Lady Hartley’s Husbands, by Andrea Emblin #BookReview.

A real saga of a novel in which we travel through the life of the female protagonist, Irene, known to her friends as Reene, from her 16th birthday life-changing event to…well that would be spoiling the story. Let’s just say we leave her in her more mature years. There is, as the title suggests, more …

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#ScenicSaturday 21st October 2023

My photos in this continuing series show our beautiful world. Maybe they’ll encourage viewers to help save it from human carelessness.This month’s series is from our stay on the Greek island of Zakynthos, where we spent our 35th wedding anniversary. As with most of the Greek islands, tourism has altered the natural landscape a good …

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A Suggestion in Space, by Alan R Paine: #BookReview.

Good fiction is mostly about relationships among the characters portrayed in the book. There is an underlying attitude held by some readers that science fiction is all about rockets, space wars, and/or alien beings. It’s a shame such false bias exists, since much science fiction is actually about relationships amongst people. A Suggestion in Space …

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Death By Column Inches, by Penny Kot: #BookReview.

Having read previous works by Penny Kot, under her other pen names, I expected to find a complex plot, with many twists and turns, populated by a cast of varied and credible characters. I was not in any way disappointed. In fact, this novel is probably her most convoluted story so far. Able to convincingly …

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Elusive Folk Tales of the Peak District, by Mark P Henderson: #BookReview.

Having read Mark’s novels, Perilaus II and Con, I was keen to see what this collection might have to offer. I was not disappointed. The variety is wide-ranging from the darkest and most murderous to the lightest and most laugh-out-loud humour. I read this under a hot sun in Greece, but could feel the damp, …

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#ScenicSaturday 14th October 2023

My photos in this continuing series show our beautiful world. Maybe I can encourage viewers to help save it from human carelessness. I was unable to post one of these for last Saturday. We’d just returned from a two week break from online activity, and also had our ‘Flu and Covid boosters on the Saturday. …

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The Umbrellas of Hamelin, by Sue Knight, Reviewed.

Literature? Fantasy? Science Fiction? Magical Realism? All of these appear in this anthology of remarkable short stories. Sometimes the style borders on the surreal, sometimes stream of consciousness is employed, but all the tales are imaginative and thoughtful, managing to capture mood and emotional turmoil, some are terrifying cross-genre pieces that stir emotions and ideas. …

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Riding the High Road, by Penny Frances: #BookReview.

Through the varied voices of Pat, a mother with a difference, her son, Gethin, and Jez, a young woman with a troubled past, we take journeys both intertwined and separate as they try to come to terms with their own lives. This is a turbulent ride where love, gender, complex relationships, drugs, and alcohol all …

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Do You Remember the Barn Owl? by Barbara Lorna Hudson: #BookReview.

This collection of short stories, which vary in length and style, reflects the skill and themes of interest to the author. It’s a diverse array, well-written and constructed, and includes some stories that have been previously published in various literary journals. There is great variety here, with many subjects and themes explored, always with emotional …

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#ScenicSaturday 30th September 2023

My photos in this continuing series show our beautiful world. Maybe I can encourage viewers to help save it from human carelessness. Today I give you a shot taken on Lake Maggiore in Italy in September 2018, when we celebrated our 30th Wedding Anniversary. We’d booked our tickets for the voyage at the office in …

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#ScenicSaturday 23rd September 2023

My photos in this continuing series show our beautiful world. Maybe I can encourage viewers to help save it from human carelessness. Today’s photograph is from our trip to the Isle of Wight in September 2021, after a longish spell of lockdown due to Covid. The hotel was still recovering from that event and many …

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Is Amazon’s Book Search Algorithm Deliberately Rubbish?

This is an update on a post I placed on Medium called ‘Searching On Amazon’ I’d found a book on Goodreads that seemed something I might be interested in, so I used Goodreads’ buying link to take me to it on Amazon. It took me nowhere near the book I wanted.  So, I searched for …

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#ScenicSaturday 16th September 2023

My photos in this continuing series show our beautiful world. Maybe I can encourage viewers to help save it from human carelessness. Today, brings a photograph of a lone tree standing in arid ground and giving shade for sheep on the Greek island of Rhodes. Our walk, in September 2017, took us from Pefkos to …

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Tatty Cat and the Wonderful Whiff, by Mella May, Illustrated by George Utton: #BookReview.

74 pages, Children’s Books A riotously illustrated book for children telling a hilarious tale of mischief in rhyme that works surprisingly well.Children will love this story of the tatty cat in pursuit of a whiff of such tempting delights he’s willing to risk all sorts to get to the source and dine on it. The …

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Makeover, by Barbara Lorna Hudson: #BookReview.

304 pages, Contemporary Romance. Insightful, and based on personal knowledge of the areas covered in her writing, the author explores themes of academic snobbery, domestic abuse, insecurity, and the search for love in an uncertain world. Having experience in both social care and academia, Barbara brings reality and honesty to this tale of the search …

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