Mrs Cooke’s Books

NB Magazine’s Book Blogger’s Choice Award: The Shortlist ♥️

It’s been a while since I posted a non-review related post! So it’s only fitting that for this, my 101st blogpost, I tell you that I have some exciting news!

I am absolutely delighted to have had my nomination for The Familiars by Stacey Halls shortlisted for the NB Magazine #NBBookBloggers Choice Awards!

This was published by Zaffre Books in 2019 and was my Book of the Year by a country mile!

Have you read the Familiars? Is it on your TBR pile? Did you love it as much as I did? 🦊

Congratulations also to my fellow blogger friends:

The Lonesome Reader, Bookish Chat, Roachies Reviews, Kelly Loves Books and The Caffeinated Reader

Here’s my original review if you’d like to read it.

Thank you so much to the lovely book blogging community for the outpouring of messages of love and support. Book people really are the best people!

Voting commences on Monday 24th Feb via NB Magazine’s website – but I’ll be sure to post more details on the day.

I would be so incredibly grateful if my friends in this gorgeous bookish community would support me by voting for my review ♥️

Have a lovely weekend!

Sukhy x

@mrscookesbooks

The Memory Wood by Sam Lloyd

Happy Saturday evening! It’s my stop on the blogtour for The Memory Wood by Sam Lloyd and I’m delighted to share my thoughts on it with you ✨

Synopsis

Elijah has lived in the Memory Wood for as long as he can remember. It’s the only home he’s ever known.

Elissa has only just arrived. And she’ll do everything she can to escape.

When Elijah stumbles across thirteen-year-old Elissa, in the woods where her abductor is hiding her, he refuses to alert the police. Because in his twelve years, Elijah has never had a proper friend. And he doesn’t want Elissa to leave.

Not only that, Elijah knows how this can end. After all, Elissa isn’t the first girl he’s found inside the Memory Wood.

As her abductor’s behaviour grows more erratic, Elissa realises that outwitting strange, lonely Elijah is her only hope of survival. Their cat-and-mouse game of deception and betrayal will determine both their fates, and whether either of them will ever leave the Memory Wood . . .

My Thoughts

The Memory Wood has been on my radar for some time so I was ecstatic when I finally got my hands on a review copy. You’ll have seen this book flooding blogs and social media feeds constantly over the last few weeks and for good reason: it is excellent!

The Memory Wood is an exciting and brilliantly original psychological thriller that genuinely had me on the edge of my seat throughout.

Cleverly told in dual narrative, with plenty of parts where my heart was in my mouth and where I held my breath; The Memory Wood is deliciously dark and wonderfully creepy. Whilst I thankfully managed to escape unscathed, this was a chilling read which has definitely left its mark on me: A fresh and creative thriller told with vigour.

Intense, atmospheric and incredibly jumpy; the Memory Wood is like a twisted cross between Black Mirror and Grimm’s Fairy Tales. A cripplingly compelling book that demands to be devoured.

The Memory Wood is out in hardcover now and you can buy it here✨

My thanks go to Thomas Hill and Transworld Books for my early proof of the book and to Anne Cater 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 below) ♥️

Until next time! Have a wonderful day!

@mrscookesbooks

The House on the Lake by Nuala Ellwood

Happy Saturday evening! It’s my stop on the blogtour for The House on the Lake by Nuala Ellwood and I’m delighted to share my thoughts on it with you ✨

Synopsis

No matter how far you run . . .

He’s never far behind

__________________________________________

Lisa needs to disappear. And her friend’s rambling old home in the wilds of Yorkshire seems like the perfect place. It’s miles away from the closest town, and no one there knows her or her little boy, Joe.

But when a woman from the local village comes to visit them, Lisa realizes that she and Joe aren’t as safe as she thought.

What secrets have Rowan Isle House – and her friend – kept hidden all these years?

And what will Lisa have to do to survive, when her past finally catches up with her?

My Thoughts

I was so excited to be invited to read and review this book because, I’ll be honest – give me a manky, decrepit old house and an eerie expanse of water and I am there! Also, for me, the cover is everything!

Ellwood is a new author (to me) and I thoroughly enjoyed the way she created tension in the first two thirds of the book; by slowly setting the scene with a moodiness that was both atmospheric and disturbing.

The dual narrative coupled with the tightly woven plot made for a compelling read and despite this being a psychological thriller; it encompassed themes of PTSD and gaslighting/domestic violence, lending it a sense of being a much deeper and more involved story.

Eerie, unsettling yet cleverly gripping, I raced through the final chapters of this book and was happily disarmed by the deliciously impossible-to-guess twists. The House on the Lake is an excellent read which kept me guessing til the very last chapter.

