For the second week in a row, the new release is from an author where I’m a bit behind on their back catalogue. But with Beatriz Williams I have more of an excuse than Ashley Poston because her books can be much harder to get hold of over here. Her 2024 and 2025 releases still aren’t available on Kindle in the UK – which means I suspect that the hard copy versions I can see on Amazon are US editions and the only page for this new one on UK Amazon is a large print edition. Still The Beach at Summerley did arrive on Kindle eventually so fingers crossed for these latest three. Anyway, that’s an awful lot of talk without saying what this book is actually about, so here we go:
Lucy is a young widow, who returns to her family’s New England estate for the summer with her young daughter to mourn her father only to discover that the property is in a mountain of debt and the man who doomed her friendship with her teenage best friend is vacationing next door after an accident ended his NFL career. Because it’s Beatriz Williams there is also a historical element – this time about a fabled pirate treasure from the early eighteenth century. The location of Lucy’s family home is Winthrop Island which has also featured in other Williams novels so I really do feel like I need to read the back catalogue first, but if you’ve already done that (or you’re not as fussy as me about things like this!) then I think this sounds like an amazing summer holiday beach book.
It’s the last Wednesday of Pride month and so it’s time for some pride month reccs before it’s too late.
How to Fake It In Society by K J Charles
This was one of my purchases while writing the offers post and it was so much fun. Titus Pilcrow is a younger son who’s been making his own way in the world as a shopkeeper, right up until he marries a wealthy woman on her deathbed. Now he’s got more money than he could have dreamed of – and suddenly people are coming out of the woodwork to try and get a share of it. The Comte de Valois is one of them. Nico was courting the woman that Titus married until not long before her death – and he really needed that money. So he inveigles himself into Titus’s life to help him accustom himself to his new life – and to try and make some money out of it. Except that he finds himself liking Titus a lot more than he expected. I read this in no time at all – started it on the train to work, carried on reading it at lunchtime, then on the train home and finished it in the evening. K J Charles does a really good line in Adventurers – see also The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting – and I love that as a trope in romances (See also The Masqueraders) and I only wish I’d been able to pace myself and made it last longer!
The Gay Best Friend by Nicolas DiDomezio
I’ve had four goes at writing the plot summary for this – and all of them have been unsatisfactory. But basically Domenic is caught in between his childhood best friend Patrick and Patrick’s fiancée Kate who is now maybe a closer friend that Patrick. Domenic is invited to both the stag do and the hen party and both Patrick and Kate want him to be on their side and report back (or lie if necessary). Domenic is also just broken up with his own fiancé and had to cancel his own wedding. Unexpectedly at the bachelor party is Bucky, a professional golfer and possibly Dom’s replacement as Patrick’s best friend – who was meant to be playing in a PGA tournament that weekend but is “injured”. I didn’t really like any of the characters much – especially not Domenic, who is A Lot. He’s living a life he doesn’t want, not at all over his childhood issues and is such a people pleasing doormat I wanted to shake him. At least 90 percent of his problems are of his own making – and add on to that that he keeps getting drunk and spilling other people’s secrets and it’s just really hard to have any sympathy with him. I’m not going to lie, I read this in an evening, but the more I think about it, the less I like it and the more it annoys me – which is a shame because I really liked the blurb for this – and also for some of DiDomizio’s other books which I’m now not sure I want to risk!
Puck by Samantha Allen*
Puck is a reality show producer on a dating show called Homewreckers, where they specialise in putting couples together and then ripping them apart again. So when the go to their college best friend Mia’s wedding to the man Puck is convinced is the wrong guy, they decide to deploy the skills from their day job to stop the wedding. The only person standing in their way is Robyn, the maid of honour and Mia’s new bestie. This is described as Midsummer Night’s Dream inspired and yes there are two couples who Puck is meddling with so that all checks out. The problem really is that Puck isn’t really very likeable and that the romantic plot for them seems shoe-horned in as a bit of an afterthought. Robyn and Puck seem to be hate banging more than anything else as they barely exchange a pleasant word with each other. I do wonder if the romance was addd to try and expand the potential readership (we romance readers sure are voracious) because the rest of the plot definitely more well developed even if I didn’t really enjoy it.
And that’s your lot – I’m sorry it’s a bit of a mixed bag in terms of whether I liked them or not, but as with so many books, your mileage may vary. The common theme between The Gay Best Friend and Puck Hard to Like Main Characters and my tolerance for that is low at the moment. But if you are better with that than me at the moment, then I think The Gay Best Friend is the one to try – it’s sort of rich people problems adjacent and Dom has at least maintained his friendships, which Puck really hasn’t.
