Books On My Fall 2022 To-Read List
top ten tuesday

Books On My Fall 2022 To-Read List

Cassie5 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each week a new theme is suggested for bloggers to participate in. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want. Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to The Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post.

This week’s topic is ‘Books On My Fall 2022 To-Read List‘

I’m not going to lie, part of me wants to find a nice Spooktober bingo card or 30 days prompt challenge and read a whole bunch of horror – I haven’t read enough horror lately and I miss it! As a teen llama, I was ALL I read.

However. I have once again hit that point where I’m currently reading 26 books. So I think I need to do something about that and actually, start finishing things before I pick something new up. And so, with that in mind, my Fall 2022 list is to finish reading:

Marian Keyes – Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married – currently at 78%
Rainbow Rowell – Fangirl – currently at 73%
Sarah J Maas – A Court Of Mist and Fury – currently at 67%
Mira Grant – Chimera – currently at 57%
Holly Black – The Cruel Prince – currently at 54%


Nicholas Cook – Music: A Very Short Introduction – currently at 48%
Stephen Law – Philosophy – currently at 46%
Peter Ackroyd – The History Of England: Foundation – currently at 45%
Mary Beard – Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town – currently at 45%
Paul Cartledge – Ancient Greece: A Very Short Introduction – currently at

Wish me luck?

(Also, if you click the images of the covers, it should now take you to the goodreads page about the book as well)

Character or Plot Focused Books
lets talk bookish

Character or Plot Focused Books

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Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish meme created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and has been hosted by Aria @ Book Nook Bits since April 2022! Each Friday, there is a discussion topic for bloggers to write about. This week’s topic is Character or Plot?

For me, it has to be the plot. I absolutely hate it when you get to the end of the book and you’re left with the feeling of ‘… but nothing happened!’. It’s all about the story. Don’t get me wrong, I need to care about the characters, I need to be invested in them and what’s happening to them, but I need there to be a really good story to keep me reading.

Every now and again, there’ll be a character-driven book that I fall in love with. Recently, there’s been The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo – I loved exploring her life, her loves and everything about her. The whole book definitely revolved around her, rather than a story happening to her.

But in general? Give me a good story to sink my teeth into and fill it with interesting characters but don’t make it all about them, it’s about what’s happening Mira Grant’s Chimera is a perfect example – the characters are all fascinating and intriguing and flawed and real but the story is why I haven’t put this book down all weekend – I NEED TO KNOW WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN!

book reviews

Book Review: How To Be A Healthy & Happy Submissive by Kate Kinsey

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Photo of the book How To Be A Healthy & Happy Submissive by Kate KinseyTitle: How To Be A Happy & Healthy Submissive
Author: Kate Kinsey
Dates read: 17/04/22 – 18/09/22
Rating 4/5

Publisher: Nevermore Press
Number of pages: 192
Fiction or non-fiction: non-fiction
Subject or genre: BDSM, sexuality

Book blurb:

Beyond Fifty Shades of Grey, there’s an entire kinky world of BDSM, full of real life dominants and submissives enjoying an intimacy and satisfaction in their relationships that vanilla folk only dream of. Whether you want to explore your own submissive fantasies, or you’re just curious about what BDSM is really like, this book will answer all your questions, plus some you didn’t know you had.

Erotic author Kate Kinsey (“Red,” and “The Totally Uncensored Kinky Adventures of Chloe St. Claire, Sex Slave”) brings over a decade of experience as a submissive and kinky educator to this practical step-by-step guide to being a healthy and happy submissive.

Topics covered include: the differences between dominants and masters, submissives and slaves, and tops and bottoms; the different dominant styles; the truth about “training” to be a submissive; how to find like-minded folks in your area; how to negotiate scenes and relationships; what to expect at your first dungeon party; why some people actually enjoy pain; and the warning signs to look out for when talking to potential partners

How I discovered or acquired this book: It was recommended to me by Amazon after reading The Topping Book & The Bottoming Book, and I got it through Kindle Unlimited

Notable quotes The power actually goes both ways because the dominant, by controlling and caring for the submissive, actually empowers the submissive to be who and what they truly are

My thoughts Before we go any further, I feel it is relevant (but also possibly TMI for some) to note that I am a submissive, have known it since my early 20s WAAAY before terrible horrible things like Fifty Shades happened (and that’s a whole ‘nother rant for another day! LOL). Continuing in the TMI thread, neither my Dominant or I have any recent experience and have been doing what all good nerds do, and reading up to refresh ourselves.

