The underlying story of this is fine - a bit of a rom-com, a bit of our heroine saving the local theatre from closure, a bit of Christmas fun and games. But I don’t know that the characters held up their end of the bargain. The sister, Cleo, was hideous to her sister and took any opportunity to criticise, whilst our main character Sam(antha) was an odd creature, pretty judgmental herself and very buttoned-up. I did like the relationship with her and Jimmy though, it progressed nicely. This was a freebie, I think, so nothing wasted, but not a favourite.

This was a much heavier book than I was expecting - and somehow, despite starting with two attempted suicides, it just seems to get darker and darker as the story goes on. Poor Christine seems to be surrounded by people determined to kill themselves, and takes it all upon herself to fix everyone. It was a good read, and I liked the bits with Christine’s family - they were a lot of fun and I would have liked to have more of those - but otherwise it was just left me feeling quite down.

I bought this, obviously, because of the submarine connection - submarines have fascinated me for a long time now, that claustrophobic and tense bullet of steel travelling under the sea to either cause chaos or mitigate the threat of others. The book was actually about leadership, with the author using examples from his time as captain of a poorly-performing submarine and how he turned things around. It’s about a new model of leadership, giving control to the people and guiding in as hands-off a way as possible. It’s very readable, not too preachy, and I think I learned a thing or two along the way! Plus submarines!

I’ve still got mixed feelings about these sequel/prequel Detective Frost books, written to follow the six original R. D. Wingfield novels. They don’t quite have the same feel to them, but it’s nice to dip into this world every now and then. There was a lot more personal stuff in this one, as it kicks off with the funeral of Frost’s wife, and deals with a lot of the fallout from that. Also his colleagues are having their own issues… I was confused about Simms, because there was that prequel problem of it not fitting with what I know from the original series… but that was resolved quite quickly, so no complaints.

I read the first book in this series a while back and dipped into the second one. It’s a good mystery, very easy to read and race through, but there’s quite a lot of repetition. Our heroes will find something out and then spend a good amount of time repeating it to their bosses or colleagues, to make sure everyone’s on the same page. I just wanted to find out whodunit! Overall good though, and I’ll seek out the next one.

I used to read this blog religiously, and I’ve had the related book in my to-read pile for quite a while. It was so lovely to revisit the illustrations that I knew so well, but also to read the deeper stories behind them. Some of them were fun - the goose infiltrating the kitchen and taking over the house - but some of them were more serious - investigating what makes a person who they are, or dealing with depressions. Ultimately it’s a unique way of telling stories about your life, and I really enjoyed it.

This is a good memoir about an unlikely adventure managing one of the highest pubs in the country, not just highest in fact but also most remote. It sounds like a complete nightmare to me, but Neil and Sue grab the challenge by the horns and absolutely smash it. The book tells of life at the pub, of the variety of different characters that frequent the pub, and of the rambling moors and nature that surrounds such a wind-swept and remote area.

This is such a subtle, calm, slice of life style book - a series of letters that detail the mundanity of real life. Although it’s not quite real life, this is still high art London with people that can afford nannies and have Alan Bennett as a neighbour. But still, the best part of the book is the snippets of conversation between Nina and the family she has become a part of - the boys, the sarcastic mother, the intellectual neighbour, and her future husband. It’s nice to see her evolving to become a student, too, whilst still keeping strong bonds with the family.

I’ve had this book for such a long time tucked away in my Apple Books library and suddenly had a desire to read it. The story follows two points of view, two friends finding their way whilst growing up on the island of Guernsey. It details family issues, love lives, school troubles, and lots more as Renée and Flo at first don’t like each other but gradually find out they are destined to be firm friends.

I actually thought the first few chapters were good - really feeling how the heart had been ripped out of the family and how the new visitor was making a difference. But the final twist sort of lost me a bit. It worked in the context of the story but I didn’t enjoy the ending as much as I’d hoped. Still, only a short read, nothing lost.