Sam's Fireside - Cosy Book Reviews & Recommendations

"All I require is a letter of consent from your husband, giving his permission." That quote! ⏫ 🤯 That was about a wife needing permission from her husband to open a bank account! Can you even imagine?! However, it was 1942 and a very different time, so I guess no one knew any different. This is the second book in the Wartime Hotel series. Kitty and her friends are all still living at the Dunbar Hotel, now a storage business run by Kitty herself. In this book though, we see her diversify into letting people hold their wedding receptions in the old hotel 💒. The three friends are resourceful in how they manage to turn an old dining room into a space where love can be celebrated 💐. In this book, the friends find themselves in all sorts of love tangles too 💕, some life-changing and some with difficult decisions to make. Throughout it all though, they stand by each other and support one another through those decisions—sometimes judging, but ultimately always there in the end 🤝...

“…their laughter wove its way around the bustling stalls, a joyous sound telling of friendship and resilience.” 💕 The Market Girls of Petticoat Lane is the first book in a brand-new series from Patricia McBride, and I knew I’d love it before I even started 📖✨ Despite being set during the Second World War, it’s cosy and full of hope and inspiration 🤍🌟 Maisie, Amanda, and Bethan — despite their differing home lives — are the very best of friends. They work together, play together, and look forward to a productive business future together 👭👚 I really enjoyed the camaraderie between the friends, and it’s honestly eye-opening to see how different young people were eighty years ago compared to today ⏳ The work ethic is far more evident, especially during the war years 💪🕊️ It’s always a joy to read wartime fiction like this, and I inevitably feel happy and contented by the end of the book 😊📚 Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review The Market ...

“I couldn’t, I won’t take this second chance from you. … Just go! Be happy!” It's been a while since I listened to Nineteen Steps by Millie Bobby Brown, but I'm finally catching up with my reviews. This was one we chose for one of my Instagram book clubs and, as always, I went into it completely blind. I had no idea what it was about, or that it was based on true events, but I'm oh so glad I listened to it. It was so, so good.  I adore historical fiction, set in and around World War II. Nellie Morris was so lovely, as our protagonist, but she had to deal with so much, as the bombs rained down around her. My emotions ranged from happy to sad, to happy again and then to devastated as the love with her American airman looks so idyllic and positive, until the world caves in around them both.  There are hundreds of thousands of stories which could be told about people's experiences during WWII. I'm so pleased that Millie Bobby Brown decided to tell the world about this o...

'No shouting cracked the silence; no flashlights sliced the darkness'. Steve's writing is incredible. I didn't particularly want to be in Helena's shoes, as slowly, her family disappears, and she has no alternative other than to face the horrors that the Germans are inflicting, all alone. Yet, I had no choice. Such is the power of the words which Steve writes and the in-depth descriptions he portrays of the sufferings Helena experiences, I was right there with her. Every step of the way.  Every time I read a book like this, one which is inspired by true events and particularly one set during WWII, I often have to stop reading, and reflect that all this s**t really happened and how courageous and resilient people absolutely had to be.  So much research has gone into Helena's story and Steve has done an amazing job of telling her story and ensuring that no matter how much time has passed, they have not been forgotten. Thank you to Steve N. Lee for the opportunity ...

'For those they took, whose names we'll never know because no one was left to remember them'. Once again, Steve N. Lee has bowled me over with this WWII historical fiction novel. It is set in Poland at the beginning of the war, in an orphanage run by Mirek, a published author, and Baba Hanka, a grandmotherly figure who I adored. He was a miracle worker in the kitchen. She made edible meals out of plants and herbs that had been foraged in the forest. Mirek was an incredible strength to the kids he was looking after, and even when things were looking bad, he pulled on his positive mask and attempted to turn things into a game, so the kids wouldn't be scared. This is a book, based on true events, about WWII so of course it's heartbreaking, hearing about yet more unspeakable events which took place and how horrific people were treated. But everyone should be aware of just how bad things were for hundreds of thousands of people and how heartless the people who carried ou...

