winter – Book Dust Magic

Meeting Katherine Arden + Giveaway: #Win a signed copy of The Bear and the Nightingale #Giveaway #Winter #Fantasy #BookLovers

This post is long overdue, but as I already said many times before: better late then never.

Back in April Katherine Arden visited Croatia and had promotion of her Winternight series.
Arden’s books are very popular in my country so having a foreign author promoting her work was a big deal. Naturally, I wanted to go.

I went with my friend Monika who adores Winternight Trilogy (and who introduced me to these books).

It was really interesting to hear Katherine talk about her journey to become published author and how she got ideas for her books, but also how her own life reflected on her writing.
She also talked briefly about her on going middle grade series Small Spaces.

In the end there was book signing where she took some time to chat with everyone who came and thank them.

It was a nice experience and I wish I could participate in book events and authors meets and greets more often.
If I lived in UK or US, I definitely would because I feel like there are book signings all the time.

Giveaway

While I was there I couldn’t forget you guys, so I grabbed one extra copy of The Bear and the Nightingale, kindly signed by Katherine Arden.
I want to give back to you guys, who follow my blog genuinely.

This giveaway is international.
You must be 18+ old to enter or have your parent’s permission to enter (because I’ll need to ask you to give me your address so I could send the book to you).
Once chosen, winner will be emailed and will have 48 hours to reply.
NO CHEATING! Cheaters will be disqualified

This giveaway will be open for one week and I will email the winner. You can enter via refflecopter:

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That is it!
Tell me do do you ever go to book signings? If yes, what authors have you met? Who would you like to meet?
Also, have you already read The Bear and the Nightingale?

The one about family… and love: A Perfect Cornish Christmas by Phillipa Ashley #Christmas #WomensFiction #BookLovers #Cornwall

GIFTED / Today I want to talk about one beautiful Christmas novel that I have read some time ago. It was actually my first Christmas read of the year, but I had to wait with my review so I could post it around it’s release day.
A Perfect Cornish Christmas was published yesterday (October 31st 2019) by Avon, and it has 400 pages.
I I have read an eARC I received via Netgalley in an exchange for an honest review.

About the book:

FROM GOODREADS / Christmas in Cornwall is just around the corner…

But after last Christmas revealed a shocking family secret, Scarlett’s hardly feeling merry and bright. All she wants this Christmas is to know who her real father is.
So Scarlett heads to the little Cornish town of Porthmellow, where she believes the truth of her birth is hidden. She just didn’t bargain on being drawn into the Christmas festival preparations – or meeting Jude Penberth, whose charm threatens to complicate life further.
Everything will come to a head at Porthmellow’s Christmas Festival … But can Scarlett have the perfect Christmas this year, or are there more surprises on the way?

Review:

Phillipa Ashley was on my to-be-read list of authors for some time, so I am so glad that A Perfect Cornish Christmas was the first novel by her that I have read, because I really enjoyed it.

If you know me, you know Christmas stories are my absolutely favourite, and I can proudly say that I am happy that I have opened the season with this one.

Going into A Perfect Cornish Christmas I had no idea if it was a standalone or part of the series. It definitely read as a standalone, but then again, I know that Ashley has another book called A Perfect Cornish Summer so I believe they are companion novels (someone should update it to Goodreads, so we’d know!).

This story follows two sisters; Scarlett and Ellie. Since the story centres mostly around Scarlett, I would say she is our main character, but because we do get to follow the story from Ellie’s perspective as well, I’d say she is our second main character.
The story is written in third person.

When it comes to genres, I’d say that A Perfect Cornish Christmas is women’s fiction, or even general fiction with romance in it.
In the first place the story talks about family, and complicated relationships between people. It covers some serious topics that are result of people choices, and how they effect other’s lives.
It also talks about belonging and how it impacts us as beings, how it defines who we really are.

Romance is also part of this book and we get to follow two romance developments, one for each sister.

The third important part of the story, in my opinion, is Christmas itself. The setting, food, snow… basically everything that happens around Christmas time, and in this novel, there is a Christmas festival that takes place and is also nice addition to the fable.

I liked most of the characters, and disliked some that were negative ones.
The only character I simply couldn’t understand was Scarlett and Ellie’s mother. I don’t understand how could she kept quiet about everything even after the truth came to light.
I also had hard time understanding their father and his choice to stay with her in the same house while she was acting that way.

