#Discworld puzzles from Discworld Emporium

Worryingly, there's no note from the Thieves Guild in the box. 🤔🦧 Maybe they remembered that I got two notes in one package last time I ordered.

Six down on their luck mystery adjacent people are invited to the small village of Midwinter to compete in a fictional murder mystery game organised by the Midwinter Trust. Then two actual murders happen.

I read an excerpt late last year which made this sound like a locked room murder mystery homage to the Golden Age Mysteries where the reader is encouraged to guess the clues together with the amateur sleuths.
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#NetGalley #ARC #MountARC

Nix has left her past in the past and moved on with her life in the military, or so she thought. Then Kessandra, her former lover and the people's favourite 'royal', hires Nix as her bodyguard on a covert operation. On the way to the mission, on board a Titanic-like submersible, Kess briefs Nix about what is really at stake; and not a minute too soon,... ⬇️

#NetGalley #ARC #MountARC

#OokBOokClub

Just a friendly reminder that, following the DW Reading Guide we'll be reading #WheresMyCow & #MinutesOfTheMeeting to Form the Proposed Ankh-Morpork Federation of Scouts & #TheWorldOfPoo starting December 8th (discussion starts Jan 7th, 2026). Dig out your books, put in your library holds, or place your orders!

I've included the schedule for the first half of 2026 and will update you all with the full schedule in January.

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#OokBOokClub-ers, our Discworld adventure continues TODAY with #Thud!

Looking forward to our discussion next month!

Happy reading!

#Discworld #SirTerryPratchett #TerryPratchett #PratchettPosse #ReadAlong #BuddyRead #EpicBuddyRead

#OokBOokClub

Hello friends! Open discussion is in the FOLLOWING POST marked as a spoiler. Find the #NightWatch post & tap "show me" on the spoiler tag to join in the discussion. Join in whenever you can! Today. Tomorrow. Next month! The post will always be up so just tag each other & we'll jump in to discuss with you. Feel free to chat about anything!

#Discworld #SirTerryPratchett #TerryPratchett #PratchettPosse #ReadAlong #BuddyRead

My son brought home a "hunting trophy". ??

#NonBookRelated but kind of related, see tag.

#ARC #MountARC #NetGalley

Compared to the first book in the Bristol Keats duology, this was a slow read. The main plot had so many points of view that it felt like it was moving at a snail's pace. In addition, the romance plot leaned very heavily into the miscommunication trope. In the final 20%, though, all the action happened.

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Dante (40-ish) moved from the UK to NZ after retiring from working for MI-6 about 100 days ago. His peace and quiet is destroyed when Charlie, the gardener, knocks on his door. Then Ted, shady rich guy, blackmails Dante into working as his bodyguard. And someone shoots at Ted. The someone is suspected to have been Charlie. Should Dante help clear Charlie's name? Or clean the house, use an alias and leave the country?

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Ellie and Adam, together with Neil and Connie, are in India this time. With the help of Connie's extensive maternal family finding the Arrow of Fortune should be as easy as pie. Obviously it's not as easy, otherwise we'd have got a novella and not a full-sized novel.

This book is full of adventure, humour, romance, a pinch of spice, and a lot of heart.

#NetGalley #ARC #MountARC

#SeriesLove

I liked the rather unlikeable MC. Some of the shenanigans were over the top, so was some of the humour, and it was predictable, BUT I wanted to know how it played out.

Low pick

Tiffenie is a 300-year old vampire living a rather reclusive life in LA. She has hardly any connections outside of work at an all-night plasma centre other than her neighbour Heaven and her ex Vlad, who's still texting her every day. But Halloween brings an offer of change to Tiffenie's un-life; the woman whose identity she took on ten years ago inherited an inn in Vermont.

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#NetGalley #ARC #MountARC

October wrap-up

A few less than stellar reads this month, but also lots of good reads. My favourite of this month was Arrow of Fortune (rtc).

Sunrise plus a pre-ordered ebook that just dropped and a short story in the newsletter.

