Author: veritywilde

Journalist, armchair sports fan, book worm and show fiend. There's a sentence you don't hear too often.
books, The pile

Books Incoming: Mid-September

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Here we are, with another haul of books that I’ve somehow managed to acquire since the last post! So here we have the results of my trip to The Works – which are the Julie Cohen which looks like classic Rich People Problems stuff, To Swoon and to Spar which is the most recent Martha Waters’ Regency Vows series and A Terrible Village Poisoning, which is the third in a series that I think it trying to capitalise on the success of The Thursday Murder Club and that I want to try. I got the Tina Carter biography of Raine Spencer in Waterstones on the same day. Then there’s the Anne Granger, which I picked up after writing the post about Mitchell and Markby and being reminded that I hadn’t finished reading all the Campbell and Carter books and New Adult came from my trip to that humongous romance section in Waterstone’s Piccadilly. And the three remaining books were a bit on an impulse purchase online – I went looking for Barking, so that I could finish off the series and ended up with the other two as well. Oopsie daisy. But it happens. Now I just need to read some of them and get the pile down a bit!

Happy Saturday!

books

Series Redux: Thursday Murder Club

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Cover of The Last Devil to Die.

The fourth in Richard Osman’s cosy crime series about a group of residents in a senior citizens complex came out yesterday. The blurb for The Last Devil to Die says that the gang start to investigate after an old friend in the antiques business is killed, which sounds intriguing and also a bit different from the last two. I haven’t read it yet – but I know I’m going to and probably pretty soon, so today I’m flagging my post about the series from just under a year ago, because I know that it is going to be everywhere in all the shops – probably on offer – and so will the previous ones. If you haven’t read any yet, they’re definitely a series that repays reading in order, and you should be able to get hold of the earlier books in the series pretty easily at this point – including in the second hand book stores and charity shops.

Have a great weekend everyone!

books, new releases, reviews

Bonus review: Codename Charming

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The paperback comes out in the UK this very day so I’m taking the opportunity to actually write about Lucy Parker’s latest which I read as soon as it came out in Kindle in August.

Pet is the personal assistant to the newest member of the Royal Family. Johnny is and Princess Rose are perfect together – but as a working royal he is far from perfect as wherever he goes, chaos follows and Pet often gets caught up in its wake. Matthias is Johnny’s long suffering principle personal protection officer. He’s a former soldier and brilliant at his job – but Johnny is a challenge even for his skills. When a dodgy photo starts the tabloids speculating that Pet and Johnny are in a relationship, the royal PR team decide the way to scotch the rumours is for Pet and Matthias to stage a fake relationship. He’s grumpy, she’s sunshine, it’s never going to be more than a ruse… or is it?

Oh you know it totally is going to turn into something else. And I should also say that yes, this the second book in a series that started with Battle Royal, but you really don’t need to have read that to enjoy this. Yes, you do get to see Sylvie and Dominic again in this, but all the back story you need is set out in this. But of course if you have read it already it works that much better.

And it does work really well. You know I love a fake romance novel and grumpy sunshine romance novels are rapidly rising up my list of favourite tropes – when they’re done right. And this is done so right I forgive it for the bit where it’s a teeny tiny heroine and a Great Big Giant hero. But only because it’s loosely a Beauty and the Beast retelling (or at least I think it is!) so of course that’s what you have to do.

The paperback is out today – and I’m expecting it will be in the stores – and not just the giant romance section at Waterstones Piccadilly because I can see it on click and collect for a tonne of other branches of Waterstones! And of course the Kindle and Kobo are already out there.

Have a great Thursday everyone.

books, books on offer, Recommendsday

Recommendsday: September Kindle offers

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It’s that time again – second Wednesday of the month means it’s Kindle Offers o’clock. Hide your wallets, disable your one click, this could get pricey!

And lets start with a recent BotW The Boyfriend Candidate and something I recommended really quite recently – Katherine Center’s The Bodyguard which are both 99p (and Boyfriend Candidate is in Kindle Unlimited too). A BotW from slightly longer ago is The Roughest Draft which is the same price. And I’ve written a lot about Curtis Sittenfeld’s Romantic Comedy this summer, but her first novel Prep is on offer this month.

The movie version of Red, White and Royal Blue came out a few weeks ago on Amazon Prime – and the book is 99p at the moment, presumably as a tie in. And Ashley Herring Blake’s Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail is 99p at the moment, just over a month out from the release of the third book in that series.

I’m a bit New Adult-ed out at the moment, but I know that Elle Kennedy is very popular – so thought I’d mention that The Summer Girl is 99p. I read Chloe Liese‘s If Only You from her Bergman Brothers series earlier this year -and that is 99p at the moment but one of her Shakespeare retellings, Two Wrongs Make a Right, is also on offer so I may give that a go despite the aforementioned New Adult fatigue.

