This Week

I'm reading

I am well and truly into my Christmas reading now! This week I finished reading The Last Christmas by Liz Fenwick, which I reviewed here. I do have a couple more festive reads coming up too!

I started reading a really interesting book called A Short History of Longans by Mirandi Riwoe. who is an Australian author. 

I also finished reading not 1 but 2 volumes of The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion by Beth Brower. To be honest, if I could I would have gone straight onto book 3 if I didn't have to wait for it to come into the library! I had listened to vol 1 as an audiobook, but I read the book of volume 2.

In other holiday reading, I also started reading Grim Tidings by B K Borison. Once I have finished this i will be completely caught up on B K Borison's books, until the new one comes out next week!

I'm watching

After a few weeks of not really watching much, this week we started watching a new cooking show called Recipe of the Year. It features members of the Country Women's Association who are renowned for being amazing bakers. 

The 2026 season of Great Australian Bake Off came to an end this week. Fortunately, the new series of Great British Bake Off started, so Bake Off equilibrium is maintained. 

On Saturday night, I watched the movie Practical Magic, yes, the original one! I finished listening to the book a couple of weeks ago so it seemed like a good opportunity to watch it. I don't believe I have seen it before. Maybe I will be able to watch Practical Magic 2 soon.

Life


We have been waiting for the SailGP tickets to be released for the Hong Kong race in January, and finally, this week they were released. Within a 30 minute period we bought tickets, booked flights and bought insurance! Accommodation is also booked so we are all set!

I did go to an author event last week. It featured Aussie authors Chris Hammer and Louise Milligan being interviewed by Mark Smith! It was a very interesting conversation. It always makes me laugh when I listen to writers from different genres and hear them talking about things and comparing it to what other genre writers say! They are very similar!

I know some people have been getting a malware warning when they visited my blog, and this week I started getting it this week. A couple of weeks ago, I had removed some blank pages to see if that fixed the issues. but alas no. This week I tracked it back to the image slider I had at the top of the blog. It is one of my favourite features of this blog design but I have removed the codefor now to try and fix the malware issue. Please let me know if you have any issues, but I am hoping that this will fix the issue.

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Books Published Under Multiple Titles

Blog Tour: The Christmas Rift by K L Crear

Blog Tour: The Last Christmas by Liz Fenwick

Weekend Cooking: Che Dio perdona a tutti (Holy Cannoli)






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

This week

I'm reading

It's been a busy reading week. It always looks even busier than usual when I finish an audio book and start the next one which is what happened this week.

I finished listening to Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. Given that this book was published in 1995 it is possibly a little surprising that I am only just reading it now. I did enjoy it but I was expecting to love, love, love it! Never mind. The narration was by Saskia Maarleveld as she did a very good job, as she always does. 

For my next audio, I started listening to The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion Vol 1 by Beth Brower. The good news is that this is a very short book so the audio comes in at around 3.5 hours. I already think I will be picking up the next book in the series. 

In terms of books I read rather than listened to, I finished Twenty Dates by Ko Porteous which was a lot of fun. I reviewed this book here.

I then read The Christmas Rift by K L Crear. If I was going to give a one word review for this book it would be "silly", but it was exactly what I needed. I need to to come up with more than one word for my review which will be up later this week. I do have another review due later this week too. Better start reading that one soon!

It was book club meeting on the weekend. Normally we are a read on a theme book club but every 18 months or so we agree to all read the same book like a more traditional book club. This month, our choice was A Far Flung Life for M L Stedman. Most people liked it well enough, but I absolutely loved it and have given it a 5 star rating! We had lovely weather over the weekend, so it was nice to be able to sit outside and enjoy the fresh air while we met this time. We have never done that before!

I'm watching


We had a pretty quiet weekend but we did go to see an Italian movie called Holy Cannoli on the weekend. It was a really fun movie, with plenty of soccer, religion and cakes! Here's the trailer

Life

All of our visitors left during the week so a quiet weekend really! And most of the major deliverables have been done, so now I have to focus on all the things I didn't get done over the crazy last few weeks!

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Opposites!
Blog Tour: The Twenty Dates by Ko Porteous
Weekend Cooking: The Slow Cooker Supper Club by Sue Heath
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

This Week

I'm reading

My reading was somewhat back to normal this week. I finished reading Business Casual by B K Borison, and I also finished reading Pachinko by Min Jin Lee.

I also finished reading The Slow Cooker Supper Club by Sue Heath. My plan is to review this one on Saturday. I enjoyed this one but not as much as the earlier books she published under this name.

I also started reading Twenty Dates by Ko Porteous. I need to get a hurry on with this one as my review is due up on Wednesday! I then have three books I need to read in the next week!

I'm watching

No time for watching anything at the moment!

