Another one of my frequently recommended authors has a new book out today – this time it’s Mhari McFarlane. She writes romances with serious issues at the heart of them – I originally wrote rom-coms, but actually although they have humour in them it, it feels a bit wrong as she’s dealing with issues like relationships breaking up, gaslighting and similar. Between Us is about Roisin, who discovers on a weekend away with her writer partner and all their friends that Joe seems to have been writing her and their friendship group into his work – so that would track with being more serious than a rom com would make you think. I’m looking forward to reading this – but if you want a bit more of a sense of what McFarlane does you can check out my reviews of Mad About You, Don’t You Forget About Me and If I Never Met You.
Have you been watching Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story on Netflix this week? If you have, and fancy some more reading about the period, I have the recommendsday post for you. The tie-in book for the series came out yesterday
Let’s start with the history bit – the Queen Charlotte they’re talking about is the wife of George III, aka the one who went mad, prompting the Regency, beloved of historical romance novelists for around a century now. She was born in 1744 and married George III a year after he became King. They were married for 57 years, until her death in 1818, two years before he died.
On the non-fiction front, Lucy Worsley’s Courtiers: The Secret History of the Georgian Court will give you a window into the actual life of the court at Kensington Palace in the first reigns of the first two Georges – which finishes ever so slightly before Charlotte arrived in England, but it absolutely sets the scene for what happened next and paints a vivid picture of all the rivalries that simmered under the surface – or not so under the surface. If we’re looking at wider aristocratic society at the time, it’s along time since I read it, but Stella Tillyard’s Aristocrats looks at the lives of the Lennox sisters (who were descended from another one of Charles II’s illegitimate children in a nice throwback to my Coronation post the other day!) who were in and around the court during the reign of George III. Another of the big aristocratic figures of the era is Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (who in another throwback to the Coronation post was a Spencer) who was a socialite and political organiser with an unhappy marriage.
Meanwhile back to the royals themselves, George and Charlotte had 15 children, of whom thirteen survived into adulthood. Included in the children were George IV (the prince regent) and William IV, of whom there are a lot of biographies, but less has been written about the others. In Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III by Flora Fraser you can learn about the lives of the Charlotte, Augusta, Elizabeth, Mary, Sophia and Amelia but also about their parents and life at court. If you want to go a little bit later, Fraser also wrote a very good biography of Caroline of Brunswick, wife of the Prince Regent, who had a very tumultuous life to say the least.
Moving over to fiction and Laurie Graham’s A Humble Companion ties in neatly with the Flora Fraser – as Nellie is a companion to Princess Sophia. You follow their friendship from childhood from George III’s era all the way through to the early Victorian period. And of course, as mentioned earlier, the Regency part of George III’s reign has been popular with historical romance authors since Georgette Heyer started writing about it. But Heyer actually started writing her historical romances in the earlier period and these include some of my favourites – we’re talking The Maskeraders, These Old Shades and Devil’s Cub. Aside from those, The Desperate Duchesses series is set in the Georgian period (rather than the Regency) and so is Elizabeth Hoyt’s Maiden Lane series, which I’ve only read a couple of but I know they have a lot of fans the romance groups that I hang out in.
And finally I’m going to issue another warning at this point – don’t go expecting Queen Charlotte to figure in the Bridgerton book series the way she does in the streaming series.
Another murder mystery pick this week – but after a forgotten classic last week, this week it’s a new release – and a debut at that.
Grave Expectations’s “detective” is Claire Hendricks – thirty something, a true crime fan and a medium. Yes really, a medium. She can see ghosts and one ghost in particular who follows her around – her best friend Sophie who has been haunting her since she was murdered when they were teenagers. Claire’s been booked as the entertainment at a family birthday party for one of her uni friends’ grandmothers. Except that at the party they find an unquiet ghost and set out to discover what happened with the two least unbearable members of the family to help them (neither of them are Claire’s uni mate) despite some scepticism.
I have written before about how I can never quite put my finger on what makes something with paranormal or supernatural elements work for for me and what doesn’t, but from the fact that I’ve picked this you’ve probably worked out that this one worked! I had a couple of issues with it, but they were minor ones. But basically this is a fun and funny cozy crime novel with a clever set up and a heroine with issues, and who I wished was a little bit less messy. But if this is the start of a series (and I hope it is) they’re minor quibbles that can be ironed out in the sequel.
This is Alice Bell’s debut and it’s already been picked by the Radio 2 book club, so hopefully it’ll be easy to get hold of – it’s a bargainous 99p on on Kindle as I write this, although it’s a bit more expensive on Kobo. My copy came from NetGalley – and I finished it just ahead of its release last week so I’ll be looking for it in the shops in the coming weeks.
