Book Review - How to Kill your Best Friend - Lexie Elliott (2025 #19)

How to Kill Your Best Friend by Lexie Elliott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

You suspect your best friend of murder - so why don't you feel safe now that she's dead? From the author of The French Girl comes a novel full of secrets, suspense, and deadly twists. Georgie, Lissa and Bronwyn have been best friends since they met on their college swimming team. Now Lissa is dead - drowned off the coast of the remote island where her second husband owns a luxury resort. But could a star open-water swimmer really have drowned? Or is something more sinister going on? Brought together for Lissa's memorial, Georgie, Bron, Lissa's grieving husband and their friends find themselves questioning the circumstances around Lissa's death - and each other. As the weather turns ominous, trapping the guests on the island, it slowly dawns on them that Lissa's death was only the beginning. Nobody knows who they can trust. Or if they'll make it off the island alive...

Well I definitely liked this book. It was quite the page turner and although I predicted some of the ending there was still a twist that surprised me. However I couldn't give it 5* as, although it only switches between 2 main characters POVs throughout the book, there are several other characters to contend with and sometimes I found it confusing as to who was saying what. I found myself re-reading conversations several times to clarify what they actually meant.

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Book Review - Gallows View - Peter Robinson (2025 #18)

Gallows View by Peter Robinson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks has recently relocated with his family to the Yorkshire Dales from stressful London, but soon finds that life in the countryside is not quite as idyllic as he had imagined.

Three cases come to the fore: a voyeur is terrorising the women of Eastvale; two thugs are breaking into homes; and an old woman is dead, possibly murdered. As the tension mounts, Banks must also deal with his attraction to a young psychologist, Jenny Fuller. And when both Jenny and Banks's wife are drawn deeper into events, Banks realizes that his cases are weaving closer and closer together...

I’ve watched the TV series based on this and subsequent books and I think it spoilt me a bit. I found this book a bit underwhelming. It’s also quite dated. But it was an easy read and it ticked a prompt on the 52 book list challenge. No real surprises though and I won’t rush to continue the series – too many other books on my TBR pile.

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#SoCS - 29/3/25 - In Awe

It's Saturday (just about) so I'm joining in with the SoCS challenge hosted by Linda here.

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “awe/aww.” Use one, use both, use ’em any way you’d like. Bonus points if you fit them both into your post. Enjoy!

Well regular readers will know that I'm planning to take part in the A-Z challenge which starts on Tuesday.  I've signed up and yesterday I tried to work my way through the list of people that signed up on the Theme Reveal list.  Well I am in awe of the people that haven't only signed up but also seem to have all their posts prepped and ready to go.

Anyone who read my post on Thursday (see it here) will know that my prep leaves a lot to be desired.  I am beginning to panic big time and I know I will be scrambling all through April to get my posts done and published.   All together now, say aww.

Hmm maybe not quite awe inspiring but it will have to do. 

Friday's Fave Five - 28/3/25

Thank you as always to Susanne who blogs here for reminding us to look back and share the things we've been grateful for during the week - or in my case today - two weeks!

1) Last week we had a lovely visit from my younger son's in-laws, Paul and Crystal.  They flew in on the Tuesday and were with us until Saturday.  We get on really well with them and enjoyed some walks, some good food and some fun evenings playing cards.  We were glad to be able to host them as they were excellent hosts to us last Thanksgiving.  They flew on to Spain on Saturday and will be returning to the US this weekend.

2)  I got back to my keep fit class on Tuesday - I'd missed 2 weeks so it was nice to get back into the swing of it and of course a catch up with friends afterwards at a cafe.

3)  One of the highlights of Paul and Crystals visits was trying out a new to us restaurant in Chingford.  The Forest Hotel has recently been completely refurbished and only reopened just before Christmas.  We'd been meaning to try it out so we took Paul and Crystal there last Wednesday.  It didn't disappoint and we'll be going again.  It's perfectly placed for relaxing and recharging after walking in the local area.

4)  Better weather!  Much more sunshine and definitely warming up.  I can walk around the lake in my trainers now instead of wellies!  I was also glad to see the goslings are still surviving.

Hard to tell from the photos but there are 4 goslings.  Unfortunately the male swan was attacking them last week and the female goose has an injured wing.  The rescue people are aware of it and are monitoring.  Hopefully it will heal and the goslings will continue to thrive.

