Sam's Fireside - Cosy Book Reviews & Recommendations

'Oh my god. This woman is like a sorceress. She has enchanted them all'. This one had my head spinning around and around from the very beginning to the very end. I think I honestly suspected every single character in the book of being the fruity-loop mad one who was lying - did I get it right - ever? No, not really, not until right at the very end when it was becoming apparent anyway. Kudos to Nicola for keeping me guessing.  I can't say that I particularly liked any of the characters, there were devious sides to them all, lies that they all told, and judgments that were made with no thought for the people being judged. However, the unlikeable characters definitely brought that added extra to the story and were brilliantly thought out and written.  Praise to Jodie Harris for her narration. Her investment in the characters, had me even more invested than I would have been if I'd simply read it.  Thank you to Dreamscape Media and Libro FM for the opportunity to listen to ...

'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 ...

'The Wale who was the type of prince who would hand me his own sword to help me slay my dragons'. I adored this one. I have Yinka on my TBR, but I just haven't managed to get around to it yet. This one came up on Libro FM, and so I grabbed it.  Temi and Wale are as cute as. Annoying with their miscommunication, and there were so many times I wanted to grab both of them and shake them until eventually the words would pour out of them. 😂 Temi - just be honest for heaven's sake and Wale - you need to learn to listen, ask questions and not jump to conclusions! I loved that Temi names her glasses and puts on a different pair, depending on how she wants to feel/who she wants to be that day. What an inspiring idea! I appreciated Lizzie writing so openly about sexual harassment, racial discrimination and body image, and how positivity emanated from all the negativity as the book progressed.  Faith Alabi was an inspired choice for the narrator for The Re-Write. With her abilit...

'Nash lived his life in Caps Lock, crashing and bashing his way around…' I adored the first two books in this series and the third is even better, although I don't think I've known how a book hangover feels until now. I don't know where to begin. Everything about Intended is gorgeous, from the red-rocks of Sedona in Arizona, USA, to the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean in Sydney, Australia.  I loved the nineties theme that has been running throughout this series, and to be reminded of so many things from my twenties. Life without the hassle of mobile phones, the internet and social media.  This is one of the best fantasy series I have ever read. I have never been bored and wanted things to happen any faster. Told through multiple points of view, the book flows at just the right pace and the characters are loveable (well, most of them)! Cordelia and Indigo's beautiful relationship continues, and Robbie is probably still my favourite, even if he does lose his ...

'Love is the brightest color in a gray world'. My first Abby Jimenez book was Say You'll Remember Me for June's choice for #thatindiebookclub, and I loved it. I was expecting contemporary romance, but what I actually got was a whole lot more. Yes, there was the love interest, Xavier, the grumpy man and Samantha who was the light within the relationship, but for me, the main story was the devastation that Alzheimer's Disease can bring to a family.  Abby had obviously researched the incurable disease thoroughly, and she wrote with compassion and empathy. I had nothing but admiration for Samantha, for becoming the primary caregiver for her Mum, as well as juggling, living with so many other people. This book was so much about the tightly-knit family unit, and when needed, they all come together with a common goal. Helping each other.  Of course long-distance relationships can work, although not for everyone, and Xavier and Samantha proved how strong their love was for...

'Someone is lying. Someone is missing.  Someone is guilty'. The Guilty One was twisted with a capital T and so messed up that I spoke out loud to my audiobook more than once! 😂 I really enjoyed it, even if Tate was a total douchebag, and that's being kind. Urgh, many of us will know how it feels to be bullied and to be so scared of someone that you will do what they tell you to do, no questions asked and this is what Tate does to people and how he makes them feel.  The story was told between two different timelines, then and now and there were so many twists and turns, I was exhausted - but in a good way! Everyone lies, everyone has something to hide and just when I thought I had worked out what was going on, Kiersten threw another spanner in there and contorted it that little bit more!  The narrators each brought their own special touch to the book, and yep, the characters you're supposed to dislike, you definitely did! They all did a great job. If you like twisted, d...

"When he (the sun) says good-night to the mountains he throws his most beautiful colors over them, so that they may not forget him before he comes again the next day." I adored Heidi when I was growing up, and to say that I was obsessed with the BBC adaptation is an understatement. Despite it being originally filmed in German and dubbed (very badly) into English, I could watch it over and over again. From what I can remember, it was shown on a Sunday morning, week in, and week out, and then repeated all over again.  Until I reread it for June's read for #classiclitbookclub, I'd forgotten how much I loved it. Even now, at 52 years old, I want to be Heidi. I want to be springing from rock to rock as I climb up and down the mountainside. I want to sleep in the loft on a bed of hay and gaze up at the stars through a hole in the roof! When Clara visits from the city, she arrives being unable to walk and leaves, very much recuperated. This reminded me very much of The Secre...