Celebrating Anne Brontë

Wishing a happy belated birthday to Anne Brontë, born on 17th January 1820 in Thornton. She was an English novelist and poet and her works include the proto-feminist novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. She was also the youngest of the Brontë literary family. Although this post features a belated birthday wish for Anne, I…

Favourite Reads of 2023

It's that time of year again when we bookworms begin reviewing our reading challenges and annual book haul. This year I've read an interesting mix of genres and I've struggled to narrow it down to a top 5, but I've finally done it. So here are my top 5 reads from 2023 (and a cheeky…

Reading Challenge 2024

As we prepare to bid farewell to 2023, it’s time to plan our 2024 reading challenges. I’m setting myself a target of 40 new books to read on Goodreads in addition to the individual challenges below. Do you have any reading challenges planned for 2024? A book with a nationality in the title A book…

Reading Challenge 2023: The Results

As 2023 draws to an end and I’m unlikely to finish any more books between now and 2024 I thought I’d provide the results of my 2023 Reading Challenge. At the start of the year, I set myself a challenge of reading 45 books I hadn’t previously read and some individual tasks. Currently, on Goodreads,…

Hymns from the Sisters by Emma Conally-Barklem

Reader, it's been a while. I've been so busy with my day job recently that every time the weekend has rolled around, I've had to use it to recharge my batteries rather than blog. That doesn't mean I haven't been productive though; I've recently started work on a novel inspired by Charlotte and Branwell's characters…

Four Dreamers and Emily by Stevie Davies

Four Dreamers and Emily by Stevie Davies is the story of four individuals whose paths cross thanks to the Brontës and a literary conference in Haworth. The dreamers are Marianne, a lecturer and overworked wife and mother; an elderly and lonely widower named Timothy; a young waitress called Sharon; and Eileen who is a sixty-something…

The Good, the Bad and the History (St. Mary’s #14)

The new novel in the wonderful, wild, and wacky St. Mary's Chronicles is finally here. The Good, the Bad and the History is Jodi Taylor's fourteenth in the series. Despite this, the series is still offering up new surprises at every turn. Below is a spoiler-free review of the novel. Synopsis It had to happen.…

The Asparagus Bunch by Jessica Scott-Whyte

Thirteen-year-old Leon has been kicked out of six different schools due to what most people see as his attitude problem. When his long-suffering mother takes him to a specialist doctor, Dr Snot, Leon is informed that his brain works differently to most other people and that he is in fact autistic. Not caring for either…

A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin

Kitty Talbot is young, pretty, penniless, and determined to do all she can to snag herself a rich husband in the bright lights of Regency London. With determination and an iron will that can rival Becky Sharp, can anyone, male or female, rich or poor, stand in her way? Is Kitty merely a fortune hunter,…

A Catalogue of Catastrophe (St. Mary’s #13)

A Catalogue of Catastrophe is the latest offering from the wonderful Jodi Taylor. The 13th novel in the St. Mary’s series has finally arrived and once again features the Disaster Magnets and the irrepressible Dr “Max” Maxwell. A Catalogue of Catastrophe sees Max and the equally irrepressible Markham in their new roles away from St. Mary’s. Despite facing…