Archive | December 2021

Celebrating The Seasons by Amanda Owen

Dec21

Stunningly Beautiful

Celebrating The Seasons With The Yorkshire Shepherdess by Amanda Owen is a most beautiful book that is the perfect accompaniment to the television series Our Yorkshire Farm.

The book is split into twelve months of the year as the reader learns what happens each month at Ravenseat Farm.

There are many beautiful photographs of the landscapes, the animals and the Owen family. I love to see the young girls wearing pretty dresses and wellies as they go about their chores.

To tempt the tastebuds there are recipes each month – one sweet and one savoury.

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Christmas Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

Dec21

Deliciously Delightful

Christmas Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella is the most delightful contemporary festive offering that will fill your heart with joy.

The reader follows Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood) in the run up to hosting Christmas. She is determined to produce the perfect day and her efforts are phenomenal but exhausting. She has a heart of gold and is responsive to the needs she sees in others. She is also a shopaholic. She is a charming, likable character who draws the reader into her head and heart as the novel is written in the first person from her point of view.

Many of the characters are charming and likable but occasionally Becky Brandon meets those out to cause mischief.

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Christmas Stories by Max Lucado

Dec16

So Beautiful

Christmas Stories by Max Lucado is a beautiful book to read during Advent. It contains stories, biblical excerpts and thoughts from the author.

The stories include The Christmas Candle. There are stories about the first Christmas from various points of view including Joseph and Gabriel.

We also hear of Lucifer’s attempts to thwart the birth.

The excerpts are from many of Max Lucado’s other books.

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City Of Sinners by A.A. Dhand

Dec15

Totally Gripping

City Of Sinners by AA Dhand is another compulsive crime thriller in the Harry Virdee series that had me hooked from the start.

Once more the reader returns to Bradford to join Harry Virdee in his fight against crime. Harry Virdee is a policeman fighting to clean up the streets of Bradford. He does what needs to be done to keep those he loves safe and to clean up the streets of the city he inhabits.

All the characters were well drawn, eliciting various emotional responses from the reader.

We ‘see’ the action through the eyes of Harry Virdee but we also ‘hear’ the voice of the killer from the start. We have to work out who it is… I failed miserably at that – again!

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