First Frost by James Henry

It's Denton, 1981. Britain is in recession, the IRA is becoming increasingly active and the country's on alert for an outbreak of rabies. Detective Sergeant Jack Frost is working under his mentor and inspiration DI Bert Williams, and coping badly with his increasingly strained marriage. Probably not helped by the fact that he never goes home...Superintendent Stanley Mullett has been at Denton for only six months, and is desperately trying to restore order within the chronically depleted ranks, while refurbishing the dilapidated Eagle Lane HQ. But DI Williams is nowhere to be seen, and DI Allen has failed to return from his walking holiday. So when a 12-year-old girl goes missing from a department store changing room, Mullet has no option but to put DS Frost in charge of the investigation.

I am a great fan of the television programme, Frost, however when reading the R.D. Wingfield books I was not so keen, although I think that this was because I had seen the TV dramatisation first, it took away the element of surprise and solving of the crime. When I saw this book, I was intrigued as to learning about Frost's earlier life.





This book is actually written by two authors: James Gurbutt and Henry Sutton and has been approved by R.D. Wingfield's son Phil Wingfield.

Frost is a Detective Sergeant, Mullett has just been promoted to Superintendent and Frost is joined by DC Arthur Hanlon and newspaper journalist Sandy Longford is chasing stories, all popular characters which are in RD Wingfield's orginal books.


The book starts with the disappearance of a school girl, Julie Hudson, from a department store, who's mother is beaten and left for dead and her father disappears. There is also the death of a police officer just weeks away from retirement and a blind man who is found dead in Denton Canal. With a suspected Rabies case in the area, a young child is hospitalised but the truth is even more severe. In true Frost style, the investigations are not done by the book, and with Mullett breathing down his neck, he is determined to solve the cases and even at this early stage of his career, his wife is left behind.


A good read, a great insight into life before Frost becomes an Inspector. The authors have managed to include regular and popular characters from R D Wingfield's books and the television series.


I would recommend this book to all Frost fans or lovers of crime fiction.





Thank you to the publishers for sending me a copy to review.

Royal Wedding Doodles by Katy Jackson

This is a dazzling doodle book that ties in wonderfully with the upcoming Royal wedding, capturing all the excitement and anticipation surrounding the event. From designing the dress and adding the accessories to finishing the flowers and completing the cake, there are many pretty pictures to complete and colour. Scrapbook pages are included, for sticking in mementos from the Royal wedding, to create a record of Kate and William's happy day to treasure forever.

I admit, I am looking forward to watching the Royal Wedding next Friday. As I mentioned on an earlier post, in the past I have collected books relating to the Royal Family and I have been enjoying looking at the range of books celebrating William and Catherine's upcoming nuptials.

When I was offered this book to review, I was looking forward to seeing how it would be approached.

This book has been produced by Buster Books and is perfect for young girls everywhere. The book has the feel of a wedding diary or scrapbook starting with designing an invitation, compiling a wedding list, writing your guest list, designing hats for the female guests, buttonholes for the bridegroom, the wedding dress, the cake, the wedding breakfast top table and menu. There are also places to add pictures from William and Kate's actual day. There are also spaces to add ideas about the honeymoon, postcards and the married couples new home.

It is a great idea, giving children the opportunity to design their own wedding as well as celebrate and record the actual day. Full of partly drawn pictures and frames to add your own thoughts, ideas and sketches, this will keep children occupied for hours!

I loved this book, great idea, great content and plenty of ideas given, while leaving actual details for the children to decide upon.

Thank you to Buster Books and O'Mara Limited for sending me the book to review.

The Amazing Terry Jones Presents his Incredible Animal Tales

A dog who cannot understand why he is not allowed to practice medicine. A fox who runs a circus of trained chickens. A flea who thinks he is the manager of a chain of mega-stores. A skunk who falls madly in love with a bear. All are characters in a fantastic new collection of tales for children of all ages. Hysterical fun for children and parents from the speaker of 'the

funniest line ever uttered in film history' - "He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"

A great book for children to share with others. Written by Terry Jones, a scriptwriter and member of the Monty Python team.

