JANUARY EARWORMS

And now for something completely different…

I thought I’d mix it up a bit as I don’t want this blog to be all books, so I’m here to share my top ten tracks from January according to my Spotify plays. My music taste is somewhat eclectic so I’m starting this post with no idea what will actually come up in this list! I mostly play my liked songs on shuffle and listen to whatever is thrown my way from that.

ARC REVIEW: THE MURDER AFTER THE NIGHT BEFORE | KATY BRENT

“Something bad happened last night, but I can’t remember a thing…”

What an unexpectedly fantastic surprise - my first ARC of the year! I never thought my new little NetGalley account would be chosen to read this in advance, so imagine my delight when I got the email saying I’d been selected! Last summer I read Katy’s first novel How to Kill Men and Get Away With It and immediately fell in love with her writing style; witty and humorous, twisted and emotional, and clever enough to have you rooting for the morally dark main character, despite her murderous tendencies. Suffice it to say, I had high hopes for The Murder After the Night Before from the day it was announced. 

BOOK REVIEW: THE TOLL HOUSE | CARLY REAGON

I plumped for The Toll House on whim, as I finished my last physical book while out of the house and wanted to make a start on something new. I bought this on Apple Books last year as the premise intrigued me and the cover is beautiful, then I promptly forgot about it for the remainder of 2023. Finding it in my digital book list was a pleasant surprise, so I dove straight in. 

BOOK REVIEW: THE VIRGIN SUICIDES | JEFFREY EUGENIDES - BOOK CLUB 1

The Virgin Suicides is the year’s first pick for the online book club I’m part of, and is a book I’ve read a few times before. I really like the film adaptation as well, so starting the book club year with something familiar felt like a nice way to ease into things.

BOOK REVIEW: MEXICAN GOTHIC | SILVIA MORENO-GARCIA

Here we are with book one of 2024 finally completed. Mexican Gothic was recommended to me by a few people, and I also saw it talked about in a number of places as being an excellent read. I ordered my copy from World of Books on eBay and ended up receiving a beautiful hardback first edition copy - not bad for £3.45!

EATING OUT: GOCHU | POULTON

Eating out at lovely places is one of my main enjoyments. Finding new restaurants, trying different dishes and indulging in plenty of tasty food...what's not to like?!

Gochu in Poulton is one of my favourite places to go after unexpectedly discovering it a couple of years ago and instantly falling in love.

WORDS, WRITING AND READING

I love books. Literally for as long as I can remember I have loved books. Always. They’ve brought me endless joy since my early childhood and continue to be a source of great enjoyment. 
From the early days of Beatrix Potter and Roald Dahl, to Jacqueline Wilson and Enid Blyton, growing up with The Babysitters Club and visiting Sweet Valley High, mixing in Goosebumps and learning about Horrible Histories, then Horrible Science, and reading the Point Horror series under my bedcovers by torchlight. Be it children’s classics, regular classics, modern classics, ancient classics, biographies, true crime, encyclopaedias, fiction, non-fiction, or anything and everything in between, books have always been my constant comfort. So much is my adoration for reading that it has even been in my mind for the better part of 20 years to have ‘BOOK WORM’ tattooed across my knuckles someday…but that’s an idea for a different time.