My Netgalley's June 2026

 Hi Bookworms,

Today my thoughts about books provided by Netgalley I read in June.

The Black Cats Detectives by Kit Gray - overall 4 stars for nice storytelling, cute characters (kittens) and happy ending. Perfect cozy read for everybody, not only cat lovers :)

Muneca by Cynthia Gomez - 4 stars for good storytelling and believable interactions between characters. This rather little read has vibes like from Sylvia Moreno Garcia books.

An Artful Dodge by Karen Odden - overall 4 stars for Victorian London you can almost feel and touch and Kit who is interesting and complicated character, strong young woman who knows what life is and what she needs to do to protect people she loves.

The Butler by Clare Mackintosh - overall 3.5 stars, short, fast, enjoyable crime story, nicely written.

The Bloodweaver by C.N. Kuster  - overall 4 stars, strong start of series, good story telling, character development, easy to follow writing style.

That's all for today's update.

Till next post!

My Netgalley's May 2026

 Hello Bookworms,

I'm sorry I make so big gaps between posts. Life's happening and sometimes is hard to find time for writing.

Below books from Netgalley I read in May this year.

House of Spells and Secrets by Ivy Cassidy - overall rating 3.5 stars, nicely written story, interesting plot and characters.

The Most Mysterious Bookshop in Paris by Mark Pryor - overall rating 4 stars, nice, easy to follow crime/detective story, I could call it cozy. I like characters in it. Possibly first from series...

Hammer of the Gods by Don Hollway - overall rating 4 stars. Non fiction, interesting read for anyone who wants to know more about Vikings and Olaf I - king of Norway.

Anne Boleyn by Martha Tatarnic - overall rating 2.5 stars, not bad, but... still not enough of Anne and Henry... more then enough about church as institution dominated by man.

Our Lady of Blades by Sebastien de Castell - overall strong 4 stars, very good read, antagonists and protagonists in this story are interesting or I should say intriguing, we receive info about them bit by bit in just perfect time to receive them.

Andromeda by E. S. McLeod - overall 3 stars, ok read, good storytelling and character development, just not my kind of book.

That's all for today.

Till next time guys and girls x

Netgalley titles I reviewed in April 2026

 Hiya Bookworms,

Today a little bit about titles I read in April.

The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer - I gave this one 4 stars. Enjoyable read with likeable main character, nice overall story idea and totally easy to follow writing style. I'm planning to find other books by this author.

The Book of Fallen Leaves by A. S. Tamaki -  I gave this book 4 stars. Interesting story, hunger of power which corrupted people who fought tyranny. Clans, war, politics, interfering gods. Darkish end, sort of open kind, so maybe a chance for next book. I honestly hope for another book with characters I met here, I want to know what happens next.

The Legend of Lady Byeoksa by Esther Park - only 2.5 stars from me. Short read, not bad, but missing something, not my kind of book, not enough depth in it for me, I'm thinking could be ok for younger reader. 

That's all Netgalley titles I read in April.

Wideacre trilogy by Philippa Gregory

 Hiya Bookworms,

Today about trilogy I buddy read with a friend..

Wideacre (book 1) we started and read around September/October last year and as it proved to be emotionally draining we gave ourselves a rather long bit of time before we start book 2.

I gave it 4 stars, but I'm telling you this is not easy read, can massively upset people with delicate minds.

The Favored Child is even harder to read, has some drastic scenes which makes you think, look at people around you more closely. Another 4 stars from me.

Meridon which finishing trilogy received also 4 stars. I was sort of frustrated/angry with main character in some point of the book but... what a finish! Philippa Gregory just knows how to write good story.

That's all from me today. 

Demon Cycle by Peter V. Brett - rest of series

 Hiya Bookworms,

Demon Cycle is 5 book series which I start reading in 2022 and after reading first two books and some of shorts have no time to finish.

This year I decided to do it, cause I was curious how this story end - happy ending or not? 

First two books : The Painted Man (The Warded Man) and The Desert Spear telling us stories of Arlen Bales and Ahmann Jardir, of unexpected friendship, of betrayal, of building armies to fight demons. I rated them 4 stars as both were good reads.

The Daylight War 4 stars, solid read, more background about main characters and we are finding out how friendship between Arlen and Ahmann finished.

The Skull Throne 4 stars, solid read, Jardir is conquering world to build his army against demons, when Arlen challenge him and Ahmann cannot refuse without loosing honor, Ahmann's first wife and Arlen's friends are left to fight without Deliverer.

The Core 4 stars, good finish of the series where Arlen, his wife Reena and Ahmann travelling to the Core to find and kill Demon Queen which is a desperate quest they do not expect to return alive from.

Author added The Nightfall Saga trilogy to give us a chance to find out what happened later. So far I read book 1 called The Desert Prince, but this is a story for another post :)

Till next post peeps!

Start of 2026 reading

 Hi Bookworms,

I start this year's reading with The Age of Witches by Louisa Morgan, which I deemed nice book and gave 4 stars.

Next was my back to classics and my long time ago fave author Gabriel Garcia Marquez  - Of Love and Other Demons - I always took my time with Latin American literature due to emotional impact of it, as teenager I was spending few days to read properly, to understand wholly what author want to say, want to show us, make us understand. This book is rather short read - below 200 pages - but so good. I gave it 4 stars, but I think I should gave it 4.5 really.

I also complete The Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix - books 6 and 7 which were the rest of our buddy reads in Goodreads group. After weaker book 5, them two were enjoyable and good end of series. 4 stars as nice and easy young teen reads.

That's all for today...

Cooking books which I grab this year

 Hello Bookworms,

I do like cooking books, my teenage son is sort of obsessed with going through them in book shops and charity shops and pushing me to buy them LOL!

Here list of few finds we add to our collection:

Gastropub Classics by Trish Hilferty

River Cottage Love your Leftovers by Hugh Fearnley-Whittinstall

1000 recipes, Cook's Bible

One Dish Meals The Easy Way - Reader's Digest publication.

plus

some Weigh Watchers compilation, Pinch of Nom and Bosh! books.

Do you collect cooking books?