Category: reviews

Book of the Week, books, new releases

Book of the Week: How to End a Love Story

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I said yesterday that I didn’t know what I was going to write about today, and it took a lot of thinking about because there wasn’t a lot of options on the life without breaking some of my own rules, but when it comes down to it, I had the most to say about this one, because I have Thoughts. Lots of thoughts!

Helen is a successful young adult author whose trilogy is about to be turned into a TV series. She’s negotiated herself a place in the writers room, but it turns out that also in the room is Grant. Grant went to high school with Helen and they are bound together by a “tragic accident” – that’s the blurb’s choice of words, not mine. But as they work together, sparks start to fly between them and maybe they might be the key to each others future?

I said on Thursday when I wrote about this for release week that I wasn’t sure if Helen and Grant’s shared past was some thing that they would – or should- be able to get past, and I absolutely stand by that. If the event in their past was almost anything else, I think it would be ok, but this specific issue felt unfixable. And I’ll put the issue at the bottom if you really want the spoiler. Now that aside, it’s a great read – Grant is a charismatic leading man who stays charming without veering into insufferable. It’s also fun watching Helen find her feet in Los Angeles and build a life for herself. They are a good couple in every way, except for that one thing. And other people’s views on that may vary.

This is Yulin Kuang’s debut and there is lots about it that I did like, so I will be looking out for whatever she writes next, as well as those Emily Henry adaptations that she is working on.

My copy of How to End a Love Story came from Netgalley but it’s available now on Kindle, Kobo and as an actual book.

Happy Reading!

The tragic past is that Helen’s sister killed herself by stepping in front of Grant’s car.

Book of the Week, cozy crime, new releases

Book of the Week: The Potting Shed Murder

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I’m going fora new murder mystery novel this week – new as in not out until Thursday, so for once I’m ahead of the game. Mark your calendars, it’s not an April fool (that was yesterday!) and it may not happen again this year!

Daphne sends her family have left London behind and moved to Norfolk. Their new home is a a historic farmhouse in a seemingly idyllic village that even has a name to match – Pudding Corner. But when the primary school headteacher is found dead, Daphne realises that all is not what it seems. Daphne gets even more involved when one of her new friends is implicated – but Mr Papplewick was a on the verge of retirement after a career spent in the village – could some one from his past want him dead, or is it one of the other parents at the school?

I really enjoyed the setting and the characters, but I will avoid that I had the murderer pegged pretty early on, but I read a lot of murder mysteries and this is a debut. It sounds like they’re setting up for a series. So as I liked the premise so much, I will definitely comeback for more if more is offered to me. This is written by Paula Sutton, aka Instagram‘s Hill House Vintage and as well as the murder mystery this also has dollops of her vintage style. This has blurb comparisons to Richard Osman and Richard Coles and I think that’s pretty fair, but also some of the American cozies themed around hobbies and handicrafts.

My copy came from NetGalley, but is out on Thursday so you have a few days left to preorder a physical copy, kindle or kobo edition. As it’s not out yet and it’s a debut novel I V have no idea how easy it will be to get in the shops, but I will keep an eye out for it.

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, books, mystery, new releases

Book of the Week: Knife Skills for Beginners

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I mentioned this on release day the other week, but I really did enjoy it and the list was short last week, so here we are…

When Paul Delamare’s old friend Christian inveigles him into teaching a course at a Belgravia cookery school in his place, he doesn’t expect to end up as the prime suspect in a murder investigation. But that’s what happens when after the first night of the course a body is discovered. And of course it doesn’t help that Paul taught a knife skills class in the first day and everyone knows that chefs are short tempered don’t they? Except that Paul’s pretty sure there are some people with secrets among the people at the school and that they had much better motive and opportunity than he did. And as the course continues alongside the murder investigation, he tries to solve the crime and avoid being arrested for murder himself.

