The Cosy Cup Book Club

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First things first — a massive congratulations to Richard Hall, author of I'm Fine, for being longlisted for the Polari Prize. We are absolutely delighted for him and not at all surprised. Go Richard!

This week Katy and Rosie wrap up Fully Serviced by Ruth Cordello — the final instalment in the Cutlery series — and we have feelings about the ending. Specifically, we are disappointed. The cutlery universe deserved better and we will be processing this for some time.

We also welcome the brilliant Marisa Noelle to the Cosy Cup to chat about Secrets of the Deep, book one of the Mermaid Chronicles series. Cordelia Blue is afraid of water. She is also a mermaid. Five years after a devastating shark attack stole her family, her childhood love Wade returns to town bringing secrets, saltwater, and a hidden world of mermaids, ancient curses and a war brewing beneath the waves. It is forbidden love, enemies to lovers, and a tsunami of emotions — and we had a brilliant chat with Marisa about bringing it all to life.  

☕ Grab your cuppa. The cutlery era may be over but the mermaids have arrived.

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Niles' Historical Footnotes

Edited by: Kelly Jones Fantasy Author

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This week Katy has a plan. Rosie does not know about the plan. The plan involves chilli chocolate and some very spicy passages from A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon and it goes about as well as you'd expect — which is to say the chocolate was a complete letdown and Rosie was robbed of the full experience. We will not be accepting feedback about this.

We dive into chapters eleven to twenty one of this Victorian monster romance and things are getting considerably more complicated for Esther at the manor. The gentlemen are multiplying, the atmosphere is getting thicker, and we are firmly in the thick of it.

☕ Grab your cuppa. And maybe some actually spicy chocolate. Rosie deserved better.

⚠️ Trigger warnings: explicit adult content, non-human love interests.

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Niles' Historical Footnotes

Edited by: Kelly Jones Fantasy Author

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This week Katy is on holiday so Rosie holds the fort solo — and she does a brilliant job of it.

Rosie sits down with the remarkable Richard Hall to chat about his debut memoir I'm Fine — a book that is brave, searingly honest, and at times genuinely difficult to put down. In 1996, at fourteen years old, Richard met a man who changed the course of his life. Two and a half decades later, he called the police. The result was a twenty-two year prison sentence. This is the story of everything that came before that phone call — told with the unflinching candour, dark humour and razor sharp wit of someone who has truly reckoned with their own story. It is moving, important, and Richard is an absolute joy to talk to.

Plus Rosie's Bit on the Side returns with part one of Serviced — book four in the Cutlery series — and the cutlery universe continues to expand in ways we could never have predicted.

☕ Grab your cuppa. Rosie's got this.

⚠️ Trigger warnings: childhood sexual abuse, grooming, exploitation. This episode deals with serious themes but is handled with care and sensitivity.

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Niles' Historical Footnotes

Edited by: Kelly Jones Fantasy Author

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This week things look a little different at the Cosy Cup — Rosie is poorly, Katy is running on no sleep whatsoever, and Rosie is also on holiday so she's missing out twice over. We soldier on regardless because that is the Cosy Cup way.

Katy is joined by the wonderful Hope Bytheway — pen name of English teacher, editor and saxophone player Lorraine Watson — to chat about her debut novel Wandering Strong, book one of the Coeur Legacy series. Farran Armstrong has always felt that her story is part of something bigger, and she's right — this is a dual timeline historical fiction where hidden truths, magical forces and quiet rebellion weave together across time. It is atmospheric, emotional, and full of the kind of forgotten voices that stay with you long after the last page. We had a brilliant chat about bringing it to life.

Plus Rosie's Bit on the Side this week features a sentient ampersand. Yes, the punctuation. We are not elaborating further. You simply have to listen.

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Niles' Historical Footnotes

Edited by: Kelly Jones Fantasy Author

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This week Katy has once again surprised Rosie with a game she was absolutely not prepared for and we are not sorry about it. Rosie's reaction speaks for itself. Katy's smugness also speaks for itself.

We also dive into the first ten chapters of A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon — book one of the Tempting Monsters series and an absolute BookTok institution. Esther is a young Victorian maid on the brink of losing her position and with very few respectable options left — so naturally she ends up at Rooksgrave Manor, a house of decidedly ill and unusual repute, full of gentlemen who are not quite what they seem and a daily level of decadence that would make your granny faint. It is spicy, it is atmospheric, it has monsters, and we are already feral about it. Ten chapters in and we have opinions.

☕ Grab your cuppa. Victorian monster romance and an unprepared Rosie. We are thriving.

