"A smutty horror-comedy featuring unbridled narcissism, Vampires at Sea is a hilarious snack!"

I think this book suffers from false advertising. It's not smutty - although there is lots of sex. It's not horror - passengers vanish, but the narcissistic MC never cares about this and it's not investigated. It's not funny - it's poking fun at people by looking down at/insulting them.

#NetGalley #ARC #MountARC

A group of librarians, with secrets and trauma in their backstories, are sure that if they don't solve the murders of two newish patrons, they might be held responsible, or worse their secrets might be revealed.

I liked especially how the four protagonists learn to trust and lean on each other.

Current #audiobook read for @DeweysReadathon

Non-bookish content

@Jari-chan - the boo-bees, seven weeks old on Monday. Still so happy I got them.

Haunted house, crazy family with even weirder family secrets, MC with ADHD, M/M romance

#BookMail

Preordered, officially published last week and I'm surprised it's here already. My unreliable bookshop estimated it to be delivered in December. 🙄🙄

I guess this time my @DeweysReadathon is going to be packed with re-reads.

Okay, I didn't think it was Friday, I only thought it was Thursday, but still... I went around wishing people a good weekend 🤦🏻‍♀️

I'm going to go into hiding now. In my book stack fort.

Anyone doing @DeweysReadathon this weekend?

A Christmas-y-ish The Stranger Times novel, do I need to say more?

It's just as weird and funny and bonkers as you probably imagined it to be, and then some.

Published 09 Oct 2025

#NetGalley #ARC #MountARC

Dinosaurs in a small mining town in Wales. The Time Police under lockdown and no communication. Grint turns the local library into a fortress against a dinosaur stampede; thank the God of Time for Librarians. Also, Dr Maxwell, dinosaur expert from St Mary's, is trying her best to help. What could possibly go wrong?

Still love this series and I'm definitely here for the weird characters and their shenanigans.

Another fun romp.

#OokBOokClub

Just a friendly reminder that we'll be reading #Thud next! Dig out your books, put in your library holds, or place your orders! The next Discworld adventure continues on November 8th! Woohoo!

If anyone wants to be tagged/untagged for future posts please let me know! Happy to oblige!

#OokBOokClub-ers, our Discworld adventure continues TODAY with #NightWatch!

Looking forward to our discussion next month!

Happy reading!

#Discworld #SirTerryPratchett #TerryPratchett #PratchettPosse #ReadAlong #BuddyRead #EpicBuddyRead

#OokBOokClub

Hello friends! Open discussion is in the FOLLOWING POST marked as a spoiler. Find the #FifthElephant post & tap "show me" on the spoiler tag to join in the discussion. Join in whenever you can! Today. Tomorrow. Next month! The post will always be up so just tag each other & we'll jump in to discuss with you. Feel free to chat about anything!

#Discworld #SirTerryPratchett #TerryPratchett #PratchettPosse #ReadAlong #BuddyRead

It's here at last!!!!

Pre-ordered and had to wait for ages, it was published in July.

This was not even close to Lights Out.

Flat characters, disjointed story, yet lots of sometimes well-crafted spice.

It read as if the author had some spicy scenes and added a story to connect them.

A Steeping of Blood is the second book in the Blood and Tea duology by Hafsah Faizal. I enjoyed the first book and was happy to receive an early audiobook review copy of the second book. I'm trying to keep this review as spoiler free as possible for anyone who hasn't read the books yet.

#NetGalley #ARC #MountARC

Already published

Low pick

⬇️

#FirstLineFridays

The pink cover was shouting at me to pick it up.

"When the letter arrives, Harriet Lockhart assumes it's another death threat, and leaves it on the mantelpiece with the others, for six days.

Two Gothic novelists with peculiar similarities in their works both decide, independently of each other, to visit a partially collapsed Gothic manor house for inspiration (and also to make sure the other can't steal any ideas). Their pasts and the house's past might nudge them together.

Sapphic Gothic romance - rivals-to-lovers, there are two beds(!), there are a lot of ghosts of the past

#NetGalley #ARC #MountARC (already published)

Cliffhanger ending?! Why?!