One of my favourite recent historical romances, Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting by Sophie Irwin is 99p – I assume to coincide with the release of the sequel. Eloisa James’s latest romance, Not That Duke, is 99p – I’ll admit that that’s one of the ones that I bought while writing this, as is Alexis Halls‘ Mortal Follies! Sarah MacLean’s latest is out – but the first in this series Bombshell is £2.99 on Kindle which is the cheapest I’ve seen it. And Cat Sebastian‘s latest We Could Be So Good is also 99p. It only came out in June and yes, I bought that too.

In plain historical (as opposed to Historical romance) the final Philippa Gregory Tudor book The Last Tudor is 99p. I mentioned it in the Waterstone’s post on Saturday, but Whalebone Theatre is also 99p on Kindle at the moment as well as getting a big push in stores. Gill Hornby‘s Miss Austen is also 99p

In classic novels, Daphne Du Maurier‘s Rebecca is 99p, as is P G Wodehouse’s The Code of the Woosters and the very first Albert Campion Murder at Black Dudley . In other classic crime, Unnatural Death is the Peter Wimsey at 99p this month in an edition I know are decent as opposed to the ever increasing number of alternative editions – some of them even cheaper but with descriptions and covers that give me reason to not entirely sure they’re to be trusted. This is also happening to the Agatha Christies now too – which is very frustrating. The 99p Georgette Heyer is The Nonesuch and there are a couple more at £1.99 including These Old Shades. And this month’s bargain Terry Pratchetts are Dragons at Crumbling Castle for 99p (this is one of his children’s short story collections) and in the Discworld it is Sourcery at £1.99.

And finally a quick bit of non-fiction – Greg Jenner‘s Ask a Historian and Dead Famous are on offer too. And Antonia Fraser’s Charles II biography is 99p as well – if you want 900 pages on the last King Charles before the current one.

Happy Wednesday!

Book of the Week, Chick lit

Book of the Week: The Secret Bridesmaid

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As is often the way with me in the weeks after putting a Recommendsday post together on a theme, I’ve started reading some of the books related to the theme that I discovered on my Kindle in the process. And today it’s one that I’ve read after writing the Romances with Weddings post the other week!

Cover of The Secret Bridesmaid

Sophie is a professional bridesmaid. What’s that I hear you ask? Well harnessing the skills she developed as a PA, she’s hired by brides-to-be to pose as a friend and be their right hand woman throughout the wedding process. Think of it as a halfway house to having a wedding planner – but without admitting it! Anyway, she’s carving herself out a little word of mouth niche as the Best Bridesmaid Ever and then lands her biggest gig yet: to organise the aristocratic wedding of the year. Only trouble is, she’s been hired by the Mother of the Bride, and the bride herself is not happy about it. Can she pull it off – and keep her secret intact?

Now this is being shelved a lot as a romance – and as I said I read it after writing a post about romances set at weddings – but I think it’s actually closer to some of the women’s fiction I used to read back in the early 2000s, when it was being called Chick Lit (and although I have problems with that as a phrase, it is a useful descriptor in this case). It has a romantic element, but it’s not at all the main thrust of the plot. This is about Sophie trying to win over the prickliest and most hostile of clients and also figure out who she is after her own long term relationship ended. With lots of humour. Now some of that humour is a little too cringe/embarrassment-based for me, but I often found that with authors like Sophie Kinsella too and I know that other people love it.

That aside, I did really enjoy reading it – I miss books like this, or at least my memories of books like this – where they’re funny and female-centered with some competency porn in there too. It also has an added side of stately homes and rich people problems, so it’s ticking a bunch of my boxes.

My copy came from Netgalley aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages ago – but in a brilliant stroke of fortune it’s in Kindle Unlimited at the moment AND it’s also still available on Kobo and in paperback.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: September 4 – September 10

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So it’s been a super busy week. Work plus two Rufus Wainwrights in a night, plus an evening watching the Freddie Auction, plus a weekend away does not a long list of reading make. But hey, I finished one of the long runners so that makes up for it right? Anyway, onwards!

Read:

Mrs Pargeter’s Public Relations by Simon Brett

The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes by Kate Strasdin*

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

The Secret Bridesmaid by Katy Birchall*

Started:

Maiden Voyages by Siân Evans

The Ghost It Was by Richard Hull*

Still reading:

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

The Other Side of Mrs Wood by Lucy Barker*

From Dust to Stardust by Kathleen Rooney*

One paperback bought in Waterstones, three more bought online and an ebook too. Oops!

Bonus photo: the Outside Broadcast trucks outside Sotheby’s for the big first evening of the Freddie sale, as I walked past on the way down to Waterstones Piccadilly.

*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.

books

Not a Book: Rufus Wainwright at the Proms

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I did my last proms of the season this week, with two on the same night as Rufus Wainwright did symphonic versions of his Albums Want One and Want Two. These were my fourth and fifth Proms this year and my third and fourth time seeing Rufus live. I was expecting it to be good, but it was even better than I expected. It wasn’t shown on TV, but there are a few clips of rehearsals and the like on social, so have this one of Go or Go Ahead as a teaser.

