The Intrepid Reader and Baker

Top Ten Tuesday: Spring Freebie

2026-09-29T06:38:00.000+10:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Fall-Themed Freebie (or Spring if you live in the Southern Hemisphere)

Recently it was time to get my nails redone, and I wanted to get something a bit fun to celebrate the end of winter. In the end I chose to get my nails done in spring colours - think five different pastel colours. I have a different colour on each nail - yellow, pink, purple, green and blue - so here are 10 books with covers that feature those colours.

Matcha on Monday by Michiko Aoyama- see how well my nails match this cover. Totally a coincidence! (mini review)

A Song in Daylight by Paullina Simons - This book was one that jumped out at me from my bookshelves with the yellow vibes. Now that I look it at though, it doesn't really go with the others as the others are all cartoon-y style.

Piglettes by Clementine Beauvais - This cover bring the pink vibes. (review)

In the Paris Fashion by Sophie Beaumont - I could have chosen any of the covers from this author. The other covers are pink and green. (review)

And Now, Back to You by B K Borison - This book made me feel anything but blue!

How to Fake it in Society by K J Charles - This book was such a fun read and totally bring the green vibes

First Time Caller by B K Borison - I know, I know. Two books by B K Borison and from the same series is possibly cheating but it had both pink and yellow so I couldn't resist.

Before I knew I Loved You by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - Purple is my favourite colour so this cover caught my attention straight away when it was revealed. And it is the book I had just finished listening to when I started putting this post together

The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisash Kashiwai - I am just about to reread this book so it was a book I thought of when I was looking for my last green cover (review)

We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida - The second half of this list has taken a decidedly Japanese turn!

This week

2026-09-28T05:38:00.000+10:00

I'm reading

My reading was more normal this week than it was last week!

I was pleased to finish my selection for the Classics Spin with a couple of weeks to spare. This time, the selection was The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. Not only did I finish reading it, but I also managed to get the review done which you can read here.

I also finished my second Christmas novel for this year which was The French Christmas Market by Gillian Harvey. I like her books and this was another good one!

On Thursday, I reviewed three Japanese novels. I was hoping to get through a fourth but my reviews were all done before I finished reading the fourth one which was Dreamers of the Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki. I ended up finishing it over the weekend

I also started reading The Slow Cooker Supper Club by Sue Heath. I have loved both of the Sue Heath books I have read previously and I have high hopes for this one!

I'm watching

A couple of months we watched archaeologist Dr Alice Roberts as she went in search of the Ottoman Empire by Train and really enjoyed it. This week we saw that she has a new series out where she goes in search of the Roman Empire. It feels like there is plenty of Roman history around but we will still watch it as her shows are always interesting!

Max

Max went on holidays this weekend. It's the first time he's gone sightseeing around the state. He got to work along the edge of Lake Mulwala, he got to see New South Wales, he got to explore lots and lots of new places!

Life

Last week was a crazy, crazy week including a banking outage on pay day which was pretty stressful. Thankfully the bank system came back up at around 7.30 and the bank extended the deadline so everything got sent in due course. It was only a four day week as we had a long weekend with Friday off, but it felt like five days worth of work!

You may have guessed that if Max went away for the weekend, then there's every chance we did too! We went up to stay with friends who moved to a town called Yarrawonga. We had a lovely weekend. We had a chance to catch up, we went to lunch at a winery that has been in operation more than 100 years old. We crossed the river and went to a town called Corowa in New South Wales, where we visited a mill that has been converted into a Whiskey and Chocolate Factory, including an amazing events space and a cafe. We also managed to see two new art silos

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Spring TBR
Mini Reviews: Three Japanese Novels
Cook the Books: Mrs Quinn's Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford
Classics Club Spin: The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

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 Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

2026-09-27T05:31:00.000+10:00

When the recent Classics Spin landed on number 18 I was pleased to see that it landed on The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. There's been a recent TV adapation, it's quite short so I expected it to be quite a quick read! What I couldnt remember was why I added to my classics list in the first place. I don't It's not really my kind of read at all.

Tom Ripley is something of a con man living in a shared apartment in New York. He has the distinct feeling that things are closing in on him so when he is offered an all expense paid trip to Italy it seems the answer to all his problems. In return, he needs to convince his acquaintance Dickie Greenleaf to return home to his family. Dickie has been living in a small town in southern Italy, spending his life attempting to paint, drinking, swimming and generally living the good life. It;s not that Tom wants to live Dickie's life, he wants to BE Dickie.

What follows is a series of actions which are Tom trying to cover his tracks as he travels around Europe, trying to keep both himself and Dickie's profile

I found it in turns offputting, fascinating, compelling and strange.

I can't think of too many crime novels where the story is told from the point of view of the erstwhile bad guy. Of course, Tom doesn't see himself in that way. He is just trying to improve himself and give himself the life that he feels he deserves. Why shouldn't he have a glamourous life. He had a rough start in life after all. And people should not get in his way

One of the things I really enjoyed was the predominantly Italian setting. I could see the small village of Mongibello, I enjoyed the time spent in Rome, and Venice and more. It's clear that Italy was the country of Tom's heart! It's hard to see him ever returning to America!

I did find myself wondering if this book would be published today. I am not sure that the methods he used for identify theft wouldn't stand up bu tmaybe working out a way to bet all the technology would be interesting. There is an undertow of homosexuality insinuated so that would be more overt. I am not sure if there are modern books being written from the view of the killer, especially one like Tom.

I had no idea that this was the first in a five book series which follows Ripley's life. Do I want to read more about Tom Ripley? Not straight away but maybe in due course.

I did find myself wondering if this book would be published today. I am not sure that the methods he used for identity theft would stand up but maybe working out a way to beat all the modern technological safeguards would be interesting. There is an undercurrent of homosexuality through the story so that would be more overt if the book was written now, but not given the book was written in the 1950s.

There were times when I had to put the book down as the intensity built, and as we saw Tom unravelling a bit, then pulling himself back together and once again being one step ahead of everyone, whether it be Dickie's family and friends, or the Italian police who are trying to piece together a puzzle where they have two different sets of pieces all jumbled together!

Ultimately this was a pretty different read for me, and it was satisfying. It certainly had my mind racing as I read each step that Tom took. Now that I have finished the book, I am tempted to watch the recent TV adaptation that stars Andrew Scott and Dakota Fanning. Maybe in a couple of week's time!

So far I have enjoyed all three books I have read for the Classics Spin. Bring on the next one!

Cook the Books: Mrs Quinn's Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford

2026-09-26T06:39:00.000+10:00

We are big Bake Off fans in our house. At last count we have watched Australian, Kiwi, Canadian, Kenyan, South African, American, Bake Off The Professionals, celebrity versions and, of course, the original and the best, The Great British Bake Off.

When this book was announced as the next selection for Cook the Books, I read the blurb and went, I am going to love this book. Whilst the show in the book is called Britain Bakes, it is very definitely a knock off of Bake Off.

When 77 year old Jenny Quinn decides to apply to be on Britain Bakes, she keeps it a secret from everyone around her, including her husband of 59 years Bernie. The main reason she keeps it a secret is because she doesn't expect to get past the application stage let alone make it all the way through to being on the TV. Keeping it a secret, is very unusual for Jenny and Bernie. Throughout their long marriage she has only ever kept one secret from him, albeit a very BIG secret.

Baking has been part of Jenny's whole life, but getting ready for competing on the show takes things to a whole new level. Jenny has the recipes that she has known and loves for years, but she needs to show skills for more than just retro baking!

Jenny makes it onto the show and becomes something of a favourite. She insists on using her trusted balancing scales (no electric scales here) and her warm nature, and in particular her friendship with a young fellow contestant by the name of Azeez, endear her to the public and the crew of the show.

By taking this step to do things for herself though, Jenny finds herself thinking back to an earlier time in her life, the point where the biggest choices were taken away from her. This book is, in effect a dual time line, where the recipes Jenny is baking now are conduits back to that earlier time in her life.

The big question is what happens when the show is aired. Will Jenny win? And will all her secrets be revealed? Of course, I can't tell you that! You will just need to read this fun, delicious and delightful read for yourself!

This is Olivia Ford's first and only book so far. I will be looking out for her next book because I really loved this one.

