My Review for Shaedes of Beasts by Jenny Grimes

'Watch where you are going, you glorified pincushion!'

I'm finding it difficult to begin this review. Not because I hated the book (absolutely not!) but more because I can’t quite pin down how I feel about it yet.

For a change, let's work backwards.The last chapter was so good. I’m already itching for the next book just to see how this new character is going to shake things up (don’t worry—no spoilers). The final battle was less fighting and more of an intense rescue mission. It was heart-wrenching and scary, whilst being fully immersive, as we trudge through the forest in the rain, and the mud, with an incredibly novel way to stop the storm from raging and the rain from pouring down. 😉

Shaedes of Beasts was slow to begin with, as Jenny takes her time reintroducing old faces and bringing in new ones, whilst slowly recapping earlier battles. However, once it gets moving you are once again thrown into the magical lives of the members of the Shaede Court, as they attempt to save their worlds and their friends. 

Depressed - that's how I felt when I was reading this. Not because I wasn't enjoying it (I was), but because it basically never stopped raining, inside the book and outside my window. Zero sunshine. But hey, not all battles can be fought under a blazing sun! 🤣 

Thank you so much to Jenny Grimes for including me on her ARC team for Shaedes of Beasts.

About the Book

One love will make her. One spell will break her. One choice will save her.

The consequences of everything that happened in Corynthia haunt the High Shaedes as they attempt to savor the peace their sacrifices purchased on behalf of the Seam. While everyone seems to be moving on, Opal remains shattered—broken in ways that no one else can even begin to understand.

Edmyn and Farris are more than willing to distract her battered heart, but soon are faced with more troubles of their own. The Moon King must continue to rebuild what the dragons destroyed, while Farris must deal with the return of an unwanted figure from his past, come to wound him anew.

What will happen when a mysterious and alluring purple Shaede appears at court and offers Opal a taste of something she’s never had before?

And will the Shaedes be able to maintain the frail peace they’ve secured even when faced with suspicious talking beasts from Jovii’s Isle invading their lands and making soul magic demands?

About Jenny

Jenny Grimes writes fantasy romance novels that focus on the blurred lines between worlds, the darkness you’ll find in all of them, and the love that resides there too. She creates her characters and spins her stories from her home in the human realm, where she raises her three little book dragons with her husband, and spends a healthy amount of time reading, travelling, and creating art.

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My Review for Tess of the D'urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

“I think of people more kindly when I am away from them.”

I picked up the gorgeous Penguin Clothbound copy of this one, and I adored Tess of the D'urbervilles. Yes it's disturbing, yes it's sad, and tragic, and it focuses very much on the class system in England in the nineteenth century, of which Tess is nearer the bottom than the top. It's brilliantly and beautifully written, and Mr Hardy captures the essence of the English countryside in great detail throughout. 

Poor Tess, thrown out into the world without any real life skills, and susceptible to the predatory nature of the men she comes across. Wasn't it a thing to talk to your daughter about s*x in the nineteenth century? Surely they had some sort of conversation!🤷

Tess is a true victim throughout this book, society treats her shoddily, and she deserves so much more. A tragic end for such an aspiring young woman, who could have done so much better with her life if given half a chance.

I had to read Far From the Madding Crowd for school, and I need to read it again, without the hassle of looking for symbolism, and meaning and all that guff. I'm sure I'll enjoy it, just as much as this one. 

It's a while ago now, but thank you to #classiclitbookclub for choosing to read Tess of the D'urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. 

About the Book

When Tess Durbeyfield is driven by family poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D'Urbervilles and seek a portion of their family fortune, meeting her 'cousin' Alec proves to be her downfall. A very different man, Angel Clare, seems to offer her love and salvation, but Tess must choose whether to reveal her past or remain silent in the hope of a peaceful future. With its sensitive depiction of the wronged Tess and powerful criticism of social convention, Tess of the D'Urbervilles is one of the most moving and poetic of Hardy's novels.

