Hello all! Hope you had a great month! Mine was jam packed! And after all the lockdowns and everything we’ve been through over the last year, I have to admit I’m appreciating it more than ever. The little things like going to see friends, having meals out and going on day trips are a real treat. My favourite things this month include going to see LIVE MUSIC- which was especially great at the Blues Kitchen in Camden…
And I finally, finally got to return to the Royal Opera House to hear the Magic Flute 😊
Plus, I went the Warner Brothers Studio Tour, where I got to feel like a witch for the day. I don’t want to raise your expecto-patronums too much, but I enjoyed it even more than I thought I would. It was so good that I may do a post entirely dedicated to it!


Lastly, I went on trips to Bath and Windsor- which were both very unique (and cake filled) days 😊





The House in the Cerulean Sea– delightful and quirky and sweet, this romantic fantasy definitely gave me the warm fuzzies. I loved the writing style- it was simultaneously light and colourful. And the characters were really bright sparks. I especially loved the anti-Christ (and I’m not just saying this because I may never have this opportunity again 😉). I also really appreciated the story being told from Linus’ perspective, with an inspector’s eyes, introducing us to the world detail by detail. Through this, we uncover a whimsical world filled with wonder. We find a house that inspires imagination and a reality packed with magic. Slowly, as the story unfolds, he opens up to this beauty. For as much as he may seem like the boring middle manager type, we find he truly has a heart of gold and there is much more to him than a lot of people assume. It just goes to show you can’t judge by appearances- and I love that message! Of course, this book is a very obvious parable, which I don’t normally like, yet I was overcome by the cuteness factor here. I also did notice that this promised a fair amount of moral relativism… though it (thankfully) doesn’t deliver that in the plot. A joyous and romantic read!
Rating: 4/5 bananas

Rock Paper Scissors– I always enjoy Feeney’s books- and none more so than her latest. Showing that marriage is a dangerous game, this book is all about choices. Artfully using different points of view, the story follows Mr and Mrs Wright on their wedding anniversary. Yet, up in the Highlands of Scotland, something is about to go very, very wrong indeed. Genuinely tense and terrifying at times, the story had me gripped. And just when I thought I had all the answers, it turned at the last moment. Not everything was as it seemed on paper. I loved the sharp ending and I was very happy with how it all came together (well, as happy as you can be with a grizzly thriller).
Rating: 4½/5 bananas

The Foundling– I really liked this book. It brought an area of history I knew nothing about to life. Once again, Stacey Halls focused on the plight of women in a meaningful and significant way. It was written with such kindness that I was unsurprised by the sweetness of the ending. I just find Hall’s books quite lovely.
Rating: 4/5 bananas

Instant Karma– oof this wasn’t quite what I expected. I thought this was going to be about a girl who gets the power of delivering instant karma and that would be the central conflict of the story. INSTEAD, the story was centred on a biology project and an animal rescue centre… which would’ve been fine if that’s what I’d been expecting. To make matters worse, the instant karma, while a fun trick, didn’t really serve much purpose to the story. The actual plot was filled with twists that were easy to guess and not as exciting as the premise could have been. I felt like there was the outlines of two decent stories in this, but not enough to make one enjoyable book. It didn’t help that the most of the characters were insufferable- especially the protagonist. I barely understood her motivation throughout (I’ve never taken to characters who want to be successful purely for the sake of being successful) and found her lack of empathy infuriating at times. I also didn’t enjoy being in the company of some of the background characters- one of whom was painfully holier-than-thou. And even the nicest character- the love interest- does something utterly unforgivable. Not to mention the romance, which I didn’t see working out. While there were cute moments that made me smile, I couldn’t see what they had in common beyond raging hormones. Overall, this was fine, but didn’t possess the magic I hoped for.
Rating: 2½/5 bananas

