Chunkster Reading Challenge 2022
My Sign-Up Post
Challenge Period: January 1, 2022 - December 31, 2022
Sign Up: Here
Aim: To read as many books over 450 pages in length as you like during the challenge period.
A blog is NOT required to participate.
For this challenge I've selected books that I own. A couple of them I've read, but not reviewed, and as
Aussie Author Reading Challenge 2022
My Sign-Up Post
Challenge period: 1st January to 31st December, 2022
Sign Up: Anytime during the year
Aim: To showcase the quality and diversity of the books being produced by Australian authors.
Social Media Tag: #AussieAuthor22
All the information and how to join is here on the sign-up page.
This year I'm participating at the same level as last year.
Mrs England by Stacey Halls
Book Review
The Infernal Riddle of Thomas Peach by Jas Treadwell - Book Review
Who is Thomas Peach?
Ah, reader! - if you would have us answer THAT question - What mysteries you shall compel us to expose!
It is the year 1785, and a gentleman of modest means has left London for the countryside, to look after his ailing wife.
Among his neighbours, tongues being to wag. Why does he keep a locked chest under the stairs? Is it really full of forbidden books? And what is exactly the matter with his wife?
For the most part, though, the couple live in peace -- until a letter arrives, threatening to cut off their livelihood and expel them from
August Folly by Angela Thirkell
Book Review
It's August in the Barsetshire village of Worsted, and Richard Tebben, just down from Oxford, is contemplating the gloomy prospect of a long summer in the parental home. But the numerous and impossibly glamorous Dean family - exquisite Rachel, her capable husband and six of their nine brilliant children - have come for the holidays, and their hostess Mrs Palmer plans to rope everyone into performing in her disastrous annual play. Surrounded by the irrepressible Deans, Richard and his sister Margaret cannot help but have their minds broadened, spirits raised and hearts smitten
My ThoughtsAfter three novels, I'm becoming familiar with what to expect from Angela Thirkell: lots of quirky characters, multiple romances, upper
A Literary Christmas 2021 Challenge
Challenge period: Now to 31st December, 2021
Sign Up: Now
Aim: To read and review as many Christmas-themed titles as you can from a list you
Six Degrees of Separation: From Ethan Frome to The Age of Innocence
This month the starting point is Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, a sad and tragic story, and not one I will ever read again. A sledding scene in the novella takes me to my first link - a much more uplifting one than what happened in Ethan Frome
The Bobbsey Twins Annuals were a staple of my Christmases growing up, as was the fun of sledding. We had a few mishaps, but the worst thing that happened to us was that we went home cold and wet!
Another childhood delight was the Bunty and Judy girls' comics filled with stories of boarding
Death on a Winter's Day by Verity Bright
Book Review
Publisher: Bookouture
Series: A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery #8
Format: ebook, print and audio
Genre: Historical Fiction/Cosy Mystery Synopsis
Christmas at the castle with holly, handmade gifts, snowflakes and… is that a body under the tree? Someone call Lady Swift!
Winter, 1921. Lady Eleanor Swift, amateur sleuth and reluctant lady of the manor, has been invited to spend Christmas in Scotland, at the beautiful castle of her dear friends Baron and Baroness Ashley. Even her favourite companion, master of mischief Gladstone the bulldog, is coming along to share a slice of turkey. As snow begins to fall outside, the rather mismatched group are cozy
The London House by Katherine Reay
Book Review
Publication Date: November 2, 2021
Publisher: Harper Muse
Length: (368) pages
Format: Trade paperback, eBook, & audiobook
Genre: Historical Fiction, Women’s Fiction
Synopsis
Uncovering a dark family secret sends one woman through the history of Britain’s World War II spy network and glamorous 1930s Paris to save her family’s reputation.
Caroline Payne thinks it’s just another day of work until she receives a call from Mat Hammond, an old college friend and historian. But pleasantries are cut short. Mat has uncovered a scandalous secret kept buried
Rebel's Knot by Cryssa Bazos
Book Review
Publisher: W.M. Jackson Publishing
Series: Quest for Three Kingdoms
Page Length: 350 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction/ Historical Romance
Synopsis
Ireland 1652: In the desperate, final days of the English invasion of Ireland . . .
A fey young woman, Áine Callaghan, is the sole survivor of an attack by English marauders. When Irish soldier Niall O'Coneill discovers his own kin slaughtered in the same massacre, he vows to hunt down the men responsible. He takes Áine under his protection and together they reach the safety of an encampment held by the Irish forces in Tipperary.
The Wrecking Storm by Michael Ward
Book Review
1641.
London.
The poisonous dispute pushing King Charles and Parliament towards Civil War is reaching the point of no return.
Law and order in the city are collapsing as Puritan radicals demand more concessions from the King. Bishops and lords are attacked in the streets as the Apprentice Boys run amok. Criminal gangs use the disorder to mask their activities while the people of London lock their doors and pray for deliverance.
No one is immune from the contagion. Two Jesuit priests are discovered in hiding and
Down a Dark River by Karen Odden
Book Review + Blog Tour Giveaway (US Only)
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Series: An Inspector Corravan Mystery #1
Format: Hardcover and ebook, 363 pages
Genre: Historical Mystery
Synopsis
In the vein of C. S. Harris and Anne Perry, Karen Odden’s mystery introduces Inspector Michael Corravan as he investigates a string of vicious murders that has rocked Victorian London’s upper crust.
London, 1878. One April morning, a small boat bearing a young woman’s corpse floats down the murky waters of the Thames. When the victim is identified as Rose Albert, daughter of a prominent judge, the Scotland Yard director gives the case to Michael