The Best Non-Fiction Books For Christmas

Posted on November 30, 2016 by Frostie

The Illuminati by Robert Howells

An interesting and well-researched book. Worth a read.

The Illuminati: The Counter Culture Revolution-From Secret Societies to Wilkileaks and Anonymous

How To Develop a Brilliant Memory Toolkit By Dominic O’Brien

This excellent toolkit has a book, a poster and cards. Dominic O’Brien is an eight-time world memory champion and knows what he is talking about.

From amazon.co.uk and waterstones.com

Great Britain in Colour: Images that define Great Britain by Paul Farrell

A bright, beautiful and unique book. Truly wonderful.

Great Britain in Colour is available here.

How To Hygge. The Secrets of Nordic Living By Signe Johansen

Hygge has been huge in 2016. No wonder as it has been a tough year. This great book is all about Nordic living. From recipes to outdoor activities. Hygge roughly translates to ‘cosiness’ and Signe Johansen shares the secrets of Nordic living and shows you how to adapt it to your life. The Nordic countries are constantly rated as the best for quality of life, this book helps to add to yours.

How to Hygge: The Secrets of Nordic Living is available here.

The Artist’s Way By Julia Cameron

A classic book for writers and artists. Essential reading and worth the hype.

The Artist’s Way is available here.

Kind of Blue. A Political Memoir by Ken Clarke

A great insight into politics and government.

Kind of Blue: A Political Memoir is available here.

Inside The Clinton White House. An Oral History by Russell L. Riley

A riveting and exciting book. It gives a wonderful snapshot into history.

Inside the Clinton White House: An Oral Histories available here.

Our editor has three great non-fiction books:

For actors and aspiring actors

How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming an Actorpreneur

Has had great reviews on both sides of the pond. It has all of the information that any actor needs to make the best career possible.

How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming an Actorpreneur is available here.

For bloggers

The Ultimate Guide To Becoming a Successful Blogger

Has everything you could possibly want to know about blogging, and being successful at it.

The Ultimate Guide To Becoming a Successful Blogger is available here.

For those planning a wedding.

The Wedding Survival Guide: How To Plan Your Big Day Without Losing Your Sanity

Gives couples all of the knowledge they need to plan a wedding while removing the stress. An essential book.

The Wedding Survival Guide: How To Plan Your Big Day Without Losing Your Sanity is available here.

Lean in 15 by Joe Wicks The Body Coach

#leanin15 has become huge and rightly so. Joe Wicks helps people get into the best shape of their lives without depriving themselves, All while exercising less. What’s not to like? Great book.

Lean in 15: 15 Minute Meals and Workouts to Keep You Lean and Healthy is available here.

Sad Animal Facts by Brooke Barker

We really loved this book. It is just so original and funny and perfect. It has brilliant illustrations, sad animal facts, and the animals reaction to the fact. One of the best books ever. Endless fun.

Sad Animal Facts is available here.

No Cunning Plan: My Story by Tony Robinson

A wonderful and engaging autobiography from one of Britain’s best, and most prolific, actors. A must read for fans, but also actors and Blackadder fans.

No Cunning Plan: My Story is available here.

The Best Fiction Books For Christmas

Posted on November 29, 2016 by Frostie

Sisters at War by Milly Adams

Brilliant historical fiction. Engrossing and riveting. Read our review of Sisters at War here.

Sisters at War is available here.

Ruby Slippers: A Collection of Short Stories by Tracy Baines

A wonderful collection of short stories from one of the best short story writers working today. As fulfilling as it is entertaining.

Ruby Slippers: A Collection of Short Stories is available here.

For the poetry lover

100 Prized Poems: Twenty-five years of the Forward Books.

A brilliant collection of 100 prized poems from the prestigious Forward Books.

The Forward Book of Poetry 2017

The Forward books are the best way to find the best poets, and poems.

100 Prized Poems: Twenty-five years of the Forward Books is available here.

The Forward Book of Poetry 2017 is available here.

What do you think? A Collection of poems by Catherine Balavage

A great collection of poems from our editor, Catherine. Well worth a read.

What Do You Think?: A collection of poems by Catherine Balavage is available here.

