Reading Round-Up: November/December 2021

It's the end of another year (somehow!) and that means it's time for my last reading round-up of 2021. This year has definitely seen a resurgence in reading for me, as I've read more books this year than any other! That's a big achievement for me and something I'm hoping to carry forward into 2022. 

So what's the latest bookish gossip? Grab yourself a mug of hot chocolate and read on to find out! 

2021: My Year in Review

I can't believe it's the end of another year already! It seems like only yesterday that I was sitting down to write my 2020 wrap-up post, and all of a sudden it's nearly 2022. Where does the time go?

2021 was definitely a more positive year overall, with the Covid vaccine rollout well underway, and the gradual easing of restrictions. Of course, we haven't seen the last of the pandemic yet, but it's important to try and stay positive.

Book Review: One Family Christmas by Bella Osborne

AD* | A big family. A whole lot of secrets. A Christmas to remember...

This year, Lottie is hosting one last big family Christmas at the home she grew up in – just like her Nana would have wanted.

But when her relatives descend on the old manor house, Lottie gets more than she bargained for. Every family has its secrets, but in this family, everybody has one!

So, between cooking a Christmas dinner, keeping tensions at bay and a stray dog out of mischief, she has plenty on her plate (and not just misshapen sausage rolls and a frozen turkey). And then her first love shows up – nine years after he walked out of her life.

Can Lottie make their last family Christmas one to remember... for the right reasons?

Book Review: Farringdon's Fate by Linda Finlay

AD* | One noble family. Five eligible daughters. A sealed fate.

Nettlecombe Manor, nestled in the rolling hills of Devon, is home to the Lord Farringdon and his second wife, Lady Charlotte. As if running the vast estate wasn’t enough, Lord Farringdon has five daughters to keep him busy. Lady Charlotte is determined that the betrothal of the eldest, Louisa, should be celebrated with a ball which is the envy of Devon society and summons a corsetière from Exeter to measure them up for new corsets.

Apprentice Jane Haydon arrives at Nettlecombe to do the fittings. Having never set foot in such a grand home, Jane is disturbed to hear tell of a gypsy’s curse which has haunted the family for generations, and a local wise woman’s vision that there will never be a wedding at Nettlecombe...

Book Review: The Arctic Curry Club by Dani Redd

AD* | "For my whole life I had been looking for home. But why would that be in a place that I’d left? Perhaps I had to keep moving forward in order to find it..."

Soon after upending her life to accompany her boyfriend Ryan to the Arctic, Maya realises it’s not all Northern Lights and husky sleigh rides. Instead, she’s facing sub-zero temperatures, 24-hour darkness, crippling anxiety – and a distant boyfriend as a result.

In her loneliest moment, Maya opens her late mother’s recipe book and cooks Indian food for the first time. Through this, her confidence unexpectedly grows – she makes friends, secures a job as a chef, and life in the Arctic no longer freezes her with fear.

But there’s a cost: the aromatic cuisine rekindles memories of her enigmatic mother and her childhood in Bangalore. Can Maya face the past and forge a future for herself in this new town? After all, there’s now high demand for a Curry Club in the Arctic, and just one person with the know-how to run it...

Book Review: The Killer in the Snow by Alex Pine

AD* | The first fall of snow can be fatal...

A year has passed since DI James Walker cracked his biggest case yet, and he’s hoping for peace and quiet this festive season.

But across the fells, a local farmer returns home on Christmas Eve to find footsteps in the fresh snow that lead down to his unused basement – and no footsteps leading away. Days later, his body is found, alongside those of his wife and daughter.

Without a neighbour for miles, there are no witnesses and little evidence. And the crime scene has strange echoes of another terrible murder committed at the farmhouse, twenty years earlier...

James knows that to catch this killer, he needs to solve a case that has long since gone cold...

Book Review: The Christmas Killer by Alex Pine

AD* | As the snow begins to fall, the body count begins to climb...

DI James Walker is ready for a quiet family Christmas in the sleepy village of Kirkby Abbey.

But when he opens an early Christmas present left on his doorstep, he soon realises it is no gift. Inside is a gruesome surprise, and a promise – twelve days, twelve murders. Not long after, the first body is found, half-frozen in the snow.

As the blizzards descend, panic spreads through the remote Cumbrian village – there’s a killer amongst them, and with eleven more victims to go, anyone could be next...

Can James stop the killer before they strike again?