The Smell of Ink/Lukten av Trykksverte

Earlier this year, I read the paranormal cosy mystery Stitches and Witches by Nancy Warren and today I'll post my review. Description from Goodreads Dropping stitches and catching killers When an older gentleman keels over in his scones and tea at the Elderflower Tea Shop in Oxford—a victim of poison—Lucy Swift and her band of undead amateur detectives are on the case. Elderflower Tea Shop is next door to Cardinal Woolsey’s, the yarn shop Lucy runs and home to the late-night Vampire Knitting Club. The tea shop owners are a pair of octogenarian spinsters and old family friends, so Lucy wants to help clear up the mystery that’s keeping their shop closed. But murder isn’t the only issue troubling the Miss Watts. A man has come between them. Miss Florence Watt is being romanced by an old flame, one Mary Watt distrusts. In between figuring out who, among his many enemies, might have poisoned the unpleasant Colonel Montague, Lucy’s trying to brush up on her magic spells before the Wicca...

This will be the last list of summer-themed book recommendation posts I'll write for now. I really wanted to write a list of beach reads, but with the twist of all the books and/or authors being diverse in one way or another. Diverse books deserve some love too, after all. Anyway, here's fice diverse beach reads to pick up this summer. Queen Sugar by Natalie Baszile Description from Goodreads A mother-daughter story of reinvention—about an African American woman who unexpectedly inherits a sugarcane farm in Louisiana Why exactly Charley Bordelon’s late father left her eight hundred sprawling acres of sugarcane land in rural Louisiana is as mysterious as it was generous. Recognizing this as a chance to start over, Charley and her eleven-year-old daughter, Micah, say good-bye to Los Angeles. They arrive just in time for growing season but no amount of planning can prepare Charley for a Louisiana that’s mired in the past: as her judgmental but big-hearted grandmother tells her, ca...

Earlier this year, I read the paranormal cosy mystery Fair Isle and Fortunes by Nancy Warren and today I'll post my review. Description from Goodreads What if the fortune teller at the local village fair is a witch? And all her fortunes come true-even when she foresees a death...When Lucy Swift's cousin Violet decides to take over as the fortune teller at Moreton-under-Wychwood's annual summer féte, Lucy thinks being her assistant will be a fun way to spend a Saturday. That is, until someone's murdered, and the locals turn on Violet who foresaw the death. To save her, Lucy and her band of undead amateur sleuths have to find out what's really going on in this charming Cotswolds village. What better way than to offer knitting classes? No one has to know that the teacher is a vampire. But uncovering the dark secrets under the postcard-prettiness will bring great danger to Lucy and those she loves. Fair Isle and Fortunes can be read as a stand-alone mystery in this bes...

Earlier this year I read the paranormal cosy mystery Purls and Potions by Nancy Warren and today I'll post my review. Description from Goodreads Lucy’s first love potion goes horribly wrong Romances get tangled But worse, someone dies! Romance is in the air on Harrington Street, Oxford. Detective Inspector Ian Chisholm is finally showing interest in Lucy, though the members of the vampire knitting club aren’t too thrilled to have the police hanging around so close to Cardinal Woolsey’s yarn shop. Up the street at Frogg Books, shop assistant Alice is in love with her bookish boss, Charlie, who doesn’t seem to notice. Lucy’s trying to become more proficient as a witch and when her cousin Violet talks her into brewing up a love potion to bring Alice and Charlie together, it seems like a harmless way to improve her craft. Until someone dies. Is Lucy’s love potion more deadly than cupid’s arrow? Or is there a killer on the loose? Purls and Potions is Book 4 in the best-selling Vampire ...

I came across the Book Buying Habits Book Tag over  The Book Dutchesses at and decided to play along as it looked like a fun tag to do. WHERE DO YOU BUY YOUR BOOKS? Usually either at Løvås Bruktbu in Stavanger, Outland or online. DO YOU EVER PREORDER BOOKS AND IF SO, DO YOU DO THIS IN STORE OR ONLINE? I haven't preordered anything yet. ON AVERAGE, HOW MANY BOOKS DO YOU BUY A MONTH? I'm honestly not sure, maybe between five and ten? DO YOU USE YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY? Yes, I love libraries. IF SO – HOW MANY BOOKS CAN YOU/DO YOU BORROW AT A TIME? If there's a limit, I haven't reached it. WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ON LIBRARY BOOKS? I like them. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT CHARITY SHOPS/SECOND-HAND BOOKS? One of my favourite shops is Løvås, so I obviously love secondhand books. It's almost like going on a treasure hunt at times. DO YOU KEEP YOUR READ AND TBR PILE TOGETHER/ON THE SAME BOOKSHELF OR NOT? I keep them separate, just to keep track of them. DO YOU PLAN TO READ ALL THE BOOKS...

Earlier this year, I read the poetry collection Harlem Shadows: Poems by Claude McKay and today I'll post my review. Description from Goodreads A harbinger of the Harlem Renaissance first published in 1922, this collection of poignant, lyrical poems explores the author's yearning for his Jamaican homeland and the bitter plight of Black people in America--now with an introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Jericho Brown. With pure heart, passion, and honesty, Claude McKay offers an acute reflection on the complex nature of racial identity in the Caribbean diaspora, encompassing issues such as nationalism, freedom of expression, class, gender, and sex. The collection's eponymous poem, Harlem Shadows, portrays the struggle of sex workers in 1920s Harlem. In If We Must Die, McKay calls for justice and retribution for Black people in the face of racist abuse. Juxtaposing the cruel noise of New York City with the serene beauties of Jamaica, McKay urges us to reckon with the ...

It's Tuesday, which means it's time for a new Top Ten Tuesday post, courtesy of That Artsy Reader Girl , and the theme of the week is most anticipated books releasing in the second half of 2022. Here's my picks. The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno Garcia Description from Goodreads From the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic and Velvet Was the Night comes a dreamy reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century Mexico. Carlota Moreau: a young woman, growing up in a distant and luxuriant estate, safe from the conflict and strife of the Yucatán peninsula. The only daughter of either a genius, or a madman. Montgomery Laughton: a melancholic overseer with a tragic past and a propensity for alcohol. An outcast who assists Dr. Moreau with his scientific experiments, which are financed by the Lizaldes, owners of magnificent haciendas and plentiful coffers. The hybrids: the fruits of the Doctor’s labor, destined t...