A bit late on this one, but today we had some pancakes for #FoodAndLit #Iceland

They had a little bit of cinnamon and nutmeg in the batter which made them extra tasty!

While it might not have been my favourite audio, I loved this book.
Some people might find it slow but I think the pacing and dreamlike quality of (most of) Robin McKinley‘s books are wonderful!

After the previous master and chalice are killed, a beekeeper/woodswoman becomes the chalice. She finds her way alongside a new master who has returned from the fire priests, with a little help from her bees and honey 🍯

Cooked some food today for #FoodAndLit #Turkey

Some Turkish bread (Bazlama), chicken kebab, courgette fritter (Mucver), and cacik. It was very tasty!

The first in a series of fictionalised memoirs about world renowned dragon naturalist, Lady Trent.

Covering her childhood interest in anatomy and sparklings, through to the culmination of her first expedition to study the dragons native to Vystrana, this is a story of a woman pushing societal expectations to follow her passion for dragons.

I really enjoyed the audio for this 🐉

This was my #Roll100 pick for June.

It was okay and had some interesting parts, but overall I didn‘t feel like I learnt much about rabies, and a lot of the book was anecdotal.

#Roll100 for July is Where the Light gets in.

Lucy Dillon is one of my favourite authors for a heartfelt read, especially since there is always a minimum of 1 dog 🐕

My July #BookSpinBingo board.
Fingers crossed for a line this month!

My #BookSpin is The Red Scrolls of Magic
And my #DoubleSpin is my #FoodAndLit pick The Architect‘s Apprentice

Well, half the year is gone 😂
I read 3 books in June, 1 of which was carried over from May, and started another 2.

I finished:

• Cathedral of the Sea (May FoodAndLit read)
• I Remember You (Jun FoodAndLit read)
• Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower (DoubleSpin)

I also started reading my Roll100 book Rabid, and A Natural History of Dragons on audio.

#BookSpinBingo

3 friends are renovating a house in an isolated town. The last owner mysteriously vanished. Meanwhile a psychiatrist who lost his son is working on a suicide case with links to a school break-in.

I enjoyed the writing style and it was interesting to see the two stories weave together BUT switching between the storylines took me away a bit between the more chilling ghost story scenes, and I wasn‘t satisfied with the end!

#FoodAndLit #Iceland

Floralinda is a beautiful princess trapped in a forty-flight tower by a witch. Princes came at the beginning, but after they are all crunched up by the dragon on floor one, Floralinda has to find her own way out of the tower, battling the monsters on each floor on her way down!

This was a fun fast read, and the audio with Moira Quirk is fantastic ☺️

This was my #DoubleSpin

This was my #FoodAndLit pick for #Spain and took me a little while as it was 750 pages 😱

I had a brief pause just before the 50% mark as I did get a bit annoyed with some of the choices the MC was making and couldn‘t be bothered watching it blow up! But I am glad I persevered as I did enjoy the story overall!

It follows Arnau from childhood through to adulthood in 14th century Barcelona, a period including the plague and the inquisition.

My June #BookSpinBingo board

My #BookSpin is Last Guard
My #DoubleSpin is Princess Floralinda and the Forty Flight Tower

My #Roll100 for June is Rabid.

Been on the TBR forever. Very likely it has come up before and I just didn‘t get to it 😂

Goodbye May 👋🏻
Where is the year going?

I finished 4 books in May
• The Easy Life in Kamusari (started in April for #Roll100 and #DoubleSpin)
• Gideon the Ninth (started in April)
• The Girl in Red (#DoubleSpin)
• The Kamogawa Food Detectives (#BookSpin)

I picked a Chunkster for #FoodAndLit which I am hoping to finish in June, and didn‘t make it to this months #Roll100. Let‘s see if I catch up in June ☺️

#BookSpinBingo

Similar to books like Before the coffee gets cold and What you are looking for is in the library. The Kamogawa diner is a restaurant with a difference. There is no sign and no reviews, but they can find your food. People coming to the agency are looking to recreate a dish from their past, and the agency can make it happen!

I enjoyed it overall but I would have preferred there to be more details about the actual investigating.

#BookSpin

I enjoyed this book (on audio) which was my #DoubleSpin for the month.

I am a bit disappointed that some things weren‘t exactly “solved” but overall it was a good read.

During a deadly pandemic Red begins the journey to her Grandma‘s house. But there are wolves that want to take advantage of a girl alone in the woods.

