This week

 I'm reading

Well, it has been a very busy couple of weeks, which is why I missed last week so we have a bit to catch up on. From a reading perspective though, the first week was very busy, but this second week I haven't read much at all!

On audiobook, I finished listening to The Missing Sister by Lucinda Riley! This is the seventh book in the Seven Sisters series, and I have to say....  arrggghhh that ending! It felt like an unfinished book to me. I therefore started listening to Atlas: The  Story of Pa Salt so that I could get some answers. It doesn't hurt that Richard Armitage is one of the narrators.

I managed to squeeze in The Chimes by Charles Dickens, which I posted about here.

I did start reading Last Christmas by Clare Swatman, but I have had to put it aside for now. Not sure if I am going to get back to this. It might be next Christmas.

As I mentioned in last week's Top Ten Tuesday post, we did a family read of Bluey: Verandah Santa, which was a lot of fun..

Finally I started reading The Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang which is the current selection for Cook the Books. To be fair, I am struggling with it a bit, but I am determined to finish it this year!

I'm watching


Before we came away we watched the movie Blitz, which tells the story of the Blitz on London, through the eyes of a young woman and her son. It wasn't too bad.

I then  watched A Paris Christmas Waltz. I mean.. Paris and Christmas? Yes please!

We then watched A Very Musical Christmas which was the stars of Australian musical theatre singing Christmas songs! The event raised funds for Beyond Blue, and I hope that they do it again.

On our family Christmas Day, the two boys/men said that we should watch a movie together and it was decided that we would watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The irony is that they were both asleep very quickly so the rest of us watched it but they didn't!

Life


We travelled to Adelaide for Christmas Day, and then after that, we have taken a road trip to the Eyre Peninsula, and we are just beginning to start the journey back to Melbourne! There have been silos, sailings, street art, seafood, scenery and so much more! Here's a couple of pics

Posts from the last two weeks



Countdown to 2025: Day 16
Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Summer 2024-25 To Read List
Countdown to 2025: Day 17
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge Wrap Up Posts
Countdown to 2025: Day 18
Countdown to 2025: Day 19
Countdown to 2025: Day 20
Countdown to 2025: Day 21
Weekend Cooking: Christmas Tree Cake
Countdown to 2025: Day 22
Sunday Salon: A Very Dickens Christmas
Countdown to 2025: Day 23
Countdown to 2025: Day 24
Top Ten Tuesday: Christmas Reads!
Countdown to 2025: Day 25
Countdown to 2025: Day 26
Countdown to 2025: Day 27
Countdown to 2025: Day 28
Weekend Cooking: A Tale of Two Christmases




I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date and Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz

Countdown to 2025: Day 27

This year I am participating in Countdown to 2025 hosted by Lynn from Lynn's Books. Today is day 27 and the prompt for today is Christmas Crackers – Ended with a bang

It's not that it ended with a bang as far as the story goes, but rather in  my frustration at where it ended! Never mind, I have started the final book so I can finally get the answers after the earlier 7 books.

Tomorrow's prompt is Candlelight – a book that kept you up into the early hours

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Summer 2024-25 to read list

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books on My Winter 2024-2025 to-Read List. As I am an Aussie, it is currently way too hot for it be winter, so these are my summer reads!

Midnight in Paris by Gillian Harvey - I am always very excited by the news that there is a new Gillian Harvey book on the way. This one is out in January, and the cover is gorgeous!

The Chimes by Charles Dickens - I read A Christmas Carol a couple of weeks ago, and I am intending to read at least one more of his Christmas stories. Yes, there is more than one!

The Many Futures of Maddy Lawson by Laura Pearson - Spoiler! Laura Pearson is going to be on my list of favourite new authors that I first read in 2024

Venice Hotel by Tess Woods - I have actually already started this one. Now it's a question of finishing it!

Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley and Harry Whittaker - I just finished listening to The Missing Sister. There was a three year gap between the last two books but I am not waiting that long to listen to the final book in the series.

