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.
I’ve already mentioned this book a whole bunch of times at this point – as I’ve been excited for it since it was announced and mentioned it again in the anticipated books of the second half of the year post, but it’s finally here – the second book in the Palace insiders series that started with Battle Royal. I had forgotten that the ebook was coming out a month ahead of the paperback until my preorder dropped onto my Kindle on Tuesday so that was a delightful treat and I couldn’t not mention it given how much I like Lucy Parker’s books! Here are the Kindle and Kobo links – and you can of course pre-order the paperback as well if you have the willpower to wait.
A bonus review for you today, because I was miraculously beforehand with the world and read it last week – and as it was one of several good books I read last week I’ve taken the opportunity to write about more than one of them! The heroine of Ashley Winstead’s The Boyfriend Candidate is shy school librarian Alexis, who decides to step out of her comfort zone after being dumped and try a one night stand. Her plan seems to be going well when gorgeous but sweary Logan rescues her from the attentions of someone she’s not interested in at the bar, and the two of them end up heading for a hotel room. But before they can hook up, the hotel catches fire and in getting out Alexis is photographed in Logan’s arms – and he promptly runs away. The reason for his flight becomes clear when the pictures hit the internet – he’s standing to be the governor of Texas. His candidature has already suffered from claims that he’s a playboy, so his campaign recruits Alexis to pretend that she really is his girlfriend for the two months until election day. As the blurb says: what could possibly go wrong.
I read this across the space of 24 hours and ate it up with a spoon. It rattles you along while it’s happening and is an enjoyable ride, although I had a few issues at the back of my mind when I was reading it and I just wanted to give them a mention too. Firstly Alexis somewhat oblivious to Logan’s feelings for her. This is told entirely from her point of view – and even with that it’s very, very clear that Logan is catching feelings for her and it’s a touch irritating that she doesn’t pick up on it. If you’d had his PoV too it would have been unbearable.* On top of that she’s somewhat lacking in common sense in other aspects of the fake relationship that I can’t explain without giving more spoilers than I ought to. It was also a little surprising that Alexis went from super shy and retiring to being able to give speeches in public happily and comfortably with no in between stage. I know politics in romance novels is also a controversial issue – and the fact that it’s set in Texas might have you wondering what you’re going to get here – so a heads up for those who are interested: Logan is a progressive Democrat. I was also a bit worried about how they were going to be able to sort the whole fake relationship situation out in a satisfactory manner, but it actually surprised me on that front.
Anyway – if you like a fake relationship romance, and don’t mind politics being very much front and centre in the plot then this is worth a look. My copy was from NetGalley, but it’s out today on Kindle and Kobo and apparently also in paperback.
*There is a trend toward The Most Oblivious Heroines That Ever Failed To Notice A Guy Is Into Them at the moment and I do not like it. A bit of not noticing is fine. Not noticing when he’s making heart eyes at you and picking you over everyone else all the time is not fine (Sarah Adams I’m looking at you)
Back in January I did an anticipated books post here – and almost all the ones that i mentioned have now been published. So I’m coming back around for the stuff that’s still to come this year!
There is a new Alexis Hall coming in October, the cover is very Boyfriend Material-sque but it’s don’t let that fool you – Ten Things That Never Happened has a new couple and has a fake amnesia plot line… Staying with contemporary romance, I love a theatre-set book, so I’m looking forward to Amelia Jones’s The Stage Kiss which comes out in December. And they’re closer to inspirational than plain romance, but the next in Beverly Jenkin’s Blessings series, A Christmas to Remember finally arrives in mid-October. I haven’t read Love in the Time of Serial Killers yet, but Alicia Thomson’s next book is out in a couple of weeks at the start of August – With Love, from Cold World is about two workers at a Florida tourist destination where it’s always winter.
Moving to historical, and Sarah Vaughn has written a Regency-era graphic novel called Ruined about a marriage of convenience, and I love a marriage of convenience story (although I realise I still haven’t finished that recommendsday post about them I’ve been writing for years so have a link to the one about fake relationships instead ) so I’m really looking forward to reading that – it’s out in at the end of November. Staying with historical fiction, Mary Jo Putney has a new historical romance series set in Cornwall starting with Silver Lady which comes out at the end of November. It’s promising swashbuckling adventure – and the first one also has an amnesia plot although I’m not sure she’s faking it in this one! I think it’s already out in the US, but here in the UK we have to wait until the end of August for A Lady’s Guide to Scandal which is the sequel to Sophie Irwin’s A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting, which I really enjoyed last year.
