Monthly Round-Up: January

So the first month of 2016 is behind us and, if I'm honest, I'm pretty glad. You may have noticed I haven't been posting on the blog as regularly as normal, but life has seemed to be getting in the way somewhat more than usual lately, causing a disruption to my blogging schedule. A new year brought a new job for me and it's taking some getting used to. I'm enjoying it, but on an evening I'm wiped out and the longer days mean I'm not reading as quickly as I was. I'm hoping now I'm settled and more into it I'll be back to normal soon - please bear with me! 

So, here's my bookish round-up for January. 

Books I've read:

• The Unfinished Symphony of You & Me, Lucy Robinson (5/5)
• You and Me, Always, Jill Mansell  (5/5)
• Stirred with Love, Marcie Steele (4/5)
• Deadly Obsession , Nigel May  (3/5)
• Wickham Hall, Cathy Bramley (5/5)
• Match Me If You Can, Michelle Gorman (4/5 - review to come)
  

What I've bought: 

A Kindle paperwhite! I absolutely love it. Up until now I'd been reading e-books on the kindle app on my phone... not ideal due to a small and bright screen. This purchase is a revelation and I am so happy with it. I'm going to be doing a post about it soon, so keep an eye out. 

Books I've bought: 

We are all made of stars, Rowan Coleman

The Secrets of Happiness, Lucy Diamond

Books  I've received:

Summer Nights at the Moonlight Hotel, Jane Costello 

The Perfect Gift, Emma Hannigan 

Netgalley Approvals: 

How To Get Hitched in Ten Days, Samantha Tonge 

My Map of You, Isabelle Broom 

The Silent Girls, Ann Troup

Book of the month: 

I always find this such a tough decision, but I love doing it as at the end of the year it means I can look back on some of my favourite reads. This month was full of amazing books that all helped me get through the January blues with a smile on my face. I absolutely loved You and Me, Always and The Unfinished Symphony of You and Me, but January's book of the month has to go to Wickham Hall by Cathy Bramley. The story has stuck with me since reading and I keep daydreaming about the fabulous stately home setting of the story. An absolute corker of a novel that you MUST read if you haven't already! 

Monthly round-up: November

I can't quite believe that the end of November is here and that tomorrow it is December... a.k.a a time when it is perfectly acceptable to be overly festive and stuff my face with mince pies everyday. 'Tis the season to be merry, after all.

November had absolutely zoomed past in comparison to what felt like a rather slow October. I've had a lovely month filled with family and friends. I love this time of year - cuddling up on the sofa with a film and a takeaway, bonfire night parties and just generally starting to wind-down as the end of the year approaches. As it's been a fairly quiet month socalising-wise, I've had plenty of time to read some fab books. (Click on the titles of the books I've read to read my reviews!)

Books I've received:
Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Jumper, Debbie Johnson
It Started With a Snub, Bernadette Maycock
A Winter Wedding, Abby Clements 
The Boy Under the Mistletoe, Kate Beeden
Wish Upon a Christmas Cake, Darcie Boleyn

Books I've Won: 
Snowed in for Christmas, Claire Sandy
Gingerbread Cafe Christmas, Rebecca Raisin

Books I've Read:

24 Hours, Claire Seeber (4.5/5)

Lost Girls, Angela Marsons (5/5)

Billy and Me, Giovanna Fletcher (3/5)

The Leftovers, Stella Newman (5/5)
Follow Me, Angela Clarke (4.5/5)
Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Jumper, Debbie Johnson (4/5)

Conditional Love, Cathy Bramley (5/5)

The Girl With No Past, Kathryn Croft (3/5)

November book of the month

As usual with my book of the month, it was really hard to make a decision. It's been a great month for reading, and some of the books, like Leftovers and Lost Girls, will really stick with me for some time as they were so brilliant. That's why I've decided it was a good idea to start a rating system for my round-up post. I don't use a rating in my reviews, as I think you can gauge from my review how much I liked the book. But for my round-up posts it's a quick and easy way for you to see how much I've enjoyed a book. So anyway, my book of the month for November has to go to Conditional Love by Cathy Bramley. I absolutely LOVED it - it's full of charm, hope and love. The definition of feel-good fiction. 

I also wrote a guest post for Lil'Novelist about my fave book covers of the year - you can read it here. 

