Undercover Princess by Connie Glynn

Book Summary

When fairy tale obsessed Lottie Pumpkin starts at the infamous Rosewood Hall, she is not expecting to share a room with the Crown Princess of Maradova, Ellie Wolf. Due to a series of lies and coincidences, 14-year-old Lottie finds herself pretending to be the princess so that Ellie can live a more normal teenage life.

Lottie is thrust into the real world of royalty - a world filled with secrets, intrigue and betrayal. She must do everything she can to help Ellie keep her secret, but with school, the looming Maradovian ball and the mysterious new boy Jamie, she'll soon discover that reality doesn't always have the happily ever after you'd expect...

Lottie has spent her life trying to live up to her ideal of a princess, she has her motto to be kind, brave and unstoppable. Lottie promised her mother, before she died, that she would be happy and do her best to go to Rosewood Hall school. However we don't yet know why this is so important! She's so determined to keep her promise and through her hard work she manages to get a rare scholarship, though she never expected that she would have a real princess as a roommate and that she would end up pretending to be her. Ellie is exactly what Lottie wants to be, a real princess. But Ellie is trying to escape her duties and wants nothing more than to be ordinary like Lottie! The two girls are in some ways opposites and others very similar, this makes them perfect for each other and their growing friendship is wonderful to read.

This is the first book in the Rosewood Chronicles series and I could already tell there would be plenty more to the story and to the mystery of Rosewood Hall.

I've just come back from Madrid and had an amazing Mimosa at the hotel there. To recreate it, first of all rim a glass with sugar by dipping the edge of the glass in a saucer of grand marnier and then in sugar. Pour the remaining grand marnier from the saucer into the glass with a couple of ice cubes. Then fill the glass half with champagne and half with orange juice. To finish, add a drizzle of grenadine. 

 Mix & Match 12

Today I made a Last Laugh cocktail. It's a variation on the Last Word cocktail but I think this one is a bit more easy going. 20ml each of gin, green chartreuse, maraschino and lemon juice. Shake with ice and strain into a champagne glass. Top with Cava.

Breathing Underwater by Sarah Allen

All Olivia wants is to help her big sister Ruth, to make her smile again. She even has a plan to recreate a road trip they took, which she believes was the last time they were really happy. 

There are so many touching moments. The author really manages to express how the characters are feeling and makes the reader feel it too.

Squire by Sara Alfageeh, Nadia Shammas

Aiza dreams of being a knight, a way to make a better life for herself. Finally she gets the opportunity, though it's not exactly what she was expecting. She meets lots of new people and learns a lot about what she is capable of too.

Aiza is such a compelling and lovable character. She's so positive despite everything she goes through, I really love how she never gives up. The book has lots of interesting twists and a very unexpected ending. My only complaint was that the ending was quite sudden, but the pacing of the rest of the book was excellent.

A Hunter's Moon by Danny Weston

Callum is stuck working for Fraser to cover his father's debts. Until recently all he needed to do was keep his head down and follow orders, but now there's an important job for the local Lord and Fraser needs his help. A huge wolf has been killing and the people of the village are terrified they or their animals could be next.

There's a supernatural element as the creature is rumoured to be something supernatural and a creepy forest which everyone is warned to keep out of, but of course they have to go in! This book was very fast paced, short but action packed and gripping.

Hexed by Julia Tuffs

What do you do when you're fed up of boys' behaviour and getting angry just isn't doing working?

I loved Jessie's voice from the start. She's so wry and self deprecating, but also somehow quite stoic in some ways, she just powers through times when most people would want to run away and hide.

Her reaction to magic really surprised me as I would have loved to find out I was a witch and had magic powers! I liked that everything wasn't necessarily all magically perfect at the end, it was more realistic. This was a really strong and uplifting book.

Escape Room by Christopher Edge

Ami is excited to get the chance to play The Escape, as she absolutely loves escape room games. There she meets 4 other kids to team up with and find The Answer, though none of them even know what the question is. However, as they play it seems to get more and more dangerous and less like a game at all.

Some lessons on awareness and environment but they didn't feel preachy at ll.

I could feel the excitement, intrigue and suspense right from the first page. I thought I knew what was going to happen at one point but I was so wrong, I definitely didn't expect what actually happened!

The Mermaid in the Millpond by Lucy Strange

Bess is determined that she is not going to care about anyone else any more. She is going to be tough and hard hearted so she won't be hurt again.  But someone won't give up trying to break through, and is there really a mermaid in the pond?

