Tag: sophie hannah

Monthly Wrap Ups

December Wrap Up!

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Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you are all having a good day today. It is time for the final wrap up of the year, and what a reading year it has been. I was struggling to find time in most of the months but since October I have been enjoying my reading again, and picking up brilliant books too.

Here is what I read in December,

From my TBR:

  • A Lively Midwinter Murder by Katy Watson – I did read this and a review is coming on the 20th December
  • Everyone this Christmas Has A Secret by Benjamin Stevenson – I read this
  • The Mistletoe Mystery by Nita Prose – I did read this
  • Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night by Sophie Hannah – I read this
  • Murder on the Dance Floor by Helena Dixon – I also read this

Which means…. I completed my TBR this month! I only had five specific books that were christmas themed that I wanted to read and I am very happy that I got the chance to read them all this month. Not only that but I also got to read some books outside my TBR, which were:

  • Do Your Worst by Rosie Danan – review coming on the 13th December
  • A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas – I know, I FINALLY read this book and yes, I absolutely loved it. So much so that I went and bought the complete hardback series immediately after I finished it..
  • Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody – At the time of writing this post I am currently reading this book and I will finish it before the end of December
  • Shadowscent by P M Freestone – I started this book and I have decided to soft DNF it, I still want to try it again but what I read wasn’t keeping my interest so I decided to leave it for later

So, in December I read 9 books – so far at least, as I am writing this it is the 15th December so it is likely I will read something else this month too, but right now I’m not sure what book that will be.

What did you read in December?

Monthly TBRs

December TBR!

theblindscribe

Happy Friday bookish people! How are you all doing today? It is December, the final month of 2024, and I am excited to get stuck into reading the christmassy books that I have, admittedly I don’t have very many but the ones I have, I plan on reading.

December for me is looking like it will be a busy month, my diary is already getting pretty full so hopefully I will still have some time to read.

What are you planning to read in December? Any special plans for Christmas?

December TBR

A Lively Midwinter Murder by Katy Watson

Everybody This Christmas Has A Secret by Benjamin Stevenson

Hercule Poirot’s Silent night by Sophie Hannah

Murder on the Dancefloor by Helena Dixon

Okay, this one isn’t exactly christmas but it is set in winter and I have been reading one a month of this series so I want to continue this.

The Mistletoe Mystery by Nita Prose

Book Tags

Five series’ to finish by the end of the year

theblindscribe

Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you are all having a good day today, I thought it might be fun to share the top five series’ that I would like to finish up by the end of 2024. I have started a lot of series, I love getting to spend multiple books with characters so it is the main bulk of what I read.

Here are the five I want to prioritise:

The Hercule Poirot series by Sophie Hannah

I only have one book left, Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night, then I am up to date with this series and seeing as it has a winter/christmas theme I should get to read this in December.

The Painted Dragon by Katherine Woodfine

This is the third book in the series starting with the Clockwork Sparrow, there are actually four books out in this series but I only own the first three and I don’t plan on buying the fourth so I will be finishing the series with book three.

As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson

This is the third and final book in the Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series, I have been putting it off because I love the first two and I have heard mixed things about the last book but I would like to get this one finished off soon.

The Secret Service of Tea and Treason by India Holton

This series is very quirky and fun and this is the third and final book in the series. I have it on my TBR for November so hopefully that will be this series finished up.

A Death in Diamonds by S J Bennett

This is the fourth book in the Queen Elizabeth II investigates series and reading it would mean I am up to date with the series so far. I do enjoy this series although not every books has been brilliant, I’d say two out of the three I have read so far were great and one was not, so fingers crossed for this one.

Book Reviews

Book Review: The Mystery of Three Quarters by Sophie Hannah

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you are all having a good day today. I am bringing you my review of The Mystery of Three Quarters by Sophie Hannah, one of the books in her new Poirot book series.

In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little bit about each one. I will do my best to not include any spoilers.

