The Castle Always Knows

Genre: Adult Contemporary, Historical Fiction, Gothic Mystery

Publisher: Random House

Pages: 368

Publication Date: April 17th, 2018

Source: ARC provided by publisher

Find on: Goodreads

My Thoughts
If you've been here before or know me you'll know that I love Laura Andersen's alternate history Tudor novels. When I saw that she was writing a Gothic mystery taking place in Ireland I was like, SIGN ME UP! And while it's always exciting to start a new book by one of your favorite authors, it's also a littler nerve-wracking not knowing if you'll enjoy this departure in genre as much as the other. I can safely say I had nothing to worry about.

5 Reasons You Should Read Pillars of the Earth

A few weeks ago, I found myself in a state that no book person ever expects to find themselves...my TBR was 0. I had a few 'keep in the back of your head' books I could have picked up but one book had been haunting my Kindle for the last 3 or so years...Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Why has it been haunting my Kindle, you ask? Because its approximately a thousand pages and quite the undertaking. But...I had no other books to read and was in the mood to commit to a thousand page tome of historical fiction. The results? Better than I could have ever imagined.

UK Recap Fit for a Queen // Back at Home • Mug Life 5

Mug Life is a periodic feature on the blog where I talk about what
I'm reading, wearing, drinking out of, and wanderlust dreaming about.

If you've been following on the blog or Instagram, you know that Hannah and I were traveling in the UK--but kind of don't bring it up or I'll cry all the tears of sadness that 1. I'm no longer with her 2. I'm not in the UK anymore and 3. I'm no longer with Hannah. I didn't think it was possible to love her more but it was! I am mourning the loss of this trip still today but I digress. While we were there, we did a UK Recs series for books, TV/Movies, and places we love; we thought we would do a parallel 3 day recap talking about books, what we did, and a back home mug life!

On Monday, we talked about the books we read while traveling; Wednesday was our trip recap, and today is our Mug Life featuring the book we read when we got home. The fates aligned and Hannah and I had a parallel with the first books we read after our trip together. She read something I rec'd to her and I read something she rec'd to me! We both fell in love with our respective books AND the London mugs we bought so, of course, a Mug Life was born!

UK Recap Fit For a Queen // Besties Abroad

If you've been following on the blog or Instagram, you know that Hannah and I were traveling in the UK--but kind of don't bring it up or I'll cry all the tears of sadness that 1. I'm no longer with her 2. I'm not in the UK anymore and 3. I'm no longer with Hannah. I didn't think it was possible to love her more but it was! I am mourning the loss of this trip still today but I digress. While we were there, we did a UK Recs series for books, TV/Movies, and places we love; we thought we would do a parallel 3 day recap talking about books, what we did, and a back home mug life!

Yesterday we talked about the books we read while traveling, today is our real recap of what we did and 3 Good Things about each day. Hannah and I both keep a 3 Good Things planner/journal so this was the perfect format for us to reflect back on what we did AND what our favorite parts of each day were.

UK Recap Fit For a Queen // Books Abroad

If you've been following on the blog or Instagram, you know that Hannah and I were traveling in the UK--but kind of don't bring it up or I'll cry all the tears of sadness that 1. I'm no longer with her 2. I'm not in the UK anymore and 3. I'm no longer with Hannah. I didn't think it was possible to love her more but it was! I am mourning the loss of this trip still today but I digress. While we were there, we did a UK Recs series for books, TV/Movies, and places we love; we thought we would do a parallel 3 day recap talking about books, what we did, and a back home mug life!

While I didn't read that much while I was away, I did manage to get a few books read via planes, trains, and late nights. I'm also very happy to report, with the exception of one, all the books I read were freaking great! When I travel, I tend to load my kindle with fun romances or adult contemporary or review books from fav authors I've been saving which did not changed for this trip. My first choice books for this trip were STILL ME by Jojo Moyes, HOW TO WALK AWAY by Katherine Center, MARRY IN SCANDAL by Anne Gracie, FATAL THRONES by an assorted array of authors, and some Julie Garwood rereads!  Hope you enjoy!

You're My Person // A Galentine's Day Gift Guide

When Rachel texted myself, Hannah, and Alexa asking what we thought of doing a collaboration for Galentine's Day celebrating our favorite fictional friendships, of course I said yes! We each chose our favorite fiction friendship, be if from books, tv shows, or movies, and created a gift guide to accompany it.

My choice of favorite friendship is, without a doubt, Judith Elizabeth and Frances Catherine from The Secret by Julie Garwood. While the romance is nothing to scoff at, the element of the book that most caught my attention was the friendship between these two unlikely girls. They meet as children at a fair taking place on the Scottish and English border. Judith being English and Frances being Scottish is what makes this friendship infinitely unlikely in medieval Scotland when these two bordering nations hated one another. But alas, their love for one another conquered all. Here is my gift guide for these two incredible women.

Keeping It Interesting

My Thoughts

The Belle
Sophie Kinsella has slowly but surely become one of my go-to authors for fun and light-hearted but not superficial read. Her stories have lovely themes, fantastic heroines, and more than enough humor to go around. Her newest book Surprise Me fit this bill.

UK Recs Fit For a Queen // Favorite Places

In case you don't follow me on social media, Hannah and I are currently traveling around the UK! We both wanted to commemorate our adventure on our blogs and what better way than to talk about all the different facets of the UK and why we love it. We'll be talking about our favorite books set in the UK, movies, and what initially drew us to our love of this place.

Today, we're talking about what we love about the UK and favorite parts about actually being there. I have an obsession with traveling and while I want to see so much of this world, my heart is always in the UK. It will always be my first choice destination no matter how many times I've been there and so this doesn't turn into a dissertation about my love, Hannah and I decided to prompt ourselves with these four questions:

1. When/How did your love for the UK begin?
2. What is your favorite thing you've done there?

3. What is your favorite place there?

4. What is one thing you're most looking forward to on this trip?

UK Recs Fit For a Queen // Movie and TV Shows

In case you don't follow me on social media, Hannah and I are currently traveling around the UK! We both wanted to commemorate our adventure on our blogs and what better way than to talk about all the different facets of the UK and why we love it. We'll be talking about our favorite books set in the UK, movies or TV shows, and what initially drew us to our love of this place.

Today, we're talking movies and TV Shows. Here are some of my favorite movies or TV shows that take place in England or Scotland and what to watch if you're looking for a UK kind of fix!

UK Recs Fit For a Queen // Books

In case you don't follow me on social media, Hannah and I are currently traveling around the UK! We both wanted to commemorate our adventure on our blogs and what better way than to talk about all the different facets of the UK and why we love it. We'll be talking about our favorite books set in the UK, movies, and what initially drew us to our love of this place.

Today, we're talking books. It was super hard to limit our lists to 10 books but we did it...we did it. Here are some of my favorite UK books and what to read if you're looking for a UK kind of fix.