About Thomas

Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) was born in Higher Bockhampton, Dorset, into a close-knit rural family whose characters and landscape shaped his imagination. His father, a builder and musician, passed down a love of music, while his mother encouraged his education. After schooling in Dorchester, Hardy apprenticed as an architect before moving to London in 1862, where he worked as a Gothic draughtsman and wrote poetry. Poor health brought him back to Dorset in 1867, where he turned to fiction. His first published novel, Desperate Remedies (1871), was followed by Under the Greenwood Tree (1872) and Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), which made his reputation and allowed him to marry Emma Gifford. Their unhappy marriage ended with Emma’s death in 1912, inspiring some of Hardy’s most powerful poetry.

Over the next two decades Hardy produced major novels including The Return of the Native (1878), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891) and Jude the Obscure (1895). Outrage at Jude led him to abandon fiction and devote himself to poetry, publishing eight volumes and the vast verse-drama The Dynasts. He lived from 1885 at Max Gate, his Dorchester home, where he wrote until his death. Celebrated as the “Grand Old Man of English Letters,” Hardy was admired by younger writers such as Sassoon, Graves, Woolf and Lawrence.

He died in 1928. In a compromise between family and state, his ashes were interred in Westminster Abbey, while his heart was buried in Stinsford beside Emma.

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My Review for Winter Nights at the Bay Bookshop by Jessica Redland

'Why would anyone ever want to live a life without books?'

Jessica! You made me cry. I rarely, if ever, cry at a book, but I shed a few tears towards the end of Winter Nights at the Bay Bookshop. The entire book was gorgeous, from beginning to end. I adored Lily, I was charmed by Lars, and I adored all the book references. Yes please Jessica, will you write the Snow Dragon for us?! 💕

I learnt lots about the Icelandic traditions around Christmas time, it's so much fun to find out what other countries around the world do. I'm not sure about some of those things the Yule Lads got up to though, 🙈 but with a mother who eats naughty children, 😜 I can't say I'm surprised! They sort of reminded me of the Elf On The Shelf tradition!

Both Lily and Lars have experienced loss and heartbreak throughout the years, but together they can come to terms and deal with everything. I was especially obsessed with the Paperback Pixie — what a magical idea! I even caught myself imagining how I could do something similar in my village (though it might bankrupt me 😂).

With the many references to Anne of Green Gables, I really need to sit down and read it - I never have, even though I have a pretty copy on my shelf, just waiting. 

Thank you to Boldwood Books, Jessica Redland and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Winter Nights at the Bay Bookshop. 

About the Book

Nestled amongst the comforting shelves of her beloved Bay Books, Lily Appleton finds the peace and quiet she needs. But with Christmas just around the corner, Lily has to find an extra pair of hands to help her share the bookish magic.

After selling his business, Lars Jóhannsson is feeling lost. A job at Bay Books would give him the space he needs to contemplate his next move, but returning would mean confronting a painful past he's been avoiding. He’s also fairly sure he’s the one person Lily would never want to see again.

Lily is torn. Lars could be the perfect fit for Bay Books, but he once rejected her friendship and the hurt still lingers. But working together, Lily discovers a vulnerability that Lars has kept hidden away, along with a few surprising secrets. And as the Christmas season sprinkles its magic, Lily discovers the warmth of renewed friendship and the joy of heartwarming traditions from Lars’s Icelandic roots.

Surrounded by the quiet magic of the season and the soft glow of festive lights, perhaps there’s even the possibility of finding a love as enchanting as the Northern Lights on a winter's night.

About Jessica - by Jessica

I write uplifting stories of love, friendship, family and community set in stunning Yorkshire. My Whitsborough Bay books take readers/listeners to the North Yorkshire Coast and my Hedgehog Hollow books transport them deep into the countryside of the Yorkshire Wolds.

