A super busy week last week, but not too awful week in reading all together. This coming week is even busier, so we’ll see how I go, but I have at least finished all of my August new releases from NetGalley before the end of the month which is practically a first. If only I had finished the July ones. Or the June ones.
After another sweltering week, it’s meant to be getting a bit cooler. I can’t work out if this is going to help or hinder my reading – the heat has made me stay indoors more but also made it harder to concentrate. If it gets significantly cooler it will be very tempting to go out and get some fresh air. But given my recent experiences of getting out have left me a sweaty mess because of the humidity as well as the heat, may be I’ll still be sheltering in areas with air conditioning! We’re at a slightly funny point in the book release cycle – the summer books are already out, but the autumn ones haven’t quite started yet. I should be using this to catch up on things in the NetGalley backlog, but what I’m actually doing is reading books that I bought at Bristol and picking things up from the actual pile, reading 10 pages and then putting them down again. I blame the heat.
Bonus picture: a Parachutist on their way down on Sunday at the Balloon Festival. We went to take a look because a) it’s really nearby and b) it seemed slightly cooler. But in fact it was deceptive and the humidity was grim. Still at least we saw the parachutes, even if the only hot air ballons we saw were the baskets waiting to be re-gassed.
*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.
Happy Thursday – it’s new Olivia Dade week. This time it’s a second paranormal romance following on from last year’s Zom Rom Com. In World’s Okayest Oracle our heroine is Gwen, who can see the future, but only the mundane stuff for humans – not the life and death of civilisations stuff. But then brain eating zombies escape and she gets her first world-altering vision and she needs help. Hugh is the help. He’s a demon and he watched her fail her oracle test back in the day and now they have to work together. The fate of the world is at stake – but also maybe if they do save the world, might their future be together?
Happy Monday. I would say I’m braced for another heatwave, but to be honest it feels like it has started already. It was really quite hot in London on Saturday, albeit not in the 30s, and it was so hot at home yesterday I was glad we hadn’t gone to the MotoGP at Silverstone – even though the races were exciting – because I would have been absolutely sure to get sunburn and a dehydration headache. Anyway, more excitement coming up this week with at least one more theatre trip, hopefully the air con will be working there. Anyway, on the reading front, it was a fairly ok week. I’m making fast progress down the conference purchases when I’m at home – the beauty of middle grade books is that they don’t take long to read – which is making me feel less bad about the enormous state of the pile in general.
Read:
The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side by Agatha Christie
The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley
It’s offers post writing o’clock again so there were a few Kindle purchases. No actual books though
Bonus picture: The Strand and its little gaggle of theatres. I often forget that although the West End is (mostly) clustered around Shaftesbury Avenue, these three plus the Lyceum, the Duchess, the Novello, the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and the Aldwych are all very close together too. And on Saturday night it seemed like most of them had finished their shows just in time for their patrons to be clogging the pavement as we were walking back to Euston…
*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 bought: We’re not going to talk about this, because after a Very Good Books Incoming in the middle of the month as you all know I went to Book Con and it all got a bit excessive. You’ve already seen the Book Con purchases, but there are a stack more that you haven’t yet from the days around the actual conference. And then there were another 13 ebooks…
Most read author: Three Dimsies (middle grade, not loads of pages) vs three St Just mysteries probably means that GM Malliet is th most read on page count
Books read in 2026: 233
Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 588
A pretty solid month in reading – except for the number of books coming in. Yes I may have sold more than than I bought, but the stuff I bought is now on the already bulging to read pile, and the stuff I sold wasn’t taking up as much space. But I did have a wonderful time!
Bonus picture: A summer garden party I walked past on the way back to the station one day…
*often includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – but not this month!
Welcome to August everyone, all the usual start of the month stuff coming up over the next week or so. In the meantime, here’s the list from last week, which includes three of my Bristol purchases, three new releases (included one I mentioned in the Summer romance releases) and the last of the St Justs I hadn’t read which meant I could finally write that post on Friday! This week it’s meant to be hot and sticky again and I’ve got at least one theatre trip planned so we’ll see how all of that meshes with the reading list.
Happy Tuesday everyone. And before you ask, yes, for the second week in a row I’m cheating and writing about a book I finished after Sunday. But as previously discussed: Book Conference. Excitement. Short list last week. And this one has been on the long runners for a few weeks, so it’s not quite as cheaty as it could have been. Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself. And here’s hoping I’m not causing myself another problem for this time next week…
Recently widowed police detective Joe Mottram and his daughter Angelica are spending the summer in Capri. They’re returning to the childhood home of Joe’s late wife to spend the summer with Angelica’s grandparents as they struggle to recover from the loss of Sofia. Joe’s expecting to spend the summer as a spare wheel at his in-laws’ resturant, but soon after their arrival a British tourist is found dead at the foot of a local beauty spot and Joe is drawn into the investigation when local detective Lara turns up at the restaurant.