The Mirror by Nora Roberts - This is the second book in The Lost Bride trilogy. I will also listen to this one. The question is will it be before Atlas or after it!

The Last Illusion of Paige White by Vanessa McCausland - I have loved the last two books I have read by Vanessa McCausland so I have high hopes for this one.

The Jam Maker by Mary-Lou Stephenson - This one is out in February and I am very much looking forward to it!

The Secret Paris Garden by Sophie Beaumont - I really liked The Paris Cooking School! My plan is to read this before the end of the year but we will see!

The Bad Bridesmaid by Rachael Johns - I posted my review of The Other Bridesmaid yesterday. The Bad Bridesmaid is about Bridget's best friend Fred and is out in February!

Are any of these books on your list!

Top Ten Tuesday: Stormy!

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books to Read During a Storm (these can be cozy/comfy reads, books with storms in them, atmospheric reads for dark and stormy nights, light reads to combat the heavy weather, etc.) (Submitted by Astilbe.)

For my first three choices I thought I would share some books that have components of storms in the title. If there is a storm happening around you, there may be wind, there may be thunder and there may be rain. There could be other things, but let's start with those:

He Shall Thunder in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters - As a bonus this cover also has some lightning on it!

Ill Wind by Rachel Caine - Rachel Caine has a whole series of books called Weather Wardens where all the titles are weather related.

The Right Attitude to Rain by Alexander McCall Smith - This is one of the Isabel Dalhousie which is set in Edinburgh, so I imagine you would need to be used to rain!

And now lets move onto books with stormy titles.

Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale - A romance classic from the early 1990s!

Firestorm by Rachel Caine - This is another book in the Weather Wardens series.

Storm Front by Jim Butcher - Apparently I read this in 2008 and again in 2011 - who knew! I certainly didn't remember that!

The Night They Stormed Eureka by Jackie French - I recently started reading another Jackie French book but didn't get very far before I had to return the book to the library!

Season of Storms by Susanna Kearsley - Never miss an opportunity to get a Susanne Kearsley book into the a TTT post!

A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin -  this is the third book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, more commonly known as the Game of Thrones books.

The Storm Sister by Lucinda Riley - The second book in the Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley. I am currently listening to the seventh book in the series.

This Week...

 

Before I jump into my normal what I'm reading, watching and doing post, I wanted to share that the 2025 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge is ready to go. 

If you love historical fiction, or if you would like to read some historical fiction in the hope that you will find some books to love, or if you love reading challenges, we would love to have you join us!

You can find out all the details here.

I'm reading

This week I didn't really get as much liked as I would have. I finished The Silver-Haired Sisterhood by Judy Leigh, which is another book set on the Isle of Skye. I seem to be reading quite a few of them at the moment. You can find my review here.

I then read Starting Over at Starlight Cottage by Debbie Viggiano who is a new author to me! I reviewed that book here.

Currently I am reading Stuck in Second Gear by another new to me author, Carmen Reid. This one features a roadtrip through France which I am very much enjoying, and my review will be up later this week.

I finished doing my annual listen to Hogfather by Terry Pratchett! Even though I have listened to it multiple times there are still things that I remember and other things that I do not!  

I have now gone back to listening to The Missing Sister by Lucinda Riley. 

It was our final meeting for our read-on-a-theme book club on Saturday so we had a lunch instead of our customary meeting. Everything was delicious, and not just the food. The theme for this selection was food/cooking. Here are just some of the choices that we shared.

I thought I was being a bit clever as suggesting 25 as our next theme. I was thinking people could read a book from when they were 25, or that was published 25 years ago, or the 25th book in a series, but it might actually be a bit tricky. I have chosen a book now, but it did take some searching to find the book that I wanted to read.

Finally, I am intending to join in with the  "A Very Dickens Christmas" challenge hosted at Snapdragon Alcove. 


I'm watching


If I didn't get as much reading done as I would like, I did get a lot more watched than I have been in previous weeks.

The latest season of Great British Bake Off started here last week. I also watched a couple of the festive specials.

