Category: Recommendsday

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Recommendsday: January Kindle Offers

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Hello! It’s that time of the month again, hide your wallets because I’m back with a stack of Kindle offers and if you can resist all of them you’re a better person than I am! I’m not sure this month is quite as good as last month, but there were still a few interesting things at prices to tempt.

I’ve recommended Ali Hazelwood’s adult romances a couple of times, but her YA debut is 99p this month – so if you want a story about chess rivals, then maybe Check & Mate is what you need this January. The sequel to Nita Prose’s The Maid is out in the UK in about a week now, so that probably explains why the original story about Molly the Maid is 99p at the moment.

One of the Taylor Jenkins Reid novels from before she went massive is on offer this month – I haven’t read After I Do (yet!) but it’s got a fairly good average on Goodreads for what that’s worth (and for older books it tends to be worth more than the newer ones). Another older book on offer is Amor Towles Rules of Civility, which I read back in 2016 and really, really liked it – if you’ve read his newer stuff but not this, then go and read this about a woman trying to make it in Jazz-age New York.

The discount Terry Pratchett is The Light Fantastic at £1.99. If you’re adding to your Georgette Heyer collection, it’s the Gothicky and creepy Cousin Kate at 99p this month, with Devil’s Cub and a couple of others at £1.99. As I’ve said a couple of times now, Peter Wimsey (and Heyer actually) are emerging from copyright restrictions so there are a lot of very cheap editions of some of the books available now, but I can’t vouch for the quality of them. However, The Nine Tailors is the “proper” edition of a Peter Wimsey that is 99p this January. I’m on a bit of an Agatha Christie kick at the moment as well, and there’s a similar issue with hers – I’m deeply tempted by 49p French editions of some of her Poirot novels, but slightly dubious if the translations will be ok. Anyway, in English one of her non-series books The Sittaford Mystery is 99p, as are a lot of her short stories – although I’m not sure how you work out what are in the various anthologies and what aren’t.

I bought a couple of books while writing this (what’s new!) but also added a few more to the Kindle Unlimited list. All I need to do now is finish some of the other KU books I have borrowed…

Happy Reading!

books, Recommendsday

Recommendsday: Twixtmas reading

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I’m already back at work, but as I’m still trying valiantly to cling to the Christmas spirit, for today’s recommendsday here’s what I’ll be reading (or listening to) between now and the end of the year – once I’ve got my fifty states challenge finished (why are West Virginia and the Dakotas always so hard?) and some ideas for you too.

If you turn on the TV in the afternoon at this time of year, chances are you’ll stumble across a movie version of an Agatha Christie novel – Death on the Nile was on on Christmas Day, Mirror Cracked this afternoon and Murder on the Orient Express is coming up too in the next day or too. And the novels make a pretty good choice for this time of year too – there are some Christmas-set stories, but my pick is always Orient Express – something about being stuck in a snow drift just makes it Christmassy to me.

You also could do worse than a Christmas Meg Langslow, the only reason I haven’t read the new one yet is because I haven’t read the summer one yet because the kindle edition is eye wateringly expensive and I’ve even reading them in order from the very start and I refuse to change that now after more than thirty books! There’s also a Christmas book in Jenn McKinlay’s Cupcake Bakery series that came out this autumn that I can’t read yet because: Reading in order and a book or two behind, but if you’re not bothered about reading in order they’re a pretty reliable series.

In fact most of my favourite series have Christmas books – I’ve mentioned most of them ad nausem (Royal Spyness, Daisy Dalrymple, Phryne Fisher etc) but I might actually reread one of my favourite Drina books this year – ballet at Christmas is such a thing and in Drina Dances Again she’s in Edinburgh, playing Little Clara in the Nutcracker (although not at Christmas!) and it’s a pivotal moment in the series for reasons that are a bit spoilery. If I want a boarding school story, the Chalet School series is full of Christmas plays – I usually pick one from the early days of the series so maybe I’ll go later this year.

Once I’ve got the last few states ticked off my 50 states challenge I’m planning on reading another of the Christmas stories from the British Library Crime Classics series – I think I have The Christmas Egg on the actual to-read shelf but there’s bound to be one in Kindle Unlimited too.

And finally, it’s not strictly festive, but I’ve been listening to the Radio 4 serialisation of Miss Buncle’s Book on BBC Sounds this week, and it’s just such a lovely cozy book, if you’ve never read it before, this time of year would be perfect to discover it for the first time. You can find my review of the trilogy here.