September wrap-up

28 books read
1 DNF

The stack of books I brought home from #Gladstones25

Thank you @squirrelbrain and @MicheleinPhilly for being my postboxes across the channel and the big pond.

Thanks @Oryx for the BDWAB book (tagged).

Last impressions from #Gladstones25 😉

@Oryx @TrishB @MicheleinPhilly @scripturient @squirrelbrain @Leniverse @BarbaraBB @rockpools @RaeLovesToRead @jenniferw88

Cows today.

#Gladstonerds #GladstonesLibrary #ReadingRetreat #Gladstones25

@Oryx @TrishB @MicheleinPhilly @scripturient @squirrelbrain @Leniverse @BarbaraBB @rockpools @RaeLovesToRead @jenniferw88

Met my spirit animal this morning.

#Gladstonerds #GladstonesLibrary #ReadingRetreat #Gladstones25

@Oryx @TrishB @MicheleinPhilly @scripturient @Leniverse @BarbaraBB @squirrelbrain @rockpools @RaeLovesToRead @jenniferw88

#FirstLineFridays

'Ah, for Christ's sake...'

Gratuitous picture of my morning walk, which took me in the opposite direction of where @squirrelbrain went.

#Gladstonerds #GladstonesLibrary #ReadingRetreat #Gladstones25

@Oryx @TrishB @MicheleinPhilly @scripturient @Leniverse @BarbaraBB @rockpools @RaeLovesToRead @jenniferw88

Thanks for the socks, @scripturient - perfect for keeping warm in the Reading Rooms.

#Gladstonerds #GladstonesLibrary #ReadingRetreat #Gladstones25

First book of the #ReadingRetreat, #Gladstones25, finished at the airport before departure.

A retelling of Cinderella as a ghost haunting her father's house and serving her step-mother and her daughters. Until she goes to the ball.

Novella #NetGalley #ARC #MountARC

Also pictured: books that @squirrelbrain and @MicheleinPhilly brought vor me. Directionally challenged signs, book cover, carrot cake,
me, in front of the camera

And so it begins.

A weekend with friends, reading and cake and tea.

#ReadingRetreat #Gladstonerds

@Leniverse @squirrelbrain @scripturient @BarbaraBB @TrishB @MicheleinPhilly @RaeLovesToRead @Oryx @rockpools @jenniferw88

Haven't shared my #weekendreads in a while.

Cinder House (ARC) - novella, retelling of Cinderella, but only loosely connected to the fairytale, includes queer lovestory and some spice 🌶️🌶️

City of Stairs (🎧) - it's been on #MountTBR for ages

Ladies in Hating (ARC) - two Gothic novellists w/ a past, w/ current beef, but also w/ chemistry, sapphic 🌶️🌶️🌶️

@rachelsbrittain

Book not in database

#NetGalley #ARC #MountARC #audiobook

Martin, an octogenarian, is convalescing from hip replacement surgery at the local retirement home. He's convinced he used to work as a spy for the British government and is determined to use his skills to solve the murder of another resident of the home. Albie, Martin's next door neighbour, is reluctant to be roped into the operation, he thinks Martin is loosing his marbles, ⬇️

From today's Discworld Emporium's Newsletter:

THE SHEPHERD'S CROWN TURNED 10!
The final Discworld book is now a decade old. All these years later, the understandable reluctance to read it can be felt as strongly now as it did that dreadful year when Terry died, and the Shepherd's Crown was published. For many fans it has remained an unread treasure in order to hold back the end and keep the turtle moving.⬇️

#Discworld #OokBOokClub

My bookshop is not very reliable, but at last one pre-ordered book (strangely the one that was published most recently) has arrived.

It fits very well with the colour of my accent wall.

My son passed on a lovely (not!!!) cold. Listening to the tagged #audiobook and drinking tea is all I can do at the moment. 😬 I'm grumpy about it, because I would rather get my to-do list done.

History is... propaganda. When the dictator of a small kingdom demands that twelve scholars construct an ancient city and its history from scratch, to justify his 'expansion plans', that's what they do.

A KJ Parker Dark Academia/Historical Fantasy novella, with his usual unnamed narrator that might or might not be unreliable.