Life


My youngest stepdaughter is back from the UK on holidays with her partner, and the older one got engaged in July, so they decided to combine a celebration of the two events and so we had 17 people here for lunch on Saturday. Because most of the guests originally came from South Africa we had a South African flavoured barbecue, with boerewors, pap (pounded maize meal) and chakalaka and then milk tart and peppermint crisp for dessert. It was a really lovely afternoon, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves which is great.

The photo at the bottom left is my husband holding court at the barbecue with the two girl's partners, both of whom happen to be English.

The next day we took a bit of a road trip along the Great Ocean Road which is one of the great drives in the world. On Sunday we drove as far as Apollo Bay and then on Monday morning we went to the Twelve Apostles and then home again. Along the way we managed to see a koala and a wallaby (and not just the painted one at the Chocolaterie.

I go back to work tomorrow but they are here for a couple more days and then they drive up the east coast of Australia

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Things That Make Me Happy!
Afternoon Tea Diaries: Native High Tea at the Westin



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

This week...

I'm reading

Well it finally happened. Things are so frantic and stressful at work that I didn't actually finish reading anything this week!

However, I did start reading another book because it makes perfect sense to do that when you already have three on the go, and two more that you say that you are desperate to read right?

The book that I started to read was Business Casual by B K Borison. It is a book that I have out of the library and some other patron had put a hold on it so I couldn't extend it. How rude!

It is time to look at my best reads on September. I only read 9 books this month, which is a bit less than usual. I had three 4.5 star reads, but I did one 5 star read which I reviewed here

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

Every month I also like to look at where I travelled through the pages of the books I read! Here's where I travelled in September

US

South Carolina - Other Birds

Europe

England - Mrs Quinn's Rise to Fame, The Way We Are Now (Yorkshire)
Scotland - Winter Magic at Hollybrae Castle
Ireland - The Pirate Queen 
France - The French Christmas Market

Asia

Japan - Before I Knew I Loved You, Matcha on Monday, Dreamers of the Full Moon Coffee Shop

I'm watching


Not much really

Life

Last weekend the weather where we were was beautiful. This weekend, we were back to winter weather! Melbourne is known for changeable weather most of the time though, so probably shouldn't be surprised! What was a surprise was that we had a pretty decent sized earthquake early on Saturday morning. There's no damage but it is unusual for us. 

Despite the rain, we had a lovely day on Saturday. We started by going to a Virtual Reality experience called Starstruck, which takes you exploring through the cosmos. After that we went to one of the fancy hotels in town and had a afternoon tea.  This was pretty traditional but with a twist - everything had native flavours in it! It was really delicious! One of the unusual things I tried was a butterfly pea tea which changed colour when you added lemon into it!

Then on Saturday night we went to an event to hear the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra perform the songs of Elton John! It was a really fun night!

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Spring Freebie!
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: October links
In My Kitchen: September
Six Degrees: Life of M to Champagne Widows




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

This week

I'm reading

My reading was more normal this week than it was last week!

I was pleased to finish my selection for the Classics Spin with a couple of weeks to spare. This time, the selection was The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. Not only did I finish reading it, but I also managed to get the review done which you can read here. 

I also finished my second Christmas novel for this year which was The French Christmas Market by Gillian Harvey. I like her books and this was another good one! 

On Thursday, I reviewed three Japanese novels. I was hoping to get through a fourth but my reviews were all done before I finished reading the fourth one which was Dreamers of the Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki. I ended up finishing it over the weekend

I also started reading The Slow Cooker Supper Club by Sue Heath. I have loved both of the Sue Heath books I have read previously and I have high hopes for this one!

I'm watching

A couple of months we watched archaeologist Dr Alice Roberts as she went in search of the Ottoman Empire by Train and really enjoyed it. This week we saw that she has a new series out where she goes in search of the Roman Empire. It feels like there is plenty of Roman history around but we will still watch it as her shows are always interesting!

Max

Max went on holidays this weekend. It's the first time he's gone sightseeing around the state. He got to work along the edge of Lake Mulwala, he got to see New South Wales, he got to explore lots and lots of new places!

Life

Last week was a crazy, crazy week including a banking outage on pay day which was pretty stressful. Thankfully the bank system came back up at around 7.30 and the bank extended the deadline so everything got sent in due course. It was only a four day week as we had a long weekend with Friday off, but it felt like five days worth of work!

You may have guessed that if Max went away for the weekend, then there's every chance we did too! We went up to stay with friends who moved to a town called Yarrawonga. We had a lovely weekend. We had a chance to catch up, we went to lunch at a winery that has been in operation more than 100 years old. We crossed the river and went to a town called Corowa in New South Wales, where we visited a mill that has been converted into a Whiskey and Chocolate Factory, including an amazing events space and a cafe. We also managed to see two new art silos

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Spring TBR 
Mini Reviews: Three Japanese Novels
Cook the Books: Mrs Quinn's Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford
Classics Club Spin: The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith





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

This week...

