Little Manfred by Michael Morpurgo - Review

Recently we got all my books unpacked in the new house and arranged into their genres on the new shelves in the back bedroom. Well, two of the bookshelves were new but one was in our old house and one of the other shelves we had is now in my craft room, but they are all in new places, that's for sure. This bedroom is not huge but it's got a single bed in it and my work desk, and now it also has over a thousand books. In fact, let me show you the pictures of the shelves:

Here we've got literary fiction on two shelves, a bunch of books about music, and then a bunch of non fiction

Here's all the YA - these books are all double shelved as are the literary fiction ones at the top

These books are all crime at the top then more non fiction in the middle, my cousin helped to rearrange these 

These are all classics and stuff, under my work desk, because I do want to keep them but I don't need to access them often. Some of these belonged to my grandparents! 

And here there's children's lit and middle grade at the top and then two shelves of books that I know are LGBTQ+, no matter what other genre they might fit into. I like to have them all together! I sure do have a lot of them!

Anyway, with all the books unpacked there are more than a thousand, so I officially do have a whole entire library all of my own! Lee owns some of the music books and I haven't pictured all his stupid Viz annuals, but he mostly reads digitally so doesn't own a lot of books. It's been lovely to be reunited with all my books, and I've been trying to pick out things that I really want to read but haven't seen in ages. With that, I picked up Little Manfred by Michael Morpurgo. 

I don't think I've read anything by him before, but of course I have heard of him. I'm really not sure where I picked this book up from, but I feel like I've had it a while. It's a cute little novella and I would recommend it to any chapter book young reader. 

The main characters of the book are Charley, who is 12, and Alex, her brother, who is seven. The book is set in 1966 when England have just won the World Cup. The kids live on a farm and often take off to the beach to walk their dog, Manfred. He is named after a little toy dog that their mum had, called Little Manfred. The kids are walking on the beach and shout the dog, and nearby two men overhear them. It turns out that one of them was on the ship Bismarck when it went down, when two thousand men were left to drown, but he and Manfred were rescued by HMS Dorsetshire but then became prisoners of war and eventually lived on the farm where the children live and where their mother grew up. 

This is a really cute book and I really liked it and even learnt some history in the meantime! I'm giving it four out of five. 

The Three Investigators and The Mystery of the Talking Skull

When I was younger I read a bunch of these Three Investigator books and absolutely loved them. I think I must have got most of them from the library, but I owned this one. It still has my book plate inside so I know it's mine. It was packed and when we unpacked it I pulled it off the shelf immediately because I really wanted to reread one of these books as an adult. I really enjoyed it and would like to read more in the series, so I'll have to keep an eye out for them. 

So, the Three Investigators in question are Jupiter, Pete, and Bob. Jupiter Jones lives with his aunt and uncle, for reasons that I can't remember. Pete and Bob both live with their parents. The books are set in the sixties in California. Alfred Hitchcock has nothing to do with the books but his name was used, which did confuse me when I was a kid but I've read up on it since. Jupiter's aunt and uncle own a scrapyard, which is filled with weird and wonderful things. Jupiter has built a secret hideaway for the boys' detective club within the scrapyard, and there are several exits and entrances to it and the yard itself, which often comes in useful. 

Jupiter is incredibly clever, he is also very charming and good at speaking to adults. Bob is brainy and is often tasked with research for the cases that the boys get involved in. Pete is 'the muscle', I guess, but there's not a lot about him in general. I like the parts that are from Bob's point of view as he's often rolling his eyes at Jupiter. Jupiter is sometimes a know it all but I like him anyway. 

In this book they attend an auction, for no good reason at all, and Jupiter buys a suitcase for a dollar. It turns out to have belonged to a magician known as The Great Gulliver, who disappeared as one of his tricks and is missing. It takes the boys a while to open the suitcase, but inside they discover a talking skull! But a few people want the skull for themselves, adding some danger to the book. 

I would recommend this for younger teen readers, it is a bit old fashioned but in a really endearing way. I'm giving it four out of five. 

Sorry I've been so absent around here! Moving house over the summer really took it out of me and I haven't been writing as much. I have TONS of reviews to do, though, so I'll need to get caught up! 

Take Me Back by Amanda Rodriguez - Review and Blog Tour

 

Hello and welcome to my blog for my stop on the tour for Take Me Back by Amanda Rodriguez. If you haven't been here before please do click around and read some of my other reviews. It's a pleasure to have you here! 

