The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell- Review

A ghostly child roams the Northumberland moors, while fairytale characters gather at a strange party, in these two Victorian gothic tales. Penguin Little Black Classic No. 39

I am a massive lover of Elizabeth Gaskell's writing and her stories, I've read North & South and Cranford so far and have Mary Barton is waiting for me on my shelf. This is the precise reason that as soon as I saw an LBC by her I got my paws on it! Without read the back, I never knew she had written some good old Victorian gothic stories, so it was a surprise when I started reading this, but a nice one. There are two very short stories in her and I enjoyed both of them but I definitely have a favourite.

The first is The Old Nurse's Story, which is about an old nurse telling her charges a ghost story from when she was looking after their mother when she was young in a big old house. This was pretty creepy especially the ending. It has a tiny little family element too which I also like.

The last story is called Curious. if True. This one confused me greatly, a man is walking and when he loses his way he comes across a house that is holding a party. But the guests are a little strange and gradually I began to place them. I just found this a really lovely, amusing and I suppose curious read ;)
 Overall I gave this 3.5 stars and I would recommend it for s
ure, especially if you like Elizabeth Gaskell (though it is a different side to her) and/or Victorian gothic as a genre.
Speak soon,
Jade xx

#RYBSAT Wrap-up

So sadly #rybsat has come to an end (for me at least I have no time to read on 25th), I am truly sad about this I really enjoyed all the reading and the interaction on social media... But all good things come to an end so here I am to tell about all the books I read this week :)

I did an update on Thursday but the short story of that is I finished The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell and All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. Adding up to 393pgs in total.

Thursday I read the entirety of The Selection by Kiera Cass because I couldn't put it down! Granted it isn't the most amazing writing ever but boy is it gripping! Also I'm in love with Prince Maxon, I felt it coming but there was no way I could have stopped it. Total pages by day 4 was 720.

Friday wasn't much of a reading day for me but I still read 29pgs from Assassin's Blade by Sarah J Maas and 68 from The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage by Sydney Padua; bringing the total to 818.

Saturday I had a longish drive (in the passenger seat) which help a lot in terms of getting some reading done and I read 194pgs of Lovelace and Babbage, the comic part of this was great for visiting family as I could dip in and out of it! The total page count by then was 1012.

On the last day I finished Lovelace and Babbage (58pgs) giving it 3 stars as I have quite mixed feelings on it but it was great :) Then I went on to read little of The Assassins Blade (43pgs).

So overall... I read 1113pgs, finished 4 books and started another. Those are:

• The Old Nurse's Story, Elizabeth Gaskell, 3 stars.
• All the Bright Places, Jennifer Niven, 2 stars.
• The Selection, Kiera Cass, 4 stars.
• The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, Sydney Padua, 3 stars.

I am very happy with how I've done this week and I really enjoyed it, let me know if you did and what you read this week!

Speak soon,

Jade xx

#RYBSAT Update

Hello! just a quick update today on how I'm doing with #RYBSAT (Read-your-bookshelf-a-thon) that started on Monday.

Day 1: I quickly finished The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell which was 30pgs. Then I read 132pgs of All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven bringing up the total to 162 for that day.

Day 2: I only read 30pgs of All the Bright Places leaving the total page count at 192.

Day 3: Yesterday I finished All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (201pgs), I have yet to form my thoughts on this yet. But my total is 393pgs and 2 books finished. :)

Today I'm planning on starting and maybe finishing The Selection by Kiera Cass and I may also read a little of The Assassins Blade by Sarah J Maas.

Hope you're all doing well :)
Speak soon,
Jade xx