The Mystery of Three Quarters Plot:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

This was the third of Sophie Hannah’s Poirot books that I have read and in this one Poirot finds out that someone has sent seemingly unconnected people letters accusing them of being a murderer and they have been signed as if by Poirot himself. I found this premise very interesting, it throws the reader into the suspense from the first page and that is one thing I really enjoy in mystery books, I like to feel apart of the mystery from early on.

The Mystery of Three Quarters Characters:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Of course the main character in this book is Poirot. I have always loved anything to do with Poirot, since I was a child and I used to watch all the David Suchet episodes on TV on a Sunday while eating my lunch and of course I have read many of the Agatha Christie books. I think it’s where my love of crime fiction started.

The Mystery of Three Quarters Writing and Dialogue:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

It must have taken a lot of research for Sophie Hannah to begin writing these books because there have been a lot of adaptations of Poirot but I think that she captures his mannerisms and speech very well.

The Mystery of Three Quarters Overall:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I gave this book four stars overall because I enjoyed this one just as much as the rest of the other two in the series I have read.

Blurb/Synopsis:

The world’s most beloved detective, Hercule Poirot, the legendary star of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express and most recently The Monogram Murders and Closed Casket, returns in a stylish, diabolically clever mystery set in the London of 1930.

Hercule Poirot returns home after an agreeable luncheon to find an angry woman waiting to berate him outside his front door. Her name is Sylvia Rule, and she demands to know why Poirot has accused her of the murder of Barnabas Pandy, a man she has neither heard of nor ever met. She is furious to be so accused, and deeply shocked. Poirot is equally shocked, because he too has never heard of any Barnabas Pandy, and he certainly did not send the letter in question. He cannot convince Sylvia Rule of his innocence, however, and she marches away in a rage.

Shaken, Poirot goes inside, only to find that he has a visitor waiting for him — a man called John McCrodden who also claims also to have received a letter from Poirot that morning, accusing him of the murder of Barnabas Pandy…

Poirot wonders how many more letters of this sort have been sent in his name. Who sent them, and why? More importantly, who is Barnabas Pandy, is he dead, and, if so, was he murdered? And can Poirot find out the answers without putting more lives in danger?

That’s it for this book review, I hope you all enjoyed it!

Monthly Wrap Ups

July Wrap Up!

theblindscribe

Happy Monday bookish people! I know this post is going up on the first day of August when I usually post them at the end of the month I am writing about but July was quite the month! First there was YALC and Comic Con which I don’t really want to say that much about because it will turn into a rant, I did not have a good experience there this year because of the organization and well, they had no idea what to do with people who have disabilities so the less said about it the better. Then I found out I had gotten covid from YALC and I was so poorly, I still am a bit even a month on, I couldn’t do much. I rounded the month out with a trip to Bristol and a trip to Hampshire so I am pretty exhausted.

A good thing that happened this month is that I opened my Etsy shop! I have been thinking about this for a while and I have finally done it. I am creating bookish bookmarks, on card, wood and made of resin. If you’d like to visit my shop is TheBlindScribe

Anyway, my reading this month wasn’t great, I read some okay books but no books that I was really invested in. My book reviews of the books I did read will be coming on Mondays throughout August!

  • The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood – I did read this and actually I quite enjoyed it but I had one very specific issue with it which I will talk about in my book review of it.
  • A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn – I did not read this book
  • Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li – I did not read this
  • The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson – I did not read this book either
  • Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead by Elle Cosimano – I haven’t read this book
  • The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton – I haven’t read this book yet either
  • Nine Lives by Peter Swanson – I did not read this
  • Daughters of Night by Laura Shepard Robinson – I started this book a while ago but I haven’t continued with it yet
  • The Three Dog Problem by S J Bennett – I did read this!
  • The Mystery of Three Quarters by Sophie Hannah – I also read this book!
  • The Perfect Escape by Leah Konen – I did not read this book

Overall, I read three books this month which considering how poorly I was and how much has been going on this month is pretty good, I’m happy with it.

That’s it for my July wrap-up! I hope you all enjoyed it, my August TBR is coming on Friday!

Book Reviews

Book Review – The Killings At Kingfisher Hill

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you are all having a good day today. I am bringing you a new book review, I say new; I read this book in January I think and I am only just getting around to writing the review for it but nevermind, I am doing it now.

