The Intrepid Reader and Baker

Weekend Cooking: On holidays

2026-04-25T14:44:00.001+10:00

No Weekend Cooking post this week. We are currently on holidays in Turkey and while I have at least two posts to come about all the amazing foodie experiences we have had, I will save them for another week.

Top Ten Tuesday: Water-y!

2026-04-21T02:21:00.001+10:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is April Showers (Interpret this however you’d like: rainy day reads, books that make you cry, books that give you happy tears, books to wash away a bad reading experience, books set in rainy places, books with rain/raindrops/umbrellas on the cover, blue book covers, etc.). I am choosing to focus on water and rain!

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen - I haven't thought about this book for the longest time!

The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve - I am not sure I remember anything about this book

The Seduction of Water by Carol Goodman - I read a number of Carol Goodman books back in the day!

The Water Horse by Julia Gregson - I read a few of this authors books but it's been a long time since I did so.

Fish Out of Water by Mary Janice Davidson - I only read this book because the author was coming to Australia as a guest of honour at a reader convention I was going to many, many years ago!

A Life on Pittwater by Susan Duncan - Next time I go to Sydney I wouldn't mind going out to Pittwater. It sounds like a beautiful place

Water Under the Bridge by Lily Malone - This is part of a trilogy set in a small town in Western Australia

Fresh Water for Flowers by Valerie Perrin - I read this for last year's Paris in July. I have a couple more books from her to read at some point

The Right Attitude to Rain by Alexander McCall Smith - This is part of the Isabel Dalhousie series set in Edinburgh

The Rainfall Market by You Yeong-Gwang - This is a fun Korean fantasy novel

Weekend Cooking: The Actually Delicious Slow Cooker Cookbook by Poppy O'Toole

2026-04-18T08:56:00.122+10:00

Last month, the Lambs Ears Cook Book Club chose Poppy Cooks: The Actually Delicious One Pot Cookbook by Poppy O'Toole as it's March selection. I tried to get that one from the library but they didn't have it, so instead I borrowed Poppy Cooks: The Actually Delicious One Pot Cookbook instead.

We haven't had much luck with British chef Poppy O'Toole. I love watching her, and I like her voice and attitude. The intros to her recipes are always a lot of fun, but the two cook books I have tried from her before were interesting, but there wasn't much that I wanted to cook from them.

Poppy is a Michelin trained chef who gained popularity on the socials during the pandemic when she started sharing all the different things you can do with a potato. It turns out that there is a lot and so the first book I looked at was her potato one, and then I borrowed her air fryer cook book because we are still looking for better ways to use the air fryer.

If it hadn't of been for the cook book club, I wouldn't have even looked at this book, and I would have missed out, because there are quite a few things we have made from this book and they are all good. So much so, I am contemplating buying this book so we can keep cooking from it!

The book is set up in a pretty standard format with chapters covering Soups, Chicken, Beef, Lamb, Pork, Turkey, Veggies and Desserts. As you would expect from a cook whose passion is potatoes, there is a whole chapter on potatoes in this book as well.

We have a combo slow and pressure cooker all in one, and we tend to use the pressure cooker function more than the slow cooker. With the weather becoming cooler, it was a good time to try some of these hearty slow cooked meals.

So far we have tried Beef Bourgignon, Marry Me Chicken, Chicken and Chorizo Orzo and Tomato and Paneer Curry which is the recipe I am sharing today. All of them have been good, with nice flavour which sometimes can go a bit missing when you are cooking things in the slow cooker.

There are so many recipes that I would like to try though which is why I might need to purchase this book. Some I want to try include

Soups: Spicy Gochujan Noodle Curry, Laksa, Ramen, French Onion Soup, Hearty Whole Chicken Soup

Chicken: Coq au Vin, Teriyaki Chicken, Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs, Fajita Chicken, Chicken Korma and more

Beef: Beef Rendang, Stroganoff and more

Pork: Char Siu Pork, Overnight Apple and Cider Pork Bap

Veggie: Potato and Aubergine Curry, Breakfast Home Style Potatos

For the record, we also tried a recipe called Chicken and Orange Tray Bake which comes from the One Pot book and is available on her website. It was delicious too.

Today I am sharing the recipe from the Tomato and Paneer Curry which was really good. Before I went to India last month, paneer isn't something that I would normally have gravitated to. While I was there we ate quite a few curry dishes which featured paneer so now I am looking forward to experimenting with it more.

Tomato and Paneer Curry

1 red onion, thinly sliced
4 fat garlic cloves, grated or crushed
2 red peppers, deseeded and cut into 2cm slices
thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated, or peeled and julienned or finely chopped
1–2 green chillies, thinly sliced (or 1–2 teaspoons chilli flakes)
450g paneer, cut into 2–2.5cm dice
25g butter, cubed
1 x 600g jar of passata
1 tablespoon tomato purée
1 teaspoon caster sugar
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon salt, plus extra to season
150ml single cream
1 lime, juiced
150–200g spinach
small handful of coriander, stalks finely chopped, leaves roughly chopped

1. Add the onion, garlic, peppers, ginger, chillies, paneer, butter, passata, tomato purée, sugar, garam masala, cumin seeds, teaspoon of salt and lots of black pepper to the bowl of your slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 hours, until the veg are completely tender and the paneer is pleasantly soft, but hasn’t completely fallen apart.

2. Stir in the cream, lime juice, spinach and coriander stalks, until the spinach has wilted. Taste to check the seasoning and adjust as needed.

3. Divide the curry between four bowls and scatter over the coriander leaves.

Weekly meals

Saturday - Swedish Meatballs
Sunday - Marry Me Chicken (new)
Monday - Pork chops with mash and broccoli
Tuesday - Spaghetti Bolognaise
Wednesday - Away
Thursday - Away
Friday - Away

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Blog Tour : New Chapters on the French Riviera by Jennifer Bohnet

2026-04-16T21:08:00.023+10:00

Since his wife died 9 months ago, chef Guy Lyon has shut himself away from the world. He has closed down their food and boutique hotel business in the villa they owned, Villa Celestia and refuses to see anyone. It’s not just grief though. Guy doesn’t really know why his wife was in the taxi that day.

Sandy and her husband Romain run retreats. They hire lovely villa’s, provide themed events and good food and let groups of people with shared interests come together and thrive. When the owners of the villa that they had rented for an upcoming writers retreat pulls out at the last minute, they only have two options. First is to cancel the retreat. The second is to see if Guy will let them use Villa Celestia. Originally he is set against the idea but he finally agrees on one condition. He will cook simple food (not the fancy food he is known for) and he will stay in the background.

The attendees are a varied bunch. There is successful novels Liz James who is trying to find her voice again after going through a difficult divorce, there is Lorraine a successful self published author who wrote romantasy before it was a thing, Isobel is polishing her book, Helena and Mandy are friends who want to write a book and don’t know where to start. Finally there is Becky, instagrammer, influencer and wannabe fiction author

Helena has been in love with her childhood friend, Teddy, for years, but they have only just gotten together and she hasn’t told anyone yet, especially not her mother and brother. She does feel a bit guilty going on the retreat as it will be the first time in years their mother won’t be able to celebrate their birthdays today with either one of her children.

When her brother surprises her with a visit from their mother, it sets in chain a series of events which is life-changing for several people in the story. This was a lovely part of the story for me.

There were some interesting dynamics at play. For example, Becky was busy living her best Insta life and often left the group to go and do other things. She also thought she would be able to write a best seller but just working with AI

Several of our characters start to see life differently thanks to spending their time at the writing retreat including Guy, Sandy, Liz and Helena and her family.

This was once again an enjoyable visit to France through the eyes and pen of Jennifer Bohnet.

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews and Bookish Books challenge hosted at Blogging ‘Bout Books. Thanks to the publisher and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the tour below too!

Can a grieving chef and a group of writers find their own happy endings?

