Books Bones and Buffy | Books and travelling with Lynn

Friday Face Off: Summer of Horror – Horror Stories I’d Like to Read

Posted On 29 August 2025

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Books Bones and Buffy, Books I'd Like to Read, Friday Face off, Summer of Horror 25

FFO

Today I’m returning to the Friday Face Off, originally created by Books by Proxy). I’ve missed these for the past few months and so would like to get back to comparing covers (and hopefully I will be updating this page with a new banner. This is an opportunity to look at a book of your choice and shine the spotlight on the covers. Of course this only works for those books that have alternative covers (although sometimes I use this to look at a series of books to choose a favourite). So, if you have a book that has alternative covers, highlight them and choose your favourite. If you’re taking part it would be great if you leave a link so I can take a look at what you’ve chosen.

This is the last week showing covers to fit in with Books, Bones and Buffy’s Summer of Horror I thought for my last shot I’d post a few covers of horror stories that I haven’t yet read but would like to. Take a look and see if you have a favourite:

My favourite this week:

Which is your favourite?

Join me next week in highlighting one of your reads with different covers

Booking Ahead/Weekly Wrap Up

Posted On 22 June 2025

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Book Reviews, Booking Ahead, Books, Books Bones and Buffy, Caffeinated Book Reviewer, Fantasy, Sunday Post, Weekly wrap up, What's on my Plate

Comments Dropped 8 responses

Sunday Post

Books read this week:

This week my reading and blogging has been slow – but this is because we have a visitor and will also have another visitor next week so time seems to simply fly. I’m still listening to Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry – I’m going to go against popular opinion with this one and say I’ve not fully bought into this one yet. There’s still time though so who knows. I finished Swordheart by T Kingfisher and absolutely loved it, so I now have two series that I’m desperate to continue with – both by Kingfisher. I am now reading A Far Better Thing by HG Parry – and I’m loving it. I’ve literally read over 30% in one sitting so I think I’ll make good progress with this one.

Next Week’s Reads:

Hoping to complete A Far Better Thing by HG Parry, I’m also confident that I can fit Paved With Good Intentions by Peter McLean in, and time allowing I’ll be listening to some more of Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry.

Reviews Posted:

The Bodies by Sam Lloyd

Outstanding Reviews

Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito
Swordheart by T Kingfisher

That’s it for me this week, what have you been up to, any good books to shout out about. Let me know.

Monthly Wrap Up/What’s On My Plate May/June

Posted On 1 June 2024

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Book Reviews, Books, Books Bones and Buffy, Cherie Priest, Christina Henry, Fantasy, Hell for Hire, May/June, Monthly Wrap Up, Rachel Aaron, reading, The CInderwich, The House that Horror built, What's on my Plate

Comments Dropped 9 responses

I’m trying to post a wrap up for the end of each month, mainly to help me to keep track of my reading and at the same time look at what I’m intending to read during the month ahead (inspired by Books Bones and Buffy’s What’s on My Plate.

In this post I shall be looking at the reading I completed for May and what I’m hoping to read during June. Initial thoughts – I may have gone a little overboard with books this forthcoming month. It’s still doable I think (fingers crossed).

Here’s what I read during May:

The Malevolent Seven by Sebastien de Castell
The Silence Factory by Bridget Collings
The House that Horror Built by Christina Henry
Moonstone by Laura Purcell
The CInderwich by Cherie Priest
Scarlet by Genevieve Cogman
Hell for Hire by Rachel Aaron
Hera by Jennifer Saint
Elusive by Genevieve Cogman

Again this month I managed to read and review all my requested books so I’m quite happy with that. I also read another Backlist Book. I had some really good reads. If you’re looking for a new Urban Fantasy then check out my thoughts on Hell for Hire by Rachel Aaron. I also really enjoyed The CInderwich by Cherie Priest which was very thought provoking. I have my new batch of SPFBO books for the 10th year of the competition – and I’ll be taking a look at those shortly.

What I’m hoping to read during June (with links to Goodreads).

Small Town Horror by Ronald Malfi
The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley
The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks
We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
Winter Lost by Patricia Briggs
The Daughters’ War by Christopher Buehlman
Two Sides to Every Murder by Danielle Valentine
Bitter Waters by Vivian Shaw
Storm Child by Michael Robotham

As with last month, I think this should be manageable and hopefully I can still squeeze in a backlist title.

BTB

This month I read two Backlist books Scarlet by Genevieve Cogman and the Malevolent Seven by Sebastien DeCastell.