It’s bank holiday Monday – again! I’ve had a fun week of reading – I’m nearing the end of the Alleyn re-listen (or at least as far as I’m prepared to go!) and I’m rationing myself with the Wimseys. It’s Eurovision week so Ive started reading a Eurovision-related memoir written by someone I know and I’ve made some progress on the long runners. I’m away a couple of nights this week so we’ll see what that means – also Eurovision does tend to interfere with reading time…
It’s the start of Eurovision finals week again – except for my friends who are super fans, it’s two weeks this year because they’re already up in Liverpool because this year we have a home Eurovision – sort of. After Ukraine won last year, the UK is hosting the contest because of the war and Liverpool is going all out.
I’m not going to Merseyside, but I am looking forward to seeing all the pictures from the people who are. And my Eurovision season is already underway – the team I was on won a Eurovision quiz a few weeks back, which was very exciting even if I can’t claim that much credit (I only got one question that no one else on the team did!) but I’m not massively across all the songs yet – but that’s what the semi finals are for for me!
If you’re a fan enjoy this week – and let me know your favourite this year in the comments!
So, today is the first coronation of a British monarch in my life time and it most of our lifetimes. Everything startedto go a bit coronation crazy in London a few weeks ago and now we’ve got bunting hanging up in various places near my house too. I’m fascinated to see what all this pomp and ceremony looks like in 2023 and how everyone reacts to it.
On the book front, I’ve already done a few posts about the Royals here – but so far King Charles hasn’t really figured in any of them. I did try to come up with some new recommendations for today, but I’ve basically failed miserably. However, I do have some recommendations relating to the previous King Charles. And I’m talking Charles II because I haven’t really read a lot about Charles I because I know how it ends and I’m not up for executions. But if you do want something, Charles Spencer (yes Princess Diana’s brother) has written a book called The Killers of the King about the men who signed Charles I’s death warrants and what impact it had on them and their families which I’ve seen crop up on a lot of lists.
As far as Charles II-related goes, Charles Beauclerk wrote a biography of his ancestress Nell Gwynn, restoration actress and Charles II’s mistress, which I read about 15 years ago and remember as being an interesting look at the royal court and made more interesting by the personal link between the author and the principle characters. It’s in Kindle Unlimited at the moment if you want to take a look. If you want to know what life was like in Restoration Britain, Ian Mortimer has done one of his Time Traveller’s Guide books for the period which I listened to on audiobook and can recommend. On the fiction front, I wrote a BotW post about The Ashes of London, the first in Andrew Taylor’s Marwood and Lovett series which is set in the Restoration and I’ve just finished the latest one (although I haven’t read all of the ones in between) and they are good mystery stories that do a similar sort of thing in the Stuart era that the Matthew Shardlake series does in the Tudor period. There’s also Rose Tremain’s Restoration, which features a nobleman and his ups and downs at court. It was shortlisted for the Booker when it came out – I enjoyed it, but it’s definitely a book you have to concentrate on. There is a sequel – which I have on the shelf but haven’t read yet. Also waiting on the shelf for me to finally get round to is Georgette Heyer‘s Royal Escape – which is about Charles II’s escape from Britain during the civil war (before he was Charles II obviously).
And you can of course read my previous posts about the twentieth century royals about the Jubilee and also royal romancesBattle Royal (slightly more tangentially) and the Royal Spyness mysteries.
This Friday I’m talking about a distinctly bingeable series, which has a new instalment out this week – even if my preorder hasn’t arrived yet – it’s Kate Carlisle’s Fixer-Upper mysteries.
The set up for these is a good one: Shannon Hammer is a building contractor in coastal California, having taken over her father’s business when he retired for health reasons. She’s lived in Lighthouse Cove all her life and has a group of close friends as well as family living there. There’s an old classmate from high school who is always out to make trouble for her and divide in town between the people who live there year round and the seasonal folks which adds a bit of friction on top of the regular appearance of bodies. In the first book in the series the town’s police chief is a new arrival and there’s also a crime writer who has just moved to the area as well. So there are plenty of regular characters and lots of options for the mystery plots.
I recommended the first in the series, A High End Finish, when I read it back in January, and since then I’ve read the other eight that were already published – which is the very definition of a binge! Without giving too much away, the romantic subplot in this doesn’t go the way that I was expecting/fearing from the first book, and in the later books some of the issues I had with the resolution of the first one are ironed out. Lighthouse Cove keeps developing new historic buildings or sites to facilitate plots, which is amusing but also keeps the series from feeling repetitive if you’re reading them one after another. Basically they’re fun, solidly plotted cozy crimes with a good heroine – and that’s actually harder to find that you’d think at the moment!
I think you’re going to have to order these in from the book giant – I picked up the first nine secondhand from a book group I’m in on Facebook and I preordered the latest from Amazon to complete the set.