We binged watch two shows. The first was Muster Dogs: Where Are They Now. A couple of years ago now we watched the first season of Muster Dogs, which is when they took a group of Kelpie puppies and sent them off to be trained. At the end of the year they came back together and did a series of tests to work out which the best dog/trainer combination was. Last year, in the second season, they did the same experiment with a litter of Border Puppies. This season was to go back to see how some of the dogs and their owners/families are doing. It's such a delightful show.

The second show we binged was A Man on the Inside which stars Ted Danson as a man who goes undercover in a retirement village to solve a crime! It was so good! We loved it!

We also finished watching Shogun, which I thought was really good but it did take us a while to get through as it is not a show that I could watch more than one or two episodes at a time.

I watched several Christmas movies this week. I loved one, like another a lot, and had a don't waste your time reaction to the third. 

The one that I loved was That Christmas, which is an animated movie written by Richard Curtis, who is famous for a lot of big movies such as Four Weddings and a Funeral and Love Actually. It was so sweet.

I liked The Text Before Christmas, which follows a woman who receives a wrong number call very close to Christmas from an older woman, and they build a relationship which leads them to spending several Christmases together. And she has a dishy son and so on.

Finally, we like British comedian Jack Whitehall and we are even going to seem him live in a few months. However, his Christmas special, Jack in Time for Christmas, is ....not good. It does have a funny part with Michael Buble right at the beginning but it all goes downhill after that.

I did go to the movies this week. I was going a little bit stir crazy from being at home, or maybe from so many Christmas movies. I chose to go and see an Iranian movie called My Favourite Cake. I will confess that I thought it was going to be more foodie than it was, but it was interesting, and the story about the movie was very interesting. It is about an older woman who has been a widow for many years, who decides that she needs to meet a man, but it all goes a bit wrong!

Here's the trailer for That Christmas

Posts from the last week

It's been a very busy blogging week this week, mainly because I am participating in Countdown to 2025 which means a post for that everyday, plus whatever else I am posting. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Short Stories
Countdown to 2025: Days 1, 2 and 3
Countdown to 2025: Day 4

Blog Tour: A Christmas Surprise in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen
Blog Tour: The Silver-haired Sisterhood by Judy Leigh

Countdown to 2025: Day 5

Blog Tour: Starting Over at Starlight Cottage by Debbie Viggiano

Countdown to 2025: Day 6

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2025 Sign up post

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked In My Kitchen in November

Countdown to 2025: Day 7

Six Degrees of Separation: Sandwich to Agnes and the Hitman

Countdown to 2025: Day 8





I've linked this post to Sunday Salon, hosted at Readerbuzz and  It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date

This week....

Max

I mentioned last week that I was worried about Max, and I was right to be. It turned out he was a very poorly puppy.

Over the last week, he has been poked and prodded, had surgical procedures and in short, cost us a fortune in vet bills. The reality is that he has a number of conditions which mean it is likely that he will be on medication for life.. We will hopefully find out more this week, but there's every chance he won't have a normal life expectancy. We will given him as good a life as we can for as long as we can.

I'm reading

I am finding that even though I am not working I am not getting a lot of reading done. I am managing to keep myself pretty busy.

Last week I wasn't sure what I was going to start  listening to next, but in the end I decided that it  was finally time for me to start listening to the seventh book in the Seven Sisters series, The Missing Sister, by Lucinda Riley. It is more than 20 hours long but hopefully I will get through it.

I finished reading A Little Place in Prague by Julie Caplin, which really made me want to visit Prague which I reviewed here. I am currently reading The Girl with the Red Ribbon by Carly Schabowski. I really need to get a move on with this book as I have this and another book due for review by Friday, and I am haven't even started reading that book.

I'm watching

I finished watching the first series of Home for Christmas which is a Norwegian series about a nurse who has told her family that she is bringing a boyfriend home for Christmas dinner, so now she needs to find one. There is a second series, so I will watch that in due course.

I started watching Nobody Wants This and the first episode was fun. I will continue with this series for sure.

We also finished watching Kaos. It's such a shame that this series has been discontinued as a it was a lot of fun, and very clever!

