Sunday post #26

Sunday is when I sit back with a lovely cup of tea and write about all the wonderful new books I've received and purchased in the past week. This post participates in fab memes Showcase Sunday and Stacking the Shelves.


• Call The Vet by Anna Birch (unsolicited review copy)
• Carry You by Beth Thomas (won)
• Ghostwritten by Isabel Wolff (review copy)
• Ivy Lane: #Spring by Cathy Bramley (ebook)
• Return to Mandalay by Rosanna Ley (review copy)
• Sugar and Spice by Angela Britnell (Choc Lit event)
• The Headmaster's Wife by Thomas Christopher Greene (review copy)



It's been a few weeks since my last Sunday post. At first there was a bit of a dry spell in new additions to my TBR pile (which was a good thing, it meant I could take a breather from review novels and read some books I've purchased in between as well), then I became incredibly busy at work due to ever continuing changes and more and more work piling onto my desk, with finally a family emergency consuming most of my time last weekend/this week (things are looking slightly better in this regards now, thankfully).

The books that had me most excited when they came in recently were Ghostwritten and Ivy Lane: Spring. The former wasn't on my radar until the author contacted me with the question if I'd be interested in receiving a copy of the novel for review (highlighting the Dutch aspect and appealing to my inner-patriot) which after reading the blurb I was only more than happy to agree to. And I am so glad I did as this was a beautiful novel that has enlightened me on a historical event I knew shamefully little about before (my full review will be up next week). I also got the opportunity to attend the book's launch which I've written about for Novelicious (find full report here).

The other novel I was very excited for was Ivy Lane: Spring by lovely author Cathy Bramley. I read her self-published debut novel last year (one of the few self-published novels I've read), which I adored - it was such a lovely and funny read (find full review here). So I was very pleased when I heard about her exciting deal to write a serialised digital novel for Transworld though I was also slightly gutted as it meant that I'd have to wait a while for the full novel to be published. Nonetheless, I told myself I could do it as I'm terrible with open endings/cliffhangers and so it'd be much better if I wait. But when Cathy's editor emailed me the first part out of the blue, my patience faltered completely as I put it on my Kindle straight away and what a lovely read it was!

I haven't been to a huge amount of book events lately, but I did go to the Choc Lit launch party last week where I had the opportunity to meet the team and some of their writers while enjoying wine, chocolate and a lot of chat with fellow bloggers. We also received a super cute goodie bag upon leaving containing one of their books (see above) and lots of chocolaty goodness. And to continue on with the chocolate theme, Friday I went to see one of my favourite authors, Carole Matthews, at the Chocolate Festival here in London. The festival wasn't great but Carole was, such a lovely lady and I'm thrilled I had the chance to meet her (full report to follow).

How have all you lovely people been? Link me to your Sunday posts below and I'll be sure to check them out!