www wednesday

What I’m Reading Wednesday

WWW Wednesday was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?

From Memory to Written Record – England 1066-1307 by M.T. Clanchy It’s a history of writing and record keeping in England. It’s interesting but it’s one of those books that was written to be written, not written to be read and it’s a bit of a slog. Fascinating but not an easy read at ALL. I’m just under halfway through.
Murder at Queen’s Landing by Andrea Penrose Book 4 in the Wrexford & Sloane series, and just as enjoyable as the others. I love how the characters are getting more fleshed out, and we’re learning so much more about them. Although the growing UST between Wrexford & Sloane is starting to bug me, but then it always does. I’m 70% through and its due back to Libby tomorrow night, so this evening/tonight I’ll be focusing on finishing it.
Black Hole Survival Guide by Janna Levin Physics is… not generally my thing. But last week I read one of Li’s library books about Quantum Mechanics, and this one just jumped off the shelf. It’s written very plainly and I’m actually understanding the science of black holes which is awesome.
Temple by Matthew Reilly This book just keeps getting more and more bonkers, and honestly I fucking love it! I’m 80% of the way through now and on track to finish it this week.
Kitty’s Countryside Dream by Christie Barlow and in my favourite style of books, a grandmother Kitty didn’t know she had, just died and left her a chicken farm! I’ve only just started it, but I am a fan of Christie Barlow so I’m looking forward to finding out what happens

What did you recently finish reading?

A Regency Guide to Modern Life by Carly Lane which I gave 4 stars to. A really fun little book written in the style of an agony aunt column, answered by a Regency Lady A, but to today’s life problems. The illustrations were also amazing
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie because apparently I’m trying all the new things as I work my way through the non-fiction section of Honiton library. Another 4-star read, a published version of a TED talk the author gave about what feminism means and some of the less obvious divides between men and not-men.
Quantum Mechanics by Jim Al-Khalili is the aforementioned physics book that Li had out of the library. I started reading this at 23:45 on Sunday which you would not think would be the optimum time to learn about quantum physics. And yet Al-Khalili broke everything down to a point I could understand and Li and I had some amazing late night/early morning conversations about subatomic particles. I legit want to know more now because y’all, this is fascinating shit!


I also DNFed Angel Of The Crows by Katherine Addison. Essentially, a supernatural steampunk Sherlock fanfic which started off really strong, but the book tried to do too much, and started getting a little bit ridiculous. You know those fics that keep going because the author doesn’t know how to end the story? Yeah, I DNFed at 46% when there was a random curveball of ‘oh, BTW, Watson (who’s the narrator) is actually a woman’… completely out of nowhere, and that was a few hundred pages after being told Watson was a hellhound. I just… no.

What do you think you’ll read next?

But then… I’m not great at sticking to these so LOL

top ten tuesday

Books or covers that look/feel like summer

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.

I’m picking one from a few weeks ago that I missed Books or covers that look/feel like summer

Emily Henry – Book Lovers
Holly Martin – Summer at Buttercup Beach
Jaimie Admans – The Wishing Tree Beside the Shore
Mandy Baggot – Desperately Seeking Summer
Ali McNamara – Secrets and Seashells at Rainbow Bay


Christie Barlow – Kitty’s Countryside Dream
Alexandria Bellefleur – Hang The Moon
Talia Hibber – Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute
Taylor Jenkins Reid – Malibu Rising
Kiley Dunbar – The Borrow a Bookshop Holiday

This might just be the least eclectic collection I’ve ever posted LMAO

top ten tuesday

Top Ten Books Everyone Else Isn’t Reading

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 ‘Top Ten Forgotten Backlist Titles which Jana carries on to say is about thinking outside the shiny, new, trendy titles and think about ones that aren’t talked about anymore. She says that she often gets caught up in all the new releases and finds herself reading the same books everyone else is, that there’s no variety in the bookish community, and social media is full of pictures and reviews of the same handful of books

I do agree with her – every now and again I get fed up to the back teeth of seeing the same books – but luckily, what I tend to read are not the books everyone else is. So this is going to be 10 books I’ve read recently that I haven’t seen other people reading


Alix E Harrow – The Once And Future Witches
Mandy Baggot – Staying Out For The Summer
Colin Elford – A Year in the Woods: The Diary of a Forest Ranger
AJ Aalto – Touched
Christie Barlow – Love Heart Lane


Jessica Bruder – Nomadland
Susan Cooper – Over Sea, Under Stone
Alexis Caught – Queer Up
Peter Ackroyd – History Of England: Foundation
Neil Gaiman – The Ocean At the End Of the Lane

Do you tend to read the same books as everyone else? What have you read lately that other people haven’t been reading?

book blogger hop

Happily Ever After

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 thoughts on “happily ever after” endings?
I love a ‘happily ever after’, if it fits the rest of the storyline. If it’s just tacked on for the sake of having a happy ending, then I tend to feel cheated and it makes me grumpy.

For example, I’ve been reading a chick-lit full of drama and disaster, the Love Heart Lane series by Christie Barlow – I’ve just finished reading Foxglove Farm and there were storylines involving depression, a struggling marriage, animal rustling, a failing farm and a disastrous fire – the story had a happy ending that tied everything up nicely but it fit the tone of the book, the genre and what the characters were working towards. An ending that didn’t come under ‘happily ever after’, with the marital problems resolved, the damage fixed and the animals saved, it would have been unsatisfying.

On the other hand, one of the things I loved about The X-Files is that the episodes, even the standalone ones, weren’t tied up neatly with a bow at the end and everything re/solved. There was always that loose thread, that what-if, that curiosity. A ‘happy ending’ wouldn’t have fit the tone of the show or the type of stories that were being told.

And sometimes, even when I want the characters to have a happy ending because they’ve been through so much shit, that’s not what the story necessarily needs and it would detract from the enjoyment of the story.

So yes, I love a happily ever after ending if it fits the storyline.

top ten tuesday

Bookish People I’d Like to Meet

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’ topic is Bookish People I’d Like to Meet so I’m going with authors I would love to not only just meet, but sit down and have a coffee with. And I will say that the whole JK Rowling… situation… has made me much much warier of wanting to meet the people whose books I love, I even hesitate at following them on social media – I definitely have a quick google and check their social media history before hitting that button. sigh

But, here we go:
Jaimie Admans
So I have been friends with Miss Jai online for… let’s say a very long time, at this point. The very first book I ever read on Kindle was her debut Kismetology – she’s the reason I even have a Kindle.

The next three are authors whose books are my current auto-buys, and I have interacted with them and fellow fans in Facebook groups, etc and that’s
Mandy Baggot, Christie Barlow and Ali McNamara
I love all their books, reading them is like snuggling into a familiar warm comfy blanket while sipping a mug of hot chocolate!

My current favourite author who I’m busy devouring books by is Talia Hibbert. She writes, and I quote ‘spicy, diverse romance because she believes that people of marginalised identities need honest and positive representation’ and there’s just… informed consent and safe sex and characters LIKE ME. I’m in love and flail madly at Li when I’m reading!

Spots 6-8 go to some of my favourite history folks, who I’d love to sit down and bend their ears about all things Plantagenet, Wars of the Roses, and Tudors and they are of course
Philippa Gregory, Dan Jones, and Alison Weir

The last two have been my among my favourite authors since I was a teenager, are responsible for my love of all things horror, vampire, gothic and New Orleans.
Anne Rice (RIP) and Poppy Z Brite