Because this was a read for Cook the Books, I also needed to choose what to make. There is so much delicious food in this book, both savoury and sweet. I did keep a list, but the reality is that I already knew what I was going to be making as soon as I read the second paragraph of the book! That doesn't mean to say that I didn't contemplate other things. This is one of those choices where there were dozens and dozens of different types of food mentioned!

Here is that paragraph:

Recipe one. It had to be her favourite birthday cake - she had quite a reputation for it in the family. She wrote the heading, Jenny's Black Forest Gateau, twisting her best handwriting into loops and flicks as she divided the page into Ingredients and Method. She could feel the wet cloth of the cream-filled piping bag, the magic of neat rosettes spiralling from its nozzle. She thought of the bitter smell of cocoa powder which clung to the back of your throat if you made the mistake of pouring it too enthusiastically, and how it complemented the tender cherry pie filling.

The reason why this jumped out so much is that Black Forest Cake is my husband's favourite, and I haven't made it for him for a long time! A quick look through my baking cook books gave me a few different options, but in the end I chose a recipe from the cook book that I have been doing a lot of baking from recently which is You Had Me at Cake by Emelia Jackson

In order to make the recipe as written, I did have to sent Robert to go to a specialty place that does all kind of frozen fruits to get frozen sour cherries, and I also had to go and buy kirsch as we didn't have any in the house.

I also had to adapt because I don't have 18cm cake tins. In the end I used 22 cm cake tins and cooked the cakes for 30 minutes which may have been a fraction too long.

It turns out that really this recipe looks more complicated than it really is. None of the three components is difficult, and it looks fine if you put it together somewhat rustically. At least, that is what I am telling myself!

The next Cook the Books selection is The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai and I am the host! I really hope that everyone enjoys it! I am a bit nervous though! If you would like to know more about Cook the Books, click here for more details.

Black Forest Gateau (Emelia Jackson)

Chocolate Cake

6 eggs, room temperature
250g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
90g plain flour
60g cocoa powder
150g unsalted butter, melted

Sour Cherry Compote

800g frozen sour cherries, defrosted
200g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
100ml kirsch

Chantilly cream

600g thickened cream
300g double cream
100g caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
shaved dark chocolate to finish

For the chocolate sponge cakes, preheat the oven to 180C fan-forced (200C conventional) and line three 18cm round cake tins with baking paper.

Combine the eggs, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until the mixture is pale and has doubled in volume. Sift the flour and cocoa powder over the egg mixture, gently fold together, then mix through the melted butter.

Once combined, divide the batter evenly among three cake tins and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. If you only have one or two cake tins, bake each layer separately. The remaining batter is fine to wait as each layer bakes.

Remove the cakes from the oven and allow them to cool in their tins for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

For the cherry compote, put the cherries and their juices in a saucepan with the sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat and allow the cherries to cook for 30 minutes, or until the juices have reduced by half. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla paste and kirsch before letting the compote cool completely. This can be made up to a week ahead and kept in the fridge until ready to use.

For the chantilly cream, combine all the ingredients (except the chocolate) in a mixing bowl and whisk by hand until firm peaks form. It will take a little elbow grease, but I prefer to err on the side of caution and whisk by hand as the higher fat content means it can easily split. Once the cream has thickened, place it in the fridge until the cakes and compote have cooled and you are ready to assemble the cake.

To assemble, place the first cake layer onto the serving plate and soak it liberally with cherry syrup, before layering over ⅓ of the cream and cherries. Repeat this process until you’ve stacked all layers with the fillings. To finish, liberally spread the rest of the cream over the top of the cake and pile it high with cherries. Finish with some curls of dark chocolate shaved with a vegetable peeler and set the cake in the fridge for at least 4 hours (overnight is best) to firm up before serving.

Weekly meals

Saturday - Hamburgers
Sunday - Grilled cheese on toast
Monday - Pork and beans stir fry
Tuesday - Spaghetti bolognaise
Wednesday -
Thursday - Out for dinner
Friday - Away for the weekend

Mini reviews - Three Japanese novels

2026-09-24T01:06:00.000+10:00

This week I am bringing you somewhat mini reviews of three recent Japanese reads. I am not that good at being mini. Half the time they would only need one more paragraph to make them a normal review!

Before I Knew I Loved You by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (translated by Geoffrey Trousselot)

This is the sixth book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series and it is very similar is structure and tone. There are four individual stories where we meet people who want to go either forward or back in time to get closure.

In the first story, a young woman hopes to meet up with the stepmother who she treated badly to say she's sorry. Then we meet a teenager who hopes to meet the girl that she liked. The last time he saw her he didn't say what was in his heart and now it is too late. In the third story, a woman has to decide whether to say yes to her partner, even knowing what she knows and finally, a young man wants to go back in time to see his dead father one last time. Each of these stories is moving and meaningful in it's own way.

One of the things about this series is that rules about the time travel do get repeated a lot. Despite that, every now and again it feels like the rules change ever so slightly. For example, it was a couple of books into the series before it said that people could go forward in time as well as backward. There was an aspect of the first story in this book which felt like the rules got a little bent. We will see if anyone else uses this particular method going forward.

Whilst this book is set in a cafe, there isn't that much food in them usually. People who visit the cafe can ask for whatever they like to eat and Nagare, the chef and owner, will make it for them if he has the ingredient. I did, however, enjoy the foodie aspect of the last story where the young man remembers the pasta dish that his dad had prepared for them.

So far I have listened to this entire series on audio narrated by Kevin Shen. I am not sure that I would even be able to read one of these books now without hearing his voice in my head, particularly when someone enters the cafe and he does the klang-dong sound of the doorbell.

The more I read this series, the more I find myself pondering the properties of hot water in Japan. The whole premise is that you only have maybe 10 minutes in the past, as you have to finish your coffee before it gets cold. However, when I make myself a tea, it takes at least 45 minutes before the tea gets completely cold. Maybe it is our definition on what temperature cold is that varies!

I did see something the other day that said that the author has recently finished the seventh book in the series. I will, of course, be reading it! Or rather, listening to it!

Rating 4/5

The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop by Takuya Asakura (translated by Yuka Maeno)

If you read a particular book at a particular time of year (specifically during cherry blossom season) you may suddenly find yourself visiting the Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop which is run by a young woman named Sakura and her cat Kabako.

This book shares a similar structure and feel to many of these popular Japanese books, including the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series. There is a hard to find setting, a bit of magic realism and four stories of people who need to find peace regarding some particular aspect of their life.

We meet a woman whose mother has recently passed away, leaving thing unresolved. In another story, there is a man with dementia who is trying something important and then two sisters whose lives are going in different directions. Of these, I thought the story about the man with dementia was very moving.

I didn't mind this one until the last chapter when it all got a bit weird which is a real shame because this is where we got to learn how Sakura ended up being in the store, so it would have been great to have been able to connect to this. I am assuming

This is a case where the absolutely gorgeous cover lured me in, but the book itself wasn't quite as good as I would have hoped it would be. I did love all the discussions about the four special books that were the triggers to bring the different characters into the store! Don't get me wrong. It was still a decent read, just not great.

This book counts for the Bookish Books challenge.

Rating 3/5

Matcha on Monday by Michiko Aoyama (translated by E Madison Shimoda)

On the cover this is advertised as "By the best selling author of What You Are Looking For is in the Library. The thing is that book is my least favourite of the four books I have read by this author so far.

Matcha on Monday is the companion book to Hot Chocolate on Thursdays which I read earlier this year. Whilst these two books share the common trait of featuring individual by connected stories, this time there are 12 stories (one for each month of the year). Some of the stories are set in or near the Marble Cafe in Tokyo, but others are set in Kyoto. This time there is no magical element, other than the power of unknown connections, and I don't think there is even a cat, although I could be wrong!

The Marble Cafe is normally closed on a Monday but every now and again the mysterious owner who is known only as The Maestro holds special events. In the first of the stories, a young woman visits the cafe during an event which is featuring matcha teas. In the next story, a man tries to visit the cafe after a fight with his wife but it is closed. Instead, he visits a nearby store. Then we learn more about the store owner and so the connected stories continue. Through the stories we learn lots about matcha, about several important Japanese traditions and more.