I'm reading

Normally I am pretty consistent with the number of books that I am reading and that I talk about reading in the last week. There's the books I started last week and finished this week. There's the ones I both started and finished this week, and then there's the ones I started this week but will finish next week, so I usually mention four, maybe five books.  This week, things have gotten a little out of control.

Things started normal enough. I had started reading The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon which I really enjoyed, and I reviewed here. This was a five star read for me!

Then I read Mrs Quinns Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford, which is the current Cook the Books selection. My review for that will be up on Saturday, along with the delicious recipe I was inspired to make when reading it.

This is where things got a little out of control. I then started reading Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. I read a couple of chapters and I am definitely thinking I am going to like it.

However, I know that I need to read and review The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith by this weekend, so I picked that one up. It is a pretty different read for me. Quite intense really. I am around two thirds of the way through

So then I felt like I needed something a bit lighter, a bit more....festive maybe, so I started The French Christmas Market by Gillian Harvey.

And then I realised that I have three books due back at the library this week and I can't extend them so I read Matcha on Monday by Michiko Aoyama. I think I will probably have to return the other two and reborrow them. 

I did reach my Goodreads goal of 104 books for the year this week, which is pleasing!

I'm watching


Nothing new really




Life

Not a lot happening other than going to work and then collapsing in a heap at the end of the day. It is a four day week for us this coming weekend so I am looking forward to going away for the weekend. 

I did go and get my nails done on the weekend! Each one is a different pastel colour. I like them a lot. My husband thought they were "lacking maturity". Oh well! My nails. And then I realised that they pretty much matched one of my book covers. 

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Author Events
Blog Tour: Winter Magic at Hollybrae Castle by Jaimie Admans
Blog Tour: The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon
The Afternoon Tea Diaries: Mary Eats Cake



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

This week...

I'm reading

Last week I had a pretty good reading week. I finished The Way We Are Now by Julie Houston, which I really enjoyed, particularly because most of the book was set against the background of the 1980s miner's strikes in the UK, which isn't a setting I have seen before! My review is here.

I then read my first Christmas book for the year. I read Winter Magic at Hollybrae Castle by Jaimie Admans which had a very funny start and was lovely from that point on! I hadn't read either of these authors before, but I am going to look out for them in the future.

On audio, I finished listening to Before I Knew I Loved You by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, the sixth book in the Before the Coffee Goes Cold series. It felt like the rules got stretched a little bit this time around. I did just see something to say he had finished writing the seventh book.

I then started listening to Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. It kind of surprises me that I haven't read this before, or seen the movie, but now that there is a second movie coming out it feels like the right time to read it. I am struggling with the narrator a little bit and it's not because of the performance. Last year I listened to Saskia Maarleveld narrate Kate Quinn's The Briar House and that performance was so good, I still associate her voice with that story.

I have also started The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon although there is every chance that I have left it too late! My review is due on Wednesday and it is a VERY big book! The pressure is on!

I'm watching


We went to the movies to see De Gaulle- Resistance, which is a French biopic about General Charles de Gaulle. It was so interesting to see the French perspective of some of the events of WWII and I learnt a lot that I didn't previously know. There's going to be a second movie out in November and I am definitely going to see it

Life

The biggest story this week is that my son had an accident and totalled his car. He is fine, although he is learning some life lessons!

In better news his 3x3 basketball team qualified to go to Japan for the world EXE finals in a few weeks, so it has been a good news bad news kind of week for him

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Books on the Cover
Blog Tour: The Way We Are Now by Julie Houston
Weekend Cooking: Bake Your Sweet Time by Tat Effby
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: August 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

This week....

I'm reading

This week I finished off my Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge by finishing reading One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle and then reading The Shampoo Effect by Jenny Jackson. Both of these were okay reads without being spectacular.

I also read Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen which was a much more enjoyable read!

Now I am reading The Way We Are Now by Julie Houston for a blog tour later this week! It is set in the early 1980s in Yorkshire and so far it is really good! This is a new author to me.

This weekend it was my read on a theme book club meeting. Our theme was environment and interestingly two of us read the same book which was Wild Dark Shore and another person read another book by her as well! Next time we are doing our annual meeting where we do read the same book like most other  bookclubs. We will be reading A Far-Flung Life by M L Stedman. I am looking forward to reading that book!

I had a fun afternoon on Sunday afternoon when I went to an author event from Tess Woods where she was talking about her new book, The Cairo Bridal Shop. The cover on this book is gorgeous, and I am really looking forward to read it! I also got to have a delicious cocktail, listen to interesting conversation and meeting new people. There were a few people who didn't like some of the conversation because it was a bit political, but I didn't mind too much!

