Writing and reviews with an environmental, science fiction, and fantasy touch
The Jewel of Peru is book one of an intended MG series by Sharon Skretting, entitled The Ultimate Treasure Chest. I’ve taken the liberty of detaching it from its series name to fit in my Alphabet Soup reading challenge for
Flavia Alba is the second series by Lindsey Davis, set in Ancient Rome, but later than her first. It’s later by a generation; Flavia Alba is the adopted daughter of the protagonist of the first series, Marcus Didius Falco. I’ve
The Way of All Flesh turns out to be a Scottish Gothic murder mystery. I received it from Net-galley as an advance review copy. I say ‘turns out to be’ because I found the blurb intriguing, which is why I
The Mystery of Three Quarters is a new Hercule Poirot Mystery from Sophie Hannah, published on 23rd August. I’m very grateful to the publishers HarperCollins (HarperFiction) and to Net-Galley for a pre-release review copy. As you know I’ve already read
Ringworld was a chosen book for July for the Space Opera Goodreads group. I feel I should be reading and reviewing more science fiction, but I have to be careful it doesn’t mess with my own writing ideas. This copy
This weekend only: Willoughby the Narrator is on sale at 99 c everywhere, thanks to Patty’s SF/F Promos! Check out all the books in this promo on Patty’s link here… And now for Wildcatter, a book of the month for
The Survival Game came into my life via an email from Net-Galley. I am very grateful to the publishers for letting me read an ARC (a very well formatted ARC, too). This completely lived up to my expectations. In fact,
Behind the Beautiful Forevers is my bookclub book for July. I’m not sure I’m going to complete it before Monday’s meeting, as I have another book to get feedback ready before the month end. But I am three-quarters through as
The Secret Horses of Briar Hill was the June Book of the Month for the GMGR Goodreads Group. I’d set the theme of ‘horses’ and there was a good set of nominations, from Black Beauty right the way through to
A Brief History of Time is widely cited as the most bought but unread book in the world. I suspect that’s an exaggeration. However, I can announce that the number who have it unopened on their shelves has decreased by
Saffron grows in exotic eastern countries, or so I thought. Our bookclub read for the month suggested it grows perfectly well in Cornwall. This sounds like an excuse to link my usual Saturday Book Review post with a random act
Old Baggage is my book review this week, and I’m still working out how to link in the #30DaysWild aspect. You’ll find out how I did after you’ve read the review! Thank you to Net-Galley and the publisher who provided a
Dreamwood is my book review for today. This fantasy adventure for middle grade readers takes place around the north-west coast of a settler-era America. What’s so #30DaysWild about that? Well, with all the things going on with the trees, I thought
Shadows from the Past is an MG historical time travel mystery suspense adventure series by Wendy Leighton-Porter. Wendy has won several awards in the last year. These are thoroughly deserved, as it’s an excellent series, which gives you a real
Elly Griffiths published her tenth Ruth Galloway book in February. Despite having pre-ordered the paperback version from Amazon (due out in July), I got an ARC from NetGalley, and then wondered whether I was doing the right thing, since I
All is not lost when it comes to my To Be Read list on Goodreads. I told you in March I’d added another StoryBundle this year, with books I really really want to read. Since then I’ve had even more
Daemon has been hanging around near the top of my TBR for years. Poor Doug Dandridge has had to wait over 5 years for me to review his book, and I bet I got it in an offer of some
The Company of Eight was a book I requested on Net-Galley, so I thank them and the publishers for allowing me a review copy. As usual, my review is my honest opinion of the book. The Company of Eight Harriet
The Yellow Admiral is the eighteenth book of the Aubrey-Maturin series. These are the books on which the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World was based. The sequel was never made because, despite worldwide popularity, box-office
Snapshots is my book review for this Saturday in the A to Z Challenge. I’ve already read a lot of titles beginning with s this year; I’m glad I continued and read this one. It helps me towards my reading
My Animals and Other Family is a clever play on the title of a Gerald Durrell book, for which the author got permission from Durrell’s family to use. The author is Clare Balding, a UK National Treasure. She went from
Subway | Palliatopia is a new YA book from S W Lothian, and looks like it could run into at least a sequel. I got an ARC from the author, who was one of the most inspirational of the authors
Death by Adverb is out this week! Thursday is launch day for Rebecca Douglass’s latest in her Pismawallops PTA cozy mystery series. It’s number three, and it’s the best yet! Check out the excerpt at the end… Death by Adverb (Pismawallops
Three Men in a Boat was suggested by one of our bookclub members. We wanted a classic read, and I welcomed this one rather than Jane Eyre or Charles Dickens. (Although I do want to reread A Tale of Two
The TBR Hole again! The ever-increasing list of books on my TBR will only ever be kept under control if I continue to go through and weed out the ones that shouldn’t be there. Since I last carried out this