These couple of paragraphs give an example of how each of the stories is connected, and I love this whole idea!

"Right, we have no clue who they are, but they definitely existed. If you trace things back, the number of linked hands multiplies exponentially. If even one of those hands had let go, we wouldn't have made it here. Every encounter is the result of a long line of connections between people whose faces we'll never know."
Moved, I look at the Maestro.
He cradles his coffee cup with both hands and adds, "The most wonderful thing about this is that the far-off people who once held hands have no idea that they might be making someone somewhere down the line happy. That's what's great: unbeknownst to you, simply working on your life can impact the life of complete strangers."

I certainly found myself thinking about some of the things that happened in my life and where those magical hands, whether known or unknown, have helped me to get to where I am in my life right now. For example, my husband moved to Australia 8 years before we met. I'd like to thank whoever the first person was who put that idea in his head!

I enjoyed both of the books in the Marble Cafe series. And I will read whatever book is translated into English from Michiko Aoyama.

Rating 4.5/5

All of these books count for the Books in Translation challenge hosted at The Introverted Reader. Before I Knew I Loved You and Matcha on Monday count for Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story and Weekend Cooking which I host. The first two books count for the Speccy Fic challenge, hosted at Book'd Out and Before I Knew I Loved You counts for the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Spring TBR

2026-09-22T05:52:00.000+10:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books on My Fall 2026 To-Read List (or Spring if you live in the Southern Hemisphere). So here are ten books from my Spring TBR

Secrets of a Winter Escape by Sue Moorcroft - The is the second book in The Italian Legacy trilogy, which is set in a small town on Lake Como in Italy.

A Fresh Start in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen - If Maggie Christensen has a new book out, it will be on my TBR list, whatever the season.

The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai - This is the next selection for Cook the Books. Given that I am the host I need to reread and decide what I am going to cook from the book.

A Far-flung Life by M L Stedman - Normally my book club is read on a theme, but evey 18 months or so we all agree to read the same book. This is the book for October.

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman - These next few books are all the books I have chosen for the Goodreads Fall challenge. I am currently listening to this one whenever I am in the car by myself!

Long Island by Colm Toibin - I read Brooklyn years ago but I never got around to this one.

The Other Moctezuma Girls by Sofia Robleda - This one is for Hispanic Heritage Month.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee - I have had my eye on this book for a long time! Now I am finally going to read it!

The French Christmas Market by Gillian Harvey - I feel like I need at least one Christmas book on the list!

The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith - This was the book that came up on the Classics Spin. I am currently reading it, and it is ...interesting to say the least.

This week...

2026-09-21T07:14:09.040+10:00

I'm reading

Normally I am pretty consistent with the number of books that I am reading and that I talk about reading in the last week. There's the books I started last week and finished this week. There's the ones I both started and finished this week, and then there's the ones I started this week but will finish next week, so I usually mention four, maybe five books. This week, things have gotten a little out of control.

Things started normal enough. I had started reading The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon which I really enjoyed, and I reviewed here. This was a five star read for me!

Then I read Mrs Quinns Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford, which is the current Cook the Books selection. My review for that will be up on Saturday, along with the delicious recipe I was inspired to make when reading it.

This is where things got a little out of control. I then started reading Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. I read a couple of chapters and I am definitely thinking I am going to like it.

However, I know that I need to read and review The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith by this weekend, so I picked that one up. It is a pretty different read for me. Quite intense really. I am around two thirds of the way through

So then I felt like I needed something a bit lighter, a bit more....festive maybe, so I started The French Christmas Market by Gillian Harvey.

And then I realised that I have three books due back at the library this week and I can't extend them so I read Matcha on Monday by Michiko Aoyama. I think I will probably have to return the other two and reborrow them.

I did reach my Goodreads goal of 104 books for the year this week, which is pleasing!

I'm watching

Nothing new really

Life

Not a lot happening other than going to work and then collapsing in a heap at the end of the day. It is a four day week for us this coming weekend so I am looking forward to going away for the weekend.

I did go and get my nails done on the weekend! Each one is a different pastel colour. I like them a lot. My husband thought they were "lacking maturity". Oh well! My nails. And then I realised that they pretty much matched one of my book covers.

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Author Events
Blog Tour: Winter Magic at Hollybrae Castle by Jaimie Admans
Blog Tour: The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon
The Afternoon Tea Diaries: Mary Eats Cake

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

Afternoon Tea Diaries: Mary Eats Cake

2026-09-19T05:28:00.000+10:00

It's time for another entry in my irregular feature of the Afternoon Tea Diaries. We love an afternoon tea. We don't do them all the time because they are a treat but whenever we do one, I like to share about it here.

The last three times we have done an afternoon tea it has been at the amazing Oxi Tea Rooms. They do actually have a new menu which we haven't tried yet, but I am also very conscious that there are lots of other places that I would like to try!

This time the location for our afternoon tea adventure was at Mary Eats Cake in the inner city suburb of Brunswick. Unlike Oxi Tea which is very high concept, the afternoon tea at Mary Eats Cake is pretty traditional! This is a place that I have had on my list to try for a while now

The tearoom itself was very cosy, with mismatched teacups and saucers, glass teapots and proper champagne coupes.

The menu is a pleasing mix of savoury and sweet! On the savoury menu there were Sausage Rolls, Beef Burgundy pie, Cheesy Potato Croquet, Chicken Finger Sandwiches and a Citrus Prawn Loaf

The sweet options were Raspberry and Lychee Eclair, Chocolate Hazelnut Entremet, Mango Matcha Tart and Macaron. I liked all of them, although not everyone at our table loved the Matcha and Mango Tart. My favourite was the Raspberry and Lychee Eclair. So delicious!

The option that we chose included bottomless drinks (which is handy when you spill half your glass of champagne before you have even started drinking it!) but it also included bottomless scones. That does sound tempting, until you realise how huge the scone actually were! I would be surprised if most people have any more than 2!

We have already booked for our next afternoon tea experience which I think is going to be more on the traditional side but with a twist! I hope it is going to be delicious!

Weekly meals

Saturday - Steak egg and chips
Sunday - Roast pork, gravy rolls
Monday -
Tuesday - Pork Nachos
Wednesday - Baked Tuscan Chicken
Thursday - Pork chops, mash, mushroom sauce and broccoli
Friday - Zucchini, parmesan and tomato risotto

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 in the comments. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Blog Tour: The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon

2026-09-16T20:46:38.084+10:00

Ariel Lawhon is a relatively new author for me. I have only previously read one of her books. However, as soon as I saw that this book was about 16th century pirate queen Gráinne (or the English version of her name Grace) O'Malley. Maybe 20 years ago, there were quite a few books that came out featuring Grace as the main character, but it has been a while. And in the hands of Ariel Lawhon, I had high hopes. Luckily I was not disappointed! Far from it!

Gráinne O'Malley is such an interesting character from history. She defied norms from a very young age when it became clear that she had an affinity with the sea. Her father was a chieftain and he hoped that her half brother Donal would be the one to take over his fleet but unfortunately Donal was prone to sea sickness, so that was never going to work! It wasn't just that she loved it, she also has the Sense - the ability to hear and feel major storms coming. She also had the ability to attract the loyalty of the men who swear to sail her ships and protect her, no matter what.

This book has a really interesting structure. The story is told through three different timelines which are then told alternatively. The first is the Maiden where we learn about Gráinne's childhood. In Mother we see Gráinne as she navigates through a violent marriage, raising children, finding love and so much more. The final strand of the story is that of the Matriach as she tries to navigate the demands of the English queen, Elizabeth. Elizabeth demands fealty and then meddles in the Irish laws for her own purposes. Her representatives also want far more than the Irish want to give.

There is no doubt that this structure was a little tricky at first, and I have heard that there are suggestions that you could read each section, for example read all The Maiden chapters, then read all the Mother chapters and finally all The Matriach sections so that you actually read the story chronologically. However, once you got used to it and remember to check which viewpoint the next chapter was, then I did not get confused.

Gráinne's life is complex, suffering great losses throughout her life, but surrounding herself with family and men who will do her bidding. She loves intensely, both her country, people and her loves, she is stubborn and at times intractable but she is always formidable, and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to learn about this amazing historical figure through the pages of this exceptional book!

