Much though I'm a sucker for a big chunky book or a long series, in recent years I have had a growing love for the short story. Short stories can be incredibly powerful, but it takes real skill to craft them effectively. Dreena Collins has well and truly mastered that skill. In her forward to [...]
Huge thanks to Zuntold Publishing for sending me an ARC of Rebecca Zahabi's Game Weavers for review. From the blurb: Seo is Twine’s youth champion. We are in a darker Britain and the national sport is not football but Twine, a game where weavers craft creatures from their finger tips to wage battle against others [...]
I'm Not Too Bad, Thanks is stunning in its vulnerability. Chris writes with relatable and accessible language which gets to the heart of the human experience.
When I first listened to the audiobook of Katherine Arden's The Bear and The Nightingale two years ago, I knew this series was going to become a firm favourite. Her writing (and Kathleen Gati's fabulous narration) transported me straight into the winter of darkest Rus and I could feel Morozko’s breath on my cheek. She wove [...]
Romeo & Juliet is a tale as old as time. Recounted again and again - even the original is a reinvention of a reinvention of an older story - I know some people feel it's been done to death. Personally, I love it. The story is so given to reinterpretation and every retelling brings something [...]
Yesterday, I started reading Stonecrop Review: a journal of urban nature writing, art and photography. I'm only about halfway through the journal but it's prompted such reflection that I felt compelled to write about it. It is a wonderfully thought out publication: the writing is insightful, the illustrations immersive, and the overall aesthetic so clean [...]
This book review was originally written for ECBC Manchester's book club and can be read on their website here. You know those days when the world seems to be running on high speed around you: the days when your mind is abuzz with all the should and musts and the endless to-dos and you can’t [...]
I wasn't getting on with my chosen book. I could feel myself falling into a reading slump. I was also tired and anxious and in need of something to take me out of myself. I stumbled across Anstey Harris' The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton sitting on a supermarket shelf as I did the weekly shop. I had never heard [...]
“Yes, the night has dark bits, but it has stars too, And you’ll feel when they shine, That they shine just for you, You will step outside and see from the park, That the light is brighter when it’s next to the dark. You will have so many great times ahead, And soft happy dreams [...]
It's hard to believe the end of the year is so close. The last few months have somehow managed to both drag their feet as they stumble by lethargically and fly past in a busy blur. I am bone tired. But I feel like so much has been achieved. At home, we have renovated both [...]
Thrive In Chaos 