Sam's Fireside - Cosy Book Reviews & Recommendations

"The house sighs, and eases, an overwhelming emptiness subsiding into a quiet melancholy." This quote! It instantly made me feel like I was the house and a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I loved it. And houses are alive, aren't they? You can just tell whether someone or something belongs there or not — or perhaps that's just my airy-fairy brain talking! ✨🏡 Such a gorgeous idea, that Nicole, our protagonist, is 'told' when to move an object and, equally as lovely, that she knows where it's meant to be 'relocated' to when the time is right. I wonder if there are people out there who are really like this? I'd like to think so. 🥰 With a large dose of magical realism, Other People's Things made my heart soften and my tummy flutter, and I really want to be able to have the ability to 'relocate' items! ✨📚 I chose this one for July's read for #kindlecrushchallenge. A very belated thank you to Lake Union Publishing an...

“To all the nerds out there, we think you look hot in your glasses” 🤓❤️ The sixth visit to Dream Harbor and I really enjoyed following Daisy and Elliot’s relationship, as they begin with fake-dating and inevitably end up falling in love. I don’t think that’s a spoiler — we all know it’s going to happen in Dream Harbor! 😂💕 Elliot is so sweet, kind and thoughtful, and always seems to be putting Daisy’s feelings first. Daisy was a bit naughty at times, and I did feel she was stringing him along a little because she didn’t know whether she wanted this relationship or not. Just as with all the other Dream Harbor relationships — which pop up every now and again in this one too — it’s all about the thoughts and feelings. Daisy and Elliot work well together, and their friends all love them. It’s cute, easy-to-read and a little bit spicy. 🌶️🥰 I loved it! Thank you to HarperCollins and Libro.fm for the opportunity to listen to and review The Daisy Chain Flower Shop by Laurie Gilmore. 💕📖 ...

“All the other children at my school are stupid. Except I'm not meant to call them stupid, even though this is what they are.” I'm probably not supposed to like this quote, but I do! 😂 All this kid is doing is speaking the truth as he sees it! The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time  was my July read for #NeglectedFaithfulsReadingChallenge 📚 and one that has been sitting on my shelf for a few years. Now, the dog dies — right at the beginning — and this isn't a spoiler, it's what much of the book is about, but I still wasn't prepared for it! 😲 Christopher, a teenage boy with autism, then sets out to solve the mystery. 🔎 I really enjoyed reading the story from the point of view of a neurodivergent child. I was fascinated by how his brain worked, with the lists, patterns and his absolute need to tell the truth. 🤔 I wasn't as interested in the dog mystery itself, but all the challenges that Christopher and his family faced as he attempted to make his ...

“The kind of love that anchors you and sees right into the messy core of you.” 🖤 Broken Dove was our August read on the Sequel Shelf for @thatbonkersbookclub, but I couldn't wait that long! So, as soon as my hold came in on Libby at the end of June, I popped in my AirPods 🎧 and let Teddy Hamilton's luscious voice sweep through my ears. 🫠 I have absolutely no idea how I feel after listening to Broken Dove! 🤯 Wren has confused me, just as she's confused herself, with the hint of a love triangle that looks inevitable. I have so many theories! Is Gray a double-double agent? 🧐 Now I'm even more perplexed — does this mean he's on the side of the Primes or the Mods? Who are the good guys? I thought I knew... now I'm not so sure! 😵‍💫 Full of action, Broken Dove was a joy to listen to. Both narrators are incredible and threw me straight into the heart of the Continent, and that ending left me breathless! 😱 How long do I need to wait for the next book??!! 😭📚 Abo...

“In her head, she always just referred to him as Grinchy Grincherson because he never smiled.” Hmm, listening to a Christmas book in one of the hottest summers the UK has ever had – only me?? 😂 Oh well, I don't really pay attention to what I'm reading or when! 🤷‍♀️ I loved Baking it Merry. Such a cute story and lovely characters (even Tristan)! 🥰 Daphne's dream of owning a bakery is starting small, with a pop-up shop in the entrance of the building where Tristan works, and he's not feeling very Christmassy. 🎄 He's definitely a grumpy old Grinch for a lot of the story! 😆 Cosy, cute and Christmassy. 🎄❤️ Baking it Merry is a predictable seasonal romance, with a happy ending (of course!) and lots of talk of mouth-watering bakes, loyal friends and family. 🧁☕️ Read this any time of year – you don't need to wait until Christmas! 😉 Thank you to Libro FM and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to listen to and review Baking it Merry by Samantha Chase. 🎧📚 About...