Bookforager‘s Picture Prompt book bingo

PPBBC

This month I’m ticking another book off my Picture Prompt bingo card. The picture with the dog. I read this month The Malevolent Seven (which also counted as one of my Backlist Books. If you check out the picture you can see a dog. And you’ll perhaps notice that there are only six characters in a book with a title about seven characters – yes, the dog is one of the characters. Not sure if it’s a very good doggo but…

PICTURE PROMPT BOOK BINGO 2024 (TEXT VERSION)

~~A heeled shoe decorated with a bow~~	A microscope	A partially unrolled scroll and a pen	~~A land snail~~
An old Roman coin	~~A fern plant~~	A simple crown	~~An armillary sphere~~
A seashell	~~A cannon on a gun carriage~~	A harp (one of the big ones)	~~Two hands making a shadow puppet dog~~
An old camera and tripod	~~A dog (a very good doggo)~~	A beehive (with four bees flying around it)	Fluffy cumulonimbus clouds

How did you get on during April?

Monthly Wrap Up/What’s On My Plate April/May

Posted On 4 May 2024

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: April/May, Books, Books Bones and Buffy, Monthly Wrap Up, What's on my Plate

Comments Dropped 10 responses

In this post I shall be looking at the reading I completed for April and what I’m hoping to read during May.

Here’s what I read during April:

The Gathering by CJ Tudor
The Fates by Rosie Garland
When She Was Good by Michael Robotham
The Library Thief by Kuchenga Shenjé
The Hungry Dark by Jen Williams
The Redemption of Morgan Bright by Chris Panatier
You are Here by David Nicholls
The Silverblood Promise by James Logan
Lying Beside You by Michael Robotham
The Puppet Master by Sam Holland

So I managed to read all my review books last month and have just three reviews to catch up with. I caught up with two books from the Cyrus Haven series and I’m about 50% into my backlist book. In other news SPFBO 9 has concluded and the winner is Murder at Spindle Manor by Morgan Stang. This is a great book so if you’re looking for a fantasy mystery with some quirky characters and a slice of chaos, give this a go. I’ll be posting a round up post for SPFBO soon and talking about the other books.

What I’m hoping to read during May.

The Silence Factory by Bridget Collins
The House That Horror Built by Christina Henry
Hera by Jennifer Saint
Elusive by Genevieve Cogman
Moonstone by Laura Purcell
Cinderwich by Cherie Priest
Backlist book
Backlist book

As with last month, I think this should be manageable and if all goes to plan I’m hoping to squeeze in a couple of backlist titles. BTB

I haven’t completed my book for April but I’m about 50/60% through so should complete in the next couple of days.

Bookforager‘s Picture Prompt book bingo

PPBBC

This month I’m again ticking two books off my Picture Prompt bingo card. Firstly, for the cannon picture I’m using The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden. This is a fantastic book set during WW1 and so fits the prompt perfectly. My second picture is for the armillary sphere. The sphere was used by ancient Greeks as an astronomical tool therefore I’m going to use The Fates by Rosie Garland which is all about Greek mythology and a story when The Fates try to intervene and stop their meddling once and for all.

PICTURE PROMPT BOOK BINGO 2024 (TEXT VERSION)

~~A heeled shoe decorated with a bow~~	A microscope	A partially unrolled scroll and a pen	~~A land snail~~
An old Roman coin	~~A fern plant~~	A simple crown	~~An armillary sphere~~
A seashell	~~A cannon on a gun carriage~~	A harp (one of the big ones)	~~Two hands making a shadow puppet dog~~
An old camera and tripod	A dog (a very good doggo)	A beehive (with four bees flying around it)	Fluffy cumulonimbus clouds

How did you get on during April?

Monthly Wrap Up/What’s on my Plate: Jan/Feb

Posted On 1 February 2024

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Book Review, Books, Books Bones and Buffy, Fantasy, Month in review, SPFBO, What's on my Plate

Comments Dropped 11 responses

I didn’t post a ‘What’s on my Plate’ for January so this will be my first post for 2024.

Here’s what I read during January:

Miss Austen Investigates, the Hapless Milliner by Jessica Bull
The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers
Relight My Fire by CK McDonnell
The September House by Carissa Orlando
The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins
Only If you’re Lucky by Stacy Willingham
Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge by Lizzie Pook
1 x SPFBO Finalist
What Moves the Dead by T Kingfisher
1 x SPFBO Finalist

I managed to read and review all my January books and catch up with some late reviews. For the month of Feburary these are the books that I will be reading (in fact I’ve already made a start, I’ve read two, made a start on a third and reviewed one of the books listed. Hopefully I can complete the remaining books and at least one SPFBO finalist (we’ll see, February is a short month but I’d like to stay on track if possible).