Happy Tuesday everyone, and possibly not a surprise that I’ve picked the new Annabel Monaghan this week, but it is so fun and I enjoyed reading it so much that I couldn’t help myself.
Dolly is a problem solver. When her mum left when she was a preteen, now her family needs her and she’s 39. She’s back in her home town with her son for the summer to try and help save the family home. And that’s why, when the scion of the Whitfield family (so prominent the town is named after them) asks her to pretend to be his girlfriend after she helps him with a flat tire, she says yes. Except that the more time they spend together, the more she likes him – and the more she thinks he likes here, even though his world of galas and charity dinners is usually one she only sees when she delivers the seafood from her family store. But can Dolly bring herself to put her trust in someone else for once?
If I was doing the 50 states challenge this year, this would be the book for Rhode Island and it would not have been a hardship at all. I love a summer people and year round people clash of cultures story (it’s sort of rich people problems adjacent really isn’t it) and also a hero who can come in and make life easier for the heroine by throwing some cash around in a nice, non-skeevy way. A rich hero could be a little fraught in the current climate, but Monaghan deals with that pretty well, by making Stewart the guy who wants to pivot his family property business towards renovating historic buildings (rather than strip malls) and he’s not a billionaire so it was fine for me.
I read this in double quick time and really, really enjoyed it. It’s a satisfying romance with a great cast of characters and a lovely setting, which does some of the things I like about Pretty Woman, but without the sex work, rude sales ladies and opera! It’s not quite Nora Goes Off Script (but what is!) but I think it may be my favourite Monaghan after that.
This should also be pretty easy to get hold of – I’d preordered the paperback but it’s also on Kindle and Kobo.
Morning everyone and welcome to the (extreme) heatwave. Houses in Britain aren’t made for this sort of weather and I’ve found myself researching portable air conditioning units more than in the last week! Anyway on the reading front, we’re just over a month out from Book Con and so I’ve started clearing out my shelves for the sale table – which lead to three Lorna Hills in 24 hours rather than finishing any of the still reading books. Because of course it did. Lets see if I can concentrate enough in the heat this week to get them read shall we (I doubt it).
I said last Sunday that I had two outings to chose from – and after telling you about The Tempest last week (which finished last night at Stratford) this week it’s Rufus Does Judy at the Albert Hall, which was basically the culmination of a near 20 year dream for me. But before we get to the review, the TV version of Scamanda is now on BBC iPlayer (having previously been on Disney+ in the UK). I saw someone watching this on their phone on the way home the other day – and noticed the BBC logo on the top corner and thought it was worth mentioning!
Back in 2006, Rufus Wainwright re-created Judy Garland’s legendary Carnegie Hall concert from 1961. After that first (double) performance at Carnegie Hall, he performed it in London twice in early 2007 and also Paris The Carnegie Hall original was recorded and released as a double CD in 2007. He also performed the concert at the Hollywood Bowl and then a couple of years later at the Royal Opera House. I have owned the CD since not that long after it was released – and tried and failed to get tickets to the Royal Opera House in 2011. So when I was served an advert on Instagram for a 20th anniversary version of the concert at The Royal Albert Hall for “the last time” I booked immediately, without needing to think about it at all.
All of which is to say that my expectations for this were frighteningly high. I listened to the album more times than I care to recall and Wainwright is one of my favourite artists generally – I think I’ve seen him in concert more than I’ve seen any other artist as you may remember from when I went to see him twice in the same night at the Proms. But the good news is that it was brilliant. The orchestra (conducted by Stephen Oremus) sounded fabulous and Rufus was on great form. The special guests on the night were Rufus’s sister Martha – who as you know I also love – and was part of the original concert album too and Nicole Scherzinger, who was not there 20 years ago, but made for an interesting addition and was wearing an amazing black sequinned dress which looked like a glittery oil slick (that’s a compliment). Also, I really loved Martha’s long shirt dress – I would totally wear that although maybe not in that bright red-orange. I thought the sound mix needed a little more Rufus and a little less of the of the band – but it was actually pretty good from where I was sat five rows back in the Rausing circle. If you want to know where I was, in picture 11 of the insta post below I was just to the right of the follow spot underneath the arches at the top.