Anyway, apart from the fact that I love Rufus’s music one of the reasons why it was so brilliant was because I think I’ve found my favourite seats to sit in at the Royal Albert Hall. I’ve told you before – recently and maybe ad nauseum – that I used to play clarinet in concert bands. I didn’t do it because I like performing in front of audiences, in fact I would go as far as saying that I dislike playing in concerts, but I do it because that’s what you do in a band. What I like is being part of the music going on around me. And sat in the west choir was the closest I’ve felt to being in a performance, without the stress of having to actually play.

I was right behind the trumpets with the trombones to the left of them and the timpani and drum kit to the right. It was so close you could almost read the music: I could read the song titles at the top and then I could see where the blocks of rests were and where the entries were and a bit of the types of notes but not the detail. And it was wonderful. Yes, a little heavy on the brass and percussion in the mix, but as an experience it was something else.

And the added bonus in all this, is that the orchestra was the BBC Concert Orchestra who have an amazing trumpet player as their head of section and I could listen to her play close up. Her name is Kate Moore and I first spotted her a decade ago in a film music prom where she was playing all the good bits in the James Bond Medley. I’ve listened to that time out of number – including on a lot of night shifts where I used to use it as an accompaniment to a particularly risky task I had to do – where if you got it wrong you could take a TV channel off air! Have a watch and tell me it’s not amazing:

Any ways, there were plenty of lovely trumpet entries to listen to her play close up; and if I had been a percussionist I would have love to have played the timpani so being up close there was great too. And for all that I was behind Rufus, it was still the closest I’ve sat all season. Just lovely.

If you want to listen back to Rufus – it’s on BBC Sounds – here is Want One and this is Want Two. Enjoy.

Have a great Sunday everyone.

books

Books in the Wild: Waterstones Piccadilly

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A year ago on Friday coming, I went for a wander around Waterstones Piccadilly on my way down the the Mall to look at the tributes to the Queen. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was starting shingles and it was the start of a really rotten time. But a year on I’ve been back in to have a look at what I think is the best romance section in central London.

Say hello to the hardbacks and for once I haven’t read many of them beyond Happy Place, although it does remind me that I do need to read some Jilly Cooper at some point.

I could have spent so much money, but lucky I managed to bear in mind the fact that I had limited space in my suitcase and rucksack. Anyway, here in the wild we have all sorts – including Bromance Book Club, a stack of Mary Baloghs and Trisha Ashleys – fun fact, this is the store Trisha has her meet ups, which is where I met one of my best friends in person for the first time! Books, bringing people together!

This next phot has the Alexis Hall selection, plus the Emily Henrys, some Jasmine Guillory and a Louise Hare that I have waiting on my kindle.

I mean I could go all day with the pictures and analysis of the romance section – because it has definitely got bigger. There’s more than I e shown you here – tables as well as the bookcase and the double sided half displays you can see at the bottom here. It’s honestly a delight, although it hasn’t got the level of air conditioning you would like when it’s 30 degrees out.

What did I buy? Well, you’ll have to wait and see. Next weekend, I promise! Meanwhile, have a bonus picture of the downstairs fiction table, complete with Lessons in Chemistry, Before the Memory Fades and Whalebone Theatre which Readers in My Family tell me I need to read, fast, and Jonathan Coe’s Bourneville, which is apt because I’m due to go there this week coking!

* which is why the post didn’t go up until a few weeks after the visit!

Book previews, books

Series Redux: Lady Hardcastle

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Book ten in the series is out this week so I’m taking the opportunity to point you at my post about T E Kinsey’s series again. And if you’re wondering what happens in the latest book, which is called A Fire at the Exhibition, I can help you with that too! It sees the intrepid duo tackling a theft at exhibition in the village to try and help their friends the Farley Strouds, but getting somewhat distracted by the murder of a cyclist. As ever it is a charming world to drop into and Kinsey is making the most of the changes that were happening in society around this time to help with the plots. This one has gentry struggling to make ends meet as well as the rise of new forms of transportation. It’s also got an old university rival of Lady Hardcastle’s to provide some interest and a bit more of Flo’s background and family history. All in all an enjoyable way to spent an afternoon. You don’t have to have read the rest of the series to enjoy this, but it will help.

books

Out this Week: From Dust to Stardust

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I know I already mentioned on of this week’s new releases when I reviewed Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other on Tuesday, but I wanted to flag this one as well – even though I haven’t finished it yet – because it’s actually already in Kindle Unlimited. I love books about old Hollywood – whether they’re non-fiction ones or novels and this is about a fictional teenager who heads to Hollywood from Chicago in 1916 and becomes a movie star, and then builds a giant fairy house for reasons that I haven’t quite discovered yet as I’m not far enough through! It’s based on the life of real silent film star Colleen Moore, who I’d never heard of before, but now want to read more about. So I’m sure I’ll report back on this one. In the meantime, if you want some more stuff about Hollywood, I’ve got posts about novels about the movies and actor memoirs and reviews of non-fiction like Women in Hollywood, Karina Longworth’s Seduction, Furious Love (about Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor) and novels like Mr Wilder and Me and American Blonde.

Enjoy!