WWW Wednesday

I’m currently listening to Pages & Co: The Book Smugglers. I’m really enjoying being back with Tilly and Milo as they are trying to save family members after they’ve been poisoned by books. They have wandered into The Wizard of Oz to try to find answers to save them. I’m looking forward to where this is heading, and am intrigued by both the Botanist and the Alchemist! I imagine that a lot of children growing up in Ireland read and loved Under the Hawthorn Tree (set during the Irish Famine) so I absolutely had to get a copy of Fairy Hill by the same author. I’ve just started it this evening and just know that it’s one I’m going to love. Anna’s mother has just got married and, whilst she is on honeymoon, Anna is sent to stay for a month with her father, his girlfriend and her young half-brother in the west of Ireland. There’s although wonderfully mysterious vibes!

I’ve finished listening to the audiobook of The Mapmakers. I really enjoyed Cordelia’s determination to find her father as she uncovers a secret society of Mapmakers. There was plenty of danger and surprises in this, and I loved the friendships. I also read Tourmaline and the Island of Elsewhere which I really liked, and will hopefully be posting my review tomorrow. It’s taken me a while to read Valentine Crow and Mr Death but I’ve now finished it – and it was brilliant! I really, really liked the Mort vibes, the humour and the illustrations. Valentine Crow’s life after leaving the Foundling Hospital takes a rather drastic turn when he is accidentally apprenticed to Mr Death rather than Mr Dearth – but paperwork is paperwork! It is not long before he is harvesting souls to be returned via the library to the Always so that they can be re-born. When he saves his best friend Philomena from her own scheduled death, things don’t turn out quite as expected … there is so much warmth and humour in this – just a fantastic read! I’ve just finished The Beast and the Bethany: Battle of the Beast which was such a quick read – and so much fun. Surely it can’t be possible that the Beast has turned good? I loved finding out whether it would get up to old tricks. The ending definitely makes me want to read the next book!