Today we made paella for #FoodAndLit #Spain

It was delicious!
It contains asparagus, green beans, chorizo, chicken, and prawns 🙃

This one has some mixed reviews, but I LOVED it! And the narrator was amazing which is always a bonus.

Gideon has always wanted to escape from the ninth, but now she is cavalier to her enemy, the reverend daughter, necromancer and heir to the ninth. The emperor has called on each of the houses to come to the first house for a trial of wits and skill to become his immortal hands. But the process is even deadlier than they imagined.

This was my April #Roll100 and #DoubleSpin

This is a coming of age story based in the Japanese mountains where the MC is sent to train in forestry. While it was a slow paced read, it was full of detail and i enjoyed learning about the forest industry over the course of a year.

My May #BookSpinBingo board

#BookSpin is The Kamogawa Food Detectives
#DoubleSpin is The Girl in Red

My April #BookSpinBingo wrap up.

I finished 5 books:
• It would be night in Caracas (foodandlit)
• The Caiman (foodandlit)
• Alpha Night (March doublespin)
• What you are looking for is in the library (Bookspin)
• Before the coffee gets cold

And I have 2 in progress:
• Gideon the ninth
• The easy life in Kamusari (roll100 and doublespin)

I will likely finish those this week, but not in April!

My #Roll100 for May is Sophie‘s World.

Glad I am getting to this one, as my mum bought it for me after she read and enjoyed it ☺️

My goals for the #AwesomeApril readathon are:

• Read The Easy Life in Kamusari
• Finish Gideon the Ninth
• Start one of my May Bookspin Bingo reads

Homemade Arepas filled with Carne Mechada, black beans, and cheese for #FoodAndLit #Venezuela

These were delicious! But we did make the arepas a bit too thin, so they were very hard to cut to fill. We will likely make these again though and keep in mind that they need to be slightly thicker!

A female alpha, a “damaged” arrow, and a mating at first sight!

It was great to see a female alpha, and the Russian wolf pack (as well as some more of the bears). The care they both took to look after each other following their surprise mating was great. And I love how in this series everything interconnects. We get new povs each book, but the overarching story continues, and we see old MCs too.

This was my March #DoubleSpin
#SeriesLove2024

I liked the premise of this one, but it did get a bit samey with the descriptions of the coffee and going back in time. I think that was partially because it is very similar in style to What you are looking for is in the library! But I did enjoy it! I don‘t think I will rush to get the next one, but I will probably read it in the future :)

#DogsOfLitsy #ReadingBuddy

This was my choice for #FoodAndLit #Venezuela

The MC Adelaide is trying to survive during a period of unrest, and following her mothers death. While it was interesting to read of her struggles, it was difficult to keep track of what was happening at times, and the background wasn‘t fully fleshed out. I also found it very hard to like the character.

Overall it was good enough to keep reading, but only just. In the end it wasn‘t my cup of tea ☕️🫖

I enjoyed this one.

5 people in the same community end up at the local library getting recommendations from the librarian. While they know they are dissatisfied with their lives, these book recommendations and accompanying bonus gifts help them to realise what they want and that they are already turning their lives around. Overall a good slow paced read.

#BookSpin

Based on a true story, a Caiman is adopted by a man named Faoro. The Caiman can come and go as she pleases, plays with the neighbourhood children, and is part of his life even after he gets married.

This was a sweet (and sad) children‘s book and a quick read for #Venezuela #FoodAndLit

My April #BookSpinBingo board

My #BookSpin is What you are Looking for is in the Library
2 is coming up a lot lately, so my #Doublespin coincides with my #Roll100 again, which is The Easy Life in Kamusari

My #Roll100 for April is the tagged book.
I got this ebook a few years ago as part of Amazon‘s world book day, so I am looking forward to giving it a go!

March #BookSpinBingo roundup :)

I got through 3 books:
• Pachinko (food and lit)
• The Thursday Murder Club
• and Written in the Blood (Roll 100 and Bookspin)

I met 2 of my #MarvellousMarch goals by finishing the books I was on with, but didn‘t quite make it to starting another book or reading my doublespin.

As some of these books were bigger and I had a busy month, I am pretty pleased with this ☺️

I couldn‘t remember much about The String Diaries, but I got swept up in this sequel!

The main character and her daughter from book 1 have been with the Hosszu eletek for the last 15 years, and are working on a fertility programme to improve the races birth rate. But the Hosszu eletek volunteers are not enough, and a new threat to their race, the Tolvajak, thought to be extinct are now hunting down their young.

