Author: veritywilde

Journalist, armchair sports fan, book worm and show fiend. There's a sentence you don't hear too often.
Book of the Week, new releases

Book of the Week: Brazen and the Beast

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Back to fiction and back to an old favourite for this week’s BotW.  If you’ve been around here any length of time you’ll know that I’m a big fan of Sarah MacLean – who writes fun, feminist and sexy historical romances.  And – full disclosure – I’m in her internet book club and members of the UK branch met up last week (in Covent Garden) for lunch and chatter with the lady herself.  I got so many book recommendations and it’s going to be so expensive.  But this was my favourite book I finished last week, so it’s only fair it gets a write up here really, even if it isn’t that long since I reviewed Day of the Duchess.  Sorry, not sorry.

Uk edition of Brazen and the Beast

Brazen and the Beast is the second in the Bareknuckle Bastards series.  Your heroine is Hattie, the daughter of a shippng magnate who has decided that this is going to be her year – in which she takes control of the family business, earns her own fortune and basically live life the way that she wants to.  This means she needs to render herself unmarriagable first.  But her plans for the Year of Hattie are nearly derailed before they’ve even got started when she finds an unconscious man tied up in her carriage. The man in question is Whit – Beast – who along with his brother is one of the ruling powers in Covent Garden.  He wants revenge on the people who attacked him and soon they’re rivals.  Is there any way of reconciling their plans to give them a satisfactory solution?

Of course there is.  But it’s one hell of a ride.  Sarah MacLean has always written strong female characters, but Hattie is the strongest yet – she knows exactly what she wants from her life, she’s got a plan for how she’s going to get it – and she doesn’t want it it if she’s only getting it as a gift from someone else.  Basically it’s all about female agency and empowerment, but set in Covent Garden in  – and may have you wanting to punch the air at times.  The hero is the biggest, toughest and fiercest man – except when it comes to the people that he cares about.  And it’s very, very satisfying to see them sparring together. The dialogue is zippy and witty and snarky where it needs to be.

I’ve been disappointed by some old favourite authors recently, but this didn’t let me down, even though it had the weight of expectation behind it.  The only downside is that I had to buy the UK edition – so that I had it in time for Sarah to sign it – and now it doesn’t match the rest of my set.  And the UK cover just isn’t quite as fun as the American one – even if it does have the same colour accent.

My copy came from Amazon, but you should be able to order it fairly easily where ever you get your new books from.  And it’s on Kindle and Kobo too.  I’m off to figure out if I can justify getting the American edition as well.  You can find previous reviews of MacLean books here, here, and here.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: August 5 – August 11

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A mix of earlies and late shifts this week and a lot of train journeys.  Some interesting reading  and some that was kind disappointing.  But that’s fairly par for the course really isn’t it!

Read:

The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite

Shirley Flight Air Hostess in Storm Warning by Judith Dale

Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean

The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

Love and Death Among the Cheetahs by Rhys Bowen

We Are Never Meeting In Real Life by Samantha Irby

Dig Here by Charlaine Harris and Andrew Gross

A Little Light Mischief by Cat Sebastian

Started:

Empty Mansions by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell Jr

Top Marks for Murder by Robin Stevens

Still reading:

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

The Girls by Emma Cline

No books bought – but two pre-orders arrived – one book and one ebook!

Bonus photo: Another week, another Shirley Flight book – this one was a house warming present from a friend and hoo boy it was a wild ride!

Book of the Week, non-fiction

Book of the Week: Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud

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As I said in yesterday’s Week in Books, it turns out that the week after the move is also super busy.  And I have so little brain space going on for anything that it’s not funny. Anyway, another non-fiction pick this week.  What can I say, all my library holds for non fiction books are coming in and I’m trying hard to read them as soon as I get them so I don’t run out of time on the loans!  And this is one that I’ve heard a lot about – including some great interviews with the author Anne Helen Peterson.

Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud’s subtitle is The Rise and Reign of Unruly Women and examines a series of women and what it is about them that the media and society finds so difficult to deal with.   Each woman is picked for one specific trait that makes her unrulyy – Serena Williams is too strong, Kim Kardashian is too pregnant, Hillary Clinton too shrill.  And in examining these women it sheds light on to how society views women and challenges assumptions that you may have made yourself.  Anne Helen Peterson is a senior culture writer at Buzzfeed and this is incredibly readable, as well as packed with what was clearly a lot of research.

Even if you don’t like all of the women here – and there are definitely some that I wouldn’t say I’m a fan of – but I found that there was something in every chapter that made me think, or reconsider some of my preconceptions.  And as someone who used to be a radio newsreader, I’ve had a lot of comments about my voice over the years, so there was definitely some stuff in the too shrill chapter that I had a lot of feelings about.  But I think most (every?) woman reading this will recognise something that’s been said about her or too her in this.

