Top Ten Tuesday: Cooking the Books

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Genre Freebie (Pick a genre and build a list around it. You could do historical fiction featuring strong female leads, contemporary romance set in foreign countries, mysteries starring unreliable narrators, lyrical fiction books in verse, historical romance featuring pirates, Gothic novels with birds on the cover, etc. There are so many options!)

Recently I was honoured to be asked to co-host one of the Cook the Books selections later in the year. Cook the Books is an online book club where you read the chosen selection, but you also cook something inspired by the book. When I was looking through the books that have been chosen over the last few years I was surprised to see that I have been doing this for a while now so today I am sharing the last ten books I read for Cook the Books, as well as what I was inspired to make!

Before that, you might be curious about what book I chose? I couldn't see many Japanese books on the list, so I have chosen The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai. My selection will be up in October/November. You can see all the upcoming selections in this post

Bite by Bite by Aimee Nezhukumatathil. - I made Hummingbird cakes with cream cheese frosting. 

Maame by Jessica George - I made Jollof Chicken and Rice

A Bakery in Paris by Aimie K Runyan - I made Raspberry Clafoutis

The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson - I made Chocolate Eclairs

Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang - I made Japanese Strawberry Shortcake (which I enjoyed much more than I enjoyed the book!)

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner - I made Midnight Kimchi Fried Rice

Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd - I made Honey Sponge Roll

Family Tree by Susan Wiggs - I made Maple Butter Date Loaf

Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge - I made Boeuf Bouguignon

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley - I shared lots of biscuits/cookies I have made over the years. 

This week...

I'm reading

It is really annoying when work gets in the way of reading time. It has definitely been one of those weeks for me. By the time I finish work every day I am too brain dead to even think about reading too much. 

I did finish The Stolen Sister by Jan Baynham, because I had committed to a date for a blog tour.  I reviewed the book here. 

I then started The Strawberry House by Rachel Burton. My review for this one isn't due until later this week but I am trying to get a bit ahead of the game. I don't have any more blog tours in March, but I do have a lot in early April. 

What do you do when you have some reading space? Why, of course, you overcommit yourself to other books. I need to read my book club book, my Classics Spin book and now I have gone through and selected my Goodreads challenge books. I think I am expecting too much of myself but we will see how it goes.

The first book I started for the Goodreads Challenge is Lovelight Farms by B K Borison, which fits the Swoony prompt!

It's hard to believe that it is the end of February already. I only read 6 books in February which is the least I have read for a while. However, of those 6, there were 2 books that I rated 5 stars. The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters was an excellent own voices read and The Silent Resistance by Anna Normann was a WWII story set in Norway. Both were fantastic reads. I haven't reviewed The Berry Pickers yet, but here is my review of The Silent Resistance. 

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 February

Europe

France - The Resistance Knitting Club
Norway - The Silent Resistance
Germany - The Wartime Affair
UK - The Cottage at the Edge of the Woods
Greece - The Stolen Sister

North America

Canada/Maine - The Berry Pickers

I'm watching


I went and watched an amazing movie this week. I Swear is a British film which tells the story of John Davidson, who is a campaigner for Tourettes education. It is a powerful and inspiring story about facing head first into adversity and finding a way. If you get a chance to see it, it's worth the time.

Here's the trailer

Life

It is crazy busy at work, and I don't see it dying off over the next couple of weeks, especially seeing as I am going on an overseas work trip next week! I am very excited about it, although I suspect I am going to be exhausted at the end of it, but more about that in the next couple of weeks

We did take some time out this weekend and went for afternoon tea at what is one of our favourite tea locations. Once again the food was absolutely gorgeous and tasted amazing. The koala at the top of the post is a macadamia, maple, mango and strawberry gum flavours! And yes, it tasted as good as it looks.

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Books!

Blog Tour: The Cottage at the Edge of the Woods by Jane Lovering

Blog Tour: The Stolen Sister by Jan Baynham

Weekend Cooking: The Oyster Catcher by Jo Thomas

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: March links

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

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - March links

Thank you to everyone who contributed a review in February for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. It's been a good start to the 2026 challenge. Currently there are more than 40 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!!