Do I regret not spending more on my ticket to be closer? Well, yes a little – but it got very expensive to be closer and lower down front on – I think everything below me was over £100 and although I loved my seats in the choir for Want One and Want Two I knew that Rufus was going to be playing some piano himself in those so I would get a little bit of his face from where I was and as I said at the time it was a bit heavy on the brass there. So, on balance I think I did the right thing – I was front on, the sound was good and it was still one of the most expensive tickets I’ve had this year – on a par with the Branagh last weekend which was in a much smaller space. The bit I do regret is the large glass of wine I bought – which cost me more than I wish to admit and definitely more than I’ve ever spent on a drink at a venue before. I will remember that when it comes to my next trip to the RAH – which as it stands will be for a Prom in August.
It’s was going to be a two photo month this month, because there are a bunch of books that are already read, so I took them in a separate photo early so I could tidy them into their new homes on the “proper” shelves. But then I pushed the post back a week and had another mad Tuesday afternoon and bought another five books and suddenly we needed three photos. Not my finest hour I have to say
This photo is the pile (minus the read stuff) before the Tuesday afternoon madness. This has my pre-orders of the new Annabel Monaghan and the paperback version of The Eights which is one of the last of my Waterstones pre-order discount books. Then we have a Taste of Murder which was my holiday book from mum (thanks mum!) and The Spring Begins which was my holiday book to myself. There’s Get Over It April Evanswhich was my purchase on the first trip to Gay’s The Word and The Villain Edit and The Worst Woman in London which both came from a trip to Main Character Books that I haven’t written about yet.
And this photo is my five book Tuesday, plus a sixth book purchased on the way to the Royal Albert Hall to see Rufus Wainwright. That Wednesday purchase is the Constellation of Genius in the top left. The rest are three from Judd – two Donna Leons after I enjoyed the first one that I bought from there a couple of weeks back and The Windsor Faction. There’s Diaghilev’s Empire from Gay’s The Word and Oxford Blue from Skoob.
And these are the read ones – there are the other three in the Imogen Quy series which I bought so I could binge the entire series after enjoying The Wyndham Case so much, and then Star Shipped, which should really have been in last month’s picture except that it was delivered to my parents and so I didn’t get hold of it until the trip to Wales, at which point I read it immediately (and wrote about it). And that’s your lot for June. Here’s to more self control in the July post…
It’s Friday and it’s Pride month so I’ve got a romance series that fits the brief for you. I was going to say trilogy because there are three of them, but I think trilogy suggests that they have to be read in order or together, but you don’t – they’re linked by a friendship group but you don’t need to have read the previous one to enjoy the next on. In fact I read the first one last and it bothered me not a whit on that front.
This is a series of three connected romances set in Seattle. The first one is Written in the Stars about an astrologer and an actuary who end up in a fake relationship for: reasons – Elle is looking for the one and Darcy isn’t looking for anything after a broken engagement. The second book is Hang the Moon and features Darcy’s brother Brendan who is a side character in the first book and Annie who is in town to visit friends before she moves around the world. And finally Count Your Lucky Stars is Elle’s best friend and business partner Margot and her former best friend and first love Olivia.
These are fun romances with interesting characters and witty dialogue. I like them rather than love them – mostly because a lot of the conflict could be solved by people using their words and having conversations. But that’s a common gripe for me and honestly I’d often rather have misunderstandings based on not communicating, which is pretty low stakes over some of the Big Dramatic things and definitely over Creepy Danger ones! I’ve actually got one of Alexandria Bellefleur’s standalone novels waiting on the virtual TBR which I really should get around to before I acquire any more and she has two more books coming out this year as well, including a second paranormal romance.
The good news if you want to read these sis that book one and book three are in Kindle Unlimited and Kobo Plus at the moment and although the middle one isn’t, it’s still only £1.99. I think my favourite is book three – but I wouldn’t swear to it!
The new book from Ashley Poston is out this week, and as I’m trying to take it as a sign that I should catch up with her last couple of books as I have two of them on the tbr pile. I’ve loved some of her previous books – like The Seven Year Slip and The Dead Romantics so I’m not quite sure how I’ve let this happen. Anyway: The Someday Garden is about Sophie, the new head gardener at Lilymoor House in Maine and who gets more than she bargained for when she discovers a secret garden with a mysterious man trapped inside. Magic and/or time travel is a feature of Poston’s books so when I say secret garden and trapped man, I mean it’s got an entrance that never appears in the same place twice. The house itself also has an uncertain future, so I’m optimistic that this may be a “lets save the house” book as well as a romance. I have a mixed record with magic (and ghosts, and the supernatural in general) in books but Poston is usually on the side of the things that I like so I’m looking forward to reading this, even if I really shouldn’t be buying it until I’ve cleared at least one of her other books of the (virtual) tbr shelf.