In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little about each one. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. I hope you enjoy my book review.

The Killings At Kingfisher Hill Plot:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

So, I fully intended to love this book because I have always loved the Agatha Christie Poirot books and I was very excited when Sophie Hannah began writing them and I have read one of the others in the series which I enjoyed. However, my main issue with this book was that I felt it was quite predictable. The book starts with the bus/coach journey that stops at different places and there are a lot of events that happen and characters introduced here but I felt like a lot of the twists were already revealed here, I am sure they were meant to be subtle so that when you see the twist later you can go back and see where it was built up in the plot but for me it wasn’t subtle enough. The actual book itself was enjoyable to read, I did like the story and the typical Agatha Christie mystery of a country estate and a limited group of possible killers.

The Killings At Kingfisher Hill Characters:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

The only character I can talk about without spoiling anything is Poirot. I think Sophie Hannah has brilliantly captured the essence of Poirot with his nuances and the parts of his character that make him instantly recognizable.

The Killings At Kingfisher Hill Writing and Dialogue:

As I said above, I enjoyed the book overall and I think this is a lot because of the writing of Sophie Hannah. She manages to get the feel of an Agatha Christie while still keeping the writing clear and easy to understand exactly what is happening.

The Killings At Kingfisher Hill Overall:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

I gave this book three stars overall because I can say the book was good and I liked it but I didn’t like how predictable it felt to me.

Blurb/Synopsis:

Hercule Poirot is traveling by luxury passenger coach from London to the exclusive Kingfisher Hill estate. Richard Devonport has summoned the renowned detective to prove that his fiancée, Helen, is innocent of the murder of his brother, Frank. Poirot will have only days to investigate before Helen is hanged, but there is one strange condition attached: he must conceal his true reason for being there from the rest of the Devonport family.

The coach is forced to stop when a distressed woman demands to get off, insisting that if she stays in her seat, she will be murdered. Although the rest of the journey passes without anyone being harmed, Poirot’s curiosity is aroused, and his fears are later confirmed when a body is discovered with a macabre note attached . . .

Could this new murder and the peculiar incident on the coach be clues to solving the mystery of who killed Frank Devonport? And if Helen is innocent, can Poirot find the true culprit in time to save her from the gallows?

That’s it for this book review, I hope you all enjoyed it!

Uncategorized

Signed Books That I Own

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Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you are all having a good day today. I thought it might be fun today to share what some books I have, that I have signed, are.

I would just like to say that I am not trying to brag about the books that I have I just thought it might be fun to share which books and where I may have gotten some of them.

The Devil Makes Three by Tori Bovalino

I got this book as a wonderful signed edition from my monthly Illumicrate boxes

The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis

I also got this book in a book box!

Dangerous Remedy by Kat Dunn

I also got this one in an Illumicrate box, I read it and loved it and now I own the second one in the series.

Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody

My friend ordered me this book from online because they had found a hardback copy and then when it arrived it was a great surprise to find out it was also signed

The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant

I got this amazing book in my Illumicrate box too.

Mrs England by Stacey Halls

I managed to grab a signed edition of this book from my local waterstones

Haven’t They Grown by Sophie Hannah

I found this book in a charity shop and it turned out to be a signed hardback and it was an amazing bargain

A Line To Kill by Anthony Horowitz

I got this from a company called Forbidden Planet, I was just scrolling through their website and I ended up ordering a lot of books (oops!) and I managed to get a signed copy of this book from there.

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

I got this one in my Waterstones, it didn’t say it was signed and I was very happy when I got home and saw it was signed

Once and Future Witches by Alix E Harrow

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E Harrow

I got this book and Once and Future Witches by the same author in my monthly book boxes

As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson

I got this one in my local Waterstones

Under the Whispering Door by T J Klune

I found a signed copy of this one in my Whsmiths and I was really excited to find this one

Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff

I got this book in a recent Illumicrate box

The Desolation of Devil’s Acre by Ransom Riggs

I managed to preorder a signed copy of this book from waterstones

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

I got this book in my Illumicrate box too

Little Thieves by Margaret Owen

I got this beautiful book in my Illumicrate box

One Of Us Is Lying/One Of Us Is Next/Two Can Keep A Secret by Karen M McManus

I got these books signed when I met Karen M McManus at YALC in 2019 which was amazing!