Weekend Cooking: The Oyster Catcher by Jo Thomas

 

I have read a number of Jo Thomas's books now and really enjoy them. They are always fun stories, with lots of food and quite often interesting settings! I have decided that while I wait for each new book,  I will work my way through her backlist, starting with her first book, The Oyster Catcher.

When Fiona Clutterbuck's husband dumps her at their wedding, she takes the campervan that they were supposed to be honeymooning in and just drives. She ends up in a small town named Dooleybridge that has seen better times on the shores of Galway Bay. After crashing into a brick wall, and being admonished by the local police because the van has now been reported stolen, Fi realises that she is broke and homeless.

In the local pub she overhears that there is a job going with one of the local farmers, Sean Thornton. Desperate, she very quickly agrees to take the job, which is especially handy given that it comes with accommodation. She soon realises that she should probably have asked more questions because it turns out that Sean is an oyster farmer. Fi doesn't like oysters and she has an extreme fear of water and boats.

Sean has his own reasons for employing a stranger. Years before, the oyster industry of Dooleybridge had collapsed, with lots of repercussions for the town. Sean is now trying to keep his uncle's farm going, but it is hard work and isn't that profitable, but he loves it. He does feel like he is on the brink of being able to turn things around but he doesn't want the locals to know what he is doing just yet.

While there might be a spark of attraction between them, Fi is staying far away from Sean, not least because of his very ambitious oyster broker/business partner/girlfriend, Nancy.

It was interesting to see the parallels between this, Jo Thomas's first book, and her latest book which I reviewed here. Both feature communities where the town has seen better days, and feature that same community coming together to organise an event which will help revitalise the town. In this book, the event is a revival of the Oyster festival which had been scrapped years before after the oyster industry was pretty much closed down. It's not all smooth sailing though. Some people want a slick, high class oyster festival and others want a rustic festival with a nostalgic feel. 

There are lots of really fun characters who make up the population of Dooleybridge, as well as a couple of "baddies" like Nancy, who probably could have done with some nuance in their characterisation. There are also some really fun animal characters including donkeys Freddie, Mercury and Juliet, who have a nasty habit of escaping their enclosure at very inconvenient times!

I love most seafood, but oysters is one of the things I don't love. Give me prawns any day over oysters. I did, however, really like learning more about oyster farming. It was interesting because whenever you travel in certain parts of Australia you will see oyster farms advertised as tourist destinations. We have never stopped at one before, although we did go to a pearl farm in Broome in Western Australia which is same same but different. We might next time we come across one of them

I already have my next Jo Thomas read out of the library. That book will take me to  Italy, and I am really looking forward to it!

I am sharing this review with Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story.

Rating 4/5

Weekly meals

Saturday - 
Sunday - Pork chop, mash, beans and gravy
Monday - Mac and Cheese
Tuesday - Steak Egg and Chips
Wednesday - Takeaway
Thursday - Pad See Ew
Friday - Takeaway

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: The Stolen Sister by Jan Baynham

When Zoë Carter's mother, Greta passes away at a relatively young age, she is left alone. Zoë was an only child, and her father had died in a car accident when she was three. As far as she knows, her mother had lived a very closed life in Wales, so it was a complete shock when she receives a sealed letter asking that she spread Greta's ashes in Crete. Zoë had no idea that her mother had even visited Crete.

Determined to try and put all the pieces together, Zoë decides to visit the island, and slowly she begins to put the story together. Not only had Greta visited but she had lived there for a period of time during the 1960s

In one time line of the book we follow Greta as she arrives in the picturesque town of Fáros Limáni and joins an art commune. There she meets Andreas and begins a passionate love affair. When she finds out that she is pregnant, Greta is torn because she is concerned that her parents will be ashamed of her but she loves Andreas. 