This is a big book at around 580 pages, but I was able to read it very quickly as I was so engrossed in the story! I couldn't wait to get back to the story!

I am not sure I have been able to convey how much I enjoyed this 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 and Random Things Tours for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the blog tour below.

Rating 5/5

About the book

'A writer to watch’ J.T. Ellison, author of A writer to watch’ J.T. Ellison, author of What Lies Behind

THE NEW HISTORICAL THRILLER FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE FROZEN RIVER, THE FROZEN RIVER, BASED ON A TRUE STORY BASED ON A TRUE STORY

Grace O'Malley was born to be at sea. Raised alongside her brother by their father, chief of the name of clan O'Malley, Grace learns early that her dreams of the open water are not compatible with the life she's expected to lead as the daughter of a noble family. And when her father marries her to the wrong man, a neighbouring chief named Donhal, Grace's world shifts for the worse.

Undaunted, Grace raises a family without abandoning her passion, aiding her hot-tempered husband in his campaigns against rival tribes. Eventually ousted from her husband's land in the wake of his death, Grace returns to her childhood home and begins her career as a pirate in earnest, claiming new territories and finding deeper love, only to see her livelihood threatened by English incursions into Ireland, and her family endangered in an attempt to check her power.

Tenderly observed and fiercely written, Ariel Lawhon's gripping latest novel channels the natural beauty of sixteenth-century Ireland alongside the brutality of the period as seen through the eyes of an unforgettable heroine and defender of her people, who truly earned the title ʻthe Pirate Queen of Ireland.’

A thrilling historical adventure inspired by the life of Grace O'Malley, an infamous Irish sea captain and folk heroine who risked everything to infamous Irish sea captain and folk heroine who risked everything to protect her people against the powerful Elizabethan regime protect her people against the powerful Elizabethan regime

PRAISE FOR ARIEL LAWHON PRAISE FOR ARIEL LAWHON
One of our most interesting authors of historical fiction' People

'Ariel Lawhon is a masterful storyteller' Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author of bestselling author of Becoming Mrs. Lewis

'Her skill with characterisation is enviable' 5 Star Reader Review

'An extremely talented author' 5 Star Reader Review

About the Author

ARIEL LAWHON is a critically acclaimed, New York Times bestselling author of historical fiction. Her books have been translated into numerous languages. She lives in the rolling hills outside Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband and four sons

Blog Tour: Winter Magic at Hollybrae Castle by Jaimie Admans

2026-09-16T08:43:00.000+10:00

It may only be September but my Christmas reading for this year is started, and to be honest, this book will set the bar high for other Christmas reads this year.

Oliver Bracewell is in the running for a big promotion at work, and in order to woo his bosses he has promised them a traditional family Christmas at his Scottish castle, which he will host alongside his wife and two children. Never mind that he hates his job and, if he gets it, he will need to move to London. He needs the pay rise to help maintain the castle. Otherwise, he might have to sell the castle which is his last real link to his parents. Only problem is....he doesn't have a wife or two children.

Enter Lula Haines who suddenly finds herself jobless after the Christmas window display at the big store she works for goes disastrously wrong (poor Paddington Bear). When she sees a job ad for an experienced decorator to make a Scottish castle shine, she thinks why not. After a very strange interview, she is on her way to the Mull of Kintyre for a few weeks. During the interview she has also somehow agreed to pretend to be her boss's wife for the event. Her sister, who Lula lives with, is rightfully concerned, but what could go wrong.

Once at the picture book perfect castle, Lula has free reign to decorate as much as she wants. What she really wants though is to know more about Oliver. Why has he not celebrated Christmas at the castle in years? Why does he need a fake wife? Where is he going to get fake kids from and how will they be able to make it look like they are a real family?

I literally laughed out loud at the first line of this book, and then started wondering why I haven't read this author before! And that set the scene for a wonderful romantic, Christmas read. There were so many funny scenes. I laughed out loud when Lu was navigating a conversation with the boss's wives about all the various reasons when they had never met her (fictional Lu had many, many instances of illness and accidents) but there were also many heartfelt scenes and lots of emotion.

I love Lula and Oliver together. They both know that this arrangement is for a short time only, but everything just feels right between them. I also love the Christmas that they created from slinky races down the stairs, to searching for the perfect trees and so much more. And there were some lovely secondary characters as well, people who all cared for Oliver and Lula just want to see them happy both as individuals, but also together if they can realise that this fake marriage can be more.

Obviously, I loved this book, and I will definitely be reading more from Jaimie Admans. It was a great start to my Christmas reading season!

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

Rating 4.5/5

Winter Magic at Hollybrae Castle

A Scottish castle, a fake marriage… and one very real Christmas romance?

After a window display goes disastrously viral – thanks to a malfunctioning animatronic Santa and an unfortunate encounter with Paddington Bear – Lula Haines finds herself without a job just weeks before Christmas. So she jumps at the chance to decorate Hollybrae Castle in Scotland for the holidays.

There’s just one complication: her handsome new boss, Oliver Bracewell, needs a fake wife for the festive season. To secure a promotion that could save his family’s castle, Ollie has been pretending to be a married father-of-two to impress the family-focused firm where he works. Now his bosses are coming to stay at Hollybrae over Christmas… expecting to meet his non-existent wife and children.

At first, playing along is easy as Lula is swept up in the magic of turning Hollybrae into the perfect festive escape with Ollie. But as Christmas draws nearer and she and Ollie grow closer, Lula begins to wonder if Hollybrae could become more than a temporary escape… and if the man she’s only pretending to love might actually be the one she’s been waiting for all along.

With heaps of tartan, tinsel and Christmas magic, this uplifting romance is perfect for fans of Trisha Ashley, Heidi Swain, Cressida McLaughlin, Ellie Henderson or Jessica Redland!

Purchase Links

Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0GM2WTCSZ/

Amazon US https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GM2WTCSZ/

About the author

Jaimie Admans is the bestselling author of several romantic comedies – including The Little Christmas Shop on Nutcracker Lane and The Post Box at the North Pole. Her series for Boldwood, The Ever After Street Series, is based on the magical world of fairytales.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @JaimieAdmansBooks

Twitter: @be_the_spark

Instagram: @jaimieadmans1

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

Top Ten Tuesday: Author Events

2026-09-15T05:51:00.000+10:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Authors I’ve Met.

I am very lucky to be able to attend author events pretty regularly, whether it be as part of individual authors, panel events, or even a reader's retreat that I attend every year. For my post today, I am going to share about some of the more recent events I have been too. If I go back 15 or 20 years there are some big name authors I could name such as Paullina Simons, Maria Snyder and more. I could also talk about the time I had dinner with Sara Donati in the Pacific North West or many years ago with Paullina Simons but I won't. For my post today, I am going to share about some of the more recent events I have been to which means that they are all Australian authors.

Tess Woods -The most recent event I went to was in respect of Tess Woods new release, The Cairo Bridal Shop. Sometimes at these events there are even cocktails

Anita Heiss - I have met this author a few times now, and she was even the author on our table at one of the retreats we attended a couple of years ago. She is such a lively person! I last saw her at a romance panel event I went to a few weeks ago

Also at that same event there were a number of other authors including Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus , Nina Kenwood, Victoria Brownlee, Darcy Green and more. And there was swag!

Jodi McAlister - This author was at that same panel event but I have now met her a couple of times, including at the launch of her latest book

Steph Vizard - This is another author I have met more than once who was at the panel. I see her at quite a few events, but specifically attended her book launch last year and re-met her at the readers retreat that I attended in June

Emma Grey - I was so excited to attend an evening with Emma Grey and Kate Solly. I read two of Emma's books last year and gave them both 5/5. This one was at a bookstore I had never visited before which is always fun.

Benjamin Stevenson - The author of the Ernest Cunningham series came to my local library as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival so I always try to attend events there because I would like there to be more!

Tom Trumble - a more unusual choice for me given that it is a non fiction book but I chose it because I thought that my husband would like to come to this one and he did. This event was held at the War Memorial. Interestingly, it was only as I searched my blog for a picture for this post that I realised that I had heard this author speak previously at a Melbourne Writer's Festival event 15 years ago!

Holly Brunnbauer - An event at my previous local library which is about half an hour away from me, so I try to go to events there as well.

