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.

Weekend Cooking: Dish Podcast

 

Do you ever think that you are always late to the party when you find something that everyone else discovered years ago? I do quite regularly. For example, it took me years to start wearing ballet flats, and now they are all I wear. Another example...I only just started my bookstagram account earlier this year! Another thing to add to the list....I only discovered the Dish Podcast earlier this year.

In case you haven't heard of it before, Dish is a British podcast hosted by radio personality Nick Grimshaw and Michelin starred chef Angela Hartnett. Each week they invite a celebrity to come to the studio where Angela cooks something delicious, they have a drink and then they chat. The show is sponsored by the British supermarket chain Waitrose and the celebrity usually gets to take home a goody bag. 

I first found it when I was watching a Stanley Tucci clip on Youtube and his episode of Dish came up as a recommendation...and from there I found myself working my way back through the episodes. I haven't watched them all yet but I have watched a quite a few. The good thing about discovering this late is that there are several series to watch as it started back in 2022.

The new season has just started and so far the guests have been Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch in the first episode and Graham Norton in the second. Both of these episodes were really great. It doesn't really matter if I know how the celebrities are although there have been some really big names from Gordon Ramsay to Mary Berry, Joanna Lumley and so many others .The conversations are always entertaining with the hosts putting them at ease, and the food always looks amazing. For example, one of the guests was an Irish singer called CMAT. I had no idea who she was, but her episode was really lots of fun.

I was already familiar with both Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett. Nick is regularly on Celebrity Gogglebox and Angela was a judge on a cooking show we watched years ago. They have great chemistry and you can tell that over the years they have developed a really lovely friendship. I have become something of a Angela fangirl after watching this show. She makes me really laugh quite a lot.

I thought I would share the episode that started it all for me. Here is the episode with the ever fabulous Stanley Tucci

Weekly meals

Saturday -  Chicken Thighs with rice
Sunday - Leftovers
Monday - Beef enchiladas
Tuesday - Beef and broccoli noodles
Wednesday - Pork nachos
Thursday - Out for dinner
Friday - Chicken pasta bake

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

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Have Returned to the Library Unread

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time (This week was originally scheduled to be a non-bookish freebie, but I realized how close it was to the last non-bookish freebie we did. If you’re super on top of it and already wrote your post for this week, post it anyway! If you’d rather do a non-bookish freebie, go for it!). 

I am, however, going rogue this week and I am going to share the last ten books I have returned to the library unread, and I haven't reborrowed .... yet!

The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris by Daisy Woods - I originally requested this one after it was reviewed for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. 

Return to the Dallergut Dream Department Store by Miye Lee - I read the first book in this series a while ago

The Midwife of Auschwitz by Anna Stuart - Anna Stuart has been on the French bestseller lists for a while. When I did my Bestsellers Around the World post during Paris in July I decided it was time to try her books. 

Us Against You by Fredrik Backman - I read Beartown and loved it ages ago and fully intend to read the rest of the series.

All the Bees in the Hollow by Lauren Keegan - Lauren Keegan used to be a book blogger and I picked up her book when I saw it next to Claire Keegan's books.

The Ingredients of Love by Nicolas Barreau - This is a French author that I am hoping to read soon.

The Yellow Villa by Amanda Hampson - After reading all of the Tea Ladies mysteries, I am now keen to read the other books by Amanda Hampson.

An Act of Love by Carol Drinkwater - I read my first Carol Drinkwater book during Paris in July this year and now I will read her backlist.  

Emily Wilde's Map of the Other Lands by Heather Fawcett - I read the first book in this trilogy earlier this year

Three by Valerie Perrin - I really enjoyed Fresh Water for Flowers by this author earlier this year

I'll be reborrowing all of these at some point!