There’s a few series with autumn releases – like the fourth in Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series, The Last Devil to Die, which arrives in mid September. Then there is the seventh book in the Vanderbeeker series also arriving in September. It’s called The Vanderbeekers Ever After and as the title suggests it’s the final book in the series. Luckily (!) for me the sixth book isn’t out in paperback here yet, so I’m going to be able to make the series last a little longer despite that. There’s a new Sarah Maclean – Knockout is the third in the Hells Belles series. And unexpectedly there is another Shades of Magic novel coming too. I thought VE Schwab was done with the world at the end of the trilogy, but The Fragile Threads of Power is taking it to the next generation as well as giving you another look at the original characters. And there’s a fourth in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series too – called Before We Say Goodbye.
There are always a slew of memoirs in the run up to Christmas – the one I’m excited about this year is Patrick Stewart’s, but I’m going to need to read some more of the ones I already have before I buy it. And finally there is of course the Lucy Parker – which I mentioned in that post at the start of the year – Codename Charming arrives on Kindle next month (the paperback doesn’t hit the UK until September). I may reread Battle Royal to prepare!
A bunch of Beatriz’ Williams’s books have featured on the blog over the years. I’m enough of a fan of hers that I was on her mailing list, back in the time when authors had actual, physical lists and still sent stuff to readers abroad – so I have a postcard from her for the release of A Certain Age. Her Last Flight and A Hundred Summers were Books of the Week and a couple of others have featured in various recommendsdays and roundups. And of course she also writes books with Lauren Willig and Karen White. Her earlier books tended to be interlinked, but more recently they’re more standalone. And The Beach at Summerleys looks like it’s a standalone-y one. The blurb is promising Cold War intrigue, New England rich people and secrets and a split timeline between 1946 and 1954. I’m also really interest that the cover art is quite different to her other novels – in colours and design so I’m wondering if that’s indicating a change too. I’m looking forward to reading it – when I can justify getting my hands on it!
The latest novel from Ali Hazelwood is out this week – I think The Love Hypothesis was one of the first books that I saw advertised as “TikTok made me buy it” and I also enjoyed Love on the Brain so I’m looking forward to reading Love Theoretically, which promises fake dating and academic feuds. I have to admit I am hoping that we’re not in another Teeny Tiny heroine and Great Big Heroe situation, but that may be because I’m a 5’10 woman and no one can sweep me off my feet and carry me around, unless it’s a fireman’s lift and a short distance!
The stats are coming, but today I’m disrupting the schedule because I wanted to mark that the new book from Elissa Sussman has just come out. I loved Funny You Should Ask when I read it back in March and immediately preordered myself a (paperback to match) copy of Once More With Feeling. This one is a former popstar who is tempted out of retirement by the former boybander who exploded her career (and his) when they had a one night thing. This is billed as second chance romance and enemies to lovers (and friends to lovers) so it’s all the things that usually tick my boxes. I can’t wait to read it!
A bonus review today – that’s breaking some of my rules because this is the fifth in a series. But it doesn’t actually matree because this is the first in Lee Hollis’s Desert Flowers Mystery series that I’ve read. Interestingly I’ve read a couple of novellas by this author and one novel in a different series previously and wasn’t keen, but this really worked for me.
The set up is this: Poppy Harmon is a former actress who has been forced out of retired life to become a private investigator and runs a detective agency with two friends. In this instalment, one of Poppy’s former acting rivals has reappeared in her life. Serena has asked the agency to do an urgent background check on her husband to be. It seems easily done – but then Serena is found standing over a dead body holding a smoking gun and the team find themselves caught up in the investigation.
This has plenty of action, lots of twists and is really easy and fun to read. I thought I had the solution figured out – but I wasn’t entirely right and I liked that too. My copy came from NetGalley – and I even managed to read it in a timely manner! Even better, some of the earlier books in the series are in Kindle Unlimited at the moment (although not the first one) so I can go and read some more. I love it when that happens.
I wanted to mention two books that are out this week – firstly the new Jenn McKinley is out on Kindle, no not new entry in her cozy crime series, but her latest romance which is set on Martha’s Vineyard. As you can see from the picture, it’s blurbed by Annabel Monaghan who wrote Nora Goes Off Script, which is still one of my favourite reads so far this year, and I have high hopes. I’m about halfway through it at the moment – so you may yet hear more about it. Fair warning: if you’re in the UK and want a physical copy, that doesn’t arrive here until July.
Also out this week is the latest Christina Lauren and as I mentioned in my Book of the Week post for The Soulmate Equation, it’s the story of Fizzy who is the heroine’s best friend in that. Fizzy is a romance writer who has never been in love and who finds herself starring in a reality TV show and the hero is a single dad who is one of the people making the show. I am very excited to see how this one works – I loved The Soulmate Equation and when Christina Lauren did TV show adjacent in The Honey Don’t ListI also enjoyed it. So basically I really want to read this, stat!
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.
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 