This is a really well-written, informative beginner’s guide on what it means to be a submissive. It’s very informal, peppered with anecdotes of Kinsey’s own life/experience and feels like she’s sitting and chatting with you. It doesn’t assume any former knowledge, and is aimed at educating the reader without lecturing.

Part of me wishes I could have read this 10 years ago – I would have found the information on communities and red flags when it comes to Dominants and online behaviour to have been invaluable. But it was also nice to almost have confirmation that the way we’re currently doing things now is ‘right’ – we all need a little external validation from time to time, after all .

4/5, I really loved it, wouldn’t necessarily read the whole thing again but would dip in and out of it as/when needed

Favourite Protagonist Characteristics
book blogger hop

Favourite Protagonist Characteristics

Cassie1 Comment

The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer from Crazy-For-Books in March 2010 and ended on December 31, 2012. With Jennifer’s permission, Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer relaunched the meme on February 15, 2013. Check out the hop here!

Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end on Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt featuring a book-related question. The hop’s purpose is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.

The Question of the week is: What are your favorite characteristics of a main character?

I’ve been mulling this over for a couple of days now and I don’t know if I have any when it comes to book characters. I definitely do when it comes to tv/movie characters though – I am a sucker for the socially-awkward geek. Pretty much any show, you can guarantee they will be my favourite character and I’ll probably end up with a fictional crush on them. We’re talking everyone from Fox Mulder, Hermione Granger, Penelope Garcia, Sam Carter, Daniel Jackson and my biggest most long-standing crush, Willow Rosenberg (seriously, I burst into tears meeting Alyson Hannigan – Willow was the first time I ever saw me in a character and it was amazing)

And my Li? Yeah, she is 100% a socially-awkward geek. But then again, so am I so it all works out 😀

Sunday Post: The Queue, lots of cooking, and finally finishing something
sunday post

Sunday Post: The Queue, lots of cooking, and finally finishing something

Cassie3 Comments

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted at Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news, recap the past week on your blog, and showcase books and things received.

It has been quite a slow, but also sad week. I haven’t mentioned anything about the death of The Queen here before but the monarchy is a special interest of mine, and while part of me has been enjoying watching history in action (and discovering I know the words to the Proclamation!), I’ve also been mourning for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Part of me wishes I could have gone down to Westminster Hall to pay my respects, but while my agoraphobia is starting to ease, just seeing that many people in one place (and no one wearing a mask) is giving me the heebie-jeebies.

Then there’s The Queue. Yes, there’s an accessibility queue for those of us who are unable to stand in an 18+ hour queue (I sometimes struggle to stand long enough to do the dishes), it’s limited and available slots fill up quite quickly. I have, however, spent the last couple of days utterly fascinated by The Queue from a sociological perspective. I also think it’s one of the most British things we could do to honour our late Monarch, and personally find the number of people going to pay their respects to be incredibly moving.

It’s also been the 7th anniversary of my mum dying this week, so my emotions are all over the place.
For example, last night, I discovered the layout of a 2023 planner I wanted wasn’t going to work for me, and the level of sadness I experienced for that definitely felt out of proportion.

Other than that, I’ve been doing a lot of cooking again this week – which reminds me, I wanted to work on the layout for my cooking blog and properly figure out what I’m going to do with it.
Monday I made us Tomato & Courgette risotto
Tuesday was Crab & Lemon spaghetti with peas
Thursday was Slow Cooker Pork with cheesy mash
Last night we had tuna steak with a citrus rub and garlic butter crushed potatoes
I really love to cook!

I had some lovely Book Mail this week – I bought myself a paperback copy of Peter Ackroyd’s History Of England: Foundation when I realized I didn’t want to give the library their copy back. And I also got myself a signed hardback of Dan Jones’ Essex Boys – which was quite the dilemma, actually! I don’t usually like hardbacks, so I was planning on getting the kindle edition, then buying the paperback when it came out but then WH Smith had the signed hardbacks for £8.49

Speaking of books, I’ve actually managed to finish a handful of books, so there should be another round of mini-reviews coming this week. I’ve finished Anne Rice – Interview With The Vampire and Heidi Swain – Summer At Skylark Farm, and I’m on track to finish Mary Beard – Pompeii, Mira Grant – Chimera, Kate Kinsey – How To Be A Healthy & Happy Submissive AND Stephen Law – Philosophy next week!

I’ve also been listening to a lot of 80s/90s soft rock this week (forever my favourite genre) and I shall leave you with my song of the week which is Def Leppard – Photograph

What makes me pick up a book?
weekly wednesday blogging challenge

What makes me pick up a book?