5)  I got to see Nathan in his school's production of "Roll Back the Stone" on Wednesday which tells the Easter story.  He was a Roman soldier and although he didn't have a speaking part he knew all the words to the various songs and did well.  

So that wraps up my last two weeks.  Our clocks go forward this weekend so we'll lose an hour's sleep which I'm not looking forward to but on Sunday it's Mother's Day here so we'll be joining my daughter and her family for afternoon tea.  That is something to look forward to - after all who doesn't like cake?

Enjoy your weekend.

Prepping - 27/3/25

Well, I have signed up for the A-Z Challenge again (see here for more details) so I thought I would (make that SHOULD) do some prepping.  As you can see from the pic above I have a draft post in place for each letter.  (Trust me - you can't screen shot the whole list but all the letters are in place.)

Going backwards and forwards to the challenge page with the letter icons takes time and, at this point, I would usually schedule the posts to post on the correct day for the challenge.  So the A post would need to be scheduled for next Tuesday - 1st April.

I haven't scheduled any posts yet because they all look like this:

Yep they have the letter icon and.... nothing else.  The blue hand seems to be taunting me.  As in "hey, you need to add some content here!"

I'm trying not to panic.  I did say I was going to be "Winging it with Waffle", my area of expertise.  I think I might end up burning the midnight oil too.

Wish me luck!

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 26/3/25

Joyce provides the questions for this and you can join in the fun here.

1. Spring has officially sprung (in the northern hemisphere anyway)...did she roll in more like a lion or more like a lamb in your neck of the woods? What needs more of your attention in terms of a good spring clean this year-your house or your garden/yard? 

Well she seemed to roll in quickly earlier this month but then retreated.  Definitely back now though but like a lamb.  

Well the house had a good clean prior to visitors being here last week but the garden definitely needs some work.

2. What's put a spring in your step lately? 

Having visitors here - we did a lot of walking and went out for a meal at a venue new to us.

3. When you were a kid, what was the best snack to find in your lunchbox? If you didn't do the lunchbox thing, tell us what was your favourite after school snack. 

I know I had a lunchbox for some of the time I was at school but I really don't remember what was in it other than some sort of sandwich.  I also remember that school dinners were not as good as they are now. (Although there's still room for improvement!)

4. In what area of your life are you planting seeds ? 

I'm trying to take care of my body a bit more - building in an exercise routine and trying to eat more healthily.  The seeds haven't really taken root yet though lol

5. Why do you live where you do? Would you consider living somewhere else? Why or why not? 

I was born and bred in London and I haven't wanted to move away.  We did move to a different area back in 2020 and we tried to tick a lot of boxes when we did that.  Mostly we succeeded and pretty much future proofed ourselves in terms of the facilities close to us and the size of the house etc considering we are not getting any younger.  

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Watched my Grandson in a school performance today for the first time.  His school did a version of the Easter story.  He didn't have a starring role but he knew all the songs and did really well.  I'm a proud Nanny!

Review - Missing Pieces - Tim Weaver (2025 #17)

Missing Pieces by Tim Weaver
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Rebekah Murphy knows too much . . .

She knows she's alone on an abandoned island with a killer on her trail.
She knows that to get home, she must live to understand why this is happening.
She knows someone tried to kill her for a secret.

What she doesn't know is what that secret is . . .

Detective Frank Travis doesn't know enough . . .

He doesn't know where to find Louise Mason.
He doesn't know how and why she vanished into thin air three months ago.
He doesn't know the identity of the man last seen talking to her.

What he does know is that he retires in one week - and if he doesn't find out where Louise went, no one will . . .

What neither Rebekah nor Detective Travis realize is that each holds a missing piece from the same puzzle - and it will cost them everything to finally solve it . . .

I enjoyed the previous book I'd read by this author (I am missing) but I found this one a little confusing - it moves between present and past a lot. The explanation of what led up to Rebekah being stranded on an island was a bit underwhelming for me. It also didn't ring true that there hadn't been much of an effort made to find her.

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Review - Hold My Girl - Charlene Carr (2025 #16)

Hold My Girl by Charlene Carr
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

For fans of Jodi Picoult, Kate Hewitt and Ashley Audrain, a heart-wrenching novel about two women whose eggs are switched during IVF

Katherine is a woman full of obsessions. Everything clean, everything perfect, all the time. After seven years of trying—and failing—to conceive, she finally gives birth to Rose, her IVF miracle child. But she’s afraid that Rose may not be her daughter; her pale skin doesn’t match Katherine’s own.