Yes I know, I know, I know. It’s the third Wednesday of June and I’m only just now publishing the May Quick reviews. But I’ve explained my reasoning – I had the early June new releases to cover and then this month’s Kindle offers were *good* – in fact there’s one spotted lats night I ought to mention – the second Nora Breen book Death at the Spirit Lounge is 99p too. But there here now and I’m sure normal order will be resumed next month!
Banton of Paramonth by Howard Gutner*
This is a photo heavy book looking at the career of Travis Banton who was a costume designer for Paramount and one of the most important of the Golden Age. He’s known for his collaboration with Marlene Dietrich and Carole Lombard among others including Clara Bow in It. I have strongly mixed thoughts on this. On the one hand I’m fascinated by Golden Age Hollywood and it’s great to find out more about a figure that I didn’t really know much about. However, I think this is going to be one of those books where having a physical copy is going to be the key to your experience and enjoyment because I had an eproof via NetGalley and the formatting on it was a real issue. There were photo captions out of order, stuff that was marked as “a rare colour photo” that was in black and white and just a general jumble at times where picture captions were mixed together with the main text and separated from the pictures they were referring too. This meant that it was hard to follow the narrative thread of the writing because you needed to keep flipping pages back and forth to match up the photos to the captions and to keep the thread of sentences. The pictures are the great gift in this though- lots of shots of beautiful outfits.
Hattie Breaks a Leg by Patrick Gleeson*
Hattie is back and after the events of the first two books in Patrick Gleeson’s series, she’s more unemployable than ever. That’s why she finds herself stage managing a one night only play, with a huge cast, written by a first time playwright who is also directing and who seems to have no idea how any of this is meant to work. The good news is that it pays well… the bad news is that alongside this an old friend has asked for a favour and when things go wrong with that she finds herself dragged into some very shady doings. I really like this series and this is a good fun read that I finished in one day. I have a few quibbles – I wasn’t a hundred percent convinced on the favour side of the plot and I had part of the play plot figured out fairly early, but they didn’t really stop me from enjoying myself reading it. The world of the theatre is such a good one for mystery plots – and I love all the detail about the day to day of the behind the scenes that Gleeson includes in this. This is probably best enjoyed if you’ve already read one (or both) of the other books, but it will still work for you even if you haven’t I think.
Major Bricket and the Body in the Bell Tower by Simon Brett*
This is the second book in Simon Brett’s latest series, and I definitely liked it more that the first one -perhaps because I knew what I was expecting when I went in: a espionage-adjacent mystery in a less realistic world than you get in most of Brett’s other contemporary series. This has got a body turning up in the village church on Sunday morning that Major Bricket is the first to discover, and also a threat from his past resurfacing. It’s fun and pacy and felt just more established than the first one did. A nice way to pass a few hours, even if I don’t like it as much as I like (say) the Charles Paris books.
Happy Tuesday everyone and for this week’s post I have picked a light humorous romance that’s also a pastiche of Golden Age Crime novels. Which is obviously very much something in my wheelhouse.
It’s the 1930s and Georgiana has become an accidental detective after a spate of murders in her cute Cotswold village. You’d think after four murders in a year they would have had enough death, but then the parish council chairman drops dead of a heart attack. Or at least that’s what the police say. Georgie isn’t so convinced though and writes to a famous London detective for help given that the village now has murder tourists visiting. Except it’s not the detective that arrives, but his secretary. Sebastian is posh, frivolous and flirtatious, and not at all the sort of person that Georgie thinks can help.
As I said, this is a romantic mystery – where our heroine is perfectly aware of the fact that charming English villages shouldn’t be hot beds of murder and is determined to solve the crime. And this has got plenty of witty banter between the characters as well. Where it didn’t quite work for me was the romance elements – because I really didn’t know what Georgie and Sebastian saw in each other and so that bit worked less well. That said I read it in pretty short order (about 36 hours I think) so it’s very readable, even if not entirely satisfying. A bit like a dessert that doesn’t quite taste as good as it looks.
I have a bit of a mixed record with Martha Waters – I really enjoyed Christmas is All Around the other year (more than this I think) but I had significant issues with the second in her Regency Vows series, although I kept forgetting that when acquring some of the others in the series. And this is another slightly mixed review I guess but this doesn’t have anything as problematic as To Love and To Loathe did.
As you may remember from the offers post, this one is 99p this month on Kindle – and it’s the same price on Kobo. I’d been waiting for an offer on it and it’s definitely worth a punt at the current price.
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 