Before we look forward to September, I am going to take this opportunity to think about what my best reads were for the month of August. I read 15 books for the month and had some great reads. My one 5 star read was The Little Porto Book Club by Rebecca Raisin, but I also loved books Minnie Darke, B K Borison and the aforementioned Charlotte McConaghey.

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

Every month I also like to look at where I travelled through the pages of the books I read! Here's where I travelled in August

Europe

France - The Secret Dressmaker, Kate and Frida

Britain - Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens

Portugal - The Little Porto Book Club

Italy - Italy and Forever, The Secret Diary of Rome, One Italian Summer

Australia

Queensland - Finding Forever in Pelican Crossing

Antarctica (Australian territories) -  The Wild Dark Shore

Various states - Three Juliets

Africa 

Egypt - The Nile Cruise

America

Washington - Kate and Frida

Maryland - And Now, Back to You, Mixed Signals

Asia

Japan - The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop

I'm watching

Nothing new really.

Life

On Sunday afternoon we went and had a traditional afternoon tea at a place called Mary Eats Cake. It was a place that I had been looking forward to trying for a while!


Max

A couple of months ago we changed Max's medication, and he is obviously feeling pretty good! Yesterday we were all out, and so he was home by himself. He helped himself to a huge helping of pasta that my son had left on the cupboard. I was very surprised that he could stand up on his back two legs long enough to even eat a small bit let alone have a bit of a feast. Who knew!

Posts from the last week

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - September links
Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Place Names in the Title
Three Juliets by Minnie Darke
Blog Tour: The Secret Diary of Rome by M A McLaughlin

In My Kitchen: August

Six Degrees: Wild Dark Shore to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close



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

This week.....

I'm reading

Back to work this week, so in theory I had less reading time! I did still manage to get through several books.

I had started Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T J Klune last week and I finished that book, which was one of my Goodreads Summer Challenge selections. I liked the book, but it did feel a bit preachy.

I then read A Secret Diary in Rome by M A McLaughlin for a blog tour. My review will be up later this week!

Then I moved onto Mixed Signals by B K Borison. I am working my way through all of Borison's books, and only have one more book to read before her new book comes out in October. 

The last book I started this week was One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle, which is another challenge selection. I have been meaning to read Rebecca Serle for a long time! After this book, I only have one more challenge book to read. I do know what I am going to read, I just have to read it

Did you notice that three of these four books had author names with just initials! That's a bit of a funny coincidence!

I'm watching


We didn't start anything new this week




Life


Why is it when I return from holidays I often get sick! Pushing on though. No time off work as things are ramping up on the project I am involved in.

On Saturday I went to the inaugural Readings Romance event (Readings is a bookstore chain here in Melbourne). The even featured the always amazing Dr Anita Heiss as a guest speaker, and then there were two really fun panels. The first talked about the meet-cute and the second was about mis-matched characters! There was swag, a paper cup of bubbles, great conversation and lots of books lovers in the room!

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Places
Italy and Forever by Leonie Mack
Kate and Frida by Kim Fay
Sunday Salon: Aussie Authors Mini Reviews




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

This week....and last week!

I'm reading

I was in Bali last week, so this week's post is really all about the things that I have done over the last two weeks! Because we deliberately didn't over schedule too much, I did get quite a bit of reading done. First though, how cute is this mural that we saw near a bookshop in Ubud! Ubud is home to the Sacred Monkey Forest so there are references to monkeys everywhere!

Before we went away, I finished reading The Little Porto Book Club by Rebecca Raisin. I always enjoy Rebecca Raisin's books, and this was no exception. It was, however, exceptional and I loved it! a 5/5 read for me. You can read my review here.

I then started reading And Now, Back to You by B K Borison but I didn't finish it until we were on the plane! My library book went on a plane ride! This book is the second book in the Heartstrings series and I am already looking forward tto the next book which is out in February next year! It was the first book I tagged as Want to Read in 2027! I read this book because I wanted to but also because it fit one of the GR Summer Challenge categories!

Next up I read Kate and Frida by Kim Fay, which is connected to her previous book Love and Saffron, and also was eligible for one of the GR Summer Challenge categories. 

Next up was Italy and Forever by Leonie Mack, the final book in the Wedding Planners series, which I have really, really enjoyed! 

On the plane home I finished reading Three Juliets by Minnie Darke which the last book I needed to read for 20 Books of Winter this year. It is one that I actually started reading for last year's event but I didn't finish it! I had to start again but I sped through it this year! I really enjoy Minnie Darke's writing and this was no exception. 

I then decided to read The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop by Tokuya Asokura, mainly because I thought it would count for the Women in Translation month. Turns out, it doesn't because the author is a man, but never mind! It still counts for a couple of other challenges!

