This week...

I'm reading

I didn't have a huge amount of reading time or inclination this week.

I did finish A New Life in Amsterdam by Helga Jensen which I reviewed here. And now I am immersed in Christmas on Fifth Avenue by Julie Caplin, but I should finish it today. My review will be up next week but basically if you have ever thought about spending Christmas in New York, this is the book for you. 

I did finish listening to Heidi's Guide to Four Letter Words by Tara Sivec and Andi Arndt  on audiobook. This book was an Audible exclusive book and when I was looking for which book to read next I realised that it was leaving Audible soon so I figured I should probably listen to it. It was a lot of fun and I laughed out loud several times. I do wonder what it says about me that the last two audiobooks have both included a list which consisted of different names for the male appendage. To be fair, the first one was non fiction book about writing sex scenes and also included a shorter list of words for the female equivalent. 

I haven't chosen a book to listen to next. It will be a surprise for all of us!

I did go to an author event last week. 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 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.

It was Love Your Bookshop Day this weekend so I did my duty and visited a bookshop which was a new one to me! I did get this adorable little penguin because I bought two books from Penguin (the publisher). 

We also visited a local farmers market where there was a stall selling lots of book related paraphernalia, mostly 3D printed items. My husband bought me this cute bookshelf pictured above, which you can expect to see popping up in my Bookstagram photos at some point! Also fun to play with all the little books and the blocks!

I'm watching

The only thing that I watched that was not quiz shows or British comedy shows this week was a movie called All of You. It was billed as a sci-fi romance but I am not sure it was really either of those things. The sci-fi element was that you could pay to have a test done that tells you who your soulmate was. The story is about two friends played by Brett Goldstein (of Ted Lasso fame) and Imogen Poots. She does the test and is matched with a man, but they have always circled around each other. It follows them for 12 years or so as they battle their attraction to each other, sometimes with more success than other times. It was interesting, but ultimately didn't truly work for me.

Here's the trailer

Life

We are getting ready to go on holidays later this week. 2 weeks in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Can not wait! 

There will be no This Week post for the next couple of weeks

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Satisfying Series
Blog Tour: A New Life in Amsterdam by Helga Jensen
Weekend Cooking: The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie by Rachel Linden
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: September Statistics 




I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date, Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and the Good Book and a Cup of Tea link up hosted at Boondock Ramblings

Blog Tour: A New Life in Amsterdam by Helga Jensen

 

Sandy is feeling a bit lost in life. Her ex husband has moved back to Australia and started a new life, and now her daughter has done the same thing. Sandy tends to make herself feel better with impulse buys. Her house is stuffed with items and clothes that she just had to have but they after the initial buzz when she purchases them, they don't really bring her any joy.

When she makes the biggest online impulse buy of them all, a houseboat on a canal in Amsterdam, it is a chance for a new adventure, a new start. Amsterdam was a place that she visited years before with her friend and loved, and so it almost feels like a dream to be able to live there.  The houseboat needs a lot of work inside and out, and before long Sandy finds herself immersed in life in Amsterdam, mainly thanks to her friendly and very attractive neighbour, Abe, and the real estate agent who sold her the boat.

I did enjoy all the sights and sounds of Amsterdam, especially when Sandy's former neighbour Debbie came to visit. 

It would be totally cool to be able to stay on a houseboat in the middle of Amsterdam and be right in the city. I don't know that I would want to have to do all the renovations, although my husband does love a project so it could be right up his alley.

In some ways this book felt a bit surface level to me. Whilst her shopaholic tendencies were important in setting up the story, they were just glossed over that, almost like the problem was solved as soon as she moved into the houseboat. If there's one thing that I do know from having moved countries and states it is that the one constant is you, and so your problems do tend to go with you.

My brother in law and his family live in the Netherlands, not too far from Amsterdam, so the likelihood is quite high that I will visit there again. I am slowly collecting a few ideas for places I would like to visit when next we go there. For example, from Melissa Ashley's The Naturalist of Amsterdam I found out about Hortus Botanicus, the oldest botanical gardens in the world. If I could only choose one place to visit from this book it would be the Amsterdam Boekenmarkt - the book market.

I did also find myself going down the rabbit hole looking at felted animals. They look so cute!

Helga Jensen writes the kind of books I love to read right now. They feature older characters making a new start in amazing places. I look forward to reading more from her! Oh, and how lovely is this cover!

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews. Thanks to the publisher, and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy.

Rating 3.5/5

About the book

A New Life in Amsterdam

Could down-sizing her life mean up-sizing her dreams?

Since her daughter grew up and left home, Sandy has found herself filling her house with things - impulse purchases that she just has to have but that quickly lose their sheen. Why would she need an expensive set of copper pans when she has no one to cook for?

Realising that her shopping habit is out of control, she asks herself: can she de-clutter, downsize and start a new life?

