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Miss Penny Dreadful and the Mermaid’s Locks by Allison Rushby

Title: Miss Penny Dreadful and the Mermaid’s Locks Author: Allison Rushby Genre: Mystery, Historical Fiction Publisher: Walker Books Published: 1st November 2023 Format: Paperback Pages: 160 Price: $15.99 Synopsis: The final exciting instalment in the Miss Penny Dreadful series from acclaimed author Allison Rushby.Searching for a new story idea for her aunt’s famous penny dreadfuls,… Continue reading Miss Penny Dreadful and the Mermaid’s Locks by Allison Rushby

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Ayla’s Christmas Wish by Pamela Jones and Lucia Masciullo

Title: Ayla’s Christmas Wish Author: Pamela Jones and Lucia Masciullo Genre: Christmas Publisher: NLA Publishing Published: 1st November 2023 Format: Hardcover Pages: 32 Price: $24.99 Synopsis: Christmas is coming, and Ayla wants a snowman just like in her book, but there is no snow to be found in her drought-stricken town, not even a drop of rain.… Continue reading Ayla’s Christmas Wish by Pamela Jones and Lucia Masciullo

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Every Exquisite Thing by Laura Steven

Title: Every Exquisite Thing Author: Laura Steven Genre: Thriller/YA Publisher: Farshore Books/Electric Monkey/Harper Collins Australia Published: 4th October 2023 Format: Paperback Pages: 352 Price: $19.99 Synopsis: A feminist YA horror-thriller-romance retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray by the TikTok sensation and author of The Society for Soulless Girls…Penny Paxton is the daughter of an… Continue reading Every Exquisite Thing by Laura Steven

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Completion of QBD Reading Challenge 2023

I have completed the 2023 QBD Challenge. My last prompt was a funny memoir, which in some ways was hard to find, but I settled on Paul Jennings’ memoir, Untwisted, which was funny in parts, and I enjoyed the way he told the stories – with humour and empathy throughout. I reviewed twenty books for… Continue reading Completion of QBD Reading Challenge 2023

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The Puppets of Spelhorst: A Norendy Tale by Kate DiCamillo

Title: The Puppets of Spelhorst: A Norendy Tale Author: Kate DiCamillo Genre: Fantasy Publisher: Walker Books Published: 18th October 2023 Format: Hardcover Pages: 160 Price: $24.99 Synopsis: From master storyteller Kate DiCamillo comes an original fairy tale, enchantingly illustrated, in which five puppets confront circumstances beyond their control with patience, cunning and high spirits.Once, there… Continue reading The Puppets of Spelhorst: A Norendy Tale by Kate DiCamillo

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Completed: Dymocks Reading Challenge 2023

This year, I took on the Dymocks Reading Challenge again. This time, we got our prompts season by season, which made it more challenging to plan what to read, but in the end, I managed to do it. The prompts were fairly flexible as well – there were ones anything could fit into and ones… Continue reading Completed: Dymocks Reading Challenge 2023

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Dymocks Spring Reading Challenge

The final set of prompts for this year’s Dymock’s Reading Challenge for Spring are completed now too – a couple of them took me a while but I got there. One of the things I have liked about this challenge is how open to interpretation some prompts were, because a prompt will always have a… Continue reading Dymocks Spring Reading Challenge

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Alice-Miranda and the Christmas Mystery by Jacqueline Harvey

Title: Alice-Miranda and the Christmas Mystery Author: Jacqueline Harvey Genre:  Mystery Publisher: Puffin Published: 10th October 2023  Format:  Paperback Pages: 432 Price:  $16.99 Synopsis: THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLING SERIES!Join Alice-Miranda in a delightful Christmas adventure.Christmas is almost here, and Alice-Miranda and her closest friends are celebrating early at Highton Hall. But it’s not all gingerbread, parties… Continue reading Alice-Miranda and the Christmas Mystery by Jacqueline Harvey

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Guest Post, Natalie Bayley – Author of Bone Rites

As part of Natalie's blog tour, she has written this post for me about her writing and research process for the novel to accompany the review. Thanks for the fascinating post, Natalie. Researching Historical Fiction: the Old, the Strange and the Downright Peculiar Most of my novels are set in the early or mid-twentieth century.… Continue reading Guest Post, Natalie Bayley – Author of Bone Rites

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Blog Tour: Bone Rites by Natalie Bayley

Title: Bone Rites Author: Natalie Bayley Genre: Historical Fiction/Thriller Publisher: Aurora Metro Books Published: 31st October 2023 Format: Paperback Pages: 314 Price: $25.99 Synopsis: Winner of The Virginia Prize for Fiction Bone Rites is a dark, literary tale of love, loss and one woman's obsessive fight for justice and redemption within a ruthless world.  I… Continue reading Blog Tour: Bone Rites by Natalie Bayley