We stayed on the beautiful Kalamota Island, which is a 30 minute gentle boat ride from Dubrovnik. We did see a bit of Dubrovnik which looked absolutely stunning.

As I sit writing to yoiu, we have enjoyed the most blissful Autumn day. This morning was full of mist, I could barely see over the road and when I stood outside there was a delicate dampness left on my hair.

This week I received 2 rather exciting emails. One was from the wonderful Lucy at The Literary Edit, which contained her favourite 5 books read in 2024, and the other was from the folks at Goodreads on my reading challenge.

I'm typing up a bit of a more personal post for you today, but one which which does include a rather brilliant gift for any friends who enjoy books. Last week I celebrated a milestone birthday.

Good morning everyone! It is nearly the weekend. Today's post is my New Year To Be Read Pile Edition. I tend to do 2 of these posts in a year, one at the start of the year, and one in Autumn.

Just like my 2022 post, I am coming at you in real time! I am sat in my usual spot, fairy lights twinkling with some candles lit and the last of the Heroes chocolates by my side.

I have been wanting to gather together a list of all the Christmas books reviewed here on the blog over the 3 years I have been blogging. Why? I am obsessed with Christmas and Christmas books

Every year, around this time, I become a brave little toaster and challenge myself to read a horror book. This is not a genre I read very much of

Happy autumn! At the time of writing this post we are experiencing record sunny temperatures here in the UK. But I am waiting for my favourite time of year.

Having spent an eternity in January and February, 2023 is now steaming merrily along. Already my friends and I have begun to share pumpkin and Autumn related memes

I have missed doing my wrap-ups so much. It's a great way to look back at my reading and also what I've been up to in the month.

What an amazing first year of books, with titles stretching from C9th BCE to the middle of the 20th Century, crossing civilisations and countries. Three stood out, two were new for me and one was a welcome return.

Good morning all, I am coming at you inn 'real time' as all the trendy bloggers are calling it. It is New Year's Eve and I am sat writing this in my usual spot with a Diet Coke and a selection of Pink Gin chocolates

Marking the seasons brings a sense of calmness. We've enjoyed the hazy, lazy days of summer which brought heatwaves and days spent relaxing by the sea. Now is the time for Autumn, probably my favourite season.

Remember when I used to do a monthly wrap-up and then I went back to work and had less time to read......well that. But I do like a wrap-up so going forward I figure I would do this at the end of each season.

And just like that we are done with April. We have had a busy old time of it. A visit to Lincoln, to celebrate my parents who have been married for 60 years, a trip to York with a couple of good friends

What a difference a month can make! If February left me feeling slightly gloomy and struggling with reading, March makes me full of hope and love for all things bookish

I'm not a massive fan of February if I'm being honest. Christmas is a distant memory, the weather is usually not great and I'm limping to Spring with no energy or motivation.

This is a book all about the books I received for my birthday, or to put it more honestly, books I received for my birthday, bought after Christmas without vouchers, bought after Christmas with vouchers

And just like that January has finished! It does not seem 2 minutes since we celebrated the new year, and here we are already one month down. Now having always dreaded January,

This year, I was very lucky and received lots of lovely books. I also received a bout of the covid, which was less wanted and am currently self-isolating.

In the middle of #12booksofchristmas, I am writing this post. It is Monday December 13th and I have just got back from a weekend away with my husband. It's funny to be writing this now.

At this festive time of year, a number of the broadsheets are publishing their favourite books of the year. It is a nice way to look back on books that you may have read, been amazed by, thrilled by, terrified by and truly loved.

And just like that November is over. It was a big month for us in that we moved house! We have nearly been here for a month already and it feels like home already. The village is lovely and welcoming

October has been a super-busy month for us. We started packing in earnest ready for our move, went to Barbados on holiday, came back, I went to a hen-do and we did lots more packing.

Hello, hello. I hope you are all well. This is actually the first post I am writing after our holiday. (Last week's posts were written before we travelled) and I'm still getting into the swing of things over here.