Eight months after his wife Jacqueline died in a tragic car accident, Michelin stared chef and proprietor of Villa Celestia, Guy Lyon’s life has been in freefall. Consumed by grief and plagued by questions as to why she was in a taxi that fateful day, the doors to Villa Celestia have remained closed.

When a good friend, Sandy Thoreau, asks to rent the villa on the French Riviera for a fortnight to hold a women’s writers retreat after being let down, Guy reluctantly agrees.

All the women at the retreat are looking forward to being inspired. Helena and her friend Mandy are writing debut novels, Isobel is editing a cosy crime story, Liz is desperate to kickstart a new book, self-published author Lorraine is looking for advice and Becky, well Becky is a law unto herself.

Over the course of the next fortnight, two of these women will change the course of Guy’s life forever and new chapters - hopefully with happy endings - will begin for all of them.

The perfect tonic and escapist read to the South of France full of warmth and second chances.

Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/NewChaptersontheFrench

About the Author

Jennifer Bohnet is the bestselling author of over 14 women's fiction titles, including Villa of Sun and Secrets and A Riviera Retreat. She is originally from the West Country but now lives in the wilds of rural Brittany, France.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @jenniewriter1

Twitter: @jenniewriter

Instagram: @jenniewriter

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/JenniferBohnetnewsletter

Bookbub profile: @jenniebohnet

Top Ten Tuesday: Have you heard what they are saying about Margaret?

2026-04-14T02:56:00.051+10:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Book Titles That Describe Me/My Life (Example titles: Well Traveled could describe you if you like to travel, Hotshot Doc could describe you if you’re an awesome doctor, Falling into Place could describe a life where things are starting to work out, An Infinite Love Story could describe your relationship, It Could Have Been Her could describe a thing you’re happy you avoided or a path you could have taken but didn’t. You can explain your choices or not, and they can be as specific or as abstract as you’d like.) (Submitted by Susan @ blogginboutbooks.com)

I am taking a simpler approach to this topic by sharing authors/books/characters with my name! Let's start with authors I have read whose name is either Margaret or similar/derivative to Margaret

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble

Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles by Margaret George

My Lady of Cleves by Margaret Campbell Barnes

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

And then move onto others

Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan

Summer in Bellbird Bay by Maggie Christensen

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

Are you there God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

I couldn't resist including the last two. The reason for the first is likely obvious, but the second not so much. The main female character in North and South is called Margaret. And my post title is a paraphrase of a line that comes from absolutely fantastic mini-series adaptation of the book!

This week

2026-04-13T09:34:00.001+10:00

I'm reading

Don't you love it when you have occasions of reading serendipity!

I am currently watching a renovation show which is set in Corfu. Last week I read two books in a row set in Greece, the second set in a hotel by the sea in Corfu. The next book I am reading's title is literally Hotel by the Sea!

The first book I read was a WWII novel call The Islander's Daughter by Patricia Wilson which I reviewed here. Then I read Summer Ever After by Mandy Baggot which is set in a beachside hotel on Corfu. My review is here.

I then started The Hotel by the Sea by Julie Caplin. However, I realised that I had another book due before that one so now I am reading New Chapters on the French Riviera by Jennifer Bohnet. The review for that one will be up later this week.

I am currently trying to list the books I want to read while I am on holidays in priority order. I think the Julie Caplin will be my plane reading on the way to Turkiye at least

I did finally finish listening to The Lost Brides by Nora Roberts, which is the last book in the Lost Brides trilogy.

I then started The Names by Florence Knapp on audio. I got to the end of the first chapter and stopped, mainly because I am wondering if it might be a bit heavy for now, but if I stop now that means that I have to figure out what I need to listen to instead. Maybe it is easier to just stick to the decision I already made

I'm watching

Last night I watched the first seven episodes of The Other Bennett Sister and I am hooked! I can't wait to watch more, although I am a bit concerned that I might need to wait for a few weeks to watch the last couple of episodes.

The Other Bennett Sister focuses on the middle Miss Bennett. Often overlooked because she is plain, it is only once she gets out from under her mother's thumb that she truly blooms! It's so much fun!

Life

We went to two comedy shows at the Melbourne Comedy Festival over the last couple of weeks. First, we saw Wankernomics and then Nurse Georgie Carroll. Wankernomics basically takes all the things that happen in corporate workplaces and then makes fun of them. Here's a clip that I recognised. My boss says she has a hard stop quite regularly!

Nurse Georgie Carroll talks about a lot of medical stuff, the joys and trials of being a nurse in the healthcare system. Both of these shows were very, very funny!

The countdown in on to our holidays. After the indecision about whether we should go or not, I am really looking forward to getting away! The holiday nails are done. The pre-holiday haircut is scheduled for tomorrow night. Just have to get through three frantic days at work now!

I am not sure if I will be able to post my This Week posts or not. We'll see!

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Island Time!
Blog Tour: Something in the Air in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen
Blog Tour: The Islander's Daughter by Patricia Wilson
Blog Tour: Summer Ever After by Mandy Baggot
Weekend Cooking: Le Assaggiatrici (The Tasters)

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date, Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and the Good Book and a Cup of Tea link up hosted at Boondock Ramblings

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - March statistics

2026-04-12T05:20:00.001+10:00

Every month I share some of the statistics related to the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I try very hard to visit every post which has been linked (time permitting) and I find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! I often end up adding a couple of books to my never ending TBR list.

In terms of the books read in March, there were 46 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 17 participants. There were 43 individual titles reviewed, written by 42 different authors. There were 4 reviewers who reviewed 4 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 5 or just 1.

So which books were reviewed more than once in March? There were 3 and coincidentally I read and reviewed 2 of them.

The first book that was linked up more than once was James by Percival Everett which was one of the most popular books for the challenge last year. Bree from All the Books I Can Read and I both read it, which probably isn't entirely a coincidence. You can find Bree's review here and mine is here.

The second book as The Seven Daughters of Dupree by Nikesha Elise Williams which was read by both Kim on Goodreads and Laura from Laura's Reviews.

The final book to be read twice this month was The Strawberry House by Rachel Burton which both Helen from She Reads Novels and I read. I can confirm that this is totally unplanned!

Bev from My Reader's Block read two novels by Manda Collins this month, being A Lady's Guide to Mischief & Mayhem and Portrait of a Nightingale. Something that is a bit interesting is that we had 4 books reviewed by authors with Collins in their name!

I added several titles to my TBR pile after visiting all the posts this month. Goodness only knows if and when I will be able to read them though! One post I did find interesting was about a book The Colony of Good Hope by Kim Leine which is about the Danish colonisation of Greenland, which is not a subject you see very often!

If you enjoy reading Historical Fiction why not join us? You can find all the details here.

I am sharing this with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Hopewell's Library.

Weekend Cooking: Le assaggiatrici (The Tasters)

2026-04-11T08:16:00.007+10:00

In 2012 a German woman named Margot Wolk shared a story that before then was unknown. She claimed that she was one of a group of 15 women who were forced to be the taste testers for Hitler's food, and that she was the only one of the women to survive the war. Some have cast doubts on the story, but whether it is true or not, it does make for an interesting tale. Le Assaggiatrici is an Italian movie which tells that story.

Rosa is a young woman who moves to a small town in what is now Poland to live with her in-laws. Her husband is a solder. They have been married 4 years but in that time she has only seen him for a few weeks as he has been off fighting the war. The letters have become at first infrequent and now non-existent so she is not sure if he is alive or not.

Not long after arriving, there is a knock at the door and Rosa is ordered to board a bus by soldiers. She doesn't know why or where she is going or who the other women already on the bus are. The women on the bus arrive at a facility where they are taken to a dining room where they are ordered to eat. At first the women are reticent, but food is food. It is only after they have eaten that they are told that they have now been conscripted to be the tasters of Hitler's food as the Fuhrer is paranoid of being poisoned.

Each day they are bought to the dining room and they have to eat. They then have to wait for a prescribed period of time to see if they are ill after eating. Only then will the chef give the all clear for the food to be presented to Hitler. It is easy how this could absolutely affect your mind. After all, if someone is going to try to poison him, you could also be poisoned. The guards are very alert, and even if you aren't hungry, or not feeling well for other reasons, you must still eat or face the consequences.