My books are about real people living real lives. You'll find plenty of warm and fuzzy moments between the pages but you may occasionally find yourself tearing up and reaching for the tissues. I love my characters so, no matter how tough the going gets, I make sure they get their happy ending. Of course, with a series, it may take a few books to fully get there!

My favourite subject at school was English and I always loved the aspects of my day job in HR which involved writing but I never considered writing a novel until my manager told me that my business reports read more like stories and joked that I should write a book. As soon as a plot idea presented itself, that’s exactly what I did.

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My Review for Snowflakes Over Starr's Fall by Kate Hewitt

'That I love you...crazy banshee and all'.

I haven’t read the other books in this series, but that doesn’t matter. It can definitely be read as a standalone. Snowflakes Over Starr’s Fall was full of small-town vibes with lots of fun, individual shops, where all the shopkeepers know each other and help each other out. 

Jenna and Jack are the quintessential enemies to lovers couple. To say they detest each other at first sight is an understatement! I loved them both. I loved Jack’s city-type persona, but actually, pick him up and put him in the middle of a small town, and he slots in just nicely. Jenna’s reluctance to accept that change is necessary, in order to ensure that her store is a success, is admirable, but frustrating. I was remodelling it before Jack ever set foot in the door. 😂

This was a fun and lighthearted read. I enjoyed meeting all the different characters in Starr’s Fall, and I’ll definitely be going back and reading the first two books. 

Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Snowflakes Over Starr’s Fall by Kate Hewitt.

About the Book

Welcome to the magical town of Starr's Fall ❄️✨🤍 As the stars twinkle and the snow drifts over the town… someone’s about to find the magic she didn’t even know she’d been missing…

Jenna has lived in Starr’s Fall for most of her life, and has run the general store for over ten years. Secretly she might dream of love and romance, but she’s happy as she is. Really.

That is, until Starr’s Fall’s newest resident—ex-New Yorker, millionaire investment banker—Jack Wexler breezes into Jenna’s store, seemingly furious they don’t stock smoked salmon. Jenna is as amused as she is annoyed. Who is this ridiculous guy, and doesn’t he realize he’s not in Manhattan anymore?

Jack meanwhile can’t believe he lost it in public. But ever since being forced to leave his high-flying career to focus on his health, he’s not been himself. What’s more, the last person he’d expected to be attracted to is the shrew of a storekeeper he’s just encountered… which he might have called Jenna, in a moment of temper…

Neither of Jenna or Jack’s ideal of romance includes these sorts of furious sparks flying. But when they’re both roped in to organizing the town’s Winter Wonderland parade, they’re forced to work together. And as Christmas approaches – will two opposites merely attract? Or, in magical Starr’s Fall, could they fall in love for keeps?

About Kate

Kate is the USA Today-bsetselling author of many books of both historical and contemporary fiction. Under the name Katharine Swartz, she is the author of the Tales from Goswell books, a series of time-slip novels set in the village of Goswell. 

She likes to read women's fiction, mystery and thrillers, as well as historical novels. She particularly enjoys reading about well-drawn characters and avoids high-concept plots.

Having lived in both New York City and a tiny village on the windswept northwest coast of England, she now resides in a market town in Wales with her husband, five children, and two Golden Retrievers.

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My Review for Pan by Michael W. Clune, read by Michael Crouch

“Panic … isn’t a disease of death. It’s a disease of life.”

I’m not quite sure how I feel about this one. It’s very different to anything I’ve read—or listened to—before.

The fact it’s still on my mind probably means it struck a chord. I keep turning it over, wondering what the author wanted us to take from it. It was definitely unique, throwing us right into Nicholas’s mind and showing us how his panic attacks take hold, and how much they weigh on him.

Nicholas doesn’t have the easiest family life. His mum passes him on to his dad, and when he goes to live with his dad, he’s left alone because work takes priority. That pretty much leaves Nicholas to his own devices. His friends, too, don’t feel like real friends—they seem to use him more than support him.

