AMY HARRISON-SMITH

As you may be aware, I enjoy reading. (Quite the understatement). I like a bit of everything, but as genres go, I will always come back to horror. There is something about the horror genre that just lights up for me. It has a depth that only it’s fans can truly appreciate. You can have horror/sci-fi, horror/lit-fic, horror/romance. You can have body horror, supernatural horror, gory horror. It’s such a vast genre, and I love exploring it. I went to an event at Blackwell’s in

I am currently engaged in the #ReadingWithMuffy challenge for 2026. The challenge (which you can see the prompts below) for February is a book that starts with the letter l, o, v or e. I am trying to read books I already own to meet these challenges, so I looked through my Kindle app and my shelves and came up with a decent list of choices: Looking for Alaska by John Green Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree Of Mice and Men by John Steinbec

A review of the Netflix limited series Adolescence and a reflection on toxic masculinity, incel culture and misogyny.

It's no secret that I love true crime. I can't explain my fascination, and I don't really know when or how it started. I remember watching Jonathan Creek and Midsummer Murders with my grandad as a kid. I remember when Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells were abducted and killed by Ian Huntley - I was about 13 at the time, only a few years older than they were, but I remember being fascinated by it. Only 5 years later, Madeline McCann was abducted whilst on holiday and again I was

I was recommended this book by a family member when I explained I had an interest in how LGBTQ+ rights fit within the Christian community. I happened to find it in a charity shop a couple of weeks after the recommendation and so I bought it and started reading it. I can now happily pass on the recommendation - if you’re a Christian and you’re not sure what the Bible says about affirming LGBTQ+ relationships, this is the book for you. If you identify as LGBTQ+ and you feel tha

I recently asked the world to ask me anything about my faith, with the added benefit of doing it anonymously. I promised I would post my...

I attended a series of week long courses over the summer at my sister's university Regent College in Vancouver. Due to the pandemic, I...

Hello, I'm Amy and about 2 years ago I became obsessed with true crime. I've always loved a good detective story, and I've been...

I'm super duper proud of myself. I have been named the runner-up in a short story competition. Yes okay, it's a super minor competition...

I can almost hear you exhaling a sigh of relief that this is not a review about another Virgin River novel. I diversified! Shocking, I know. I've got a bit of a shopping problem - my mum will be dancing and jumping up and down to this admission - but I have a specific problem with buying Kindle books. Although I love the feel of having a very real book in my hands, the feel of the paper and seeing the physical progression through a story - and the feel when you break the sp

In my last review in the Virgin River series, I said I would take a break from the predictable small town. I did - I started reading a couple of other books, but they didn't quite grab me in the same way as Virgin River did. They were tougher reads and I was struggling with them a bit, and I wanted to remind myself of my love of reading and thought I would smash through another Virgin River book to break out of the funk I'd accidentally got myself into. If you want to catch

I confess, this is something that has somewhat passed me by. When I was growing up, I remember me and my friend Chrissy were really into...

Here we are again! As you know if you read my review for book 2 (which you can find here , and book 1 is here ) you will know I was super keen to crack on. I really enjoyed book 1 and to a lesser extent book 2. I was invested in the characters and the small town where the story is set. Of course I cracked on with book 3, and unsurprisingly we're now in uncharted territory. The series on Netflix currently has only 2 series released, so it shouldn't be a surprise that the plot

I wanted to share a couple of personal stories that are the actual opposites, but the reason I feel conflicted about my birthday. It's my...

I just couldn't help myself. I needed to know what happened to Jack and Mel, and so just ploughed straight on with the series and I devoured book 2 in the series in less than a week. There's not a lot of preamble here - I was just keen to crack on, based on how much I enjoyed the first book, and the aforementioned small town America chic that I just can't get enough of (we can add Shitt's Creek to the list now too!) If you missed my review of book 1 in the series - you can

I love American country chic. It's an aesthetic I can 100% get behind. I love country music with a passion, I love small town America, and I particularly love TV shows that combine these things. Shows I have enjoyed in the past include 'Hart of Dixie' and 'Gilmore Girls'. So when I saw the trailer for 'Virgin River' on Netflix, I knew it was going to be a new favourite. Especially since Brick Breeland from 'Hart of Dixie' would be playing another grumpy small town doctor, an

Next week, for two weeks, is the Well Fayre at work. Normally (in non-COVID times) our Well Fayre is held over 2 days at our 2 main offices, it's over a few hours at lunch time. We have different stalls for different organisations and networks. It's essentially a mini-Freshers Fair. Sweets at every stand, and a few freebies to grab. It's well worth taking your lunch break there once a year. This year however, we've needed to flex accordingly. I'm part of the Empowering Women