Finally, I started reading Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T J Klune! It's early days yet, but I am enjoying being back in that world!

While I was away the Classics Spin selection was announced! I am going to be reading The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith! Just have to go and pick it up from the library so I can get started on it!

I'm watching

I didn't watch anything while we were away, not even on the plane. Before we left we did watch the Masterchef Australia grand final

We also finished watching Bake off the Professionals.

It was exciting to see that the Great Australian Bake Off is back, so last night we watched the first two episodes! Now we have to wait for the new episode to come out each week!

Life

We spent all of last week in Bali. We stayed in Ubud and it was lovely. We tend to have go and out see all the things holidays, but we tried to only have a couple of days where we were busy. The rest of the time it was massages and pool and just doing whatever time, including plenty of reading time!

One of the treatments I had was a Japanese Head Spa and I am now obsessed with where I can go to get another one! It was such an amazing experience! Of course, it costs about a quarter of the price in Bali compared to at home but never mind!

I mentioned on my Weekend Cooking post that Bali wasn't somewhere I was all that interested in visiting until around 18 months ago or so. I saw some pictures and realised that I didn't like the reputation as being full of partying Aussies and that was why I wasn't that interested in going but that I really had no idea about the actual country. It was so interesting to learn about the culture and food. Could have done without the traffic though!

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: On this day...
Classics Spin #45
Weekend Cooking: Truffled Chicken with Champagne Sauce
Top Ten Tuesday: Series Reading
Blog Tour: The Little Porto Book Club by Rebecca Raisin
Weekend Cooking: What We Ate on Holiday: Bali
20 Books of Winter: August recap and wrap up!


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

This week

I'm reading

It's been a busy reading week this week. On Monday last week I still had two books to finish for blog tours last week so my first priority was to finish both of those. The first one was Finding Forever in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen, which I reviewed here. The second was The Nile Cruise by Caroline James, which was a fun trip down the Nile!! I reviewed that book here.

I have been listening to Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens which was written and narrated by British comedian David Mitchell. It was a really fun audio experience, especially when he went on one of his middle-aged man rants! This was a rare foray into non fiction for me. I read it as it qualified for one of the Goodreads Summer Challenge.

I had previously listened to the first 10 minutes or so of Before I Knew I Loved You by Toshikazu Kawaguchi before I switched to Unruly. I have now gone back to that book on audio.

My read on a theme book club theme this time is "environment" which is the perfect reason to read my first book by Charlotte McConaghey. I chose to start with her latest book, Wild Dark Shore, because it also counted for two Goodreads categories. I thought it would take me a while to get through, but i twas so good that I ended up reading it over the course of two days

Finally I started The Little Porto Book Club by Rebecca Raisin which I am on the blog tour for next week. Originally, I was going to read this on holidays and just take my laptop and write the review while I am away, but if I can get it read and scheduled this week, along with any other posts for next week then maybe I won't take my laptop. We'll see.

I'm watching

We finished rewatching Ted Lasso season 3 and of course went straight onto the first episode of Season 4. Such a good show. 

We also watched a fair bit of Bake Off this week. We binge watched 6 episodes of Bake Off: The Professionals on Saturday night, and we also watched the first episode of Celebrity Bake Off as well. Interestingly Cherish Finden was the guest judge on Celebrity Bake Off, and she was also on the grand final of Masterchef Australia! We haven't watched the Masterchef final yet as we were out last night but we will probably watch it tonight.

I did watch a Japanese film last week called Perfect Days which is about a man who is a toilet cleaner in Tokyo. It follows his very regimented life as he goes about cleaning a series of architecturally designed toilets and how he finds joy in the little things around him. It was a lovely film and it had a great soundtrack. Here's the trailer

Life

We've been talking for a while now about what the best way to store our travel memento magnets and this week we actually did something about it, and we are really happy with how it looks! You can see that there are still some gaps, so it might be lucky that we are going on holiday at the end of this week!


We had a pretty quiet Saturday, but on Sunday we went to see Six which is the rock musical about the six wives of Henry VIII. It's such a fun musical. We went to see it last time it was on and there's every chance we will go to see it again next time as well! 


Max


Max went to the spa this week so he is looking very handsome as you can see from the pic above! She puts the bandana on all the dogs to take their photos!

Posts from the last week



Top Ten Tuesday: Shhh....don't tell anyone!
Blog Tour: The Secret Dressmaker by Jenny O'Brien
Blog Tour: Finding Forever in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen
Blog Tour: The Nile Cruise by Caroline James
20 Books of Winter: July recap!

Weekend Cooking: Library Loot!
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: July 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

This week...

I'm reading

Welcome to August! And yes, in my head I am thinking how did that happen! 

It was a pretty normal reading week for me. I finished a book I had started last week, finished a couple of books and started a couple more! Seems to be my regular pattern at the moment. 

