I’ve been trimming the fat again and adding more books to the pile. I’ve now split my tbr shame list to represent kindle books, children’s and young adult books and crime/thrillers. Only because my tastes have changed dramatically this year and I wanted to see what I had on my shelves in a clearer way. I only really read crime/thrillers and Children’s books now, anything else is far and few between.

I originally had three books to show but then I went and bought 3 Christmas books and an added extra on the Waterstones website, so now I have 7 books that I’ve been naughty in buying!!!

Sitting on the top deck of a bus days before Christmas, Maya sees a couple arguing violently in the middle of a crowded Regent Street. They see her watching, she looks away, and the woman disappears. Maya goes to the police, who shrug and send her away. Then a body turns up… Now convinced she is a vital witness to a crime, the police send Maya into hiding in rural Wales. She resolves to get to the bottom of the mystery. Then the snow comes and no one can get out. But what if someone can still get in? From the author of Dear Scarlett and Saving Sophia.

I’ve read Fleur Hitchcock before and found her a delight. I’m slowly getting into detective children’s books and the level of imagination and detail found there are always startling to me. I have high hopes for this book and I’m sure that it won’t disappoint.

Jackson knows all about the flying reindeer, he knows about the elves and the secret North Pole workshop, he knows about the magic that allows Father Christmas to deliver presents around the world in just one night, but there’s one thing he doesn’t know … how did Father Christmas become Father Christmas?

That all changes when, one Christmas Eve, Jackson meets Father Christmas and hears his incredible story. 

It’s Waterstones fault really, they have a whole section dedicated to Christmas Stories. I’m surprised with how much restraint I showed in only getting 3 Christmas themed books! Really I should get a medal. I haven’t read any of Ben Miller’s work before so this will be completely new for me. It sounds like it’s packed full of adventure and intrigue. Don’t we all wonder at some point the story of Father Christmas?

Life was going to change for Nikolas, in ways he could never have imagined. Things were going to happen to him. Good things. Bad things. Impossible  things.

Father Christmas was not always an old, jolly man with a white beard, he was once just a little boy.

I’ve heard of Matt Haig before but never read any of his works. But, it sounds like a fun packed, heart-warming story lurks beneath the surface of this book and I can’t wait to read it.

What does it take to believe in magic?

Without hope there would be no magic.

Once upon a time, Father Christmas didn’t come to visit children every year. In fact, it nearly came to pass that there was no Christmas as we know it.Father Christmas had a lot to deal with; there were troubled elves, reindeers that kept falling from the sky, and more than a few angry trolls for him to contend with.

The reason? There was not enough magic in the world. Magic is born of hope – and if the children of the world couldn’t see any magic, then why would they hope for it?

It is Christmas Eve and all is not well. Amelia Wishart is trapped in Mr Creeper’s workhouse and Christmas is in jeopardy. Magic is fading. If Christmas is to happen, Father Christmas knows he must find her.

With the help of some elves, eight reindeer, the Queen and a man called Charles Dickens, the search for Amelia – and the secret of Christmas – begins …This is the gloriously heart-warming story of how one little girl came to the rescue and helped save Christmas.

Another by Matt Haig, I couldn’t get the adventure of the boy without getting the adventure of the girl also. I love this theme of keeping the magic of Christmas alive, I know a few children who have grown up without knowing Santa Claus (their parents raised them with the knowledge that Santa wasn’t real) and I think it’s a shame that they haven’t been allowed to feel the magic of Christmas. I look forward to reading this one.

Now onto the 3 that I actually bought for this Book Haul!!!

After The Puppet Show, a new storm is coming . . .

Jared Keaton, chef to the stars. Charming. Charismatic. Psychopath . . . He’s currently serving a life sentence for the brutal murder of his daughter, Elizabeth. Her body was never found and Keaton was convicted largely on the testimony of Detective Sergeant Washington Poe.

So when a young woman staggers into a remote police station with irrefutable evidence that she is Elizabeth Keaton, Poe finds himself on the wrong end of an investigation, one that could cost him much more than his career.

Helped by the only person he trusts, the brilliant but socially awkward Tilly Bradshaw, Poe races to answer the only question that matters: how can someone be both dead and alive at the same time?

And then Elizabeth goes missing again – and all paths of investigation lead back to Poe.

I have been so excited for this sequel since I read ‘The Puppet Show’. Amazon doesn’t have it out till June 2020, so I was very excited to see it on the shelf in Waterstones and picked it up quicker than you can say cheese. I am positively brimming with excitement to read this book, I want to dive back into the lives of Tilly Bradshaw and Washington Poe.

A gorgeous, snowy adventure, set in the wilds of Siberia, full of magic and wonder, for junior readers.

A world of magic is only a whisper away…

Born in a Soviet prison camp, Lina has never seen the world outside until the night she escapes with her best friend, Bogdan. As the pair journey across a snowy wilderness, they are pursued by a vengeful sorceress and her pack of shadow wolves. The children will need every ounce of courage – and a whisper of magic – if they are to survive…

This was an impulse buy because I wanted to get the book below and it was ‘buy one get one half price’. I’ve never been able to turn down an offer like that, so I searched the entire table till I found this one to complete the offer. I just thought it sounded really interesting and presented itself as an intense but magical story. I think this one will surprise me.

Ice princess Stella Starflake and her father Felix are in trouble: President Fogg has expelled them from the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club, and banned them from going on any further expeditions.

Stella’s not going to be put off by rules and regulations though. She knows her friend Shay is in danger of turning into a witch wolf himself, since receiving a deadly bite on their last adventure. It’s vital that Stella and her friends set out to find the spellbook that could save his life, even if it means travelling over the cursed Black Ice Bridge.

I cannot tell you how excited I am to have this book to read! I didn’t even know the third installment was out on the shelf! I’ve been addicted to this book since I got the first in the series back near the beginning of the year, this might just be the book to break me out of my bookless reading slump. I know exactly what I’ll be reading when the weekend comes knocking!!!

Have you read any of these?