book reviews – Book Dust Magic

In January I read this Christmas novel: Snowed In by Catherine Walsh #Christmas #Ireland #romance

My book review for a holiday romance Snowed In by Catherine Walsh.

After the longest pause from blogging, with new year I decided to apply new rules on my little corner of the internet, so I am posting reviews of books I read one moth after I finished the.
In other words, books I read in January will be live in Fabruary. Also, posts will be scheduled for days that are part of the weekend. That way, I won’t stress myself and now when I finally found the way to love the reading the way I did before I started reviewing books, I think I found the way to bring you my reviews in a way that won’t put the pressure on me.
Also, I decided to read only book I want to read in a moment (in other words, I don’t receive review copies anymore).

It is my pleasure to open the season with a book I loved the most this festive season (I didn’t have much luck or will this year when it comes to holidays…

Snowed In was published on November 1st 2023 and it has 384 pages.
It is the second book in the series called Fitzpatrick Christmas.

About the book:

FROM GOODREADS /

Megan is dreading going home for the holidays. She’s the village pariah, the she-devil who left local golden boy Isaac at the altar four years ago and ran away to the big city. She could really do without the drama. Particularly as he’s engaged again, and she’s just been dumped for the fourth time this year.

Christian’s fed up of being on his own every Christmas. He doesn’t mind being alone , but he hates his family’s sad eyes and soft tones as they sit around coupled up. Because he’s actually, totally, fine.

So when Megan literally bumps into Christian in a Dublin pub, they come up with a pact to see them through the holiday season. They’re going to be the very best fake dates for each other, ever .

Rules are drawn up, a contract is signed on a wine-stained napkin. They will sit through each other’s family gatherings and be outrageously in love until freed from their annual obligations. After all, it’s only for a few weeks.

But with everyone home for the holidays, two big families to deal with alongside old friends, old flames and old feelings, things are bound to get messy. And when a snowed-in cabin and a little Christmas magic are added to the mix, anything could happen…

A swoonworthy and utterly gorgeous romantic comedy that will make you laugh out loud and fall completely in love. Fans of Emily Henry, Sophie Kinsella and Abby Jimenez won’t be able to put this down!

Review:

This holiday season some kind of weird reading slump caught me and I only read 3 festive romances of whom I didn’t particularly like any. So basically, maybe the fact that the books I grabbed were more boring than romantic or funny, my mind decided to go for horrors and thrillers (and I have to stress out I read only a few of them too, as I was in some weird reading slump).

However, the last book I decided to read, the book I decided to close this weak festive season with made up for all those dull stories I read before, and I had a blast reading Megan and Christian’s story.

First of all, I immediately clicked with Catherine Walsh’s writing. It was simple, attention grabbing ,easy to fly through and what I appreciate the most, it was fun.

Reading Walsh’s words felt like having a coffee time with my friend, catching up with all the news in her life. It was a loooooong time since I enjoyed the book in such a comfortable way, so it is not a surprise that I finished the novel in only 2 days (in case you didn’t know, I am a slow reader and if I finish a book in 5 days I tap myself on the back congratulating for such a fast job done).

This is the second book in the series and while it can be read as standalone, it also is continuation on the first book, Holiday romance, as we do get updates on Molly and Andrew, who are main characters of that story. Because updates are not just tell and glimpse, but actual part of the plot, I suggest you all to read the books in Fitzpatrick Christmas in order. I didn’t do it, but I will definitely read Holiday Romance soon.

I got attached to these characters, so having another book with them in it makes me happy.

I enjoyed Snowed in, and loved, loved the characters, but the only thing that took me time to accept was how Megan was portrait as some kind of victim when in reality she was the one who ran away from her wedding, embarrassing her then fiance in front of everyone. With time I accepted her reasons, but still I wasn’t a fan how her ex was portrait as a bad guy.

There are some steamy scenes, but only few, which was just the right dose if anyone asks me.

Overall, this was the best holiday romance I read this year. It was like a hot chocolate on a snowy day and I will definitely read the other book in this series.

The one of huge importance: And the Stars Were Burning Brightly by Danielle Jawando #booklovers #bullying #fiction

GIFTED / Today I want to talk about one book that I read back in February, but haven’t reviewed it until now. It is, in my opinion, one very important book that talks about bullying and where it can lead if we close our eyes.

I received And the Stars Were Burning Brightly via Netgalley, and I want to say thank you to publisher Simon & Schuster UK for providing me a copy.

This novel was published on March 5th 2020 and it has 368 pages.

About the book:

FROM GOODREADS / An emotionally rich and current story of suicide, mental health, bullying, grief and growing up around social media.

When fifteen-year-old Nathan discovers that his older brother Al has taken his own life, his whole world is torn apart.
Al was special.
Al was talented.
Al was full of passion and light…so why did he do it?
Convinced that his brother was in trouble, Nathan begins to retrace his footsteps. And along the way, he meets Megan. Al’s former classmate, who burns with the same fire and hope, who is determined to keep Al’s memory alive. But when Nathan learns the horrifying truth behind his brother’s suicide, one question remains – how do you survive, when you’re growing up in the age of social media?

Review:

And the Stars Were Burning Bright is such a wonderful, heart wrenching story with important topic (bullying) more people should talk about.

It explores the dark side of human beings and the ways to recover from loss.

I have to admit, I didn’t know about And The Stars Were Burning Brightly before it was READ NOW on Netgalley, but as I noticed it, and the premise sounded interesting to me, I couldn’t help myself. I had to read it.

And I am so glad I did give it a shot. I read it few months before it’s publication, but because of technical difficulties I wasn’t able to review it before (aka I postponed it because my computer broke).