I know this review is shorter than the usual – but that’s mostly my brainfade talking.  This is a really, really good and interesting read – I raced through it – and fits in really well with some of the other writing about women and society that I’ve read recently.  Peterson is currently writing a book about burnout – if you haven’t read her essay about how Millennials became the burnout generation, you really should – and I’m very excited to see what she has to say about it.

My copy of Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud came from the library, but you should be able to get hold of it fairly easily – there are Kindle and Kobo editions as well as paperbacks and hardbacks that you can get from places like Book Depository.  I’m not sure how easy it’ll be to get in an actual bookshop – because I still haven’t worked out if these are UK editions or imports.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: July 29 – August 4

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So.  Turns out the week after the move is just as busy (maybe worse?) than the week before the move, especially when you’re away from home for 4 nights of it. Hey ho. We’ll get there.  And the bookshelves are mostly unpacked now, so the new house is starting to look really good!  And on Saturday I met up with part of the UK contingent of Sarah MacLean’s Romance book club as well as Sarah herself for lunch – so it’s been a pretty bookish week all things considered!

Read:

Say No to the Duke by Eloisa James

The Hairy Hand by Robin Bennett

Shirley Flight, Air Hostess in Canadian Capers by Judith Dale

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Muraka

Dim Sum of All Fears by Vivien Chen

Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud by Anne Helen Peterson

Started:

Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean

The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite

Still reading:

We Are Never Meeting In Real Life by Samantha Irby

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

The Girls by Emma Cline

Two actual books bought – the Shirley Flight (see photo) on a cheeky lunchtime trip to The Second Shelf and the new Sarah MacLean.  Also pre-ordered a couple – one in ebook, one actual book.  August, already the month of book buying.

Bonus photo:

Copy of Shirley Flight Air Hostess in Canadian Capers in a pink and white striped paper bag.

books, stats

July Stats

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New books read this month: 35*

Books from the to-read pile: 7 (not including the stack of 50 page and out ones!)

Ebooks read: 10

NetGalley books read: 2

Library books: 16 (all ebooks)

Non-fiction books: 2

Most read author: Susan Mallery

Books read in 2019:  238

Books bought: 0 !!!!! (although a preorder did arrive!)

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf: 535 (I don’t have copies of all of these!)

I’ve had a good weed of the physical to-read shelf this month – so the goodreads to-read shelf is also smaller.  It may yet reduce further as the boxes continue to be unpacked…

Bonus picture: a whole box of Armada Chalet School paperbacks and Sadlers Wells books!  Very on brand

paper back Chalet School books

 

*Includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels (2 this month)

 

Book of the Week, non-fiction

Book of the Week: The Great Successor

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So I did manage to do some reading last week in between packing boxes, moving boxes and unpacking boxes, and in between all the comfort reading to try and calm me down, I finished this fascinating non-fiction read.  But as it’s still all go here, please forgive me if this post is a little shorter than usual!

Cover of The Great Successor

Anna Fifield is currently the Beijing bureau chief for the Washington Post, but her previous beat was the Koreas and Japan.  She’s also worked for the Financial Times in Seoul.  The Great Successor is her look at Kim Jong Un – his childhood, his rise to power and what he’s done since he became ruler of North Korea.  She’s knowledgable and her sources are people with real experience of the regime.  But it’s also incredibly readable – if a little bit terrifying.

Along with pretty much every journalist on the planet, I’ve done a lot of watching of North Korea – particularly since Donald Trump came to power.  And this is the best insight I’ve yet found into what might be going through the mind of Kim Jong Un – who is pretty much the same age as me and who might have the power to change the world as we know it if he so chooses.   Try not to panic.  This is definitely worth trying to get your hands on if you’re interested in international affairs – and if you’ve read some of the books looking at the inside of the Trump White House, this would make an interesting addition to your to-read pile.  Equally, this isn’t the first book about the Korean Peninsular that I’ve read – and it would make a great trio with The Birth of South Korean Cool and A Kim Jong Un Production.

British cover of The Greaet Successor

My copy of The Great Successor came from the Library, but I think it should be available fairly easily – it’s certainly out in Kindle and Kobo and the hardback is out now and available from Book Depository – all though you’ll note the difference in subtitles between the US and British editions!

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: July 22 – July 28

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So we moved house.  I’m exhausted and still surrounded by boxes, despite my best efforts.  And this week I’m away three nights for work, so it’s only going to get worse right?  Anyway, the house got packed up on Tuesday, so most of this weeks reading were ebooks – because the actual books were Unavailable!

Read:

Money in the Morgue by Ngaio Marsh and Stella Duffy

T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton

U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton

The Great Successor by Anna Fifield

A Kiss in the Snow by Susan Mallery

Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams

Pride by Ibi Zoboi

Started:

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Muraka

Say No to the Duke by Eloisa James

Still reading:

We Are Never Meeting In Real Life by Samantha Irby

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

The Girls by Emma Cline

No books bought.  Hurrah.

