Six Degrees of Separation: We Have Always Lived in the Castle to The Girl Who Chased the Moon

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best. The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links. I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.

This month the starting point is Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle, a book I have not and I am unlikely to read.

I did start reading The Sundial by Shirley Jackson a few years ago because it was a read along book for RIPXVI. I never did finish the book. 

The readalong book for this year's RIP (the 20th time the event has been held!!!) was Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia which I ended up sending back to the library unread

I had a few books set in Mexico I could have chosen but I ended up going with the book Texas by James Michener. I know that sentence seems strange but a large part of the state of Texas was once Mexican territory. 

If I think about the early days of Texas as we know it now then Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry comes to mind.

I need to avoid going down the bird route because I end up doing bird related books quite regularly, so instead I am choosing the last book I read by Larry McMurtry which is Comanche Moon.

The word moon leads me to The Girl who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen.

Next month, the starting point is a novella that you may read as part of this year’s Novellas in November – Seascraper by Benjamin Wood.


Will you be joining us?

In My Kitchen - October

Welcome to the first Saturday of the month where I share everything I have made over the previous month. We were away for 2 weeks in October so didn't have a lot of time for baking. I'll be sharing some of the food highlights of our trip next week

Last month I mentioned that we had bought a chocolate brownies pack from the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and this month I made it. It was super easy in that you just had to add melted butter and eggs, and the kit comes in the baking tray so easy clean up too. It was nice, although I was surprised when my son came out and said that's not the normal one you make is it, and then said he preferred the normal one. I did take some photos but unfortunately my phone died while we were away so it is currently in getting repaired. I hope that I don't lose all my photos. It was a bit of a pain to not have a phone while we were away but there wasn't much I could do about it. 

We did buy some new things from the Reject Shop. They do have some fun homewares ranges. You have to be quick though as they do change the range quite regularly.  I have bought a few bits and pieces over the last 18 months or so. This time it was a small flamingo plate, an elephant bowl and then two mugs. I love my M mug. I was hoping to find an R one for Robert but no joy so he got an Amsterdam one instead.

 

I did go to an author event last month It was a bit different to my normal author event. I went to hear cookbook author and Ottolenghi co-writer Helen Goh speak. As a bonus there were nibbles which were from several of her recipes. Helen Goh was born in Malaysia but moved to Australia when she was young before moving to London which is where she started working for Yotam Ottolenghi. The conversation was a bit of fun, and she confessed to things like loving the meat pies that you can get at the petrol station and that being one of the things she misses when she was in not in Australia. She was promoting her new baking book, Baking and the Meaning of Life.

Some friends of our went away and came back bearing gifts. In this case it was Croatian wine, Turkish Delight and a super cute Finnish moose corkscrew. In return we are giving them a coconut bowl shell from the Maldives. 

52 Recipes Challenge

We didn't try any new recipes this month. 

Weekend Cooking posts from the last month

The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie by Rachel Linden (book review)

Dish (podcast)

Making Couscous (foodie quote)

I am sharing this post with In My Kitchen hosted at Sherry's Pickings.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: November links

Thank you to everyone who contributed a review in October for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. Currently there are nearly 50 links! I will be back in the next week or so with all the statistics for the month. 

I am looking forward to reading your reviews throughout the rest of the year! I am sure there is going to be a lot of great historical fiction discovered and shared with fellow HF lovers over the course of this year!

If you haven't already signed up, it's not too late! The sign up post is here.

Just to recap what participants need to know. At the beginning of each month I will put up a post which will have a Mr Linky embedded into it for you to add your link.

Please remember...

• add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky we’ll be adding to our monthly post (please, do not add your blog link, but the correct address that will guide us directly to your review). 
• it doesn't matter where you review - Bookstagram, Goodreads etc as long as you share a direct link to your review.
• any kind of historical fiction is accepted (fantasy, young adult, graphic novels...)
• if you have time, have a look some of the other links that are present. You never know when you will discover new blogs or books!

You can also join the challenge group on Facebook which you can find here and don't forget to use the #histficreadingchallenge hashtag on the socials.

Let the reading begin!!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Weather Events in the Title

 

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week is a Halloween Freebie. However, in October 2023 one of the themes was Books with Weather Events in the Title/on the Cover. At the time, I put this list of books together but I never got around to adding the commentary and pictures or posting it....until now! It's a bit scary that it has been sitting in draft all this time. See what I did there?

