Category: books

books

Books in the Wild: New Releases in the real world

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I had a slight quest around the central London bookshops this week looking for something specific and although I didn’t find it, I did find several books that I’ve written about here – which I can now attest are actually gettable in stores!

Firstly let’s start with this week’s BotW, Happy Place, proudly in hardback and in a nice prominent spot in Waterstones the day after release day.

Next up, this table display in Foyles where I have read – or have waiting to read really quite a lot. After writing about Aunty Lee yesterday, I really need to read Vera Wong… to see if it gives me the same older lady charm I got from that. Then there is Killers of a Certain Age, getting its second mention of the week, the latest SJ Bennet, Magpie Murders which as I mentioned the other day is on TV at the moment, The Three Dahlias which is one of my favourites so far this year and came out in paperback this week and finally A Fatal Crossing which I wrote about last year.

And finally the romance offer table where I valiantly tried to find two books to buy. When I’m doing buy one get one half price I like to do it as one book I know I’ll like (or at least by an author I have liked previously) and then take a chance on something or someone new with the other one. But I’ve already read the Susanna Hoffs and I have the Megan Clawson and the Alexis Daria on the kindle. I’m about three Marian Keyes behind at this point so I can’t buy more before I’ve caught up and everything I’ve read about Colleen Hoover suggests that she is Not For Me so I couldn’t really justify anything – this time at least!

Happy Saturday everyone!

Book previews, books

Out this week: new T J Klune

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I’ve already written about one book out this week, but actually it’s a busy week for it. And among them is a new one from T J Klune who wrote The House in the Cerulean Sea which I loved a few years back. This one is called In the Lives of Puppets and is a Pinocchio retelling. I’ve read a fair few fairytale and folktale retelling a over the years but I’m not sure I’ve ever done Pinocchio – or at least I can’t remember that I have so this is definitely intriguing!

Book of the Week, books, new releases

Book of the Week: Happy Place

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It’s the last week of April and I’m bang on time with a review for once – because Happy Place is actually out today. Astonishing work from me for once!

Emily Henry’s new novel is about Harriet and Wyn, who are on a weeklong summer holiday with their group of friends who don’t know that they broke up five months earlier. They’ve all been going to Sabrina’s dad’s cottage in Maine since they were students but now he’s decided to sell it they’re there for a last hurrah and neither Harry or Wyn can bring themselves to spoil it by telling everyone that they’ve broken up – especially as the others all call them the perfect couple. But as the days pass it’s clearer and clearer that they’re not over each other and pretending they’re still a couple is not helping any of it at all…

This is definitely at the women’s fiction end of the romance genre – yes, it follows the rules but it’s actually a lot about Harriet herself and her own personal growth as well as about her relationship with Wyn. It also made me cry more than once, so there’s that – Him Indoors got quite worried about me sniffling away at the end of the sofa – but by the end of the book it was worth it, even if I had a couple of minor quibbles along the way that mean I didn’t like it quite as much as I liked Book Lovers, but that was a high bar to reach!

You’re going to be able to get this everywhere – and it’s even got a nice coordinating/matching cover to the other three Emily Henry Romances. You can get it on Kindle or Kobo here and I’m expected the physical copy to be on the tables in all the bookshops, the airports and probably the supermarket too.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: April 17 – April 23

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It’s starting to feel very spring-like. Of course now I’ve said that the weather will probably teach me a lesson, but this week I’ve been wandering around at times without a coat and thinking about getting some of the more summery outfits out. In book terms, I was away for a couple of nights last week so haven’t managed to read much more of the Michael Cragg, so the ongoing list has grown again, but apart from that it was a good week of reading.

Read:

Singing in the Shrouds by Ngaio Marsh

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L Sayers

Killer Pancake by Diane Mott Davidson

The Hollow Crown by Dan Jones

Strong Poison by Dorothy L Sayers

The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams

Premeditated Mortar by Kate Carlisle

Happy Place by Emily Henry

Started:

Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny

The Frangipani Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu

Still reading:

The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes by Kate Strasdin*

Shadows of London by Andrew Taylor*

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

Reach for the Stars by Michael Cragg

One new arrival – but it was a gift not a purchase and it was also the reason I managed to resist in Daunt – I needed the space for it in my suitcase! But that was it last week. Go me.

