This week....

I'm reading

Well, it's been a week! We have just gone through end of financial year which means it has been pretty full on. There are still some final tasks to be done, but we are definitely nearly there. Having said that, I still managed to get some reading done.

I finished The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak. As I mentioned last week I was really pleased that this book is predominantly set in the city of Konya in Turkiye which is a place that we visited a couple of months ago. I found this book a bit dense, but it was extremely interesting with lots of layers. I do enjoy this author's books and have already requested the next one from my library.

Next up I read In the Weeds by B K Borison which is the second book in the Lovelight Farms series. This is a very different read to the last book but it one that I found hard to put down!

Next up, I finished The King's Jewel by Elizabeth Chadwick. I count Chadwick as one of my favourite historical fiction authors and yet I hadn't read any of her books in years. It was so nice to be back reading one of her books. 

Next up, I started reading The Secrets of the Italian Guesthouse by Sue Moorcroft. I am on the blog tour for this book so my review will be up in a couple of days. If you are in the UK there is also a giveaway for this book so keep an eye out for the post which will be up on Wednesday. 

You would think that with all those books on the go I would know better than to just start another book that isn't a review book, isn't due back at the library, doesn't count for the Goodreads Summer Challenge or isn't on my 20 Books of Winter list. Apparently, my brain doesn't work that way so I started reading Don't Brake My Heart by Leonie Mack. Good thing it will at least count for Paris in July!

Last week I said that my next audiobook would be the latest Before the Coffee Gets Cold book. I did listen to the intro but now I have decided that I am going to listen to Unruly: The Ridiculous History of the Kings and Queens of England by David Mitchell. I have chosen this book for the Fact or Fiction prompt on the Goodreads Summer Challenge. I'll go back to the other one once I have finished this book

I am not sure how, but I managed to get through 16 books in June, and 9 of those counted for the 20 Books of Winter challenge. I gave several novels 4.5/5 but there was only one that I gave a 5/5 rating to and that was First Time Caller by B K Borison. Looking at the list now, I could probably have given one other book 5/5 which was This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page.

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 May

Europe

Ireland - Three Bags Full 

France - Piglettes

UK - This Book Made Me Think of You

Russia - War and Peace

Turkiye - The Forty Rules of Love

North America

First Time Caller, The Maid, Atmosphere, The Frozen River, Project Hail Mary

Australia

Queensland - Charlie's Last Angel

NSW - The Model Murder, Careful, He Might Hear You

WA - The Palace of Lost Virtue

SA - The Couples Retreat

Asia

Japan - We'll Prescribe You Another Cat

I'm watching

I started watching Eva Longoria: Searching for France over the weekend! So far we have watched 3 episodes and it is good, although she's no Stanley Tucci. Here's the trailer!

A couple of months ago we went to watch Project Hail Mary at the movies, which then prompted me to listen to the audiobook. We decided to watch the movie again while the movie was fresh in our minds. It has been really interesting to do this as there were things that I definitely didn't remember seeing the first time around. Of course, the book is more detailed than the movie and has more depth, but I do see myself watching this movie over and over!

The Tour de France has started! That means a few weeks of seeing beautiful scenery, amazing chateau's, big churches. Oh, and a few cyclists as well!





Life

Yesterday a friend and I went to see the Cartier exhibition which is currently on at the NGV. It was an absolutely gorgeous exhibitions of all things that glitter! Fabulous!

I will have a post up about the whole exhibition later in the week but here's a taster. And yes, that is a gigantic emerald in the middle of that piece!

We also tried a new brunch place this weekend! It has a very different vibe from the usual industrial style of most modern cafes! We will definitely be going back.

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the Second Half of 2026
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: July links
Paris in July: Beinvenue!
Paris in July: Since the last Paris in July
20 Books of Winter: July recap
Classics Club Spin: Careful, He Might Hear You by Sumner Locke Elliott

In My Kitchen: June

Six Degrees of Separation: Yesteryear to The Gilded Lily

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

Six Degrees of Separation: Yesteryear to The Gilded Lily

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best. The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links. I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.

This month the starting point is Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke.

For my first selection I am choosing another title which has two words joined together to create a word that  doesn't really exist. I absolutely loved The Beforelife of Eliza Valentine by Laura Pearson when I read it a couple of years ago. The title for this book has been changed post publication to The Lives and Loves of Becca Valentine, so originally my plan was to talk about books whose titles have been changed. However, I ended up taking different direction.

A couple of weeks ago I finished reading First-Time Caller by B K Borison. This is a book which is set on a radio show where the main announcer is called Aiden Valentine. 

Another romance featuring people working on a radio show is Lonely Hearts Radio by Adeline Knight. This was an Audible original and featured an Australian radio announcer living in New York in 1999.