Tess never got her happy ending. She took on IVF alongside Katherine and a group of hopeful mothers, but her daughter, Hanna, was stillborn. After a series of poor choices, she’s divorced, broke and stuck in a job that’s below her skill set.

Ten months later, Katherine and Tess get a call from the fertility clinic that reveals shocking news: the two women’s eggs were switched. While Katherine’s perfect life beings to crumble around her, for Tess it’s the glimmer of hope she needs to get her life back on track. But it will take a custody battle to decide who deserves to be Rose’s mother, a battle that will push both women to the brink.

With themes of racial identity, loss and betrayal, this emotional novel centred around a difficult moral question beautifully explores the complexities of motherhood.

I'm on the fence on this book. Parts were good but there was a lot of repetition in places and the main characters were too extreme at times. Certainly a difficult subject to write about and the court process didn't feel like it had been adequately researched to me.

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#SoCS - 15/3/25 - Crackle

The stream of consciousness prompt is given to us by Linda each week and all the details of how this works can be found here.

Today's prompt is "Crackle".

Well I'm sure many participants will have thought of the cereal "Snap Crackle and Pop" otherwise known as Rice Crispies.  Sorry but if you're expecting some originality then this is not the place to come.

I was going to check to see when Rice Crispies became a thing but that would rather defeat the aim of SoCS so I didn't.  However I did check how many cereal products are now available in my local supermarket.  194.  Yep I counted them.

Of course not I checked on the app.  The choice now is mind boggling.  I didn't stop to see how many of them were chocolate based but I'm sure there are plenty to keep a chocaholic like me happy.  I have 2 different varieties in my cupboard as I write.  For the Grandkids I hasten to add.  

My breakfast of choice these days is usually some variety of eggs with bacon, occasionally baked beans, mushrooms or if Hubby (who is the main cook in the house) decides to prepare an omelette it will often be a surprise.  He likes to throw in green things.  Not my first choice of food at breakfast but, as he nearly always makes it I'm not going to be picky.

Doesn't usually crackle though, although sometimes he will put oil in the pan and get distracted and then the smoke alarm starts going.  Thanks goodness for the smoke alarm - I'm sure he would have burned the house down by now without it.

We don't often get a sizzle either because we have an air fryer which takes care of the bacon and other things like sausages if we have them.  Yep I do like a full English breakfast - but I'll pass on the black pudding thank you.  (I would eat it if put on the plate.)

Sorry if I'm making you all hungry.  I haven't had my breakfast yet this morning but Hubby has just surfaced so it should arrive soon.  I hope so anyway.  

P.S. he's doing hash browns this morning!

Friday's Fave Five - 13/3/25

Well I'm sticking with Spring flowers even though it was very cold again today and Hubby insisted that the rain we had today (Thursday) was more like sleet.  But there are still good things to look back on during the week and then shared at Susanne's site here.

1)  A fun time with our Daughter, DIL and grandkids Nathan and Ella on Saturday - we went bowling and then to a cafe near them for lunch.

It's a long time since I've been bowling and this was reflected in my score lol.  It was a bit hard for Ella (although she had a guide rack and bumpers) but Nathan enjoyed it.  It was a bit noisy even though there wasn't that many people there, certainly not when we arrived anyway but the game itself can be noisy and there were lots of arcade style games & machines there with lots of noises and flashing lights.  A very stimulating experience lol.

Lunch was nice though.  I opted for a jacket potato with tuna and it was huge.

2)  Sunday we spent quite a bit of time helping them clear out their shed.  It's a job we've been meaning to do for ages but it involved taking stuff from the shed at the bottom of the garden and then through the house so we needed a dry day.  We made several trips to the local recycling centre.  It was hard work, and thankfully spiders don't worry me but it was satisfying to get it cleared and swept out so that they can start to use it properly.  Of course the grandchildren wanted attention too so we were there for several hours.

3)  A clean oven.  I must confess my oven was long overdue a thorough clean.  It took a lot of cleaning supplies and elbow grease and, while it's not perfect, it looks so much better.

4)  Daffodils!

I love having them in the house.  I have some on my kitchen window sill and the others are in the living room.  The whole lot were quite cheap in the local supermarket.  They're in full bloom now but hopefully will last for another few days at least.