The only downside of the novel is that there are lots of repetitions and I felt like I was reading a 500 pages long book, when in reality it has 400 pages.

Overall, I think A Perfect Cornish Christmas is the one to curl up with during winter, so I recommend it to women’s fiction lovers.

My new favourite romance: We Met in December by Rosie Curtis #WeMetInDecember #Romance #BookLovers #London

GIFTED / Today I want to talk about the book I fell in love with, in hope you will fall in love with it too.
We Met in December was published on September 5th 2019 by Avon Books UK and it has 400 pages.
I got my copy via Netgalley, in an exchange for an honest review.

About the book:

FROM GOODREADS / What if you couldn’t get away from the one who got away?

This December, unlucky-in-love Jess is following her dream and moving to Notting Hill. On the first night in her new house-share she meets Alex, the guy in the room next door. They don’t kiss under the mistletoe, but there’s still a spark that leaves Jess imagining how they might spend the year together — never mind the house rule against dating…

But when Jess returns from her Christmas holiday, she finds Alex has started seeing Emma, who lives on the floor above them. Now Jess faces a year of bumping into the man of her dreams — and, apparently, the woman of his.

Jess is determined to move on and spend the year falling in love with London, not Alex — but what if her heart has other ideas?

Review:

Every time I start a new book I hope it will take me on an adventure that will stay with me long after I finish that last page.
Books that usually do stay are the ones that shake my emotions and have scenes that I remember long time after.
This is why I tend to read women’s fiction and romance so often. There is something about finding a character we, as readers, can emphatize with and root for her/his happy ending.

We Met in December is one of those books that will stay with me, maybe forever.

It was lovely and sweet, but also very realistic.
Without lying, after I turned the last page, I thought to myself “This book is perfection”.

It contains my favourite trope: two people who were meant for each other, finding their way to be with each other.

There are several characters in the book, and I have to admit I liked all of them. Not most of them, but all of them.
The main characters Jess and Alex are narrators of the story, which is written in first person, following their POV.

Side characters were also very realistic and likeable, and even though this is Jess and Alex’ story, I would love to be able to read more about others, maybe in some other books, if Rosie Curtis ever decides to write them.
I would especially like to know more about Rob.

I have read many books that place in London, but I do not remember that any of them captured the beauty of this magnificent city so wonderfully.
It was like London was another character in the book, and it was so easy to imagine all the places Jess and Alex visited while he was showing her around.

To some point, We Met in December reminds me of my favourite book Anna and the French Kiss, only for adults, set in London and without (emotional) cheating part.

This book talks about love, but it also talks about finding your place, embracing adulthood and doing what your heart is telling you to do with your life.

In the end, I just want to praise book cover designs. The UK is simple and beautiful (and it kind of reminds me of the cover of One Day in December) and the US is really cute and heartwarming (I like the US one a bit better).

Rosie Curtis wrote We Met in December for the first time under this pen name, but she has already published several novels under name Rachael Lucas.
I haven’t read anything she has written before, but now I want to.

We Met in December is one of the sweetest, cutest, loveliest romances that I have read and a new favourite of mine, so I highly recommend it to everyone!

Book Review: A Winter Beneath the Stars by Jo Thomas #BookReview #WomensFiction #BookLovers #Winter #Sweden #AWinterBeneathTheStars

Title: A Winter Beneath the Stars

Author: Jo Thomas

Publisher: Headline Review

Date: November 29th, 2018

Pages: 368

Format: Physical ARC

Source: from Publisher for a review

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Escape to snowy Sweden in the gorgeous new novel from the author of Late Summer in the Vineyard and Sunset Over the Cherry Orchard. Fans of Jill Mansell and Milly Johnson will love this unforgettable winter story from Jo Thomas.

Halley has been running from her problems for years.

On a courier trip to Tallfors, deep in Swedish Lapland, everything is going to plan. Halley has her bag, with two precious wedding rings inside for delivery… until she doesn’t.

The only way to save the wedding is to team up with mysterious reindeer herder Bjorn, the one person who can lead her across the snowy tundra to be reunited with her bag.

On a journey of a lifetime beneath the stars, with only the reindeer and a bad-tempered stranger for company beside the fire, Halley realises that she will need to confront her past heartaches in order to let the warmth of love in once more…

Review:

If you follow me for a while, you know that year 2018 will be remembered in my reading life as a year I discovered Jo Thomas. So far I read three of her books and loved them all. Sunset Over the Cherry Orchard made me fall in love with Thomas’ writing and made me want to read everything she wrote, while The Olive Branch won my heart completely and is now one of my all time favorite books.