In the other time line which is set in 1984, Zoë tries to find out the truth. She is a silversmith and she is drawn to the jewellery shops in the town. She is surprised when she is called by another name, and even more surprised when it happens again. Why do people keep on mistaking her for someone else. 

Along the way, Zoë also gets to meet some of the people who were important to her mother, and they in turn help bring Zoë's truth to life. However, along the way, it is not only Zoë who needs to learn the truth about who they are. Family secrets are revealed, and the truth is quite shocking, to think that things like the key events in the historical story could truly have happened.

I hadn't read Jan Baynham before but i am glad that I took a chance with a new . I found myself getting lost in the world that Baynham has created. While I have travelled quite a bit in Europe, Greece is one of the places I have not yet visited and when I read books like this, it really makes me want to do so! Crete does seem of particular interest given ancient history and more recent history, as well as gorgeous beaches and food and so much more.

I am sharing this review with New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog and the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here.  Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley and Zooloo's Book Tours for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the blog tour below.

About the book:

Lost letters. A secret Greek love affair. A daughter's search for the truth. 

Crete, 1963. Young artist Greta Ellis arrives at the sun-soaked port of Fáros Limáni, ready to paint and explore the beautiful Greek island. 

 When she meets passionate local Andreas Papadakis, she is swept up in a world of colour, freedom and forbidden love. But when tragedy strikes, Greta is forced to make an impossible choice that will echo for decades. 

 Wales, 1984. After her mother Greta’s death, silversmith Zoë Carter receives a sealed letter that upends everything she thought she knew. Greta’s dying wish is for her ashes to be scattered in Crete, a place precious to her . . . but somewhere she had never spoken of.

 Searching through her mother’s belongings, Zoë uncovers a series of letters. Written in Greek and dated the year before she was born, they reveal a passionate love affair. And a tragedy that tore it apart. 

 Determined to know the truth, Zoë travels to Crete to follow the trail left behind in her mother’s letters. Through the olive groves and whitewashed villages of Crete, she begins to piece together a story of love, betrayal and loss — and discovers that her family was never what it seemed.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/246324063-the-stolen-sister 

Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/stolensister-zbt

About the author:

Fascinated by family secrets and ‘skeletons lurking in cupboards’, Jan’s dual narrative, dual timeline novels explore how decisions and actions made by family members from one generation impact on the lives of the next. Her first three novels look at the bond between mothers and daughters as well as forbidden love. Setting and a sense of place plays an important part in all Jan’s stories and as well as her native mid-Wales, there is always a contrasting location - Greece, Sicily and northern France. Her next books will involve secrets and sibling relationships; the first set in 1943 and 1968 takes the reader back to beautiful Sicily where two sisters work together to prove their father’s innocence of a wrongdoing. 

Social Media Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JanBayLit

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/janbaynham/ 

 X (formerly Twitter) https://x.com/JanBaynham 

 Website https://janbaynham.blogspot.com/

Blog Tour: The Cottage at the Edge of the Woods by Jane Lovering

 

Every now and again a book comes along which leaves you wondering how on earth can I possibly review this book to give it the praise it deserves without spoiling. This is one of those books! I have to try though, so here goes.

Libby is a young mum who has run away from a difficult relationship with her ex and the father of her now two year old daughter. She is doing the best she can, but it is hard to move forward when you are forever looking over your shoulder, worried that you may be being followed or that you will be found. She is, however, determined that she will get to a point where she will be able to provide a stable home for Tilly and herself. She does whatever odd jobs she can to make money during the hours that Tilly is at nursery. 

When Ross, a local architect with big dreams, asks her to make sure that the cottage at the edge of the woods is empty before he gets it knocked down, Libby agrees. However, on her first visit, she is attacked by birds. It is normal to be scared when you visit a house that is nearly falling down, but it is terrifying for Libby as she has an extreme fear of birds. She runs away screaming and has no intention of going back again. 

Ross needs to know that the house is empty, so he implores her to go back and offers her a decent amount of money to do so. It's the kind of money that could at least get Libby and Tilly out of the hostel they currently live in. Returning to the cottage, she meets eccentric mute Isobel who lives in the tumbledown cottage, looking after injured birds. 

