Mel Sherratt is one of those writers that I’ve heard a lot about but never actually got round to reading. Her name is always all over Twitter and Facebook and she has a number of firm fans among the book blogging community…
A Step In Time
27 October 2015 by Leave a Comment
On the countdown to Christmas there’s always one very important marker which signals the end of summer, the beginning of autumn and highlights that advent isn’t so very far away. It’s nothing to do with the weather, or leafs changing colour. It’s BBC starting to show Strictly Come Dancing…
The Little Flower Shop By The Sea
23 October 2015 by Leave a Comment
We’re now well into October and the weather has unsurprisingly taken a turn towards the autumnal. In fact it’s a bit cold at times. Time to be planning those long nights in with hot chocolate and a good book. I’ve got a wee pile of Christmas themed books to read …
For the Love of The Archers
21 October 2015 by Leave a Comment
You probably don’t know this about me but I love The Archers, I have a proper soft spot for the long-running Radio 4 soap opera. I have the characters I like and the ones I can’t abide (stop being an interfering old bat Jill, no-one cares about you…
Furiously Happy
19 October 2015 by Leave a Comment
Depression isn’t normally regarded as something funny. It’s nasty, it’s serious, it destroys people – not what we would regard as a source of great hilarity. But that’s where we go wrong. Some of the greatest humour can be found in the darkest places and that’s what Jenny Lawson…
Aussie Grit
30 September 2015 by Leave a Comment
As I think I mentioned when I reviewed Ron Howard’s brilliant Rush, I’m a fair weather Formula One fan. I enjoy the races, I have drivers that I like and I know a little bit about the politics of the paddock but I’m not a fanatic. I’ve never been to a race…
How to be Brave
16 September 2015 by Leave a Comment
A couple of years ago I went to a storytelling evening on Orkney. I persuaded others to come along with promises of a dram by a peat fire, squishy leather chairs and some magnificent Orcadian folklore. I have never been so wrong about anything in my life…
The Defenceless
11 September 2015 by Leave a Comment
When I put together my mid-year top ten books I included Kati Hiekkapelto’s debut novel, The Hummingbird – a fabulous Finnish crime novel with great new heroine Detective Anna Fekete as its lead character. When Orenda Books asked me to participate in the Blog Tour…
The Good Neighbour
8 September 2015 by Leave a Comment
I found out a couple of days ago that one of our lovely neighbours has put their house up for rent. I’m sorry that they are leaving because they are nice people but it’s worse than that – we’re now stuck in the hellish situation of not knowing who our new neighbours are going to be…
The Daughter’s Secret
2 September 2015 by Leave a Comment
Every now and then a story pops up in the press about a teacher who has had an affair with a pupil and is (rightly) jailed for their abuse of trust. Less often the papers fall over themselves with puritanical excitement when a teacher and pupil actually run away together…