The irony, I'm off to see my ophthalmologist and I won't be able to read for half the day. 😬
Edited: appointment went better than expected and I can read all day 🥳

But, fortunately, I was just approved for an audiobook ARC. 😁

Third instalment in the Raiders of the Arcana series.

#SeriesLove

When you have loads of apples and a handful of frozen berries, you have to make at least a small crumble. Right?

Pairing it with #OokBOokClub read

I love this series, it has strong "The Mummy" and "Romancing the Stone" vibes. The first book is on offer right now "0.99 in USD, CAD, EUR, AUD, and NZD".

#SeriesLove

#BookMail

Three of the five(?) six(?) books I'm currently reading. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️😬😵‍💫

The Isle in the Silver Sea - was just published
Pendergast - expected publication in January 2026
Arrow of Fortune - pub day 20th November (third book of the Raiders of the Arcana series)

#ARC #MountARC #NetGalley

"A smutty horror-comedy featuring unbridled narcissism, Vampires at Sea is a hilarious snack!"

I think this book suffers from false advertising. It's not smutty - although there is lots of sex. It's not horror - passengers vanish, but the narcissistic MC never cares about this and it's not investigated. It's not funny - it's poking fun at people by looking down at/insulting them.

#NetGalley #ARC #MountARC

A group of librarians, with secrets and trauma in their backstories, are sure that if they don't solve the murders of two newish patrons, they might be held responsible, or worse their secrets might be revealed.

I liked especially how the four protagonists learn to trust and lean on each other.

Current #audiobook read for @DeweysReadathon

Non-bookish content

@Jari-chan - the boo-bees, seven weeks old on Monday. Still so happy I got them.

Haunted house, crazy family with even weirder family secrets, MC with ADHD, M/M romance

#BookMail

Preordered, officially published last week and I'm surprised it's here already. My unreliable bookshop estimated it to be delivered in December. 🙄🙄

I guess this time my @DeweysReadathon is going to be packed with re-reads.

Okay, I didn't think it was Friday, I only thought it was Thursday, but still... I went around wishing people a good weekend 🤦🏻‍♀️

I'm going to go into hiding now. In my book stack fort.

Anyone doing @DeweysReadathon this weekend?

A Christmas-y-ish The Stranger Times novel, do I need to say more?

It's just as weird and funny and bonkers as you probably imagined it to be, and then some.

Published 09 Oct 2025

#NetGalley #ARC #MountARC

Dinosaurs in a small mining town in Wales. The Time Police under lockdown and no communication. Grint turns the local library into a fortress against a dinosaur stampede; thank the God of Time for Librarians. Also, Dr Maxwell, dinosaur expert from St Mary's, is trying her best to help. What could possibly go wrong?

Still love this series and I'm definitely here for the weird characters and their shenanigans.

Another fun romp.

#OokBOokClub

Just a friendly reminder that we'll be reading #Thud next! Dig out your books, put in your library holds, or place your orders! The next Discworld adventure continues on November 8th! Woohoo!

If anyone wants to be tagged/untagged for future posts please let me know! Happy to oblige!

#OokBOokClub-ers, our Discworld adventure continues TODAY with #NightWatch!

Looking forward to our discussion next month!

Happy reading!

#Discworld #SirTerryPratchett #TerryPratchett #PratchettPosse #ReadAlong #BuddyRead #EpicBuddyRead

#OokBOokClub

Hello friends! Open discussion is in the FOLLOWING POST marked as a spoiler. Find the #FifthElephant post & tap "show me" on the spoiler tag to join in the discussion. Join in whenever you can! Today. Tomorrow. Next month! The post will always be up so just tag each other & we'll jump in to discuss with you. Feel free to chat about anything!

#Discworld #SirTerryPratchett #TerryPratchett #PratchettPosse #ReadAlong #BuddyRead

It's here at last!!!!

Pre-ordered and had to wait for ages, it was published in July.

This was not even close to Lights Out.

Flat characters, disjointed story, yet lots of sometimes well-crafted spice.

It read as if the author had some spicy scenes and added a story to connect them.