#Roll100 #BookSpin #SeriesLove2024

The Thursday Murder Club meets once a week to go through cold cases. But now they have their first real life murder mystery!

I really enjoyed this cosy mystery and the audio was excellent.

#SeriesLove2024 #MarvellousMarch

What a beautiful sunny morning for the start of #MarvellousMarch

I am working today and possibly tomorrow but I have hopes that I can complete the following goals:

• Finish Written in the Blood (about 50% through currently)
• Finish The Thursday Murder Club (on audio)
• Start another book

I was a little behind on my #FoodAndLit cooking but all caught up now ☺️

We made Korean fried chicken and kimchi fried rice for our main, and pavlova for dessert

#Korea #NewZealand

The story followed a Korean family, starting in Korea and ending in Japan. Covering a time period of 4 generations, there are a lot of hard topics, but it didn‘t feel like any were focused on too much as it was about the family during those times.

I don‘t really know how to describe it better… but I enjoyed it 😂

#FoodAndLit

My March #BookSpinBingo board

My #BookSpin once again aligns with #Roll100 which is Written in the Blood
My #DoubleSpin is Alpha Night

Only got through three books for feb #BookSpinBingo. And they were on the same line! So close and yet so far 😂

I read:
• The Picture of Dorian Gray (roll100 and doublespin)
• Potiki (foodandlit)
• and Archangel‘s Resurrection (Bookspin)

Another great addition to the Guild Hunter series.

This one focuses on the era spanning love story of 2 Archangels, Alexander and Zanaya. But we still get to see some of our favourites from previous books, and see how the world has started to recover from the plague of reborn left after the war.

#BookSpin #SeriesLove2024

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, so looking forward to finally getting around to book 2!

#Roll100

This was my pick for #NewZealand #FoodAndLit

It was an interesting look at a Māori tribe trying to keep their ancestral land when developers are trying to convince them to leave. Things get out of hand when the developers realise they can‘t be bought. I don‘t know much about the culture so it was a nice insight into some of the customs.

It took me a few chapters to get into it (and boy were all these men dramatic!) but overall I enjoyed it. Like with a lot of the classics I think more is left to the imagination than adaptations would have you believe (Jekyll and Hyde, Dracula etc all fall into this category). It is atmosphere more than shock value.
Also why are 90% of the book covers and adaptations of a black haired Dorian Gray when he has golden hair? 🤔

#Roll100 #DoubleSpin

And here is my February #BookSpinBingo board.

My #DoubleSpin overlaps with my #Roll100 this month, which is The Picture of Dorian Gray

My #BookSpin fell on a series in progress so is Archangel‘s Resurrection

Started the year well with 4 books finished in January :)

• A Madness of Sunshine (Roll100)
• Smoke Bitten (BookSpin and SeriesLove2024)
• The Scent of Burnt Flowers (FoodandLit)
• and Soul Taken (DoubleSpin and SeriesLove2024)

#BookSpinBingo

Officially caught up with the Mercy Thompson series now!
I do quite like Wulfe so seeing a bit more of him and Zee was quite a nice change.
Another great read!

#DoubleSpin #SeriesLove2024

We made Ghanaian red red today

I don‘t think I was meant to keep the water the beans were in based on pictures, but I stand by my decision as I would 100% have burnt the stew if I didn‘t add at least some water. And it was still very tasty 😂

Served with avocado here as I didn‘t want to make tostones after getting home late, but might do them tomorrow with leftovers ☺️

#FoodAndLit #Ghana

My #Roll100 for Feb.
This one keeps making it onto these lists and then being ignored. So this month is THE MONTH! You will be removed from my TBR, no more excuses 😂

Fleeing the FBI, an American couple go to Ghana. But it isn‘t as easy as they hoped, with the FBI on their tail and a country on the brink of a coup.

This book was okay, but I didn‘t like the small amounts of magical realism scattered in (some references to mermaids, a shapeshifting army, and a magic guitar) and the anticlimactic ending.
I feel like with magical/fantasy elements you need to go all in or just not bother 😂

#FoodAndLit #Ghana

Finished reading my #BookSpin with the pup this morning.
Another excellent instalment.

With such a large cast of characters, I think it could be easy to have very 2D personalities and relationships. But in this series, everyone is well fleshed out and don‘t necessarily just have happily ever afters, they have to work at things. Which is probably what helps keeps this series exciting even after so many books 😂

#SeriesLove2024