Most read author: if we discount the Ngaio Marsh re-listen spree, then it’s Kate Carlisle with three Fixer Upper mysteries (and a fourth started).
Books bought: This is tricky because I bought a few in person and they’re harder to keep track of when they arrived (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it) but 3 ebooks and five actual books, plus the arrival of the preorder of Romantic Comedy which came with another book I’d ordered from the same place at the same time so already counted previously.
Books read in 2023: 126
Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 696
A good month in reading. There were some real stinkers, but there were many more really good ones and for once I did most of the NetGalleys that I had earmarked for the month. As I said on Monday, three bank holidays this month and who knows what that’ll mean for the reading, but I’m hoping it’s good things!
Bonus picture: this is from my walk to the rugby ground – it looks like it could be in the middle of nowhere, but it’s actually in a not very big park in a fairly central part of town. It’s all about the angleS!
*includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – including 1 this month
Another month, and another set of quick reviews that are all new releases that I got from NetGalley. Check me out with reading things in a timely manner again. I’m surprised at myself. Anyway, it’s a variety pack too – with short stories, historical mystery and contemporary romance. Let’s get to it.
Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny*
I mentioned this on release day, but I’ve finished reading it now and can say that if you want a thought provoking collection of short stories about love and the different forms that it takes, then this is for you. Some are a bit melancholy, many are funny, others will make you wish for more time with the characters. There are eleven stories here and I read it one a day to spread it out and that worked rather nicely.
TheWhite Lady by Jacqueline Winspear*
This standalone novel from Winspear is darker in some ways than her Maisie Dobbs series, and in others more straightforward. If you like the War Time bits of Maisie (whether the flashback bits or the 2nd World War era ones) then this may well be your Jam. Our lead character is Elinor who is trying to live quietly in the country but is haunted by the things she did as a special operative in both world wars. When a new family moves to her village she finds herself drawn back into violence as she tries to protect them. There are two strands to the narrative – the 1947 one and then a second one looking back at Elinor’s life and how she came to be the woman she is. I very much enjoyed it and although I had worked some of the bits and bobs out, it was a very satisfying read. I hope it’s the first in a series, although I’m not quite sure how you can create more plots around Elinor at this point. I’d definitely read them though!
If Only You by Chloe Liese*
My first book in this series – and I’ve been hearing a lot about them so I was excited to read it. Firstly – I really enjoyed the playlist that came with it, although as I’m not a Spotify premium subscriber I got it in a random order rather than in order with the chapters! So, to the actual book: I have slightly mixed opinions – I liked the idea of the plot and the family set up, but I found the writing style a little hard going. There is a lot of American style-therapy speak going on in the dialogue and that always winds me up the wrong way but also doesn’t sound like how any one I know talks! It also definitely feels more towards the new adult side of the contemporary romance genre than I was expecting – but maybe that’s because most of the sports romances that I have read recently are things like the Bromance Book club series which are definitely aimed at an older audience. I think this is more of a not my thing end of books rather than anything else – I suspect other people are going to eat this up with a spoon!
I know that last one is a little more negative than I normally am – but I wanted to throw it in because it’s been a weird month or so in romance reading. I’ve read some really, really good stuff but goodness me there’s been some that I’ve disliked. And actually the Chloe Liese falls somewhere in the middle of that spectrum – I like it more in retrospect compared to some of the stuff that’s been worse!
This week I’m back with a murder mystery – and another British Library Crime Classic – after a run of more than a month without one! This time it’s an impossible murder in the a Highlands by Anthony Wynne.
The murdered lady of the title is Mary Gregor, the sister of the laird of Duchlan, who is found stabbed to death locked in her bedroom of the family castle. Our amateur sleuth is Dr Eustace Hailey, who is in the grand tradition of the Golden Age mystery, and who happens to be staying nearby when the body is discovered. Despite being told that the victim was a kind and charitable woman, he soon uncovers evidence that suggests the reverse and that the situation at the castle was not a happy one. In fact even after her death, Mary Gregor still seems to loom over the building – and then more deaths happen.
This is definitely one of the more fantastical of the BLCC’s I’ve read, with a strong vein of highland superstition and mysticism. In fact there was a while when I was wondering is the solution was going to involve the supernatural so impossible did it seem for anyone to have carried out the crime. But it does stick to the rules of the detective club – although the solution is quite something, it is just about plausible.
I bought my copy at the Book Conference second hand sale, but this is also available on Kindle and Kobo and is actually pretty bargainous at £1.99 as I write this, although it should be noted that the ebook edition isn’t a BLCC one (there are some of these where the paperback and ebook rights appear to have got separated) so I can’t vouch for the quality of the ebook version. And if you want more impossible/locked room mysteries, I have a post for that too.
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 