I am starting with some wind and storms, then moving onto sun, rain and snow.

Ill Wind by Rachel Caine - Rachel Caine has a whole series of books called the Weather Warden series that I could have picked for this prompt. This is the first book in the series. (my review)

Season of Storms by Susanna Kearsley - One of the lesser know Kearsley books but, as always, I couldn't resist the urge to include one of her books. Unusually for Kearsley this book is set in Rome.

A Taste of Italian Sunshine by Leonie Mack - Wine making in Italy. Yes please!  (my review)

Under a Greek Sun by Mandy Baggot - Moving on from Italy, this is set on a Greek island   (my review)

An Island in the Sun by Kate Frost - Another country, another island. This time it was Portugal. (my review)

Floodtide by Judy Nunn - I read this years ago and don't remember much about it other than one particular scene. Looking at my rating on Goodreads I didn't like it at all, but the title fits the theme. 

The Right Attitude to Rain by Alexander McCall Smith - This is the third book in the Isabel Dalhousie mystery series set in Edinburgh. (my review)

Midnight in the Snow by Karen Swan - In the past this author put out a summer book and a winter book. Guess which one this was.

Snowy Mountain Cattleman by Alissa Callen - The Snowy Mountains are actually a place in this instance, but they do get a lot of snow. This is the second book in the Bundilla series.

The Secret of Snow by Viola Shipman - I still haven't gotten over not enjoying the last Viola Shipman book I read. This one wasn't bad though.

Weekend Cooking: Making Couscous

 

Couscous with ratatouille is one of my favourite meals and I would happily eat it regularly just as those two components, although other people in my house aren't as keen so we normally have to add some kind of meat, other than lamb which is what I would normally have with it.

When I was read Half Truth by Nadia Mahjouri earlier this year, this passage really caught my attention for a couple of reasons. The first was that I had never once thought about how couscous is made. Here it is an easy starch that comes out of a packet. Just add boiling water and maybe some butter and then fluff it up with a fork.

The second reason was the sense of joy that comes from the passage. Zahra has only just met her Moroccan family and yet they are already building their relationships.

You can read my review of this fabulous book here. 

"Aujourd'hui, on est vendredi!" Fatiha says, eyes crinkling as she smiles. "It's Friday! Come, we make couscous. Amir, il dort? He is sleeping, no?" I nod.

I follow her to the kitchen - a small, tiled room where a free-standing gas cooker rests against the wall. Facing it is a bench with a deep white sink, and a small table with two wooden stools. The two women I saw the day I arrived have disappeared - neighbours, Fatiha told me, who came to help to cook  a special meal. On the table is a wide flat-bottomed clay bowl. Fatiha pats the stool nearest the door, gesturing for me to sit down.

"Watch," she tells me. "C'est important! In Morocco, you know, when a woman can make couscous, that means that she is read to marry." She laughs, slapping her hand on my thigh. I think of the packet couscous we buy at home, just add water and stir. I smile - I'm pretty sure that's not what she is talking about. With two hands, she opens a large plastic container before pouring yellow grain into the wide bowl.

"La semoule," she explains, putting the bowl on the floor between us. Beside her is a bowl of water. She dips her fingers in it, sprinkling fine drops over the semolina. Her back is bent double, the bowl secured firmly between her slippered feet. In one seamless movement, she runs her hands through the contents, scooping and piling the tiny grains as though her hands were a wind blowing across the desert sand, piling dunes that are just as soon destroyed as they are created. Around and around her hands fly, sweeping the grains with them, mixing the water, picking them up and letting the stream of semolina run through them.

"Try," she encourages. I move my damp fingers tentatively, careful not to let any grains stick together, conscious of the movement of my fingers. There is sensuous joy to the process. She sprinkles more water and when she is happy with the consistency, she pours the grains into a metal steamer. She puts the steamer on top of a boiling pot of water, wrapping the gap with a thick layer of plastic wrap. She hands me a bag of carrots and shows me how to scrape off the peel with the back of a knife.

As we sit and work, I ask Fatiha about her life. 

