The Thief of Farrowfell by Ravena Guron

Illustrated by Alessia Trunfio

Book Summary

Welcome to a fantasy world where edible magic is the hottest commodity, traded between those who can pay or - in the case of Jude Ripon, the youngest thief in Farrowfell - those who can steal it!

Twelve-year-old Jude Ripon has never been taken seriously by her family of magic-stealing masterminds. To them, she's just the youngest, only good for keeping watch while they carry out daring heists. Desperate to prove her worth, Jude decides to steal valuable magic from the fanciest house in town . . .

But Jude's stolen prize was protected by a curse which threatens to wreak havoc on the family business. While attempting to untangle the mess she's made (and wondering why anyone would want to curse an honest thief trying to earn a living), Jude discovers just how far her family will go to stay at the top of the criminal world.

Suddenly, her quest to become a true Ripon isn't straightforward any more . . .

Jude is part of the top thieving family in Farrowfell, but as the youngest, she's never really treated as if she belongs. She's determined to prove herself to the rest of the family and show them that she is just as capable as the rest of them.

The book starts with a lovely map that has the most important place at center, the library! And it is just as magical as you would expect, with rooms that can answer every question. The magic system is really unique and interesting, where dangerous raw magic is tamed and made into spells you can eat. You can turn invisible or walk through walls as well as countless other spells. and yes, the yo-yo IS important 😁

Jude is such a great main character, I loved how cool she is no matter who or what she faces. She's so brave and ultimately pretty selfless though I'm sure she would hate for anyone to say that about her! 

Full of suspense and urgency which made me whizz through the book. I thought it had an excellent ending that was fully satisfying but also left me hoping for a sequel. I'd love to read more about Jude and her next adventures.

I've created a Raw Magic Cocktail, though if you've read the book you'll be cautious about drinking it!

In a goblet pour 15ml of creme de poire and top up the glass with prosecco, then add in some edible silver shimmer  and give it a little stir to make it sparkle.

Spotlight on...
The Goddess of Nothing at All by Cat Rector

BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 finalists and one overall winner.  If you are an author and wish to learn more about the BBNYA competition, you can visit the official website or Twitter @bbnya_official. BBNYA is brought to you in association with the @Foliosociety (if you love beautiful books, you NEED to check out their website (https://www.foliosociety.com/)!) and the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.

Today's spotlight is on the 2nd place finalist of last year's BBNYA competition. Add it to your Goodreads shelf here.

Book Summary

Perhaps you know the myths.

Furious, benevolent Gods.

A tree that binds nine realms.

A hammer stronger than any weapon.

And someday, the end of everything.

But few have heard of me.

Looking back, it’s easy to know what choices I might have made differently. At least it feels that way. I might have given up on my title. Told my father he was useless, king of Gods or no, and left Asgard. Made a life somewhere else.

Maybe I would never have let Loki cross my path. Never have fallen in love.

But there’s no going back.

We were happy once.

And the price for that happiness was the end of everything.

Author Bio

Cat Rector grew up in a small Nova Scotian town and could often be found simultaneously reading a book and fighting off muskrats while walking home from school. She devours stories in all their forms, loves messy, morally grey characters, and writes about the horrors that we inflict on each other. After spending nearly a decade living abroad, she returned to Canada with her spouse to resume her war against the muskrats. When she’s not writing, you can find her playing video games, spending time with loved ones, or staring at her To Be Read pile like it's going to read itself. 

Epilogues for Lost Gods is the sequel to her debut novel, The Goddess of Nothing At All.

Find her on Twitter, Tiktok, and Instagram at Cat_Rector. Or visit her website.

The Last One to Fall by Gabriella Lepore

Book Summary

Six friends. Five suspects. One murder.

Savana Caruso and Jesse Melo have known each other since they were kids, so when Jesse texts Savana in the middle of the night and asks her to meet him at Cray’s Warehouse, she doesn’t hesitate. But before Savana can find Jesse, she bears witness to a horrifying murder, standing helpless on the ground as a mysterious figure is pushed out of the fourth floor of the warehouse. 

Six teens were there that night, and five of them are now potential suspects. With the police circling, Savana knows what will happen if the wrong person is charged, particularly once she starts getting threatening anonymous text messages.

As she attempts to uncover the truth, Savana learns that everyone is keeping secrets—and someone is willing to do whatever it takes to keep those secrets from coming to light.

This was one of my favourite books so far this year. The blurb didn't really give much away as it was quite different to how I expected at first. It's written from the viewpoints of Savana and Jesse and is interspersed with police reports giving some tantalising possible clues into the murder. However, the reader doesn't even really know who died until about halfway through the book.

I really liked the mystery, a lot of things were not as I first assumed and I had to keep guessing and then second-guessing myself! There were all these little tit-bits of clues and I even had to go back and re-read parts of the book to try about work out what really happened. I ended up reading the last half of the book in one go because I just had to know what really happened.

To make a Love and Murder cocktail shake the following ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass: 30ml Campari, 30ml Green Chartreuse, 30ml lime juice, 15ml sugar syrup, pinch of salt.

I must admit to being a little sceptical at first, with this combination of flavours, but it actually works really well. I did substitute Aperol for the Campari as I prefer it and I think it gave a slightly sweeter taste, as well as looking more orange than red.

The Girl on the 88 Bus by Freya Sampson

Book Summary

When Libby Nicholls arrives in London, broken-hearted and with her life in tatters, the first person she meets on the bus is elderly pensioner Frank. He tells her about the time in 1962 he met a girl on the number 88 bus with beautiful red hair just like her own. They made plans for a date, but Frank lost the ticket with her number written on it. For the past sixty years, he's ridden the same bus trying to find her.