Rachael Johns - Rachael Johns is possibly the only author who I would deliberately go and see twice in one day. On this particular day she was at my local library and also at an event called Books in Bars which is held in a regional city about 90mins away. Of course, I did both! The readers retreat that I have mentioned a couple of times is her brainchild. You can read about the fab time I had at this year's event here.

This week...

2026-09-14T07:04:00.000+10:00

I'm reading

Last week I had a pretty good reading week. I finished The Way We Are Now by Julie Houston, which I really enjoyed, particularly because most of the book was set against the background of the 1980s miner's strikes in the UK, which isn't a setting I have seen before! My review is here.

I then read my first Christmas book for the year. I read Winter Magic at Hollybrae Castle by Jaimie Admans which had a very funny start and was lovely from that point on! I hadn't read either of these authors before, but I am going to look out for them in the future.

On audio, I finished listening to Before I Knew I Loved You by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, the sixth book in the Before the Coffee Goes Cold series. It felt like the rules got stretched a little bit this time around. I did just see something to say he had finished writing the seventh book.

I then started listening to Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. It kind of surprises me that I haven't read this before, or seen the movie, but now that there is a second movie coming out it feels like the right time to read it. I am struggling with the narrator a little bit and it's not because of the performance. Last year I listened to Saskia Maarleveld narrate Kate Quinn's The Briar House and that performance was so good, I still associate her voice with that story.

I have also started The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon although there is every chance that I have left it too late! My review is due on Wednesday and it is a VERY big book! The pressure is on!

I'm watching

We went to the movies to see De Gaulle- Resistance, which is a French biopic about General Charles de Gaulle. It was so interesting to see the French perspective of some of the events of WWII and I learnt a lot that I didn't previously know. There's going to be a second movie out in November and I am definitely going to see it

Life

The biggest story this week is that my son had an accident and totalled his car. He is fine, although he is learning some life lessons!

In better news his 3x3 basketball team qualified to go to Japan for the world EXE finals in a few weeks, so it has been a good news bad news kind of week for him

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Books on the Cover
Blog Tour: The Way We Are Now by Julie Houston
Weekend Cooking: Bake Your Sweet Time by Tat Effby
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: August statistics

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: August statistics!

2026-09-13T07:46:00.000+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.

August was a good month. There were 46 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 16 participants. There were 45 individual titles reviewed, written by 45 different authors. There were 3 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 6 or just 1.

So, was there a specific book that was reviewed more than once this month? Yes, there was!

Little Spark by Jess Kidd was reviewed twice. Firstly, Cathy from What Cathy Read Next shared her review, and then Helen from She Reads Novels also reviewed the book.

In terms of authors who had more than one book reviewed there was just one, but what is interesting is that while it is the same author, her name is slightly different so I had to be careful to make sure that I picked this up!

Barbara from Stray Thoughts has been working her way through Elizabeth Gaskell's books. Early in the month she reviewed Cranford which is credited as being written by Elizabeth Gaskell. Then she read My Lady Ludlow which is credited as being written by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. Interesting!

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: Bake Your Sweet Time by Tat Effby

2026-09-12T06:29:00.000+10:00

If you look at enough cookbooks, sometimes they can get to the point where they are a bit same same, so it is always a delight when you find one that is very different.

Tat Effby is known as The Caketoonist on Instagram where she combines cartoons, humour and baking. Recently her book Bake Your Sweet Time was released and I was keen to read it as soon as I heard about it.

It isn't just the fact that there is a very distinct style to the cook book that makes this different, although that is a factor. There are some photos of the recipes as well as cartoons throughout the recipes illustrating ingredients to techniques. The other thing that makes this different can be summed up by the subtitle of the book - "Different takes on classic bakes to fit the time you have". So what does that mean?

In this book there are twenty different classic bakes/flavour combinations. The author then shares a number of recipes which range in time commitment from quick to medium to long. To give you an example, there is a chapter on Rhubarb and Custard. Now I love rhubarb as a flavour but I am the only one in my house who does, so I am unlikely to be able to make these, but they sound delicious.

For the quick recipe, there is Rhubarb Roll and Custard, which is stalks of rhubarb, wrapped in marzipan and then wrapped in puff pastry. After baking, the roll is served with egg custard made from scratch. There is also an option for a plant-based custard given.

The first medium recipe is for Candied Rhubarb and Custard Cookies, which just sounds delicious. Whilst these are fairly quick to make, the recipe does rely on the fact that you have made candied rhubarb as part of a recipe called cheong.

The first long recipe sounds oh so good. It is a Rhubarb and Custard Mousse Cake which is described as "a layer of light almond sponge soaked with a strawberry compote, covered with thick, vanilla pastry cream, topped with an airy rhubarb adn strawberry mousse, then finished with a ginger glaze and mini meringues." If I saw that on a menu, I would totally order it for dessert.

The final recipes in the rhubarb and custard chapter is a long one and it is for the Rhubarb Cheong and Candied Rhubarb. Cheong is a method of making fruit syrups just by combining fruit and sugar and letting it sit for a few days. The candied rhubarb is a secondary product which can be used for other recipes, such as the cookies I mentioned above.

One of the things I really like is the way the author has illustrated the various layers in a dessert so you can see exactly how some of the layered desserts need to come together!

Some of the other chapters include Black Forest Gateau, Cheesecake (my favourite), Meringue Pie, Sticky Toffee Pudding and Lemon Drizzle. The final chapter in the book is called Foundation Recipes and includes recipes for things like pastries, meringues, frosting and more.

I borrowed this from the library and I was disappointed when I couldn't extend it for another couple of weeks. I am tempted to buy it because it is just fun to even read through. Full of joyful, colourful illustrations, good recipes and a really fun concept, this book has it all!

Weekly meals

Saturday - Chicken Stir Fry
Sunday - Nothing
Monday - Italian Meatballs
Tuesday - Baked prawn nasi goreng
Wednesday - Normandy style pork fillet (new)
Thursday - Pumpkin curry (new)
Friday - Takeaway

Blog Tour: The Way We Are Now by Julie Houston

2026-09-11T08:09:00.000+10:00

When Anna Piasecki's son comes home and tells him about the girl he is now seeing, she is stopped in her tracks. The girl is the daughter of her one true love and suddenly she and Theo Mandeville are once again in each other's orbit.

The book flashes back to when Anna and her friend Fliss first met the gorgeous and aristocratic Theo when they were all students at university in Leeds. Anna is studying politics at uni, and she really wants to get a job in London but as the daughter of a miner from a small town in Yorkshire, she doesn't really have the necessary contacts to make that happen. But this is a tumultuous time in British history with the miner's strikes of the early 1980's ramping up against the government of Margaret Thatcher. Anna finds herself working in the mining union office and doing what she can to support the strikers.

By contrast, Theo Mandeville's future is laid out in front of him. He will inherit the family estate but his true passion is squash and he dreams of competing professionally. His family are firmly part of the aristocracy and therefore have very different views on the world than Anna's working class family. Despite a tragedy that has lasting implications for Anna and very different philosophies, she is drawn to Theo and he to her, and soon they are inseparable.

Our star-crossed lovers are torn apart following an incident where his family blames Anna for everything, and they go their separate ways, and on to live their lives. Anna becomes a lawyer fighting for women's rights and eventually finds herself in politics whilst Theo goes on to live the life expected. However, every now and again Anna and Theo come into contact with each other, and all those feelings are stirred up again

The meat of this story is in the section that is set in the 1980s and that part was definitely my favourite. I have to give real kudos to the author for bringing a setting that you just don't normally see in fiction. She really captured the social issues of the day, with plenty of cultural and fashion touchpoints along the way too! She captures the turmoil of the strikes, the politics, the fear around the AIDS, the role of women in the workplace and so much more. A couple of the later sections feel a bit dramatic but well and truly worth it.

I guess part of the reason why I connected so well with the story as I spent 4 years living in Sheffield in South Yorkshire in the late 1990s. Leeds is the next major city up the motorway so I went there lots of times.

I hadn't read Julie Houston before. If this is representative of her books I am definitely going to be reading more!

