Tuesday 30 July 2024

Summer Blog Break

I'm going to be honest with you: I seem to be going through a reading slump and blogger burnout. Fun, huh? No idea how it happened but here we are. 

So, going to take a month off blogging and not worry about reading. Hopefully this reset will do wonders as I am finding it a struggle to blog at the moment as it feels a bit pointless of late. Which I know it isn't, but every now and then, I can't help but notice how much time and effort I put into my blog and my bookish socials, only to get very little back (hence why I no longer look at the blog posts's statics).

Maybe I need to shake my blog up and post more non-bookish content like I used to in ye olde days. Maybe it's time to wind down the blog and focus on my socials (mainly instagram, Goodreads and Storygraph). Maybe it's time to ease self out of the bookblogsphere and enjoy reading for pleasure without the worry about blogging. Who knows.

But, before I going and take time out from blogging (and possibly scaring myself with podcasts again and Apple Fitness+ yoga classes [how on earth do you guys do Crow and Side-Crow?!]), I thought I would throw some titles at you that I do have my eye on attempting to read on the next few months...

So, I decided to give myself August off from blogging (barring the blog tours I have agreed to). Which kinda screws up my idea of a possible themed reading months of September and October (I had an idea of calling them something along the lines of "Cyanide September" and "All Hallow's Reads/Occult October"). But, sometimes, you need a timeout and just do something silly and fun.

And that’s what I’m going to do with my reading & audiobooks. Some are a little left field but am excited to try and see if I can finally get round to them in August or make myself go “you have to attempt to try these by the end of the year”. Wanna see some of the titles I have my eye on for the next few months?

Sunday 28 July 2024

The Extract Trap Is Set

I have an extract for you guys and we’re going spy! 

No, not Totally Spies, James Bond or Slow Horses, but Alias Emma by Ava Glass. And I have an extract from her third outing, The Trap. 

Following on from the events of The Chase and The Traitor, Emma Makepeace is assigned to go to Edinburgh for the global G7 Summit when her team uncovers an assassination plot. Except, no one knows who the target is. Their only clue is a newly minted British citizen with ties to Russia in their past. 

To stop the assassination, Emma has to set up a trap, with her as the bait. But with the world’s most powerful politicians in gridlock city, how far is she willing to go?

I have been looking for a new thriller series to dive headfirst into so when the lovely Amanda from Moonflower Books asked if I would be involved in the blog tour, I jumped at the chance. And this extract has wetted my appetite so I hope to give you guys a review in the near future so please keep your eyes peeled for that! 

Now, before I give you guys the extract to read, I just want to thank Amanda for inviting me and answering my hundred and one questions. And if you want to find out more about the series and Ava herself, please check out www.avaglass.uk or This affiliate link of uk.bookshop.org!

Now, with  that out of the way, THE EXTRACT!

Tuesday 16 July 2024

Audiobook Review - The Man In Black

Collection of short stories, all written by one author, can go one of two ways: really well or really bad?

But when I heard of The Man in Black and Other Stories by Elly Griffiths, I got ver excited. She's a crime author I keep saying I will try and she seemed to explode during the COVID lockdown, but I've only read one of her books - The Postscript Murders - and I had plans to do more. But life got in the way and I kept putting it off. Until Man in Black was up for preorder... 

Title and Author: The Man in Black And Other Stories by Elly Griffiths
Publisher: Quercus
Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Audiobook Bought
Buy From (Affilate): uk.bookshop.org

In this collection of 19 short stories, Elly dips her toes into crime short stories, following a mix of characters her readers know and love (Ruth Galloway, DS Harbinder Kaur, Max Mesphisto, even a grown-up Justice Jones and Ruth Galloway's cat, Flint).

Tuesday 2 July 2024

Library Audiobook WatchList - The Crime Edition

You can blame @yorkshirebook48 for this post as, a few days ago, they tweeted and asked what our fave crime book was. I answered with the first two adult crime thrillers that I read/devoured: Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs and Body Double by Tess Gerritsen. But after I answered, I read other people’s replies to see what they say and see if any titles/covers catch my eye and, if so, put them on my “”Reading Lists”. Let’s say I add quite a bit on there…

And my “Reading List” is now getting a little longer (with a mix of audiobooks that have connections to NetGalley proofs, books I have purchased or have been gifted [by publishers or by friends/family] and lots that I just like the look/sound of), I wanted to share some with you. There are a mix of genres, but I will try and keep this post as close to the crime & mystery genre as possible and, if I enjoy writing this, I will try and do another post in the coming weeks leaning towards fantasy or something else…

So, where to begin?