I had loads of fun this month doing some more personal posts about me and my reading habits! There was the 11 Things You Didn't Know tag and  The Reading Habits tag. If you haven't already read them and are a nosy person (like I am!) then why not have a read :) 

So there you have it, my November round-up. I'm so excited for December.. I love the build-up to Christmas and getting all festive. I have loads of Christmas reading planned (I blogged my festive TBR pile here) and will be reviewing them in the run up to Christmas, so keep your eyes peeled! 

L xx

Monthly round-up: October

October has been a really busy but fun month... I can't believe it's November already though!

At the start of the month one of our oldest friends came back to Yorkshire after a couple of years travelling in China and Australia. It's great to have him back so we had a 'welcome back' get together for him at ours and have since had a few nights out (and in), it's been great to catch up. 

In mid-October it was the OH's birthday. We took a week off work and had some fun on a road trip. We started at Chester Zoo (which I blogged about here), followed by a stay in Chester and then on to Manchester to catch up with a few friends - I'll be blogging more about this trip in the next few weeks. 

I also had a day trip to Nottingham to catch up with my uni friends. We went to uni in Nottingham, so heading back to the city brought back lots of fun memories! We spent the day shopping, eating and drinking all while catching up. It was a lovely day. 

The end of the month has been much more relaxed with plenty of cosy nights in, sleepovers with my best friend and film nights. A great start to Autumn... I love this time of year! 

So, onto books! 

Books I've bought: 

Netgalley requests: 

24 Hours, Claire Seeber

Lost Girls, Angela Marsons 
Bella's Christmas Bake Off, Sue Watson
The Twelve Dates of Christmas, Lisa Dickinson

Books I've Received:

Books I've read:

A Parcel for Anna Browne, Miranda Dickinson

Bad Sisters, Rebecca Chance

The Year I Met You, Cecilia Ahern

The Broken Hearts Book Club, Lynsey James

The Dead Dog Day, Jackie Kabler

One Wish in Manhattan, Mandy Baggot

The Boy at the Bookshop, Katey Lovell 

Book of the month:

October has been an amazing month for reading. I've loved every single book I've picked up and found it hard to pick a favourite. After a lot of thought my October Book of the Month had to go to A Parcel for Anna Browne by Miranda Dickinson. I was so excited for this release and it really lived up to expectation. It is a truly magical story and confirmed to me why Miranda is one of my favourite authors. I loved the mystery, romance and friendships throughout the story and it is a story that will stick with me for a long time. 

Monthly round-up: September

Photocred: cartoondollemporium.com

Happy Autumn everybody! 

I'm not sure If I'm alone with this thought, but I'm really looking forward to Autumn being here - snuggly blankets, PJs, hot chocolate.. I love the comfort of Autumn and the excuse to curl up inside with a good book! I can't quite believe how fast this year's going though and that I'm already on my September round-up.... eeek!

Things I've Done: 

September was a massively busy month. It was my Sisters 21st birthday, so we went out for a family meal and some drinks to celebrate. It was nice to spend some quality time with the family and for a happy occasion, which was welcome after the past few months. 

My sisters 21st birthday cake

We had our first dinner party with friends, my best friend Livi and her boyfriend Tom came over for a night of food, drink and boardgames. We felt pretty grown up but we had so much fun! I can't wait to do it again. I went out for drinks in Leeds, again with Livi and Tom and our other friend Tom (I know, it gets confusing). It's the first night out we'd been on in ages and we really enjoyed it. 

Books

Books I've won:

A signed copy (!) of The A to Z of You and Me by James Hannah

NetGalley approvals:

One Wish In Manhattan, Mandy Baggot

Christmas At Lilac Cottage, Holly Martin

The Hidden Legacy, G J Minett

As Good As Dead, Elizabeth Evans

Books I've Read:

Links to reviews: Misadventures of a Playground Mother, Time to Die, Rainy Day Sisters

Book of the Month:

A creepy, gripping crime thriller that I devoured. This is the second book in the DC Knight series and didn't disappoint, You can read my full review here. 

Things I've Watched:
Hunted - A new documentary on Channel 4 that puts real-life people in an 'on the run' situation. They get given an hour to disapear and then have to remain on the run for 28 days. An absolutely brilliant concept that I'm hooked on - I look forward to this every week.

