bookswithlydscl's Reviews (639)

The annual Christmas murder mystery for Lady Eleanor and co is always a welcome instalment to the series and whilst this one kicked off a little more slowly than I expected it ramped up well and overall is a welcome addition.

This time Ellie and Hugh have been invited to attend the home of the reclusive and mysterious Duke of Auldwyke to partake in Christmas fun and a shooting competition. Instead of the season of goodwill though, the atmosphere turns frosty as she finds the Duke’s secretary, Mr Porritt, dead in the storeroom and forsaking frivolity and fun for notebooks and interviews it's up to our dedicated duo to solve the mystery and hopefully save Christmas.

What I most enjoyed about this instalment was the focus on Eleanor and Hugh's relationship. It finally feels like they have reached a proper understanding of what their future together looks like. It needed to take that jump even though I fear it means we may be reaching the end of this series (I hope not)!

Having Clifford and the Henley Hall team around provided for wonderfully cosy scenes and a lighthearted respite from what was a slightly darker and tenser murder mystery. It was never entirely clear about the who or why in this story until the final reveal, although with plenty of red herrings along the way it was fun to make up potential theories (I was working on a 'Mousetrap' style theory for a good long while, though thankfully was proven wrong).

As always, the antics were entertaining, the characters are lovable and I keenly await the next in the series!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for a digital review copy of "A Midwinter Murder" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

liked it but didn't wow me. I think space opera just might not be my thing!

I really enjoyed this ghostly horror novella. A great premise for the series and suitably creepy with some pretty gory scenes. Will happily continue on in the series.

A really fun novella addition giving us more information about the God's and weapons and a fun few short stories

Dnf at 127pages. Thought it was building up but it was just dragging. Highly anticipated read based on the premise but it was sitting at a 3* read and I was finding it dull with characters who are unlikeable and I don't really care who lives or who dies.

A relatable and realistic portrayal of anxiety and depression

I really loved this one. Knocked down a bit as it got a little repetitive at times and despite being under 300 pages could have been a bit shorter but it was compulsive reading for me overall.
It's cultish, supernatural, magical and otherworldly. Difficult to put my finger on what IT is about this book as its a very different horror/thriller story but I really liked the writing style, I liked the characterisations and the story. It just worked for me.

Note after initially posting:
I saw a comment to read the author's note and so went back and did and I'm glad I did as it informs so much of the themes and the feelings I had about what was going on.

Very much Kate Morton's signature style but the story for this one felt much less richly realised than others. It didn't need to be as long as it was and felt like it was stretched out unnecessarily. I also didn't like a lot of the characters in this one so felt much less invested in the story.

a wonderful feminist fantasy novella that is a damnung indictment of monarchy. Will definitely aim to continue this series.