charm to the story and I especially fell in love with Ano - the things that man can do with food - if only this book had the ability to send cooking fragrances through the pages! I lived alongside Nina as she navigated her way through finding the right job for her, attempting to win people round, but also being mindful not to tread on any toes as she finds pleasure and happiness in her personal life as well as her career. It's rare that I shed a tear when I'm reading, b...

One toxic family. Eight suspicious guests. Everyone is guilty. But who is a killer? I may be a bit of a dunce, but I had no idea what a locked-room mystery was - but now I've worked it out! Duh - pretty self-explanatory, really! Anyway, this is one, and I loved it, it was such a great listen, and because we are kept in the dark about so many things, it was really difficult to try to work out who the killer was. Throughout, I was guessing, and with each chapter I was wrong and had to try to think again! I enjoyed the constant back-and-forth from the present time, to specific times before the murder, it made it much more exciting and definitely helps clarify events, so the reader can decide who is and isn't in the frame! Each and every one of the characters brought an element of 'screwed up' to the story and yep, many of them had a reason to be the killer! Kathleen Early as the narrator brought that element of mystery and suspense to the story, which always makes a book ...