Sam's Fireside - Cosy Book Reviews & Recommendations

“What can be done when you’re eleven can often never be done again.” I enjoyed IT a whole lot more than Carrie. Even though it was a stonker of a listen at 45 hours, I was invested in the story, the kids, as they navigated their way through their traumatic teenage years in Derry. Twenty-eight years later, when they returned to their hometown to fight whatever the monster is, all over again.  Occasionally I got lost in the narration as the story skipped from the past to the present and occasionally somewhere in-between, but aside from that, I did actually like it. I definitely wouldn't like the movie version, but I treated the monster as some sort of paranormal fantasy creature that I've encountered in numerous other books, and it was all good. I'm sure I'm not the first person who's thought this, but whether intentional or not, I think some of J.K. Rowling's ideas came from this book. The monster is eerily reminiscent of Aragog, and, she moves around in the pipe...

' “You might be psycho,” I say with a grin as her eyes narrow, “but you’re my psycho, and I’m yours. Got it?” ' I listened to this one, along with Leather and Lark, last summer whilst I was manning the cement mixer as we landscaped our garden! I had no idea what to expect, I just knew that everyone had been raving about it, and, like the sheep I am, I had to follow.  One minute I was listening to the most gruesome murders I have ever read or listened to, and the next, it was getting very hot and steamy! On and off my husband would ask me what I was listening to, and I'd just say 'someone got murdered', but then half an hour later, I'd be distracted (probably getting the measures of sand and cement wrong) and he'd ask what was happening in the book. He was getting very confused when I'd say 'a lot of s*x, and thought I'd switched books. He doesn't read - he doesn't understand that murders and steaminess can go together, lol! Both narrators...

'And then the world exploded.' Hmmm...... #thatindiebookclub decided to do an about-turn and read a Stephen King book, alongside July's book of choice (Silver Elite), and, being up for anything, I thought I'd give it a try. Now I don't particularly do horror, but as I've been discovering, horror in books doesn't have the same effect as horror on the screen, so why not give Carrie, Stephen King's first ever published novel, a try. I had no idea what this was going to be about. I don't think I've ever read the synopsis, and I certainly haven't seen the movie. While I enjoyed the story, and was fully invested in the destruction of everyone and everything which surrounds our protagonist, I'm afraid I didn't enjoy the writing.  I described it, to a friend, as - the bits where it says what she's thinking - but after clarification, she kindly explained to me that what I actually meant was 'that stream of consciousness method in the ...

'Live, let live, and let the things that howl in the night, be'. If you remember, you will know that I rarely read a synopsis, so I am presuming this ended up on my Libro FM list because I saw the word werewolf, and give me a book with a fluffy wolf in any day! 😂 What I wasn't expecting was the monster thing when the lycanthropes had to move, and live in a ghost town. I still have absolutely no idea what that creature even was, I just know I was rooting for the werewolves, every single step of the way.   There is a big sense of family and supporting each other throughout this book. Delia is Mummy wolf and tries to do everything she can to keep the pack safe and hidden from humans. When the chips are down, they all look out for each other. Humans by day and wolves by night, no matter what they are, family always comes first - even if the little sister is the most annoying baby wolf there is! Read this is you like a paranormal horror story, with plenty of scary parts, which ...

I think this will become a favourite... The Haunting of Hill House was one I listened to last October for #classiclitbookclub. I don't usually read or listen to horror, but this sent me down a rabbit hole of defining horror. According to Wikipedia, 'Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare an audience'. According to what I researched, Dracula, Frankenstein and The Picture of Dorian Gray can all be classified as horror. I've read all of these, and I wasn't disturbed, frightened or scared by any of them. I was entertained, immersed and enthralled by them all. The things that I class as horror are that vile doll Chucky (was that his name) and The Exorcist, so maybe I need to be a little less judgmental of the horror genre from now on, and perhaps it isn't reading horror that I don't like, it's watching it! Anyway, back to the review...I liked it, I liked it a lot. The author didn't just create the atmosphe...

⭐⭐⭐⭐ I’m always up for a paranormal novel which includes werewolves and witches and any sort of fantasy creatures, so when I had the opportunity to read, Throw Me to the Wolves, I grabbed it with both hands! Slow-paced to begin, but speeding up as the story progresses, the book focuses on Britta, our female, werewolf protagonist as she recalls the tragic events which befell her family and the curse which was put on her by a witch ten years ago, and now, as that same witch is attempting to regain her power by using Britta. This was an easy read without too much to think about, apart from losing yourself in a fantasy world of werewolves, witches and the occasional ghost, and how they interact with their human counterparts. Britta is a prominent character, but in my opinion there wasn’t a strong male lead. Aaron, and Alec in particular were egotistical, however one of them redeems himself in the end! I’ve noticed that Throw Me to the Wolves has been classed with horror as a genre. Now I...