Another month ticked off. Check! September has been a bit of a strange month. It has definitely been stop start on the weather and I have been forced to resurrect the summer wardrobe

I do hope that you have all had a lovely weekend. Our weekend was spent looking at our soon-to-be new home and it was so good. As the estate agent said at the end of our visit 'You are still smiling'.

One of the things that people never tell you about putting a house up for sale is the amount of decluttering that needs to take place. I always thought I was quite sparse in my decoration

When I first started my blog, I knew I wanted it to be seasonal. The colours change in the header over the seasons, as do the images I use. And so now that July has finished, in my calendar, we have one more month of summer left.

I may have mentioned once or twice, (a thousand) that I have just undergone a reading slump. Not the best thing to happen to a book blogger posting about books twice a week.

And just like that we have finished with June. This year is now seriously starting to fly. As I write, England has beaten Germany in the Euros 2020 (no, that's not a typo -the result or the year)

I haven't done a Book Chat post in forever, and thought it might be time to do one as I have a bit to catch up on. I also want to tell you about 2 books, that I have been reading throughout this year

I am of the generation of children who in the lead up to Christmas would sit down with my mum's Freeman's catalogue and go through the toy section, making notes of the presents that I wanted father Christmas to get me.

Of course I cannot not talk about Eurovision. Friends will know this already, but I am a teensy bit obsessed with the Eurovision Song Contest. It has been 2 years since the contest last took place

I'm going to ask you to bear with me here as an analogy is coming. Reading War and Peace is a little like training for a marathon. In fact a lot of the tips I'm about to give you could apply to running 26.2 miles

And this morning, I woke up to a cake disaster, namely that we had none. I quickly whistled up some chocolate fairy cakes, including the obligatory one bun to rule them all

I have been promising this post for a little while. A few weeks ago I reviewed Rules for Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson. I loved this book namely because it was set in a bookshop, at Christmas and was about crime fiction.

Like a lot of book-lovers, I seem to find myself with rather an enormous amount of books. These comprise of books I've read and loved, stored carefully on our bookshelves ready to be re-read when the mood takes.

And just like that February is over. How quick was that? We've had a nice February, we celebrated a big birthday in our house, enjoyed the snow, started a run plan, saw the first snowdrops and now I feel ready for Spring.

I clearly did not get the memo about Christmas being over because out of the 8 books I read and reviewed in January, only one was not a Christmas book. I am reading another Christmas novel and have 2 more Christmas books

I can't believe that this is my last wrap up of 2020. December has been lovely and Christmas is always my most favourite time of year. This December I managed to read 12 books for #12 Books of Christmas.

I love looking back over the year and reflecting on some of my favourite reads. These might be a rediscovery of a book I haven't read in a while, a new read to me that will over time become a favourite or a much loved favourite.

In the words of Noddy Holder 'IT'S CHRISTMMAAAAAS!!!!! and I thought what better way to get into the Christmas spirit than have a little fun on the blog by reading a lot of Christmas books.

I cannot believe we are already in November and once again it is time for my reading round-up. I've read a couple more horror books than I normally would in celebration of Halloween and am STILL reading The Stand.

What is this? Another sneaky post? Yep, It is that time when I do a round of the month and what I have been reading. It has been a nice, mixed bag this month.

This week in England, the children went back to school. Life in school I can imagine is looking very different as children wear masks, continue to adhere to social distancing and for some, are in learning 'bubbles'.

This is a different kind of post....and it's a Tuesday morning. What gives? Well I thought it might be fun to do a recap of my month in reading and reviewing and have decided to do a kind of wrap up of the month.

This book is simply beautiful. Markus Torgeby was a talented runner destined for the Olympics, but could never excel at competition. So he took himself off for 4 years to live in the wilderness

When I turned 30 years old, I celebrated by taking the first part of my Motorbike test. I dutifully turned up, drove round the streets of Leeds on my 125cc bike with a group of 16 year olds taking their moped tests and I loved it

On March 18th 2020, the Great British Menu returns to our screen and this year the theme of the competition is Children's Literature. The theme is to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Charles Dickens who wrote Oliver Twist