Stitch

On a crimson quilt, there is a bookmark styled like a tarot card on the left with a skeleton holding a book. The Reader is printed underneath. On the right, there is a special edition of Holly by Adalyn Grace, the cover has a fox and rabbit curled up on a holly wreath.

💌 Book Mail 💌

My Waterstones signed edition of Holly by @adalyngrace.bsky.social arrived today.

It's so beautiful with bronze embossing in the cover and it's so 'Christmassy'.

Of course, I'm saving it for a December read - how are we nearly there already?

#BookSky #BookMail

On a crimson quilt, there is a bookmark styled like a tarot card on the left with a skeleton holding a book. The Reader is printed underneath. On the right, there is a special edition of Holly by Adalyn Grace, the cover has a fox and rabbit curled up on a holly wreath.

💌 Book Mail 💌

My Waterstones signed edition of Holly by @adalyngrace.bsky.social arrived today.

It's so beautiful with bronze embossing in the cover and it's so 'Christmassy'.

Of course, I'm saving it for a December read - how are we nearly there already?

#BookSky #BookMail

Bookmark styled as a tarot card with a skeleton holding a book on the left. On the right is a hardcover book called Cat On The Road to Find Out with a photograph of Cat Stevens in his youth. Both are lying on a crimson quilt.

💌 Book Mail. 💌

Cat On The Road to Find Out.

I've loved Cat Stevens probably longer than I know I have. After all, his music was a soundtrack of growing up thanks to my parents.

#BookSky #BookMail #CatStevens

Sentences are entire paragraphs... and it's so all over the place that I'm struggling to understand what's happening. 😭 I think I've got notes on every other page so far to help me with a review. #BookSky

I'm reading Audra Winter's Age of Scorpius.

Through everything, I'm a little late getting to it and I'm attempting to read this with a positive mindset etc. However, I've never written so many notes into an ebook - and I'm only 12% in.

#BookSky

Overall, Donut Summer was a great read, some moments will have you getting infuriated over the auctions of characters, but I liked Anita Kelly’s writing style and will be looking out for more of their books.

#BookSky #YABooks #QueerLit #BookReview #Books📚🌈

@anitakellywrites.bsky.social

and to believe they can be an artist and be happy; to Penny working through her own queer identity? The two are perfect for one another and I liked how the reader, and mainly Penny’s friends, can see the two of them liking one another long before they do. 》

of the miscommunication they’ve both experienced in the past as they move from enemies to friends to being a couple. From Mateo needing to overcome their confidence and find the strength to fully embrace who they are whilst having parents who struggle to understand what being genderqueer is, 》

be but also how she struggles with panic attacks and overanalysing everything. (I understand it, and Anita does explain exactly why and how this starts in the book but Lord, she needs a hug so much).

I loved how Mateo and Penny help each other throughout the book, and how the two overcome some 》

I wanted to shout at her, (the Mom) and make them both see just how much they were putting on a girl who already was doing so much. Penny is a ‘fixer’ and I truly believe having to grow up and be so responsible so young is partially why she is how she is, with how passionate she can 》

parent to her three six-year-old siblings. I confess, I hated the parents. Yes it’s great to have a queer couple even though we don’t see that much of them, but they were appalling to Penny, especially her birth mom who seemed to constantly have to rely on her daughter to look after the triplets. 》

Hallmark movies and I was there for it. (I’d also love to step into the book and experience it, because it always sounds so good…)

Penny, our main leading lady, is sixteen and trying to find herself beyond the restraints she’s put on herself, and also her two Moms who treat her as a third 》

knowing everyone, such as Elen the owner of Delicious Donuts knowing every order of her regulars.It may be a YA novel but for someone who hasn’t experienced America apart from through various forms of media, the setting reminded me of the plethora of small-town all-American places you see in 》

sensitivity and realism too. Because Mateo has their insecurities and we get to see them which is always refreshing.

The setting was quaint, a small town in Oregon that is brought to life just enough that you can get a sense of the quietness of Main Street with the familiarity of everyone 》

Because what we have alongside some delicious-sounding donuts, is an enemies-to-lovers with a dash of miscommunication happening between Penny and Mateo and Anita Kelly delivered on their love story. It’s perfect for anyone who wants a sweet read with a queer character who is written with 》

whom I loved from the get-go.

Mateo is just larger than life, from their wonderful coloured hair, to their love of expression and I was team them long before I knew why the two of them didn’t get on came out to the reader. 》

A kindle lies on the bottom left of a pink wooden table. On the top right corner is a light blue dinner plate, several ring doughnuts covered in various types of icing.

#BookReview #Books

Donut Summer was a cute read filled with sugary goodness.

We follow Penny throughout the Summer holidays, from starting her first job at the local dough shop alongside Mateo who is her genderqueer nemesis, (I loved how they were described in the synopsis so I had to add it) 》

more, and learning about the founders of Redwall? Mossflower is a firm favourite of mine.

Everything once again takes me back to time with my Dad, and with Brian Jacques too who was a wonderful loud and larger-than-life man…

#BookSky #RedwallSeries
#Books📚

time we stray from Mossflower to find a giant badger who could help them all win against Tsarina; to the wonderful dishes that whilst not ones we could eat always sound lovely for the sweet animals. From evil doers to the joys of friendships and found family fighting back to live happily once 》

I loved how we learned about how Martin came to Mossflower, and helped his new companions win many fierce battles - some that made younger me hide in my pillows.

It’s the way Jacques writes the world though that always keeps me lost in the world, from the descriptions of the world because this 》

As I said, we are far back in time, Redwall Abbey doesn’t exist just yet and a Wild Cat, Tsarina, is in power and there’s a rebellion in the woodlands from hedgehogs to wood and church mice and more little animals who simply want to live freely again. 》

Mossflower continues the underlying lesson of good versus evil, and we learn of Redwall’s history through storytelling from Bella the Badger as she recalls the adventures of times past in the woodlands to a sleepy mouse. 》

It was apparent that Jacques wanted to showcase the good and the bad of life as well as showing that children were capable of reading long books and maintain a love of the story and remain immersed in whatever was happening to the characters of Mossflower woods. 》

Jacques did around the Liverpool Docks.

Once again, Mossflower highlights how different it was to children’s books at the time both in its length at just over four hundred pages, and also shows the true struggles of characters and sadly the death of ones who became a firm favourite of the reader. 》

Once again, Jacques broke the rules of what was expected in children’s fiction for the time showing such problems as a family of hedgehogs afraid for their safety and fearing they’ll starve. We also encounter a mouse Gonff, who is a ‘Prince of Thieves’ and gets up to mischief just like a younger 》

Brian Jacques wrote such a beautiful and immersive series, and Mossflower is no exception and we’re all drawn into the world where Wild Cats are ruling the woodlands and making the poor woodlanders suffer greatly, with some having fled their homes and others near to starving. 》

On a wooden table top is a copy of Mossflower by Brian Jacques on the left. The top right has a green placemat with a green cup with hot chocolate in it.

#BookReview #Books📚

Returning to the Redwall series with the second book Mossflower not only takes me back to my childhood but back in time in the stories themselves because this time? We go deep into Mossflower and meet Martin the Warrior before Redwall Abbey itself existed. 》