Welcome to my personal book blog - Brown Flopsy's Book Burrow!!
I am mad about books in all their forms - paper books, e-books and audio books.
I review books and share the bookish love. You may also see me talking about books on Twitter (X), Instagram and Threads (@brownflopsy).
I always give honest reviews of the books I have enjoyed, and the views expressed here are completely my own.
I am also a member of, and admin for, the SquadPod Collective bloggers group.
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Tuesday, December 31, 2030
Friday, November 1, 2024
Black Storms by Teresa Solana
Black Storms by Teresa Solana.
Translated by Peter Bush.
Published in ebook 25th October 2024 and in paperback 1st November 2024 by Corylus Books.
From the cover of the book:
A country that doesn't acknowledge its past is destined to repeat its mistakes...Why murder a sick old man nearing retirement? An investigation into the death of a professor at the University of Barcelona seems particularly baffling for Deputy Inspector Norma Forester of the Catalan police, as word from the top confirms she's the one to lead this case.
The granddaughter of an English member of the International Brigades, Norma has a colourful family life, with a forensic doctor husband, a hippy mother, a squatter daughter and an aunt, a nun in an enclosed order, who operates as a hacker from her austere convent cell.
This blended family sometimes helps and often hinders Norma's investigations.
It seems the spectres of the past have not yet been laid to rest, and there are people who can neither forgive nor forget the cruelties of the Spanish Civil War and all that followed.
October 2024 Reading Round-Up
October 2024 Reading Round-Up
Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers |
The Lost Lover by Karen Swan |
The Little Provence Book Shop by Gillian Harvey |
Stupid Stories for Tough Times by Andrew Crowther |
The Burning Stones by Antti Tuomainen |
Tales of the Damned by Matt Ralphs and Taylor Dolan Escape Castle Dracula by Sam Fern and Adam Allori |
The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side by Agatha Christie |
Dark as Night by Lilja Sigurdardóttir |
Home for Christmas by Heidi Swain |
Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde |
Because She Looked Away by Alison Bruce |
Leaving by Roxana Robinson |
After the Fire by Charlotte Rixon |
The Volcano Daughters by Gina Maria Balibrera |
Thursday, October 31, 2024
The Volcano Daughters by Gina Maria Balibrera
The Volcano Daughters by Gina Maria Balibrera.
Published 3rd October 2024 by Oneworld.
From the cover of the book:
A searingly original novel about sisterhood, art, and a community of women who refuse to be silenced.Nine-year-old Graciela is raised in the shadow of El Salvador's Izalco volcano, until the day she is taken to the capital city by the country's fearsome – and fearsomely superstitious – dictator, who believes her to be a muse capable of foreseeing the future.
There, Graciela meets Consuelo, the sister she never knew existed. Consuelo is everything she is not – volatile, dreamy and teenaged – yet despite their differences, the sisters form an unlikely bond. When the dictator's brutality is finally unleashed, El Salvador is forever changed. Graciela and Consuelo survive the massacre, but most of their community are not so lucky.
From San Salvador to Los Angeles, Paris to San Francisco, the sisters create a new future for themselves. But the story of those they left behind is not yet over. Their voices, once just a whimper, now shout louder than ever. Listen.
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
Leaving by Roxana Robinson
Leaving by Roxana Robinson.
Published in paperback 3rd October 2024 by Magpie.
From the cover of the book:
High school sweethearts, Sarah and Warren, have grand plans for an adventurous future together, but when a misunderstanding causes them to part ways, they end up marrying other people.When they meet again at sixty, their lives have been carved into very different shapes. Sarah lives outside New York; Warren lives in Boston. Sarah is divorced, Warren still married, and both have grown up children. When they reconnect, they feel the rekindled spark of love and desire - a spark that has been dead for so long.
Friday, October 25, 2024
Gothic Horror Feature: Tales of the Damned by Matt Ralphs and Taylor Dolan and Escape Castle Dracula by
Tales of the Damned: A Collection of Classic Horror Stories by Matt Ralphs (Author), and Taylor Dolan (Illustrator).
This spine-chilling collection features retellings of eight classic horror stories. From the disturbing short stories of Edgar Allan Poe, to gothic classics and chilling ghost stories, this striking anthology is the perfect introduction to the world of horror.
Includes:
Dracula
Frankenstein
The Masque of the Red Death
Bluebeard
And many more...
Written by Matt Ralphs and with vivid illustrations by artist Taylor Dolan.
CAN YOU ESCAPE?