At first, the women are wary of each other, especially of Rosa who is an outsider. These women are doing the best they can to survive a brutal war, to raise children, and for those who are single hoping for the opportunity to find love. Some of the women are also trying to keep their secrets safe, some more successfully than others. Over the course of the film, the dynamics between the women shift constantly from rivals, to uneasy friendships and strong bonds.

I wasn't sure about one aspect of the film which is when Rosa began a passionate secret affair with one of the lieutenants who was in charge of the group. It did add additional tension into the movie but it did seem like an odd decision.

As the war progresses, the desperation of the soldiers increases as well as the fear of what will happen if and when the Russians arrive.

This is a WWII movie which focuses predominantly on the experience of a group of women, which makes it unusual given that so often women are on the outside of the story. It is based on a bestselling book called The Wolf at the Table by Rosa Postarino

This movie was originally shown here as part of the German Film Festival in 2025. However, I missed it then so I was pleased when I saw it as one of the options on the plane when I was travelling recently and that I took the opportunity to watch it! I quite often watch foreign movies on planes. Given that we are travelling again soon it will be interesting to see what I find to watch on these flights!

Here's the trailer

Weekly meals

Saturday - Away
Sunday - Away
Monday - Tomato and Paneer Curry and rice (new)
Tuesday - Spicy Pork and Beans Noodle stir fry
Wednesday - Grilled cheese on toast
Thursday - Enchiladas
Friday - Swedish Meatballs and mash

Blog Tour: Summer Ever After by Mandy Baggot

2026-04-10T21:00:00.094+10:00

It is a complete coincidence that I read two books set in Greece in a row, and I am also watching a TV series set there as well. Or is it? Maybe it is fate telling me to hurry up and go and visit Greece! If I was to visit Greece any time soon, then Mandy Baggot has convinced me that Corfu would be worth going to.

When Faye Lawson's marriage falls apart she finds refuge and purpose at one of her favourite places on Earth. She moves to Corfu and becomes the hotel manager at the family owned hotel Margaritari. Here she deals with the hotel guests, manages the team and budgets and so much more. She lives at the hotel but her dream is to find a small beachfront home to call her own.

When Dimitria, her friend and the hotel owner, announces that they have an important guest, his name means nothing to Faye. Kostas Petsas, twenty-something ex-professional basketball player, is a Corfiot hero. There is even a statue of him in the town square. Unfortunately, the love and pride the people of Corfu feel for Kostas is not really reciprocated. He blames the community for the demise of his father. Now, he wants to build a massive tourist development and marina right in the unspoilt area near the hotel.

Despite their 15 year age gap, Kostas and Faye are immediately attracted to each other, but it's complicated. He's a famous former athlete, she's an older divorced mum to a nineteen year old daughter who seems to still think that there is a chance for her parents to reunite, even though that is the last thing that Faye wants.

When she hears that her beloved hotel might be up for sale, she also has to worry about whether her Corfu dream might be coming to an end. And if she find out what Kostas real intentions are, could their fledgling relationship survive?

I have read a number of Mandy Baggot's books and I do enjoy them. Sometimes, there is an element of madcap in the humour, but this was not one of those books. There is still humour for sure, but you can tell that this book is talking about topics that are important to her.

I loved the characters of Dimitria and Kyriaki, Kostas' grandmother who he had long believed to be dead. Kyriaki lives in a tree house with no electricity or other mod cons, which doesn't mean to say that she doesn't know what is going on in the world around her. As she says, "Here I am away from everything I do not want and in the middle of everything I do."

I also loved the epilogue. I can't tell you why, but just the way that everything played out showed that Kostas really got Faye, her history, her dreams and more. In a way it surprised me to see that, despite his age, he really understood her.

A key part of the story is the locals opposition to the full scale development that Kostas is originally proposing. In the afterword, Mandy Baggot talks about how this is a very real campaign in the area that the book is set, which is near her home. The video below, which comes from the Save Erimitis page, shows how beautiful the whole area is, and why people are keen to ensure that it is preserved in it's current state.

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews. Thanks to the publisher and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the tour too!

Rating 4/5

About the Book

Summer Ever After

Forty-year-old Faye Lawson is falling back in love with life at last. Finally divorced from her cheating husband, she has turned her back on the UK and has been living the Greek dream in Corfu managing a beautiful traditional boutique hotel.

For Kostas Petsas, twenty-something ex-professional basketball player, life as he has always known it is over. Having to take early-retirement because of injury, he’s at a loss as to what to do next. But when a piece of land in Corfu comes on the market, it seems this might be the perfect fit. There’s just a couple of things in the way… an area of natural beauty and… a little hotel on the beach.

Kostas has never met any woman like Faye before – she doesn’t behave around him how women usually do, and, when conflict starts to surface, it seems they can’t see eye-to-eye on anything. Or perhaps, when things get body-to-body, both of them begin to wonder if it can turn into heart-to-heart.

Escape to the beautiful island of Corfu with Mandy Baggot - queen of Greek summer romance!

Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/SummerEverAfterSocial

About the Author

Mandy Baggot is a bestselling romance writer who loves giving readers that happy-ever-after. From sunshine romantic comedies set in Greece, to cosy curl-up winter reads, she's bringing gorgeous heroes and strong heroines readers can relate to. Mandy splits her time between Salisbury, Wiltshire and Corfu, Greece and has a passion for books, food, racehorses and all things Greek!

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @MandyBaggotAuthor

Twitter: @MandyBaggot

Instagram: @MandyBaggot

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/MandyBaggotNews

Bookbub profile: @MandyBaggot

Blog Tour: The Islander's Daughter by Patricia Wilson

2026-04-08T19:40:00.087+10:00

As much as I enjoy reading made up stories in historical fiction, there is something special about stories which are based on real life events, which is the case with this book.

The Islander's Daughter tells the story of a terrible massacre on the small Greek island of Milos in August 1943. 14 men were killed by the German occupiers in retribution for the bombing of the cargo ship, SS Artemis Pitta.

The story is predominantly told through the eyes of Dora, a young woman who has grown up on the island. Like many young women of her time, her life is all planned out for her. She is expected to marry family friend Zoodow, but it is more complicated than that as her brother also has feelings for Zoodow. Her brother is forced to leave home, with tragic consequences, leaving Dora at the mercy of her violent and unpredictable father.

The author really cleverly builds the tension, from the bombing of the ship, with the timelines counting down to the date of the massacre. Dora and her family are key to the events. Dora has a natural caring nature and so finds herself caring for a survivor of the boat explosion in secret, and soon finds herself falling in love. War brings out the best and worst in people and Dora experiences this first hand when she is betrayed.

If you read the blurb for this book it appears as though it is a dual timeline is, and I guess, technically, it is. However, it is only the prologue and epilogue that have a modern setting. To be honest, the reason why is only obvious in the last couple of pages. I do wonder if there was a different way of doing this.

This is my first book from Patricia Wilson, who retired to Greece many years ago. Just looking at the titles and descriptions of her books, it is clear that she loves the country. That enthusiasm shines through the pages of the book!

I am sharing this review with New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog and the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here. Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the blog tour below.

Rating 3.5/5

About the book

The Islander's Daughter

When Trisha receives a mysterious letter to her Liverpool home, it opens a decades’ old mystery, drawing her back into her family’s forgotten past, the horrors of war, and a small island off the coast of Greece…

Eighty years earlier, on the island of Milos, Dora is dreaming of a better life, free from the oppression of the occupying army and, closer to home, the brutal rule of her father, an infamous horse breeder.

Then a German cargo ship is bombed in the harbour, killing dozens of the men on board. The islanders trawl the waters for spoilage from the wreckage – finding among the debris a badly injured man, who may just hold the awful truth about what happened.