Happy Wednesday everyone (yes, it’s Wednesday!)

books, Recommendsday

Recommendsday: Not New Festive Books

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It’s starting to feel proper Christmassy now, so it’s time for the festive reading recommendations. And I’ve broken it down into two again this year – the new releases for Christmas 2023 and books from previous years that I’ve read this year.

So lets start with Jeevanki Charika’s Picture Perfect, which has a heroine who needs to find her inspiration as a photographer again after a bad break up and a hero who needs someone to take on a group holiday to make his ex jealous and try to win her back. This is a fun and festive (New Year not Christmas!) fake relationship romance that sees the two characters become better versions of themselves as they pretend to be in a relationship. I found Vimal’s perspective to be quite stressful to read because of his issues with reading social cues (I was going to say social anxiety but I’m not quite sure that is quite what it is) but I really liked Niro as a character and I loved her passion for photography and the way that pretending to be Vimal’s girlfriend gave her the confidence to stand up for him and to come out of her shell. You might remember that Charika’s previous book Playing for Love was a BotW in 2022 and this has characters in common with that.

I did a series post about Susan Mallery’s Happily Inc series a couple of weeks back, and Home Sweet Christmas this is a twin storyline Christmas romance set in another one of Mallery’s quirky small towns – this time Wishing Tree, the Christmas themed-town which is frankly bonkers, but still seems to work some how. One storyline has Camryn, who has moved back to the town that she grew up after the death of her mum and is newly responsible for her younger half sisters and the family’s gift wrapping business (just go with it). She’s trying to work out what her life and future looks like now and whether she wants to risk a relationship again. She starts a definitely temporary relationship with Jake, whose family own the local resort. The other has River, new to town and trying to find her place and put down some roots. Her friends persuade her to put her name in the hat for the town’s Snow Queen – and soon she’s doing events with Dylan, a hot local carpenter. Some of this really worked for me, but Jake’s mom crossed the boundary from strangely well informed and well placed and into manipulative and meddling and it really messed with my enjoyment of the rest of the book. I think there was probably too much plot on each story for them to both go into one book, but it was still a fun, easy Christmas read.

And finally let’s go for some classic crime, with another British Library Crime Classic holiday collection – this time A Surprise for Christmas. It’s got G K Chesterton, Ngaio Marsh and Margery Allingham along with several other names you might recognise from other BLCC books. I’m not usually a big short story reader, but at Christmas I do quite like them, and it’s a nice way to find new authors to watch out for in the BLCC collection – I think that’s how I found Christiana Brand, but I wouldn’t swear to that.

Anyway, that’s your lot, happy festive reading!

books on offer, Recommendsday

Recommendsday: December Kindle Offers

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I’m messing with the schedule a bit this month to get all the Christmas recommendations in in good time along with the regular features, so today in a friday twist, it’s the December Kindle offers!

Let’s start with the Christmas books on offer – like Christina Lauren’s Groundhog-Christmas-day romance In a Holidaze, and Sweet Mercies – which only came out a few weeks back. Much much older, but still my favourite Trisha Ashely, A Winters Tale is on offer too.

Moving on, and recent BotW To Swoon and to Spar is 99p as is the Neighbor Favor, which was a pick back in July. Before Your Memory Fades, the third book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series is 99p – and was one of my purchases while writing this post!

One of this years big book adaptations was Daisy Jones and the Six and the book is on offer again this month – reminding me that I still need to watch the streaming series. Maybe a dose of California sunshine is what I need for Christmas viewing? Also adapted this year, and also one I haven’t watched yet, is Red, White and Royal Blue which seems to be basically 99p all the time at the moment, which makes a change from when it was new and it was really, really expensive on Kindle! Also now a movie is the Judy Blume classic Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret, which I first read when I was about 10 years old.

Richard Coles’ second Canon Clement A Death in the Parish is 99p as is Katy Watson’s The Three Dahlias, which as you know I love, The Windsor Knot, if you want to try the HM the Queen Investigates series, Robin Stevens’ Mistletoe and Murder from the Wells and Wong middle grade series, and T J Klune’s Under the Whispering Door. On the historical fiction front, Gill Horby’s Godmersham Park and Elizabeth Macneal’s The Doll Factory are 99p, as is Maggie Shipstead’s Great Circle, if you want a really epic read for this Christmas season.