I thought this was a really well put together and readable mystery – there’s lots going on and plenty of plot strands to follow and a twisty mystery at the heart of it. Plus Capri makes for a great setting – I haven’t been there, but it was already on my list of places to go, but if it hadn’t been, it probably would be now, although here’s hoping that the unsavoury elements that are in the book are purely fiction. I would say the ending is ripe for a sequel, but I haven’t seen any sign of a second book yet.
This has already been adapted for TV – it’s on ITVX – and some of the locations they used to film are places that we’ve been to on holiday in Croatia which is fun. And in case you’re wondering, it’s not Blue Peter-Countryfile Matt Baker, it’s a different one!
This came out at the start of the year and I’ve seen it all over in the shops. My copy was a hardback, but the paperback is out now and it should be fairly easy to get hold of. And of course it’s in Kindle and Kobo too.
I’m exhausted. I’ve had a fabulous time at book conference, but I’ve spent a lot of time talking about reading, listening to talks about reading and buying books to read rather than actually reading. So this list is short and I’ve already caused myself a major problem for tomorrow by writing about American Fantasy last week. Past Verity causing problems for Future Verity once more.
Where to start. About six on the way to book conference and another nine at book conference. And I’m writing this before our day out in Bath where we intend to visit even more book shops.
Bonus picture: Our (there’s a trio of us) sale table at the delegate sale on Sunday. The right hand side (all the less valuable stuff!) is (mostly) mine. I didn’t sell it all, but I came home with less books than I took with me – even when you include the stuff I bought at conference. Result.
*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.
Happy Wednesday! It’s peak summer holiday season, and so this week I’ve got some of the new books that might make for ideal reading as you hit your sunlounger this vacation season. And given the temperatures that we’ve had in the UK over the last few weeks it might even be cooler (or at least less humid) wherever it is you’re going on holiday. And unlike a normal Recommendsday post, these are books that I haven’t read but that I’m looking forward to, rather than stuff that I have read and recommend.
First up it’s the new Christina Lauren The Romance Revival which came out last week and which I haven’t read yet (obvs). Per the blurb: our heroine is Emery, who married Luca-the-Landscape-gardner three years ago in an impulsive moment. But now she’s consumed with her secret job – and telling herself Luca will understand once she can tell him about it. Until an accident takes him from her and now she’ll try everything to bring him back. Now this is the point where I can’t tell if this is going into necromancy or what. The cover doesn’t suggest the supernatural, but the blurb is talking about miracles of science and the wording of the aforementioned blurb seems very carefully chosen and so I think I could go either way on this one because at best it’s an amnesia plot and I have a mixed record on that front – and it’s possibly also paranormal/fantasy. I look forward to seeing what the reviews-with-spoilers say after release day! But this will undoubtedly work for some people – no matter whether or not it does for me!
Next up is Glow Job by Kristen Bailey which came out on Monday. This is about two people who meet at a chaotic wellness retreat on Ibiza – Chloe is there on holiday and Ben is trying to turn his uncle’s villa into a functioning retreat. It’s described as “for fans of Emily Henry, Beth O’Leary and Sophia Kinsella” which I am – although my cringe tolerance is sometimes too low for Sophie Kinsella so there’s a little question mark there for me but I know that I’m at the lower end of that particular scale. So I guess we have a bit of a theme here – books that I think will work for other people, but I’m less sure will work for me. This one is going to be in Kindle Unlimited when it comes out so there’s a low barrier to entry for those who are members.
Out next Thursday is the new novel from Jeevani Charika – The Wedding Planner’s Guide to Stealing the Bride which is also described as for fans of Emily Henry (and Chloe Liese among others) and I am usually a big fan of Charika so I am optimistic. Kalpana is a romance author due to marry Marcus, a prize-winning literary author. Sampat is their wedding planner – skilled at working out what couples want from their big day. But this couple has very different ideas about their wedding – Marcus wants a traditional wedding in Sri Lanka, but Kalpana’s the third generation of her family born in the UK and doesn’t feel like that that’s her tradition. I can’t wait to read this – I’m going to try and get to it asap.
And of course I’ve already read a bunch of books that could be read on a sunlounger this year – including The Paris Match and Dolly All the Time which are romances, as well as The Shampoo Effect which isn’t but is really, really good.
A rollercoaster week in many ways, ending late on Sunday night with extra time in the World Cup Final and me rereading a Dimsie book instead of something new. Who knows what I’ll write about tomorrow given that the two NetGalley books that I finished aren’t out for months, and there are a lot of later in series on the list too. Oh well, I’m sure it will come to me…
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 