The book that I had started last week was Summer at the French Bakery by Jo Thomas. As you might guess from the title it is about a woman who moves to France and starts a bakery. It was also the last book I reviewed for this year's Paris in July! My review is here.

I then had a complete change of pace. I used to read a lot of historical romance but it is very, very rare for me to do so these days. This was not only a historical romance it was also a m/m romance. How to Fake it in Society by K J Charles was so much fun. I originally picked it up as it would have fitted a prompt for the Spring Reading Challenge at Goodreads but then I ended up reading something else. I have already requested another K J Charles book from the library

I have three blog tours this week, so I realised that I needed to focus on those books. I therefore read The Secret Dressmaker by Jenny O'Brien. This is the second book in the Threads of Resistance series. My review will be up later this week.

Another book that I need to review this week is Finding Forever in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen. I love Maggie's books set in Pelican Crossing! I started this and I am about half way through, and it is the same comforting, familiar read! My review for this will be up later this week too!

I did also read the first couple of chapters in A Far-Flung Life by M L Stedman. It almost seems a shame to reading it now. Most years, my read on a theme bookclub decides we will go down the more traditional route of all reading the same book. We have chosen this book to read together in October, but this will be due back at the library long before then.

July was a pretty good reading month. I had one 5 star reads and I did have 4 books that I rated as 4.5/5 reads! I also had a lot of fun with Paris in July (as usual) which was Secret Society of Librarians by Kate Thompson! I have now read and loved all of her WWII librarians books so now I have to wait patiently for the next one of those which I think will be out in a couple of years. In the meantime, I will be starting to work through her backlist. 

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

Bookish travel

At the end of every month I like to look and see where I have visited through the books I have read. Here's where I travelled to in July

USA

Maryland - In the Weeds by B K Borison

Minnesota - Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J Ryan Stradal

Europe

Wales - The King's Jewel by Elizabeth Chadwick

Italy - Secrets of the Italian Guesthouse by Sue Moorcroft

France - Don't Brake My Heart by Leonie Mack, The Island of Mists and Miracles by Victoria Mas, Summer at the French Bakery by Jo Thomas

Ireland - Seascraper by Benjamin Wood, The Story Collector by Evie Woods

England - The Book Lover's Bucket List by Hannah Claire, The Secret Society of Librarians by Kate Thompson, The Palace Women by Jennifer Ryan, How to Fake it in Society by K J Charles

Portugal - Escape to the Turquoise Seas by Carrie Walker

Australia

Queensland - Everyone in this Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson

I'm watching

We started watching Ride or Die with Hannah Waddington and Octavia Spencer this week. So far we have watched three episodes and we will watch it through to the end.

We also started watching World War II with Tom Hanks which we will continue with. I am, however, a bit surprised that there are twenty episodes to get through, so it might take us a while. 

Breakaway Femmes - The Forgotten TDF - documentary about the women's Tour de France in the late 1980s. It was a really interesting documentary and fascinating to think that the rampant sexism and misogyny talked about in this series was so recent! By which I mean in my adult lifetime! And shocking to think that it took until the mid 2010s for the women's TdF to start again. Here's the trailer:

Life


On Saturday we had a lovely day out in the Yarra Valley which is a wine area about an hour and a half away from us. We did something called the Coldstream Food Trail which has about 10 stops on it, although we only did 4 stops. We stopped at a brewery, and then went to a place called Coombe Yarra Valley which is a lovely place that has been created in the former home of world famous Australian opera singer, Dame Nellie Melba. from there we did some cider and cheese tastings. The main reason we went out there was to do a Fondue and Bingo lunch at Chandon which was a lot of fun! I mean, fondue and sparkling wines...what's not to love. It was a beautiful clear winter's day and a lovely way to do some exploration of just one tiny pocket of the Yarra Valley. We did see some amazing looking restaurants that we will go back and visit again at some point!

The other thing that we did last week was go to see the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Winter Gala which featured music from composers such as Bernstein, Gerswhin and Cole Porter! It was a lot of fun, and the tickets were super cheap at only $20 each. My husband loves orchestral music so we go semi regularly, but this was too good an opportunity to pass by. 

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesdays: Historical Fiction set in France - the WWII edition

Paris in July: French movies

Summer at the French Bakery by Sue Thomas

Paris in July: Au revoir!

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: August Links

In My Kitchen: July 

Six Degrees of Separation: Land to Still Life

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

This week...

  I'm reading

When I finished my post last week, I only have two books on the go. One was my audiobook which I suspect I might finish this week, and the other was The Story Collector by Evie Woods which I finished this week. I have mixed results with Evie Woods. I really loved her book The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris when I read it last year! I was underwhelmed by The Lost Bookshop, but wondered if that was about the audio production, but I was underwhelmed by The Story Collector too. I feel like I should have connected much better with the book which is all about Irish folklore, fairies and the like.