Fatiha shares about her life, the things that a Moroccan woman accepts as opposed to what an Australian woman thinks, and then"

Amir begins to cry in the bedroom, and my milk has already let down, two wet patches soaking through my grey top. As I feed him, Fatiha begins the second steam of the couscous, piling the vegetables and chicken into the pressure cooker. It will be steamed a third time over the stock water before she transfers it into a large round clay tagine, artfully arranging the meat and vegetables and chicken into a pyramid over the bed of couscous. By the time it's cooked, my stomach is rumbling as the rich scent permeates the house. Abdulrazak, Abdul Karim, Malika and the children join us around the small table. Soon we all laughing as Zeynab tries to teach me to roll the hot couscous into balls in the tips of my fingers; I copy her but fail, couscous spilling all over my lap. Sheepish, I take the proffered spoons, helping myself from the shared bowl, the warmth of the togetherness filling a space in me I had not realised had been there. 

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Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Blog Tour: Christmas on Fifth Avenue by Julie Caplin

 

Do you have a place that you dream about visiting at Christmas? I would love to visit more Christmas markets in Europe, and to visit London and New York! Whilst I can't see actually visiting these places in the next couple of years, I was more than happy to have the ultimate New York Christmas experience through the pages of this book!

Evie Green has gone viral for all the wrong reasons. As an experienced journalist, she should have known better than to fall for a scam. As a pretty decent person she should have known better than to "borrow" the money that she needed for the scam from her housemates. When a video of her housemates confronting her goes viral, she is stood down from her job.

Evie was scammed when scammers offered her a once in a lifetime holiday to New York. It is a place that Evie and her mother had longed dreamed of visiting, but it hadn't happened before her mother passed away. 

The only good thing to come out of this mess is that the Plaza Hotel in New York has offered her a first class, all expenses paid trip to New York at Christmas time. The only catch is she will have to document all of her experiences and share them on social media as a PR exercise.

American Noah Sanderson has some experience of going viral too. Noah is a profession soccer player in the UK and so is used to a little media attention.  This time he made the news for a crunching tackle that broke both of the legs of an opponent. He too is stood down, and so decides to go to New York to get away from all the headlines. 

Noah and Evie first run into each other at the airport but they already have preconceived ideas about each other. When they keep on running into each other, for their managers and the PR team it is a Christmas gift. After all, what could be better than watching two people rehabilitate their reputations as they undertake the various festive adventures in New York. But what if the attraction is real?

I loved the New York setting of this book. If you think of any Christmassy activity in New York, it is here from looking at the fantastically decorated houses, to the big Christmas tree to skating on the lake in Central Park and at the rink at the Rockefeller centre. There are also some activities that I most definitley would not undertake! I was glad that it was Noah and Evie and not me!

Evie does a lot of growth in this book, gradually realising that she has kind of shut herself down since her mother died. There is also growth for Noah who has a very regimented routine and needs to loosen up a little. They are both at places in their careers where they are dependant on other people to make decisions about their futures, and they could lose their jobs. I loved Evie and Noah together.

I have read a few Julie Caplin books now, and I really enjoy the way that she brings each new location to life. So far I have read books set at a vineyard in France, Positano, Prague and now New York and I do have a couple more on my Kindle to read at some point. This is the first in a new series called Christmas Escapes so I am looking forward to seeing what other Christmas romances she brings us!

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews. Thanks to the publisher, Rachel's Random Resources and Netgalley for the review copy. Check out the other stops on the blog tour as well!

Rating 4/5

About the book

Christmas on Fifth Avenue

Welcome to New York, where the Christmas lights dazzle, the snow is falling and love is just around the corner…

Evie Green's Christmas dream turns into a nightmare when a viral video makes her the laughing stock of the internet. But then a 5 star hotel sees a PR opportunity and invites her to New York for a Christmas she’ll remember forever.

Enter Noah Sanderson, a disgraced soccer star seeking anonymity. Forced to fake a festive romance for the cameras, sparks fly – but not the twinkling Christmas kind!

As Fifth Avenue sparkles in all its holiday glory, can The City that Never Sleeps show these two frosted hearts that, maybe, the best love stories are the ones you never see coming.

Don't miss this cozy Christmas spin off series from the million-copy-bestselling author of the Romantic Escapes series! Each book can be read as a standalone.