Doctor Foster - A gripping BBC 1 drama that follows a Doctor who finds out her husband is having an affair. A really intriguing storyline that has plenty of twists and turns. Really enjoyed.

Downton Abbey - It's baaaack! for the final ever series (sob). I'm a massive fan of Downton and although I haven't enjoyed the last few series as much as the earlier ones, I still really love cosying up on a Sunday evening and watching it. The first few episodes of this series have been really good and I'm looking forward to seeing how they'll tie it all up.

Films: 

Tomorrowland - One of the latest Disney movies, it didn't grip me really. Although I loved watching George Clooney for a few hours, the actual storyline was pretty meh.

Mission Impossible - I think once you've seen one of these films, you've seen them all. That theory stuck with the latest one, which had a whole load of fight scenes and not a whole lot of plot. Another meh!

What have you been up to in September? Read any books you'd recommend? Let me know in the comments below! Laura x

June round-up

Hi all! I'm back from a week-long blogging break and thought I'd start my sharing my (slightly late) June round-up with you all! 

Books I've won:

Thanks to Shaun at Book Addict Shaun, I won 3 paperbacks of my choice. There were some fab options but in the end I chose: Summer at Shell Cottage by Lucy Diamond, The Oyster Catcher by Jo Thomas and The Life I Left Behind by Collete McBeth

I also won an e-book copy of  30 first dates by Stacey Wiedower

Books I've received: 

The Dandelion Years by Erica James 

A Year of Marvellous Ways by Sarah Winman

In Their Shoes - Fairytales and Folktales

Books I've read this month: 

The Dish, Stella Newman

Summer at Shell Cottage, Lucy Diamond *

Return to Bluebell Hill, Rebecca Pugh

The Life I Left Behind, Collete McBeth*

The Oyster Catcher, Jo Thomas *

First One Missing, Tammy Cohen

Dream A Little Dream, Giovanna Fletcher  *

As June kick-started Paperback Summer, I read a lot more paperbacks than e-books this month. The titles with a star next to them are paperbacks and I'll be doing a big Paperback Summer post at the end of August.  

Book of the month
As usual, this month was filled with fantastic reads. A special shout-out goes to Rebecca Pugh, her debut novel Return to Bluebell Hill was bloody brilliant! 

As usual though I had to pick a book of the month and this month that is..... 



Summer at Shell Cottage by Lucy Diamond! 
You can read my review here

What have you guys been reading this month? Let me know in the comments below :) 

Monthly round-up: May

Hello there!

At the moment everything's a bit manic and rushed, so I haven't had the time to film and edit a monthly round-up vlog this month (boo!) but hopefully a good old written post will do the trick this time. Do keep an eye out for a few more vlogs on the site soon though :) 

So, May was a jam-packed month filled with great reads. I took part in the brilliant Harper Impulse Fortnight as well as quite a few blog tours and was lucky to get stuck into some new releases. 

Books I read during May: 

Just The Way You Are, Lynsey James

The Life You Left, Carmel Harrington

The Broken, Tamar Cohen

Truly Madly Greekly, Mandy Baggot

Always the Bridesmaid, Lindsey KelkCastaway in the Caribbean, Janice Horton
 Evil Games, Angela Marsons

The Lost Child,Ann Troup 

A Way From Heart to Heart, Helena Fairfax

Coming up Roses, Rachael Lucas

Life's a Beach and Then... Julia Roberts

I've reviewed most of these books during may- just click on the titles above to see the reviews. 

As always, I found picking a 'book of the month' really difficult. Special shout-outs needs to go to Ann Troup as The Lost Child was intriguing and unusual, Lindsey Kelk as she lived up to her usual brilliance with Always the Bridesmaid and Mandy Baggot for making me crave the sunshine and a holiday! 

But, my book of the month just had to be Evil Games by Angela Marsons.

 This book surpassed all expectations and is just as brilliant as the first in the DCI Kim Stone series, Silent Scream. I was hooked from the very first page and still find myself thinking about it now. Thank you Angie for yet another fantastic, creepy and gripping novel. I cannot WAIT for book 3!

Now I'm getting stuck into my June reads, kicking off with 'The Dish' which I am really enjoying. It's also the start of paperback summer so I will be reading as many paperbacks as I can for the next few months. 

What are you guys reading?