After that I read The Palace Women by Jennifer Ryan which is set in Buckingham Palace in the lead up to the Queen's coronation ceremony in 1952. 

I have also made significant progress with Jo Thomas's latest book Summer at The French Bakery. I really enjoy the way that Thomas writes her stories, which always have a lot of focus on food. This one is no exception.


We had book club this week. The theme for this selection was secrets, which I found to be a very easy theme for me. I read 10 books that might have counted for this theme! The next theme is the environment and I have a couple of ideas about what I might read! Shown above are just some of the books that the group read for this theme.

I'm watching

I went and watched a French movie yesterday called Colours of Time. It is a dual timeline story set in the 1890s and the modern day and features cameos by some pretty important people in French art history! I liked it a lot. Here's the trailer

Life


We did Christmassy in July on the weekend. We had some people come around for dinner, which wasn't really traditional Christmas dinner but it was not too far off! We made roast chicken, roast pork, champagne sauce, apple cider gravy, mushroom sauce, cauliflower and broccoli cheese and roast potatoes. For dessert I made a Sticky Date Pudding Cake which was yum!

One fun thing is that we used our fire pit for the first time since we moved into this house which was nearly four years ago!

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Free Books!
Paris in July: Island of Mists and Miracles by Victoria Mas
Weekend Cooking: Eva Longoria: Searching for France
Cook the Books: Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J Ryan Stradal
Paris in July: Bestsellers Around the World: France




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

This week...

I'm reading

I seem to have gotten into a bit of a routine now where I finish a couple of books and start a couple more and then ...voila...there's my reading for the week!

This week I finished Escape to the Turquoise Seas by Carrie Walker, which I reviewed here. 

I also finished The Secret Society of Librarians by Kate Thompson. I am excited that she has just announced that there will be another WWII librarians series. I have loved all three books so far and this one was a 5 star read for me.

I also finished Kitchens of the Great MidWest by J Ryan Stradal, which is the current Cook the Books selection. My post about this book will be up on Saturday.

I then started The Story Collector by Evie Woods. This is one of my 20 Books of Winter selections. So far, so good.

Finally I also started (and finished) The Island of Mists and Miracles by French author Victoria Mas. I read her book The Mad Women's Ball last year and I really enjoyed it. I did just find out that there was a movie made of the book so I am hoping to watch that over the next couple of weeks

I'm watching


We went to the movies and watch The Odyssey on Saturday afternoon. We enjoyed it but it was a very long movie! I was very careful not to drink too much so that I didn't need to leave half way through for a bathroom break. It is also a pretty bleak, but I guess that is reflective of the source material. It has a big name cast and I would say it is worth seeing!

Life


On Sunday we went to an exhibition called Rome: Empire, People and Power which is at our local museum. It was a really good exhibition, and one of the things that we enjoyed was that, for once, an exhibition wasn't super crowded! There was a section in the exhibition which was set up like it was a pool and we enjoyed sitting on the bench and passing the time of day while the lights and sounds made us feel like we were sitting in the pool back in Roman times!

We also went to a new Korean inspired cafe which does amazing desserts. I had this amazing looking pear dessert! The shell was super thin, and the inside was very peary!! 

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Short Reviews

Blog Tour: The Book Lover's Bucket List by Hannah Claire

Paris in July: In the Paris Fashion by Sophie Beaumont

Blog Tour: Escape to the Turquoise Seas by Carrie Walker

Weekend Cooking: Bastille Day Dinner

Sunday Salon: Six in Six

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

This week

I'm reading

I had a pretty varied week of reading this week.

Firstly, I finished reading The Secrets of the Italian Guesthouse by Sue Moorcroft which I reviewed here. I also finished reading Don't Brake My Heart by Leonie Mack which I reviewed as part of Paris in July, given that it is set against the backdrop of the Tour de France!

Then I moved onto Seascraper by Benjamin Wood and Everyone in this Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson. This is the fourth book in the Ernest Cunningham crime series. 

Next up was The Book Lovers Bucket List by Hannah Claire which I was reading for a blog tour. The review for that one will be up on Wednesday. 

I have started Escape to the Turquoise Seas by Carrie Walker which is also for a blog tour. I need to get that read and reviewed by Friday.

I also started reading The Secret Society of Librarians by Kate Thompson which I need to finish this week as I can't renew it with the library.

So that's some romance, a crime fiction, a couple of historical fiction novels, one of which was pretty literary!

I'm watching


Nothing much in particular that I haven't already posted about!

Life

We didn't really have a lot planned for this weekend but I ended up making two impromptu decisions to go to some markets. 