The Dress by Jane L. Rosen

Fun, clever and entertaining. A great book. We really loved it.

The Dress: Nine Women, One Dress… is available here.

Maybe a Fox by Kathi Appelt and Alison McGhee

Touching and powerful. A unique and spellbinding novel.

Maybe a Fox is available here.

Blink And You Die. Ruby Redford Series Finale By Lauren Child

The series finale. Just brilliant.

Blink and You Die is available here.

The Fox and The Ghost King by Michael Morpurgo

A delightful book with gorgeous illustration from Michael Foreman. Children will love it.

The Fox and the Ghost King is available here.

Clover Moon by Jacqueline Wilson

This is a brilliant book from prolific author Jacqueline Wilson. A great story for children, well written and entertaining as ever.

Clover Moon is available here.

Imaginary Fred by Eoin Colfer and Oliver Jeffers

Gorgeous and charming. We really loved this.

Imaginary Fred is available here.

There’s a Snake in my School by David Walliams

Colourful and fun. Children love this delightful book. The fantastic illustrations are done by genius illustrator Tony Ross.

There’s a Snake in My School!

The Best Books For Children This Christmas

Posted on November 11, 2016 by Catherine Balavage

Beatrix Potter Fashion Designer Collection

Five of Beatrix Potter’s best-loved tales with new covers, notes and endpapers from influential fashion designers including Henry Holland, Preen and Orla Kiely. The perfect stocking-filler.

The Tales of: Squirrel Nutkin, Peter Rabbit, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, Tom Kitten and Jemima Puddle-Duck
£6.99 each

We particularly loved The Tale of Tom Kitten, designed by The Rodnik Band and The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin, designed by Preen. Gorgeous covers and classic stories.

The Tale Of Squirrel Nutkin and the other Beatrix Potter Designer Editions are available here.)

#beatrix150

My Encyclopaedia of Very Important Things. For little learners who want to know everything.

A really wonderful book that entertains and educates in equal measure. Perfect for inquisitive children, it has great photography and illustrations. It also supports the KS1 National Curriculum. Divided into six sections: my planet, places, animals, people, me and other very important things. A great book.

My Encyclopedia of Very Important Things is available here.

Lego Star Wars Build Your Own Adventure

A real treat for the over-8s. Lego Star Wars Build Your Own Adventure includes a rebel pilot mini figure and exclusive Y-wing Star Fighter. It also has tips and ideas on how to build other LEGO Star Wars models. It has over 50 building ideas. Will make your child’s eyes light up on Christmas day.

LEGO Star Wars Build Your Own Adventure is available here.

How to be a Cat by Lisa Swerling & Ralph Lazar

Children can be a lot like cats. They love milk, always sit in boxes and love playing with string. This a fun and happy book. Great illustrations and observations. From the super successful husband and wife team Lisa Swerling & Ralph Lazar.

How to be a Cat: The Definitive Guide is available here.

Sequential Drawings The New Yorker Series By Richard McGuire

Posted on November 1, 2016 by Catherine Balavage

I really loved this book of drawings from Richard McGuire. Not only does it tell a story, but I also found it meditative. A wonderful book to add to any art lovers collection.

From the author of the widely acclaimed graphic novel Here, awarded the 2016 Prix D’or for best graphic album at Angouleme, a new graphic work that celebrates another aspect of his incomparable genius.
Sequential Drawings gathers together more than a decade of McGuire’s witty and endlessly inventive spots a veritable short-story collection each drawing given its own spread, which, in turn, assures for the reader the experience of surprise and delight that the drawings unfailingly deliver. Richard McGuire’s first series of “spot” drawings debuted inThe New Yorker in February 2005 for the magazine’s 80th anniversary issue. Spot drawings, scattered among the magazine’s text, had been a long-running feature of The New Yorker, and over the years, many artists had contributed them. But McGuire was the first to conceive them as a sequence, and his drawings were something altogether new: deceptively simple images that imbued the series with movement and narrative, telling their own unexpected stories.
With illustrations throughout and an introduction by Luc Sante.