Dora soon finds this man under her care, and it changes her life forever, introducing her to the possibility of love and freedom for the first time… But Dora cannot know, as she nurses the stranger back to health, that her actions will have devastating consequences for her beloved island. Consequences that will last for generations…

Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/islandersdaughter

About the Author

Born on the Wirral, Patricia Wilson is the author of emotional, escapist historical fiction set in the Greek Islands, including the Sunday Times bestseller Villa of Secrets. She has had seven bestsellers, and her books have been published worldwide and in thirteen languages. She is dyslexic, and fell in love with writing thanks to modern technology.

Social Media Links

Facebook: @PatriciaWilsonAuthor

Twitter: @pmwilson_author

Instagram: @pmwilson.author

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/PatriciaWilsonNews

Blog Tour: Something in the Air in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen

2026-04-08T07:00:00.005+10:00

The news that there is a new Maggie Christensen book coming is always welcome! This is the eighth book in the Pelican Crossing series, which is set in a small beachside town on the Queensland coast.

We had met Ranah Black in previous books in the series, given her friendship with Erica and Livvy who featured in early books in the series. Now Erica and Livvy are all loved up with their new partners and they want the same for her. Ranah does allow herself moments where she wishes for someone, but she has never been in a relationship and she can't see that changing any time soon. The reality is that she much prefers the company of her dogs to that of people. As a breeder of spaniels, she came into contact with people often enough.

When she meets a young woman who is crying on the street, Ranah does something completely out of character and offers Tiffany a place to stay. Tiffany works in hospitality in town but is finding it difficult to find accommodation due to the lack of affordable housing. She is also somewhat estranged from her family and in a situation not of her own making. The kindness of a stranger is the last thing Tiffany expects, but she is grateful for the offer and accepts.

Steve Morton has lived outside of Pelican Crossing for a few years now. He is an American with Australian heritage who found the town by accident and loved it so much that he moved there. However, he too keeps himself to himself. He runs his hot air ballooning and scenic helicopter business from his property but other than that he keeps himself to himself. Ranah and Steve have never even met despite the fact that they are neighbours.

Despite his aloofness, Steve has made a big difference to the town. They just don't know it. Over the years he has made anonymous donations for a variety of local causes, including saving the local newspaper. Now though, he is turning his attention to the housing situation, and he knows that if his plans come to fruition, there is no way he is going to be able to keep his philanthropy anonymous!

Steve and Rhana finally meet when she is invited to go on a hot air balloon ride with her friend which isn't really her idea of fun. Privately, Rhana calls Steve "the birdman" and she is not really that interested in getting to know him. However, sometimes fate has other ideas and the two of them seem to keep on running into each other. Soon, they discover

I thought that the author did a great job a looking at trauma and the way it can impact your whole life. Both Steve and Rhana have had significant impacts on their lives. For Rhana, it has shaped her in ways that have led her to isolating herself from people, and from never believing that anyone would want a relationship with her. She has never, ever told anyone what happened to her, and she doesn't intend to start now. However, when she sees Tiffany suffering, she knows that she needs to share to try to help the younger woman down a different path to the one that she has chosen. And she also might need to put aside the fear of intimacy she has and give the birdman a chance.

Whilst Steve loves his hot air balloon and helicopters, it is a double edged sword. He knows that if it weren't for the tragic loss of his fiancée in a small plane crash many years before he probably wouldn't even be in Pelican Crossing. He has build a successful life for himself despite his loss but he doesn't really want to broaden his life.

These books are my comfort read. I know when I pick them up I am going to get immersed in the lives of a small town where there is a solid community, good people, friendships, lifestyle and so much more. Would I like to live in a town like Pelican Crossing? Yes, I think I would. Do I believe that I would get absorbed into the town in the ways that are portrayed in these books. Probably not. At least I can get absorbed into Pelican Crossing through the pages in these books! I am already looking forward to my next visit!

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews. Thanks to the publisher and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy.

Rating 4/5

About the book

Something in the Air in Pelican Crossing

Rhana Black has always been content with her quiet life in the Pelican Crossing hinterland, where she spends her days breeding spaniels. Following a traumatic incident at her school formal and weighed down by her own insecurities about her appearance, Rhana has shied away from any romantic relationships. That is, until a chance encounter with a hot air balloonist changes everything.

Steve Morton has been struggling to move on after the tragic death of his pregnant fiancée. In search of solace, he finds himself in Pelican Crossing, where he rediscovers his love for flying and starts offering hot air balloon rides and scenic helicopter flights along the coast. When he meets Rhana, he is taken aback by the intense emotions he feels towards her.

As Rhana and Steve navigate their complicated pasts and undeniable chemistry, they must decide if they are willing to break their self-imposed barriers and take a chance on love. But with their old wounds and deep insecurities threatening to keep them apart, can they be able to overcome their fears and find happiness together?

Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/somethingPC

About the author

After a career in education, Maggie Christensen began writing contemporary women’s fiction portraying mature women facing life-changing situations, and historical fiction set in her native Scotland. Her travels inspire her writing, be it her trips to visit family in Scotland, in Oregon, USA or her home on Queensland’s beautiful Sunshine Coast. Maggie writes of mature heroines coming to terms with changes in their lives and the heroes worthy of them. Maggie has been called the queen of mature age fiction and her writing has been described by one reviewer as like a nice warm cup of tea. It is warm, nourishing, comforting and embracing.

From the small town in Scotland where she grew up, Maggie was lured to Australia by the call to ‘Come and teach in the sun’. Once there, she worked as a primary school teacher, university lecturer and in educational management. Now living with her husband of over thirty years on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, she loves walking on the deserted beach in the early mornings and having coffee by the river on weekends. Her days are spent surrounded by books, either reading or writing them – her idea of heaven!

Social Media Links –

https://www.facebook.com/maggiechristensenauthor
https://twitter.com/MaggieChriste33
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8120020.Maggie_Christensen

https://www.instagram.com/maggiechriste33/

https://www.bookbub.com/profile/maggie-christensen?list=about

https://maggiechristensenauthor.com/

https://bsky.app/profile/maggiechriste33.bsky.social

Top Ten Tuesday: Island time!

2026-04-07T03:08:00.022+10:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week the theme is Books About/Set In Places on My Bucket List (submitted by Rachel @ Sunny Side). In theory this is an easy topic for me as I read a lot of books set in places I would love to visit. I have done entire posts just on Paris alone, France, and Greece, Japan, previous holiday destinations, armchair travelling and more. As I start this post, I am away for Easter on a island called Phillip Island which is a couple of hours away from home. So, my twist this week is that I am going to focus on books set on islands, however, I am limiting it to islands that are not countries. To be fair, I could probably do this topic several times over! I am saving islands that are also countries for another time.

Past the Shallows by Favel Parrett - This book is set on Bruny Island which is in Tasmania. I just read this one recently!

The Bad Bridesmaid by Rachael Johns - A lot of this story takes place on Norfolk Island which is a place I would love to visit (my review)

The Secrets of the Huon Wren by Clair van Ryn - This is another book set in Tasmania (my review)

The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi de Lampedusa - This one is set in Sicily (my review)

The Islander's Daughter by Patricia Wilson - I am currently reading this one which is mainly set on a Greek island called Milos during WWII

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune - I think a lot of islands are magical but this one is set in a magical world!

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See - This book is set on the island of Jeju in South Korea

The Sweet Life Cafe by Helen Rolfe - Set on an island in the Channel Island (my review)

The Light Between Oceans by M L Stedman - Takes place on a tiny island just off the Australian coast where the only structure is a lighthouse

Over the Seas to Skye by Sue Moorcroft - This is the third book in the Skye Sisters trilogy which are all set on the Isle of Skye in Scotland (my review)

This week

2026-04-06T08:10:00.001+10:00

I'm reading

This week my reading has been all about upcoming review books.

I read Jessica Redland's Hopes and Dreams at the Chocolate Pot Café which I reviewed here.

This coming week I have three reviews due. I powered through Maggie Christensen's Something in the Air in Pelican Crossing. I always love Maggie Christensen's books and this was another engrossing read.