Cassie10 Comments

This week’s Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge asks about What makes you pick up and buy a book?

There are so many reasons!

  • The cover is pretty – colours design or image
  • The title catches my eye, intrigues me or is in the style of the chick-lit books I like i.e. ‘The Little Wedding Island’
  • It’s by an author I love and automatically read
  • It’s the next in a series I’m reading
  • It’s set in/about a period of history that I love
  • I’ve seen it recommended – goodreads, book blog, booktok, amazon email and so on
  • It’s free on bookbub/kindofbook
  • It’s been on my TBR for 17 billion years
  • My ADHD brain has decided I don’t know enough about a random topic like, i don’t know, paleolithic geology (no, really. that did legit happen…)

In case y’all hadn’t noticed, I’m a very eclectic reader, I’ll read pretty much any genre, any type of book. And I’m a mood reader. I will pick up whatever catches my attention, when it catches my attention, regardless of the 25 books I’ve already got on the go.

top ten tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Geographical Terms in the Title

Cassie10 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each week a new theme is suggested for bloggers to participate in. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want. Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to The Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post.

This week’s topic is Books with Geographical Terms in the Title which honestly made me glee, especially with yesterday’s post of Plotlines I Love because they go together really well – there’s so many chick-lit with titles like ‘The Wishing Tree Beside the Shore’ or to look at Hallmark, Virgin River or Chesapeake Shores!

So that gives us a little list that looks like:

Jaimie Admans – The Little Wedding Island
Jean M Auel – Valley Of The Horses
Christie Barlow – The Lake House
Lilly Bartlett – Big Dreams Beach Hotel
Jennifer Bohnett – Little Kiosk By The Sea


Jenny Colgan – The Bookshop on the Shore
Dan Jones – Crusaders: The Epic History of the Wars for the Holy Land
Holly Martin – Spring At Blueberry Bay
Ali McNamara – Secrets and Seashells at Rainbow Bay
Heidi Swain – The Secret Seaside Escape

Is it me, or is one of these not like others? LMFAO

Plotlines I love
weekly wednesday blogging challenge

Plotlines I love

Cassie2 Comments

Yes, it’s Monday and I’m just answering last week’s Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge about A plotline I love to watch/read and why.

This… oh this is putting a big smile on my face because I definitely have a favourite plotline. One that’s found throughout oh so many many many chick-lits and Hallmark shows and I can never ever resist it. Hell, I’ve got a Stargate AU fanfic I’m writing with this damn plotline.

Our lead character, usually a woman, is tired of the ratrace in the big city and her thankless corporate job – which she may or may not have just lost or exuberantly quit. She’s also probably just been dumped. what is this, a fucking country song. And so, she packs her bags and moves to a small town in the country, where she might have grown up but also where she might know absolutely nobody but quickly becomes an integral part of that community of quirky and unique characters. Bonus points if she’s inherited a farm/bookstore/bakery/island, and has to work with the very attractive but very grumpy local handyperson.

It’s very millennial. I literally don’t know anyone of my generation who doesn’t want to do exactly this. It’s why Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, and Stardew Valley are so popular!

I love it because it’s formulaic in a good way. I know what’s going to happen, I don’t know how we’re going to get there, but I know it’s going to be heartwarming and fluffy, have a happy ending and probably make me cry.

Essentially, for those fic people out there, it’s a coffee shop AU. AND I CAN NEVER GET ENOUGH OF THEM!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Had To Get A Copy For My Personal Library
top ten tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Had To Get A Copy For My Personal Library

Cassie7 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each week a new theme is suggested for bloggers to participate in. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want. Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to The Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post.

This week’s topic is ‘Books I Loved So Much I Had to Get a Copy for My Personal Library (Maybe you received an ARC or borrowed from a friend/the library and loved it so much you wanted your own! Or maybe you read it in one format and wanted another format, like you read it in ebook and wanted a physical copy to display on your shelves or you read it the paperback and would love to re-read it on audio.) and this will be a mixture of library books I bough, books borrowed from other people I bought and books I want to get in another format

Ben Aaronovitch – Rivers Of London
I started getting the books out of the library, probably read the first three or four. But then the library didn’t have the next one, didn’t know if they were going to get it and so what was I supposed to do? I had to buy it. And then, of course, I had to buy copies of the ones I had already read so that I had the full series.