Included within the book are 16 stories and 11 Wonders of the Animal Kingdom. The stories are funny and different to many children's stories about animals. I loved the story entitled 'The elephant who had no trousers' about an elephant who, when he heard the Queen was to visit, wanted to have a pair of trousers, but no-one had enough fabric, until he spoke to the Weaver Ants who made him some trousers using leaves from the Baobab Tree. All was fine until the queen didn't visit until many weeks later when the leaves had turned golden and as the queen arrived the leaves fell off!!

The stories will catch the imagination of older children, age 7-9, as I feel that the stories are more complicated than many children's stories. It is a lovely book that would make a great gift and one which will be treasured for a long time, one which will be constantly chosen for a bedtime story.

Thank you to Michael from The School Run Forum for sending me the book to review.

The Perfect Hero by Victoria Connelly

The sparkling follow-up to A Weekend with Mr Darcy from Victoria Connelly -- set to become the Richard Curtis of the chick-lit world! The circus has come to town! Die-hard romantic, Kay Ashton, uses her inheritance to open a B&B in the seaside town of Lyme Regis and is dumbstruck when the cast and crew of a new production of Persuasion descend, needing a place to stay. Kay can't believe her luck -- especially when she realises that heart throb actor Oli Wade Owen will be sleeping under her very own roof! Meanwhile, co-star Gemma Reilly is worried that her acting isn't up to scratch, despite landing a plum role. She finds a sympathetic ear in shy producer, Adam Craig, who is as baffled by the film world as she is. Kay thinks the two are meant for each other and can't resist a spot of matchmaking. Then, when Oli turns his trademark charm on Kay, it seems that she has found her real-life hero. But do heroes really exist? Featuring a cast of characters that could have stepped out of a Jane Austen novel, this is the perfect read for fans of Katie Fforde and Alexandra Potter.
Book details
Published28/04/2011
PublisherAVON, a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
ISBN9781847562265

I absolutely loved Victoria Connelly's first Jane Austen inspired book, A Weekend With Mr Darcy, and have been looking forward to this book since I finished it. I was not disappointed. This is another Jane Austen inspired book, set in Lyme Regis where Persuasion was set.

Following the death of both her mother, and Peggy Sullivan, an old lady who was in the same nursing home as her mother and a dear old lady that she enjoyed reading Jane Austen books to, Kay was astonished to discover she had inherited all of Peggy's effects. Leaving an office job she didn't enjoy, Kay decided to follow her dream and move to Lyme Regis to concentrate on her passion, art, and especially creating illustrations to accompany Pride and Prejudice. Buying a Bed and Breakfast in Lyme Regis with her inheritance gives her a home, an income and the ability to draw in Jane Austen country. A film company are filming Persuasion nearby, and following a leaking pipe in the casts hotel, some of the crew end up at Kay's B&B. There are possible relationships blossoming but who will Kay go out with - Producer Adam or Lead Actor Oli Wade Oweb.

This was a great read, with great characters. I would love to stop in Kay's Bed and Breakfast, it sounds like a homely establishment and the views and countryside described by Connelly sounded gorgeous.

I love Connelly's writing style, it has a flowing style, which reads easily. She is descriptive, without being overly so, funny and romantic. A perfect book to loose yourself in.

There is a hint of a secret halfway through the book and I guessed it there and then and later found it to be true, it didn't ruin the story for me and I still hoped that all would end good in the end - however, i won't reveal if it came true, you need to read the book to find out.

As I hope you can tell, I really enjoyed this book. A great read for Jane Austen fans or just a lover of a good old chick lit book. I, for one, can not wait until Connelly releases the third in this trilogy of Jane Austen inspired novels.

Thank you to Avon for sending me this book to review.