I also started reading The Islander's Daughter by Patricia Wilson. This is a dual timeline WWII novel which is partly set in Greece. I haven't read this author before. My review will be up for this in a couple of days. I need to finish this one was I have one more book due for review by the end of the week

We went away for the weekend and we started listening to Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir while we were driving (for reasons that will become obvious later in this post!

I read 14 books in March which kind of surprises me as I didn't feel like I was getting a lot of reading done and work has been pretty challenging. I didn't give any books 5/5 this month, although there were 5 books that I gave 4.5/5 to. They were

Books let our imaginations travel where our feet cannot - Nora Nguyen

This is where I travelled through books during March

Europe

UK - The Strawberry House, The Language of Food, The Heir Apparent

America

Maryland - Lovelight Farms, The Correspondent

Mississipi/Missouri - James

Australia

New South Wales - Everyone this Christmas has a Secret, Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon

Tasmania - The Heir Apparent, Past the Shallows

Europe

Italy - The Leopard
Russia/Germany - The Rebel Romanov:Julie of Saxe-Coburg, the Empress Russia Never Had

Asia

Japan - We'll Prescribe You a Cat

I'm watching

We went to the movies on Friday and saw Project Hail Mary which we really enjoyed. I did spend half the movie trying to remember what other Ryan's name was. No idea why my mind fixated on that. The Martian is one of those movies for me where I will put it on whenever I come across it on the TV schedule. I suspect Project Hail Mary might too!

Life

We decided to do a quick getaway for the Easter long weekend so we visited an island which is a couple of hours away from us called Phillip Island. It is most famous for two things. The motorcycle grand prix was held here for many years and each night at dusk a colony of penguins waddles up out of the sea. We didn't see either of those but we did enjoy our time on the island visiting the Nobbies (where we saw this fellow as well as lots of big geese and more), the local market, going the Vietnam Veterans Museum and more.

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Buzz-words!
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: April links
Blog Tour: Love Blooms at the Cornish Cottage by Kim Nash
Blog Tour: Hopes and Dreams at the Chocolate Pot Café by Jessica Redland
Weekend Cooking: In My Kitchen: March
Six Degrees of Separation: The Correspondent to Letters from Skye

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date, Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and the Good Book and a Cup of Tea link up hosted at Boondock Ramblings

Six Degrees of Separation: The Correspondent to Letters from Skye

2026-04-05T09:46:00.091+10:00

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best. The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links. I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.

This month the starting point is The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, which by coincidence I had already requested from the library and so I was able to read before doing this post. In some ways that should make it easier, but the reality is, with the type of book it is, I found multiple possible starting points.

In the book, our main character Sybil writes letters to anyone and everyone. She writes to her family, to people she has known over the years, to college deans and to authors who sometimes write back. At one point I had a different option but as soon as I saw that Sybil had written to Diana Gabaldon, author of Outlander (or Cross Stitch as it was known here) I knew I had my starting point!

The Outlander books hold a very special place in my reading heart. They were almost like gateway books back to reading and also led me down the path to discovering many other great authors including one of my absolute favourite authors. I never miss an opportunity to include Susanna Kearsley in a Six Degrees post. The question is which book? I am going with The King's Messenger which I reviewed here.

Through Diana Gabaldon and then Susanna Kearsley I learned about the Jacobites. Another book I read which included a Jacobite story was The Secrets of the Rose by Nicola Cornick! (my review)

When I visited the Kelvingrove museum in Glasgow a couple of years ago I was very interested in the Jacobite artifacts but there was one display that really stopped me in tracks and that was about the removal of all the inhabitants of the island of St Kilda back in the 1930s. I had read about it in Karen Swan's trilogy which started with The Last Summer.

If I think about islands of Scotland then I can't go past the Isle of Skye which leads to the only non historical fiction books on my list this week. Sue Moorcroft has a trilogy set on the Isle of Skye which starts with the book A Skye Full of Stars (my review)

Also featuring the Isle of Skye is Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole which I reviewed here. This also happens to be an epistolary novel so that brings me full circle this month!

Next month's starting point is a book I would like to read, Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

Will you be joining us?

In My Kitchen - March

2026-04-04T06:18:00.022+11:00

Welcome to the first Saturday of the month where I share everything I have made over the previous month. It has been a pretty quiet month in the kitchen in March. I went to India for work early in the month and then was sick for two weeks when I got home so there wasn't a lot of cooking going on! It will be another quiet month in April as we are away for Easter and then going on holidays for the last two weeks of the month!

What I did make are two older recipes that I have made before.

Double Choc Zucchini Bread - I have been making this recipe occasionally for at least twelve years since I first saw it at BethFishReads but it has been a while. At Lamb's Ear Cook Book club the star ingredient for March was zucchini so it seemed like a good opportunity to make it again! We still have half the loaf in the freezer. Maybe we can take it away with us on the Easter weekend. I shared this recipe here.

Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt - This is another recipe that I have made several times over the last few years, but it has been a while. The reason I chose to make this .....it all comes down to how it looks in the mixer! It looks so good when you are mixing it up! Oh, and it tastes good as well. I shared the recipe for this cake here.

One of the favourite things that I ate while I was in India was a Bengali dessert called Mishti Doi. I am determined that I am going to try and make it so I went to my local Indian wholesale supermarket and bought the clay pot that it goes in. There are only three ingredients in it which are milk, yoghurt and jaggery. Of course, then I had to buy jaggery too! I am going to try and make it, although that might not be until I get back from holidays

New recipes

Chicken and Chorizo Orzo

Beef Bourguignon

Chicken and Orange Tray Bake

Weekend Cooking posts from the last month

In My Kitchen: February

Afternoon Tea Diaries: Victoria: The Place to Be at Oxi Tea Rooms

What I Ate in India

Cook the Books: The Language of Food by Annabel Abbs

Weekly Meals

Saturday - Beef Stroganoff and rice
Sunday - Beef Bourgignon (new)
Monday - Pork chop, mash, broccoli
Tuesday - Takeaway
Wednesday - Chicken and Orange Traybake (new)
Thursday - Eggs on toast
Friday - Red Curry Salmon (new)

I am sharing this post with In My Kitchen hosted at Sherry's Pickings.

Blog Tour: Hopes and Dreams at the Chocolate Pot Cafe by Jessica Redland

2026-04-03T19:29:00.104+11:00

Tara and Jed are taking it slowly. Tara has emotional scars from her past that have forced her to keep her distance from everyone for years. Slowly, she has been letting down her barriers down to many people around her allowing her to form friendships, to rebuild her relationship with her foster parents and yes, to fall in love with Jed. But she is still keeping part of herself back from him. Fortunately, Jed understands. After all, he has a history of his own including his manipulative ex-wife who tore their family apart, and separated him from the boy he thought was his son, Aaron.

The past has a tendency to come back to life. Jed returned from life in Australia with his two daughters and has established his own business across the road from Tara's Chocolate Pot Café. When Ingrid, his ex-wife shows up unannounced, drama is sure to follow. When Jed sees Aaron again, the boy is angry with him, believing that Jed had abandoned him and wanted nothing more to with him.

For Tara, her painful past is represented by her step sister Leanne, who betrayed her in the most shocking way. When Leanne tries to get in contact with her parents, Tara knows that it won't be for altruistic reasons and she also knows that she has to protect herself even if it means losing her parents again.

When I started reading this book, it felt like I had walked in half way through, and that's because I had. Tara and Jed's story started in a book that was published years ago called Starry Skies Over the Chocolate Pot Cafe. Of course, it I had of seen the title it would have prompted me to wonder if they were connected but there was nothing to suggest that it was a continuation of a previous story on Goodreads or in the blurb. I have learned before that Jessica Redland likes to pepper her story with recurring characters and I expected it in this one. I just didn't expect that it would be a sequel. I guess I just have to hurry up and read all of the books set in Whitsborough Bay and then the recurring characters will be old friends!

