I'm finally caught up on this delightful series. For the most part I've really enjoyed going back to a time without CSI and technology where the detecI'm finally caught up on this delightful series. For the most part I've really enjoyed going back to a time without CSI and technology where the detective solves the crime purely on his wits. These really are an underrated series of books that I wish I had discovered years ago.
The language as always witty and the books zooms along at pace, the characters are as always slightly bonkers. They're just delightful. I believe there are more to come and I'm looking forward to reading them.
Free arc from netgalley
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I'm finally caught up on this delightful series. For the most part I've really enjoyed going back to a time without CSI and technology where the detective solves the crime purely on his wits. These really are an underrated series of books that I wish I had discovered years ago.
The language as always witty and the books zooms along at pace, the characters are as always slightly bonkers. They're just delightful. I believe there are more to come and I'm looking forward to reading them.
Another great book about the Flaxborough detective. It has all the components we've come to expect now including crazy characters and a lovely warmth Another great book about the Flaxborough detective. It has all the components we've come to expect now including crazy characters and a lovely warmth to the story in this case we have the introduction of the marriage bureau. A fun thing to look back on in this age of phone app dating.
A pure joy.
Thank to netgalley for the free ARC
Merged review:
Another great book about the Flaxborough detective. It has all the components we've come to expect now including crazy characters and a lovely warmth to the story in this case we have the introduction of the marriage bureau. A fun thing to look back on in this age of phone app dating.
I have mixed feelings on this one and it’s another where I nearly gave up part way through. I liked Megan and I enjoyed the plot for the most part. ItI have mixed feelings on this one and it’s another where I nearly gave up part way through. I liked Megan and I enjoyed the plot for the most part. It’s a well-paced thriller with plenty of twists especially towards the end when we start to find out the whodunnits.
There are a couple of things that bugged me though. The story is book-ended by a character called Regina who discovers the body and (spoiler alert…) is also dead by the end. She adds nothing to the plot. To be fair she does something, but I think it could have been done by someone else or even not at all and not made a difference.
The other is Megan’s back story. I can see it’s a part 1 so I imagine that other information will be released in the next books, but it was too slow a drip feed for me. I don’t need everything in book 1 but the synopsis above is a bit misleading. There’s just too many hints & not enough substance. It made it all a frustrating read.
I’m going with a thumbs in the middle 3/5. I would like to see how her story pans out so hopefully when I pick the next ones up there’s more revealed than just teasers. Otherwise an enjoyable book.
Merged review:
I have mixed feelings on this one and it’s another where I nearly gave up part way through. I liked Megan and I enjoyed the plot for the most part. It’s a well-paced thriller with plenty of twists especially towards the end when we start to find out the whodunnits.
There are a couple of things that bugged me though. The story is book-ended by a character called Regina who discovers the body and (spoiler alert…) is also dead by the end. She adds nothing to the plot. To be fair she does something, but I think it could have been done by someone else or even not at all and not made a difference.
The other is Megan’s back story. I can see it’s a part 1 so I imagine that other information will be released in the next books, but it was too slow a drip feed for me. I don’t need everything in book 1 but the synopsis above is a bit misleading. There’s just too many hints & not enough substance. It made it all a frustrating read.
I’m going with a thumbs in the middle 3/5. I would like to see how her story pans out so hopefully when I pick the next ones up there’s more revealed than just teasers. Otherwise an enjoyable book....more
I liked this a lot better than Elizabeth, The Witch's Daughter (the book preceding this one) probably because I've read less on Elizabeth's reign than I liked this a lot better than Elizabeth, The Witch's Daughter (the book preceding this one) probably because I've read less on Elizabeth's reign than I have of the events leading up to it.
It's another short book covering many years so as before there has to be an awful lot of information left out but this seemed to flow much better. More detail of secondary characters and a good section detailing the sacking of the Spanish Armada. I liked the side story of the Allgraves - now I need to know if they were real or made up to enhance the novel.
It's light on the rumoured love interest with Robert Dudley but for me I'm glad because it's been done to death elsewhere so the focus on friendship is far more interesting.
Interesting to read that these books are being re-issued 40 years after first publication and so were some of the authors earliest works. I'll be checking out some of her other later stuff. Many, many years of reading first books of authors for book clubs it's interesting to read the early works and see the burgeoning talent so I'm keen to read more.
It's a lovely piece of historical fiction and as said I'm going to look out for some more.
Free arc from netgalley
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I liked this a lot better than Elizabeth, The Witch's Daughter (the book preceding this one) probably because I've read less on Elizabeth's reign than I have of the events leading up to it.