Slowly each of the characters begin to open up to each other but not without asking some questions which might lead to some tough answers. Why does Isobel live out here by herself? Is Ross a decent man as he seems? Can Libby trust him? Is she in danger of being found? Are things really as they seem?

I have read five of Jane Lovering's books now. While they all tend to be set in Yorkshire, they are all different from each other, and I think this is her best one yet. It touches on a heartbreakingly serious subject but does so with so much grace and empathy. I felt the tension building for each of the main characters as they each faced their own issue. For Isobel, the question is where could she and her birds live if they have to move the cottage. For Ross, what will happen if he can't get the cottage clear in time for his big potentially life changing TV project, and for Libby, how can she outrun her past, without continuing to actually run.

This is an exceptional read from Jane Lovering, with some unexpected outcomes for everyone concerned. Once I read past the first couple of chapters, I really struggled to put it down. It was that good!

I am sharing this review with New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog.  Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the blog tour below.

Rating 4.5/5

About the Book

The Cottage at the Edge of the Woods

Some houses won’t let go of the past. Some people won’t, either…

When single mum Libby is offered a life-changing sum of money to clear out an old cottage in the woods, she expects dust and decay. She doesn’t expect a house full of secrets, a room full of birds, and a woman who refuses to leave.

The handsome but stressed architect who hired Libby is also a puzzle. Why can't Ross empty Elm Cottage himself? What can he possibly see in Libby, who has been burned by love and is wary of attachment? How can they persuade the mysterious but kindly Isobel to move on?

As Libby is pulled into the cottage's story, she must face up to her own deepest fears. Can she help Isobel, fight the past that haunts her, and learn to open her own heart to love once more?

Jane Lovering’s new novel is a delicious, romantic mystery where secrets, love and healing weave through every page.

Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/CottageattheEdge

About the Author

Jane Lovering is the bestselling and award-winning romantic comedy writer who won the RNA Contemporary Romantic Novel Award in 2023 with A Cottage Full of Secrets. She lives in Yorkshire and has a cat and a bonkers terrier, as well as five children who have now left home.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @jane.lovering

Twitter: @janelovering

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/JaneLoveringNews

Bookbub profile: @janelovering

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Books

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Books for Armchair Travelers (Submitted by Laurie C @ Bay State Reader’s Advisory). 

I don't often save quotes so I am going to do a twist on the topic this week. This year is my third year of participating in the Bookish Books Reading Challenge hosted at Bloggin' 'Bout Books. For my TTT post this week I am going to share the last ten bookish books I read! I think books about books is something that most of us love!

Soyangri Book Kitchen by Kim Jee Hyde - This is a Korean book about a young woman who opens a bookshop and kitchen out in the country. 

The Croatian Island Library by Eva Glyn - A trio of characters sails from island to island in Croatia to share library books. (my review)

Dinner at the Night Library by Hika Harada - Another book that combines food and books! This is a Japanese story about a strange library which holds the books that writers loved. (my review)

Everyone on This Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson - What happens when multiple crime authors get on a train for a crime writers festival, but less people make it to the end of the line. (my review)

The Wartime Bookclub by Kate Thompson - How a Channel Island community comes together through the love of books! (my review)

The Secret Christmas Library by Jenny Colgan - When a woman is asked to find one particular item in a falling down stately home in the Scottish highlands at Christmas time, what could go wrong?

I Give You My Body...How I Write Sex Scenes by Diana Gabaldon - This was a very short audio book about writing sex scenes and featuring a lot of quotes from her books as example.

Winter Nights at the Bay Bookshop by Jessica Redland - Featuring a gorgeous sounding small town bookstore at Christmas. (my review)

The Cruise Club by Caroline James - An author with writer's block goes on a cruise where one of her author heroes is giving writing lectures. (my review)

The Storytellers by Sue Heath - A group of very different people come together at a local library with the aim of writing a short story competition entry together! (my review)