Hazel is worried she is going to turn 30 without ever having done anything adventurous, so when clues start turning up in the romance section of her bookshop, she turns to Noah to help her with the clues and to have a fun summer. But is one summer of fun enough?

My favourite of these so far (read the first 3 now). I think because it was a bit less instalove than the others 🤣

I listened to this on audio for #FoodAndLit #Bolivia

The MC the Condesa‘s decoy, captive among enemies, looking for a way to beat the false king and win her friend the throne. But as she gets to know the people around her, she realises maybe they aren‘t so different and there might be a better way to remove the king and restore peace.
A story of compassion, woven animals, enemies to friends (+), betrayal, and politics. It was an enjoyable read!

The final chapter in fruits basket another (followed by lots of bonus content from when the newer fruits basket anime was released - which I still need to watch. The original never had any conclusion!)

Shiki-kun and Sawa-San start to deal with the complicated feelings they have towards their mothers and family. I will miss hanging out with the Sohma‘s (although I am pretty sure they would be too much for me in reality!)

Finished my #BookSpin book this afternoon with my furry reading buddies.
(Admittedly chores are only half done, but progressing… I have tomorrow as it is a bank holiday 😂)

It was a pretty good mystery, with some twists. The characters were interesting and the short history behind it interesting too!

Another cute instalment.
Sawa has a horrible mother, but at least she finally has some friends.
The Sohma‘s seem like a nice family (and I still have no idea who from the originals 90% of them are related to)

I read the Christmas one previously, so I had some idea of how I would find this.

It is hallmarky, trope packed fun.
Obviously it depends what you are looking for in a read, but sometimes you need a light fluffy palette cleanser, where you know despite at least one misunderstanding, there will be a happy ending. This delivers that! Plus with all these heatwaves, I can‘t wait for cosy autumn times 🤣

Tonight‘s meal is Silpancho with Llajwa for #FoodAndLit #Bolivia

It‘s potatoes, rice, beef (breadcrumbed and flattened), salad, and spicy sauce. It should have an egg too. But I really hate egg 🤣

It was very tasty!

This was really fun. I found someone who described T.Kingfisher as “Cosy Horror” and I think that sums it up quite well.

Mona is a wizard, but working with bread. She works in her aunts bakery until she finds a dead body in the kitchen, forcing her into politics and heroism. It was cute, I liked the smart gingerbread man, and the angry sourdough starter.
But it was also sad, involved war, and was a scathing take on what a hero is.

Again, very cute.
It would be very tiring trying to keep track of the huge Sohma family! But they are very welcoming.

I am trying to piece together who everyone‘s parents are from the original, but I‘m not having much luck 😂

A super cute start to this series.
Very mysterious but no one is turning into zodiac animals, so I am interested in what makes the family so popular/intriguing in this generation.

“An incredibly sparkly boy has appeared!” 🤣

I enjoyed this dark romance with nods to Peter Pan.

Everyone was awful 😂
But I was rooting for the FMC and MMC to have a happy ending anyway!

This was my July #DoubleSpin

My August #BookSpinBingo board!

#BookSpin is The Good Knight
#DoubleSpin is Winterkeep

3 books finished in July and another 2 started.

I finished:
• The Storyteller (food and lit)
• Nettle & Bone
• All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries)

And started:
• Hooked (this is my doublespin)
• A Wizards Guide to Defensive Baking

#BookspinBingo

Not as visually appealing as the Peruvian food 😂
But we made the food for #FoodAndLit #Greenland (which should have been last month, but I was too hot to make it haha).

So here we have a fish casserole (substituting cod for halibut. Couldn‘t find it anywhere) with a hot potato salad. It was different. I kind of liked it? But probably wouldn‘t make it again 🤣

I watched the show as it had been advertised while we were watching Long Way Home, and I hadn‘t realised it was based on a book.
I found the first book on audible plus (only available until the 5th August, so go now!). While very similar, the show added some extra scenes for dramatic effect.

I enjoyed the sci-fi elements, found the MC (Murderbot) relatable and likeable!, and the audio was great. Will definitely look for more in this series!

I still haven‘t made my Greenland food (planning to this coming week) but we have made food from #Peru for #FoodAndLit tonight!

Shrimp Anticuchos with Chimichurri and Escabeche de Pollo (Peruvian pickled chicken) with sweet potato rounds

The MC (a princess who is almost but not quite a nun) sets out to save her sister from the prince she is married to. An interesting cast of characters including a dog made of bones and wire, and a demon chicken. A cosy story filled with magic.