I can’t even tell you how happy I was when I got A Winter Beneath the Stars unsolicited in my mailbox (thanks to wonderful Becky Hunter). I read it immediately because I didn’t want to wait, but I’m writing my review 1,5 months after finishing the book, so please forgive me if it’s not the best one.
The most important thing is that I really, really liked (loved it actually) it and that if you love funny chick lit stories, you will too.

The story follows Halley who has a job to deliver important wedding rings in Sweden. Things get complicated when her bag is switched in the airport, and now she has to find a guy who’s bag she got with hope that the rings are still in the bag and that her job will be successfully completed.

When I say I really, really liked the book, I mean that I loved it, but I wasn’t in love with it. I appreciate the story and it is obvious that the author put so much effort into researching.
However, I feel like I have never clicked with our main character Halley on the level that I’d like, nor did I like our male character Bjorn. Somehow he was dislikeable.

Other than that, Winter Beneath the Stars was really fun to read. I liked getting to know Swedish Lapland and the (few) people who live in that side of the world, as I have never been there nor do I know anyone from there.

Some parts were filled with so much snow and the only thing that was happening was our main characters talking or thinking something to themselves, while sleigh riding and coordinating dogs.
So if I’m being honest, at some point I lose my orientation and forgot for how long we were riding with our characters.

There were two twists or surprises in the story, but I figured them out before they were revealed. I can’t tell you if the reason for that is because the plot was predictable or maybe I would write the story the same way if I was a writer.
Whatever it is, I just want to stress out that I didn’t mind the predictability.

The story is written in first person, from Halley’s POV, but it also has some (small) parts written in third person.

A Winter Beneath the Stars is Jo Thomas’ first winter novel but I hope it won’t be the last, because it brightened my mood when I was reading it, and I am really looking forward to read her other work.
I feel like this author is the one I’ll always like to come back to.

If you’re looking for a light and fun novel to read during winter, look no further: A Winter Beneath the Stars is the one for you!

Winter is Coming Giveaway Hop

winter-is-coming

Welcome to the Winter is Coming Giveaway Hop, hosted by The Mommy Island and The Kids Did It.

In this giveaway I am giving you a chance to win one or more books from The Book Depository, up to 15$.

The giveaway is international as long as TBD ships to your country.

After you enter this giveaway, don’t forget to visit other blogs for more giveaways.

You can enter here:

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DISCLAIMER:

This giveaway is international as long as The Book Depository ships to your country.
You must be 18+ old to enter or have your parent’s permission to enter (because I’ll need to ask you to give me your adress so I could send the book to you).
I am not responsible for the shipment, but am responsible to order a book on time (The Book Depository is responsible to deliver you a book on time and in a good condition).
Once chosen, winner will be emailed and will have 48 hours to reply, otherwise another person will be chosen as a winner
NO CHEATING! Cheaters will be disqualified

Good Luck!

Find other blogs hereand hop around:

Book Review: One Christmas in Paris by Mandy Baggot

one-christmas-in-paris

Title: One Christmas in Paris

Author: Mandy Baggot

Publisher: Bookouture

Date: October 7th, 2016

Pages: 394

Format: eARC

Source: from Publisher for a review

Synopsis (from Goodreads): They say Paris is the City of Love, so bring your je ne sais quoiand don’t forget the mistletoe!

Ava and her best friend Debs arrive in Paris just as the snow starts to fall. The Eiffel Tower glitters gold and the scent of spiced wine is all around, but all Ava can think about is Leo, her no-good, cheating ex.

Debs is on a mission to make Ava smile again, and as they tour the Christmas markets, watch lamplight glittering on the river Seine, and eat their body weight in pain-au-chocolat, Ava remembers there’s more to life than men … Until they cross paths with handsome, mysterious photographer Julien with his French accent and hazelnut eyes that seem to see right inside her.

Ava can’t ignore the intense chemistry between them, but her fingers have been burned before and she can’t forget it, especially when her ex, Leo, starts texting again. Can Ava really trust Julien – and what exactly is his secret?

Will Ava go home with a broken heart, or will she find true love amongst the cobbled streets of Paris?