Giving that this isn't the boy meets girl part of Tara and Jed's relationship, the story really comes from the Drama with a capital D that swirls around them, and there is a lot going on. Jed's daughters have a really fractured relationship with their mother, which is perfectly understandable given the history, so when Ingrid drops in unannounced he has to navigate carefully. Similarly, Tara has enough drama in her own world, but she still manages to see opportunity to help other people, including Zoe, a young girl who lives in a shelter.

I could relate to having a relationship that is in the middle of other people's lives. My husband and I have been known to have conversations about the fact that we are really good within the two of us, but it is outside dramas that can some times cause emotional impacts on one or both of us. The main difference is that we are not now navigating a new relationship as Tara and Jed were.

Despite the fact that I did feel like I had missed the first half of the story, I did really enjoy this book and I would love to read more of Jessica Redland's books. The question is when will I find the time and space to do so!

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews and British Isles Friday hosted at Joy's Book Blog. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the review copy and Rachel's Random Resources for the opportunity to take part in this blog tour! Check out the other stops on the blog tour as well!

Rating 4/5

About the book

Hopes and Dreams at the Chocolate Pot Café

Sometimes all your hopes and dreams really do come true… ✨🌈

Life at the Chocolate Pot Café has never been sweeter for Tara Porter. Nestled on Castle Street in Whitsborough Bay, her café is thriving, her friendships are close, her foster parents are back where they belong—and she’s finally let herself fall in love with artist Jed Ferguson.

For Jed, returning from Australia feels like coming home in every sense. His teenage daughters have settled, his gallery opening is a success, and with Tara by his side, the future looks full of promise.

But the past can’t stay at bay forever.

When Tara’s estranged foster sister reappears, old wounds resurface. And when Jed is reunited with twelve year old Aaron - a boy he once believed was his son - secrets unravel and loyalties are tested.

Now Tara and Jed must decide whether facing the past will shatter everything they’ve built—or hope it gives them the strength and courage to dream again.

Warm, heartfelt and hopeful, Hopes and Dreams at the Chocolate Pot Café is a story of love, forgiveness and second chances.

Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/HopesDreamsatChocolate

About the Author

Jessica Redland is the million-copy bestselling author of novels, including the Hedgehog Hollow and Escape to the Lakes series. Inspired by her hometown of Scarborough and the Lake District, she writes uplifting women’s fiction of love, friendship and community.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @jessicaredlandauthor

Twitter: @JessicaRedland

Instagram: @jessicaredlandauthor

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/JessicaRedlandNews

Bookbub profile: @jessicaredlandwriter

Blog Tour: Love Blooms at the Cornish Cottage by Kim Nash

2026-04-02T19:24:00.072+11:00

Michelle finally has the life that she wants. A couple of years earlier she had moved to Cornwall to a place that she loved, she had made some really good friends, her business is going well and she has fallen in love with a gorgeous Greek doctor named Demetri who she could see being part of her life ....well....forever! It's a long way from the life she was living before moving to Sandpiper Shore.

When Demetri announces that he needs to return to Greece to care for his sick mother, Michelle is torn. Can she start again...again? When she decides that this is something that she cannot do, Michelle and Demetri agree that the best way forward is no contact after he leaves. It would hurt too much to still be talking to each other.

Michelle is heartbroken but she is beginning to pick herself up again with the help of her friends, Jo and Emma who we met in the previous books in the series. One day she is shocked to find a man on her door step. At first, she thinks it is Demetri but it turns out it is Makkis, his brother. When Michelle explains that Demetri has gone home Makkis is surprised as he says that their mother is fine and suggests that there are other reasons for him to return home. Did Michelle really even know Demetri at all, or has she been played.

Makkis stays with Michelle and soon he is offering to help out with her business dealings and more. Can she trust Makkis more than she could ever trust Demetri?

A good guide to how invested you are in the characters in a story is how you react to some of the things that they do. As Michelle made several of her decisions I was yelling noooo in my head! I did, however, love the storyline with her brother. That part of the story made me feel quite emotional!

In all three books in this series, building community is a really important part of the story. In the first book, the friends were instrumental in building a Lonely Hearts club for the town. In the second it was a Christmas pantomime and in this one it was a barn dance (in an actual barn). When I was very young my family was involved in square dancing so we used to go to a lot of barn dances!

Once again, Kim Nash has delivered a really lovely story of friendship and love, healing and growth all set in a nice community near the beach in Cornwall! I am already hoping for the next book!

Rating 4.5/5

About the Book

Love Blooms at the Cornish Cottage

💔 How do you mend a broken heart? 💔

Michelle finally thought she’d found love with her hot Greek doctor. But when Demetri reveals he’s returning home to care for his sick mother, Michelle’s dream future crumbles. Choosing not to follow him feels like losing more than just love - it feels like losing who she’d started to become.

Determined not to fall apart, Michelle decides to throw herself into rebuilding her life in Sandpiper Shore, but then unexpectedly, Demetri’s brother, Makkis, arrives on her doorstep. Offering him a room seems like the kind thing to do… but the constant reminder of her lost love is difficult for her heartbroken soul.

And the more time she spends with Makkis, the clearer it becomes: there are parts of Demetri she never knew… Just as Michelle starts to heal with a little help from her friends, she’s faced with a decision: fight for the love she knows she deserves, or finally learn how to let go…

Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/SandpiperShores3

About the Author

Kim Nash is an author of uplifting, romantic, feel-good fiction, having wanted to write books since she was a little girl. She works as both Digital Publicity Director for publisher Bookouture. She lives in Staffordshire with her son Ollie and English Setter rescue dog Roni. When she's not working or writing, Kim can be found walking her dog and reading, as well as running a book club in Staffordshire and organising local and national reader/author events.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @KimNashAuthor

Twitter: @KimTheBookworm

Instagram: @KimNashAuthor

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/KimNashNews

Bookbub profile: @KimNash18

Historical fiction reading challenge - April links

2026-04-01T06:10:00.001+11:00

Thank you to everyone who contributed a review in March for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. It's been a good start to the 2026 challenge. Currently there are more than 40 links for March! I will be back in the next week or so with all the statistics for the month.

I am looking forward to reading your reviews throughout the rest of the year! I am sure there is going to be a lot of great historical fiction discovered and shared with fellow HF lovers over the course of this year!

If you haven't already signed up, it's not too late! The sign up post is here.

Just to recap what participants need to know. At the beginning of each month I will put up a post which will have a Mr Linky embedded into it for you to add your link.

Please remember...

add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky we’ll be adding to our monthly post (please, do not add your blog link, but the correct address that will guide us directly to your review).
it doesn't matter where you review - Bookstagram, Goodreads etc as long as you share a direct link to your review.
any kind of historical fiction is accepted (fantasy, young adult, graphic novels...)
if you have time, have a look some of the other links that are present. You never know when you will discover new blogs or books!

You can also join the challenge group on Facebook which you can find here and don't forget to use the #histficreadingchallenge hashtag on the socials.

Let the reading begin!!

Top Ten Tuesday: Buzz-words!

2026-03-31T06:40:00.003+11:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Buzzwords or Phrases That Make Me Want to Read (or Avoid) a Book (These words or phrases can be in the title, synopsis, marketing materials, reviews, author blurbs, etc. and immediately pique your interest or immediately make you say “NOPE”. Examples include: fae, forbidden romance, morally grey characters, unreliable narrator, found family, magical worlds, love triangle, marriage of convenience, dark academia, stranded, dragons, dual points of view, starting over, etc.)

I am focussing on just one word out of that theme - Buzz!

Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd - I was very late to the party having only read this book around 18 months ago. (my review)

Go Tell the Bees I am Gone by Diana Gabaldon - I still haven't read this book which is the latest in the Outlander series. Maybe I will one day.

The Enlightenment of Bees by Rachel Linden - I have had this book out from the library a couple of times now. Next time I borrow it I really need to make sure that I actually read it!