"I hate how much I love it out here. I shouldn't. But the thrill ignites me, even as it terrifies me". Dark Academia is becoming a firm favourite of mine, and Masquerade of Mirrors by Samantha Hartwood just blew me away. 🖤✨ Packed with magic, mages, devious students and a school that is more illusion than reality, I was hooked. Now, remember that I rarely read the synopsis of a book, so when I was thrown into the middle of a deadly desert at the beginning, I began to wonder if this was Star Wars all over again! 😂 Where was the magic? Why was I just reading about sand and an ill old man? But OMG — the magic was coming, as was the hot mage and his curious secrets. 🔥🪄 In Samantha's incredible debut novel, you'll watch Taera go from an inexperienced young girl, with no knowledge of what lies outside her hut in the desert, to an awesome, sassy young woman who is so powerful it makes even Nikolai step back in wonder. ⚡️ Nikolai himself wears a virtual coat of armour...

"The sun's reflection flares hotly in the swathes of plate glass". @megbatsbooks and I read The Fall together and it really was a case of wondering whether anyone else was going to die?! 😳🔪 I read The Long Weekend a few years ago but I haven't read anything else by Gilly since. The Fall was equally as good. It kept me on my toes and every time I turned the page, it seemed that something else was going to give me those gasp-out-loud moments. 😱 I think Meg and I both decided that there was something 'off' with most of the characters, to be honest. Any one of them could be capable of murder and yep, it wasn't until close to the end that things started to become clearer, at least for me. 👀 I love a book where the house is stunning, with all mod cons (that actually don't always work), and Gilly transplanted me right in the middle of Nicola and Tom's amazing house, so I was quite happy wandering around there and wondering how anyone would want to kee...

' "I have to get on you", I said. "So, you need to chill the hell out and let me get up." ' I listened to Courage right off the back of Pride. Jules and Pete need to try and make a spare bit of cash, and so for some of this book, the focus is on the pair of them exercising the ‘babies’ — the younger horses with no racetrack experience. It was fun to see a different side of the horsey world, and Jules in particular found herself with a new friend to boot. 🐴 She gets on well with Alex and they settle into an easy camaraderie, bantering off each other and sharing their experiences. 😊 Pete takes a bit of a backseat in this one, and it does seem to be more about Jules and how she can help and support him through all the money crap that’s happening at Briar Hill Farm. I love the honesty in these books. Natalie shows that the majority of people in the eventing world aren’t born into money. They work hard for their career and yep, living in trailers and eating wha...

“You don’t need a map, Jules. You got this. Keep the red flag on the right and the horse between your legs and you’ll be home in no time.” Pride is the second novel I've read (actually, listened to) by Natalie Keller Reinert and, as I said before, I'm addicted. 🐴❤️ It’s taken me so long to get around to this series. I used July’s #LetsEarItAudiobookChallenge for this one, but let’s be honest, the only challenge was actually getting around to listening! 😂 Jules has it tough! She catches a break and everything looks to be all rosy in horsey land, and then wham, it’s all called into question again. But Jules is a tough cookie, and this is what I like about her. She picks herself up and tries to be better, for herself and for her horses. 💪🐎 I enjoyed that, in this one, Jules went back to basics, working for another trainer for a few months and realising that actually, she might not know as much as she thinks she does — and that she can still be taught. It’s incredibly humbling ...

“Fine is a woman’s equivalent to a land mine because you have absolutely no idea when or where that shit will explode.” Throttled was the third choice for the July read for #thatbonkersbookclub and, unfortunately, my least favourite. Mainly because the author repeatedly uses ‘prix’ as a standalone term. It isn’t correct, it doesn’t make sense and I’ve never heard anyone in the history of F1 use it that way! Let me give you an example: “Pole position will always be the most ideal for the whole Prix, and pride fills me that I claimed it.” It’s a small thing, but when you’re reading a book so heavily centred around F1, the terminology really needs to be right. Now I’ve got that off my chest, I can say that the story was good, the characters were great and entertaining, and I did like it. But there were too many inaccuracies, and it really felt like not enough research had gone into the book. If you’re going to write about a sport, don’t just go on what you’ve seen on TV — it’s not going t...

“The thing is - fear can't hurt you any more than a dream.” July's read for #classiclitbookclub was Lord of the Flies. This was a book I'd heard of but hadn't read, and I had no idea what it was about. The BBC have recently produced a TV adaptation, so I opted to watch this before it was time to read the book and thoroughly enjoyed it. 📺 I chose to listen to an audiobook version rather than physically read it, and Martin Jarvis as the narrator was brilliant - as he is with everything he puts his hand to. His portrayal of Piggy, Ralph and Jack in particular was something I loved listening to. He takes on the part of each character and really runs with it. Brilliant! 👏🏻🎧 I found Lord of the Flies a very eye-opening insight into what kids might get up to if left completely to their own devices. From the dictatorship-like Jack, as he commands a bunch of impressionable younger boys to follow his lead, to Piggy, who likes rules and can't abide anyone who isn't pre...