5)  Book bargains.  Someone on a local Facebook group was getting rid of a lot of paperbacks at just 50p each.  I'd picked out 8 that I thought I'd like and arranged to go and collect them.  I'm trying not to buy books this year but that will now have to be trying not to buy NEW books this year.  It was clear the woman selling them has similar reading tastes to me as she had a lot of books I'd already read but I did get 6 from her (the other 2 I'd picked had already been taken) and one of them has been slotted into a prompt for the reading challenge.  The others have been added to the TBR pile.

Have a good weekend all.

Book Review - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie (2025 #15)

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Roger Ackroyd is a man who knows too much. He knows the woman he loved poisoned her first husband. He knows someone was blackmailing her – and now he knows she killed herself.

When Roger Ackroyd is found murdered, the famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, is called in to find out who the killer is.

 

I'd picked this book out to fit a prompt for the 52book challenge and ordered it from the library. What I didn't realise was is that it's the edition for readers where English is not their first language. These versions are shorter than the originals and have been edited to make the language simpler.

It definitely felt short and consequently rushed. I read it anyway but I didn't enjoy it. Hopefully I won't make that mistake again.

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A-Z Theme Reveal 12/3/25

Well I have been sitting on the fence about this one.  I managed to complete a January challenge this year but it was hard getting something posted everyday.  The A-Z challenge is even harder because there are no prompts given (apart from the letter each day) so it's all down to us bloggers to come up with a theme, ideas, etc etc.

Of course I've had some thoughts about the challenge but unlike other years, when I've done much more forward planning, this year I will be "Winging it with Waffle!"

I have loose plans for some of the letters but I will be mainly thinking of a word relating to each letter and waffling on about it.  So probably a bit of Stream of Consciousness going on, definitely not a lot of highbrow content, hopefully it might be entertaining. Just don't get your hopes up too high - my standards are low.

I hope to see you here soon.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 12/3/25

Joyce provides the questions, we provide the answers and you can join in here.

1. March 15th is known as The Ides of March, the date on which Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C....have you ever been to Rome? If so what did you love most about the city? If not, is this a place you'd like to visit? 

I haven't been to Rome but yes I'd like to visit.

2. 'Rome wasn't built in a day.' What project/activity/improvement (of any kind) do you have going on right now to which this saying might be applied? 

Well I've been making a blanket for a lonnnnnnnng time which thankfully is almost finished. So that's one thing but I also have a lot of things in my house, many of which are not even mine, that need to be moved on.  Either given away, sold, taken to a charity shop or the tip!  (Rubbish dump).  The trouble is sorting all of this is time consuming.  It's a work in progress.

3. Let's do a little this or that with some Italian foods...

• Caprese salad or Prosciutto with melon? 
• Bruschetta or Antipasto? 
• lasagne or ravioli?
• bolognese or Carbonara?
• Risotto or gnocchi? 
• tiramisu~gelato~cannoli? 

4. Of the colours red, white, and green which would I find most prevalent in your home? Which one do you think is most flattering to you in terms of your wardrobe? Have you ever had your colours done? Is that something you'd be interested in doing? 

Well there is a lot of white in the house - doors woodwork etc but I do have green in my kitchen and dining room.  I've also added red accessories in one of the bedrooms.

As for my wardrobe I do have some green in there and some red but I've never had my colours done.  Not something I've ever thought about doing.  I have used a personal shopper in big department stores a couple of times and bought things I would never have looked at if I hadn't been persuaded to try them on.

5. Life would be boring without____________________?

Grandchildren and books to read.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

There's nothing like expecting guests to kick start your spring cleaning.

Book Review - Heartstone - C J Sansom (2025 #14)

Heartstone by C.J. Sansom
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summer, 1545. England is at war. Henry VIII's invasion of France has gone badly wrong, and a massive French fleet is preparing to sail across the Channel. As the English fleet gathers at Portsmouth, the country raises the largest militia army it has ever seen. The King has debased the currency to pay for the war, and England is in the grip of soaring inflation and economic crisis. Meanwhile Matthew Shardlake is given an intriguing legal case by an old servant of Queen Catherine Parr. Asked to investigate claims of 'monstrous wrongs' committed against a young ward of the court, which have already involved one mysterious death, Shardlake and his assistant Barak journey to Portsmouth. Once arrived, Shardlake and Barak find themselves in a city preparing to become a war zone; and Shardlake takes the opportunity to also investigate the mysterious past of Ellen Fettipace, a young woman incarcerated in the Bedlam. The emerging mysteries around the young ward, and the events that destroyed Ellen's family nineteen years before, involve Shardlake in reunions both with an old friend and an old enemy close to the throne. Events will converge on board one of the King's great warships, primed for battle in Portsmouth the Mary Rose...

