The Post Box at the North Pole by Jaimie Admans Blog Tour

 I don't think it's a secret that I love Christmas. I'm one of those people that starts everything festive quite early and I am more than happy to read a Christmas themed book any time of the year. So when I was asked back in September if I'd like to read Jaimie Adman's latest novel, it was a big, fat yes from me!

The Post Box at the North Pole is a wintery delight of a romance (spoiler alert, I loved it!) keep reading to find out just what it has to offer.

Sasha Hansley hates Christmas. As a child, it was her favourite time of year, but ever since the tragic death of her mother, it has completely lost its magic.

But when she gets an unexpected phone call from her eccentric estranged father, she’s forced to dust off her snow boots.

He has been running a Lapland style Christmas village in Norway and after suffering a heart attack, he is on strict doctor’s orders to slow down. Eager to reconnect with her dad, Sasha books the next flight out there. Only she has never actually been on a plane before, let alone to the Arctic Circle.

Met at the runway by drop-dead-gorgeous Taavi Salvesen, they sleigh ride through the snow with the Northern Lights guiding their way.

When Sasha uncovers sacks of unopened Santa mail – letters that children and adults from all over the world write to Santa every year – she realises that she can send a little bit of magic out into the world by replying to some of them.

With Taavi on hand to help, will Sasha rediscover her own excitement for Christmas and find love among the letters?

Shiver by Allie Reynolds Blog Tour

 I heard of Allie Reynolds novel Shiver at the start of this year but so many books, so little time meant that I never got around to reading it . . . until now.

This month sees Shiver being released in paperback which means more us get the chance to experience what I now know is Allie's debut novel and I'll say before even beginning my review that this book is extremely well written!

When Milla is invited to a reunion in the French Alps resort that saw the peak of her snowboarding career, she drops everything to go. While she would rather forget the events of that winter, the invitation comes from Curtis, the one person she can't seem to let go.

The five friends haven't seen each other for ten years, since the disappearance of the beautiful and enigmatic Saskia. But when an icebreaker game turns menacing, they realise they don't know who has really gathered them there and how far they will go to find the truth.

In a deserted lodge high up a mountain, the secrets of the past are about to come to light.

Lemon by Kwon Yeo-sun Blog Tour

 Books that have been translated. Have you read any? Did you enjoy them.

I certainly have. One of my favourites recently was My Brother by Karin Smirnoff. However, I now have a new novel to add to that list of books I'd recommend ...

Lemon by Kwon Yeo-sun.

Translated by Janet Hong, this is not your typical crime novel. 

In the summer of 2002, when Korea is abuzz over hosting the FIFA World Cup, nineteen-year-old Kim Hae-on is killed in what becomes known as the High School Beauty Murder. Two suspects quickly emerge: rich kid Shin Jeongjun, whose car Hae-on was last seen in, and delivery boy Han Manu, who witnesses Hae-on in the passenger seat of Jeongjun's car just a few hours before her death. But when Jeongjun's alibi turns out to be solid, and no evidence can be pinned on Manu, the case goes cold.

Seventeen years pass without any resolution for those who knew and loved Hae-on, and the grief and uncertainty take a cruel toll on her younger sister, Da-on, in particular. Unable to move on with her life, Da-on tries in her own twisted way to recover some of what she's lost, ultimately setting out to find the truth of what happened.

Told at different points in time from the perspectives of Da-on and two of Hae-on's classmates, Lemon loosely follows the structure of a detective novel. But finding the perpetrator is not the main objective here. Instead, the work explores grief and trauma, raising important questions about guilt, retribution, and the meaning of death and life.

Cruel Castle by Bryony Pearce Blog Tour

 I'm quite the fan of a book series (not so much of the wait for the next novel in the set to come out) so when I was asked if I'd like to join the blog tour for Bryony Pearce's latest story Cruel Castle, I was rather pleased to be able to read the first in the series - Savage Island - before swiftly jumping into the next instalment Cruel Castle.

Now before I delve in to the rest of my review I'll just say this, I think you could read Cruel Castle as a standalone but having the backstories of certain characters did add to the over all story arc.

Having survived the horrors of Savage Island, Grady is now stuck working for Gold, the psychopath who masterminded the gruesome competition. Sent on a “team-building exercise” in a remote castle, he starts to plot his escape.

Ben and Lizzie are in hiding, presumed dead after escaping the island. If they’re ever to return to their families, they need to bring Gold down. So they secretly join Grady in the castle. But as the doors slam shut and the series of deadly challenges between them and freedom are revealed, it looks like history is going to repeat itself...

A Christmas Wish on a Carousel by Lottie Cardew Blog Tour

 Christmas and books, two of my most favourite things in the world (if we forget about my husband and children). 

You may well be seeing a few festive reviews on the blog over the next few weeks, although I highly recommend reading these types of books all year round for that feel good factor.

Enough of my rambling, I of course was a little excited when I was given the chance to read Lottie Cardew's latest novel A Christmas Wish on a Carousel, it's a book that ticks all of the boxes as far as I'm concerned.

Keep on reading to find out exactly why ...

When Cara Mia Shaw makes a desperate wish one night, while riding on a carousel at a Christmas market, little does she know her small, but safe world is about to spin off its axis.

Befriending a fascinating returnee to the village, an elderly woman called Perdita with a jaunty pink beret and the wisdom of a life well lived, might set Cara on a different, albeit harder, course, if she’s brave enough to listen. Art was always her passion, after all, even if fate seemed to have other ideas.

And then there’s the new man in her life, who her friends think is perfect for her because they set her up with decent, reliable Greg in the first place. Cara’s been hurt enough times to know the difference between a good man and a feckless one. Until Wilfred comes along – moody, sarcastic, and scattered – just to complicate matters and meddle with Cara’s resolve, to the horror of almost everyone around her. But is either man ultimately meant for her, anyway? And will she self-sabotage as usual, or gamble everything this time, including her heart?

It might take the highs and lows of friendship, the risk of a forbidden romance, and a Pomeranian called Loki – not to mention some much-needed Christmas magic – before Cara finally realises the wish she made that night on the carousel might just be about to come true.