Bonus photo: a lamb frolicking. I said it was starting to feel like spring!

*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

Books in the Wild: Daunt Books Cheapside

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I have spent a lot of time in bookshops recently, but mostly ones I’ve already written about relatively recently. But this week I was staying near St Paul’s, so it gave me the chance to have a wander around a smaller (it’s relative – it’s still bigger than the Waterstones nearest to my house!) bookshop than the West End ones.

What I like about Daunt Books is that they show you different books on their big main displays – it’s not a best sellers chart or six new releases facing outwards, it’s a lot of books, some you’ll have heard of, some you might not have. So here on New Fiction we have Games and Rituals (and this was actually another case where it was out before it’s official release date) but most of the rest of the stuff that’s on here is stuff that I haven’t come across before – albeit some of it by authors that I have heard of.

I also spent a fair bit of time at the New Biography display – obviously I have the Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes, the Janette McCurdy and the Elizabeth Taylor, and I bought Dad the Terry Pratchett biography for Christmas so I can get my hands on that if/when I feel mentally prepared to read it, but The Empress of the Nile looked really interesting, as does the Jean Rhys, Mary and Mr Elliot, Shy and Mr B. Only the fact that I didn’t have enough space in my suitcase stopped me from buying several of them.

I own a few more from the next shelf across as well – I’ve read the Edward Enninful, the Lucy Worsley is waiting on the pile and I’ve borrowed the Anne Glenconner from mum. I do quite fancy the Noel Coward – especially after Private Lives the other week – but it was very, very chunky. I’m half tempted by Between Friends, because I do wonder if I’ve grown any and matured since my, shall we say, visceral dislike of Testament of Youth back when I read it at 17, so maybe the letters between Vera Brittain and Winifred Holtby might be a way of dipping my toes back in that water, but a hard back is a lot to spend to see if I’ve changed my mind at all!

And finally, I spotted a new British Library Crime Classic in the wild – I’ve read a few John Dickson Carrs now and this is definitely going on the list, for just as soon as I’ve got the pile down a little. And because this Daunt shelves all fiction together (except for fantasy) it’s on a shelf a few books down from The Yonahlossee Riding School for Girls which I don’t think I’ve seen in the wild since I borrowed it from the library about 6 years ago!

Have a great Saturday everyone and go buy a book!

books, romance, series

Romance series: Cowboys of California

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Given my focus on Rich People Problems this week, I thought I’d do a rich people romance series this week, just because I could. It just felt like a nice piece of synergy – although it’s a shorter than usual post because I’ve already written about two of the three of the series at length!

So the three books in Rebekah Weatherspoon’s Cowboys of California series feature three brothers whose family own a luxury dude ranch in California. They’re also fairytale re-tellings: A Cowboy to Remember is Sleeping Beauty, If the Boot Fits is Cinderella and A Thorn in the Saddle is Beauty and the Beast. As I said at the top I’ve written a bit about all of these before – the first and the last were BotWs when they came out, and the middle book was in a Romance on Ranches post, so there’s more detail on all the plots here, but basically these are smart and fun – and so smart about the fairy tale retelling angle that I sort of didn’t realise they were doing it until I read the blurbs.

The reason I wanted to feature them today is because of those paralels with the rich people problems books – because they’re about people falling in love in a low-key, money is no object, no-one’s future is in peril sort of way. There is a little bit of suspense-y peril in the final book, but nowhere near the peril in Weatherspoon’s romantic suspense series.

If you’re in the UK, the easiest way of getting hold of these is going to be on ebook – this is the link to the Kindle series page, here is the Kobo equivalent. The ebook prices do go up and down – I read two from the library but bought the other on kindle for under £1, so if you’re in the market for them and not in a rush, add them to however you run your watch list for book prices. If you’re in the US, they were definitely in paperback there, but I don’t know what the situation is in terms of getting hold of them at the moment as they came out during the pandemic and I don’t know how long physical books are staying in print in the bookstores these days.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Book previews, books

Out this Week: New Katherine Heiny

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Despite the fact that it’s tempting fate, given what happened with Pineapple Street last week and then BotW, I’m going to take a chance on mentioning that the new Katherine Heiny book is out today – and it’s a collection of short stories. Why am I taking this risk? Well given that Early Morning Riser and Standard Deviation have both featured on the blog and I’ve recommended and loaned them out, it feels logical that I should mention a new book from her. Single, Carefree, Mellow which was her first book was also a short story collection, which I read after I had read and loved Standard Deviation. Looking back at my goodreads reviews, I’ve definitely preferred Heiny’s novels so far so I’m looking forward to seeing how this compares and if her short story style has evolved after two novels.