Phew. This series of books is not short. 715 pages in this instalment. But another great read. This one takes place during the summer of 1545 with England at war with France and facing an invasion. Once again lawyer Matthew Shardlake gets himself caught up in legal cases that prove to be complicated and dangerous.

Despite being long it's a real page turner with lots of historical information included. I really enjoyed it.

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#SoCS - 8/3/25 - Englishmen

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “open book, close eyes, point, write.” When you’re ready to sit down and write your SoCS post, open the closest printed matter, close your eyes, point to a word, and use it as your prompt. Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

Well I used the book that I was currently reading (Heartstone by C J Sansom) and the word I landed on was Englishmen.

It's set during the reign of Henry VIII when England is preparing to ward off a French invasion. 

I think it's hard to define what makes an English man - there were so many invasions previously - Romans, Vikings etc that are any of us truly English?  I have Welsh blood in me from my Dad and Hubby has a mixture of Irish and German in his ancestry so our children are definitely not pure blooded Englishmen.  Being born here no longer automatically makes you English either.  I think we're all just a lot of mongrels really.  

Oops that's probably not politically correct - Crossbreeds.  We're crossbreeds!

Thanks to Linda for the prompt.  Find out what others had to say here.

Friday's Fave Five - 7/3/25

Susanne encourages every week to look back and find the blessings we've had and share them here.  Thanks Susanne.

Here are mine:

1) A hectic but good weekend with my eldest son and his family down from Nottingham and of course that meant we also had my daughter and her family here for a meal each day.  Thankfully we had good weather so the kids were able to get out in the garden - a lot of football was played.

Miles, Nathan, Ella and Noah

Getting them all to pose for a picture takes a lot of cajoling. Noah is holding a picture of Rory and Vinny. They miss them.

2)  

The end is in sight!  I've started to sew the border to my blanket.  Of course I found that I hadn't made enough so I've been knitting that this week.  Nearly there.

3)  A knit and natter session this week helped with getting more border knitted.  We do have a good chat and it's not always about knitting.  This week we did talk about tubular cast-ons but we also covered dying on the toilet, decomposing bodies, Australian Traitors, haunted houses, Agatha Christie and Richard Osman.  And a lovely blanket that one member has made to protect her sofa from her dog!  We always have a laugh.

4)  Hubby has moved all his records and CDs into our new units so the bedrooms are looking less cluttered.  We had to ask for an additional shelf for one of the display units as he has so many CDs.  The guy dropped that off the same day I asked about it and didn't charge us any extra so we were really pleased by that.

5)  I thought I was coming down with a cold yesterday.  I woke up with a scratchy throat and definitely felt below par.  I had a very easy day and, thankfully, today, I woke up feeling fine.  I managed to get out for a walk in the sunshine and I picked up some daffodils in the supermarket.  I do love to have daffodils in the house to show that Spring is definitely coming.

Have a good weekend all.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 5/3/25

Joyce hosts the Hodgepodge here.  Each week she gives us a set of questions to consider and then we can link up and see what other bloggers have said.

1. What do you love most about March? 

The arrival of Spring and the lengthening days.

2. Hey! Did you know March is National Celery Month? Do you like celery? What's something you make (or like to order out) that calls for celery? 

I don't dislike celery but I don't love it.  I'm more likely to eat it in a stew or pasta sauce for example than I am to eat it raw.

3. _______________ is the soundtrack to my life right now. 

Well that would be Hubby either playing some of his records now they are back in place or him playing his guitar.  I'm not one for making a lot of noise but he makes enough for the two of us.

4. Share a favourite motivational quote for overcoming challenges. 

I'm not great at remembering quotes but the philosophy I usually adopt when faced with a challenge is either "just do it" or "just make a start" because I often find the anticipation of something is worse than the actual thing itself.

5. The Hodgepodge lands on Ash Wednesday this year. Do you participate in Lent in some way? If so tell us more. 

Not as much as I used to when the children were younger and we were better at attending Church.  This year though I am determined to be more mindful so yesterday I deleted games from my phone that were really stealing a lot of my time.  I also made a list of things that we need to get done both in the short term and long term.  I do love a list.    

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Definitely feeling more Spring like here - the sun is shining and flowers are blooming.  Makes such a difference.  Even when I'm feeling old - got an invitation letter to apply for my state pension yesterday!