Readers will be transported into the pages of 14 classic horror stories in their quest to escape from Count Dracula's castle. Aid Victor Frankenstein create his monster, help Dr Jekyll escape the clutches of Mr Hyde, and lay the vicious ghost of the headless horseman to rest forever. Trace your way through labyrinthine mazes and solve intricate puzzles, learning about some of the most terrifying tales in literature as you go.
Illustrated in astonishing detail by Adam Allori, this stylish and immersive puzzle book will appeal to readers of all ages.
Matt Ralphs writes fiction and non-fiction for children. He has published books for Nosy Crow, Flying Eye, DK, Macmillan, Phaidon Kids, Templar, Big Picture Press, Titan Books and Oxford University Press. He lives in England on a boat called Nostromo.
Adam Allori is a UK based concept artist and designer. He studied concept art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk, Poland. Escape Castle Dracula will be his first book.
Thursday, October 24, 2024
The Burning Stones by Antti Tuomainen
The Burning Stones by Antti Tuomainen.
Published 24th October 2024 by Orenda Books.
From the cover of the book:
Saunas, love and a ladleful of murder…A cold-blooded killer strikes at the hottest moment: the new head of a sauna-stove company is murdered … in the sauna. Who has turned up the temperature and burned him to death?
The evidence points in the direction of Anni Korpinen – top salesperson and the victim’s successor at Steam Devil.
And as if hitting middle-age, being in a marriage that has lost its purpose, and struggling with work weren’t enough, Anni realizes that she must be quicker than both the police and the murderer to uncover who is behind it all – before it’s too late…
From the international bestselling author of The Man Who Died and The Rabbit Factor, comes a darkly funny, delightfully tense new thriller that showcases humanity at its most bare – in middle age, suspected of murder and, of course, in a sauna…
Antti Tuomainen was an award-winning copywriter when he made his literary debut in 2007 as a suspense author.
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
Because She Looked Away (Ronnie Blake Book One) by Alison Bruce
Because She Looked Away (Ronnie Blake Book One) by Alison Bruce.
Published 26th September 2024 by Constable.
From the cover of the book:
After the sudden death of her sister, devastated detective DS Ronnie Blake relocates to Cambridge to help her brother Alex raise their sister's young son, Noah. She reports for her first day but instead finds herself being questioned by a special investigations unit, nicknamed the DEAD Team.With a small group of six, led by DI Fenton, the once-successful DEAD team has a single outstanding case, Operation Byron, and the failure to resolve it threatens the unit's existence. Their most promising lead is an anonymous note linking three seemingly unconnected people: a convicted fraudster, a dead academic... and Ronnie's sister Jodie.
When Ronnie is denied information about Operation Byron, she follows a lead slipped to her by Malachi, the youngest member of the team, and makes a discovery which links Operation Byron to a disturbing unsolved murder. She is rapidly drawn into an intricate web of deceit, buried secrets and tragedy and the discovery that her connection to Cambridge is far darker than she could ever have guessed.
Alison Bruce was born in Croydon and grew up in Wiltshire before moving to Cambridgeshire in 1998. Alison worked as an electroplater, taxi driving and band promoter and spent ten years working in the IT industry before leaving to concentrate on completing her first novel.
Alison is a proud supporter of local libraries and is the patron of Lakenheath Library in Suffolk. Alison teaches creative writing at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge.
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
The Mirror Crack'd From Side To Side by Agatha Christie
The Mirror Crack'd From Side To Side by Agatha Christie.
This edition published 11th May 2023 by Harper Collins.
Originally published 1962.
From the cover of the book:
A movie star.A deadly cocktail.
A murder.
When glamorous Marina Gregg came to live in St Mary Mead, tongues were sure to wag.
But, with a local gossip’s sudden death, has one tongue wagged a bit too much?
As the police chase false leads, and two more victims meet untimely ends, Miss Marple starts to ask her own questions.
What secrets might link a peaceful English village and a star of the silver screen?
Never underestimate Miss Marple...
Friday, October 18, 2024
After The Fire by Charlotte Rixon
After the Fire by Charlotte Rixon.
Published 2st August 2024 by Aria.
From the cover of the book:
This is the story of girl meets boy.And then everything goes wrong . . .
Ever since they first met at university, Beth and Nick have circled in and out of one another's lives: supporting each other through grief, marriage, divorce, career crises and family dramas.
Fourteen years ago, when they were on the cusp of adulthood, they both survived a devastating fire that sent their lives in different directions. And they've been running ever since: from the pain, from the memories, and most devastatingly of all, from the guilt.
But no matter how hard they try, there's something else they can't run from. The inescapable, terrifying truth: they're in love with each other.
But how can they move forward, when neither of them can stop looking back?