I really liked this. I was hoping it would be good and fun, and it actually exceeded my expectations. And a lot of that is because Paul is a much more interesting character than you expect from the blurb so it makes a change from the usual cozy-crime sleuths. The actual murder mystery plot is also good and plenty twisty enough for me although I’ll admit to having some doubts about the solution. This is written by a cookery writer so it has recipes as well as the murder and .I really liked them too – I know a lot of American mysteries have recipes but they’re often not ones I actually want to cook and of course the measurements are all wrong (how much butter is a stick anyone?) but with these ones I did think “oh that sounds nice”. I hope there is a sequel – there was certainly enough left hanging when it comes to Paul’s life to sustain another book with him at the centre…

My copy came from NetGalley, but as you can see from the photo it’s out in the shops now and should be fairly easy to get hold of in hard copy as well as on Kindle or Kobo.

Happy Reading!

books, new releases, reviews

Bonus review: A Death in Diamonds

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Instead of a series post this week – and because it came out yesterday and I read it the other week, today I’m doing a quick review of the new Her Majesty The Queen Investigates mystery – because even though it’s the fourth in the series it can absolutely be read standalone. And that’s because this time it’s entirely set in the past. It’s 1957 and the Queen is still adjusting to being in charge, and Britain is still adapting to the post war, post colonial world. Then two bodies turn up on Chelsea and there’s a connection to the household. So of course she takes an interest and tries to find out what happened. This time she’s helped by a young secretary, working at the palace after an interesting war and busy trying to deal with the ‘men in moustaches’.

I said in one of my earlier posts about this series that I wondered how this series would carry on – and maybe this is the answer – going back and doing more historical-set mysteries. Because this was pretty good. There is plenty of palace manoeuvring along side the mystery and it keeps you reading to find out what happens there as well as who did the crime. Fingers crossed there’s more where this came from.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Book of the Week, books, new releases

Book of the Week: The Queen of Poisons

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As I mentioned yesterday, lots of rereading on last week’s list, so options for BotW were somewhat limited – and this is a bit of a rule breaker again because it’s the third in the series. But hey, what can you do.

When the mayor of Marlow drops dead in a council meeting, one of the Marlow Murder club is actually a witness. Suzie’s sitting in the gallery of the planning meeting when Geoffrey Lushington collapses. And not just that – this time the police are using Judith, Becks and Susie as civilian advisors from the start so they don’t have to guess about the details of the investigation. But the mayor seems like a nice guy – who would want to kill him?

These fit squarely into the wave of mysteries that have popped up in the wake of the success of the Thursday Murder Club. I mean it’s even got murder club in the title! But what makes the Marlow lot different is that it’s written by Robert Thorogood who is the creator of the TV series Death in Paradise and who had already written four novels based on that series before he started with Judith, Suze and Becks. I think they’re more straightforward cozy crimes than the Osman’s are, but they’re fun and easy to read and not too dark. Plus they’re set in a place that I used to know fairly well and that’s always fun.

I realise that this is more a review of the series in general than the book, but I can’t say much more about the murder plot without giving too much away (although I found the solution this time less satisfying than the previous ones) and I can’t say too much about what’s going on alongside the murder without giving too much away about the previous books in the series. But I do think you could read this without having read any of the others and not feel like you’ve missed out too much.

My copy came from NetGalley but this came out in hardback ten days or so ago and I think it’ll be fairly easy to find in the shops – the others certainly have been. And of course it’s in Kindle and Kobo. There is a TV adaptation of the first book coming soon as well so if you’re a read the books before you watch the series person, now is your chance.

Happy Reading.

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!

books, new releases, Series I love

Series I love again: Blessings

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I know. I’ve already written about Beverly Jenkins Blessings series more than once, but the latest book in the series came out here this week – after a gap of three and a half years so how could I not!

You can find my first post about the people of Henry Adams here, but the basic plot is that when she divorces her rich but cheating husband, Bernadine Brown uses part of her divorce settlement to buy a historically black town in Kansas on eBay. Over the course of the series you can see Henry Adams come back to life and flourish. There’s a regular cast of characters who cover multiple generations, there’s always a romantic element – although it’s not always the main focus – as well as whatever is happening in the town. It’s strongly influenced by faith – after her divorce Bernadine wants God to tell her what her purpose should be after being so fortunate as to get so much money – and buying the town is what she feels that he wants her to do. And the latest in the series is mostly focusing on Reverend Paula and the new guy in town.

I realise I’ve got this far without really talking about the narrative structure – which is that it moves around from character to character looking at the different strands of the story. Its a bit like Tales of the City – although Blessings isn’t written to be read in episodes and the overarching plot is more connected together than TotC tends to be.