And yes the MC is naive and hard to believe she is 30… but I enjoyed it anyway 🤣

Did I spend allllll day in town waiting on my car being serviced? Yes I did. And I also have to go back as my maintenance contract won‘t pay for something that needs replacing. BUT all is not lost!

I am behind the times but today I discovered there is a fruits basket sequel and the shop I was in had all 4 🎉

This was my #FoodAndLit pick for #Peru

Overall I did like the story, however it was very slow and the chapters were soooooo long it made it hard to fit in reading it, and easy to forget where I was 🤣

And my July #BookSpinBingo board is now ready

#BookSpin - Making The Monster
#DoubleSpin - Hooked

My June #BookSpinBingo round up

Not a huge reading month, but still more reading than I anticipated! So still a win 😊

I finished 3 books:
• The Boy with the Narwhal Tooth (Food and Lit)
• The Rainfall Market (Doublespin)
• Role Playing

I have given up on The Echo of Old Books for now as I couldn‘t get into the audio, but will pick it up again some other time.

I loved this one!

A grumpy/sunshine romance, with a meet cute, and some misunderstandings. But overall about two introverts learning about themselves and having each other‘s backs. All while dealing with real life and online gaming 🤣

This was pretty cute.
It reminded me of the midnight library, but with the wished for lives being shown as someone else‘s experience rather than your own.

At the start of the rainy season, humans with a ticket can visit the rainfall market, a place where dokkaebi live and sell their wares, and where for a small purchase you can swap your old life for the life of your dreams.

This was my #DoubleSpin this month

This was my pick for #FoodAndLit #Greenland.

It follows newly trained Constable Petra Jensen (who is apparently a character seen in some of the other novels by this author) searching for a boy who has been missing for 12 months.

It features an interesting cast of characters, set in remote Greenland. I felt this ended quickly, but it is a novella! There was closure, but because I feel like it needed something a bit more, it‘s a lower pick for me.

Started this one for #FoodAndLit #Greenland this morning (after much deliberation about what to read).

These are my two reading buddies. Ash is 6 now, and Pippin is nearly 11 weeks. This is as close as they have gotten so far and it lasted about 30 seconds!
Ash is so fed up in fact that some mornings he sits on the stairs so she can‘t go near him 🤣
I am sure they will be friends in no time!

Maybe then I can get some SOLID reading done 🤭

My June #BookSpinBingo board has a lot of the books I haven‘t got to yet this year, that keep reappearing! Eventually I will get to them…

My #BookSpin is The Raging Quiet (this will be a reread of one of my favourites, but it has been a long time since I have read it now)

My #DoubleSpin is The Rainfall Market

A little late posting my May roundup and June #BookSpinBingo board this month!

This is partly because we got a new puppy! 🐶
Having 2 dogs is very busy 🤣

My May Roundup
I finished 4 books:
• The Satsuma Complex (started in April)
• The Aunt who wouldn‘t Die (Food and Lit)
• Into the Uncanny (BookSpin)
• All your Children, Scattered (April Food and Lit)

I also started The Echo of Old Books on audio but haven‘t gotten very far 😂

Today we made beef brochettes for a belated #FoodAndLit #Rwanda

They weren‘t really my thing (I should probably have cooked them for longer for my tastes) but the spicy sauce was very nice. Served with sweet potato fries ☺️

This was my (belated) pick for #FoodAndLit #Rwanda

It is a multigenerational tale about a family trying to reconnect after the genocide against the Tutsis in the 90s.
It took me a little while to get into as it jumps around a little, but it was a powerful story that I enjoyed reading.

We started watching the uncanny TV show last year, and picked up the podcast later (we are late to this particular bandwagon). We are going to see this in November and are really looking forward to it! So I was excited to see that Danny had a book, and my husband was kind enough to buy me it ☺️

Very similar to the show/podcasts in structure, I found the new cases very interesting!

#BookSpin #BookSpinBingo

Tonight we made Bangladeshi Village-style chicken curry. It doesn‘t look like the picture in the recipe… but this might be because I had to swap Kashmiri chilli for a substitute so it isn‘t as red as it should be.

It still tasted delicious. And it was pretty easy, just lots of prep with all the spices (though they are standard ones for the most part).

#FoodAndLit #Bangladesh

This was a short novel for #FoodAndLit #Bangladesh

Somlata marries into a family of old wealth (that are going broke). After her elderly aunt-in-law dies, she haunts Somlata, forcing her to hide her jewellery from the family. It also follows Boshon, a teen who doesn‘t believe she needs a man to enjoy life.