Bonus photo: the bookshelves in the process of being reassembled.  NB: The car magazines belong to Him Indoors.

Bookshelves part filled

The pile

Moving House

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So what I haven’t been talking about on the blog is that alongside all the work and the reading, we’ve also been in the process of buying a new house and selling our current one. It’s all been a bit stressful and not just because I’ve been trying to rationalise the books that are going with me. I can see the most stressful weeks in my reading – lots of romances and mysteries where a resolution is guaranteed and I don’t have to concentrate too hard.

By the time this publishes, we will have the keys to the new place and will be in the midst of trying to unpack the multitude of boxes and reassemble everything.  In the run up to the move I’ve done another rationalisation of the to-read bookshelf – that’s what the 50 pages and out rounds were about – and so my local charity shops have been the beneficiaries of a good stack of books.

And what have I learned through this?  Well firstly I need to think hard about saving books by my favourite authors.  Because my tastes change – and saving books doesn’t always work out for me.  A few of the books that got the boot were books by authors who I have previously loved and that now just didn’t grab me.  Some of them had been sitting on the shelves for a while, waiting for me to decide that I needed to treat myself to a good book.  If I’d read them at the time, I might have enjoyed them and now… not so much.

And I need to be better at knowing what I’m going to read.  There was a lot of literary fiction on that shelf that I’d picked up from the magic shelf at work because it sounded appealing – but that I’d never read because there was always something more amusing – or at the least lighter – to read. and so they just sit their on the shelves waiting for me to get around to it.  And it seems that that day probably isn’t going to happen – I’m going to continue to acquire more books – and books that I’d rather read ahead of the worthy literary fiction.  Why kid myself.

The good thing is that the new house has more space for bookshelves – but it’s also a chance for new resolutions – to be realistic about what I’m going to read and try not to hoard accordingly.  Wish me luck!

Book of the Week

Book of the Week: The Money in the Morgue

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This week’s pick is the Inspector Alleyn continuation that I mentioned in my Alleyn series post. It’s a bit a of cheat because I finished it on Monday, but it was my favourite of the books I read last week that I hadn’t already written about!

Cover of the Money in the Morgue

World War Two is raging in Europe and Roderick Alleyn is in New Zealand undercover, staying at a hospital as the threat from Japan moves closer. On a dark and stormy night, the official bringing the wages to the hospitals on the plains gets stuck there for the night when his car breaks down. Also at the hospital are stir crazy soldiers, employees trapped in a love triangle and a dying elderly man and his grandson. Then the money goes missing from the safe and the body count goes up and Alleyn has to reveal himself (at least partially) to try and solve the crime.

I have a mixed track record with continuations of classic series in general and detective stories in particular. I like a couple of the Wimsey ones but have serious reservations about the later ones, the first Sophie Hannah Poirot is quite good and I’ve got a few Campion ones yet to read. And this is definitely on the positive end of the spectrum – hence why it’s a BotW pick – although I didn’t think it always read entirely like the rest of the series.  I think it helps that this is based around opening chapters written by Marsh herself. The best Wimsey continuation is the first one – based on a Sayers plot outline – and they go downhill from there.

But in the case of The Money in the Morgue, the mystery is good, the New Zealand setting is atmospheric and in that response fits in with previous New Zealand installments in the series. And it’s also nice to be back in a period that really suits Alleyn. I read the series in strict order and in the last ones it’s just not quite the same as it was in the early half of the series – he should be too old to be doing what he’s doing and it’s just too much.  The ones I revist are pretty much always the earlier ones in the series.  I did miss the regular side kicks like Inspector Fox, but on the whole the new secondary characters mostly made up for it.

The Money in the Morgue is out now in paperback, and I’d hope you’d be able to find it fairly easily in bookshops – it’s certainly available on Book Depository. It’s also on Kindle and Kobo.

Happy Reading!

 

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: July 15 – July 21

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As an addendum to last week’s post about historical mysteries, you’ll now note that I’m completely up to date with Her Royal Spyness and am going to have to wait for the next book to come out before I can find out what happens next.  This is a real trial to me.

Read:

The Burning Issue of the Day by T E Kinsey

On Her Majesty’s Frightfully Secret Service by Rhys Bowen

Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding by Rhys Bowen

Needled to Death by Maggie Sefton

So Disdained by Nevil Shute

A Deadly Yarn by Maggie Sefton

Gallows Court by Martin Edwards

Sharp by Michelle Dean

Started:

Money in the Morgue by Ngaio Marsh and Stella Duffy

The Girls by Emma Cline

Still reading:

We Are Never Meeting In Real Life by Samantha Irby

The Great Successor by Anna Fifield

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

No books bought. Hurrah for me!

Bonus photo: a wooden knight at an old abbey where we went for a walk on Sunday afternoon