RICHARD McGUIREis a regular contributor to The New Yorker. His comics have appeared in The New York Times, McSweeneys, Le Monde, and Liberation.He has written and directed two omnibus feature films: Loulou et Autre Loups (Loulou and Other Wolves, 2003), and Peur(s) du Noir (Fear[s] of the Dark, 2007). He designed and manufactured his own line of toys, and is the founder and bass player of the band Liquid Liquid.Here was based on his six-page comic that appeared in RAWmagazine in 1989 and was quickly acknowledged as a transformative work that expanded the possibilities of the comics medium.”

Sequential Drawings: The New Yorker Series is available here.

Sisters At War by Milly Adams Book Review

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Catherine Balavage

This is Frost Magazine’s must read book of the moment. Milky Adam’s Sisters At War. #books #goodreads #historicalfiction #reading

A photo posted by Catherine Balavage (@frostmag) on Oct 10, 2016 at 4:41am PDT

Sisters At War is the second book by Milly Adams and it is yet another brilliant piece of historical fiction. Sisters at War is like a Sunday Afternoon. It is like one of those great BBC dramas that you watch with your family that are both entertaining but also filling. They teach you something: entertainment with substance. Warm and life-affirming; it is hard for younger people to fathom wartime. Lucky us, but the previous generations suffered, fought and sacrificed.

Sisters at War is about two sisters. Selfish Hannah and selfless Byrony. Hannah is irritating. You really want to slap her. I think we all have a Hannah in our life. Byrony is the best of humanity. A person of decency and morals. Hannah only cares about herself and stays in Jersey. Bryony is happiest amongst her family and loved ones and stays at Combe Lodge where everyone is pitching in. The family home has filled with evacuees and Bryony has joined the ATA, helping to ferry planes across the country, whatever the risk.

Sister at War is a wonderful book. A hard to put down book which fills the soul.

A compelling new Second World War novel. Perfect for fans of Katie Flynn and Ellie Dean.

Bryony and Hannah are sisters, but they couldn’t be more different, and war has brought even more of a rift between them. Bryony is happiest where her family and loved ones are – at Combe Lodge, the family home – and these uncertain times have brought them all closer together. But Hannah is young and headstrong. No one will stop her from doing what she wants – and this time she’s decided to flee to Jersey.

Even though Hannah has left, at Combe Lodge, everyone else is pitching in with the war effort. The family home fills with evacuees and Bryony is doing her bit, flying planes at the nearby Combe Lodge Airlines.

But despite all that is going on with war, Bryony knows that above everything she needs to reach out to Hannah. Only she will be able to keep her flighty younger sister’s feet on the ground. But is Bryony too late to help her? Will Hannah ever come home?

Sisters at War is available here.

Because of You by Helene Fermont Book Review

Posted on October 17, 2016 by Catherine Balavage

When Because of You first arrived I wondered when I would find the time to get through this door-stopper of a book. It is a sprawling and ambitious novel which spans over thirty years and two countries. It tells the story of Hannah Stein, a Swedish teenager who arrives in London. It is well written and engaging, drawing you into the characters lives and leaves you impatient to learn what happens next. I greatly enjoyed this debut novel from Helene Fermont. Her characters are vivid and well-rounded, and the story has intrigue and glamour that brings you in. I particularly loved the parts about London and following thirty years in someones life. The scenes were brought out so well. Because of You is an ambitious triumph.

Because of You spans 36 years in the life of Hannah Stein, a Swedish teenager who arrives in London, at the tail end of the disco era, for a gap year before embarking on a teaching career. The people she meets change the course of her life irrevocably and the novel charts her changing personal and professional fortunes over the next three decades. Because of You is about love, coming of age, friendship, bereavement, stillbirth and rape. Its themes include redemption, acceptance, fidelity and family. Because of You is a story that every woman can relate to. Because of You is the deeply moving debut novel by Scandinavian writer Helene Fermont. It’s a gripping work of modern women’s fiction with a distinct ‘Scandi’ feel and a psychological twist. Scandinavian noir has firmly established itself as a bestselling genre in the UK. Because of You takes the elements that make this style of writing so compelling – the realism and dark, morally complex mood – and combines it with women’s fiction. This is a dark, morally complex and cross-generational story of enduring love, fate and destiny and will appeal to readers who appreciate an emotive, uncompromising and fulfilling read driven by character and circumstance.