I’ve noticed that other reviews of Pan highlight the philosophical nature of the story, the beautiful prose, and the intensity of teenage thought. That’s not really my style. If you’ve read my reviews before, you’ll know I focus more on how the story and characters made me feel.

So here’s my take: it was strange, it was different, and it was definitely a little weird—but not in a bad way. Would I recommend it? Yes, I think so. But I also believe that every single reader (or listener) will walk away with something different. For me, it was a story about a teenage boy worried about growing up and finding his place in life. I didn’t pick up on the rhythm of the words, the “beautiful prose,” or the artistic side of it—but that’s okay.

Thank you to Vintage Books for the opportunity to listen to and review Pan by Michael Clune.

About the Book

A strange and brilliant teenager's first panic attacks lead him down the rabbit hole in this wild, highly anticipated debut novel from one of our most distinctive literary minds

“I steal language and ideas from Michael Clune.” ―Ben Lerner, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of The Topeka School

Nicholas is fifteen when he forgets how to breathe. He had plenty of reason to feel unstable He’s been living with his dad in the bleak Chicago suburbs since his Russian-born mom kicked him out. Then one day in geometry class, Nicholas suddenly realizes that his hands are objects. The doctor says it’s just panic, but Nicholas suspects that his real problem might not be a psychiatric maybe the Greek god Pan is trapped inside his body. As his paradigm for his own consciousness crumbles, Nicholas; his best friend, Ty; and his maybe-girlfriend, Sarah, hunt for answers why—in Oscar Wilde and in Charles Baudelaire, in rock and roll and in Bach, and in the mysterious, drugged-out Barn, where their classmate Tod’s charismatic older brother Ian leads the high schoolers in rituals that might end up breaking more than just the law.

Thrilling, cerebral, and startlingly funny, Pan is a new masterpiece of the coming-of-age genre by Guggenheim fellow and literary scholar Michael Clune, whose memoir of heroin addiction, White Out—named one of The New Yorker’s best books of the year—earned him a cult fan base. Now, in Pan, the great novel of our age of anxiety, Clune drops us inside the human psyche, where we risk discovering that the forces controlling our inner lives could be more alien than we want to let ourselves believe.

About Michael - by Michael 

I write about memory, literature, money, and music. Sometimes I work in creative nonfiction and fiction; some problems require academic methods. I believe that literary style isn’t decoration but a form of knowledge.

My creative books include a novel (Pan, forthcoming from Penguin in Summer 2025), and a work of creative nonfiction, Gamelife (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015). The tenth anniversary edition of my memoir White Out: The Secret Life of Heroin appeared in 2023 from McNally Editions.

My most recent critical book is A Defense of Judgment (University of Chicago Press, 2021). Other monographs include Writing Against Time (Stanford University Press, 2013) and American Literature and the Free Market (Cambridge University Press, 2010).

My essays have appeared in Harper’s—where I am a contributing editor—Critical Inquiry, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The Atlantic, Best American Essays, PMLA, and elsewhere. My work has been supported by fellowships from the Guggenheim and Mellon Foundations, and my books have appeared on “best of the year” lists from The New Yorker, NPR, and elsewhere.

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My Review for New Arrivals at Hedgehog Hollow by Jessica Redland, read by Emma Swan and James Dryden

“To find a rainbow, you’ve got to have some rain and I’d certainly experienced one heck of a storm before I’d found mine.”

A gorgeous addition to the Hedgehog Hollow series, and this one focuses a lot more on Josh and Samantha's families and the past history which goes alongside. Thankfully, the two have each other, and it's lovely to see how supportive they are together. 

I loved that we see lots more hedgehogs in this book, and some with super-cool names, well done Jessica for coming up with those! I learnt lots about hedgehog rescue and actually, just how much work has to go into it, from staying up through the night to feed the hoglets, to mending them when they've been in accidents! As always, with Jessica's books, I came away from this one feeling happy and relaxed, she definitely always makes my mood so much better.