Join Ava and Julien in the most romantic city in the world this Christmas, as they discover the importance of being true to themselves, and learn how to follow their hearts.

vrpca

Review:

When it comes to books, there’s nothing I like more then to read them on cold days, with a cup of chocolate coffee in my hand, while the Chirstmas (or Disney piano) music is playing.
And you know what kind of books I love to read the most?
Festive reads! They are my favorite, and I could read them all year long.

Now when the Christmas is officially approaching, Christmas books have overtaken my reading schedule.
I have already read more then few books that take part during winter, but One Christmas In Paris is the best festive read I had this year so far.

The story follows a woman called Ava. Her life has not been easy lately. She broke up with her boyfriend, lost her job and fights with her mom who’s dream is for Ava to be a supermodel.
When her best friend Debs invites her to spend Christmas in Paris with her, Ava accepts and they start their wintery adventure.

The story is written in third person and it follows Ava’s perspective, but it also follows Julien, the guy who Ava meets in Paris.

The writing style is really good. At first it took some time for me to get used to it, but after 50 first pages, I was totally invested in the story.

I feel like I have to mention that at the very beginning I found myself resented by some things that characters said.
At one point, there was an argument in which I felt like Ava was shaming rich people for being rich, but the rich guy responded by shaming Ava’s look with sentence (this in not a quote but I’ll do my best to write it as I remember) „By your hair I can tell you are probably interestied in girls.“, but he said it in a mean way, and I thought to myself „What is this, LGBT shaming?“
As it turned out, Ava actually wanted to look like that, but I was a bit put off with those comments.
I have to stress out it was mentioned only that one time, so I decided not to hold on to it.

The story was good, but the setting in amazing.
I love how Paris was present the whole time. By reading the story, the reader explores the city of lights along with characters and there’s no way to forget where the story is taking place.

I happened to be in Paris during Christmas vacation few years ago, so I had no problem imagining streets of that wonderful city during winter, as I saw it mayself and, in my opinion, Mandy Baggot did an astonishing job describing it.

If you’re looking for a festive read that not only will entertain you, but will also show you Paris during winter time, and will make you crave for french food, One Paris In Christmas is a perfect book for you.

Book Review: The Christmas Project by Maxine Morrey

the-christmas-project

Title: The Christmas Project

Author: Maxine Morrey

Publisher: HarperCollins UK, HQDigital

Date: November 14th, 2016

Pages: 263

Format: eARC

Source: from Publisher for a review

Synopsis (from Goodreads): Professional organiser Kate Stone has never – NEVER – been tempted to hit a client over the head with a snow shovel, but Michael O’Farrell is the most obnoxious – and heart-stoppingly gorgeous – man she has ever met. If he weren’t her best friend’s brother, she would not have waited on his doorstep in the freezing cold for five minutes, let alone an hour.

Kate knows, however, that her job isn’t just about tidying up, sometimes she needs to be part therapist too, and Michael clearly needs her help to declutter his heart as well as his home.

But with the festive season just around the corner there isn’t much time to get Michael’s house ready for the O’Farrell family celebrations, but everyone knows that at Christmas anything can happen…

vrpca

Review:

I feel like I’ve been so lucky with my books lately.
Since HoHoHo readathon started, I read some amazing festive novels, and this one did not dissapoint.
Now, I only hope my luck will continue.

The Christmas Project has everything you want in a festive read: beautiful cover that catches eye, amazing setting with beautiful descriptions of surrounding, cold and snow, interesting protagonist and likeable side characters, hot guy and cute puppies.

I mean, what else could you ask for?
Just based on everything I just mentioned you should at least consider giving this book a chance!

The story follows Kate Stone, a woman who works as a professional organiser.
Her latest job is to help her best friend’s brother organize his house for Christmas.
After his divorce, he stopped taking care of the place he lives in and the beautiful house started to look like a mass storeroom.

Kate was, as I already said, an interesting main character. She has a good personality, but is somewhat naive. She is a hard worker, really organized and good at heart. She likes to help people and she spends her free time helping in an animal rescue center.

Michael is a mysterious guy, hurt by his ex. In my own words, after his divorce, he became a grumpy hoarder.

I like how their relationship evoluted from hate/dislike to friendship, and then started to develop into something more.

