Lie Beside Me – Gytha Lodge

#liebesideme @MichaelJBooks @thegyth

Hello friends,

Today I am coming at you with an exciting book mail update that I received this morning and it was this wonderful book from Penguin UK and it looks and sounds just amazing so I wanted to share it with you. Gytha kindly reached out to me on Instagram in August of this year to ask would I be interested in reading and reviewing her first two novels and she sent me them with a lovely box of chocolates and some tea bags to have a cuppa while I read them… so when I received her new book releasing early next year I was so happy and really cant wait to get to this one (adding it to my Nov TBR as I type).

Check back in a few weeks for my honest review on this one, I have a feeling I will be picking it up sooner rather than later.

Publisher : Penguin Random House

Release date : 18th February 2021

Synopsis :

Louise wakes up. Her head aches, her mouth is dry, her memory is fuzzy. But she suspects she’s done something bad.

She rolls over towards her husband, Niall. The man who, until recently, made her feel loved.

But it’s not Niall who’s lying beside her. In fact, she’s never seen this man befpre.

And he’s not breathing……..

October TBR/Buddyreads Schedule

TBR Jar Event

We Be Bookn Buddyread

October is here!!!

Hey all my lovely spooky witches…. Its finally here – Spooky season has commenced 🙂

How are we all doing? Isn’t it just crazy its the 1st Oct already? Jeez Louise lol I am not sure where this year went but we are here and we are ready for it…. I am here to give a little update of what my reading goals and social media platform goals are for this month and give you an idea of what you can expect from me, cuz lets be real here I am not keeping on top of my socials and channels right now and I am really feeling down about it so the only way is up. Make a plan and stick to it so that’s what I am here to do today.

Reading Goals / Channel Goals

Simples I just want to be able to stick to the TBR that I have set which you will see in my next post here and enjoy reading again… I was in a mega slump last month and only finished one book which is not normal for me and I hated it so much, I love to read so when I just don’t want to it doesn’t seem right.

Instagram : Aim for 6k followers by the end of October

I have been loosing followers pretty much every single day and I really quite sad about it, I don’t post to gain followers but I have made so many friends there it makes me sad when someone unfollows me you know? So I aim to get back to engaging more and posting lots of fun spooky Halloween content – if you don’t already follow me then visit me at http://www.instagram.com/barbsbookclub and lets be friends!

Booktube : Aim for 300 subs by the end of October

This month I feel is the best month to start posting content on my new channel so I hope that my weekly vlogs and some of my fun videos I have planned will help me grow my channel. I am starting off slow as my confidence is still not great filming but I know with practice I will be fine.

I guess that’s all for this month

What will you be aiming for this month? Comment below.

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September Reading Goals

So I am a little late, we are half way through the month of September and I have let the ball with reading slip for a few weeks, I have been in the most horrendous reading slump of my life and just haven’t really been myself so apologies this is late – life is pants right now but I am going to try my best to catch up on updates and arc reviews leading on from this update. Reading goals this month are not that structured as I haven’t been enjoying reading for a while now, so I am just reading what I feel like at the time. Thankfully I can feel my mojo coming back so hopefully the last few weeks of this month will be more of a success all round.

Arc reviews to follow…….

Book Review // The Gin O’Clock Club by Rosie Blake

Publisher : Sphere

Page count : 400

Release date : 1st June 2020

Genre : Romance

Rating : 4.5 stars

Teddy is worried about his granddaughter. She rushes through her days ticking tasks of her to do list, and never stops to smell the roses. His late wife, Lily, would know exactly how to help but without her, it’s up to Teddy to talk some sense into Lottie.

With the help of the elderly reprobates who make up his Gin O’Clock club, Teddy hatches a plan to help Lottie slow down and find her way back to the things that matter the most – family friendships and love. But as Lottie balances a high powered job with her reluctance attendance at whist drives, ballroom dances and bingo, Teddy wonders if she’s really ready to open her heart to the possibility of true happiness…..

My review :

I loved this book so much it went through so many emotions and really was a light, charming read. At the beginning we meet Teddy and Lottie as they grieve for their wife and grandmother and it’s a sad start but also lovely to see their relationship grow. We meet Luke, boyfriend and all round good guy, definitely the type of thoughtful, funny, attentive boyfriend I would want in my life.