This months’ Terry Pratchett is Small Gods, for £1.99 you can read about competitive religion on the Disc – perfect as we’re coming up for a major religious holiday… The 99p Georgette Heyer is The Tollgate, which is one of I haven’t reread in a while, so I might go back for again now! The Julia Quinn is What Happens in London, which was actually the first book of hers I bought, more than a decade ago, in Waterstones Southend!

Enjoy!

Recommendsday

Recommendsday: November Quick Reviews

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Well as you could probably see from the lists it was a bit of a re-read heavy month last month, but I’ve still got a couple of books to tell you about in the quick reviews before I go full on Christmas for the rest of December..

Luke and Billy Finally Get a Clue by Cat Sebastian

Cat Sebastian’s latest novella is a sports one and came out just as the baseball season was ending at the start of October. Luke and Billy have been team mates for years, but as the story opens Billy is worried sick about Luke who has gone awol after suffering a concussion during a game. But then Luke turns up at Billy’s cabin in the mountains and a storm rolls in trapping them there together. This is 100 pages of low peril romance as two people figure out that they’re both into each other. I wanted it to be longer, but that’s about my only complaint!

Captain Marvel, Vol 1: Higher, Further, Faster, More by Kelly Sue DeConnick et al

Making a rare foray into superhero comics, I read a Captain Marvel this month because it was in Kindle Unlimited and obviously there’s been another film featuring Captain Marvel come out recently and she’s on of the Marvel Universe that I know very little about. This is actually nearly ten years old (!) and sees Captain Marvel leave earth to try and return an alien woman to her home world and finding herself in the middle of the conflict with the Galactic Alliance. Not going to lie, I felt like I hadn’t read enough other Marvel comics to really understand all of the background to this – but the Guardians of the Galaxy showed up so that gave me enough context to be going along with. I did love the art though.

Fancy Meeting You Here by Julie Tieu

Cover of Fancy Meeting You Here

And finally, I gave this a mention in release week so I wanted to circle back around with an update now I’ve read it. And this has a people pleaser florist heroine who is basically incapable of saying no and setting boundaries with her friends and who ends up biting off way more than she can chew, and a hero who is her best friend’s brother and also a caterer. As you might be able to tell from that first sentence, I got a little annoyed that Elise was letting her friends put so much on her – and that they didn’t notice how over stretched she was – but the romance was actually pretty fun. I just wish people would have actual conversations sometimes because it would make life so much easier. But then it would also take away a lot of plot in books…

And that’s your lot, but a quick reminder before I go of the Books of the Month in November – which were Next Door Nemesis, Silver Lady, Devil in Winter and Somebody at the Door.

Happy Humpday!

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Reccomendsday: Cold Weather Reading

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It’s turned terribly cold here this week. The car is frozen in the mornings when I head for the station and I’ve caved in and cracked out the big coat. So today my recommendations are books ideal for reading while wrapped in a blanket, maybe in front of a fire, ignoring the cold outside.

Is it cheating to start with Murder on the Orient Express? Because the train literally gets stuck in a snow drift on the night of the murder. It’s also one of my all time favourite murder mysteries for reasons that I can’t explain without spoiling the plot. And I know it’s nearly ninety years old and if you’ve only read one Agatha Christie it’s probably this one, but it’s so clever I don’t want to ruin it for any first timers even now!

A similar sort of age but completely different, Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca is creepy and atmospheric and for some reason just feels like a book to read as the nights are closing in and it gets dark early. Be grateful you don’t have a creepy house keeper watching your every move as the second Mrs de Winter discovers a few things her new husband hasn’t told her about.

And now for something much more recent, and a former Book of the Week back in 2019. Evvie Drake Starts Over was Linda Holmes’ debut novel and features a widowed older heroine and an injured baseball player in Maine. They have actual conversations, they seem to like each other and it’s just a big warm hug, despite the death in the backstory. Also a romance, but a very different end of the gene, I want to give a mention to Nora Roberts – I know sinner people like romantic suspense at this time of year, but I’m never a big romantic suspense reader, so I’m going for a straight up romance and The Next Always which features a heroine with kids, a bookstore and a possibly haunted hotel. Perfect for a rainy day and if you like it, it’s the first in the Inn at Boonsboro trilogy.

