The Miraculous Sweetmakers: The Frost Fair by Natasha Hastings – The Write Reads Ultimate Blog Tour Book Review
About the Book
An amazing and captivating, curl-up-on-the-sofa debut about a magical frost fair and the lasting power of friendship.
It’s a cold winter during the Great Frost of 1683. Thomasina and Anne are the best of friends, one running her father’s sweet shop and the other the apprentice at the family apothecary – together they sell their goods on the frozen River Thames. When a family tragedy turns Thomasina’s world upside down, she is drawn to a mysterious conjuror and the enchanted frost fair.
But soon the world of Father Winter threatens to claim everything she holds dear. Will they be able to solve the magical mysteries that surround them . . . ?
About the Author
Natasha Hastings started developing The Miraculous Sweetmakers: The Frost Fair while studying history at Cambridge University, where she focused on gender and mental illness. While exploring these topics, she became determined to have the lives of working women, as well as their experiences of mental illness in this period, form the heartbeat of her debut book, The Frost Fair.
What I Thought
This reminds me of dark autumn Sunday evenings watching the BBC adaptations of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and The Box of Delights with my family.
The wintery setting is reminiscent of both of those tales too and there’s dark and spooky vibes right from the shocking end of the first chapter.
Thomasina is an appealing protagonist, her drive and ambition contrasted by the guilt and grief she carries. When she is made a miraculous offer we can see why she grasps at it.
Her friendships give her hope, and the story does really get quite bleak so it’s good that she has Henry, Anne, and their business idea, to cling to.
There was a very touching scene with the parsnip seller that made you root (lol) for Thomasina even more.
With discussions of female madness/‘hysteria’, representation of asthma and exploration of the multitudes of ways people deal with grief this is not a light middle grade but it is magical. Both the Frost Fair and the Other Frost Fair are exquisitely drawn and I would love to see this come to laugh as a Sunday BBC family series one day.
Thanks to TheWriteReads and the publisher for the eARC for the purposes of an honest review. Check out the hashtags to see what everyone else on the blog tour thought. #TheMiraculousSweetmakers #TheFrostFair
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The Boy Lost in the Maze by Joseph Coelho – Blog Tour Book Review
About the Book
In his new verse novel, Joseph Coelho brilliantly blends Greek myth with a 21st century quest. In Ancient Greece Theseus makes a dangerous and courageous journey to find his father, finally meeting the Minotaur in the Labyrinth. While Theo, a modern-day teenage boy, finds himself on a maze-like quest to find his own father. Each story tells of a boy becoming a man and discovering what true manhood really means,
The path to self-discovery takes Theo through ‘those thin spaces where myth, magic and reality combine’. Doubts, difficulties and dangers must be faced as Theo discovers the man he will become.
About the Author
Joseph Coelho became the Waterstones Children’s Laureate in 2022. His debut poetry collection Werewolf Club Rules, published by Frances Lincoln, won the CLiPPA Poetry Award in 2015. He has written plays for young people for the Theatre Royal York, Pied Piper, Polka and The Unicorn Theatres. As well as poetry and plays, Joseph also writes picture books including Luna Loves Library Day (Andersen Press) and non-fiction books including How To Write Poems (Bloomsbury). All of his work has poetry and an element of performance at its heart making his festival and school sessions dynamic occasions. Joseph is a staunch ambassador for Britain’s straitened public libraries. He lives in Kent.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/JosephACoelho
Laureate Twitter: http://twitter.com/uklaureate
Instagram: http://instagram.com/josephcoelhoauthor
About the Illustrator
Kate Milner studied illustration at Central St Martin’s before completing an MA in Children’s Book Illustration at Angela Ruskin University. Kate won the V&A Illustration Award 2016 and the Klaus Flugge Prize 2018 for My name is not Refugee. Her book It’s a No-Money Day (2019, Barrington Stoke) was shortlisted for the Greenaway Medal.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/abagforkatie
Instagram: http://instagram.com/thatpaperhat
What I Thought
This is such an ambitious book, a novel in verse, parallel stories of modern day and myth, an exploration into manhood and fatherhood and even at points a choose your own adventure. But coming from the Children’s Laureate what would we expect other than for it to be handled successfully.
I visually read this but I have previously listened to other verse novels (e.g. One by Sarah Crossan) and I think if you are reluctant to read poetry I’d definitely recommend audio or reading along in parallel.
We have three characters we are following. Theo – our modern day character who is the protagonist and voice of the novel, Theseus, and the Minotaur (although I have to admit wanting more from this third character – ooh a sequel focusing on what he did next would be fab).