This had an abrupt ending, but I did enjoy it!

My May #BookSpinBingo board!

#BookSpin is Into the Uncanny
#DoubleSpin is The Little Book of Lykke

My April #BookSpinBingo round up.

I finished 3 books:
• The Wisdom of Tea (Bookspin)
• Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone
• Sunrise on the Reaping

I also got most of the way through The Satsuma Complex, which I finished today (May)

I like Bob Mortimer, but this really wasn‘t for me. I think if I wasn‘t listening on audio I would probably have bailed.

While I often enjoy Bob‘s humour (WILTY and gone fishing etc), in a novel it just didn‘t hit right for me, and every time a squirrel was mentioned I inwardly groaned. However, other people might really enjoy it!

Story wise I found the mystery quite predictable (and I am usually not good at that)

As a prequel, there are certain things that won‘t come as a surprise in this book, but that doesn‘t mean they don‘t pack a punch!

Haymitch‘s hunger games was an excellent choice for its own book, and really shows how he became the man we meet in the hunger games trilogy. It was great to see some other familiar people in there too, along with Snow being as despicable as ever.

This was (despite the content) a fairly light audio read.
I quite liked the narration breaking the forth wall, trying to point you towards the same conclusions by making sure you are following clues and things. It was an interesting way to do the mystery thing.

And the story overall held my interest. I never work out who did it… maybe I need to read more mysteries 😂

I really enjoyed this memoir of lessons learned while learning the way of tea. I feel like I gained a greater appreciation of Japanese tea, and the lessons (life lessons, not tea) felt very timely. I also would like to try a bunch of traditional Japanese sweets now too!

A quick and inspiring book, best enjoyed with matcha 🍵

#BookSpin #BookSpinBingo

April #BookSpinBingo board

My #BookSpin is: The Wisdom of Tea
My #DoubleSpin is: The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs

March roundup.

I finished 4 books:
• Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Started in Feb)
• Sleeping Beauty (Feb Bookspin)
• The Terror (Started in Jan)
• Snowflake (Food and Lit and Doublespin)

I haven‘t started anything else yet so will make a start on my April books soon 😂

#BookSpinBingo

This was my #Ireland pick for #FoodAndLit

It was a tough read in places but it was good and I finished before I knew it!

Debbie starts at Trinity College and struggles to adapt to college life and to make friends. It‘s a coming of age story, which covers tough topics such as mental health, alcoholism, body image, death and attempted suicide, but while also being lighthearted.

#DoubleSpin

This #Chunkster has taken me a while, but I really enjoyed it!
A historical novel mixed with some folklore, based on the ill fated Franklin expedition to find the north west passage.
I watched the tv show a while ago which was amazing, so I am glad I have finally managed to read it :)

(Ash isn‘t super impressed about joining in for the photo)

Ham, champ, and baked leeks with cheese for #FoodAndLit #Ireland
It was very tasty!

This was a pretty solid retelling of sleeping beauty.
I liked the idea of magic knights, and Briar Rose was a likeable character.
I would say that I didn‘t feel super invested in the story as a whole, and it was a fairly quick resolution, but I did still enjoy it ☺️

This was my February #BookSpin

This was a lovely sequel to The House in the Cerulean Sea. A book about acceptance and standing up for your rights, and family.

While I preferred the first book overall, I did enjoy revisiting the characters and seeing how they have grown and come into their own ☺️

My March #BookSpinBingo card

Bookspin is A Gathering of Shadows
DoubleSpin is Snowflake

My Feb roundup.

Not a lot of reading done this month.
I finished 3 books:
• Fledgling (audio started in Jan)
• A Fair Account of the Traitors Snow White and Rose Red (started in Jan)
• Yak Girl (Feb food and lit finished at the last possible moment 🤣)

I also started:
• Somewhere Beyond the Sea (audio, 4 hrs left)
• Sleeping Beauty (34% through)

And still going with The Terror, though I didn‘t touch it this month 🤭

#BookSpinBingo

This book is about the early life of the author in a remote village in Dolpo in the mountains. Most of this is set in the Dolpo region with Dorje growing up and herding her animals. The last part of the book about some of her family going to Kathmandu to try and find medical help for her brother and ending with her staying and moving to America for surgery. It was interesting and I‘m glad there was a family update at the end!

#FoodAndLit #Nepal

Tonight was Dal Bhat for #Nepal #FoodAndLit
It was slightly spicy and very delicious ☺️