Moving away from romance novels, but still using the radio link my next choice is The Radio Hour by Australian Author Victoria Purman. This time the setting is 1950s Sydney

My next link is through the word hour. I am choosing The Gilded Hour by Sara Donati which is also set in New York, but this time in the late 19th century.

The word gilded is not one that comes up every day these days, but it is in a few titles, including The Gilded Lily by Deborah Swift. If I needed to keep on going from her there are any number of flower books out there, which oddly is a theme that I quite often end up with on these posts. Good job I am stopping here today!

Next month, the starting point is Land by Maggie O'Farrell

Will you be joining us?

In My Kitchen: June

 

Single serve chocolate chip cookie - I saw this being talked about in the RecipeTin Eats Facebook group and the idea of just whipping something up and having it straight away. It's funny though, on the recipe it talks about being able to make this single serve, albeit huge serve, and have it cooked within 20 minutes. To be fair, I am pretty sure I could find a chocolate chip cookie recipe where you could cook a whole batch in that time. This was half of the single serve and it basically was the size of the plate. I did love the way that you add the chocolate chips on top of the cookies while it was still hot!

French Apple Cake - This is another RecipeTin Eats recipe, this time for a French Apple Cake. It was very easy, and very delicious! Will make again!

I did end up buying a cookbook this month. Home Food by Elizabeth Hewitt was the cook book of the month in May for the Lambs Ear Cook Book Club. I originally borrowed the book from the library but we enjoyed everything we tried so I ended up buying it! I do want to try not doing that every month, but I think I am on track to buy the June book as well!

We did go to the most amazing Japanese dinner in June. It was a 5 course meal with free flowing alcohol, plus there was a cooking demonstration for every course, and cultural demonstration such as drumming, Judo and more! It was such a fun night.

New recipes

Single Serve chocolate Chip Cookies (RecipeTin Eats)

One Pot Pizza Mac (Recipe Tin Eats)

French Onion Rigatoni (Elizabeth Hewitt)

French Apple Cake (Recipe Tin Eats)

Coq au vin blanc pie (Lucy Tweed)

Aloo Muttar (Lucy Tweed)

Weekend Cooking posts from the last month

In My Kitchen: April/May

Afternoon Tea Diaries: Paradox

Hot Chocolate on Thursday by Michiko Aoyama

Two South American Films

Weekly Meals

Saturday - Out for dinner
Sunday - Coq au vin blanc pie (new)
Monday - Aloo Muttar (new)
Tuesday - Pork and Apple Sausages, mash and gravy
Wednesday - 
Thursday - Beef Stir Fry
Friday - Take away

I am sharing this post with In My Kitchen hosted at Sherry's Pickings.

Classics Club Spin: Careful, He Might Here You by Sumner Locke Elliott

When I put together my classics list, I deliberately went in search books that were considered Australian classics and included them as part of my list. One of my choices was this book, Careful, He Might Hear You by Sumner Lock Elliott. When the spin landed on this as the selection I was pretty happy. I had no idea, though, that I would love this as much as I did.

I am not sure that this author is one that I knew particularly much about, although I had heard of the movie version of this book which was made back in the 1980s. Apparently Elliott was a very successful writer and well known in the US. This book, which came out in 1963, was very autobiographical and also very successful, winning the 1963 Miles Franklin prize which is our top literary prize.

Our story opens with a glimpse into the life of a young boy named PS, so called because he was a postscript to his deceased mother's ridiculous life. Sinden died shortly after his birth, and with his father being perennially off searching for gold, his Aunt Lila and Uncle George are raising him as requested by his mother before she passed 

They live a very modest lifestyle, but there is a lot of love and Sinden is fondly remembered as Little One. When PS and his aunt go to visit her grave they refer to it as the The Little Garden, planting flowers but never mentioning that it is his mother's final resting place. It might be more whimsical as opposed to truthful, but PS is happy and secure.

When Aunt Vanessa turns up, PS's life is gradually turned upside down. Vanessa was sent to England at a young age to be a companion to a relative and so the life she leads is very different to that of her sisters. Vanessa believes that she too has a mandate to care for PS. In her eyes, this means providing him with the very best of everything including education, elocution correction to get rid of his terrible Australian accent, piano lessons, a big house, and impressive toys. These are all things that the humble Lila and George can not possibly provide

Ultimately this leads to a bitter custody battle over the bewildered little boy who just wants to go home and who doesn't really understand what it going on.

Whilst this is PS's story, we also get glimpses into the past lives of the sisters, including Sinden who was a writer who had received critical claim but not financial success. We also meet the father, Logan, who is irresistible to the sisters and who, ultimately, absconds from all responsibility for his son. One of the fun things for me was that Logan comes from Bacchus Marsh which is just up the road from me. 

Ultimately though, this is a quintessentially Sydney book. We catch the ferry across the harbour and the train to various locations, we feel the heat and witness spectacular summer storms and so much more. It is also a Depression story, with particular reference to the impact of the world financial situation on ordinary Aussie families.