All the Bees in the Hollow by Lauren Keegan - I have this second book here to read soon, and then I will go back to this one.

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray - I heard Paul Murray speak about this book at Melbourne Writers Festival a couple of years ago.

The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia - I did have this on my shelves for a while. I can't remember if I kept it the last time I did a book purge.

Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang - Where there's bees there is often honey! I didn't love this book when I read it at the beginning of last year. (my review)

Lion's Honey by David Grosman - I read this a very long time ago now (my review)

Honey: Recipes From a Beekeeper's Kitchen by Amy Newsome - This was a Jamie Oliver Cook Book Club selection a whie ago

The Girl Who Kicked a Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsen - A reminder that no everything that buzzes is a bee!

This week

2026-03-30T08:11:00.004+11:00

I'm reading

Last week I started reading The Rebel Romanov by Helen Rappaport as my selection for Her Story category on the Goodreads Challenge. I was a bit worried that I wasn't going to be able to finishe it before the end of the month as it felt like I was getting through it very slowly! However, it turns out the last 35% of the book were all the footnotes, photos and references so all of a sudden at 65% I was done!

I also finished reading Past the Shallows by Favel Parrett for my book club selection. The theme this month is books you have borrowed from someone. I borrowed this from Bree at All the Books I Can Read more than 10 years ago so it is probably time I finally read it! Now that I have read it I am wondering what I was waiting for as it was a really good read! You can see the pile of other books above. Our next theme is Mothers and Daughters. I have no idea what I am going to read!

Now I need to get on with my review books for April, so I have read Love Blooms at the Cornish Cafe by Kim Nash. I have a couple of reviews due this week and a couple more next week so hopefully I can get through them

I did also read The Correspondent by Virginia Evans which was a lot of fun. It was due back at the library a couple of days ago so I need to go and return that one and pick up at least one other book that is currently on hold!

I'm watching

We have watched all three previous seasons of the show where Amanda Holden and Alan Carr buy a dilapidated house in Europe and then do it up. The first two seasons were in Italy and the third season was in Spain. This season they are on the Greek island of Corfu. It's a lot of fun

Life

We had a very busy weekend this weekend. I baked, we had brunch with friends at a new cafe on Sunday morning and I had book club on Saturday morning.

On Friday night we went to see the first of three shows we are seeing at the Melboourne International Comedy Festival. We went and saw Australian comedian Emma Holland in her show, The Dog Dies at the Beginning. It was an interesting show, talking about her reaction to losing her dog.

On Saturday night we went to see (and hear) the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra do their show Art of the Score, which is when they focus on the music of a particular composer's movie scores. This time it was James Horner so featured music from Avatar, Titanic, Field of Dreams and so much more!

The big news is that we have made a call on our upcoming trip. We had been looking at the state of the world and wondering if we should go or not. We knew we would have to find new flights that didn't go through Dubai. We have decided we are going so booked our new flights over the weekend

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Autumn 2026 To-Read List
Weekend Cooking/Cook the Books: The Language of Food by Annabel Abbs
Mini Reviews: Three Aussie Books

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date, Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and the Good Book and a Cup of Tea link up hosted at Boondock Ramblings

Mini reviews: Three Aussie books

2026-03-29T05:38:00.003+11:00

The Heir Apparent by Rebecca Armitage

When Lexi Villiers' father and brother are killed while skiing, she suddenly finds herself whisked off to London to take up her place in the succession to the the throne. Princess Alexandrina had walked away from the royal family years before and was living in Tasmania and studying to be a doctor. Now she needs to decide does she want everything that being royal means (both the good and the bad) or does she want to live a normal life.

This is the royal family but not as we know it. The starting point is that Charles II makes his mistress Barbara Villiers his queen and the crown passes down through the Villiers family. It is a really interesting premise to base a story on! Even though it is a fictionalised royal family, you can definitely see where it has been inspired by the real royal family. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this story, although it was probably too long.

Rating 4/5

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson

This is the third book in the Ernest Cunningham series and as you might surmise from the title this time the story is set at Christmas time. Ernest gets a phone call from his ex-wife whose new partner has just been found dead and she is the prime suspect. Soon Ernest is trying to solve a murder where there everyone has a secret, where sleight of hand and magic are the everyday business of some of the suspect and where nothing is quite as it seems.

This was shorter than a normal book but longer than a novella and at times it felt a bit rushed, but it also has a fun advent calendar style format! Already looking forward to the next book! And I have just found out that Benjamin Stevenson is coming to my local library in May so I have booked tickets for that!

Rating 4/5

Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon by Sophie Green

I have been meaning to read Sophie Green's books for several years now but I just hadn't been able to fit one in! This book tells the story of four women who are all at different stages of their lives who all come together in a hairdressing salon in a small town on the Central Coast of NSW. What they all have in common in addition to the salon is that they are all trying to find themselves.

Trudy is a widow who is the owner of the salon. Since her husband died she has sort of been going through the motions. She doesn't really connect well with her only son, but the people in her salon are almost like family to her.

Single mum Evie has never really had much luck with relationships. She is trying to balance work with raising her son but really her secret desire is to fall in love. Could the new male hairdresser Sam finally bring love into her live.

Anna is feeling neglected in her marriage and so she separates from her husband Gary. She brings her mother into the salon regularly but could changing her life start with changing her hair.

Finally, there is Josie who joins the salon as an apprentice. She has been bought up in a very strict household and so when she meets a young man, she needs to keep everything a secret!

I had so much fun with this one. It is set in the mid 1980s and there were so many nods to music, pop culture, world events and of course hairstyles!

This one counts for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host

Rating 4/5

Weekend Cooking/Cook the Books: The Language of Food by Annabel Abbs

2026-03-28T06:31:00.002+11:00

When I saw that this book was the selection for February/March for Cook the Books, I wasn't 100% sure if I would read it or not as it would be a reread for me and I don't generally do rereads. However, FOMO is real and so I did end up reading it again, and I am glad I did.

I have a potted history with this book, which is also published under the title Miss Eliza's English Kitchen. Originally I tried to read it on an Easter road trip back in 2022. I struggled to keep interested so I put it down, only picking it up again 6 months later. I had to start reading the book again, and this time I thought it was quite good! However, I think it is a book that grows on you because when I started it again for this post, I struggled to be able to put it down. It's a book that seems to get better each time you read it!

The Language of Food tells the story of Eliza Acton and her assistant Ann Kirby as they developed what is credited as the first cookbook targeted at domestic cooks. She was also the first person to include a precise list of ingredients as part of the recipe, although she had it at the bottom rather than at the top.

It is a shame that Eliza Acton is not more well known, as her story is interesting and she has left a lasting legacy. Interestingly, she started as a poet but when her poems were rejected she was tasked with writing a cook book. At the time, she couldn't cook at all. However, when her family fortunes are decimated, she and her mother find themselves running a boarding house for respectable people in the town of Tonbridge. Eliza is determined that she can do better than the cookbooks that were available at the time, and so she starts to teach herself to cook and write the recipes, testing the recipes for preciseness and taste.

Ann's story is also interesting, albeit almost opposite to Eliza. She came from a very poor background with a father with a penchant for drinking and a mother who is demented. Her local priest finds her a place with the Actons. She soon shows that she not only is a hard worker but she has a good sense of taste and cooking skill. Soon Eliza is talking about her book as "our book" with Ann, which suggests a closeness but both of them are keeping very big secrets from each other.

When I read a book for Cook the Books, I am always on the look out for what it is that I am going to cook so I take note of all of the mentions of food. I am glad I didn't keep a list for this book because there are SO many mentions of food the list would have been more than a page long. However, as soon as I got to a particular section, I knew that I at least had a direction, partially due to the fact that I have recently visited India.

At one point in the book, Eliza has a suitor named Mr Arnott who is a spice merchant, which seems an ideal match for her. Mr Arnott loves curry, and there is a mention at one point of egg curry, and that was my decision made.

