Naughty Or Nice by Sophie Snow | Book Review

[ad/gifted - I received a PR box including this book for review as I am a member of the authors ARC team. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]

Title & Author: Naughty Or Nice by Sophie Snow

My rating: 5/5

Publication date: 19th November 2024

Blurb:

Rora Stanley hates Christmas.

But when her best friend needs a Santa photographer for her family’s toy store, Rora is forced to return to her Christmas-obsessed hometown for the holidays.

Henry Whitten loves Christmas.

And a few weeks in Wintermore, Wyoming playing Santa is exactly what he needs as he stands at a career crossroads.

Henry isn’t prepared for the Christmas-hating photographer to consume his thoughts the second he lays eyes on her. And Rora isn’t expecting to be so turned on by her best friend’s uncle in his Santa suit…

When “just this once” snowballs into something more, Rora and Henry scramble to make every second count before their time runs out. It’ll take more than a Christmas miracle to turn this festive fling into forever.

Review:

I am obsessed with Sophie Snow's books so I will read anything she writes, and although I thought the Santa thing wasn't for me. My mind has been changed. I feel like Rora. 

Twenty-eight year old Rora Stanley returns to her hometown of Wintermore after her best friend Noelle calls in a favour. Rora is a photographer and Noelle needs someone to take the photographs in the grotto at her family's toy shop. Charlie, Noelle's dad, usually plays the role of Santa but after an accident he enlists the help of his brother Henry.

Rora is very anti-Christmas while Noelle's family are the complete opposite and go all out for Christmas. But when Rora meets forty-seven year old Henry for the first time in his Santa attire, her mind might be changed.

I absolutely ate this story up and finished this novella in a matter of hours. If you're looking for a festive setting with an age gap/best friends uncle romance, this is for you. Henry is a dream of a man and I didn't doubt that for a second because I love all of Snow's male main characters but I absolutely adored not only Rora but Noelle too. I really love the friendships and family dynamics in Snow's books. It was fantastic in the Spicy in Seattle series and continues through in Naughty or Nice too.

If an author is going to include a trope that I dislike (keeping quiet as I don't want to give slight spoilers for the ending!) and still get five stars from me, then bravo! 

Get this on your Christmas TBRs. Oh, and the spice be spicing too.

Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout by Laura Jane Grace | Book Review

[This post contains affiliate links.]

Title & Author: Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout by Laura Jane Grace, with Dan Ozzi

My rating: 5/5

Publisher: Hachette

Publication date: 15th November 2016

Blurb:

A searing account of her search for identity and true self, Tranny reveals the struggles and victories that Laura Jane Grace, the lead singer of the cult punk rock band Against Me!, experienced in her quest for gender transition.

Illuminated by Laura Jane's never-before-published journal entries reaching back to childhood, Tranny is an intensely personal and revelatory look inside her struggles with identity and addiction. Grappling with everything from sex, drugs, and failed marriages to the music and soul of a punk rock star, this memoir paints a vivid portrait of one of the most revolutionary transgender icons of our time.

Review: 

I have been a fan of Against Me! since about 2008 when I was little sixteen year old discovering punk music. (Evelyn was even my top name for my daughter but my husband was not on board, unfortunately!) I have followed the band's music, I remember Laura Jane Grace's Rolling Stone article announcing her plan to transition and live life as a woman and feeling utter delight watching (on YouTube) a video of her singing The Ocean for the first time as Laura Jane in 2012.

I finally have tickets to see her play for the first time at the end of this month so I knew I had to read her book. I opted to listen to the audiobook, read by Laura Jane herself. As a fan who already knew a surface level amount, this book was just wonderful. 

Taken from journal entries that Laura Jane kept throughout her life, we hear about her childhood travelling around as an army kid, her parents divorce and when her thoughts of gender dysphoria begun. It feels as though there are two main focuses of the book that run parallel.

The first being Laura Jane discovering punk music, her run ins with the police as a then teenage boy, realising an anarchist philosophy, which kickstarted the band Against Me! and the trials and tribulations when it came to touring, record labels, changes in band members, making money and being seen as sellouts in the punk scene. All the while, Laura Jane is fighting these feelings of dysphoria, calling times when she would dress in women's clothes as "binges" and eventually coming to terms with who she is, sharing this with her family and bandmates when she is still trying to understand it herself.

It is a very open and honest memoir and very blunt in some ways. Laura Jane does not shy away from sharing her honest opinions and thoughts but at the same time is very reflective of herself and her behaviours. As a fan, it was a really good insight into what was really going on behind the scenes.

Christmas In Castleby by J. M. Simpson | Book Review

[ad/gifted - I received a eARC of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.]

Title & Author: Christmas In Castleby by J. M. Simpson

My rating: 5/5

Publication date: 1st November 2024

Blurb:

When Tess Dutton arrives in Castleby to help in her sister’s restaurant for the Christmas period her worst nightmare awaits. Tess finds her sister unconscious at the bottom of her stairs, and a restaurant fully booked until Christmas.

Ex-Navy chef Griffin Jones returns to his late mother’s house trying to put his past behind him. He can’t forgive himself for what he did, and someone from his past won’t let him forget either.

Griffin steps in to help Tess in the restaurant, but he is haunted by his past. As he grows closer to Tess and their attraction blossoms, Tess receives a visit from an ex-lover, who wants to rekindle their romance.

Tess struggles when she finds out about Griffin’s past.

But he’s being persecuted.

And then Tess’s life is threatened.

Someone is so full of hate and so intent on revenge, that the only solution is to kill.

Review:

Did I read this book in less than a day? Yes, yes I did. I just couldn't put it down!

This is the sixth book in the Castleby series and I have loved every one of them, so when I heard there was a Christmas one coming, I was very excited. I would recommend going back and reading the other books in the series because they are fantastic.

Griff Jones is returning to the seaside town of Castleby, following his mother's death. Griff has had a tough few years and is looking to start over. At the same time, Tess has been roped into coming to help her sister Lorraine at her restaurant over the busy Christmas period. Tess has had a couple of heartbreaks recently, plus leaving her stressful job as a nurse.

The two cross paths when Tess takes over the restaurant for an injured Lorraine and is in need of a chef. Enter, Griff. But when Griff starts receiving threatening texts and letters about something that happened in his past, culminating in attacks both on him and his house, he realises he needs to tell Tess, but how will she react?

One thing I love about the Castleby series, is that going back to them feels so comforting. Griff and Tess are new characters but are very much welcomed by the locals who we came to love in the previous books (I'm looking at you Foxy and Maggie!). 

This is a shorter book than the rest but I always enjoy the pacing, tension and guessing that Simpson delivers. I just love the mix of small town vibes with some crime that keeps you on your toes!