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

I also got this in my Illumicrate box

The Mapmakers by Tamzin Merchant

My local waterstones luckily had a signed copy of this book

This Woven Kingdom by Taherah Mafi

I also got this one in my Illumicrate box

Terciel and Elinor by Garth Nix

I was looking everywhere for a signed copy of this book and I finally found one in Whsmiths

A Darker Shade of Magic by V E Schwab

I bought the special Illumicrate box for this book and along with some other items it got me a signed copy of this book

That’s it for this blog post, I hope you all enjoyed it! Do you have any signed books?

Monthly Wrap Ups

January Wrap Up!

theblindscribe

Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you all had a lovely January. If you have seen any of my recent posts here on my Instagram posts (@the_blind_scribe) you will know that my January has been full of ups and downs, honestly mostly downs. After being unwell for most of it and then my partner and I breaking up and having to move back in with my parents I barely read anything in January.

So, onto my January Wrap-up!

  • Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte – I did not read
  • A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik – I did not read
  • Act Your Age Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert – I did read!
  • Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare – I did not read
  • Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody – I did not read
  • Daughters of Night by Laura Shepard Robinson – I have recently started to read this, I won’t finish it by the end of the month but I am really enjoying the atmosphere and the lead female character so far.
  • The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton – I have not read
  • Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff – I did not get around to reading
  • European Travels for the Monstrous Gentlewoman by Theodora Goss – I have read the first 20 pages or so of this book and I am enjoying it but I wasn’t in the right mood for it this month because of everything happening.
  • Finale by Stephanie Garber – I did not read
  • Furyborn by Claire Legrand – I did not read
  • The Killings at Kingfisher Hill by Sophie Hannah – I did read this!
  • Nevernight by Jay Kristoff – I did not read this
  • Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty – I did not read this
  • Pages and Co Tilly and the Lost Fairytales – I did read this!
  • Queenslayer by Sebastien De Castell – I did not read this
  • Shadowscent by P M Freestone – I did not read this
  • The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman – I did not read
  • The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi – I did not read
  • The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley – I did not read
  • The Plague Letters by V L Valentine – I did not read
  • Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas – I did not read

I also read The Enchanted Wood, The Magic Faraway Tree and The Folk of the Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton which wasn’t on my TBR. So that means I read six books and I started two more so I am actually really happy with the amount that I ended up reading this month.

That’s it for this wrap up I hope you all enjoyed it!

Monthly TBRs

January TBR!

theblindscribe

Happy Tuesday bookish people! It’s the first month of the new year and it is time to share what I hope to be reading this month. I feel like I want to read a lot this month so far, I am hoping this will continue throughout the month and I’ll have a great month to start the year.

My January TBR:

  • The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi – I am really excited to read this book, I bought it with some vouchers I got for Christmas and it should be arriving today.
  • Furyborn by Claire Legrand – I’m not sure what I will think of this book but I want to read more outside of my comfort zone this year
  • Queenslayer by Sebastien de Castell – I am so close to finishing this series and I think this book will be another great one just like the rest of the series.
  • Act Your Age Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert – I will say at the time of writing this that I have actually finished reading this book and completed the Brown Sisters trilogy!
  • Daughters of Night by Laura Shepard-Robinson – A good Victorian mystery, that’s just what I want to read right now.
  • Shadowscent by P M Freestone – this is another book that I am not sure what to make of it yet but I hope I will enjoy it.
  • The Plague Letters by V L Valentine – a historical murder mystery, it sounds so different and intriguing and I am excited to get into it.
  • Nevernight by Jay Kristoff – I am hoping that I will be able to get into this book easily.
  • Killings at Kingfisher Hill by Sophie Hannah – I read one of the books in her Poirot series and enjoyed it so hopefully the rest of the series will be the same.
  • The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton – I loved his other book and a murder mystery set on a boat sounds intriguing.
  • Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas – It is time I got around to reading this book.
  • Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody – I love any book to do with a circus or carnival so I have high hopes.
  • European Travels for the Monstrous Gentlewoman by Theodora Goss – I have already started this one and just like the first book in the series, I am already immersed in the world.
  • Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte – I don’t actually know much about this book.
  • Hunting Party by Lucy Foley – I started reading her other book and ended up putting it down so I hope I will have better luck with this book.
  • Pages and Co 2 by Anna James – this is a lovely series of books that I am excited to continue.
  • The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman – another series that has a brilliant world that I want to get back to.
  • Finale by Stephanie Garber – finally I am hoping to finish up the caraval series!
  • A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik – I’ve heard mixed things about this book but I am still interested in reading it.
  • Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare – this is an intimidating book but I am excited to get around to it
  • Empire of the Vampire – another book I’m not sure about but I have heard great things.
  • Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty – I am excited to read more mysteries this month.