It's another short book covering many years so as before there has to be an awful lot of information left out but this seemed to flow much better. More detail of secondary characters and a good section detailing the sacking of the Spanish Armada. I liked the side story of the Allgraves - now I need to know if they were real or made up to enhance the novel.
It's light on the rumoured love interest with Robert Dudley but for me I'm glad because it's been done to death elsewhere so the focus on friendship is far more interesting.
Interesting to read that these books are being re-issued 40 years after first publication and so were some of the authors earliest works. I'll be checking out some of her other later stuff. Many, many years of reading first books of authors for book clubs it's interesting to read the early works and see the burgeoning talent so I'm keen to read more.
It's a lovely piece of historical fiction and as said I'm going to look out for some more.
I nearly gave up on this one and after I finished I’m still not sure if carrying onto the end was a good idea. Nothing happens in the first half of thI nearly gave up on this one and after I finished I’m still not sure if carrying onto the end was a good idea. Nothing happens in the first half of the book besides a couple find a body in the garden and someone goes to prison for an unpaid fine, chats to a con and ends up out on bail. That’s it – so, so, so very slow.
It picks up in the second half and there’s a lot of action and a bit more plot. You don’t really get to know much about any of the characters until a few plot twists at the end so it’s hard to care about them & there are a lot of named mob thugs who come in and leave in such a short space of time they all blurred together.
Weirdly though I did keep turning the page & had it read in 2 days so that’s something. It wasn’t a bad thriller overall and there are a lot of twists and turns in it. I think a thumbs in the middle for me. Not bad but I don’t think I’ll seek out any other of the authors books
Merged review:
I nearly gave up on this one and after I finished I’m still not sure if carrying onto the end was a good idea. Nothing happens in the first half of the book besides a couple find a body in the garden and someone goes to prison for an unpaid fine, chats to a con and ends up out on bail. That’s it – so, so, so very slow.
It picks up in the second half and there’s a lot of action and a bit more plot. You don’t really get to know much about any of the characters until a few plot twists at the end so it’s hard to care about them & there are a lot of named mob thugs who come in and leave in such a short space of time they all blurred together.
Weirdly though I did keep turning the page & had it read in 2 days so that’s something. It wasn’t a bad thriller overall and there are a lot of twists and turns in it. I think a thumbs in the middle for me. Not bad but I don’t think I’ll seek out any other of the authors books...more
I do have a soft spot for cosy crime and especially when there's a bit of humour in there as well. I think if you enjoy Agatha Raisin you will love thI do have a soft spot for cosy crime and especially when there's a bit of humour in there as well. I think if you enjoy Agatha Raisin you will love this book. It's the first I've read of this series but I think based on this one I'll certainly try the others.
It's an enjoyable, fun caper and even away from home Miss Seeton manages to find herself solving crimes with the local constabulary. It's just a lovely read.
Free arc from netgalley
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I do have a soft spot for cosy crime and especially when there's a bit of humour in there as well. I think if you enjoy Agatha Raisin you will love this book. It's the first I've read of this series but I think based on this one I'll certainly try the others.
It's an enjoyable, fun caper and even away from home Miss Seeton manages to find herself solving crimes with the local constabulary. It's just a lovely read.
I love this series. As with the others I read it really quickly and easily. It's fairly short and so it only took me half a day. However it's also oneI love this series. As with the others I read it really quickly and easily. It's fairly short and so it only took me half a day. However it's also one of those that you just don't want to put down and need to see it to the end before you can do things like sleep.
There's quite a lot going on. DI Calladine gets kidnapped and accused of corruption, someone is repeating crimes from 20 years ago and there's a new deadly drug hitting the housing estate. It's definitely a book packed with action.
I liked how they tied this book in with the other series regarding DI Greco. It's such a fast based book and there's no padding. The action kicks on from the beginning and doesn't let up until the end.
This is one of my favourite series and the latest book doesn't disappoint.
Free arc from netgalley
Merged review:
I love this series. As with the others I read it really quickly and easily. It's fairly short and so it only took me half a day. However it's also one of those that you just don't want to put down and need to see it to the end before you can do things like sleep.
There's quite a lot going on. DI Calladine gets kidnapped and accused of corruption, someone is repeating crimes from 20 years ago and there's a new deadly drug hitting the housing estate. It's definitely a book packed with action.
I liked how they tied this book in with the other series regarding DI Greco. It's such a fast based book and there's no padding. The action kicks on from the beginning and doesn't let up until the end.
This is one of my favourite series and the latest book doesn't disappoint.
This is an intriguing and interesting horror story but for me it was too slow. I didn’t feel anything much happened until well after a quarter of the This is an intriguing and interesting horror story but for me it was too slow. I didn’t feel anything much happened until well after a quarter of the book had passed. That’s not to say it wasn’t good and richly detailed but I’m someone who needs the action to start pretty early on.
