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Merissa (14210 KP) rated Festive Trees And Mistletoe (Hope Valley Christmas #3) in Books
Dec 9, 2025
FESTIVE TREES AND MISTLETOE is the perfectly named book three in the Hope Valley Christmas series. You don't have to read the other books before this one, although I'm sure you'll want to.
Pete is the one who lives in Hope Valley, well, Charnwell actually. He runs a Christmas Tree Farm and Garden Centre with his sister, Sadie. Charlie was spending time over Christmas and New Year in the village pub when he got dumped. Pete and Charlie meet on New Year's Eve, when both of them end up outside, unwilling to witness all the happy couples around them bringing in the New Year. There is a spark of attraction, but Charlie has literally just been dumped, so nothing happens. Not until the next December anyway...
This is a cosy read, full of Christmas cheer, and two men who really belong together, but decide they are going to be 'just friends'. You can imagine how well that works out, but they do have a couple of little speed bumps along the way. Both of these guys are wonderful, but Pete is seriously a 'good guy' in the best way possible. Throw in a hot lumberjack vibe too, and all is good in the world!
I loved that this was mostly low angst, with just the usual quandaries and worries that every new relationship brings when you live in two different places. Cooper and Jax also made my heart melt!
All in all, this was a brilliant Christmas read, that is slow-burn but high heat. I absolutely loved it and HIGHLY RECOMMEND it.
** Same worded review will appear elsewhere. **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Dec 9, 2025
Pete is the one who lives in Hope Valley, well, Charnwell actually. He runs a Christmas Tree Farm and Garden Centre with his sister, Sadie. Charlie was spending time over Christmas and New Year in the village pub when he got dumped. Pete and Charlie meet on New Year's Eve, when both of them end up outside, unwilling to witness all the happy couples around them bringing in the New Year. There is a spark of attraction, but Charlie has literally just been dumped, so nothing happens. Not until the next December anyway...
This is a cosy read, full of Christmas cheer, and two men who really belong together, but decide they are going to be 'just friends'. You can imagine how well that works out, but they do have a couple of little speed bumps along the way. Both of these guys are wonderful, but Pete is seriously a 'good guy' in the best way possible. Throw in a hot lumberjack vibe too, and all is good in the world!
I loved that this was mostly low angst, with just the usual quandaries and worries that every new relationship brings when you live in two different places. Cooper and Jax also made my heart melt!
All in all, this was a brilliant Christmas read, that is slow-burn but high heat. I absolutely loved it and HIGHLY RECOMMEND it.
** Same worded review will appear elsewhere. **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Dec 9, 2025
Heart of Hope (Hooves & Hearts #2)
8.0
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Book
If she isn't the top rider at River Green farm, who is she? Horses have been Isabel Martin's...
Contemporary Romance
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated The Jackal Prince ( Wild Rites Saga book 2) in Books
Mar 23, 2022
52 of 230
Kindle
The Jackal Prince ( Wild Rites Saga book 2)
By Anna McIlwraith
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Book two of The Wild Rites Saga takes you to a hidden stronghold in the heart of Egypt - a kingdom on the edge of ruin, ruled by fear and forgotten magic.
Sounds like a great place for a vacation, right? Emma Chase isn't exactly thrilled by the idea, but the jackals will do anything to get their claws on her, for she is the Caller of the Blood, a human woman destined to command the magic of all shapechanging races - which is a teensy bit more complicated than it sounds. And while Emma and her weird assortment of friends, allies and protectors are safe on an enchanted farm in the California Mountains, the Jackal Prince's invitation is too dangerous to refuse. Problem is, accepting it could be just as deadly, especially since Emma's going to need the help of a powerful ancient with an unbreakable - and totally unfair - grudge against her.
Emma's got a few tricks up her sleeve, but she's human, and she can be broken. Somehow she'll have to get her friends out of the jackal kingdom alive before the jackals kill her first — or worse, find a way to claim her power for their own.
So I wasn’t expecting much from this book due to how much I struggled with book 1 but this really surprised me. I really enjoyed it, the Egyptian links were so good and it all just made so much more sense. I’m absolutely in love with Fern I think he’s just brilliant. The thing with this series it has or mentions shifters we don’t normally come across, like tarantulas and crocodiles were mentioned. I love something different. Push through book 1 and I’m sure like me you won’t be disappointed with book 2!
Kindle
The Jackal Prince ( Wild Rites Saga book 2)
By Anna McIlwraith
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Book two of The Wild Rites Saga takes you to a hidden stronghold in the heart of Egypt - a kingdom on the edge of ruin, ruled by fear and forgotten magic.
