This week has been hectic and because of my eye I have been finding that by about 4.00pm my good eye is getting tired too and it is all getting blurry!  I have still got my cold and cough that started the second day after the eye Op and then Fiancée got it and also Little Lady too!  It has also been very hectic with work both ours and Eldest’s and then to top the week off our dishwasher decided to stop working!  The engineer came on Thursday and ordered the parts we need and coming back this  Thursday to fix it!  Out of all the machines we have my dishwasher is not a problem but a machine I cannot cope without is my washing machine!  That decided to have a conniption fit last night and not drain but DH managed to get it working again!!!! 

Anyway it is Book Club Friday, on Tuesday, sorry!  Because of my eye Op and not being able to read or do anything for five days except have my head down resting on my arm I did untilise my audio book app alot and got through eight books.  Some were great, some were good and a few were awful!

***** – My Five Star Reards

“Murder at Maple Grange” By Jane Bettany – Another book in the Violet Brewster Mysteries.  A Murder takes place at the very exclusive retirement home near Violet’s village and the residents ask her to help them find out who did it.  These books are really easy to read and very much in the cosy mystery section. So far there are five in the series but I believe there is a new one being published later this year.

“The Curfew” By T.M. Logan – This author is new to me and Jayne picked one of his books for our Book Club and it was good.  Mr Logan actually lives in my home town of Nottingham and sets quite a few of his stories there and I know the areas his characters are talking about in the stories.  This book starts out with Connor who goes out with friends to celebrate the end of his exams but his parents, Andy & Laura say he needs to be home by Midnight!  Andy checks at 2.00am and sees his son asleep in his bed and all is right with the World.  In the morning he gets a call from his brother that his son is missing and this starts a train of events which lead to five teenagers going into the local woods that night but only four came back out!  Curfews are fine until they are missed.  

It is a twisty thriller with the parents of the teenagers involved trying to support their children but find out what happened in the woods that night.  There is no blood, guts and gore in this it just shows how parents have to navigate parenting almost adult children who really do need their parents, even if they think they do not.

“The Soul Killer” By Ross Greenwood – I came across one of Ross Greenwood’s books on BookBeat and it was a D.I. Barton novel.  D.I. Barton has been on the force for a long time and in charge of the serious crimes squad.  He likes the people who work under him and also likes training the new Detectives assigned to his squad.  He has a happy home life with a wife, Holly, who is always trying to get him fit. 

The latest case is not a murder but a suicide but there is something about it that Barton is just not sure about. Another case which appears like an accident but Barton’s intuition tells him that it is not an accident but these two things affect one family then some remains are found and Barton and the team move in to to make an arrest thinking they have solved it, but things begin to happen and one of the team becomes the next Soul to be targeted by the killer.  

“The Dream Home” By T.M. Logan – Mr Logan again!  Adam & Jess move from their small home in the suburbs to a wonderful Victorian villa in the exclusive area of Nottingham called The Park.  It has three floors as well as a cellar and a wonderful garden right in the middle of the city which they wanted for themselves and their three children.  However the home needs renovating and whilst doing so Adam finds a hidden room and in that room are some unusal items which make no sense.  Adam loves a puzzle and starts to find out about the items, however somone has been watching and waiting to see if these items were ever found and now that they have been they will do anything to keep them from seeing the light of day.

Another good twisty thriller from Mr Logan and with a twist in the tail you do not see coming!

“The Astral Library” By Kate Quinn – My final five star read.  I love a book about books and this one did not disappoint.  Alexandria Watson, Alix for short, has spent her life surviving after her mother abandoned her as a young girl to the foster system.  She is living on the sofa at a friends apartment, has a job at the local coffee shop which she hates and the job she loves as a helper at the Boston Library she only gets a few shifts at.  Reading is her escape from her life and when she is fired from her coffee shop job and then asked to leave her friend’s apartment she escapes to the Boston Library where she also finds trouble!  To escape and give her a little peace and quiet Alix goes through a door which she thinks is to a reading room but finds herself in another Library, one where the books are moving in and out of their slots.  She meets the Librarian who is like no other and is offered the chance to live in a book and be in the story however which book will she choose?

The story goes on from there and is good.  The characters are complex but likeable and although you think the story is going one way it does go in another.  I would like to say that I am hoping for a second book and follow the story from the end but who knows.

*** – My Three Star Reads

“Beautiful Ugly” By Alice Feeney – Author Grady Green’s new book is going to be a New York Times best seller and is waiting for the call. His wife Abby is on her way home to celebrate and on a call to Grady when she sees an accident and stops to help.  Abby never gets back in to her car and in fact disappears never to be seen again!  Grady goes into a tail spin and one year later decides to move to a Scottish island to try and get his career back on track but when he arrives he sees a woman who looks just like his wife.  Is it Abby or someone who  just looks like her?

The story was okay but similar to her other book I read.  The characters were weird which then made the story weird and the ending was, well weird!!  I don’t think I will be reading any further Alice Feeney books!