The beginning splits between a woman widowed in the war and trying to start life again through a boarding house she has inherited and an old man who has fled the nazi’s and was forced to do unspeakable acts whilst captured. Circumstances happen which cause the two to end up sharing the house.
It does flow beautifully and I did enjoy the characters I just think it isn’t a book that best suits my reading needs however I would recommend it to those that don’t need as much instant gratification.
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This is an intriguing and interesting horror story but for me it was too slow. I didn’t feel anything much happened until well after a quarter of the book had passed. That’s not to say it wasn’t good and richly detailed but I’m someone who needs the action to start pretty early on.
The beginning splits between a woman widowed in the war and trying to start life again through a boarding house she has inherited and an old man who has fled the nazi’s and was forced to do unspeakable acts whilst captured. Circumstances happen which cause the two to end up sharing the house.
It does flow beautifully and I did enjoy the characters I just think it isn’t a book that best suits my reading needs however I would recommend it to those that don’t need as much instant gratification....more
I’ve read a couple now of this series and I love Nikki and her team. Each character is wonderfully created. There’s a lot on here about the LGBTQI+ coI’ve read a couple now of this series and I love Nikki and her team. Each character is wonderfully created. There’s a lot on here about the LGBTQI+ community and the fear of coming out. It’s not something I’ve had to deal with but it feels like it’s been handled sensitively and covers a range of lesbian women’s viewpoint (just do it, fear of losing job etc).
There’s a few really good twists especially around the killer and motives. I loved how it was all resolved although with a bit of sadness around it too (no spoilers
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I’ve read a couple now of this series and I love Nikki and her team. Each character is wonderfully created. There’s a lot on here about the LGBTQI+ community and the fear of coming out. It’s not something I’ve had to deal with but it feels like it’s been handled sensitively and covers a range of lesbian women’s viewpoint (just do it, fear of losing job etc).
There’s a few really good twists especially around the killer and motives. I loved how it was all resolved although with a bit of sadness around it too (no spoilers...more
There are many, many books on Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I and I've read many of them so the question for me going into this was would it oThere are many, many books on Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I and I've read many of them so the question for me going into this was would it offer me anything different? And the answer is not really.
The title is a bit misleading as there's no real mention of the accusations of witchery beyond a few throwaway lines. Indeed apart from the odd potential ghostly sighting where Elizabeth feels her mothers presence she's not really a big aprt of this book at all. Not enough to warrant the title.
What you do get is the beginnings of an interesting story of the relationship between Elizabeth and her lady in waiting Kat which with a bit more to it would have been more original than a story that has been repeated many times. But at only 250 pages there's not enough space to cover any part of the life of a woman that played such huge part in our history.
As an overview of the first 2 decades of this woman's life it's not a bad little book and would probably make a good beach read as it doesn't tax the brain and is small enough for the suitcase but it doesn't offer anything new or delve deep enough to warrant more than that
Free ARC from netgalley
Merged review:
There are many, many books on Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I and I've read many of them so the question for me going into this was would it offer me anything different? And the answer is not really.
The title is a bit misleading as there's no real mention of the accusations of witchery beyond a few throwaway lines. Indeed apart from the odd potential ghostly sighting where Elizabeth feels her mothers presence she's not really a big aprt of this book at all. Not enough to warrant the title.
What you do get is the beginnings of an interesting story of the relationship between Elizabeth and her lady in waiting Kat which with a bit more to it would have been more original than a story that has been repeated many times. But at only 250 pages there's not enough space to cover any part of the life of a woman that played such huge part in our history.
As an overview of the first 2 decades of this woman's life it's not a bad little book and would probably make a good beach read as it doesn't tax the brain and is small enough for the suitcase but it doesn't offer anything new or delve deep enough to warrant more than that
My son is an adult now and I have no grand kids but I love crafts and I'm always up for some inspiration so thought I'd have a look through this. TherMy son is an adult now and I have no grand kids but I love crafts and I'm always up for some inspiration so thought I'd have a look through this. There are 40 fun projects to do with your kids here. Most of these can be done in little time and use household items that most of us already have lying around. It's a fun book, colourful and would make a great little book for a present or to pass the time in the current lockdown climate.
Merged review:
My son is an adult now and I have no grand kids but I love crafts and I'm always up for some inspiration so thought I'd have a look through this. There are 40 fun projects to do with your kids here. Most of these can be done in little time and use household items that most of us already have lying around. It's a fun book, colourful and would make a great little book for a present or to pass the time in the current lockdown climate....more
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