Sounds like a great place for a vacation, right? Emma Chase isn't exactly thrilled by the idea, but the jackals will do anything to get their claws on her, for she is the Caller of the Blood, a human woman destined to command the magic of all shapechanging races - which is a teensy bit more complicated than it sounds. And while Emma and her weird assortment of friends, allies and protectors are safe on an enchanted farm in the California Mountains, the Jackal Prince's invitation is too dangerous to refuse. Problem is, accepting it could be just as deadly, especially since Emma's going to need the help of a powerful ancient with an unbreakable - and totally unfair - grudge against her.
Emma's got a few tricks up her sleeve, but she's human, and she can be broken. Somehow she'll have to get her friends out of the jackal kingdom alive before the jackals kill her first — or worse, find a way to claim her power for their own.
So I wasn’t expecting much from this book due to how much I struggled with book 1 but this really surprised me. I really enjoyed it, the Egyptian links were so good and it all just made so much more sense. I’m absolutely in love with Fern I think he’s just brilliant. The thing with this series it has or mentions shifters we don’t normally come across, like tarantulas and crocodiles were mentioned. I love something different. Push through book 1 and I’m sure like me you won’t be disappointed with book 2!
ClareR (6256 KP) rated Limberlost in Books
Oct 22, 2023
Limberlost is yet another beautiful novel from Robbie Arnott. There’s less of the magical realism in this, yet there’s still the beauty and magic of the natural world.
Limberlost is a place. It’s the orchard belonging to Ned West’s family; but all Ned can think about is sailing in a boat of his own, far from life in Limberlost.
The story moves back and forth between Ned’s childhood and his adulthood. Ned’s older brothers go away to fight in WW2, and he lives with his father and older sister. Their lives revolve around worry for the brothers and the apple crop. Ned is struggling as the brother left behind, so he decides to trap rabbits and sell their fur in order to buy his own boat. When he accidentally traps a quoll, only he and Callie (who lives on the next farm and is his best friend Jackbirds sister) know. He decides to nurse it back to health.
Ned’s childhood is seen through three significant moments: the capture of the quoll, the rebuilding of a Huon pine boat, and years before when his father borrowed a boat and took his children out to look at the whales.
Many years later, Ned still remembers these moments.
It was interesting (and sobering) to read about mans, and Neds, impact on the land: how his crop spraying may have been the cause of his wife’s cancer, and how colonisation was the reason why the orchard was his and not the native people’s anymore.
This is such a gentle, gorgeously written novel, and utterly devastating in parts. Even the description of Ned sanding his boat was told with such tenderness - the reader is there, inhaling the scent of pine.
This is yet another utterly entrancing novel from Robbie Arnott. I’m most definitely a fan.
Limberlost is a place. It’s the orchard belonging to Ned West’s family; but all Ned can think about is sailing in a boat of his own, far from life in Limberlost.
The story moves back and forth between Ned’s childhood and his adulthood. Ned’s older brothers go away to fight in WW2, and he lives with his father and older sister. Their lives revolve around worry for the brothers and the apple crop. Ned is struggling as the brother left behind, so he decides to trap rabbits and sell their fur in order to buy his own boat. When he accidentally traps a quoll, only he and Callie (who lives on the next farm and is his best friend Jackbirds sister) know. He decides to nurse it back to health.
Ned’s childhood is seen through three significant moments: the capture of the quoll, the rebuilding of a Huon pine boat, and years before when his father borrowed a boat and took his children out to look at the whales.
Many years later, Ned still remembers these moments.
It was interesting (and sobering) to read about mans, and Neds, impact on the land: how his crop spraying may have been the cause of his wife’s cancer, and how colonisation was the reason why the orchard was his and not the native people’s anymore.
This is such a gentle, gorgeously written novel, and utterly devastating in parts. Even the description of Ned sanding his boat was told with such tenderness - the reader is there, inhaling the scent of pine.
This is yet another utterly entrancing novel from Robbie Arnott. I’m most definitely a fan.
A Sense for Murder
9.0
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Book
Chef Sally Solari has - to her own bewilderment - built a reputation as a talented sleuth who keeps...
interesting (2 more)
intricately plotted
nuanced
Aaron Falk is an investigator for the federal police in Melbourne. There, he follows money trails left by criminals. And while he may live a rather solitary life, at least he's also left behind his childhood home of Kiewarra, where the locals literally ran him and his father out of town. But all that changes when Aaron finds out that his best friend in Kiewarra, Luke Hadler, is dead. So is Luke's wife, Karen, and their young son, Billy. Luke apparently killed Karen and Billy before turning the gun on himself: the only person he spared in his family was his baby daughter, Charlotte. Aaron grew up as a second son to Luke's parents, and they call on him now to look into Luke and Karen's finances. Were things really so bad that Luke would enact such violence? As Aaron and the local police sergeant, Raco, begin investigating, it's quickly apparent that the case isn't as cut and dried as it seems. But the people of Kiewarra have long memories, and they still blame Aaron for something that happened over 20 years ago. Is Aaron safe in his hometown? And can he clear Luke's name--if it even needs clearing?
