children – Book Dust Magic

Book Review: Something in the Heir by Suzanne Enoch @STMRomance #BookLovers #HistoricalRomance

Something in the Heir by Suzanne Enoch book cover US edition

GIFTED / Today I decided to talk about a book that I have finished recently. It is a historical romance with book-to-lovers and marriage of convenience tropes.

Something in the Heir was published on September 20th 2022 by St. Martin Griffin’s and it has 352 pages. I want to thank publicist Sara from St. Martin Press for inviting me to read and review this book via Netgalley.

About the book:

FROM GOODREADS /

Emmeline and William Pershing have enjoyed a perfectly convenient marriage for eight years. Their relationship is a seamless blend of their talents and goals. They’ve settled into separate, well-ordered lives beneath the same roof, and are content to stay that way—or so Emmeline thinks. And if William has secretly longed for a bit more from the woman he adores, he’s managed to be content with her supreme skills as a hostess and planner, which has helped him advance his career.

Then when Emmeline’s grandfather, the reclusive Duke of Welshire, summons them both for his birthday celebration and demands they bring their two little angelic children, William is stunned to discover that his very proper wife invented not one, but two heirs to fulfill the agreement for living at Winnover. But surely if Emmeline and William team up and borrow two cherubs to call their own, what could go wrong? Enter George, age 8, and Rose, 5—the two most unruly orphans in Britain.

As the insanity unfolds, their careful, professional arrangement takes some surprisingly intimate turns as well. Perhaps it takes a bit of madness to create the perfect happily ever after.

Review:

Not long after I read Never Rescue a Rogue by Virginia Heath I found myself craving for more historical romance (and that crave is still active) so Something in the Heir came to my life in just about the right time.

Suzanne Enoch is pretty popular in my country and now when I finished her book I can see why. Her writing style is witty and I can imagine myself grabbing her work when I need something to make me feel better.

However, although I enjoyed author’s writing style, the story she created this time around didn’t win my heart.
I did enjoy it to some degree, but I signed up for a romance, and in reality I got a family comedy with somewhat shallow protagonists.

The story has tropes that are popular in romance books: marriage of convenience and friends-to-lovers, but the reason I simply reject to call this a romance are children who took the spot from main characters, their chemistry and everything in between.

This story was more about orphan children coming to lives of our two main characters (for a reason that can put a bad taste in readers mouths I am sure) and them winning the hearts of said protagonists than about Emma and Will‘s path to find love with each other.
I mean, there was not even one scene where the reader would witness the chemistry between them or root for them.
It was all predictable in a way, which I don’t mind, but I wish I was swept away by at least one or two moments of love in this story.

So overall, this book was fun but it read like historical fiction because it lacked when it comes to romance.

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.

My favourite festive read of 2019… so far: One Christmas Star by Mandy Baggot (Book Review) #Christmas #OneChristmasStar #BookLovers #festive

GIFTED / I am so happy to talk about one book I read in October, that happened to be my favourite read of that month: One Christmas Star.
I really enjoyed spending time between pages of this festive novel and I hope my words will make you consider to give it a try too.
One Christmas Star was published on September 12th by Aria, and it has 464 pages.
I have read an eARC I received via Netgalley in an exchange for an honest review, and I want to thank Aria for approving my review request.

About the book:

FROM GOODREADS / Emily Parker is set to have the worst Christmas ever!

Her flatmate’s moved out, she’s closed her heart to love and she’s been put in charge of the school original Christmas show – with zero musical ability.

Disgraced superstar, Ray Stone is in desperate need of a quick PR turnaround. Waking up from a drunken stupor to a class of ten-year-olds snapping pics and Emily looking at him was not what he had in mind.

Ray needs Emily’s help to delete the photos, and she needs his with the show. As they learn to work together they may just open their hearts to more than a second chance…

Review:

HoHoHo readathon is coming around and I was really looking forward to read all my festive reads I got for review this year.
However, even though my original plan was to open the readathon with One Christmas Star I just couldn’t wait any longer and I had to read it.
And the best thing about my decision is that this festive novel got me out of my reading slump that lasted almost a whole month.

Ohh, if only I knew this would be the case!
I would have read it even sooner, closer to it’s releasing date.
However, better late then ever, and in my humble opinion, it is not to late to convince you to pick One Christmas Star this year when you’re in the mood for something light hearted and festive…

I love Mandy Baggot’s work for years now. Her Christmas stories are how I discovered her. Her book One Christmas in Paris still brings smile to my face when I think about it, and her novel One New York Christmas is the reason why I decided not to miss Baggot’s books any more.
Now after finishing One Christmas Star, I can say there won’t be Christmas season without at least one Mandy Baggot book in my tbr!

I just enjoyed spending my time with all the characters Mandy Baggot created. I love how realistic they were, and I didn’t click with everyone right away. For example, at first I couldn’t stand Ray, but as the story progressed and we got to know him more, I really started to connect with him.

Our main character is Emily who is a teacher. Being a teacher, she spend lots of her time with children, and I phrase the author for giving the children their own personalities and voices, instead of using them just to fill the space, as some authors tend to do.

The book is written in third person. It has 464 pages and to be honest, I was little afraid it would drag and I wouldn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to, but I flew through this book like it had 300 pages.
I guess we can say the writing style plays big part in that, but also the lyrics the author filled the pages with.

In case you didn’t know, Mandy Baggot is also passionate about music, and her love for that art spilled onto pages, in some way.

I also want to stress out that the book talks about serious topic – alcoholism in a very tasteful way, and in my case it wasn’t triggering, but of course, I can only speak from my own experience, can’t talk for everyone.

After finishing One Christmas Star I can confirm that Mandy Baggot is now one of my favourite authors.
Since I don’t have many, when I proclaim someone as my fav, it is a big deal to me!

I want to finish this review with compliments to cover designer. This is one of the prettiest festive covers I’ve seen this year.

I would recommend One Christmas Star to lovers of festive chick lits and Hallmark movies, but also to everyone who’d like to read something heart warming this year to wake up the Christmas Spirit.