This is a long book, coming in at 495 pages. It was very readable and I read it in a couple of days. I just had to pick it up to read and see what happened next at every opportunity My emotions ebbed and flowed with the story, and I recognised some of the bewilderment that PS felt from my own childhood experiences when my parents divorced. 

Bring on the next Aussie classic!

This book was one of the books I nominated for 20 Books of Winter and counts for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, the Big Books of Summer (hosted by Sue at Book by Book and Melinda from A Web of Stories) and also fits my read on a theme book club theme which is Secrets.

Twenty Books of Winter: July recap

 

1 June was the beginning of the 20 Books of Winter reading challenge which this year is being hosted by Anna(Book)Bel. I really enjoyed participating in the challenge last year so I was looking forward to this year. Now, here's my progress after 1 month. I am actually pretty pleased with my progress, having completed 9 of my nominated reads in June!

Here's my list, subject to change of course, and anything that is in purple is a book I read in June!

Charlie's Last Angel by Maggie Christensen (review)

Secrets of the Italian Guesthouse by Sue Moorcroft 

Escape to the Turquoise Seas by Carrie Walker 

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J Ryan Stradal

The Three Juliets by Minnie Darke 

The Kings Jewel by Elizabeth Chadwick (started)

The Story Collector by Evie Woods

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (review)

The Maid by Nita Prose 

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

The Little Porto Book Club by Rebecca Raisin

The Palace of Lost Virtue by Anthea Hodgson (review)

The Couples Retreat by Mercedes Mercier

The Secret Dressmaker by Jenny O'Brien

The Nile Cruise by Caroline James

The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak 

First-time Caller by B K Borison

Seascraper by Benjamin Wood

Everyone in this Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevens

Careful, He Might Hear You by Sumner Locke Elliott

Paris in July: Since the last Paris in July

 

Whilst we choose to focus on all things French during July, I am afraid I cannot limit myself to just one month. My obsession with all things French is all year round, although this year my list is significantly smaller than it has been in previous years. This is probably impacted by the fact that I went back to work in August last year so had significantly less free time!

Here is most of what I have seen, read or done since the last Paris in July.  

The Stolen Painting (movie)

The Mad Women's Ball by Victoria Mas (my review)

A French Inheritance by Jennifer Bohnet (my review)

Paris pyjamas

The Boulangerie on the Corner by Susan Buchanan (my review)

The  Resistance Knitting Club by Jenny O'Brien (my review)

Neil and Martin's Bon Voyage     (TV series)

Nun in the City (movie)

New Chapters on the French Riviera by Jennifer Bohnet (review)

In A Paris Fashion by Sophie Beaumont

Piglettes by Clementine Beauvais

I will have reviews for those last two books up during the month, plus whatever else I come up with!

Beinvenue!

Welcome to Paris in July 2026! This is my favourite blogging event of the year and I am so glad that Emma from Words and Peace continues to host this fabulous month long extravaganza of all things French!

Over the coming month you can expect books set in France, French inspired food, French movies and whatever else I can think of!

I have a number of posts already planned! Now I just need to find some time to read all the books that I want to read for the month!

If you do plan to join in, don't forget to share your link so we can all come and visit your posts!

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: July links!

Thank you to everyone who contributed a review in June for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. There were nearly 50 links shared during June and I am looking forward to coming and visiting them soon. I will be back in the next week or so with all the statistics for the month and maybe even a mid year recap!

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!!

Top Ten Tuesday: Most anticipated Books Releasing in the Second Half of 2026

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the Second Half of 2026

A Study in Sparkling by Jodi McAlister (July)- I am going to the launch of this one and can't wait!

Matcha on Monday by Michiko Aoyama (July) - This is the second book in the Marble Cafe series and is out later this week.

Time Travel for Beginners by Jaclyn Moriarty (August)- This one is a bit outside my normal wheelhouse but it does sound like fun!

The German Ward by Pip Williams (September)- I am going to a book event for this one too!

The Birthing Tree by Amanda Peters (September) - The Berry Pickers was a five star read for me so I have high hopes for this one. 

Paper Ghosts by Sarah Addison Allen (September) - I haven't actually read a SAA book in years, but I still look forward to every new release 

The Cairo Bridal Shop by Tess Woods (September) - Looking forward to this one!

Grim Tidings by B K Borison (September)- I only own one book with sprayed edges which is Good Spirits, the precursor to this book. I have pre-ordered the sprayed edges version of this book too!

Orlando by Harry Whittaker (November) - This book is set in the same world as The Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley. This is her son who is continuing the series. It could be great. Or it could not be. I will have to read to find out!

The Heart Note by Vanessa McCausland (December) - I have loved the Vanessa McCausland books I have read and this one sounds great too!

Looks like September is going to be a bumper month for new books! Do you have any of these on your list?