We also went and saw Widow Cliquot, a new movie which tells the life of the widow Barb-Nicole Cliquot who was influential in creating the Veuve Cliquot champagne house. I am hoping to talk more about this next week.

Life

Tomorrow is a public holiday so we took advantage of this and my husband took today off work as well to give us a four day weekend.

It was our wedding anniversary on Friday night so we went to a very nice restaurant for dinner. It is at a restaurant which was on the 35th floor of a building in the city, so there was an amazing view. The bathrooms have what is probably the best view from a bathroom in Melbourne.

On Sunday we took a drive down to the Mornington Peninsula where we went for a bit of walk at Arthurs Seat and then onto the Portsea Hotel for lunch. We stayed at a nearby hotel and then today, we went to the Peninsula Hot Springs, which is a mineral springs area where there are around 70 different pools and experiences. It was a very relaxing experience.

Tomorrow we won't do much at all, not even watch the Melbourne Cup, which is why we have the public holiday!

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Trick or Treat

Blog Tour: The Bookshop at the Cornish Cove  by Kim Nash

Blog Tour: A Little Place in Prague by Julie Caplin
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: November links

Festive Treats: October

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked in my Kitchen in October

Six Degrees of Separation: Intermezzo to The Kamogawa Food Detectives 






I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date

Top Ten Tuesday: October Reads

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is How My Reading Habits Have Changed Over Time (submitted by Lydia @ https://lydiaschoch.com)

Occasionally I do a look back at books I have read in this month over previous years and this theme seems like it would work for that quite well. So, here are some books that I have read in October over the last few years

2023 - The Christmas Love Letters by Sue Moorcroft - Reading Christmas novels is something I would never have done 10 years ago

2022 - A Year at the French Farmhouse by Gillian Harvey - This was my first Gillian Harvey book, but I have now read a further 6 books by her, and consider her an auto-read author

2021 - The Summer Cottage by Viola Shipman - In October 2021 I read two books by Viola Shipman. I would have read more but his books are a bit tricky to get on e-book here.

2020 - Beach Read by Emily Henry - I did read my first Viola Shipman in October 2020, but it was also the first time I read Emily Henry, who I definitely consider and auto-read author now, or rather auto-listen as I tend to listen to her books.

2019 - The Pearl Sister by Lucinda Riley - Another series I tend to listen to. I really must listen to the last couple of books in this series. They are a big commitment though.

2018 - Lethal White by Robert Galbraith - I really enjoyed the audiobooks of this series, but these days I don't really read this series.

2017 - A Letter from Italy by Pamela Hart - So I have been reading about Italy for a while now

2016 - The Art of Keeping Secrets by Rachael Johns - Even during my biggest reading slump, Rachael Johns was an author I read..

2015- Taken with You by Shannon Stacey - I used to read a lot of books from this author, but this was  the last one I read, and I have no idea why.

2014 - Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins - Back in the day I used to read and love the occasional YA book but it has been a while now

Six Degrees of Separation: The Museum of Modern Love to Hamnet

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best.  The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links.  I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz. 

The starting point for this month is The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose.

I am choosing to start by focusing on the word museum. Whenever I visit Perth, I love to visit the port city of Fremantle. Even thought I have been many times I love to visit the Shipwreck Museum and visit the wreck of the Batavia. This was a Dutch ship which sank off the cost of Western Australia. A book which tells the story of the Batavia is The Night Ship by Jess Kidd.

When we visited the Netherlands just under 2 years ago, we stayed with my brother and sister in law. It just so happens that they live in the town where there is a replica of the Batavia. So my next link is the most recent book I have read about Dutch history, Midnight Blue by Simone van der Vlugt

A famous name that made a cameo appearance in Midnight Blue was the artist Vermeer. He was also a character in Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

My next choice is using he word pearl as the key, so I am choosing the fourth book is the Seven Sisters series, The Pearl Sister by Lucinda Riley.

