Clifftoppers: The Frost Castle Adventure by Fleur Hitchcock

I’m a huge fan of Fleur’s writing and especially this Clifftoppers series which I have been following eagerly since the beginning and am hoping desperately that Nosy Crow order another ‘year’ of adventures with the cousins visiting their grandparents’ farm every holiday break. This is perfect read for snowy weather but especially the Twixmas period, …

The Slightly Alarming Tale of The Whispering Wars- Jaclyn Moriarty

The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone is one of my favourite books ever. Moriarty manages to make her writing feel timeless, classic and modern in one, to sweep even the grown up away into its deeply layered worlds of magic. At first I was a little confused as this was billed as the sequel …

The Silent stars go by- Sally Nicholls

Broke my heart over and over a million times how beautiful and heart wrenching this tale is. The interwar years is a particularly fascinating era for me, but is usually explored looking through the luxurious and Americanised lens of Jazz and Flappers or come the Thirties, Depression and Misery, the immediate post-war period and its …

Last minute gift with feeling? try Wonderbly Books

So yesterday may have caught some UK based people out who are now thinking eeep I need something for... If a magazine subscription is not quite your ideal and you want something a bit different may I suggest a book from Wonderbly especially if you order by midnight tonight (20th December!) These books are an …

The Rules by Tracy Darnton

Ok, I have discovered I have a bit of a morbid fascination with the concept of survivalists and Preppers. I’ve watched mouth agape at prepper documentaries on Netflix where the family practices shooting attackers from their shipping container house; dry runs at ‘circle the wagons’ convoy style bugging out; and where a young woman at …

Wonderscape- Jennifer Bell

I’ll be honest, this is a book I bought on name and cover alone- Wonderscape conjures such explosions of creative magic and Paddy Donnelly’s evocative cover illustration hunting at the worlds to conquer I was sold before I got to the blurb. However, it is an absolute genius of a concept, combining some of my …

Bookish Gift ideas: Children’s Magazine Subscriptions

Let’s face it, this Christmas it is harder than ever to find the right gift. Especially if you want to support small businesses and independent producers and particularly tricky if you want to buy for children. Sometimes the gift that keeps giving is a magazine subscription, but not a plastic toot accompanied advert riddled magazine …