“Amnesia” By L.J. Ross- Two women are in a coma both of whom are special to Dr. Alexander Gregory.   He wants to help both women survive but there is a manhunt for notorious felon Carl Deere who is suspected in both womens conditions.  However what Dr. Gregory does not know is that one of the women is a killer, in retribution for a murder which happened years before, but who is it and can Gregory help?

It was okay, hence the three starrs, but I was not invested in the characters and there is a long of “talking” between the characters without moving the story forward.  I did finish the book but I was not impressed with it.

* – My One Star Read

“What Happened At No. 13” By Saskia Sarginson – I did finish this book but then wished I had DNF’d it because it really was not good!  Rosie inherits No. 13 from her Grandmother but the house is a wreck as it has not been maintained.  This house is also where her parents died and because of the Trust the house cannot be sold.  Rosie moves in but to make ends meet and try and repair the house she needs to take in lodgers.  The two people who rent the rooms have an agenda each and it is to get Rosie out of the house by any means possible.

This book was over-hyped and recommended by everyone and his dog it seems and yet the story was boring and the characters not likeable at all.  I did get to the end of it but it was more out of how is this going to end but not in an excited way.  The ending was also flat.  I will not be reading any more of her books!

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Having my Audio Book subscription saved me during the head down section of my recovery from my eye Op and although some people say that listening to an Audio Book is not reading I beg to differ, especially for someone who is blind and although may be able to use Braille I am sure the joy of just sitting back and listening to a story is priceless.  Of course it also reminds us of childhood when we had stories read to us before we could read!

I hope you find a book here that you would like to try and I will be back later in the month with some other book related posts.  I also, tomorrow, have some quilting to show you!  I know don’t faint!  I have gifted the two quilts now so can show you what I have been working on for the last six to eight months!  They are not small quilts I hasten to add; one was a King size quilt and the other was a double bed quilt so definitely large!!!

Happy Tuesday you lovely lot.  Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

Who doesn’t love an excuse to buy more books?  Today is World Book Day and our Boys always loved it at Primary School dressing up as their favourite characters from books.  A lot of the time it was Harry Potter, who dominated their early reading.  Eldest thoroughly enjoyed “The Famous Five” books by Enid Blyton and went once as “Julian” and Youngest did go as Indiana Jones once, although a film character they did bring out some books too!

Chatsworth House put out a post today, for World Book Day, about what they call their curation works during the closure of the house.   One big job is to take every book off the library shelf one at a time and dust it thoroughly and put it back in its place.  That doesn’t sound too bad until you realise that there are 17,000 books in the Library itself!  We have 1240 in our sitting room and we do take them all off the shelves and dust them and the shelves when I am doing the Spring Cleaning and it always takes longer than we expect! However you can tell when it has been done.  

I am still listening to my audio books as my eye is not working yet and the right eye is getting tired because of my working so I am not able to read yet, which is why I am so glad I have my subscription to BookBeat.  

Tomorrow I am at Eldest’s to catch up on his work and then Saturday evening DH and I are at a swimming event and then Sunday we have some home jobs to do.  The weather today has been very Spring like and it feels like Spring itself may not be far behind!  At the moment March is coming in like a Lamb so it will be going out like a Lion!  Happy Thursday you lovely lot. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

Yes I know it is Saturday well I think it is, I really don’t know which day is which at the moment, they are all blurring into one!  Here in the UK we have not seen the sun for what seems like months and apparently it has rained every day since January 1st and I believe them!  This week it has been grey, overcast and raining and it has been like that for days and days.  Anyway it has meant I have been able to read quite a few books, so that is definitely an upside.  

Since January I have read nine books but two were DNF’s.

*****

Firstly this was Jayne’s and my Cosy Book Club Book for January.  Ed the devoted father of Daughter Abbie must come to terms with her new Fiancé, Ryan,  and their wish to marry quickly because of her Grandmother being so ill.  However Ed has reservations that are not shared by other members of the family.  There is something just not quite with Ryan and Ed cannot put his finger on it and so begins a spiral of events which will lead Ed to do things he has only ever seen in movies but all to protect Abbie.  Can he find any evidence that Ryan is not who he portrays himself to be? 

This is a mystery but not in the traditional sense.  It is well written and the story moves along but the ending is not quite as you hope.  I gave it Five Stars.

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*****

I actually listened to this on BookBeat whilst I was working the other week and it was very good.  Monday morning four people get into an elevator in one of the many high rises in New York City to go to their different floors.  The buttons are pressed and the doors close but the elevator does not stop on any of the floors and just keeps going until it reaches the very top floor where it stops.  The four people cannot get the doors to open and then the elevator drops all the way to the bottom.  Tuesday morning another building, another elevator same thing.  Wednesday morning the same and what appeared to be a tragic accident on Monday has turned out to be a serial killer who is killing people at arms length.  Can Detectives Borgue and Delgado find who is doing this before the body count rises?