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: April 10 – April 16

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Well. Two nights away from home off the back of a bank holiday Monday, and today’s list is long, but doesn’t feature any of the long runners, which is a it of a fail. However I am relatively up to date with this month’s NetGalley releases, so that should count for something right? It does mean I’m in a bit of a pickle about what I write about tomorrow, because there is a clear front runner but, well, you’ll see tomorrow. Apologies in advance…

Read:

Shot Through the Hearth by Kate Carlisle

If Only You by Chloe Liese*

Off With His Head by Ngaio Marsh

Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson*

Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake

Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail by Ashley Herring Blake

A Thief in the Night by K J Charles

This Bird Has Flown by Susanna Hoffs

Started:

Reach for the Stars by Michael Cragg

Killer Pancake by Diane Mott Davidson

Still reading:

The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes by Kate Strasdin*

Shadows of London by Andrew Taylor*

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

Well you’ve seen three purchases in Books Incoming and there was also one kindle – Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail. I guess it could have been worse?!

Bonus photo: at the Reach for the Stars book event on Thursday night. Very exciting times.

*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, The pile

Books Incoming: mid-April edition

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Well, the pile was smaller for most of the month and then, well, suddenly it got a bit bigger. We’re missing one too – as I got my copy of Romantic Comedy delivered to the parents and I haven’t collected it yet. So that may yet appear in next month’s picture. Anyway, we have two more Diane Mott Davidsons as I continue to fill in the gaps around the ones that are available on Kindle. My sister and I both read about Reach for the Stars and said we had to have it but, couldn’t justify paying hardback prices, except this week there was an event for it at Foyles and so… I went. And I told you I had order This Bird Has Flown for click and collect in this weeks Week In Books – I picked it up Monday and started it immediately, which would have been fine as I had Waterstones stamps to spend on it, except I also bought the cozy crime. Ooops. Never mind.

books, mystery, series, Thriller

Mystery Series: Charlotte Holmes

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This isn’t the first time I’ve written a series post about a Sherlock Holmes related series – I think this is the third now, and that’s only the tip of the Sherlockian universe. But this time it’s a young adult series set in a New England boarding school so you can see that this might have appealed to me!

Yes I only have three of the four books!

So in the first in the series, A Study in Charlotte, we mean Jamie Watson who has just got a rugby scholarship to a Connecticut prep school. He’s not massively keen on the idea – it’s too close to his estranged father but it’s also where Charlotte Holmes goes to school. She’s a descendent of Sherlock and Jamie would has spent his whole life trying to play down (or ignore) his connection to the the famous detective’s chronicler so the last thing he needs is for the two of them to be in the same place. But after a student dies at the school, the two of them are being set up to take the fall so they start working together to find the real culprit.

There are four books in the series and the first book is the most standalone of all of them – and when I first read it I was expecting any sequels to be self contained mysteries but the other three are very much interconnected. Charlotte Holmes is a Holmes reimagined, Mary Russell is a Holmes continuation and Brittany Cavallaro is doing Holmes the new generation – in a world where Sherlock’s adventures with Watson are famous and have left a legacy (and a fortune) for his descendants.

The pace of each novel tends to start of slowly and then pick up pace as the mysteries start to hurtle towards their conclusions. The final book is a little different because it’s less thriller, more mystery but it is a satisfying end to the series. I read the first in the series when I was in the US when the first one was the only one available and read the series across a period of years as they became available which was actually slightly complicated in the UK as they didn’t become available in paperback straightaway and they are not on in Kindle in the UK. They’re still a little tricky to get hold of if you’re here but hopefully not entirely impossible.

Have a great weekend everyone.