I have been hearing about THE DRY since before its release and wasn't sure it would live up to the hype, but I was wrong. I really, really enjoyed this novel and read it over the span of about 24 hours. My only regret about the entire experience was that it was over so quickly. This was an incredibly well-written, interesting, and intricately plotted novel that just flowed effortlessly. The story at its core is a dark one, and the town of Kiewarra is a sad and depressing place: the townspeople find it easy to believe Luke killed his family because everyone is down on their luck. The town is plagued by a horrible drought (hence the title), which spells certain doom for a community that makes it living primarily on farming. Luke and Karen had bought their farm from Luke's parents, and many think he killed himself because the farm couldn't remain profitable. Harper does an excellent job at portraying the people of Kiewarra--the small town town becomes almost another character in the novel. She does an excellent job of depicting depressed small town living.
In fact, I loved all the nuanced characters in THE DRY. You know when an author just captures her characters' voices perfectly? That was this book for me. Falk just slides effortlessly off the page, and I was completely taken with Sergeant Raco, as well. But you can also easily visualize all the people in Kiewarra that Aaron encounters. While the story primarily takes place in the present-day, we get key flashbacks to the past, when Luke and Aaron were teens, and they hung out with two other kids, Gretchen and Ellie. The slow buildup to a big event surrounding this foursome also creates incredible suspense, as both stories (what happened with Luke and family and what happened when all four were kids) unravel in parallel. It's remarkably well-done.
I enjoyed how the story kept me guessing the entire time, which isn't easy to do. Even when I had a decent inkling what happened with Luke, there was still so much I hadn't figured out. I was completely captivated by the story and frantically turning the pages to find out what had happened--both in the present and the past. I could see the setting, the people, and the town so clearly. The novel truly hooked me from the very beginning and never let me go.
I'm very excited to see that this might be a series featuring Aaron, as I really loved his character and Harper's writing. I read a lot of thrillers, but this one packaged everything together perfectly, and I highly recommend it.
I have been hearing about THE DRY since before its release and wasn't sure it would live up to the hype, but I was wrong. I really, really enjoyed this novel and read it over the span of about 24 hours. My only regret about the entire experience was that it was over so quickly. This was an incredibly well-written, interesting, and intricately plotted novel that just flowed effortlessly. The story at its core is a dark one, and the town of Kiewarra is a sad and depressing place: the townspeople find it easy to believe Luke killed his family because everyone is down on their luck. The town is plagued by a horrible drought (hence the title), which spells certain doom for a community that makes it living primarily on farming. Luke and Karen had bought their farm from Luke's parents, and many think he killed himself because the farm couldn't remain profitable. Harper does an excellent job at portraying the people of Kiewarra--the small town town becomes almost another character in the novel. She does an excellent job of depicting depressed small town living.
In fact, I loved all the nuanced characters in THE DRY. You know when an author just captures her characters' voices perfectly? That was this book for me. Falk just slides effortlessly off the page, and I was completely taken with Sergeant Raco, as well. But you can also easily visualize all the people in Kiewarra that Aaron encounters. While the story primarily takes place in the present-day, we get key flashbacks to the past, when Luke and Aaron were teens, and they hung out with two other kids, Gretchen and Ellie. The slow buildup to a big event surrounding this foursome also creates incredible suspense, as both stories (what happened with Luke and family and what happened when all four were kids) unravel in parallel. It's remarkably well-done.
I enjoyed how the story kept me guessing the entire time, which isn't easy to do. Even when I had a decent inkling what happened with Luke, there was still so much I hadn't figured out. I was completely captivated by the story and frantically turning the pages to find out what had happened--both in the present and the past. I could see the setting, the people, and the town so clearly. The novel truly hooked me from the very beginning and never let me go.
I'm very excited to see that this might be a series featuring Aaron, as I really loved his character and Harper's writing. I read a lot of thrillers, but this one packaged everything together perfectly, and I highly recommend it.
Phone for Play - Creative Fun
Education and Games
App
~~> The largest collection of fun educational activities in a single app! ~~> Top #1 Education app...
Awesome Shape Puzzles 123
Games and Education
App
- Let learning become your children's favourite pastime with this fun shape puzzle game that doubles...
Peekaboo Barn
Education and Games
App
Open up the world-famous Peekaboo Barn, perfect for toddlers. Inside the little bouncing barn,...
Phone for Play: Full Version
Education and Games
App
~~> The largest collection of fun educational activities in a single app! ~~> Top #1 Education app...