That’s all for now! Have you read any of these? What did you think of them? Let me know in the comments! And I hope you all had a good month! ❤
It was a relatively good book month for me. Glad to see you did ok too 😀
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Glad to hear it! Thank you! 😊
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Sounds like you have had a good month and I definitely get how you feel being able to do more. I really need to pick up cerulean sea as it sounds so good 💜
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Thank you!! Yes I definitely agree!! Oh absolutely!! 💕
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I loved The House in the Cerulean Sea! It was such a sweet story and not at all what I expected.
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It really was!
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So glad you enjoyed House in the Cerulean Sea too!
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Thank you- I’m glad you enjoyed it too!
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Love the artwork. I mean, a unicorn playing electric guitar is simply iconic. I went to a four-day music festival two weeks ago, and many of the performers were overcome with playing live music for the first time since lockdown began. One band said it had been 263 days since they performed. I give you credit for finishing Instant Karma. I DNFed that book.
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Aww thank you so much!! 💕💕💕 I know it’s incredible- I just love how happy everyone is to be there! Really makes you appreciate it!! Hehe yeah I can see why you dnf’d it- I don’t get what it was trying to be
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I think those were my exact thoughts on Instant Karma. Why is NOTHING about a sea animal rescue mentioned in the summary when that is the entire point of the book???
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Yes!!! And I still don’t know what the whole point of the karma gimmick was either!
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I agree. It’s like the author and/or publisher thought the book needed more a gimmick to get readers because “save sea turtles” wasn’t interesting enough, but then they didn’t do anything with the gimmick.
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Yes- I don’t know why they did that- either book would’ve been good.
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The Foundling was one of my favourite books last year. Love the sax-playing elephant!
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it was really good 😊 I’m enjoying everything I read by halls. Thank you so much!! 💕
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I finally got around to the House on the Cerulean Sea this month to! I tried to keep expectations in check that maybe it was overhyped but no what an adorable book 🙂 And cake and travel days are always good times!
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Ah I totally get what you mean! I was the same! Hehe absolutely!
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Beautiful pictures ❤
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Thank you so much! 💕
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I love the drawings! And how awesome that you got to be out and about and do so many great things! I loved the anti-Christ too (ha, it IS fun to say that), and loved the entire book of The House in the Cerulean Sea. In fact, that may be one of my upcoming audio rereads. I’d really like to read The Foundling too — I’ve heard such good things. Have a great week!
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Thank you so much! 💕 It was great!! I’m really grateful for it after everything. Hahaha I know right?! 😅 ah that sounds perfect- I’d love to listen to the audiobook (though of course I needed to get a physical copy with that gorgeous cover). I really enjoyed it. Thank you! You too! 💕
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I’m rather envious of your awayday in Bath – so long since I last visited the city. Am hoping to do that next year so I can meet up with another book blogger. I’m sure there will be cake
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I absolutely loved it!! I’ve never been before and I just thought it was one of the best places I’ve ever been in Britain. I definitely want to go back! That’ll be wonderful!! 😊 Very exciting to look forward to!
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It is particularly pleasant now because the hoards of tourists from USA/Asia are missing so you can actually walk around and stop to look at the buildings
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Haha! I thought it was surprisingly busy- so I can only imagine what it must be like normally! But you’re right- it’s great visiting these places right now and feeling like you can see so much more!
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I’m glad you enjoyed Klune’s book. I loved it. I’m listening to his newest release right now.
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It was lovely! Oh how wonderful- I hope you enjoy it! I really want to read it too 😃
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I went on the Warner Bros tour in October 2 or 3 years ago, it was decorated for Halloween 🙂 It’s a fab day out. And it’s great that you got to see live performances again, I’m hoping to do that soon.
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Ah yes I love that it’s decorated for Halloween! And they had a whole load of death eaters stalking around as well- they were super creepy! It is great!! 😊
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I never saw any Death Eaters when I was there!
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Oh I think it was something new- the cool thing is I think they do different things all the time- I’d love to see what it looks like at Christmas!!
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I’d like to feel like a witch for a day too. That’s so cool. Some great things you did.
Love your illustration of the Royal Opera House.
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Haha! It was so fun!! Thank you so much!! 💕💖
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Did you manage to go to the Jane Austen centre in Bath? Their tea room was really nice when I visited!
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I didn’t have the chance, though I walked passed it- there were so many things I wanted to do, which is all the more reason to go back!!
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the PUN HAHAHA, i loved that!! made me chuckle. speaking of, i’m rereading HP yet again, & i’m pretty happy about it :’)
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oh and on that note, i’ve had your “complicated relationship with HP” post bookmarked for mONTHS now, i still need to read that—as always, i have a feeling that i will agree with you quite a lot HAHA
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Hehehe!! Oh I really enjoyed making that post! Hope you like it! 😊 Hahaha! I hope so! I was really nervous when I made it! 😅
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Hehehehe!! Ahh I totally understand- I really want to reread it, but both my sister AND my mum want to read/reread them right now, so I’ll have to wait before rereading them for the millionth time! 😅 On the plus side, we’re all rewatching the movies together, which is great!! 😊
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“I especially loved the anti-Christ (and I’m not just saying this because I may never have this opportunity again 😉).”
😂
I love that castle! And your cartoon is so funny and lovely! (the unicorn LOL).
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Hehehehe!!
Me too!! Thank you so much!! 💕
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I love all the drawings you made! They are so cute and fun, full of joy!! I’m glad you got to experience live music again and had a mostly great reading month. Those are rare haha Hope October will treat you well too!
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Thank you so much!! 😊😊😊 Haha that’s true! Thank you!! You too! 💕
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I love The Magic Flute. ❤
I will have to read The Foundling. I loved The Familiars. Thanks for the heads up on Stacey Halls. 🙌🙌🙌
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Me too ☺️
Ah I think you’ll like it then! ☺️
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