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Niles' Historical Footnotes

Edited by: Kelly Jones Fantasy Author

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This week Katy and Rosie are joined by the brilliant Lee Adam to chat about his debut novel The Onus — a gritty, high octane crime thriller set in the mean streets of Glasgow. Amos Fisher is a broken man with a fractured relationship with his estranged daughter Mary — and when she is kidnapped by her crime lord boyfriend, Amos will tear through an entire city's worth of underworld to get her back. Fast paced, emotionally gutting, and absolutely relentless from the first page. We had a brilliant chat with Lee about bringing this one to life and we may or may not have got a little emotional about it.

Plus Rosie's Bit on the Side this week features a sentient cleaning sponge that becomes a man and turns out to be surprisingly good company. Katy had feelings. The sponge had more.

☕ Grab your cuppa. Glasgow crime and a very clean romance. We contain multitudes.

⚠️ Trigger warnings: violence, kidnapping, crime themes.

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Niles' Historical Footnotes

Edited by: Kelly Jones Fantasy Author

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This week Katy and Rosie finish Quicksilver by Callie Hart and we have THOUGHTS. Strong thoughts. Loud thoughts. The ending has been discussed and we were not impressed and we will not be keeping that to ourselves.

We also play twenty questions book character with Rosie in the hot seat — and let’s just say her performance was not what we would call impressive. Katy did her best. Rosie did not. We love her anyway.

☕ Grab your cuppa. We finished the book and we need to talk about it.

⚠️ Trigger warnings: graphic violence, adult content.

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Niles' Historical Footnotes

Edited by: Kelly Jones Fantasy Author

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This week Katy and Rosie have a proper chat about Blood Hunt by the brilliant Marnie L. Norton — book one of the Female Rage series, and yes, it is exactly as feral as it sounds. Bronya is a Strzyga cursed to avenge witchkind and wreak destruction upon all men in a world where witch blood is a currency and a commodity, and witches have been hunted and bled for a century. It is dark, atmospheric, fiercely feminist and we had a lot of thoughts. Marnie couldn’t join us this time but she will be on very soon — watch this space.

Plus Rosie’s Bit on the Side this week is a squeakual. Following on from the beloved tale of the shapeshifting balloons comes the next chapter — a shapeshifting clown enters the picture and, reader, they all find each other and live happily ever after. It is the wholesome ending nobody asked for and everybody needed. Katy’s reaction to the reunion was everything.

☕ Grab your cuppa. Female rage and sentient inflatables. Just a normal Tuesday.

⚠️ Trigger warnings: dark fantasy themes, violence, adult content, female rage (the good kind).

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Niles' Historical Footnotes

Edited by: Kelly Jones Fantasy Author

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This week Katy and Rosie are back with chapters twenty three to thirty four of Quicksilver by Callie Hart and things are getting SIGNIFICANTLY more unhinged. We are not okay. We were not prepared. We will not be taking questions at this time.

We also tackle this week’s big question: which book character would be the best at actually protecting you if things went sideways? Not the most attractive option, not the most fun option — the one you’d genuinely want in your corner when it all kicks off. The answers were debated with great passion and absolutely no objectivity whatsoever.

☕ Grab your cuppa and possibly a comfort blanket. Chapters 23-34 require emotional preparation.

⚠️ Trigger warnings: graphic violence, adult content.

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Niles' Historical Footnotes

Edited by: Kelly Jones Fantasy Author

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Episode Thirty S2: Old Bastards, Scottish Accents & a Man Who Used to Be a Drink ft. Stevie Duffy

This week Katy and Rosie are joined by the wonderfully chaotic Stevie Duffy to chat about his debut novel Old Bastards — a gloriously filthy, outrageously funny comedy set in a nursing home where the residents are absolutely feral, the staff are barely holding it together, and nobody is behaving themselves. Think less peaceful twilight years, more booze-soaked chaos with extremely questionable decisions and characters you will fall completely in love with despite everything. We had an absolute blast chatting with Stevie — and yes, the Scottish accent is exactly as good as you’re imagining.

Plus Rosie’s Bit on the Side this week features a man who was, until recently, a margarita. Not a sentient margarita — we want to be very clear on the terminology — just a man with a very unusual origin story and apparently a lot to offer. Katy had questions. Many questions. We should also mention that there may or may not have been an additional presence in the room for this part of the episode. We’re saying nothing further.

☕ Grab your cuppa. Or a margarita. We don’t judge.

⚠️ Content warnings: "Con Non Con", crude humour, adult content, themes of ageism

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Niles' Historical Footnotes

Edited by: Kelly Jones Fantasy Author