All of the side characters in this novel were plain good.
I am still not sure how to feel about it. I mean, the story is full of white (I don’t mean skin color), one dimesional characters (there were, of course, two “bad” characters, that were also one dimensional).
I didn’t like how “bad” characters weren’t mentioned anough in the story, especially when it comes to Kate’s boyfriend. I get that she spent almost no time with him, but I wish he wasn’t just mentioned as an absent boyfriend, I wish we got to see him more before the “big scene”.
Also, when it comes to Michael’s ex, I wish we got a chance to hear her side of the story, or anything that happened before the divorce.
In other words, I think negative characters weren’t explored enough.

The writing style is simple and you can easily read the story, as it reads pretty quicky.
It is written in first person, following Kate’s POV.

This story will wake up your emotions, at least it woke up mine.
I was angry, frustrated, sad, happy, felt the joy in my heart… And I swooned. A lot.

As the story was coming to an end, it became better and better with every page.

What I’m sure I’ll get from this book is I’ll remember one particular scene for a looooong time to come: (SPOILER ALERT!! the scene in which Lily (Michael’s little niece) says how she heard her friend’s mom saying that she thinks Michael is sixty (but in reality, that mom said sexy)).

Overall, this was a great festive story and I highly recommend it to everyone who’d like to read something quick and easy that will put a reader in a festive mood.

4,5

HoHoHo Read-A-Thon sign up

hohohorat2016

HoHoHo Readathon is Holiday/Wintery themed Read-A-Thon hosted by Kimberly from Caffeinated Book Reviewer.
This is the fourth time this readathon is happening and you can read everything about it HERE .

If you follow me on social media or read my blog for a while, you probably know that festive books are my favorite kind.
I just love good, wintery novels that have the ability to wake up my Christmas Spirit.

So when I heard about HoHoHo readathon I immediately knew I’d take part in it.
This will be my first time participating and I plan to read as many festive books as I possibly can.
I also want to participate in challenges, but unfortunatelly, I won’t be able to participate in Twitter chat because of the time difference.

I have so many christmassy books I want to read this year, but for this readathon I picked these books and I hope to finish at least three of them (since one is a short story):

Tell me do you plan to participate and if yes, what books do you plan to read?
If you have a blog post about it, feel free to leave your links so I could visit you.

Book Review: The Iron Warrior by Julie Kagawa

the iron warrior

Title: The Iron Warrior

Series: The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten #3

Author: Julie Kagawa

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Date: October 27th, 2015

Pages: 384

Format: Paperback

Source: Purchased

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

The Iron Prince—my nephew—betrayed us all.

He killed me.

Then, I woke up.

Waking after a month on the brink of death, Ethan Chase is stunned to learn that the Veil that conceals the fey from human sight was temporarily torn away. Although humankind’s glimpse of the world of Faery lasted just a brief moment, the human world has been cast into chaos, and the emotion and glamour produced by fear and wonder has renewed the tremendous power of the Forgotten Queen. Now, she is at the forefront of an uprising against the courts of Summer and Winter—a reckoning that will have cataclysmic effects on the Nevernever.

Leading the Lady’s Forgotten Army is Keirran himself: Ethan’s nephew, and the traitor son of the Iron Queen, Meghan Chase.To stop Keirran, Ethan must disobey his sister once again as he and his girlfriend, Kenzie, search for answers long forgotten. In the face of unprecedented evil and unfathomable power, Ethan’s enemies must become his allies, and the world of the fey will be changed forevermore.

vrpca

Review:

So the day has finally come. The day I finished the last book of my favorite series… I will miss my faeries… 😦

Hanging with Ethan, Kenzie and Keirran was an amazing experience and I would do it all over again if I could.

This world, that Julie Kagawa created, is my favorite world of all the fictional ones, and while other bookworms are waiting for their letter from Hogwarts, I am waiting for a faerie creature to come and take me to NeverNever. I could be a slave to faeries, I don’t mind! I could sing to them. I even know how to play harmonica.

In this series, not only did I find my not-anymore-new book boyfriend, but my favorite OTP.
Ethan and Kenzie are just amazing together and I really like their chemistry.

This book had a lot of action and it was a quick read.
Some situations brought meto tears, some made me emotional and swoon, but all in all, I was happy how it all wrapped up in the end.
I knew I was saying goodbye to the characters, which made me want to read it really, really slowly, just so I could spend as much time with them as I could.

Although this is not the best book in the series (The Lost Prince is, in my opinion) I still enjoyed it so much.

If you haven’t read this series yet, I strongly suggest you to do so. You won’t regret, I promise!