“I felt like I needed to throw a dish towel over his penis and wait an hour to let it rise.” 😂 I couldn't help myself with this quote - sorry, not sorry! I'm sure I'll need to censor it for some platforms! 🙈 Anyway, #thatbonkersbookclub chose  Yesteryear  for our Chiller Shelf for July and, quite honestly, I'm still unsure how I feel about it. Weird is the first word that springs to mind, with religious coming a close second. 🤔 Also, since when has the phrase 'trad wife' become a thing? It's only within the last year or so that I've even heard of it - maybe that's just me. 🤷‍♀️ As I'm sure was the author's intention, I was left wondering throughout much of the book exactly why Natalie was in 1855. Was she time-travelling? Was it a reality show? Was she ill? 🧐 You won't get any spoilers from me, so you'll need to read it or ask someone else. 😉 I have rated it quite highly on the places where a star-rating is necessary, but really...

“It was good to walk into a library again; it smelled like home.” 📚❤️ @megbatsbooks and myself read The Historian a couple of months ago. It's a chonk at over 700 pages long 📖 and while I enjoyed it, it wasn't the easiest book to read. For me, the main issue was that there was no indication of which timeline we were reading or who was narrating. If you are a Dracula fan 🧛‍♂️ then you're definitely going to find this interesting. However, there is a lot of history and a lot of research topics in the story and, quite honestly, it would have been a lot more enjoyable (at least for me) if it was half the length with less waffle. 😂 I would have liked more from the daughter's point of view and how she followed her father across Eastern Europe, experiencing the strange phenomena that were taking place, rather than just getting a snippet here and there. 🗺️👀 I know that @megbatsbooks loved it though, and it was fun to read it with her because she picked up on way more thi...

“You are so full of rage for someone so small and cute.” 😂 Icebreaker was the second book choice for #thatbonkersbookclub for July and one I've been meaning to get around to for ages, so this was finally my chance! 📚🏒⛸️ I really enjoyed it — well, apart from Aaron, who is a narcissistic, gaslighting moron! 😤🙄 Honestly, I could have happily skated right over his arm! I loved the banter between Anastasia and Nate's teammates, once she finally realised that actually, yeah, she did like Nate just a little bit! 🥰 They opened their arms and gathered her into their little boy family with such affection, and it was so cute. 🥹💕 Icebreaker definitely focuses more on the figure skating than the hockey, which is a welcome breath of fresh air. Everything I seem to see these days is hockey, hockey, hockey! 🏒🏒🏒 Give me some figure skating! ⛸️✨ The spice — I can either take it or leave it, to be honest, but it will never not make me read a book! 😂🌶️ But yeah, it rarely leaves a l...

“In the back of his car, I could hear his kids wailing. They weren't crying because of the initial impact, which had only woken them up, but because they'd just watched, from five metres away, as Bambi got atomised by an ambulance.” 🦌💥🚑 Now, I used to work for the NHS, so I know what a s**t show it has become, but Steve's book has just opened my eyes even further. I had no idea that ambulances were queuing — for hours — with a patient on board, just waiting to get into A&E. And who knows how many more hours they would then have to wait until they actually saw a medic. 😳🚑⏰ I loved Steve's insider view. His humour is second to none 😂, and I admire him for maintaining his sometimes warped sense of humour through what must have been thousands of frustrating, and frankly scary, moments as he tried to do his job. 🚑😬 I really appreciated the raw and honest account of his career as a paramedic, and the barriers that are thrown up by the lack of funding, staff cuts a...

“The lights went out in the carriage, and when they came back on, the man was looking at me...” 👀 The Stranger at the Wedding has been sitting on my shelf for a while, so I chose to read it for the #NeglectedFaithfulsReadingChallenge for June. 📚 I've been pondering this review for a while, and I'm still unsure how I feel about the book. I enjoyed it, honestly I did, but the multiple timelines and points of view were extremely confusing – and this is coming from someone who loves both of these! 😵‍💫 It would have helped if there had been some indication of whose point of view we were reading from and what year we were in! Anyway, that aside, apart from having to really concentrate on the story, I did enjoy it. It was packed with twists and turns that I just didn't see coming, and very definitely had many unlikeable, dodgy and narcissistic characters! 😬 The ending tied it all up nicely, even if it was fast and unexpected. 🔀 Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing for the gift...

“There’s only so much oxygen on an airplane. I don’t want his ego to suffocate the rest of us. You know, safety and all that s**t.” #thatbonkersbookclub, for some reason, decided to read three books in July and Mile High was the first one I read. Now, I wouldn't consider myself a sports romance fanatic. I can take them or leave them, to be honest, and so I went into this one with no expectations or particular interest. It just goes to show that book clubs can open your eyes to things you wouldn't normally read! 📚 I enjoyed Mile High and listened to this rather than read it, which probably made it even more fun. The dual narration of the two main characters, Zanders and Stevie, was brilliantly portrayed and even though Zanders is initially an arrogant d**k, there's a reason for that. I guarantee that if you read the book, you'll come to love him, as of course, Stevie does. ❤️ While writing this review, I discovered that the author, Liz Tomforde, used to be a flight att...