She has always wanted to live on a barge, and she reasons that there is no way she would have room for random purchases on a boat. Taking the bravest decision of her life, Sandy buys and refurbishes a barge in the beautiful city of Amsterdam.

Relishing her independence, she is not looking for love, but as the nights draw in and the leaves start to fall from the trees, she finds herself drawn to cafe owner and expert hot chocolate maker Abe.

Is she willing to take a second chance on finding the one?

Purchase Link - https://geni.us/k2IyNBF

About the Author 

Helga Jensen is an internationally award-winning British/Danish best selling author and journalist. Her debut novel was a winning entry in the 2017 Montegrappa First Fiction competition at Dubai’s Emirates Literary Festival. Her debut was also a contender for the coveted 2021 Joan Hessayon Award for new writers. Helga's best selling novel, Fly me to Paris, was a finalist for the 2024 Popular Romantic Fiction Award. In 2025, her novel, A Christmas in Prague, was also a finalist for the Popular Romantic Fiction Award.



Helga holds a BA Hons in English Literature and Creative Writing, along with a Creative Writing MA from Bath Spa University. She is currently finishing a Creative Writing PhD.



Social Media Links –

Twitter - @HelgajensenF

Instagram - @Helgajensenauthor

Facebook - @Helgajensenfordeauthor

This week

 I'm reading

After a few quieter weeks it was a busy reading week this week!

I finished reading The Last Stop on the Winter Wonderland Express by  Rebecca Raisin which was a thoroughly enjoyable Christmas romp on a train through Europe.

I also finished listening to an audiobook this week. Somewhat unusually it was a non fiction book about writing. I Give You My Body...How I Write About Sex by Diana Gabaldon was mentioned at the reader retreat I attended earlier this year, purely because of some of the names she lists for the male appendage which was mentioned as being particularly humourous. The book was narrated by Herself (which is what dedicated DG fans call her) but it also featured a lot of excerpts from the audiobooks of the series. The two things I took away from it were that Diana Gabaldon talks really fast, and it also reminded me how much I loved this series back in the day. I still haven't read the last book because the last couple have been a bit like hard work to get through. I haven't yet started my next audiobook. Not sure what I am going to choose. 

I started reading A New Life in Amsterdam by Helga Jenssen. I will have the review for that one later this week. 

I also started The Oyster Catcher by Jo Thomas. I have read a few of Jo Thomas' books over the year and really enjoyed them all, so this is me now starting to go back through her backlist.

A few months ago now, I went to an author event which featured Jodi McAlister who had just launched An Academic Affair. This weekend was our read on a theme book club meeting and the theme for this time was Romance. Now, I am never going to be short of a read for this theme, but I decided that this book was going to be the one that I specifically chose to read. And I loved it!

I also talked about The Last Love Note by Emma Grey.

Here are just some of the books that other members read this month!

We agreed that for next month is a freebie. Not sure if that is going to make it harder or easier to choose which book to talk about. 

I did go to a book launch this week. Steph Vizard's new book A Smart Girl's Guide to Second Chances was launched at a local bookstore, and it was standing room only there were so many people there! It was a good night, and I got to see a few other bloggers, bookstagrammers and authors that I am getting to know as we all turn up at the same events from time to time. I am looking forward to reading the book. 

Books let our imaginations travel where our feet cannot - Nora Nguyen

Here's where I travelled through books in September

Australia

Tasmania - An Academic Affair by Jodi McAlister

Western Australia - Daughter of Batavia by Stefanie Koens

Asia

Japan - The Calico Cat at the Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takahashi, The Phone Box at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messina

Europe

France - A French Inheritance by Jennifer Bohnet

Ireland - Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Italy - The Lost Garden by Angela Petch, Daughter of Genoa by Angela Petch

UK - Winter Nights at the Bay Bookshop by Jessica Redland, The Life She Could Have Lived by Laura Pearson

US 

Seattle - The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie by Rachel Linden

I also share my favourite reads for the month on Bookstagram and here. I read 11 books in September which is down a bit from the last couple of months but not really surprising. An Academic Affair was a 5 star read and the others shown were both 4.5 star reads! 

I'm watching

After book club on Saturday three of us went and sat at a cafe near the beach and just watched the world go by before we went to see Napoli - New York as part of the Italian Film Festival. It was a good movie. It's the story of two orphans from Napoli who stow away on a boat to get to America and all the things that happen to them along the way. I actually like it a lot. It was a big melodramatic but ti was entertaining.

Life

We booked our next year's holiday and I am so excited! However, my attention is now turned to our next holiday which is in a couple of weeks. Better start getting organised. 

Max

Because my son was away at the same time we were, we had to get a petsitter in for Max. I think he was okay with it! She shared a lot of photos with us over the three days we were away.


Posts from the last week



Top Ten Tuesday: It's a Flower!
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - October links

In My Kitchen - September

Six Degrees of Separation - I Want Everything to Dear Mrs Bird





I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date, Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and the Good Book and a Cup of Tea link up hosted at Boondock Ramblings