That’s it for my January TBR, I hope you all enjoyed it! Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them?

Monthly Wrap Ups

July Wrap Up!

theblindscribe

Happy Saturday bookish people! It is the end of July… this month has felt like a long one for me. I submitted my new PhD application at the beginning of this month and I’m not sure how I feel about it, the first time I sent in an application I wasn’t confident exactly but this time any confidence I might have had was completely gone. Anyway, I also got to see family in July which was really nice!

So in terms of reading for the month of July: Once again I did not complete my TBR, I’m not surprised about this at all because I had a couple of book tour reads I had to do and I spent four days in Hampshire and I mostly mood read for that. I packed five books and read four over this weekend so even though I didn’t read much off my TBR I still read a lot of books, I think my final number was fifteen. I’ll know for sure at the end of this wrap up.

Let’s see what I did and didn’t read this month!

My July TBR and thoughts:

  • A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas – I did not get around to reading this (again) I will read it at some point but I need to be in a certain mood and have time to really get engrossed in the book, I mean Rhysand is in it so I’m definitely excited to read it.
  • A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn – I read this one! I took this one with me to Hampshire and read it in the hotel room on one of the evenings, I really enjoyed this book and of course now I want the whole series. I will be putting up a review of this book very soon.
  • An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir – I didn’t read this book. I am still very interested in this book I just didn’t have enough time this month.
  • Blood and Honey by Shelby Mahurin – I read Serpent and Dove in June and loved it, however I wasn’t ready to go back into this world yet so I will read this one in a couple of months time.
  • European Travels for the Monstrous Gentlewoman by Theodora Goss – I have started reading this one but I have not finished it yet.
  • The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V E Schwaab – I haven’t read this one because I have a feeling it will make me cry and I didn’t feel like crying too much in July.
  • The Killings at Kingfisher Hill by Sophie Hannah – I didn’t get around to reading this one either.
  • King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo – I feel like I should read the final installment in the Shadow and Bone series first so I haven’t read this one.
  • Legendborn by Tracy Deonne – another one I haven’t read this month.
  • Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch – I have read this one. I wanted a light and fluffy read, I didn’t quite get this but it was an okay read.
  • Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M Danforth – big books strike again, I didn’t read this because it is a huge book.
  • Pumpkin by Julie Murphy – I read this one, this was my first read of the month, I really liked this one. I will have a review up for this book soon too.
  • Save the Date by Morgan Matson – I don’t read very much contemporary so I’m not surprised that I didn’t get around to this one.
  • The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden – again I was very much mood reading this month so I didn’t get to this one.
  • The Plague Letters by V L Valentine – I thought this book would be a bit dark for me this month so I didn’t read this one either.
  • Threadneedle by Cari Thomas – I didn’t read this one.
  • Finally Turtles All The Way Down by John Green – I di not read this one either.

So, from my TBR I read three books and started one other. Outside of my TBR I read some other books, these were:

That is my reading for this month, I read 13 books and started two others so overall this was another good reading month. I am actually pretty confident I will reach my 100 books challenge for 2021.