And then using the word sister as the link I am choosing a book I read not too long ago, The Shakespeare Sisters by Juliet Greenwood

My final choice is Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell which is all about Shakespeare and his family. As an aside...we are going to go to the Globe when we are in London soon. Looking forward to it.

Next month the starting point is After Story by Larissa Behrendt.

Where has your chain taken you this month?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Was Super Excited About But Still Haven't Read

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books I Was Super Excited to Get My Hands on but Still Haven’t Read. And yes, I am sticking to the script this week. It isn't always the case

Daisy and Kate by Meredith Appleyard - I first saw the cover for this at a reader retreat last year and wanted to read it straight away....but still haven't!

The Other Bridget by Rachael Johns - I bought this as soon as it came out in book form, as opposed to on Kindle, but still haven't read it.

The Missing Sister by Lucinda Riley - I listened to all the previous Seven Sisters books, but the idea of listening to a book 30 hours long is very intimidating right now as I don't get to listen that much anymore. And then I have the next book after that as well

Midnight Blue by Simone van der Vlugt - I had to have this book as soon as I saw it!

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn - What am I waiting for? Yeah, I don't know either

The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin - I could also mention this author's subsequent books too.

Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum - I have had this on my radar since last year.

The Starfish Sisters by Barbara O'Neal - I have quite a few unread books by this author

An Astronomer in Love by Antoine Laurain - Maybe I'll get to read this for Paris in July.

The Air Raid Book Club by Annie Lyons -  I like the sound of this author's upcoming book too.

Have you read any of these books?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Didn't Get to in 2023

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books I Didn't Get to in 2023.  In order to find these books, I looked at previous posts of books that I was looking forward to. I did just have a thought that I should have just looked at this post form last year and see if i read any of those books! Next time!

So here are ten books I meant to read in 2023 but I never got to it!

Daisy and Kate by Meredith Appleyard - I have wanted to read this since I first saw the cover at the reader's retreat I went to last year.

Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See - I can't believe I haven't read this year. I usually love Lisa See's books.

The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy - I was given this beautiful hardcover book at a work event, but I haven't actually read it yet.


The Missing Sister by Lucinda Riley - Last year Pa Salt's book was released but I didn't read it as I still haven't read this book.

Inheritance by Nora Roberts - This is the first book in the The Lost Bride trilogy, and came out in November. I bought the audio straight away but haven't listened to it yet.


Before Your Memory Fades by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - I actually started listening to this over the weekend but when I started writing this post I had not so I am leaving it in!

A Woman's Work by Victoria Purman - I had a proper plan to read this before I went to the Australian Women Weekly exhibition in rural Victoria. However, one of these things happened and the other did not!


Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa - I intend to read this in the next couple of weeks.

Codename Charming by Lucy Parker - I was very excited when this book came out. Still haven't read it.

Where the Light Enters by Sara Donati  - I even got to meet this author when I was in the US last year, but still haven't managed to read this book.

Have you read any of these books? Which book would you recommend I prioritise?

Top Ten Tuesday: Twisted Sisters?

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Favorite Character Relationships (These can be platonic or not. Romantic relationships, parent/child, siblings, family bonds, friendships, found families, pet/human, etc.) but I am twisting it to just be about sisters.

The Starfish Sisters by Barbara O'Neal - I haven't read this yet, but I really want to!

The Alphabet Sisters by Monica McInerney - I remember reading this book in one afternoon many years ago.

The Lost Sister of Fifth Avenue by Ella Carey - What would you do if your sister disappeared in WWII France?

The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley - I could have chosen any one of the Seven Sister

Outback Sisters by Rachael Johns - The fourth book in the Bunyip Bay series

The Goldminer's Sister by Alison Stuart - There's lots of books about various occupations sisters

Sisters of Mercy by Caroline Overington - I have read this, although I am not sure I remember much about it

The Bird Sisters by Rebecca Rasmussen - I love this cover!

Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett - Never miss an opportunity to post a book about Pratchett

My Sisters Keeper by Jodie Picoult - Can't tell you how much I disliked the ending of this book.

Can you think of any other sisters books?