The first one we visited was a German Christmas Market which was held at a winery in the countryside about 30 minutes from us! Given that we generally have hot weather at Christmas, Christmas in July gives us the opportunity to have gluwein and get rugged up in our winter woolies! It was a bit of fun!

On Sunday, Brooke from All the Books I Can Read and I went to visit a new romance store/cafe which has opened around 40 minutes away from us! I then dragged her along to the Bastille Day French Market which is held at the iconic Queen Victoria Markets here in Melbourne!

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Include the Word Paris in the Title
Blog Tour: Secrets of the Italian Guesthouse by Sue Moorcroft
Paris in July: Don't Brake My Heart by Leonie Mack
Paris in July: Cartier at the NGV
Weekend Cooking/Paris in July: Piglettes by Clementine Beauvais
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: June Stats and Midyear Update



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

This week....

I'm reading

Well, it's been a week! We have just gone through end of financial year which means it has been pretty full on. There are still some final tasks to be done, but we are definitely nearly there. Having said that, I still managed to get some reading done.

I finished The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak. As I mentioned last week I was really pleased that this book is predominantly set in the city of Konya in Turkiye which is a place that we visited a couple of months ago. I found this book a bit dense, but it was extremely interesting with lots of layers. I do enjoy this author's books and have already requested the next one from my library.

Next up I read In the Weeds by B K Borison which is the second book in the Lovelight Farms series. This is a very different read to the last book but it one that I found hard to put down!

Next up, I finished The King's Jewel by Elizabeth Chadwick. I count Chadwick as one of my favourite historical fiction authors and yet I hadn't read any of her books in years. It was so nice to be back reading one of her books. 

Next up, I started reading The Secrets of the Italian Guesthouse by Sue Moorcroft. I am on the blog tour for this book so my review will be up in a couple of days. If you are in the UK there is also a giveaway for this book so keep an eye out for the post which will be up on Wednesday. 

You would think that with all those books on the go I would know better than to just start another book that isn't a review book, isn't due back at the library, doesn't count for the Goodreads Summer Challenge or isn't on my 20 Books of Winter list. Apparently, my brain doesn't work that way so I started reading Don't Brake My Heart by Leonie Mack. Good thing it will at least count for Paris in July!

Last week I said that my next audiobook would be the latest Before the Coffee Gets Cold book. I did listen to the intro but now I have decided that I am going to listen to Unruly: The Ridiculous History of the Kings and Queens of England by David Mitchell. I have chosen this book for the Fact or Fiction prompt on the Goodreads Summer Challenge. I'll go back to the other one once I have finished this book

I am not sure how, but I managed to get through 16 books in June, and 9 of those counted for the 20 Books of Winter challenge. I gave several novels 4.5/5 but there was only one that I gave a 5/5 rating to and that was First Time Caller by B K Borison. Looking at the list now, I could probably have given one other book 5/5 which was This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page.

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

Bookish travel

Here's where I travelled too through the pages of books during May

Europe

Ireland - Three Bags Full 

France - Piglettes

UK - This Book Made Me Think of You

Russia - War and Peace

Turkiye - The Forty Rules of Love

North America

First Time Caller, The Maid, Atmosphere, The Frozen River, Project Hail Mary

Australia

Queensland - Charlie's Last Angel

NSW - The Model Murder, Careful, He Might Hear You

WA - The Palace of Lost Virtue

SA - The Couples Retreat

Asia

Japan - We'll Prescribe You Another Cat

I'm watching

I started watching Eva Longoria: Searching for France over the weekend! So far we have watched 3 episodes and it is good, although she's no Stanley Tucci. Here's the trailer!

A couple of months ago we went to watch Project Hail Mary at the movies, which then prompted me to listen to the audiobook. We decided to watch the movie again while the movie was fresh in our minds. It has been really interesting to do this as there were things that I definitely didn't remember seeing the first time around. Of course, the book is more detailed than the movie and has more depth, but I do see myself watching this movie over and over!

The Tour de France has started! That means a few weeks of seeing beautiful scenery, amazing chateau's, big churches. Oh, and a few cyclists as well!





Life

Yesterday a friend and I went to see the Cartier exhibition which is currently on at the NGV. It was an absolutely gorgeous exhibitions of all things that glitter! Fabulous!

I will have a post up about the whole exhibition later in the week but here's a taster. And yes, that is a gigantic emerald in the middle of that piece!

We also tried a new brunch place this weekend! It has a very different vibe from the usual industrial style of most modern cafes! We will definitely be going back.

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the Second Half of 2026
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: July links
Paris in July: Beinvenue!
Paris in July: Since the last Paris in July
20 Books of Winter: July recap
Classics Club Spin: Careful, He Might Hear You by Sumner Locke Elliott

In My Kitchen: June

Six Degrees of Separation: Yesteryear to The Gilded Lily

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