Welcome to my first ever wrap up post!  I can’t guarantee I’ll do one every month although I think it is a great thing to do and I enjoy looking at everyone else’s, so I’ll do my very best!

Bookish Events

I’ve had lots of bookish fun at events this month.  On the 13th October I went to the Guildford Book Festival Reader’s Day with the lovely Kerrie from ilovedreadingthis whom I met in real life for the first time!  We saw lots of great authors speak and got on really well.

So much so, that we also went to The Folio Society together on 16th October in London for their Christmas book launch.  We met at Waterstones Piccadilly and had a look at the amazing book bridge they’ve built there to celebrate the launch of Mark Zusak’s Bridge of Clay.

We then had dinner near London Bridge before heading over to the offices of the Folio Society.  So many beautiful books – it is probably a good job you aren’t allowed to buy them on the night!

I was also in London on the 17th October for the latest Lush Book club.  I went with one of my oldest friends (we studied at Uni together and she is a children’s librarian). The lovely Anna James was in conversation with Katherine Webber about her new book, Pages & Co which sounds the perfect children’s book!  With hot chocolate and cake, all in the very delicious smelling venue in Soho, it was a great evening!

Book Haul

Quite a few books received this month!  The left hand pile are all books for upcoming blog tours (exciting!) The right hand pile is a mixture of competition wins (I’ve had a good month!), publisher gifts and one or two little purchases I may have made.

Wrap Up

Thank goodness for Goodreads for helping me to remember what I’ve read this month!  I’ve read a total of 8 books this month which I’m pretty happy with!

The Rise and Fall of Becky Sharp by Sarra Manning

Determined to leave her poverty-stricken roots behind her, Becky Sharp is going to take every opportunity offered to her to climb to the top. Whether it’s using her new BFF Amelia Sedley to step up into the rarified world of London’s upper classes, or seducing society’s most eligible bachelors, Becky Sharp is destined for great things – at any cost..
From London to Paris and beyond, the world is there for Becky’s taking – even though some people are determined to stop her along the way…
How did I get it? My copy was kindly gifted to me by Harper Collins

The Toy Thief by D W Gillespie

Jack didn’t know what to call the nameless, skeletal creature that slunk into her house in the dead of night, stealing the very things she loved the most. So she named him The Toy Thief… There’s something in Jack’s past that she doesn’t want to face, an evil presence that forever changed the trajectory of her family. It all began when The Toy Thief appeared, a being drawn by goodness and innocence, eager to feed on everything Jack holds dear. What began as a mystery spirals out of control when her brother, Andy, is taken away in the night, and Jack must venture into the dark place where the toys go to get him back. But even if she finds him, will he ever be the same?
How did I get it? An ARC was sent to my by Flame Tree Press for a blog tour

Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand

Who are the Sawkill Girls?
Marion: The newbie. Awkward and plain, steady and dependable. Weighed down by tragedy and hungry for love she’s sure she’ll never find.
Zoey: The pariah. Luckless and lonely, hurting but hiding it. Aching with grief and dreaming of vanished girls. Maybe she’s broken—or maybe everyone else is.
Val: The queen bee. Gorgeous and privileged, ruthless and regal. Words like silk and eyes like knives; a heart made of secrets and a mouth full of lies.
Their stories come together on the island of Sawkill Rock, where gleaming horses graze in rolling pastures and cold waves crash against black cliffs. Where kids whisper the legend of an insidious monster at parties and around campfires. Where girls have been disappearing for decades, stolen away by a ravenous evil no one has dared to fight…until now.
How did I get it? An ARC was sent to me by Harper Collins

The Lido by Libby Page

A tender, joyous debut novel about a cub reporter and her eighty-six-year-old subject—and the unlikely and life-changing friendship that develops between them.
Kate is a twenty-six-year-old riddled with anxiety and panic attacks who works for a local paper in Brixton, London, covering forgettably small stories. When she’s assigned to write about the closing of the local lido (an outdoor pool and recreation centre), she meets Rosemary, an eighty-six-year-old widow who has swum at the lido daily since it opened its doors when she was a child. It was here Rosemary fell in love with her husband, George; here that she’s found communion during her marriage and since George’s death. The lido has been a cornerstone in nearly every part of Rosemary’s life.
But when a local developer attempts to buy the lido for a posh new apartment complex, Rosemary’s fond memories and sense of community are under threat.
As Kate dives deeper into the lido’s history—with the help of a charming photographer—she pieces together a portrait of the pool, and a portrait of a singular woman, Rosemary. What begins as a simple local interest story for Kate soon blossoms into a beautiful friendship that provides sustenance to both women as they galvanize the community to fight the lido’s closure. Meanwhile, Rosemary slowly, finally, begins to open up to Kate, transforming them both in ways they never knew possible.
How did I get it? Brought it in Steyning bookshop on Book Shop Day

The Promise by Katerina Diamond

When troubled teen Connor moves to Exeter from the US to escape his past, he finds himself embroiled in a world of popular kids and easy girls. Everyone wants to be his friend, but they don’t know about what he did…and they don’t know about his father.
As Connor’s life in England begins to unravel, DS Adrian Miles and his partner Imogen Grey are working up against the clock to catch a serial killer who dates his victims before he kills them. Determined to uncover the truth, Imogen is forced to act as bait – but will she take it too far and risk her own life?
How did I get it? A copy was sent by Avon Books for a blog tour

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

In a city far away, bombs and assassinations shatter lives every day. Yet, even here, hope renews itself, welling up through the rubble. Somewhere in this city, two young people are smiling, hesitating, sharing cheap cigarettes, speaking softly then boldly, falling in love.
As the violence worsens and escape feels ever more necessary, they hear rumour of mysterious black doors appearing all over the city, all over the world. To walk through a door is to find a new life – perhaps in Greece, in London, in California – and to lose the old one for ever . . .
What does it mean to leave your only home behind? Can you belong to many places at once? And when the hour comes and the door stands open before you – will you go?
How did I get it? My copy was kindly gifted to me by Penguin Books

The End we Start From by Megan Hunter

In the midst of a mysterious environmental crisis, as London is submerged below flood waters, a woman gives birth to her first child, Z. Days later, the family are forced to leave their home in search of safety. As they move from place to place, shelter to shelter, their journey traces both fear and wonder as Z’s small fists grasp at the things he sees, as he grows and stretches, thriving and content against all the odds.
This is a story of new motherhood in a terrifying setting: a familiar world made dangerous and unstable, its people forced to become refugees. Startlingly beautiful, Megan Hunter’s The End We Start From is a gripping novel that paints an imagined future as realistic as it is frightening. And yet, though the country is falling apart around them, this family’s world – of new life and new hope – sings with love.
How did I get it? Brought for my by husband as an anniversary present!

Picking up the Pieces by Jo Worgan

Kate has a six-year-old autistic son, Sam. She has started a new life to escape her controlling and abusive boyfriend Jake and thinks that the past is behind her and that she and Sam are safe. But after spotting Jake through a misted-up cafe window, Kate knows that he has found her. Kate confides in her neighbour Matt, a man running from his own past. He seems to offer a genuine chance at happiness for her and son Sam, but Jake is determined to get them back at all costs…. Picking Up The Pieces is an original, moving but gripping page-turner about a woman’s search for happiness as she fights to protect her autistic son’s future.
How did I get it? An electronic copy was provided by Urbane Publications for an upcoming blog tour.

And that’s about it!  Congratulations if you’ve made it the end.  Let me know what you think in the comments and tell me something bookish you’ve enjoyed in October!