I was also reminded of a movie called Love and Pride which is set in Wales during the miner's strikes and talks about the gay community in London raising money for the miners and them supporting teh community in the face of the epidemic, and vice versa. It must be time to rewatch it!

If you are looking for a really good read with a very unusual setting, then this is the book for you! I am so glad I took a chance on a new author!

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

Rating 4.5/5

About the book

The Way We Are Now

BRAND NEW from bestselling author Julie Houston comes a powerful story of first love, long-hidden secrets and second chances. Perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes, Marian Keyes, David Nichols and Ruth Jones.

First love, long-hidden secrets and second chances.

Anna Piasecki thought she had left her university heartbreak behind. After spending decades building a successful life, she arrives at sixty with everything as she wants it – a glittering career, a devoted partner and brightest star of all, her brilliant son Noah, the apple of her eye.

Theo Mandeville is trapped. Bound by aristocratic duty to his sprawling Yorkshire estate, he has spent decades living the life that was expected of him while regretting the star-crossed romance he walked away from.

When their children meet at college, Anna and Theo suddenly find their carefully constructed lives colliding. With a devastating forty-year-old secret hanging over them, can their families survive the truth and do they dare to trust that fate has other plans for them?

Spanning decades, The Way We Are Now is a sweeping, heartwarming and life-affirming tale of first love, friendship and second chances perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes, Marian Keyes, David Nichols and Ruth Jones.

Purchase Link - Mybook.to/TheWayWeAreNow

About the author

Julie Houston is the author of 17 best-selling Women’s contemporary/Romantic Comedy novels. Represented by Anne Williams at KHLA Literary Agency, she was previously published by Aria/Head of Zeus but now writes for Boldwood. She has had UK top 100 selling books and Looking for Lucy hit the number 1 spot in Australia. Sing me a Secret was shortlisted for, and won, the Popular Romantic Fiction Award in 2021.

Julie is Yorkshire born and bred and lives in Huddersfield where her novels are set. After University, where she studied Education and English Literature, she taught for many years as a junior schoolteacher. After teaching for a few years, she decided to go to New Zealand to work and taught in Auckland for a year before coming back to this country. She now teaches when the phone rings to cover absent colleagues and still loves the buzz of teaching junior-aged children.

Julie is married with a son and daughter, both in their twenties and now living in London. She has been a magistrate on the West Yorkshire bench for the last twenty-four years.

Social Media Links

Instagram -juliehoustonauthor

Twitter/x @juliehouston2

Facebook - JulieHoustonAuthor

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with books on the cover

2026-09-08T00:52:00.000+10:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is a Indie Freebie (This topic encompasses a lot: your favorite indie bookstores, indie books, indie authors, indie publishers/presses, indie books on your to-read list, indie authors I read before they became traditionally published, etc.) (submitted by @dark.shelf.of.wonders and Books Are The New Black)

However, I am going to go rogue (again) and I am featuring books with books on the cover!

The Story Collector by Evie Woods - I am a bit hit and miss on books by this author. I loved The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris. This one....not so much. It wasn't bad. It just wasn't great either! (review)

The Secret Society of Librarians by Kate Thompson - I have, however, loved all the librarian books by Kate Thompson

This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page - Loved this one too.

A Study in Sparkling by Jodi McAlister - I haven't read this one yet, but I did recently go to the launch. I did love the previous book in this trilogy so I have high hopes for this one!

The Astral Library by Kate Quinn - I had high hopes for this one too as I had really enjoyed quite a few of Kate Quinn's historical fiction novels, but this one was very different from her normal books. (mini review)

The Last Page Cafe by Kate Storey - This book is on my list as it is one I want to read!

The Secret Christmas Library by Jenny Colgan - A crumbling Scottish castle, a blizzard, a missing book! A lot of fun.

The Storytellers by Sue Heath - I am always very excited to read a new Sue Heath book! There's a new one out soon! (my review)

The Other Bridget by Rachael Johns - I love the cover of this book with all the books on the shelf! (my review)

The Paris Bookshop for the Broken Hearted by Rebecca Raisin - A bookshop in Paris! I am there! (my review)

This week....

2026-09-07T08:04:00.000+10:00

I'm reading

This week I finished off my Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge by finishing reading One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle and then reading The Shampoo Effect by Jenny Jackson. Both of these were okay reads without being spectacular.

I also read Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen which was a much more enjoyable read!

Now I am reading The Way We Are Now by Julie Houston for a blog tour later this week! It is set in the early 1980s in Yorkshire and so far it is really good! This is a new author to me.

This weekend it was my read on a theme book club meeting. Our theme was environment and interestingly two of us read the same book which was Wild Dark Shore and another person read another book by her as well! Next time we are doing our annual meeting where we do read the same book like most other bookclubs. We will be reading A Far-Flung Life by M L Stedman. I am looking forward to reading that book!

I had a fun afternoon on Sunday afternoon when I went to an author event from Tess Woods where she was talking about her new book, The Cairo Bridal Shop. The cover on this book is gorgeous, and I am really looking forward to read it! I also got to have a delicious cocktail, listen to interesting conversation and meeting new people. There were a few people who didn't like some of the conversation because it was a bit political, but I didn't mind too much!

Before we look forward to September, I am going to take this opportunity to think about what my best reads were for the month of August. I read 15 books for the month and had some great reads. My one 5 star read was The Little Porto Book Club by Rebecca Raisin, but I also loved books Minnie Darke, B K Borison and the aforementioned Charlotte McConaghey.

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

Every month I also like to look at where I travelled through the pages of the books I read! Here's where I travelled in August

Europe

France - The Secret Dressmaker, Kate and Frida

Britain - Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens

Portugal - The Little Porto Book Club

Italy - Italy and Forever, The Secret Diary of Rome, One Italian Summer

Australia

Queensland - Finding Forever in Pelican Crossing

Antarctica (Australian territories) - The Wild Dark Shore

Various states - Three Juliets

Africa

Egypt - The Nile Cruise

America

Washington - Kate and Frida

Maryland - And Now, Back to You, Mixed Signals

Asia

Japan - The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop

I'm watching

Nothing new really.

Life

On Sunday afternoon we went and had a traditional afternoon tea at a place called Mary Eats Cake. It was a place that I had been looking forward to trying for a while!

Max

A couple of months ago we changed Max's medication, and he is obviously feeling pretty good! Yesterday we were all out, and so he was home by himself. He helped himself to a huge helping of pasta that my son had left on the cupboard. I was very surprised that he could stand up on his back two legs long enough to even eat a small bit let alone have a bit of a feast. Who knew!

Posts from the last week

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - September links
Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Place Names in the Title
Three Juliets by Minnie Darke
Blog Tour: The Secret Diary of Rome by M A McLaughlin

In My Kitchen: August

Six Degrees: Wild Dark Shore to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

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: Wild Dark Shore to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

2026-09-06T00:32:00.000+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 prompt start was to start with your book group’s current selection (or if you’re not in a book group, start with the book that you’re currently reading). my read on a theme book club theme this month was "environment" and I chose to read Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghey, so that is where I am starting this time!

My first link uses the word shore as the connection. Dawn on the Distant Shore by Sara Donati is the second book in the Into the Wilderness series.

Another shore, again distant, so my next selection is A Distant Shore by Peter Yeldham.

My next connection only uses the word distant, and is The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

If I think about a different word for distant, I have the word far, so I have chosen The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton. To be fair, it was only as I found the cover that I realised that the title is Faraway and not Far Away.

The opposite of far is close, and so I have chosen The Mystery of Mercy Close by Marian Keyes. (review)

My final selection uses the word close as the link. My selection is Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (review)

Next month, the starting point is Rachel Cusk’s latest novel, Life of M. Normally I find myself having an idea as soon as the prompt is revealed and I write the post straight away, but I must admit this time I am drawing a blank. Good job I have a month to think about it!

Will you be joining us next month?

In My Kitchen: August

2026-09-05T14:14:00.000+10:00

Welcome to the first Saturday of the month where I share everything I have made over the previous month. It's been a busy month. I've had a couple of fun foodie experiences plus a trip to Bali and got some baking done too!

