Book advent calendar nr 3 ☃️

What I got in gift number 3:

📘 Spirits Of The Season: Christmas Hauntings – a short story collection.

☕ Evil Måns – black tea with blood orange, cloves and licorice.

🍫 Mint & candy cane milk chocolate.

The book summary:
“Festive cheer turns to maddening fear in this new collection of seasonal hauntings, presenting the best Christmas ghost stories from the 1850s to the 1960s. The traditional trappings of the holiday are turned upside down as restless spirits disrupt the merry games of the living, Christmas trees teem with spiteful pagan presences, and the Devil himself treads the boards at the village pantomime. As the cold night of winter closes in and the glow of the hearth begins to flicker and fade, the uninvited visitors gather in the dark in this distinctive assortment of haunting tales.”

I recently finished The Toll House. Which of my advent books would you read next – this ghostly short story collection or the fantasy book Barrow Of Winter by H. M. Long?

Book advent calendar – part 2 📚 ❄ 🎁

I’ve started The Toll House which I received in the first gift. The unsettling vibes are there immediately as we are moved between past and present. That house is not for me…. But I also wonder if the author will keep the same intense vibe throughout the book and if that is even possible.

This time I got an English Blend tea, cherry jam and the book Barrow of winter by H. M. Long. This is book 3 in The Four Pillars series which I haven’t heard of before. I believe this is a standalone book but I’m not sure. Have you read any of the books?

“In Duamel, Thray’s demi-god siblings rule under the northern lights, worshipped by arcane cults. An endless winter night cloaks the land, giving rise to strange beasts, terrible storms and a growing, desperate hunger. The people of Duamel teeter on the edge of violence, and Thray’s siblings, powerful and deathless, stand with them on the brink.

Thray is the Last Daughter of Winter, half immortal and haunted by the legacy of her blood. When offered a chance to visit the northern land of Duamel, where her father once ruled, she can’t refuse – even if it means lying to the priesthood she serves and the man she loves.

To earn her siblings’ trust and find the answers she seeks, Thray will have to weather assassinations, conspiracies and icy wastelands. And as her siblings turn their gaze towards the warmer, brighter land she calls home, she must harness her own feral power and decide where her loyalties lie.

Because when the spring winds blow and the ice breaks up, the sons and daughters of Winter will bring her homeland to its knees.”

Book advent calendar – part 1

One of the best things with winter is the book advent calendars from The English Bookshop in Sweden. I highly recommend you set a reminder for yourself next autumn if you want to try one!

The calendar comes in various categories to give readers something they like. I went with my most frequently selected category fantastika – ghost stories and fantasy to chill your bones.
The other options were classics, feel good, mystery and a mix. I’ve found the ghost stories fit in with Swedish winter 🖤

I got The Toll House by Carly Reagon, alongside some chocolate which I’ve hidden away for myself 🤫 and black Christmas tea.

“The past isn’t always dead and buried…
A house with history. That’s how the estate agent described the old toll house on the edge of the town. For Kelda it’s the perfect rural home for her young son Dylan after a difficult few years.

But when Kelda finds a death mask concealed behind one of the walls, everything changes. Inexplicable things happen in the house, Kelda cannot shake the feeling of being watched and Dylan is plagued by nightmares, convinced he can see figures in his room. As Dylan’s behaviour becomes increasingly challenging, Kelda seeks answers in the house’s mysterious past. But she’s running out of time.

And now it won’t rest…

Because something has awoken.”

As I’m already nervously respectful of the viking burials surrounding our house I’m sure this will not have a negative impact on me. It is not like I screamed when my husband by mistake turned off the light downstairs while I was walking up the stairs.

I’m calm and collected as a ferret on speed.

I will actually pick this one up now. Besides the cats I’m the only one awake so what good go wrong?

Reading retreat bookswap

I spent this weekend at a reading retreat with 11 other lovely readers. One of our shares activities was a bookswap.

Four of my books found new homes and I found four new books. The new editions to my collection are:

En sista vinter [One last winter] by Håkan Norebäck

Flickan med majblommorna [The girl with the Mayflowers] by Karin Wahlberg

Birnam Wood (Swedish edition) by Eleanor Catton

Svartsvala [Black Swallow] by Josefin Roos

Have you read any of these? What is the last book you got for free?