Because Of You by Hélene Fermont (Fridhem Publishing) is out now, priced £9.99 in paperback and £3.99 as an eBook. Visit www.HeleneFermont.com

Because of You is available here.

We have an exclusive Because of You extract for you here.

Sisters at War by Milly Adams

Posted on October 6, 2016 by Tracy Baines

Sisters at War is a wonderful, life-affirming story, every page filled with warmth and generosity for the characters. It left me feeling uplifted and hopeful that the good in people will always shine through. It usually does, no matter what we may see or hear in the news.

It reminded me of all those lovely films I watched on a Sunday afternoon with my mum, dad and sisters – an extended family, pulling together, making mistakes, righting wrongs and trying to be better people. I found it immensely moving and admired so very much the bravery of people in wartime – whether they were serving in the forces or doing their bit in Civvy Street. There are so many unsung heroes in any time of difficulty and the pages of Milly Adam’s latest book reveal the hardships and stoicism that challenged them.

Bryony and Hannah are sisters but they couldn’t be more different. Hannah is selfish and Bryony selfless.

Hannah is young and headstrong, no one will stop her from doing what she wants, and she wants to stay in Jersey. Bryony is happiest amongst her family and loved ones, and at Combe Lodge everyone is pitching in. The family home has filled with evacuees and Bryony has joined the ATA, helping to ferry planes across the country, whatever the risk.

When Jersey is occupied by the enemy, Bryony knows she needs to reach out to save her sister. But is she too late?

Hannah was infuriating, I could have wrung her neck at times. Bryony, sensible, brave and daring, a risk taker who sometimes makes the wrong decision. But you will love all of the characters because they are so finely drawn. I feel they are my neighbours, my friends – and I miss them.

Sisters at War is about the choices we make, how we can right the wrongs, learn from our mistakes and hopefully, try and redeem ourselves. Milly Adams shows us that it is never too late, and that forgiveness is a way forward. Her characters are not all goody, goodies – they are human; struggling to find love and hope, and make sense of a world turned upside down.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first Milly Adams novel and anyone who has read it will not be disappointed by this, her second. If you haven’t read Above us the Sky then lucky you; you’ve got it all to look forward to.

www.penguin.co.uk

Legacy by Hannah Fielding Review by Contributing Editor & author Margaret Graham

Posted on September 29, 2016 by Margaret Graham

Award winning romance novelist, Hannah Fielding, has written the third book in her Andalucian Nights Trilogy and her readers will be relieved and excited to know that this epic, Legacy, is written with all the verve of her previous novels.

I say epic because it has a sweeping plot and setting. The author’s ability to sustain the story line and amalgamate the two main characters is impressive. Her setting is active. By this I mean that her descriptions don’t just sit like a sack of potatoes, but are interwoven into an action so they don’t stop the pace. She doesn’t however ignore the need for a pause to empathise with the setting, or for the reader to process a scene. This is something I try to encourage in those I mentor: pace is important, but so is pause.

She also ‘holds back’. This means that the reader has to wait for facts, secrets, feelings to be revealed, and this is an excellent use of tension. Fielding does this extremely well.

So, the plot in a nutshell: Luna Ward, a beautiful blonde journalist based in New York is commissioned to investigate – undercover – the head of an alternative health clinic in Spain. As one might expect she finds the man she has been asked to expose irresistible but is he good, or bad? And what does her deception make her?

Secrets and lies threaten to destroy their lives, not to mention their love. So…?

Oh no, read it and see.

Hannah Fielding’s novel The Echoes of Love won first place in the Romance category at the Independent Publisher Book Award in New York in 2014, and in 2015 Indiscretion won 2015 USA Best Book Award for Romantic Fiction, and in April 2016 Gold Medal and Masquerade won silver medal for romance at the IPBA Benjamin Franklin Awards.

Frost Magazine is really excited that Hannah will be telling our readers of A Day in her Life very soon. Make sure you keep an eye out.

Legacy by Hannah Fielding is published by London Wall Publishing. £7.99

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