The story follows two main characters: Nathan (who’s brother Al killed himself) and Megan (who was friends with Al but kept that friendship secret).
As they lost the one they loved, their lives intertwined.

The story is written in somewhat unique way.
It has two POVs written in first person: Nat’s and Meg’s, but every chapter starts with Al’s thoughts, that often includes space and stars, but also life.
I am grateful for Al’s parts.
However, I have to admit that Meg and Nathan sounded too similar at times.

This is emotional story, which is understandable because it covers serious topic, so be aware that it could make you sad.

I would recommend this book, and I would like to read more novels with the same theme because bullying and suicide is something we should all be more aware about.

Two non-fiction reviews: Why We Sleep and Let them Eat Dirt #nonfiction #sleeping #immunity #books

Gifted / Today I bring you two reviews for non-fiction books I read recently.

They are both with themes I am highly interested in, so I requested them via Netgalley. I want to thank publishers for providing me copies.

Also, I want to mention that I don’t rate non-fiction books, so these are just my thoughts.

Why We Sleep

Isn’t it ironic that I read this book about importance of sleep while sleep deprived?
That’s just how it is when you have to take care of new born baby – you don’t have much time for anything, including sleep. It is also the reason why it took me 19 days to finish this 360
pages long book – reading became luxury for me (let’s hope that will change for better soon).

Like the author has mentioned at the very beginning of this non-fiction, you can read Why We Sleep as a whole, or each part of it separately.
I read every word, including acknowledges (like I always do) and, to me, the most interesting part was the third one, which talks about REM seep and dreams.
I always knew dreams were important, and having read about it makes me appreciate them even more.

I also want to stress out how surprised I was to learn how sleep deprivation takes it’s toll on society.

I wish more people would be educated about importance of sleeping, because in our society time we spend on sleep is looked as time that we could use better, when in reality it is the time we spend well.
Because of that reason, I wish more people would read this book.

Let Them Eat Dirt

I had this non-fiction book since it first came out, but somehow never got around it.
Now when I finally gave it a chance, I am glad I read it at this point of my life, when I’m a mum to a newborn and can learn so much about developing his immunity.

I think this book gives valuable informations and advices, and it is also written in interesting way which makes it easy for everyone to understand what the authors wanted to say.
It is also full of examples which makes it even more easy to understand.

I would recommend it to parents of little children and newborns, and to parents to be.

Two Short Book Reviews: My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century and Someone Else’s Summer

Last month I wrote two short book reviews on my blog, for books I have previously read but never reviewed here on my blog. Since I am pretty satisfied by how they turned out, I decided to do it once again, for books that I have read while I was in a reviewing slump.

My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris

My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century is a ya time-travel novel that will make you laugh more then few times while reading.
This is just like you could imagine from the title, a sweet, fluffy story that could even make you swoon (just) a little bit (I mean, Lorenzo is swoon worthy all the way!).

I remember how confused I was at the very beginning, because our main protagonist Cat travels time in a heartbeat, and it feels like she isn’t even freaked out about it. I mean, not at all!
I was confused myself but she had no problem figuring out what was hapening or fitting in.

The story is silly at times and the first half was bit boring (sometimes), but the second half is really intense and it makes you read more and faster. In other words, it compensates the first half.

This is a ya, but I would like to note that it would probably be more appealing to the younger audience (between 13-16 years old teens).

I had fun reading this book and would recommend it to those who look for some fluffy entertainment in their reads.

Someone Else’s Summer by Rachel Bateman

First of all, how cool the author’s surname is?! It’s almost like Batman, but with E in between.
And now… let’s get into the book…

This book is perfect for summer (ok, I know I’m late, but you can always read it on a sunny day, even if it’s not summer, or maybe save it for next year?), and it’s perfect combination of serious and emotional with lovely and swoon worthy.

The story follows Anna who lost her sister Storm. One day she finds her sister’s bucket list, and along with Storm’s best friend Cameron she spends the summer trying to cross of as many things from the list as she can.

This novel is an emotional roller coaster that I couldn’t put down, and I understand why many people say it’s their favorite.

Sunday Post (Weekly Wrap Up Jan. 23rd – 29th)

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Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

This meme was created for bloggers to spotlight posts they published in the week, as well as to talk about what they plan to write in the week that’s coming.

Sunday post is also great opportunity to showcase books we got in the week behind us.

It has been forever since the last time I posted Weekly Wrap Up.
The thing is, I was on “blogging vacation” for a very long time, and got back to blogging last week, but I only posted few posts, so I didn’t feel like Weekly Wrap Up was neccessary.

This week, however, I posted more, so I decided to get back to posting on Sundays.

It’s really great to be back and I am really looking forward to blog in 2017.
I am already planning my blogging schedule and I can say I really missed being a part of blogosphere.

Last week on Book Dust Magic:

Tuesday: I took a part in blog tour for The Secret Life of Lucy Lovecake and reviewed it.

Thursday: I reviewed My Sweet Revenge by Jane Fallon.

Saturday: I reviewed The Good Girlfriend’s Guide to Getting Even by Anna Bell.

Next week on Book Dust Magic:

Upcoming reviews:

movies:

books:

I also plan to talk about my reading/blogging plan for 2017.

Book Haul:

For review:

I was approved for review for this comic book via Netgalley. I will read it on my computer.

Current giveaways on Book Dust Magic:

There is currently one giveaway active. Best of 2016 in which you can win one book of choice from my list of favorites.

Currently Reading:

As soon as I write this post, I plan to start Annabel Lee. I expect to be scared!

That is it!
Let me know what’s been going on with you, what you’ve been reading or watching this week and feel free to leave your links so I can visit you.
Have a lovely Sunday!