First book of Lindwood Barclays I have read and it was well done.  The story moved through the book and was easy to follow their progress of the case to the end with the twist as well.  I again gave it Five Stars.  

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*****

You will see that I first read one of Jane Bettany’s books last month, “Murder on Bluebell Hill” and I really enjoyed it.  They are in the Cosy Crime section of the bookshop and I can honestly say very Agatha Christie.  They are, like her books, not very long but the characters are good and there is generally only one murder and our heroine “detective” Violet Brewster generally finds out who done it with a twist.  They are very easy to read but that does not detract from the stories.  There are currently five in total in the series and I believe a new one is being written.  They areally are very good and of course gave them Five Stars.

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*****

I read this over three days!  It was that good.  Beth is waiting for her Husband, Tom, to get home from work.  She has fed, bathed and put their daughter to bed and is waiting in their expensive kitchen in the cottage they have renovated for him to get home.  There is a knock on the front door and Beth rushes to it ready with a string of abuse and especially as he has also forgotten his keys.  But it is not Tom it is a Detective and some Police officers and they want to talk to Tom.  It is about his old girlfriend from ten years ago and Beth cannot understand why they want to talk to Tom.  As the weeks unfold and more information comes out Beth begins to wonder if she ever knew her husband really at all.

It really is a good book and you do become invested in their lives and as Beth finds out more so, dear reader, do you.  However the twist at the end is very good and that is all I am going to say!

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This is my Three Star read for February so far.  I was again talked into buying this by Bookstagram and I am beginning to think that I should not take any recommendations from there at all!  This is about the fourth book I have had this happen to me so am really beginning to think I need to trust my own judgement and not listen to anyone else!  However, of course, that is what I am doing here!!!!!!  It is a conundrum!

Eden Fox and her husband have moved into their forever home, Spyglass, in the seaside village of Hope Falls.  The house needed a lot doing to it but they have managed to update it.  Eden has even had time to go back to her first love of paining and that evening she is having a local exhibition of her work.  She decides to go for a run, to calm her nerves, and sets off on her usual path.  She gets back home and her key will not open the door, when she knocks a woman comes to the door who looks a lot like her and dressed in her clothes.  Eden cannot believe her eyes and demands to know who she is, then her husband, the man she has been married to for a long time, comes to the door and asks this other woman, who he calls Eden, what is wrong.  Eden is confused and demands to know what is going on and the Police are called.  They believe her husband and this woman and Eden has no phone, no idea how to prove who she is, what is she going to do?

To be honest with you I got a littl confused with this book, especially with Eden and Eden and them talking about the situation.  I was never sure which Eden you had talking.  It was okay and some of it was predictable.  The twist at the end was okay but the ending did feel like it was all being wrapped up in a little bow for you.  I think it is one of these books which has been over hyped again, especially by people who have had advance copies sent to them and “LOVED” it!  I have read better!

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*

If I could I would have given this no Stars, oh wait I can here but not on my Goodreads account!  I love a good Fantasy book and I love the building of the world and this book is going to be a series.  However Ms Parker I think swallowed a dictionery and thesaurus and then every sentence decided to fill said sentence with twenty words where five would have done.  Example : “So close I’m struck with a smoky musk pinched with the smell of freshly split stone, softened with notes of something buttery.” I mean what does that even mean?  and every single sentence is like that!  I got to page 50 of 576 and I could not read it anymore!  I really wanted to like it but it was actually unreadable.  I honestly do not know how some of these books get published!

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*

This was another book that did not deserve even one star!  The premise was a good idea ish!  Librarian Anne Adams who lives in Scotland loves her job but then is involved in a serious car crash which kills her twin brother and Anne was driving.  She spends months in hospital recovering and her parents blame her entirely for his death and although she goes back to live with them to continue her recovery they basically ignore her.  Anne cannot go back to the Library and looks around for a new job and finds it cataloguing a private library at Winterbourne on a remote island on the west coast of Scotland, but not all is as it seems!

I started to listen to this on BookBeat but I could not stand it!  The Narrator was particularly dour and to be perfectly honest I did not like the character of Anne, her parents or the story so I DNF’d this too!  

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Looking back so far on February out of the nine books I don’t think I have done too bad by DNF’ing two of the nine!  I still have some books on my shelf that I have bought because of recommendations from Bookstagram but I am going to go through my shelves and have a long hard look at all the books and assess whether they are staying or going.  However certainly with “When The Moon Hatched” you would not have known how bad it was until you started to read it!

I hope you lovely lot have had some time to read and the weather where you are is better than here in Derbyshire at the moment, although we have seen the sun today which was glorious, it was very cold but sunny!  They have forecast some snow overnight of course!    My eye Op is still down for February 23rd at the moment and I will be utilising my BookBeat account for the week afterwards, especially where I have to have my head down for 45 minutes of every hour!!!!  

Have a wonderful week and I am aiming to get back to posting most days now that everything has settled down a bit. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

Happy Valentines Day Too!