 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...

Friendships and family, new life and new beginnings. I love being back in Street, in Somerset, as Kate, Louisa, and Jeannie are hoping against hope that Britain will win the dreadful war and their loved ones can come home. Once again the book is full of friendships and family, new life and new beginnings, but it also isn't without its heartache as the atrocities of war are still in action. Prisoner of war camps are real, and the Germans are using that dreadful mustard gas! Despite everything, this book is full of hope and positivity, and I admire how strong people were (and had to be) during these difficult times.  I'm pretty sure that this is the last book in the series, and I'm gutted, I'd love to see how the Clarks Factory Girls live their lives as WWI ends and there is fresh hope on the horizon again. Perhaps May will write about them as they have to devastatingly navigate WWII.  Thank you to NetGalley, Boldwood Books and Rachel's Random Resources for the opport...

Times are changing, as Manchester's ladies try to survive during WWII. I love an educational WWII novel, and I've read many over the years. The ones where you learn more about the atrocities of the prison camps and the tenacity of the people who were held there. But I equally love a more lighthearted story, which is exactly what A New Home at the Wartime Hotel by Maisie Thomas is. It's the first in a new series, and although there is one heartbreaking topic (check the trigger warnings), this was a winner for me. This time we are in Manchester as WWII continues, men are off fighting and the women are left to hold the fort - or the hotel! The characters are resilient and resourceful, and Kitty in particular was amazing as she fought to keep her home, and reconfigure the business to provide for her teenage daughter. Lily, Beatrice and Kitty (and Abbie) all became firm friends by the end of the story and I can't wait to hear what's in store for them next. Thank you to N...

'In love, we find out who we want to be. In war, we find out who we are'. Historical fiction, particularly that set during World War II and inspired by true events, is my first love as a genre. The Nightingale is incredible. I cannot even begin to explain how this book made me feel. I was in awe of the two female protagonists, who both became a part of the Resistance in order to help others. Isabelle - the Nightingale - took many treacherous journeys across the Pyrenees, to help downed Allied airmen return home and Vianne helped to hide Jewish children who were forcibly abandoned by their mothers. The Nightingale is a book about determination, perseverance and love. It is heart-wrenching, but positive, harrowing, yet encouraging. It will fill you with every emotion you have, a million times over, Every single time I read a book like this, I always turn the last page with a gut-wrenching thought that all of these things happened.  Thank you so much to #BookstaBritsBookClub for ...

Book three in The Clarks Factory Girls series from May Ellis and once again we are thrown into war-torn Somerset, and the lives of the men and women of Street, many of whom work in the Clarks shoe factory. Throughout the series, battles are being fought, on the frontline, but also in homes, where parents and children don't always see eye to eye! I love to read about the resilience of people, towns and villages, as they dealt with the horrors which war threw at them. Despite the hardships, they battle on and usually come out smiling. May Ellis draws me into her books and makes me feel like a part of the family, and I can just imagine sitting down with them and having a cuppa and a natter in front of the fire.  The world has come a long way since the early 1900s, when women weren't allowed to work once they got married and were expected to keep house and look after the children. Sometimes it's difficult to imagine how that was even a thing! I love my days with the girls, and ...

As soon as I see that Patricia has written another book, I'm champing at the bit to read it and, in particular, this series about the East End Library Girls. Cordelia, Mavis and Jane are an inspiration to the community they live in, opening the library doors to young and old alike, as well as helping their fellow EastEnders in the best way they can.  It was fun to see the American GIs appear in the East End of London, helping out with repairs in the areas that have been affected by the bombing before they were deployed to fight, and of course all the local girls are flirting at every opportunity they get! Some of the old characters make an appearance too, and I loved how Edith's future looks to be panning out, and it'll be interesting how the absent men are brought back into future books as they return from war. Thank you to NetGalley, Boldwood Books and Rachel's Random Resources for the opportunity to read and review A Better Tomorrow for the East End Library Girls by ...