Do you ever get sucked into the recipes that go viral? I am particularly susceptible to baking related ones. During September the recipe that went viral In Australia was for Kingston biscuits with peaches, and I was absolutely going to try it. For those who don't know, Kingston biscuits are two coconut/oaty biscuits that are sandwiched with a chocolate cream. They are not the biscuits that I reach for normally (hello Shortbread Creams) so we had to go and buy some. It turns out it was lucky I could find them because apparently there was a shortage of them in both Australia and New Zealand this month.

The idea is that you empty a packet of biscuits into a baking tray, tip a can of peaches (including the juice) on top and bake for around 20 minutes. We chose to do individual serving in the microwave which was that you break up 4 biscuits. Cut up a few peach slices and put it on top of the biscuits, add a tablespoon of peach juice and then microwave for around 45 seconds. It was actually pretty delicious. Now there are lots of different variations out there such as chocolate biscuits with a can of cherries. We might try a variation at some point. We'll see!

The rest of my bakes this month came from Emelia Jackson's book, You Had Me at Cake, which was the Lamb's Ear Cook Book Club selection for August. The theme ingredient for the month was chocolate, so my first two bakes were chocolate flavoured and then I moved to different flavours.

Chocolate Chiffon Cake - Chiffon cakes are my absolute favourite thing to bake. I love whipping the egg whites and then mixing it to create the batter, and then the lightness of the cake once it has cooked and then cooled by tipping upside down (as long as you are using the specific tin). The cake was then decorated with whipped cream and Maltesers. This was good!

Chocolate Meringue cake - Next up I tried the Chocolate Meringue Cake which featured a denser chocolate cake with a chocolate meringue baked on the top of it!

Peach Crumble Slab Cake - I then chose to make this peach cake, mainly to use up all the leftover peaches from the viral recipe. It was so good. Actually, they all were!

Pandan and Toasted Coconut Swiss Roll - The last thing I made during August was the Pandan and Toasted Coconut Swiss Roll pictured at the top of this post which was inspired by our trip to Bali where I ate quite a few pandan flavoured desserts. I had to go out specifically to find pandan flavouring. Now that I have some, there's a fair chance that there might be some more bakes. I am entering my pandan and coconut era!

We did have a bit of a local foodie adventure during August when we went to Chandon winery for a fondue experience. We took a drive through the Yarra Valley, which is a wine area about an hour and a half away from us. We did something called the Coldstream Food Trail which has about 10 stops on it, although we only did 4 stops. We stopped at a brewery and then went to a place called Coombe Yarra Valley which is a lovely place that has been created in the former home of world-famous Australian opera singer, Dame Nellie Melba. From there we did some cider and cheese tastings. The main reason we went out there was to do a Fondue and Bingo lunch at Chandon which was a lot of fun! I mean, fondue and sparkling wines...what's not to love. It was a beautiful clear winter's day and a lovely way to do some exploration of just one tiny pocket of the Yarra Valley. We did see some amazing looking restaurants that we will go back and visit again at some point!

While we on holidays in Bali, we did have a couple of great foodie experiences. One was something called a Rijstaffel, which translates from Dutch as rice table and is basically a pile of rice which is then surrounded by all different types of accompaniments. We had people stopping to ask us what it was. It will definitely go down as a memorable meal!

We also had a floating breakfast in the private pool of our villa, which seems quite decadent! Not something to do everyday but a lot of fun!

Our final foodie adventure in Bali was to do a cooking class where we helped create a number of dishes. Everyone had to help chop, grind down pastes, cook different dishes including a pandan and coconut crepe dessert. It was a really fun experience. I posted about these experiences here.

Our collection of travel related souvenirs are growing, as is our magnet collection. We recently bought a magnetic board which we are using to display all of our magnets, which I think is much better than trying to cram everything onto the fridge!

We also bought these bowls while we were in Bali. I suspect that they are going to be mostly for display purposes but I do like them!

New recipes

Chocolate Chiffon Cake -

Kingston and Peaches dessert

Chocolate Meringue Cake

Peach Crumble Slab Cake

Pandan and Toasted Coconut Swiss Roll

Thai Beef from Nat Thaipun's book Thai

Mexican Beef - from Poppy Cooks: The Absolutely Delicious Slow Cooker

Weekend Cooking posts from the last month

In My Kitchen: July

Library Loot!

Truffled Chicken with Champagne Sauce

What We Ate on Holiday: Bali

Kate & Frida: A novel of friendships, food, and books by Kim Fay

Weekly Meals

Saturday - Nasi Goreng
Sunday - Ham and Cheese sandwich
Monday - Pork chops, mash, broccoli
Tuesday - Enchiladas
Wednesday - Tuna pasta bake
Thursday - Japanese Chicken Curry
Friday - Take away

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

Blog Tour: The Secret Diary of Rome by M A McLaughlin

2026-09-03T08:49:00.000+10:00

What makes you decide to try a new author? Sometimes it will be the blurb, sometimes it might be the cover and other times it might be the title. In the case of this book, it was all three!

Since her mother died, book restorer Emilia Rinaldi has been a bit lost, but she is now getting herself back together, thanks in part to her engagement to dashing Englishman Oliver after a whirlwind romance. While cleaning out her mother's house, she finds an antique music box which includes a page from a diary and an old photo. When she gets a phone call from Rome telling her that she is the sole recipient of her grandmother's estate, which includes a villa, she knows that she must go to Rome immediately, much to her fiancé's annoyance.

Emilia's mother and grandmother had had a falling out years before, and so Emilia never met her. Once in Rome, she is given a diary (the same one that the torn-out page had come from). It turns out that the diary was by Lizzy Siddal, wife and muse to Dante Gabriel Rossetti. In her own right, Lizzy was a model and an artist herself, but her relationship with Rossetti and his family was volatile, so she was often in low spirits.

As we progress through the story, Emilia begins to understand her mother's story and what drove her to move to America, and then as she does some restoration of the diary, she learns about Lizzy's life, her love with Rossetti, her concerns about dubious characters who take advantage and more. She also finds out about the other parts of her inheritance which include some paintings, as well as a priceless collection of antique books.

I do love a book about art history, and I have to admit I didn't really know much about Rossetti's art. I had heard both his and Lizzie's names before but I learnt a lot through this book, and have since found myself going down the rabbit hole of pre-Raphaelite art.

The majority of the book is set in 1960s Rome but there were quite a few references to events that happened during the WWII, given that it was only 15 years previous. Via the diary, we are taken back to the 1860s where we watched Lizzy in her triumphs but also in her despairs

Now I am keen to pick up the author's previous book which also has a connection to the famous Rossetti family.

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

Rating 4/5

About the book

A hidden diary. A story thatʼs waited a hundred years to be told . . .
1960, New York.
Emilia Rinaldi restores broken books for a living. She knows how to bring lost stories back to life.
The one story she cannot repair is her own.
Then an unexpected gift from her late mother arrives — an antique music box containing a faded photograph and a torn page from the diary of Lizzie Siddal, the tragic Pre-Raphaelite muse and wife of Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Emilia follows the clues to Rome. To an abandoned villa left by a grandmother she never knew. To a collection of rare and beautiful books, hidden in a church crypt through the war . . .
And a secret buried for generations.
As Emilia pieces together her own past, Lizzieʼs diary reveals another story. Two Rossetti paintings. One genuine. One a flawless forgery.
Separated by a century, the two mysteries are bound together.
And when Emilia finally discovers the truth, she must decide whether some stories are meant to be preserved . . . or buried forever.

Purchase link

Goodreads

About the author

Marty Ambrose-McLaughlin is an award-winning, multi-published author of four historical mysteries set mostly in Italy, drawing on her background in nineteenth-century literature. Marty completed her M.Phil. at the University of York, England) and teaches creative writing at Florida Southwestern State College. She has also given numerous workshops in the U.S. and abroad on all aspects of creating/publishing a novel; her new novel, The Secret Diary of Rome will be published by Joffe Books in 2026.

Socials

Instagram

Facebook

Website

Three Juliets by Minnie Darke

2026-09-02T06:28:00.000+10:00

I am a big fan of Minnie Darke and so I was super excited when her new book was announced last year. I rushed out and bought it, I added it to my 20 Books of Winter list, I started it, but then other books got in the way and I put it aside. When I was creating my 20 Books of Winter list for this year, I added it back on the list again (along with two others I didn't get to read). The difference this year is that I actually read it! I am so glad that I did.