Last year, I wrote about a cook book called Everything is Indian. I previously shared a recipe for delicious Curried Sausage Rolls, but one of the other recipes we have tried from the book was an Egg Curry, and so today, that is the recipe that I am going to share today.

The next selection for Cook the Book is called The Call of the Camino by Suzanne Redfearn. I see some Spanish food in my future!

This book counts for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here and Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story.

Rating 4.5/5

Egg Curry (Anda Tarkari) - Justin Narayan

6 eggs, at room temperature
1/4 to 1/3 cup (60-80ml) light olive oil
1 large brown onion, thinly sliced
15-20 fresh curry leaves
2 bird's eye chillies, halved lengthways
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1/8 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
1 large ripe tomato, roughly diced or 1/2 x 400g (14oz) can diced tomatoes

Pour some iced water into a bowl. Bring a saucepan of water to a gentle boil, then add the eggs. Boil for 6 minutes, then immediately transfer them to the iced water. Once cool enough to handle, peel the eggs.

Line a plate with paper towel. Heat the oil in the frying pan over medium heat. Fry the boiled eggs until golden brown al over, about 1-2 minutes. Drain the eggs on the paper-towel lined plate.

In the same pan, add the onion, curry leaves, fresh chilli and whole spices and cook until the onion is golden brown, about 3-4 minutes. Add the powdered spices and a pinch of salt and mix. Add the garlic and tomato and cook until the tomato has completely broken down, about 5-6 minutes. Return the eggs to the pan and simmer for 2-5 minutes so all the ingredients get to know each other.

Taste and adjust with salt. Garnish with coriander and serve with roti and rice.

Tip: If you don't have fresh tomato, use half a can of tomato and you'll get the same result. Use the whole tin if you want it to be saucier.

Weekly meals

Saturday -
Sunday - Chicken and Chorizo Orzo
Monday - Bacon, mushrooms and zucchini pasta
Tuesday - Eggs on Toast
Wednesday - Beef and Broccoli Noodles
Thursday - Egg curry
Friday -

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Autumn 2026 To-Read List

2026-03-24T01:22:00.004+11:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week the theme is Books on My Spring 2026 To-Read List but as always we are in the opposite season so this is my Autumn 2026 To-Read list

Something in the Air in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen - If Maggie Christensen has a new book out then I am reading it! Turns out she has this one coming out in April and another stand alone novel coming out in June!

Love Blooms at the Cornish Cottage by Kim Nash - I do enjoy Kim Nash's books and this is the third book in the Sandpiper Cove series.

The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak - We are meant to be going to Turkiye in a couple of weeks time. I am not sure if that is going to happen or not given the state of the world. I have loved Elif Shafak's other books so this was a good opportunity to read her given that she is a Turkish author.

Gate to Kagoshima by Poppy Kuroki - Someone reviewed the follow up book to this for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge and I was intrigued!

Hot Chocolate on Thursday by Michiko Aoyama - I have read a couple of this Japanese authors books previously so I am keen to read this one

Everyone in this Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson - This is the fourth book in the Ernest Cunningham series. After reading this one I will be all caught up with the series and will have to wait for the next one.

Start at the End by Emma Grey - I am so excited to read this one! I read both of Emma Grey's books last year and they were both 5 star reads.

Early Mornings at the Laksa Cafe by Janet Tay = The title of this one caught my attention.

Call of the Camino by Suzanne Redfearn - This is the next Cook the Books selection. I am expecting to feel the need to make something Spanish after reading this!

The Rebel Romanov by Helen Rappaport - Trying to read this one by the end of March as the Her Story category is the last one I need to finish for the current Goodreads Challenges

This week....

2026-03-23T01:18:00.003+11:00

I'm reading

I am feeling the pressure of the end of month at the moment. I have set myself the goal of finishing all the categories in the Goodreads Challenges, I have library books due back and book club is next week. I then have several review books due in the first week of April. I do feel like I made quite a bit of progress this week though.

One of the book I needed to finish was my first Classics Club Spin selection which was The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. I read most of this on the plane last week so I was able to finish it off and write my review this week! Go me!

I had started Heir Apparent by Australian author Rebecca Armitage before I went away but I had to return the library book when I was only half way through. I ended up buying it so I could finish it. I ended up having a bit of fun with it. This was my selection for the Star Selection category of the Goodreads Challenge.

Then I needed to reread The Language of Food by Annabel Abbs. This is the current Cook the Books selection. I have decided what I am going to cook, and when I say I I actually mean what Robert will cook, and just need to finish the post ready for next week. A quick look at the top of this post might give you some idea what direction my thinking is going.

My next two reads were both for the Goodreads Challenge. For the Persona Picks category I read We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida and for Choice Archive category I read The Midnight Library by Matt Haig.

I started reading The Rebel Romanov by Helen Rappaport as my selection for Her Story in the middle of the night on Saturday night. I am not sure if non fiction books should be middle of the night reading really!

I also started reading Past the Shallows by Favel Parrett for my book club selection. The theme this month is books you have borrowed from someone. I borrowed this from Bree at All the Books I Can Read more than 10 years ago so it is probably time I finally read it!

I'm watching

Nothing really

Life

I have picked up a cold/flu/infection on my travels which I could have done without. I have felt very average all week and today my ears are blocked so I don't think it is quite done with me yet!

I did take some time this weekend to say farewelling to Jane who used to blog from Janezworld (also Life at Number 8 and a blog/zine thing that was A String of Pearls). She passed away last week. I actually met Jane pre-blogging days on the Oprah Book Club boards. Jane and I almost met in person a couple of times but it didn't quite happen. She was, however, always very supportive of me and I was sad to hear of her passing.

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Green Book Covers
James by Percival Everett
Weekend Cooking: What I Ate in India
Classics Club Spin: The Leopard by Guiseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date, Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and the Good Book and a Cup of Tea link up hosted at Boondock Ramblings

Classics Club Spin: The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi de Lampedusa

2026-03-22T06:03:00.002+11:00

Earlier this year I decided that I am going to try to read some classics this year. I therefore decided to join in with the Classics Club Spin and the first selection for me was The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi de Lampedusa whose titles were 11th Prince of Lampedusa and 12th Duke of Palma. He wrote this book over a period of years but it was only published after his death.

I was pleased that this was the book chosen as it was quite a small book compared to some of my other options! It felt like quite an accessible start to my Classics Club Spin adventure. I then decided that this is was the perfect book to read on my recent long haul flight, which it was and it wasn't.

The Leopard tells the story of the coming of change to Sicily from independence to being part of the Kingdom of Italy. The Sicilian Prince of Salina is a man who is walking on the edge of a precipice. He is used to a certain way of life, of wealth and the privilege that comes with it. But times are changing, and the days of Sicily being independent are coming to an end. It is the 1860's and Garibaldi has overthrown the royal family in Naples. The Prince and his aristocratic family needs to adapt and quickly.

The Prince has several children but really his most beloved is his nephew Tancredi, who he does everything he can to assist. When Tancredi declares that he is joining Garibaldi's army, known as the Red Shirts, the Prince sees it as an opportunity to have a foot in both camps. Later we see Tancredi as he falls in love with Angelica, the beautiful daughter of a nouveau rich neighbour, which will be extremely advantageous for a man with a good pedigree but no real assets. This leave one of the Prince's daughters heartbroken

The writing in this book was quite dense at times, so it did take me a bit longer to read than I might have expected. I was, however pleasantly surprised by how funny some sections of the book were. For example, there is a funny scene where The Prince is having a bath and the priest comes to visit him and the Prince basically shows him everything! It bought to mind the story of Winston Churchill working while in the bath during WWII.

There were, however, odd little elements of foreshadowing where we find out that things are going to happen, particularly during WWII.

I am so glad that this was the book that came up for this Spin. Let's hope the next Spin works just as well for me.

This book not only counts for the Classics Club Spin but also for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here. It also counts for the Books in Translation challenge as the book was originally written in Italian and is translated by Archibald Duke. The book also includes a few extracts of text that were discovered after the book was originally published.

Rating 4/5