Anyway, A Christmas to Remember came out this week, I had it pre-ordered and had finished it within two days despite all my efforts at moderation (and it would have been less except that I had to work and also had theatre tickets). Last week I mentioned Sweet Mercies and if you’ve read that or Small Miracles, the first book about the Sisters of St Philomena, this has lots of similar vibes – although those have less romance than these do and maybe a bit more God. Or at least a different way of dealing with God. And the narrative moves around in a similar way.

Ms Bev writes brilliant historical romances as well – I’ve written about a couple of them – so there’s plenty to go at in her back catalogue if you read one of these and like it.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Book of the Week, books, new releases

Book of the Week: We Could Be So Good

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This week’s BotW is one of the books that I picked up on my buying spree while writing last week’s Kindle Offers and that I couldn’t help but read pretty much straightaway (within a week counts as straightaway for me) because it has a pretty cover and it was sitting there on my Kindle and Cat Sebastian is just so reliably good.

This is set in the world of newspapers in New York in the late 1950s. Nick is from the rough end of Brooklyn and has gone into journalism despite the disapproval of his family. Andy’s dad owns the paper and has sent him to work in the newsroom as part of the process of finding out how the business works. The two of them shouldn’t get on, and yet they do and soon they’re friends. Except that Nick really wishes it wasn’t just friends, but he knows that that’s all that’s possible. Isn’t it?

This is a very sweet slow burn love story. But its also low on angst and despite the 1950s setting you don’t need to worry too much about Bad Things Happening to characters because they’re gay. And you can argue about whether or not that is realistic or not, but I chose to believe that happy endings were possible and I think Cat Sebastian has done a really good job of figuring out a scenario where Nick and Alex can have one. I spent most of my time reading this with a big soppy smile on my face and really that’s what I needed. It’s sweet and romantic and it has a couple at the centre of it who get each other and want to make each others lives better in little ways and big ones. They’re both just happier when the other person is around them, preferably around them and happy. And there’s a really cute bit with a Cat. Perfect reading when you need a happy ending to make your day better.

I can see some people on Goodreads complaining about the fact that it’s written in the third person present, but honestly that bothered me so little that I didn’t even notice before I saw the reviews mentioning it. But to be honest, it’s very rare that the Point of View of a book bothers me – unless it’s second person, or the POV is inconsistent in some way. I can’t help that I’m not fussy like that!

As I mentioned at the top, I bought my copy on Kindle because it’s on offer at the moment for 99p, and the good news is it’s on offer on Kobo too. You’re welcome. I’m super pleased it’s on offer at the moment because it only came out in June and my experience with Cat Sebastian is that it’s unusual for her books to be at discount this quickly. So snap it up while you can and thank me later.

Happy Reading!

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.

Book of the Week, books, new releases

Book of the Week: Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other

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Say hello to a BotW that’s actually featuring on its publication day! Make a note, it doesn’t happen very often!

Brynn is just finishing her first week in a prime new breakfast TV job when a hot mic moment threatens to derail everything she has worked for. The small town girl persona that she and the network have crafted for her is derailed when she disparages her home town to her cohost – not knowing that the ad break is over. Her only route to redemption is to head back to that small town and try and make amends. Her host in Adelaide Springs is newcomer (well it’s all relative) Sebastian, a former superstar reporter who disappeared from the journalistic world in mysterious circumstances. Not that Brynn knows that. It’s hate at first sight. Or is it?

The fact that the cover says “A Love Story” on it should give you the clue that it’s not, and it’s a full on grumpy-sunshine enemies to lovers sort of thing. I read it in about 36 hours and although the journalist in me had a few issues with it, they mostly didn’t bother me at the time! I also love a small town romance – especially when they feature someone returning after a long period away so if any of that floats your boat usually then this might be a good one to try. I haven’t read any of Bethany Turner’s previous novels but based on this I would happily read more if they came my way.

My copy of Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other came via NetGalley, but it’s out now in all the usual formats – Kindle, Kobo and hard copy. As it’s only out today, I have no idea how easy it will be to find in stores, but you know me well enough to know that I’ll report back if I spot it!

Happy Reading!