Claudie Miller is a very successful fashion designer who is a household name in Australia. She encourages people to make their own children's clothes using the patterns that she shares through the women's magazine that she works for. The most famous of these is the Juliet dress.

For all her professional success, Claudie has faced and is facing big challenges. When she was sixteen, she got pregnant and was forced to give away her baby, leaving her both physically and emotionally scarred. Every year, she designs an outfit that would be suitable for the little girl she never even got to hold. The Juliet is one of the designs that she has made, and it is packed away in a secret box with the label "Now you are sixteen" alongside all the other items for each year.

When she learns that she has cancer, Claudie is determined that she will find her daughter before it is too later. As readers, we meet three young women, who all have a story to tell about their own version of the Juliet dress. Roisin, Mandi and Miranda were all born on the same day, and all three were adopted into their families, and live in different parts of Australia.

Structurally this is a very interesting book. Firstly, there are three timelines. We see what happened to Claudie as a scared young girl, whisked away to the country to hide her pregnancy and the associated shame. Fast forward to the 1980s and we meet all three young women as they navigate their own lives, particularly with questions in relation to who they are, and then we fast forward again to contemporary times where three versions of the Juliet are on display as part of an exhibition of the 25 most influential Australian dresses. In addition, there are multiple narrators (at least seven if I recall correctly), some of whom only have one or two chapters, but others who get a lot of page time.

What Minnie Darke always does really well is write emotional, poignant stories with multiple viewpoints. There are very emotional themes underpinning the whole story, and yet it doesn't feel heavy. In fact, I closed the book with a very satisfied sigh, and then immediately went to order the one book that I haven't read by this author.

As I mentioned previously, this was one of the books on my 20 Books of Winter list. It also counts for Aussie Author August, the Big Books of Summer and Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

Rating 4.5/5

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with place names in the title

2026-09-01T09:21:00.000+10:00

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week is the theme is Books With Nationalities In The Title (e.g. The French Lieutenant’s Woman, Mexican Gothic, An American Mariage, etc.) (submitted by Cathy @WhatCathyReadNext)

I am going to mix it up a little bit and focus on place names. I am, however, going to avoid Paris because I have only recently done a whole TTT only featuring titles with the word Paris in it!

A Sunrise Over Bali by Sandy Barker - I haven't actually read this book but I have read the one that follows it which was set in Tuscany. I am still choosing to use it as we only recently visited Bali

Italy and Forever by Leonie Mack - Leonie Mack writes a lot of destination style romances. This is the final book in her excellent Wedding Planners series. (my review)

The Little Porto Book Club by Rebecca Raisin - Portugal is on my list of places I would love to visit! Even more so after reading this book! (my review)

The Nile Cruise by Caroline James - This is another thing that is on my list of places to do and see! I would love to cruise down the Nile one day. (my review)

Finding Forever in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen - Pelican Crossing may not be a real place, but I love visiting it through the pages of the Pelican Crossing series. It is based on real coastal towns, so I am still counting it! (my review)

Secrets of the Italian Guesthouse by Sue Moorcroft - This book is the first in a trilogy set in a guesthouse on the shores of Lake Como! (my review)

A Venice Summer by Lynne Shelby - Whilst I have never been to Lake Como, I did go to Venice many, many years ago. One day I will go back. (my review)

Gate to Kagoshima by Poppy Kuroki - Kagoshima is a city in Japan and is famous for being the location of the Samurai Rebellion, which saw the end of the samurai way of life. (my review)

Call of the Camino by Suzanne Redfearn - I can't see myself walking the Camino, but I did like reading about it! (my review)

Letters from the Ginza Shihodo Stationery Shop by Kenji Ueda - Ginza is an area in Tokyo but we didn't make it to this area when we visited Tokyo last year.

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - September links

2026-09-01T08:05:00.000+10:00

Thank you to everyone who contributed a review in August for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I will be back in the next week or so with all the statistics for August and seeing what new reviews are linked up in September.

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!!

This week.....

2026-08-31T01:26:00.000+10:00

I'm reading

Back to work this week, so in theory I had less reading time! I did still manage to get through several books.

I had started Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T J Klune last week and I finished that book, which was one of my Goodreads Summer Challenge selections. I liked the book, but it did feel a bit preachy.

I then read A Secret Diary in Rome by M A McLaughlin for a blog tour. My review will be up later this week!

Then I moved onto Mixed Signals by B K Borison. I am working my way through all of Borison's books, and only have one more book to read before her new book comes out in October.

The last book I started this week was One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle, which is another challenge selection. I have been meaning to read Rebecca Serle for a long time! After this book, I only have one more challenge book to read. I do know what I am going to read, I just have to read it

Did you notice that three of these four books had author names with just initials! That's a bit of a funny coincidence!

I'm watching

We didn't start anything new this week

Life

Why is it when I return from holidays I often get sick! Pushing on though. No time off work as things are ramping up on the project I am involved in.

On Saturday I went to the inaugural Readings Romance event (Readings is a bookstore chain here in Melbourne). The even featured the always amazing Dr Anita Heiss as a guest speaker, and then there were two really fun panels. The first talked about the meet-cute and the second was about mis-matched characters! There was swag, a paper cup of bubbles, great conversation and lots of books lovers in the room!

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Places
Italy and Forever by Leonie Mack
Kate and Frida by Kim Fay
Sunday Salon: Aussie Authors Mini Reviews

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

Sunday Salon: Aussie authors mini reviews

2026-08-30T10:00:00.000+10:00

My reviewing goal for the last couple of years has been to review all historical fiction and all Australian authors I read. It turns out I am a bit behind on both of these! August is also Aussie Author August so today I am doing two mini reviews for Aussie books I have read recently! I was going to be doing three mini reviews, but I had so much to say about the third book that it became a full review which I will post later this week!

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConnaghey

Confession time. I am part of a read on a theme book club. There are times when we are choosing the next theme that I may nominate themes that would force me to read something I already have on my schedule. This month is one of those months given that this book was one that I chose to read for a GR Summer Challenge prompt. The theme that we chose was "environment" which I feel would probably work for any of Charlotte McConaghy's books

When a woman is washed up on the shore of Shearwater Island, an isolated island not far from Antarctica, it complete turns the lives of the four inhabitants upside down. Once upon a time, this was an island that was home to many researchers, but now it is just home to Dominic Salt and his three children Raff, Fen and Orly. They too are packing up to leave. Their last task is to take the essential seeds from the world's largest seedbank to save them. The rest are going to be left to Mother Nature. Shearwater is now too dangerous for human occupation with the sea levels rapidly rising.

As Dom and his family nurse the woman, Rowan, back to health, she begins to notice that there are a number of things that don't make sense. He's lying to her, and she doesn't know what about. Then again, she hasn't been honest about why she was trying so hard to get to Shearwater either. There are layer upon layer of secrets that need to unravel before we get to the end of the book

All of the characters in this book are damaged by various events from their lives, and we see them trying to make sense of the world that they love as it is being torn apart by forces outside their control. There is grief, a lot of grief, anger, feelings of betrayal at what they are being asked to and so much more.

Charlotte McConnaghey is an author who I have wanted to read for a while. Now that I have read one of her books I am absolutely going to have to go and read them all. I will say I was quite surprised by the ending of this book. I hope they don't all end in a similar way.

Everyone in this Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson

This is the fourth book in the Ernest Cunningham series and Ern and his partner Juliette find themselves at a private bank in a small country town. The reason they are there is that they have decided to set up a detective agency so that they can be paid for solving crimes. However, things take a turn when their visit to the bank turns into a hostage situation. It soon becomes clear that not everything is as it seems.

Given that they are all locked inside the bank, when a body is found, it is clear that someone inside the bank is a murderer, but who and why.

Right from page 1 we know that Ern has managed to get himself into another deadly situation. The question is, will he be able to survive long enough to tell us the whole story so we know exactly who the murderer was, and who stole what!

There was at least one decision that Ernie makes that made me go.....huh? Why would he do that! Some days I feel sorry for Juliette, but I guess that she knows what to expect from Ern by now!

I had nominated this as one of my 20 Books of Winter. Hopefully by the time we put together next year's list there will be another Ernest Cunningham that I can read and enjoy!