Lottie is a workaholic and doesn’t have time to date so Teddy decides with his elderly friends that they will teach them how to date the old fashioned way. It’s all sorts of funny and I did find myself falling in love with the relationships in the book even if I did go into it thinking it was a club filled with gin drinking girls lol 😂 but i think it taught us a lesson that life is too short, we need to take a step back and make time for those important to us and it was beautifully written.

I hope to pick up more from this author in the future.

Thank you to Little Brown and Sphere for a copy of this wonderful book in return for my honest review. It was a pleasure to read this book.

Milkshakes for the almost Dead by Lulu Wood

This morning I was very happy to receive this wonderful author package from an author I’ve gotten to know so well over the last few months. Having seen this book all over my socials I had to reach out and ask for a review copy. How cute is this package tho?

Genre : Teen/YA

Page count : 392

Synopsis : A monster thought he had got me. He thought I was so lonely I’d go along with anything.

He thought he could steal my life and I’d let him. I wasn’t paying attention. Because I was just a silly girl.

He was wrong.

Check back on Monday for my full review of this beautiful book as I am literally going to drop all my reading plans to read this one tonight and over the weekend.

Crown of Crowns by Clara Loveman – Blog tour post and book review 📚

Genre : YA Fiction

Page count : 266

Star rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis : Kaelyn, a young noblewoman, feels smothered under the harsh constraints of the Decens-Lenitas, the legal and moral code that governs the people of Geniverd Kingdom. When she meets Roki, a handsome young man from the city with knowledge and aspirations beyond his status, Kaelyn realises she isn’t the only one trapped.

When her parents find out she has been spending more and more time with a lowborn citizen, they forbid her to meet Roki ever again. He’s common. She could be queen.

My review :

So let me start by saying that the synopsis is very vague here which I love as there are times when a synopsis basically gives away all the good bits before you even begin to read it. There is so much more to this book and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

We follow our main character Kaelyn as she grows up and we learn of her aspirations and love for Roki. A tragic family death happens and she is left with grief and time to work out what is best for her city and after the queen dies suddenly right after she married the king and sits on the thrown determined to make the city good again and help the poor and most in need. Here in comes the crown of crowns a powerful force where she must obey their directions and wishes or die a brutal death along with those close to her.

This book was written in such a way it kept my attention throughout and I didn’t want to put it down. The chapters are short and it was very interesting and very intriguing from the start. I’ve rated it 4 stars as I genuinely think the is one of the best arc YA novels I’ve read in a long time and I am hoping to read more from this author.

Thank you again to Literally PR for gifting me a copy of this book in return for my honest review. It’s always my pleasure to meet read and review new novels.

I launched my new Booktube Channel 🥳

So this just happened… I finally took the plunge and uploaded my first ever booktube video 😊 i have been playing around with the idea of a channel for a while. I mean it’s all I’ve been thinking of for some time now so I finally did it….. I will post the link below for you to visit. Give me some loving and let me know what you think.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqK64KJUJ-ghOMmTRmVR_OA

ROMANCEATHON ❤️ 2020

Woohoo it’s finally time to take part in this amazing Readathon for all things romance and I’m kicking off with the most exciting TBR this year. First let’s go over the promps shall we?

My TBR eekkkk 🎉🎉

So yes the prompts…..

1) a book released in 2020

2) a book with an illustrated cover

3) a new to you romance author

4) a book with your favourite romance troop

5) a book with 5 words

The buddy read this year is If I Never Met You by Mhari McFarlane and this also covers a few of the promps but I choose books for each prompt so let’s see how I go. It’s super exciting though.

Follow my blog the next 7 days for updates on everything I read and reviews etc.

❤️❤️❤️❤️

1st day of Summer 🌼 June 2020 reading Goals

Wow how did we get to not only half way through 2020 but also the first day of freakin’ Summer 😂😂

If your anything like me I love to begin new goals on a Monday so what better than today, have you made any reading goals for this month?

June 2020 Reading goals

1) My booktube channel launch

2) 3x buddy reads and 1 x Readathon to participate in this month

3) Ambitious TBR picked by my boyfriend this month, very excited for every single book so hoping to read 15 books this month.

4) Continue to blog here and make more use of Twitter feed and Instagram

So this month is definitely ambitious but I am more than happy to give it a go. Enjoying my reading more than ever now so why not set some optimistic goals ⭐️ also I am doing a book buying ban for the whole of June so let’s see how much I can save 📚📚

Enjoy your month and let me know your reading goals and what ur reading this month xx