Adventure · Bestsellers · Comedy · TV series

Diddly Squat: A Year on the Farm – Jeremy Clarkson ★★★★

Blurb; Pull on your wellies, grab your flat cap and join Jeremy Clarkson in this hilarious and fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the farm we’re all obsessed with.
Welcome to Clarkson’s farm.

An idyllic spot offering picturesque views across the Cotswolds, bustling hedgerows and natural springs, it’s the perfect plot of land for someone to delegate the actual, you know, farming to someone else while he galivants around the world in cars.

Until one day, Jeremy decided he would do the farming itself.

After all, how hard could it be? . . .

Faced with suffocating red tape, biblical weather, local objections, a global pandemic and his own frankly staggering ignorance of how to ‘do farming’, Jeremy soon realises that turning the farm around is going to take more than splashing out on a massive tractor.

Fortunately, there’s help at hand from a large and (mostly) willing team, including girlfriend Lisa, Kaleb the Tractor Driver, Cheerful Charlie, Ellen the Shepherd and Gerald, his Head of Security and Dry Stone Waller.

Between them, they enthusiastically cultivate crops, rear livestock and hens, keep bees, bottle spring water and open a farm shop. But profits remain elusive.

And yet while the farm may be called Diddly Squat for good reason, Jeremy soon begins to understand that it’s worth a whole lot more to him than pounds, shillings and pence . . .

My review; I’ve always been a huge fan of Jeremy Clarkson in top gear, grand tour and now his own farm series over on Amazon which I enjoyed and thought it was hilarious. So imagine me seeing him bringing out a book about it too. Its basically everything that was shown in series one of his farm series with a few bits I don’t remember being in the show. Each chapter is written just how Jeremy would speak it himself. So parts had me laughing away while reading. But it’s a very interesting read. I’m not one to read about farms usually but put Jeremy Clarkson running it I’m interested. He’s blunt. Honest. Funny and he tells everything as it is. I actually learnt a lot about farming through his program and this book so he made me aware of several things. A brilliant read. An easy, short read at just over 200 pages. A well deserved four stars.

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suspense · TV series · Young adult

Riverdale: Death of A Cheerleader – Micol Ostow ★★★★

Blurb; Betty and Veronica’s cheerleading retreat with the River Vixens was supposed to be fun — not deadly.
Betty, Veronica, Cheryl, and the rest of the River Vixens are heading out of town for the weekend on a cheerleading retreat. So Archie, Jughead, and the rest of the guys decide to have a poker night at La Bonne Nuit. But a storm causes the power to go out, and the speakeasy goes into lockdown. When the lights come back on, all of the cash is gone. The thief has to be someone the guys know — but who?

A few hours away, the River Vixens are ready to enjoy a few days of nature and team bonding. But when they arrive at the cheerleading camp, there are two other feuding squads already there. The team from Stonewall Prep claims that the Greendale girls are the reason one of their teammates went missing two years ago.

Betty and Veronica volunteer to investigate after creepy things start happening all over camp. And when one of the cheerleaders nearly drowns in the lake, B&V know they have to find out the truth before anyone else gets hurt — or worse.

My Review; This is book four in the Riverdale series and this has to be the best one yet. The book flicks between a boys poker night, high stakes with some uninvited guests and a cheerleader weekend retreat. All set amongst one of the biggest storms to hit Riverdale making it even more creepy and spooky.

The Cheerleader retreat starts off badly being stuck on the flooded highway in a storm where they then have to walk to the retreat they never imagined. Amongst all this there are other cheer groups there, no adults and a war between two groups which turns deadly fast. This has to be the darkest book of the series so far. The creepiest and the spookiest. A brilliant, gripping read.

A well deserved four stars from me. Highly recommend. Another story that is apparantly not included in the tv series. I don’t know if this is the final book of the series but I’ve really enjoyed reading them.

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suspense · TV series · Young adult

Riverdale: The Maple Murders – Micol Ostow ★★★★

Blurb; Riverdale is clamoring with excitement over news that an old town tradition is suddenly being revived: the Riverdale Revels.

The festival supposedly has a long history, dating back to the town’s settlers’ first successful maple tapping. But there’s no record of the Revels anywhere. Archie, Betty, Veronica, and Jughead think there must be more to the story. And when a skeleton is uncovered in a 75-year-old time capsule on the first night of the festival, they know they’re right.

But a dead body in a maple barrel isn’t the only drama surrounding the Revels. The Royal Maple pageant (open to all Riverdale teens) is in full swing, but “accidents” keep befalling the contestants, including the gang’s friends.

Someone is clearly trying to put an end to the Revels once and for all — but who? And more importantly, why? Can Archie and his friends put a stop to the sabotage before someone puts a stop to them?

My Review; This is book three in the Riverdale series best read in order. These books are getting better and better. This book focuses on bringing back an old town tradition. But the gang want to know more about this tradition… Why did it stop? Whats it about? They soon find it has a deadly twist and noone wants to talk about it. But after digging up a time barrel 75 years old, they soon have to start talking about it and its shocking.

A suspense filled story. A dark twist. Brilliant read. Devoured it in a day. Highly recommend. Four stars from me. According to Amazon this story doesn’t feature in the tv series.

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