Mrs Cooke’s Books

My Monster and Me by Nadiya Hussain & Ella Bailey

Hello and happy Saturday 🌞

Last week my family and I read Nadiya Hussain Ella Bailey together

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Synopsis

The very first picture book from the winner of The Great British Bake Off and national treasure, Nadiya Hussain, beautifully illustrated by Ella Bailey.

A touching story about a little boy whose worry monster follows him everywhere he goes. It’s there when he gets dressed, when he wants to play with his toys, and even when his friends come over to visit. How can he escape his worries?

Having suffered with panic disorder herself for as long as she can remember, Nadiya wrote this heartfelt story to help give children and parents the tools they need to talk about worries and anxiety, to ensure that no child suffers in silence.

My Thoughts

The big bright cover of this book grabbed my children’s attention immediately. There was lots of pointing and shouting from the 3yo about “the big yellow monster” and this helped to build excitement for when the story began.

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My Monster and Me is full of really gorgeous inclusive illustrations and my children particularly loved that the “Gran” in their story didnt look too dissimilar to their own lovely Nanny 😍🤣. (see below 😆)

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The theme of this book is sharing worries and reassurance. My children enjoyed chatting about how the big yellow monster actually represented their worries and that it’s always a good idea to talk about your worries as that’s what helps them to go away.

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My Monster and Me is a lovely story with a fantastic message; particularly in these uncertain times and I’d definitely recommend buying it for any young child especially those who might need some help managing their worries.

My Monster and Me is out now and you can buy it here

If you enjoyed my post please do check out my others and also the other stops on the #blogtour (see below).

My thanks go to the lovely team at Tandem Collective and Hachette Kids for our beautiful copy of the book.

Until next time! Have a wonderful day!

@mrscookesbooks

The Temple House Vanishing by Rachel Donohue

Hello and happy Wednesday 🌞

Today I’m sharing my thoughts on The Temple House Vanishing by Rachel Donohue 💫

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Synopsis

Power. Jealousy. Desire.

Twenty-five years ago, a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl and her charismatic teacher disappeared without trace…

When Louisa arrives at Temple House, an elite catholic boarding school, she quickly finds herself drawn to sophisticated fellow pupil Victoria and their young bohemian art teacher, Mr Lavelle. The three of them form a bond that seems to offer an escape from the repressive regime of the nuns who run the cloistered school. Until Louisa and Mr Lavelle suddenly vanish.

Years later, a journalist with a childhood connection to Louisa determines to resolve the mystery. Her search for the truth will uncover a tragic, mercurial tale of suppressed desire and long-buried secrets. It will shatter lives and lay a lost soul to rest.

The Temple House Vanishing is a stunning, intensely atmospheric novel of unrequited longing, dark obsession and unintended consequences.

My Thoughts

Firstly, it would be totally remiss of me not to mention how beautiful the sleeve is for this book. The green and black are so striking and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t seduced by the look of it! Secondly my finished copy arrived with a letter of acceptance for admission at The Temple House School for Girls. I thought this was just brilliant and really set the tone for the read.

I loved the school setting for this book; Donohue’s writing really brought it to life and I particularly enjoyed the parts of her prose which described the flora and fauna surrounding it as well as the sea and sand down below.

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This was a powerful exploration of jealously and desire. Where mind games take centre stage and all boundaries are blurred. Where money and privilege exude their worth and religion transcends the pages.

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The Temple House Vanishing has a gothic feel to it and I enjoyed the mystery element as well as the overrriding tension that Donohue so deftly conjures up with her words.

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Scandalous, sexually charged and provocative; The Temple House Vanishing was definitely not what I was expecting, but so deliciously dark that I just couldn’t put it down.

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The Temple House Vanishing is is out now in stunning hardcover and you can buy it here 💫

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My thanks go the lovely Kirsty Doole and Atlantic Books/Corvus Books for sending me my gorgeous finished copy. This one is going on the forever shelf.

Until next time! Have a wonderful day!

@mrscookesbooks

The Best Most Awful Job edited by Katherine May

Hello and happy Monday 🌞

Today I’m sharing my thoughts on The Best Most Awful Job edited by Katherine May 💫

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Synopsis

Motherhood is life-changing. Joyful. Disorientating. Overwhelming. Intense on every level. It’s the best, most awful job.

The Best, Most Awful Job brings together twenty bold and brilliant women to speak about motherhood in all its raw, heart-wrenching, gloriously impossible forms.

Overturning assumptions, breaking down myths and shattering stereotypes, these writers challenge our perceptions of what it means to be a mother – and ask you to listen.

Contributors include:

Michelle Adams – Javaria Akbar – Charlene Allcott – MiMi Aye – Jodi Bartle – Sharmila Chauhan – Josie George – Leah Hazard – Joanne Limburg – Katherine May – Susana Moreira Marques – Dani McClain – Hollie McNish – Saima Mir – Carolina Alvarado Molk – Emily Morris – Jenny Parrott – Huma Qureshi – Peggy Riley – Michelle Tea – Tiphanie Yanique

My Thoughts

I picked up this slim collection of essays to dip into. Two hours later I had totally devoured it. To say I enjoyed it would be a huge understatement and a massive disservice to the 20 authors of this volume. This book is brilliant; it’s the book that I didn’t know I needed.

Whilst reading, I was so full of “oh me too!” and “oh my god YES!” And “Wow! I hadn’t even thought it that way!” That I was positively fizzing with excitement.