This is such a charming story with wonderfully lovely writing. My only complaint is that it is so short and I would have loved it to be longer! Trying to avoid spoilers, but I would really like to know what happens next. Maybe this could be made into a longer book sometime in the future???

 Octavia Bloom & the Missing Key by Estelle Grace Tudor

Book Summary

One tiny discovery can have enormous consequences...

Almost 10-year-old Octavia Bloom is looking for adventure, but when it comes it's in the shape of a tiny fairy door.

Dragging her reluctant sister and cousins into the mystery, Octavia discovers her family are hiding not ONE but TWO life-changing secrets. 

Why is her mother searching for an elusive flower? And does she have what it takes to reunite her fractured family?

Octavia's certain the answers lie behind the fairy door, if only she could just find the key...

Bravery, secrets & magic intertwine in this fantastical adventure.

I adored the settings, both the big old castle full of mysterious rooms like the dusty attic, and beautiful Fairyland, where everything sounds absolutely amazing. The fairies with their beautiful wings, the colourful unicorns and especially the delicious food. The relationships between the Bloom girls are great, cousins and sisters squabbling and supporting each other, and I loved the sweet animal companions. This is such a short book but a lot happens, though sometimes it happens a little too quickly! I really enjoyed it and I feel like there is plenty more excitement to come. I'm looking forward to reading more in the series.

Thinking of the flowers they are searching for in the book, I decided to make a Flower Power Martini. Full disclosure, I ran out of elderflower and used creme de poire instead but it was still yummy!

Stir the following with ice and strain into a martini glass: 60ml gin, 15ml extra dry vermouth, 7.5 ml creme de poire and 2.5ml creme de violette.

 

Book Bloggers Novel of the Year Award

I received this book to read and review as part of the 2021 BBNYA competition and the BBNYA tours organised by the TWR Tour team. All opinions are my own, unbiased and honest.

BBNYA is a yearly competition where Book Bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors. If you are an author and wish to learn more about the BBNYA competition, you can visit the official website www.bbnya.com or twitter @bbnya_official. 

The sign-ups will soon be open for the 2022 BBNYA competition, be it for authors to enter their books, or for bloggers wanting to be part of the new panel, so keep your eyes peeled!!!

 The Beast and the Bethany: Revenge of the Beast 

by Jack Meggitt-Phillips

I loved The Beast and the Bethany so was overjoyed to get the chance to join the blog tour for the sequel!

Book Summary

Once upon a very badly behaved time, 511-year-old Ebenezer kept a beast in his attic. He would feed the beast all manner of objects and creatures and in return the beast would vomit him up expensive presents. But then the Bethany arrived.

Now notorious prankster Bethany, along with her new feathery friend Claudette, is determined that she and Ebenezer are going to de-beast their lives and Do Good. But Bethany finds that being a former prankster makes it hard to get taken on for voluntary work. And Ebenezer secretly misses the beast’s vomity gifts. And neither of them are all that sure what “good people” do anyway.

Then there’s Claudette, who’s not been feeling herself recently. Has she eaten something that has disagreed with her?

Uh oh, is the Beast back??? 

At first it seems that Bethany is worse than ever, but then she and Ebenezer decide to attempt some do-gooding to change everyone's opinion of them. However, Ebenezer is distracted and worried about the mysterious Division, who were after him and the Beast many, many years ago. On top of all this, it looks like Bethany might actually have met someone worse than her, Gloria is the new terror of the orphanage. And what's going on with poor Claudette? She's not quite acting her usual sweet self. 

There are loads of laugh-out-loud funny sections, particularly when Ebenezer and Bethany try to learn how to be good. As you can imagine, it does not quite go to plan. The story of how Ebenezer met the Beast, back when he was actually just a young, innocent boy, finally gets revealed. You've got to feel sorry for Ebenezer, who can blame him for turning out as he did with the Beast's influence all those hundreds of years. Just like in book one, there are plenty of wonderful illustrations throughout the book, just watch out for the slime!

I thought this book really deserved its own special cocktail so I made a Beastly Purple Lemonade.

Shake up 40ml Blue Curacao, 20ml Chambord, 20ml Aperol and 40ml lemon juice with ice. Pour into a glass over ice and top up with tonic water. I also stirred in some pink shimmer to make it look all swirly. This actually turned out quite a bit sweeter than I was expecting but very delicious and refreshing. I'm hoping that if I throw a few of these cocktails at the Beast, then he won't eat me!