Now I know it has its issues, but there aren’t many books that have transported me to a world like Memoirs of a Geisha did. Arthur Golden’s novel is about the life of a young woman in Kyoto in the run up to the Second World War as she trains to become a Geisha. It’s much better than the movie was. I promise. Just writing this has made me want to read it again. And that’s your lot, i hope there’s something that appeals to you.

Happy humpday!

books, Recommendsday

Recommendsday: Books with Thanksgiving in them

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I was going to call this Thanksgiving books, but that’s actually not what this is about. It’s Thanksgiving in the US tomorrow, so today I’m talking about books that feature it somehow, somewhere. And not gonna lie, it was harder than I was expecting, but I did find some more books to read while I was writing this!

Steven Rowley’s The Editor featured in my Kennedy-adjacent books post – which means I should probably mention that today is also sixty years since JFK was assassinated in Dallas – and in it, when James is struggling to get the ending right, his editor – Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis suggests needs to spend more time with his mother, and that sends him home for Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, in Casey McQuiston’s Red, White and Royal Blue, the traditional Turkey pardoning ceremony plays a key role in the early stages of the romance between first son Alex and his royal crush Prince Henry.

Jackie Wong’s A Match Made for Thanksgiving is set at Canadian Thanksgiving which was a couple of weeks ago, but I’m not letting that stop me including it here! Any way our hero is Nick, whose parents and grandparents have invited blind dates for him and his siblings, and his brother’s date turns to be Nick’s latest one-night stand, Lily, who he just can’t get out of his head… I loved the nicking meddling family in this and, total bonus, it’s the first in a series of linked novellas.

Now I was convinced that I’d read loads of Thanksgiving-set cozy crimes, but when it came down to it, I really struggled to find them in my book lists but there is a Thanksgiving book in Kathi Daley’s Tj Jenson series. I haven’t read Thanksgiving in Paradise, which is the tenth and final book in the series, but I have read seven of the others, so I’m going to take a chance in it! Daley also has Thanksgiving books in her other series, but I haven’t read any of them to vouch for the series or the specific books! Likewise Leslie Meier also has a couple of thanksgiving books in her Lucy Stone series, but I’ve had a patchy record with them.

And that’s your lot! There isn’t a Thanksgiving Meg Langslow (yet!) – no matter how convinced I was that there was, but maybe I can wish it into being? I leave you with my favourite ever Thanksgiving content from the brilliant Addams Family Values:

Book of the Week, Book previews, books, books on offer, historical, new releases

Book of the Week: Silver Lady

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Back to historical romance this week – and this one isn’t actually out until next week, but I’ve already finished it, so I’m going with it today – sorry and all but you can at least preorder it if you like the sound of it.

Silver Lady is the first in a new series from Mary Jo Putney and is set in a lightly magical version of Regency Britain where some people are “gifted” – which means they have special skills that border on magic. Bran Tremayne is one of this – his powers of perception have made him an excellent investigator for the Home Office. But he finds himself drawn to Cornwall, where he was born before he was abandoned by his birth parents. When he is there he meets a mysterious woman who has had her memories suppressed. As she recovers her memories in his care, Bran discovers that Merryn is at the centre of a dangerous plot – can they survive the danger to get to a happy ending?

I mean it’s a romance novel, so I think you know the answer to that, but this is a fun read – it’s got some peril and adventure and the world building is pretty good – the “dangerous gifts” of the title are explained very well and naturally as part of the plot of the book . I’m not usually a lover of amnesia storylines, but this one makes sense within the framework that you’re given for the world and Merryn is less of a damsel in distress than I was expecting her to be. I’ve had a bit of a mixed record with Putney before, but I enjoyed this and will look out for the sequels when they come along.

Silver Lady is out next week – you can preorder it on Kindle and Kobo and if you’re in the US you should be able to get a paperback too.

Happy Reading!

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Recommendsday: More Enemies to Lovers romances

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It’s nearly two years since my original Enemies to Lovers Recommendsday, and I’ve read a load more since, so today I’m back with another batch!

Lets start with The Hating Game by Sally Thorne I loved Thorne’s Second First Impressions and this was her debut novel (now also a movie) which features two rival PAs at a publishing company. I have a few issues with it but in the end they actually weren’t about what I was expecting – which was that their work rivalry would push my buttons for unprofessional pranks, but it actually didn’t because they didn’t sabotage each other. Lucinda does freak out a lot though and that did get on my nerves a bit so your mileage may vary, so generally for me – not as good as Second First Impressions, but still fun and worth reading.