I was trying to decide what to do with some old towels I have. After writing the two reviews for the first two Hedgehog Hollow books, over the last few days, I decided that tomorrow I'm taking them to a local hedgehog rescue centre!

About the Book

With new arrivals comes new responsibilities. . . .

The sun is shining, wild flowers are blooming and Hedgehog Hollow is officially open for business.

For Samantha, the proud owner of this beautiful rescue centre, life has never been busier. But with an influx of new hogs and hoglets to take care of, not to mention a full-time job and ongoing family issues, can she accept the possibility that she has taken on more than she can handle?

Fortunately, she has the love of her life, Josh, by her side for support and encouragement. But Josh has his own family troubles to deal with. And soon he must decide if he's ready to do the one thing he swore he'd never do - forgive his father.

For both Samantha and Josh it's a season of change and for figuring out whether the past can truly be forgotten.

About Jessica - by Jessica

I write uplifting stories of love, friendship, family and community set in stunning Yorkshire. My Whitsborough Bay books take readers/listeners to the North Yorkshire Coast and my Hedgehog Hollow books transport them deep into the countryside of the Yorkshire Wolds.

My books are about real people living real lives. You'll find plenty of warm and fuzzy moments between the pages but you may occasionally find yourself tearing up and reaching for the tissues. I love my characters so, no matter how tough the going gets, I make sure they get their happy ending. Of course, with a series, it may take a few books to fully get there!

My favourite subject at school was English and I always loved the aspects of my day job in HR which involved writing but I never considered writing a novel until my manager told me that my business reports read more like stories and joked that I should write a book. As soon as a plot idea presented itself, that’s exactly what I did.

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My Review for Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow by Jessica Redland, read by Emma Swan

“The less you respond to negative people, the more peaceful your life will become. Find your peace”

Hedgehog Hollow was my first venture into Jessica's books, way back at the beginning of the summer of 2024 - yes I'm only just now writing my review! 🙊 What can I say? Life gets in the way!

Anyway, I'm here now and I adored it. I saw the word 'hedgehog' and I knew I'd love it. Samantha was so deserving of finding a new life in a new place and making new friends, after having so much taken away from her, and so many mean people in her life. I admired her stoicism and endeavours to open a hedgehog rescue centre and make Thomas's dreams come true.

Emma Swan was brilliant at narrating this, she drew me into Sam's life, hopes, and dreams and all the itsy, bitsy, cutesy hedgehogs. I've already listened to the second one in this series, which I loved just as much. 

Jessica fast became one of my favourite authors, and now I am looking forward to working my way through all her books. 

About the Book

As Samantha Wishaw watches the love of her life marry another woman, she’s ready to give up hope of finding her happy ever after.

But when a chance encounter leads Sam to find friendship in Thomas – a lonely, grumpy elderly widower living at derelict Hedgehog Hollow – her life is about to change forever.

Glad to have a distraction from family feuds and match-making, Sam vows to fulfill Thomas and his wife, Gwendoline’s, dreams of restoring Hedgehog Hollow to its former glory, and to open a hedgehog rescue centre.

Throwing herself into the task at hand, little does Sam realize that the keys to love and happiness may also be found at Hedgehog Hollow, when she least expects it…

About Jessica - by Jessica

I write uplifting stories of love, friendship, family and community set in stunning Yorkshire. My Whitsborough Bay books take readers/listeners to the North Yorkshire Coast and my Hedgehog Hollow books transport them deep into the countryside of the Yorkshire Wolds.

My books are about real people living real lives. You'll find plenty of warm and fuzzy moments between the pages but you may occasionally find yourself tearing up and reaching for the tissues. I love my characters so, no matter how tough the going gets, I make sure they get their happy ending. Of course, with a series, it may take a few books to fully get there!

My favourite subject at school was English and I always loved the aspects of my day job in HR which involved writing but I never considered writing a novel until my manager told me that my business reports read more like stories and joked that I should write a book. As soon as a plot idea presented itself, that’s exactly what I did.

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