(via Shutterstock) When you love Christmas, it’s hard having it pop just once a year. Rather happily, some inventive soul somewhere decided that Christmas in July would work quite nicely, especially in the Southern Hemisphere where it’s cold and wintery and just right for a traditional festive celebration (though we Continue Reading
Christmas in July book review: Merrily Ever After by Cathy Bramley
(courtesy Hachette Australia) If you are a faithful reader of the warm and cosy romcoms written by Cathy Bramley, you will likely have read 2022’s The Christmas Project a whole year before you got anywhere near the festive joy of Merrily Ever After. But should you have dropped your Cathy Continue Reading
Graphic novel review: “hi, I love u forever” Heartstopper says goodbye with volume 6
(courtesy Hachette Australia) I am not a huge fan of saying goodbye. Oh, I will always front up and do because I am far too sentimental not to, and I will fully lean into the feelings which usually intensely heartbreaking (if you love the person, how can they not be?), Continue Reading
Christmas in July book review: Christmas at Lobster Bay by Annie Robertson
Like many readers, I buy more far more books than I will likely ever be able to read in a lifetime (and that’s even taking into account impending retirement in the next couple of years when all the time in the world will be a glorious default). I buy them Continue Reading
They sold what now?! Snoopy Presents: There’s No Place Like Home, Snoopy
(courtesy IMDb) SNAPSHOTWhen Snoopy’s beloved doghouse is accidentally sold at a yard sale, he’s devastated. After all, that’s where his imagination first took flight and where he keeps all his favourite things. (courtesy AppleTV) How could they sell Snoopy’s iconic red doghouse out from under him? Sure Sally heard another word Continue Reading
Christmas in July book review: The Secret Mistletoe Promise (The Secret Bookshop #2) by Cressida McLaughlin
I am always in two minds about sequels for novels (and honestly, all sorts of storytelling but given this is a book review, let’s stick with books for now). When I love a story and the characters in it, and that’s happens a lot given the ridiculously empathetic soul that Continue Reading
Christmas in July music review redux: Put Up Your Lights by The Bird and the Bee
If anyone can make something beautiful out of something chaotic and terrible, it is the mesmerisingly good duo that is The Bird and the Bee, made up of singer Inara George and producer Greg Kurstin. Their latest collaboration, Put Your Lights Up was put together during a year when a Continue Reading
Christmas in July book review: A Country Christmas by Veronica Henry
(courtesy Hachette Australia) Christmas is, we are constantly assured, supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year. But sometimes that feeling of perfect wonder doesn’t arrive at all, or it’s so late in making an appearance that you can begin to wonder if it’s ever going to turn Continue Reading
Christmas in July movie review redux: A Boy Called Christmas
As origin stories go, the one that belongs to Santa Claus is a doozy. Drawn from a host of different European traditions, embellished by one Charles Dickens in the nineteenth century and prettied up with fetching red and a convivial air courtesy of a soda maker in the 20th, Santa Continue Reading
Get ready for the epic conclusion … Dune: Part Three full trailer drops
(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOTAs Emperor of the known universe, Paul possesses more power than a single man was ever meant to wield. Worshipped as a religious icon by the fanatical Fremen, Paul faces the enmity of the political houses he displaced when he assumed the throne—and a conspiracy conducted within Continue Reading