The Railway Rabbits Fern and the Dancing Hare by Geogie Adams

Meet the Railway Rabbits! Join the irrepressible Longears family as they get in and out of scrapes, meet new friends, and perform daring rescues. But Burdock the buzzard and the terrifying Red Dragon, are always on the lookout for naughty rabbits who stray too far from home...When timid Fern finds a shiny hare-shaped brooch, she's sure there's something special about it. Wisher is too, and together they set off to uncover the mystery. Heartwarming, hilarious, with Anna Currey's charming illustrations, this is a brilliant new animal adventure series from a best selling children's author.

A lovely story for children about a family of rabbits who were going on an adventure to meet their grandparents and stay the night in their burrow. To get to their burrow, they had to cross a big field and get to the castle, a journey which could lead them into the path of many predators.

The story tells of their adventure to their grandparents, an ancient folklore and Fern's determination to find the dancing hare.

The story was well told and accompanied by beautiful illustrations by Anna Currey. The illustrations were pencil sketches and made me think of peter rabbit and watership down, real rabbits, not cartoony.

Animal lovers will love this series of books. This is the third in the series, but there are three more planned for release in the next few months.

I would recommend this for readers age 7+ although it is a perfect book for adults to share a chapter with younger children at bedtime.

Thank you to Orion Books for sending me this book to review.

Meet me at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan

Ever dreamed of starting over? Issy Randall can bake. No, more than that - Issy can create stunning, mouth-wateringly divine cakes. After a childhood spent in her beloved Grampa Joe's bakery she has undoubtedly inherited his talent. So when she's made redundant from her safe but dull City job, Issy decides to seize the moment and open up her own cafe. It should be a piece of cake, right? Wrong. As her friends point out, she has trouble remembering where she left her house keys, let alone trying to run her own business. But Issy is determined. Armed with recipes posted to her from Grampa, and with her local bank manager fighting her corner, Issy attempts to prove everyone wrong. Following your dreams is never easy and this is no exception. Can Issy do it?

The story contains a number of themes: the main being that of Issy, who is made redundant and decides to follow her dream of opening her own cake shop/cafe. There is also Pearl, a single mum, who lives in an area of the city which is undesirable, and wants to make a better life for her son where ever possible. Grampa Joe, lives in a care home but who wants to pass his knowledge onto Issy, and then there is Catherine, wife of a city high flier, who originally wanted the cafe site for her own business, but her husband wants a divorce and tells her to find her a job to support herself with, with tail between her legs, she approaches Issy. There are also potential love interests for Issy, the bank manager who has stepped in to become a father figure to his young brother, after their parents death and Graeme - a slimeball!

Many chapters of the book starts with a cake recipe, and they all sound delicious. Each recipe is written by Grampa Joe, in his own unique style.

I love the front cover - it is a stunning cover, with foiled highlights and cupcakes galore - it depicts the story very well. I would love to have the Cupcake Cafe as a local business near me, I am sure the atmosphere is warm and welcoming and a setting for many a relaxed afternoon.

The writing style was easy to follow and I devoured the chapters quickly. However, I was not a fan of Jenny Colgan in the past, but really liked the sound of this book. If i am honest, I am not won over by the author, but the book was an easy read, one which could be devoured on a beach or over a summer weekend.

Olivia Paints a Mural by Ian Falconer

We have seen Olivia the Magnificent and Olivia as a ballerina, but now, in typical Olivia style, she is exploring her artistic side in this sweet and charming board book.

Olivia is a pig who has a TV series on NickJr and Milkshake (Channel 5).

This is a board book with chunky pages and bright, colourful pictures. There is quite a lot of story on each page and although this is a board book, it is recommended for children age 3+.

The story tells the story of Olivia, who visits an art gallery and on her return home decides to paint. A trip to the supermarket introduces her to murals - which Olivia wants to paint when she gets home, but she starts small, on the advice of her mother, and paints a family portrait.

I think this book is a rather complicated story for 3 year old to follow, however if they are a fan of the TV series they may enjoy it. However, as i have never seen the programme I think this book is complicated, however a lovely book for children to look at the pictures.

Thank you to Michael from The School Run Forum for sending me the book to review.