I don't often read poetry but when I do I like it, I get quite absorbed and I like to pick out individual phrases and words that really resonate with me. I think Amanda has a real way with words, especially rhymes, which she used in creative ways. I would have liked a few more abstract poems, I think, but I'm not complaining. The book as a whole is about the breakdown of a relationship Amanda had, how she fell apart a bit, how she healed, and how she put herself back together. I liked the collection as a whole and I liked how it was divided into clear sections too. I would recommend it!

I was provided with an electronic copy of this book for review purposes. I was not otherwise compensated for this post and all thoughts and opinions are my own. The book will be published on November the 18th 2025. Please find more information below: 

Book Info

Genre: Poetry

Number of Pages: 185 Pages

Publication Date: November 18, 2025

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/242373381-take-me-back 

Amazon: https://a.co/d/5yQhL8t (Canada) https://a.co/d/5Pbp09J (USA) https://amzn.eu/d/8mUW5Wv (UK)

Blurb

Take Me Back is a powerful poetry collection by Amanda Rodriguez that explores the raw, emotional journey of heartbreak, healing, and self-discovery. Through deeply personal poems, Rodriguez opens up about the pain of toxic love and the profound strength that comes from self-awareness. This poignant collection is divided into parts that reflect the stages of love and loss, offering a relatable experience for anyone who has ever faced the complexities of emotional recovery.

Take Me Back is a must-read for anyone on a journey of self-healing and transformation. Whether you're navigating a breakup, overcoming past trauma, or simply looking to understand the process of emotional growth, this book offers a comforting reminder that healing is possible - and that you are not alone

About the Author

Amanda Rodriguez is a poet and writer from Miami, Florida. From a very young age she has embraced the therapeutic power of writing and never let it go. With a deep passion for soulful music and introspective lyrics, Amanda draws emotional inspiration from themes of personal identity, love, loss, empowerment, and spirituality. Her poetry reflects a raw and honest exploration of the human experience, and she finds great fulfillment in offering comfort and empathy to others through her words. Her work isn't just about self-expression; it's also about creating connections.

https://www.instagram.com/amandarodriguezpoetry/

Mudlarking by Lara Maiklem - Review

This was the September choice for my book club, and it wasn't something I would have ever picked up but as always I will give it a go. It took me forever to read which really annoyed me, especially as it's not even that long of a book! But I persevered and we did have a good discussion about it at book club. 

Mudlarking is the act of scavenging stuff that turns up in the muddy banks of a river shore when the tide goes out. It mostly refers to the River Thames in London, which is tidal, and where in the 18th century poor people and their children scavenged for goods that they could resell and make a tiny living from. These days, anyone can go and search for stuff on the muddy banks, and Lara is one of those people. She did explain the difference between people who just search stuff that lays on the foreshore and those who actually go digging for stuff - which is illegal unless you're a member of the mudlarking society, apparently, which Lara is not so she was a bit scathing about it. 

Let me talk about the parts of the book that I found interesting: the history of London and how it shows up in what artefacts she founds - Roman pottery, Victorian pins, loads of other bits. Lara has to turn over all her finds to the Museum of London because they have first refusal on what's been found, which was also interesting. She talked about finding rings and jewellery and precious gems, and she throws back some of the engraved rings she finds as she just finds them too sad. There was an interesting part about a bag of garnets that fell off a ship or were nicked, and apparently it's quite easy to find them. I also found the parts about how climate change is changing the edges of the river and so on. So those bits were good.

But a lot of it was quite repetitive and some of the others in my book club said that too. There was way too much about the steps going down to the banks and just choosing different places to go and why, blah blah blah. Also a lot of her finds seems really similar which was annoying. Plus I found the ending quite odd, where she goes to one of the most easterly points where the river is more of a sea, and nearly gets caught by the tide. I just didn't really care enough about it. 

In all i'm giving this three out of five. There's a sequel but I don't think I'll bother!

Ryan and Avery by David Levithan - Review

If you've read this blog for any amount of time you might know that I blow hot and cold on David Levithan. I maintain that Every Day is one of the worst books I've ever read, but I liked Two Boys Kissing. When I saw this in a children's and young adult bookshop in Retford when I was there with friends over Easter, and my friend Lucinda recommended it so I picked it up. After I'd slogged through the end of The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater I picked this up. It's funny because Lee's stepdad put one of our bookshelves back together on the second day after our move, and unpacked a box of books that were nearby. He said, "These are all gay books!" which yes, was true, because it was a box marked LGBT. So yes, they were. He also told me I didn't need any more books which obviously isn't true!

Anyway, that meant this was ready available for I picked it up. I needed something cute and easy to read and this ticked all the boxes for me. It was so cute and just what I needed. I feel like David has come on a lot in ten years and is mroe accurately reflecting the teen queer community than he maybe did in the past. 