Sorry Ms Jackson, but this was utter rubbish!! Especially for your adult mystery debut.

Flat characters, repetitive, and I knew I should have bailed the moment the doctors let the main character leave the hospital about 36 hours after a massive brain injury and emergency brain surgery with "change the bandages daily".

#audiobook narration didn't help the book either. But at 2.5x it was over quickly.

#OokBOokClub

Just a friendly reminder that we'll be reading #NightWatch next! Dig out your books, put in your library holds, or place your orders! The next Discworld adventure continues on October 8th! Woohoo!

If anyone wants to be tagged/untagged for future posts please let me know! Happy to oblige!

#Discworld #SirTerryPratchett #TerryPratchett #PratchettPosse #ReadAlong #BuddyRead #EpicBuddyRead

#OokBOokClub-ers, our Discworld adventure continues TODAY with #TheFifthElephant!

Looking forward to our discussion next month!

#Discworld #SirTerryPratchett #TerryPratchett #PratchettPosse #ReadAlong #BuddyRead #EpicBuddyRead

#OokBOokClub

Hello friends! Open discussion is in the FOLLOWING POST marked as a spoiler. Find the #Jingo post & tap "show me" on the spoiler tag to join in the discussion. Join in whenever you can! Today. Tomorrow. Next month! The post will always be up so just tag each other & we'll jump in to discuss with you. Feel free to chat about anything!

#Discworld #SirTerryPratchett #TerryPratchett #PratchettPosse #ReadAlong #BuddyRead #EpicBuddyRead

August wrap up - since I'm sure I won't finish another book in the next 55 minutes. 😉

39 books read
2 books DNF'd

I liked Cassandra in Reverse, but I really loved this one. I needed tissues, more than once.

Friendship, family, love, grief, betrayal, forgiveness, cats, dogs, neighbours,.... And a magical twist.

Read and reviewed in July #NetGalley #ARC #MountARC

Eleanor and the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel are back on English soil, but that doesn't mean their fight is over. On the contrary, the vampires are conspiring again and are trying to take down the League one member at a time, it seems. Eleanor's mission, given to her by Anima, leads her to uncover a centuries old secret that could mean an end to the vampires influencing humans.
⬇️

#audiobook because my pre-order hasn't arrived yet

Loved the story, the characters, the writing! I'm in awe at all the research that went into this book.

Violet is neurodivergent, extremely book smart, but inexperienced at interacting with people and charmingly blunt. She's a new doctor just out of university and doing her rotation in a hospital. She meets Gus, an anaesthesiologist, on her first nightshift. He's confident, likeable, easy on the eyes, and nice to Violet. Violet could fall for him instantly, but he's still hung up on his ex-fiancée.

⬇️

#NetGalley #ARC #MountARC

I enjoyed spending time with the wonderfully strong women of this series, Taishi, Salminde and Qisami again. And yes, I also enjoyed seeing Jian, the chosen one, continue to struggle with the burden of being the chosen one.

The third book has all the same things I liked about the other instalments in the series: found family, banter, well-crafted fight scenes, and characters to root for.

And now I'll re-read the whole series.

#NetGalley #ARC

Thanks for all the feedback last week, it spurned me on and I've finished all the ribbing. What's left now is the double stitching of the librar card part.

#ShowandTellTuesday #LitsyCrafters @Catsandbooks
#KnittersOfLitsy

Berry crumble. I could have licked the bowl clean.

The tagged zombie #RomCom #audiobook has reached "cringe" level (words for private parts ??‍♀️??‍♀️??‍♀️). I think I'm going to bail.

For anyone who doesn't have the Murderbot Diaries (incl. two short stories) and five of Martha Wells's fantasy novels yet, here's your chance: https://www.humblebundle.com/books/martha-wells-murderbot-and-more-tor-books

#BookMail - book four just arrived. Book three is still missing in my collection. Why did I have to get the US editions?

#LitsyCrafters #ShowandTellTuesday @Catsandbooks

Finished the bottom ribbing and ribbing on one shoulder of my Library Vest. 🎉🎉