Got our Christmas tree at the weekend, watched a Christmas film (Last Christmas with Emilia Clarke, which was cute and not as predictable as I’d thought it would be), listened to Christmas music, set my Teams background to A Muppet Christmas Carol and ate some Ferrero Rochers (no Ambassador required). So I feel I am getting into the spirit of the season. It’s just nice to see decorations up around town and have something to look forward to. We usually have Christmas Day as just the three of us, so not too different this year, just less dinners to go out to.

Scully's Christmas face

I think the festive cheer has knocked loose my reviewing abilities! Two whole reviews this week, lets see if I can keep it up. Check out my thoughts of The Dark Archive and Leave the World Behind. I’m ready to start my festive themed reading now too.

I read Legendborn this week which I absolutely loved. The kindle edition is still on deal if you want to snap it up. It’s a new take on Arthurian legend, set at a North Carolina university, one steeped in the history of slavery. Bree stumbles into a secret society full of magic, monsters and men who are obsessed with lineage. Not somewhere where Bree feels she can fit in, but she needs answers about her mother’s death.

I also finished the audiobook of Pandora’s Jar, which I’ve been listening to in little chunks, so it’s taken me a while despite my enjoyment. I love how Natalie Haynes makes the classics accessible, using pop-culture references here and there to give modern day examples of these enduring stories. In this book she gives centre stage to the women so often maligned, despite being crucial to the myths.

Scully the Labrador in wintery New Forest