Sarah J Maas – A Court Of Mist and Fury
I started reading it on Libby through the library, but I was part-way through it when it was due back, but then I couldn’t check it back out again because there was a queue. Except I was part-way through and really enjoying it, and didn’t want to wait. So I bought it on Kindle… and then bought the next couple as well, because they were all on offer.

Tess Gerritsen – The Surgeon
I initially borrowed the book from my mum, she loved it and raved about it, so I read it and also fell in love with it. I read faster than her so it ended up there was one of the books I was too impatient to wait for mum to finish reading so I just… bought it myself. And, as ever, had to complete the set

Jean M Auel – The Clan Of The Cave Bear
I inherited most of mum’s books when she died, and she had all of the Earth’s Childrens books. They were all second-hand, but mostly a matching paperback set. Except for this one which was a falling apart hardback and had to be replaced. So that one went to a charity shop and I picked myself up a paperback copy

Dan Jones – The Plantagenets: The Kings Who Made England
We’ve covered my love for Dan Jones, yes?
OK good, just checking. LOL
I got a few of Dan Jones’ books out of the library, promptly fell in love, bought my own copy of The Plantagenets and really need to get around to buying the rest of his books
On a semi-related note, his first fiction book Essex Dogs is coming out next week – set in the Hundred Years – which I’m quite excited about!

Stephen King – The Tommyknockers
I first got a Stephen King book out of the library when I was… young enough that the librarian rang my mum to ask if I was allowed to take it out. Most of his books I’ve picked up second-hand and the copy of Tommyknockers I ended up with was a bigass hardback. As previously mentioned, I am not a fan of huge hardback books so I eventually replaced it with a much easier to read paperback

Mira Grant – Symbiont
The library had Parasite. The library had Chimera. The library did not have Symbiont, which frankly was fucking rude. I’m a member of not one but TWO different libraries in different counties, I get physical books and e-books, and not a single one of those four sources had Symbiont. So I had to buy it. And now I need to get Parasite and Chimera too.

Natalie J Case – Forever
So Natalie is one of my best friends, and she always gifts me a signed copy of her books in paperback. But because I’m super awesome, I also buy them on the Kindle. I’m also really impatient because she’s in California and pre-apocalypse, we only saw each other once a year and I now haven’t seen her since 2018. I don’t know when I’m seeing her again – neither of us feel safe enough for transcontinental travel. There’s no way I’m waiting that long to read a book!

And these last two are ones I want to replace my existing copies of but haven’t got around to doing so for various reasons, mostly involving being broke LOL

Kelley Armstrong – Bitten
I have the edition of this book that came from the Sci-Fi & Fantasy bookclub that my mum was a member of. The ones that would send you a catalogue and you had to buy X number of books a year – remember those?
But all the rest of the Women Of The Otherworld series that I own are published by Orbit in the 2000s and all have matching covers and are the same size. I am currently keeping an eye out in charity shops for the matching copy of Bitten.

Anne Rice – The Vampire Chronicles
With the exception of the first three which I bought together (and the Mayfair Witches), ever single one of Rice’s books I’ve got as a different imprint. Some are hardback, some are mass market paperback. I really really want a full matching set (and I think the Mayfair Witches are included in that as well, since they now tie-in properly with the Vampire Chronicles)

Book Blogger Hop: Finding New Books
book blogger hop

Book Blogger Hop: Finding New Books

Cassie4 Comments

The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer from Crazy-For-Books in March 2010 and ended on December 31, 2012. With Jennifer’s permission, Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer relaunched the meme on February 15, 2013. Check out the hop here!

Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end on Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt featuring a book related question. The hop’s purpose is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.

The Question of the week is: Is it difficult to find new books in local bookstores?

The small town I live in doesn’t have a bookstore.
The Tesco Express on the retail park has a book section but I’ve only just started being able to go there again, and it’s literally in and out to get my groceries as quickly as possible – not quite up to just browsing yet.
There’s a Waterstones, a WH Smith, and a The Works in the mall in the next town over but to be honest, I avoided malls like the plague even before… well… the plague.

I tend to buy a lot of books secondhand. There are a LOT of charity shops in town, and they’ve all got book sections in. There used to be an incredible second-hand bookshop in the market – it was filled to the brim with bookshelves chock-a-block, and piles and piles and piles of books EVERYWHERE. You could ask him if he had a certain book, and if he had it, he would know exactly where to find it

So yes, I buy a lot of books second-hand. I use my library and the libby app a lot. And for any actually new books I want, I order them from Amazon because it’s really my only source for them. I do miss a good mooch around a bookstore though.