So powerful were the essays, that even those that didn’t come anywhere close to my personal motherhood journey had something in them that resonated with me; that made me feel aligned to them.

At this strange time where I, like many of you will suddenly be thrown into a million different demanding and challenging roles at once (school teacher/ 24 hour caterer/cleaner-upper/ full time entertainer… the list is endless), I find this to be absolutely essential reading.

Honest, eye-opening and affirming; The Best Most Awful Job was a revelation. Every Mother needs to read this.

The Best Most Awful Job is is out now and is published by Elliott & Thompson; an imprint of Simon and Schuster UK.

My thanks go the lovely Emma Finnigan for sending me this proof; knowing that I needed to read it 😘

The Best Most Awful Job is out now in beautiful hardcover and you can buy it here✨

Until next time! Have a wonderful day!

@mrscookesbooks

The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley

Hello and happy Wednesday 🌞

Today I’m sharing my thoughts on The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley 💫

Firstly I’d like to apologise for my later review – I have a clutch of half finished reviews that need a polish before being posted and this was one of them so I’m very sorry about that!

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Synopsis

One fatal crash

Ben is driving on the motorway, on his usual commute to the school where he works. A day like any other, except for the crash.

Two colliding worlds

Adam has left his home for the last time. In his final despairing act, he jumps in front of Ben’s car, turning the teacher’s world upside down.

Three wrecked lives

Wracked with guilt, Ben seeks out Alice, Adam’s widow, and her 7-year-old son Max. But as he tries to escape the trauma of the wreckage, could Ben go too far in trying to ease his conscience?

Gripping and sinister, The Wreckage is guaranteed to keep you up all night…

My Thoughts

I read this book with an ever-increasing, impending sense of doom in the pit of my stomach. It was fairly obvious from the get-go that things were not going to go swimmingly here.

The Wreckage was written from two perspectives; that of Alice and that of Ben. I Ioved ascerbic Alice and her judgy, bitchy thoughts and I really did love benign Ben and his sweet but creepy intentions. It was so interesting to see how each of them interpreted the same events too.

Morgan-Bentley does an absolutely belting job of ramping up the tension after the accident, to a point where it was unbearably claustrophobic and I genuinely felt sick as everything unfolded.

At times, this felt like a kind of backwards psyche-thriller. I inwardly cringed at Ben’s obsession and infatuation with Alice and how quickly he infiltrated her life in a stifling and totally deluded way; his lies running away with themselves as he tangled himself up in them further and further.

Interestingly, I didn’t find out until after I had read his book that Morgan-Bentley’s other job is actually working with audio books and I felt like something instantly clicked when I found this out; it was so well reflected in his writing – so atmospheric and onomatopoeic – The Wreckage will be so brilliant in audiobook format!

Dark, unsettling and a total head f*ck; this book is just brilliant and I hope lots of people buy it.

The Wreckage is out now in beautiful hardcover and you can buy it here✨

My thanks go to Robin himself for very kindly sending me a (lost) proof and then later an ecopy of this book and to Alex Layt from Orion Books for sending me this picture for my review!

Until next time! Have a wonderful day!

@mrscookesbooks

Things We Say in the Dark by Kirsty Logan

I have a very special blogtour post today – my review of Things We Say in the Dark by Kirsty Logan as part of the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize longlist blogtour 💫

Synopsis

So here we go, into the dark.

Some things can’t be spoken about in the light of day. But we can visit our fears at night, in the dark. We can turn them over and weigh them in our hands and maybe that will protect us from them. But maybe not.

The characters in this collection find their aspirations for happy homes, happy families and happy memories dissected and imbued with shimmering menace. Alone in a remote house in Iceland a woman is unnerved by her isolation; another can only find respite from the clinging ghost that follows her by submerging herself in an overgrown pool. Couples wrestle with a lack of connection to their children; a schoolgirl becomes obsessed with the female anatomical models in a museum; and a cheery account of child’s day out is undercut by chilling footnotes.

These dark tales explore women’s fears with electrifying honesty and invention and speak to one another about female bodies, domestic claustrophobia, desire and violence. From a talented writer who has been compared to Angela Carter, Things We Say in the Dark is a powerful contemporary collection of feminist stories, ranging from vicious fairy tales to disturbing horror and tender ghost stories.

My Thoughts

This is a very unique collection of short stories that really got under my skin. There is a distinctly witchy feel to this collection which gave it a haunting and ethereal quality.

Rather scary at times, I sometimes felt as if I was reading a collection of warped fairytales; the slightly supernatural vibe gave them a real edge which manifested itself in a deep sense of unease as I read more and more.

I really enjoyed Logan’s punchy writing style; it gave each of the stories a lucidity that elevated them into the realms of the truly menacing; rendering them prickly and uncomfortable at times.

Dark, disturbing and oozing with unsettling vibes, this feminist collection of short stories won’t be for everyone but I’m so glad the Dylan Thomas Prize put it on my radar!

Things We Say in the Dark is out in beautiful hardcover now and you can buy it here✨

My thanks go to Midas PR and Harvill Secker for my beautiful finished copy and to Martina Ticic for the invitation to the blogtour.

If you liked my post, please do check out my others and also the other stops on the blogtour (see hashtag #SUDTP20) ♥️

Until next time! Have a wonderful day!