This post should be called ABC…

A is for Animals (specifically cows!)

B is for Books/ Bloggers

C is for Cakes…. all will be revealed 😯😁😂

Welcome to my weekly 2 week update. I have had time off work over the past two weeks and I had a few days up in Lincolnshire to visit my parents. I would like to say a huge and massive thank you to everyone who shared the Blog Tour reviews that I posted. When I am off work I always take a break from Social Media, usually I don’t take on Blog Tours when I have a holiday, but this time it went pear shaped!

I had a long journey to Lincolnshire, usually 7 ish hours with at least 2 sometimes three stops for a coffee pit stop this time there a few delays on my journey and it led to just over 8 hours travelling! In fact the delay in the journey started before I had got 5 miles up the road from leaving home… I had to wait for cows to cross the road after being milked!🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮 🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮 yes there was quite a few of them! Oh the joys of living in the countryside never ends 😂 Further on in my journey there were several tailbacks due to traffic and also road works on the motorway oh and hay bales! Yes Hay bales!!!

You would have thought that once I was off the motorway that things would be a little better as there is less traffic… No! It was not meant to be! As I left the motorway I was then caught behind a car transporter that was slower than a snail, OK maybe I exaggerate but it felt like that, but Oh I do digress! For 20 ish miles I followed that blasted thing! But I got there in one piece and so that was good.

My route up the motorway passes by the fabulous Farm shop at Gloucester Services, I always go and drool over their cakes, not literally drool I might add as that would be disgusting. This time however I decided to buy a couple of cakes or 4 to take up and share with Mum and Dad.

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Just look at the size of that meringue! I did make a visit on the way home as well, thought I had better get the OH a cake or two OK THREE! Unfortunately they got eaten before I remembered to take a photo 😁 and they were just as yummy!

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While away Me and Mum went to the Book Blogger & Author Meet up at the North Stafford Hotel in Stoke. The 2 hour journey there and back was so worth it and we both loved it. For me it was a chance to finally meet some fellow Book Bloggers and also meet some Authors. It also meant I purchased some more books for my kindle when I got home 🙂 It was a small meet up and for me it was ideal as I didn’t feel overwhelmed, even so I still didn’t get to chat to everyone that was there. I loved this event and loved chatting to those I did get to meet, Mum loved it as well and it led to a lot more excited chatter on the drive back home again.

If you have never been to one of these and you are able, I definitely recommend going to one. It is great to be able to meet face to face rather than across a screen. It is so good to be able to chat to like minded people and talk all things bookish as well as other stuff as well.

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We all had our own name tags and it was quite amusing that my Mum’s one said “Yvonne’s Mum” as I had forgotten to mention my Mum’s name when I said we were both going! 😉

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I suppose I should let you know what books I have read over the past couple of weeks.

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I read…

All Summer With You by Beth Good

A heartwarming and really interesting book that is set in Cornwall. A romance that had a few surprises up it’s sleeve. I really enjoyed all things Cornish in this story as the author wove superstition, the Cornish language and also Cornish tales of old into this story.

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The Reunion by Guillame Musso

This was quite a complex read, by that I mean that there was quite a lot going on in it and it took a bit more concentration on my part. A story that is intriguing and dark with some very surprising turns of events. This is the first time I have read anything by this author and I am looking forward to reading more.

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Blackpool’s Angel by Maggie Mason

I love this author and she also writes as Mary Wood. This is a historical fiction that is the first in a planned trilogy and I am so excited about it. THis was read as part of the Blog Tour and my post will be later this week.

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Sleep by C.L. Taylor

OMG I love Cally Taylor’s books, though I have not read them all…yet! This latest one is so dark and mysterious and I loved it. Set on a remote Scottish Island gave it the most amazing isolated feel. Suspicions are rife and when the characters all seem to have a secret they want to hide then guilt is everywhere! Brilliant psychological thriller and so addictive.

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Darkest Hour by Rachel Churcher

Darkest Hour is the 3rd book in this series. It is based around a post Brexit Britain. It is aimed at Young Adult/Teen Readers and I love it. It has roots that are steeped in corruption, propaganda and has a strong Big Brother vibe to it. A fabulous dystopian thriller and I cannot wait to read the next one and the next one! This is another Blog Tour book and I have not shared the cover as it is not up on Goodreads or Amazon yet!

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Reach For A Star by Kathryn Freeman

This is not the first time I have read a book by this author and her latest book is fabulous. It is a romance that I could not put down, I read it in a single evening! I found it had many suprising turns and it kept me on my toes right to the very end. Keep an eye out for the Blog Tour for this book

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Notting Hill In The Snow by Jules Wake

This is a wonderful, heartwarming festive fiction read and was ideal for reading while snuggling under a blanket with a big old mugs of coffee close by, I do admit the coffees did go cold because I forgot about it several times as I was so engrossed in the book! Another Blog Tour book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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Coming Home to Winter Island by Jo Thomas

I have read a couple of books by this author and she is an author I will automatically read even though I have only read two of her books! This is such an addictive read. Setting is wonderful, characters are fabulous and the story-line is fabulous. This is the last of my Blog Tour books for October!

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Christmas at Ladywell by Nicola Slade

This is a novella and was ideal for a quick read, it is a mix of past and present that combines old family traditions and a little mystery. A lovely read and is for an upcoming Blog Tour.

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While I was driving to and from Lincolnshire and Cornwall I had my trusted Audible app to keep me company. I downloaded The Chronicles Of Narnia and I am just finishing up listening to it.

The Complete Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis BBC4 Full Cast Production

I really enjoy audio-books and I do seem to have fits and starts with them, sometimes weeks go by and I am constantly listening to them and then suddenly I go weeks without one on the go. But when I have a long car journey by myself I love to have one playing in the background. I like to choose a story I know and I also like a full cast production. This version is fabulous and absolutely brilliant and it has all of the books – The Magicians Nephew, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, The Horse and His Boy, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair and The Last Battle. The beauty of this collection is that as soon as one book finishes then the next automatically starts.

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My Next Read is…

Revolution by Piet Hein Wokke

I have not yet started this one, here is the synopsis for it…

Escape to the Middle East in this thrilling tale about Khalid, Abdullah and Jalal – young men who try to shape the kingdom of Beledar.

While the nearest battlefields of WWII are hundreds of miles of away, on the streets of Mayasin, the capital of Beledar, Abdullah struggles to survive. In a remote village, Khalid sets out in search of his father, and must face the brutal laws of the desert.

Jalal, the young king, wants to break through nepotism and corruption, but in a conservative, Islamic country, change doesn’t come easy. That the western world preys on his country’s oil fields, doesn’t make his life any easier either.

In this exciting book, Wokke expertly and poignantly shows the roots of modern conflicts in the Middle East, through the people and ideas that inhabit it. 

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Well that’s me all done, thanks for stopping by and looking at my post.

Happy Reading folks 🙂 xx