I thought it was cleverly done that the trials Theseus faced on making his way back to his father are echoed in Theo’s similar journey. The parallel of mythology and modern day was great and how the modern day ‘learning’ was represented was excellent.
One of my favourite poems of all time is Digging by Seamus Heaney and some of the poetry focusing on writing and use of words over swords and use of violence reminded me of this.
‘So, I muscle into my words
grab at them with toothed hands
forming a sentence to stop the battering…’
The book gets a little gruesome at times and one big complaint I have is not having the poem talking about Sestinas not, in actual fact, being a Sestina 😂.
The illustrations throughout were beautiful and I particularly liked the concluding image.
The Boy Lost in the Maze sadly won’t be a book for everyone – (because people will be put off by the fact it’s told as poems) but I really hope it gets a broader audience and helps foster our next generation of poets, and helps people see that poetry can be used in different ways.
Thanks to Blue at Kaleidoscopic Tours and the publisher for the gifted copy for the purposes of an honest review. Do check out the rest of the tour.
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Lost in Time by A.G. Riddle – Blog Tour Book Review
About the Book
‘Amazing! One of the twistiest time-tales I’ve ever read.’ Diana Gabaldon
‘Many japes and high jinks ahead.’ The Times – A Science Fiction Book of the Month
From the worldwide bestselling author of The Extinction Trials, Departure, and The Atlantis Gene comes a new kind of sci-fi thriller: a time-travel murder mystery with a twist you’ll never see coming…
An absolute must for fans of Hugh Howey, Clive Cussler, and Michael Crichton.
Dr. Sam Anderson is one of the most celebrated scientists in history. Ten years ago, he invented Absolom – a device that changed the world forever. Now his life is about to be ripped apart – and his own creation may be to blame.
One fateful morning, Sam discovers that his girlfriend has been murdered and that his daughter, Adeline, is accused of the crime. Believing her innocent, but without proof, there is only one option – he must confess. But in the future, murderers aren’t sent to prison. They’re sent to the past, forever, back to the time of the dinosaurs, where they live out their lives alone.
In the present, Adeline embarks on a mission to find the person who framed her – uncovering more questions than answers. With conspiracies and secrets afoot, Adeline soon finds herself in the midst of a mystery that stretches across the past, present, and future – and leads to a revelation that will change everything.
Control the Past. Save the Future.
About the Author
A.G. Riddle spent ten years starting internet companies before deciding to pursue his true passion: writing fiction.
His novels have sold over five million copies worldwide and been translated in twenty-four languages. Several of his works are in development for feature films.
He lives in North Carolina with his wife, daughter, and eccentric dog.
What I Thought
I raced through the first 60% of this in one sitting and would have quite happily finished it all if it wasn’t for needing pesky sleep.
From the rug pulling opening to the dinosaur encounters I think readers might end up letting out breaths they fully know they were holding more than once.
Things I found myself thinking of when reading this first section – The Fugitive, Demolition Man, Jurassic Park, Bear Grylls.
Interestingly when I picked the story back up it changed pace slightly to focus mostly on Adeline’s point of view moving forward. I did slightly miss the to and fro of the alternating chapters although the pace was still pretty breakneck but with some quieter and more emotional moments.
Time travel is such a slippery thing and my head was spinning a bit at all the explanations of causality, etc. I always find it best not to delve into the mechanics too deeply (mainly because I don’t understand it – ironic when one of the books I’ve written features time travel). I definitely got pulled in by the twists and turns though, and wanted to know what had happened and if we would ever get Sam back from the Triassic.
This is however a story of grief and what you would do for a second chance to connect with missing loved ones and I found myself so connected with both Sam and Adeline, invested in the murder mystery and wondering how on earth they would solve getting back the unreachable. There’s also plenty of secrets and lies, mentions of drug abuse, gambling, chronic ill health and much more – the book really explores both sides of humanity.
The story presents two contrasting ways to use time travel and I can’t help thinking that exploring the ethical dilemmas both options present would make a great book club discussion.
This book was a Goldsboro GSFF pick of the month (and I’m luckily a member) – now I’ve read it understandably so. I signed up for the blog tour but reading from my own copy. Thanks to Black Crow PR and Head of Zeus for having me along for the thrilling ride. My thoughts and opinions are as ever my own.
The copy I have has an entirely different cover – which I also love – and I found it super satisfying that the stencilled edges artwork split right in the middle of the story (pg 225/450) but that is not as satisfying as the story which I would highly recommend.
Do follow along with the blog tour to see what everyone else thought too.
kirstyes 