A Steeping of Blood is the second book in the Blood and Tea duology by Hafsah Faizal. I enjoyed the first book and was happy to receive an early audiobook review copy of the second book. I'm trying to keep this review as spoiler free as possible for anyone who hasn't read the books yet.

#NetGalley #ARC #MountARC

Already published

Low pick

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#FirstLineFridays

The pink cover was shouting at me to pick it up.

"When the letter arrives, Harriet Lockhart assumes it's another death threat, and leaves it on the mantelpiece with the others, for six days.

Two Gothic novelists with peculiar similarities in their works both decide, independently of each other, to visit a partially collapsed Gothic manor house for inspiration (and also to make sure the other can't steal any ideas). Their pasts and the house's past might nudge them together.

Sapphic Gothic romance - rivals-to-lovers, there are two beds(!), there are a lot of ghosts of the past

#NetGalley #ARC #MountARC (already published)

Cliffhanger ending?! Why?!

September wrap-up

28 books read
1 DNF

The stack of books I brought home from #Gladstones25

Thank you @squirrelbrain and @MicheleinPhilly for being my postboxes across the channel and the big pond.

Thanks @Oryx for the BDWAB book (tagged).

Last impressions from #Gladstones25 😉

@Oryx @TrishB @MicheleinPhilly @scripturient @squirrelbrain @Leniverse @BarbaraBB @rockpools @RaeLovesToRead @jenniferw88

Cows today.

#Gladstonerds #GladstonesLibrary #ReadingRetreat #Gladstones25

@Oryx @TrishB @MicheleinPhilly @scripturient @squirrelbrain @Leniverse @BarbaraBB @rockpools @RaeLovesToRead @jenniferw88

Met my spirit animal this morning.

#Gladstonerds #GladstonesLibrary #ReadingRetreat #Gladstones25

@Oryx @TrishB @MicheleinPhilly @scripturient @Leniverse @BarbaraBB @squirrelbrain @rockpools @RaeLovesToRead @jenniferw88

#FirstLineFridays

'Ah, for Christ's sake...'

Gratuitous picture of my morning walk, which took me in the opposite direction of where @squirrelbrain went.

#Gladstonerds #GladstonesLibrary #ReadingRetreat #Gladstones25

@Oryx @TrishB @MicheleinPhilly @scripturient @Leniverse @BarbaraBB @rockpools @RaeLovesToRead @jenniferw88

Thanks for the socks, @scripturient - perfect for keeping warm in the Reading Rooms.

#Gladstonerds #GladstonesLibrary #ReadingRetreat #Gladstones25

First book of the #ReadingRetreat, #Gladstones25, finished at the airport before departure.

A retelling of Cinderella as a ghost haunting her father's house and serving her step-mother and her daughters. Until she goes to the ball.

Novella #NetGalley #ARC #MountARC

Also pictured: books that @squirrelbrain and @MicheleinPhilly brought vor me. Directionally challenged signs, book cover, carrot cake,
me, in front of the camera

And so it begins.

A weekend with friends, reading and cake and tea.

#ReadingRetreat #Gladstonerds

@Leniverse @squirrelbrain @scripturient @BarbaraBB @TrishB @MicheleinPhilly @RaeLovesToRead @Oryx @rockpools @jenniferw88

Haven't shared my #weekendreads in a while.

Cinder House (ARC) - novella, retelling of Cinderella, but only loosely connected to the fairytale, includes queer lovestory and some spice 🌶️🌶️

City of Stairs (🎧) - it's been on #MountTBR for ages

Ladies in Hating (ARC) - two Gothic novellists w/ a past, w/ current beef, but also w/ chemistry, sapphic 🌶️🌶️🌶️

@rachelsbrittain

Book not in database

#NetGalley #ARC #MountARC #audiobook

Martin, an octogenarian, is convalescing from hip replacement surgery at the local retirement home. He's convinced he used to work as a spy for the British government and is determined to use his skills to solve the murder of another resident of the home. Albie, Martin's next door neighbour, is reluctant to be roped into the operation, he thinks Martin is loosing his marbles, ⬇️