Libby is inspired by the story and, with the help of an unlikely companion, she makes it her mission to continue Frank's search. As she begins to open her guarded heart to strangers and new connections, Libby's tightly controlled world expands. But with Frank's dementia progressing quickly, their chance of finding the girl on the 88 bus is slipping away . . .

More than anything, Libby wants Frank to see his lost love one more time. But their quest also shows Libby just how important it is to embrace her own chance for happiness - before it's too late.

First of all, how adorable is Frank? He's just such a sweet and generous character, no wonder he has so many people who want to support him in his search. Over the years he's made so many friends on the bus journeys and I loved meeting them throughout the book. Libby in particular is fascinated by the search and hearing Frank talk about this mystery girl intrigues her as there are parallels in their lives.

For Frank, Libby, Dylan and many others, it seems like their whole lives are mapped out on the 88 bus route. Home, work, leisure, random meetings with strangers. Now all their time is taken up with this hunt, especially as time is running out. I was drawn into the search too, with my hopes raised and dashed down repeatedly!

To make a Magic Bus Cocktail, shake up the following with lots of ice and strain into your glass of choice - 40ml tequila, 25ml coitreau, 25ml cranberry juice and 25ml orange juice.

Author Interview with Daniel Dockery

This week I am taking part in the blog tour for Wendington Jones and the Missing Tree. If you've seen my last post you'll know that this was one of my favourite books last month. Today I have a wonderfully interesting interview with the author! First a bit about the book, then on to the interview questions and of course a cocktail.

Book Summary

Wendington Jones has her world abruptly up-ended when her adventuring mother dies in a car crash in late 1920. Left in the care of her Grandmamma and her valet Rohan, Wendington receives a parcel in the middle of the night, seemingly from her dead mother.

It’s half of a manuscript from a book her mother was writing, and describes a mystery surrounding the mythical Tree of Life. When Wendington reads that the tree could have the power to bring her mother back to life, she throws herself into finding the remainder of the manuscript and solving her mother’s mystery. However, her initial attempts are laced with danger. Other people also seek to find the Tree of Life and Wendington has to trick, fight and talk her way out of many perilous situations. Does Wendington have what it takes to complete her mission?

Interview

Wendington is a great character, was anyone in particular your inspiration for her?

There are many people I’ve drawn on but there’s not one particular aspect to her. I wanted an adventuring hero that wasn’t the typical brash gadabout. Rather more the bookish if slightly unready heroine who’ll do her best anyway. Imagine The Mummy but if the story were about Rachel Weisz’s plucky librarian rather than Brendan Fraser’s gun wielding treasure hunter. That always interested me more. There’s also touches of other great characters who I read who always started out with their heads stuck in a book, but took up the adventure when they needed to. Not least of all Dahl’s Matilda or Alcott’s Jo March.

I love animal sidekicks in books, what made you choose a newt?

Well the answer there is another literary inspiration. I was brought up on P.G. Wodehouse amongst many others and the slightly strain of both Blandings and Jeeves and Wooster are sprinkled high above Wendington’s journey. It gave Reggie his name, as well as the idea of a highly capable valet. But amongst Wodehouse’s wonderful creations was Gussie Fink-Nottle, one of Bertie Wooster’s friends. Now Gussie was a newt enthusiast and I suppose from there so was I.

Newts are wonderful creatures and underrated in the overall amphibian pantheon. But there’s very few in literature so it meant that Perceval could arrive without many preconceptions and so Wendington, and we, can begin to build his small characteristics out as much as we want. There’s also a newt in Matilda as well, so I suppose the newts chose me, rather than the other way round.

Most of the adventure takes place on a huge cruise liner, what made you choose that setting? Have you ever been on a journey like this?

I’ve never been on a long liner journey sadly, but I was fascinated with them as I began to put the story together. I wanted Wendington to have to go on a long journey as she battled with both the mystery and her grief. Effectively a huge journey both physically and metaphorically. There’s also something nice to saying that she wanted to go to the other side of the earth to get her mother back. In 1920 flight would have been a highly impractical way to travel, for many reasons. So that left the magnificent SS Pembroke.

The Pembroke is also excellent in so many ways for both the idea of the adventure and the characters. It’s like a small moving town. So we can slowly move to our destination, with everything that goes on and still see many parts of the world and feel, like Wendington, that we have travelled to these places. Circumstance created the perfect setting.

If someone was after your latest manuscript, who would you secretly send the halves to?

What an excellent question! I think like Wendington a trusted ally and a close family member would be the right choices. My sister would gladly receive half the manuscript and would at least be able to crack the silly word games we used to play as kids as well. It would be safe with her.

The other half would go to my very good friend and long-time colleague Colin, who lives in Galway in Ireland. He was the first person to teach me about story structure when I first started out in a television story office when I was a fresh, hopeful writer out of university. He’d love the idea of the mystery and would be fiercely loyal with its secrets.

Finally, what is your favourite cocktail?

I think to quote another influence in Cole Porter, Make It Another Old Fashioned Please. I’ve not had a cocktail in a very long while, but I used to love the idea of a noir-ish drink on an evening. Though I suppose every cocktail deserves the right location. An Old Fashioned at the Captain’s dining table, a Rossini off the coast of Naples and a Mint Julep at Uluru in the setting sun. The drink should match the occasion.

All Daniel's suggestions sound wonderful but this has given me the perfect chance to try out a recipe for a slightly different Old Fashioned that I have been wanting to make for a while. In an Old Fashioned glass, mix 1 teaspoon of brown sugar with a few dashes of orange bitters. Add ice cubes and pour in 45ml of dark rum. Garnish with a twist of orange peel. I must say this is a pretty strong drink!