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 Hosted by Jamie, The Perpetual Page Turner. It's that time of year again, and I can't believe how quickly it's come around! I've had this little blog for over two years now and time has just flown by. New Year's Eve is time to reflect on the past year, and in terms of reading this survey is a great way of reminding myself of the books I've read this year. Stats Number Of Books You Read: 47 Number of Pages Read: 14, 107 Shortest Book Read: Shopaholic on Honeymoon by Sophie Kinsella Longest Book Read: The Fortune Hunter by Daisy Goodwin Genre You Read The Most From: Historical Fiction/Romance   Best Book You Read In 2015? Kit by Marina Fiorato Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t? The Sudden Departure of the Frasers by Louise Candlish. Great premise, but I just didn't care about any of the characters that much.   Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone? The First Wife by Er...

2015 was a great year in books for me. Choosing just ten books for this list was a tricky task, but there were some that really stood out. Some are debuts, others are older books that I've only just got around to reading. All are brilliant in their own right, and I implore you to read them for yourself! 1) Kit by Marina Fiorato. My book of the year. If you like Mulan you'll love this! 2) The Silvered Heart by Katherine Clements. The tale of Katherine Ferras, highwaywoman. 3) The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice. An older book, but an instant favourite. 4) The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. Such a lovely, quirky, funny book. 5) The First Wife by Erica Spindler. So gripping that I read it in less than 24 hours. 6) Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz. Bond is back. 7) The Affair by Gill Paul. The story of one woman's life-changing summer in beautiful Italy. 8) The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett. Think Sliding Doors meets One Day. 9) Amy Snow by Tracy Rees. Fo...

 Rome 1961. The cameras roll on the film set of Cleopatra and the explosive Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton love affair is about to capture the world’s attention.   When Diana Bailey begins work as a historical advisor, tensions are running high. The film is in financial crisis and a media storm is brewing over the Taylor-Burton relationship.   Diana adjusts to a new life away from her troubled marriage, and strikes up a close friendship with Helen, a young make-up artist, as well as seeking solace in Ernesto, a charismatic member of the film crew. But Helen is harbouring a dark secret - one that will affect Diana in more ways than she could ever imagine…   An enthralling story of love and passion, set against the stunning backdrop of one of the most iconic Hollywood movies ever made I've been wanting to read this book for a while so was pleased when I finally got my hands on it. The plot is much deeper and darker than I was expecting, which can only be a good th...

The legendary figure of Kate Ferrars, the infamous highwaywoman, is brought gloriously to life in this gripping tale of infatuation, betrayal and survival.   1648: Civil war is devastating England. The privileged world Katherine Ferrars knows is crumbling under Cromwell's army, and as an orphaned heiress, she has no choice but to do her duty and marry for the sake of family. But as her marriage turns into a prison, and her fortune is decimated by the war, Kate becomes increasingly desperate. So when she meets the enigmatic Ralph Chaplin, she seizes the chance he offers. Their plan is daring and brutal, but it's an escape from poverty and the shackles of convention. They both know if they're caught, there's only one way it can end...  Just when I thought I had my best reads of 2015 list all sewn up along comes this wonder! I've always been fascinated by outlaws and highwaymen and the legends that accompany them, so I knew from the off that the plot was right up my st...

As the countdown to Christmas is well and truly under way, what better book to feature on my blog today than Callie's Christmas Countdown by Julie Ryan: Callie is an event planner, organising weddings and corporate parties. What she'd really love however, is to organise the perfect Christmas. How difficult can it be after all? She simply needs to get her divorced parents talking to each other, sort out a Christmas Eve wedding for the daughter of a millionaire and wait for her hunky, rich boyfriend to propose. What could possibly go wrong? Amazon UK   Amazon.com About the Author Julie was born and brought up in a mining village near Barnsley in South Yorkshire. She graduated with a BA (hons) in French Language and Literature from Hull University. Since then she has lived and worked as a Teacher of English as a Foreign Language in France, Greece, Poland and Thailand. She now lives in rural Gloucestershire with her husband, son and two cats, a rescue cat and a dippy cat with ha...

 Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. I've read books from plenty of new authors this year, and these are just a few of my favourites: 1 Eva Rice - The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets is just so beautifully written. 2 Erica Spindler - The First Wife was so gripping that I read it in a day! 3 Tracy Rees - Amy Snow won Richard and Judy's Search for a Bestseller, and it's easy to see why. 4 Marina Fiorato - Kit is my book of the year by a mile. More on that next week! 5 Louise Candlish - The Sudden Departure of the Frasers had me intrigued from the start. 6 Gill Paul - The Affair, with it's backdrop of the Burton/Taylor romance in Italy, is stunning. 7 Sophie Hannah - The Monogram Murders marks a welcome return to fiction for Monsieur Poirot. 8 Graeme Simsion - The Rosie Project is just hilarious and wonderful. 9 Laura Barnett - The Versions of Us is a very clever book. This girl has talent. 10 Zara Stoneley - Stable Mates / ...

You may well have noticed my posts have become more sporadic of late. In the past couple of months I've gone from having one job (part time farm worker) to three. As well as helping on the farm when time allows, I now also work in the box office of a local theatre and as a Christmas temp in Waterstones - every book lover's holy grail! So while I spend all day reading (the commute is up to an hour each way), selling and talking about books, I now have very little time to actually write about them. I do have a few yearly wrap up posts/top ten lists scheduled for the next few weeks, and I'm aiming to get some more reviews up in the near future too - I miss blogging! So bear with me dear readers, and forgive me if I haven't had time to read and comment on as many of your posts as I'd like to. Once the Christmas madness is over normal service should hopefully be resumed :)