In Beach Read by Emily Henry, Augustus and January are maybe more misunderstood rivals than they are enemies, because he is a Serious Writer of Proper Fiction and she writes best selling romances. They’re spending the summer living next door to each other at the beach and in an attempt to tackle both of their writers blocks, they challenge each other to switch genres… Anyway, there are complicated families and a warning for parental deaths in the backstories, but this is still a delightful feel good romance where two people discover that they really like hanging around with each other and that being together makes their lives better. Swoony. Oh and Henry’s Book Lovers would also fit this genre too.

Ali Hazelwood’s Love Hypothesis got a mention in the last post on this topic, but her Love on the Brain also fits this trope – the heroine of that finds that the downside of her dream job at Nasa is that she has to work with her grad school arch-nemesis. It’s another teeny tiny heroine and Great Big Hero, but your mileage on that may be different to mine, which I think is coloured by the fact that I’m 5’10! I will never be tired of competency porn though, and Bee (and Levi) are very, very good at their jobs. I was expecting one strand of the plot to be A Bigger Thing in the resolution, but actually the whole of the end wrapped up very quickly – but it was very satisfying.

And before I wrap this up, I want to give a mention to Mia Sosa’s Worst Best Man which I did also touch on in my romances with weddings post in the summer but would also fit for this.

Enjoy!

books on offer, Recommendsday

Recommendsday: November Kindle Offers

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It’s only the 8th, but it’s already Kindle offer o’clock, because I did the quick reviews last Wednesday on the 1st. It always slightly throws me when this happens, but that’s because I’m a creature of habit and I don’t like change! Anyway, on with the offers.

And a lot of them are distinctly Christmassy – A Holly Jolly Ever After by Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy is brand new and is the second (of a planned three I think) books set in Christmas Notch – I read the first one last year and bought this one while writing this post! Lyssa Kay Adams‘ A Very Merry Bromance is also 99p, as is Trisha Ashley‘s The Magic of Christmas.

If you don’t want Christmas vibes yet, then Elissa Sussman‘s Once More With Feeling, one of my favourite books of the year is 99p, Jenny Colgan’s summer book from this year is on offer and The Summer Skies is the first with a fresh batch of characters too. And in excellent news for me personally, the latest Katherine Center Hello, Stranger is 99 – and I bought that one while writing this too! Also on offer is one of the new autumn romances that I keep seeing everywhere – Meryl Wilsner’s Cleat Cute. In other (relatively) new releases, the latest in Jodi Taylor’s Chronicles of St Mary’s book, The Good, The Bad and the History is 99p. Dying in the Wool, which is the first in Frances Brody’s Kate Shackleton series is 99p as well, as is Shady Hollow, the first in Juneau Black’s slightly weird cozy crime series where the characters are animals. Or are they?

I haven’t read this one, but Rhys Bowen’s latest World War Two-set novel (as opposed to her historical mystery series) is also on offer this month – it’s called The Paris Assignment and features a woman spying in France to try and avenge the death of her son.

This month’s Peter Wimsey is Gaudy Night, which is maybe edging towards my favourite at this point, even if it has probably the least Peter of any of them – and it’s notable because I know I own the kindle of Gaudy Night, but its still offering me the option to buy it so they must finally have updated the Kindle edition, which is probably a good thing as the one I have has slightly weird formatting. In other authors that I love, Curtis Sittenfeld‘s American Wife is 99p this month, as is Elizabeth Taylor’s Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont.

On the historical romance front, the Julia Quinn is On a Night Like This from the Smythe-Smith series and the novelisation that goes with the Queen Charlotte Netflix series. Tthe Georgette Heyer is The Corinthian – which is one of her hero helping a heroine running away stories. And one of the books that my Romance Facebook group always raves about, Lisa Kleypas’s Devil in Winter, is also 99p – I bought it because although I’ve read the follow up, Devil in Spring, I haven’t read the original and it’s meant to be a classic. One I have read and that I love (as you know) is the first in Sarah MacLean‘s Rules of Scoundrels series, A Rogue by Any Other Name, is 99p – and you should totally read it – check my Series I Love post for the reasons why!

And that’s your lot for this month – I hope this post hasn’t cost you as much money as it cost me

Happy Humpday!