Guaranteed:

Forced proximity

Grumpy sunshine

Happy ever after

Cozy comfort read

New York Christmas magic – think red velvet bows, chunky tartan-knit scarves, giant red baubles, the Rockefeller Centre Christmas Tree, Macy's, The Nutcracker and more!

Purchase Links 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brand-Christmas-Romance-Julie-Caplin-ebook/dp/B0DJ6HS9NJ/

https://www.amazon.com/Brand-Christmas-Romance-Julie-Caplin-ebook/dp/B0DJ6HS9NJ/ 

About the author

Jules Wake aka Julie Caplin is an internationally bestselling author with over 2 million sales over twenty five books including the highly successful Romantic Escape series which has been translated into over 24 languages. Her books have topped the charts in the UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Iceland, Italy, Czech Republic and Slovakia.

After reading English at university, Jules Wake worked in PR where she honed her fiction writing skills on press releases and swanned around Europe taking journalists on gastronomic press trips. These visits inspired the locations of many of her books. She’s now a full-time author and what better job is there than making stuff up! It certainly beats housework.

As an avid romance fan, she’s written in several genres including historical romantic fiction, contemporary women’s romance fiction and romantic comedy. October will see the publication of her twenty eight book, Christmas on Fifth Avenue.

Social Media Links

https://www.facebook.com/JulieCaplinAuthor/

Instagram @juliecaplinauthor

Top Ten Tuesday: Arches and Windows

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Cozy/Atmospheric Reads

I am going a bit rogue this week and I am choosing covers which features archways or windows. It's an idea that has been calling to me for a couple of months now, and today is the day that I make it happen! These are all books that I have read this year!

The Lost Garden by Angela Petch - This is the book that made me think about doing this as a topic. (my review)

Winter Nights at the Bay Bookshop by Jessica Redland - This arch kind of reminded me of the arch window on Play School, which is the window I hoped they would choose every time. Australians will get this, or at least Australians of a certain age! (my review)

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett - This is the first book in the Emily Wilde series. It probably almost doesn't count but the frame forms an arch like shape. At least that's my story and I am sticking to it. (my review)

The Magic of Provence by Alison Roberts - love the view extending out through the arch here. (my review)

The Santorini Writing Retreat by Eva Glyn - It looks like this might be a picture from a balcony but the flowers form an arch to look out across that iconic Santorini view. (my review)

The House at River's Edge by Rachel Burton - The windows are flung wide open on this cover (my review)

A Greek Island Gift by Mandy Baggot - Love the colours on this cover! (my review)

Under a Riviera Moon by Helen McGinn - How nice would it be to sit outside on a beautiful warm Riviera evening and look at this view. (My review)

Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki - I am really looking forward to reading the follow up to the book soon! (My review)

The Secrets of the Rose by Nicola Cornick - I do love it when you see an series of arches covered in flowers like this! (My review)

Spell the Month in Books: October

Reviews From the Stacks

For 2025 I have decided to have a go at Spell the Month in Books which is hosted at Reviews From the Stacks. The link party opens on the first Saturday of the month, but I won't be posting until after that as I already have other things scheduled every Saturday and for the first two Sundays of the month. I will be sharing this post with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz.

The idea is that you use the titles of books to spell the month name. The theme for October is This month’s theme is Trick or Treat: books that you feel strongly about, whether positively or negatively

Let's get started

O - Once Upon a Thyme by Jane Lovering - I started reading Jane Lovering's books a couple of years ago now and I really enjoy them. Most of them are set in Yorkshire which is near where I lived when I lived in the UK.

C - Cross Stitch by Diana Gabaldon - Don't be confused. This isn't a Diana Gabaldon book hou havne;t read. In the UK and Australia the first novel in the Outlander series was originally called Cross Stitch.

T - To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis - I feel like a reread of this whole series wouldn't go astray!

O - On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta - I also feel like I could easily reread all of Melina Marchetta's books too. I think of this book every time I hear the song Flame Trees by Cold Chisel. Every time without fail!

B - Beartown by Fredrik Backman - This was a 5 star read from earlier this year. I need to read the second book in the trilogy!

E - Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman - This one was a five star read from a few years ago!

R - Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly - I loved the Rose trilogy from Jennifer Donnelly and this book. I haven't read much by her since then but I have such fond memories of the books I love.

November's theme is Nostalgia. Not sure what direction I will take that one in. Good job I have a month to think about it.