Ryan and Avery live in towns some two hours apart in the middle of nowhere in America, you know how it goes. This is the story of their first ten dates together. It goes backwards in time as well as forwards so we know that they're pretty serious about each other at the beginning of the book, and we get to see how they got to that point. They met at a queer prom in Ryan's town and now have to drive hours (for a Brit this is loopy!) to see each other. 

Ryan is gay and lives with his parents, who are not accepting of him and who try to stop him seeing Avery. He is close to his aunt, whose name I forget, and he is totally falling in love with Avery and it's adorable. He has some friends and is out at school, but his home life is pretty rotten and I felt sorry for him. 

Avery is trans, and gay, and lives with his parents. They have always been accepting of his transness and his queerness - in fact sometimes they're a bit TOO accepting and do his head in - and so they accept Ryan very quickly too. 

Their dates are so cute. The whole book is cute but also has real depth and drama. I would recommend it to any romance fan, and I'm giving it five out of five. 

Sweat by Emma Healey - Review

I bought this book on Amazon for 99p, I think at the recommendation of my friend Janet? It seems likely. I haven't read Emma Healey's other book but I've heard good things about it. But this one didn't really land for me, so I wouldn't be in a rush to read the other. Still, you never know these things until you try them.

It is absolutely weeks since I read this so I'm having to cast my mind back a bit. I do know that I only gave it three out of five. It was trying to be something that it didn't quite manage to be. 

It's about Cassie, who works as a personal trainer in a gym. She's working one day when her ex. Liam, walks in. She tries to avoid him but realises he is now blind. Fuelled by anger over what he did to her in their relationship, Cassie poses as her colleague Steph and begins to guide Liam through weekly sessions. She runs into his friend, who I think is called Daniel, who tells her that Liam has a brain tumour which has caused him to go blind. He wants Cassie to reconnect and reconcile with Liam, because no one really understands what went on between the two of them. Cassie refuses, but she feels like someone is following her, so she starts to follow Liam, playing with him, to see if he's faking his illness and playing with her. 

It almost feels like this revenge thing would be not understandable, but acceptable, because there are flashbacks to when Cassie and Liam were together. Bit by bit, little by little, he played with her self confidence, wore her down, and abused her domestically. It started ouff innocent and innocuous, with like getting her to go out for a run and persuading her to give up alcohol, stuff like that, but it ended with the fridge locked and her unable to contact anyone. This was a really good portrayal of how domestic abuse starts and spirals. I also thought that Cassie's parents reaction to the abuse when she finally tells them about it is that he's 'just looking after her' and only wants the best for her, etc etc. I really liked this bit.

But the ending just didn't quite work for me. I'm not sure what I wanted to happen, but this didn't get there for me. As I said, three out of five. 

What A Way to Go by Bella Mackie - Review

I read Bella's first book How to Kill Your Family back in 2022 so was interested to read her second book. I found it quite similar to the first one in that all the characters are highly unlikeable but the narrative is compelling anyway. I read this a while ago so please forgive me as I remind myself of what happened in the book... 

Oh yes so the book is about the Wistern family. The patriarch, multi millionaire Anthony, is turning sixty and his wife Olivia is throwing him a lavish party. They have four children, all of whom are terrible, but it's hard not to have some sympathy for the youngest, Clara. The eldest, Jemima, is married to Will, who is a bit likeable but caught up in this terrible family. She is terrible, though, and her other sister is too. Anthony is a ruthless capitalistic person. Olivia loathes him and is basically very materialistic. There's any number of rich 'friends' of the family who have been invited. It's all a massive thing. And then Anthony's body is found in the pond. The family turn on each other, pointing the finger for murder, but what really might have happened? 

Meanwhile, Anthony is in a place that's like purgatory or something. He can watch his family as they go about their lives, and he has to work out how his death happened, and then he will get to go on to the next place. He has to present his findings to the management in this place, but he keeps getting it wrong. Was it his wife? His business partner? Who knows. 

There's also a local young person who is obsessed with true crime and spends a lot of time online talking about true crime, and so when this case lands on her doorstep, she becomes obsessed. She basically starts stalking the family, in their massive country house, and soon begins to irritate them. She keeps going viral with her posts, so she won't stop any time soon either. 

I liked t he premise of the book but just didn't feel like it was pulled off properly. I can't really explain it, but this didn't have me thrilled and it's quite forgettable a month later. I'm giving it three out of five. 

I am so sorry it's been so quiet on this blog recently. I've been reading lots as usual but just haven't been blogging as I've been busy unpacking the house. I've got tons of posts to catch up on so keep a look out!