The House on the Lake is out now in paperback now And you can buy it here ✨

My thanks go to Ellie Hudson and Viking Books for my early proof of the book and the invitation to the blogtour.

If you liked my post, please do check out my others ♥️

Until next time! Have a wonderful day!

@mrscookesbooks

The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri

Happy Thursday and welcome to my stop on the blogtour for The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri and I’m delighted to share my thoughts on this book with you today ♥️

Synopsis

In the midst of war, he found love.
In the midst of darkness, he found courage.
In the midst of tragedy, he found hope.
What will you find from his story?

Nuri is a beekeeper; his wife, Afra, an artist. They live happily in the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo – until the unthinkable happens and they are forced to flee. But what Afra has seen is so terrible she has gone blind, and they must embark on a perilous journey through Turkey and Greece towards an uncertain future in Britain.

As Nuri and Afra travel through a broken world, they must confront not only the pain of their own unspeakable loss, but dangers that would overwhelm the bravest of souls. Above all – and perhaps this is the hardest thing they face – they must journey to find each other again.

Moving, compassionate and beautifully written, The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a powerful testament to the triumph of the human spirit.

My Thoughts

The Beekeeper of Aleppo has been on my “to read list” since it came out in hardcover in May last year, so when the opportunity arose to review for the paperback blogtour, I seized it with both hands!

No doubt you will have seen multiple rave reviews for this book all over the wider bloggersphere, and for good reason: This is a story that everyone needs to hear.

It is a searingly relevant story and I was so moved and so saddened by it. It is both heart breaking and thought provoking and written in such elegant yet intelligent prose, that it had me utterly gripped to the very last page. It is definitely a book I’d class as “emotionally challenging” (and I don’t mean that in a bad way – Lefteri’s ability to evoke numerous emotions shines through in this book – anger, fear, desolation – you name it, she’s nailed them all).

The Beekeeper of Aleppo is set to be a “modern classic”; it is both beautifully and powerfully written, and will stay with me for years to come.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo is out TODAY in paperback and you can buy it here✨

My thanks go to Tracy Fenton and Manilla Press/Zaffre Books for my beautiful finished copy and the invitation to the blogtour.

If you liked my post, please do check out my others, and also the other stops on the blog tour (see below).

Until next time!

@mrscookesbooks

The Foundling by Stacey Halls

Happy Saturday and welcome to my stop on the blogtour for The Foundling by Stacey Halls and I’m delighted to share my thoughts on this book with you this stormy weekend ♥️

Synopsis

Two women, bound by a child, and a secret that will change everything . . .

London, 1754. Six years after leaving her illegitimate daughter Clara at London’s Foundling Hospital, Bess Bright returns to reclaim the child she has never known. Dreading the worst, that Clara has died in care, she is astonished when she is told she has already claimed her. Her life is turned upside down as she tries to find out who has taken her little girl – and why.

Less than a mile from Bess’s lodgings in the city, in a quiet, gloomy townhouse on the edge of London, a young widow has not left the house in a decade. When her close friend – an ambitious young doctor at the Foundling Hospital – persuades her to hire a nursemaid for her daughter, she is hesitant to welcome someone new into her home and her life. But her past is threatening to catch up with her and tear her carefully constructed world apart.

From the bestselling author of The Familiars comes this captivating story of mothers and daughters, class and power, and love against the greatest of odds . . .

My Thoughts

Where to even begin with this book? Firstly, anyone who knows me knows that The Familiars was hands down my absolute FAVOURITE book of 2019 so I approached this book with a mixture of excitement and trepidation – could The Foundling live up to it? Well, I needn’t have worried because yes, yes it did and then some!

Halls’ writing is wonderfully lucid and evocative; each time I opened the book I found myself swept into the City with Bess; surrounded with the stink of dirt, decay and rotten fish. I felt the shiver of the damp and cold in her father’s lodgings and heard the crackle of the fire and the jovial drunken conversations in the taverns. Halls’ eloquent writing style is both flawless and effortless, and such a joy to read.

For the entire weekend that it took me to read The Foundling, I was utterly consumed by his book; it is gripping and so intense; I felt heavily invested and involved in both Bess and Alexandra’s plights.

This really is historical fiction at its finest and Halls is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. I found this to be an emotional read, which was at times, rather dark and sinister.

Subtly brilliant and totally capitivating; I truly envy those who get to read The Foundling for the first time; it is a masterfully executed, tender and illuminating piece of prose, which will stay with me for a long time.

The Foundling is out now in hardback and you can buy it here✨

My thanks go to Tracy Fenton and Manilla Press/Bonnier Books for my early proof of the book and the invitation to the blogtour.

If you liked my post, please do check out my others, and also the other stops on the blog tour (see below).

Until next time!