Category: week in books

Book of the Week

Book of the Week: And Then There Was The One

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Happy Tuesday everyone and for this week’s post I have picked a light humorous romance that’s also a pastiche of Golden Age Crime novels. Which is obviously very much something in my wheelhouse.

Cover of And Then There Was The One

It’s the 1930s and Georgiana has become an accidental detective after a spate of murders in her cute Cotswold village. You’d think after four murders in a year they would have had enough death, but then the parish council chairman drops dead of a heart attack. Or at least that’s what the police say. Georgie isn’t so convinced though and writes to a famous London detective for help given that the village now has murder tourists visiting. Except it’s not the detective that arrives, but his secretary. Sebastian is posh, frivolous and flirtatious, and not at all the sort of person that Georgie thinks can help.

As I said, this is a romantic mystery – where our heroine is perfectly aware of the fact that charming English villages shouldn’t be hot beds of murder and is determined to solve the crime. And this has got plenty of witty banter between the characters as well. Where it didn’t quite work for me was the romance elements – because I really didn’t know what Georgie and Sebastian saw in each other and so that bit worked less well. That said I read it in pretty short order (about 36 hours I think) so it’s very readable, even if not entirely satisfying. A bit like a dessert that doesn’t quite taste as good as it looks.

I have a bit of a mixed record with Martha Waters – I really enjoyed Christmas is All Around the other year (more than this I think) but I had significant issues with the second in her Regency Vows series, although I kept forgetting that when acquring some of the others in the series. And this is another slightly mixed review I guess but this doesn’t have anything as problematic as To Love and To Loathe did.

As you may remember from the offers post, this one is 99p this month on Kindle – and it’s the same price on Kobo. I’d been waiting for an offer on it and it’s definitely worth a punt at the current price.

Happy reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: June 8 – June 14

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Happy Monday everyone! This list is shorter than I would like given the fact that I added six physical books to the pile this week and another five ebooks, but my excuse is a theatre trip and a concert, the start of the World Cup, the Le Mans 24 hours, an F1 race and grass court tennis season. I did also visit four bookshops so that’s why the purchasing happened! Anyway, onwards to this week…

Read:

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie

And Then There Was One by Martha Waters

Murder at the British Museum by Jim Eldridge

Death in a Strange Country by Donna Leon

Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench

Puck by Samantha Allen*

Started:

Dolly All The Time by Annabel Monaghan

Still reading:

Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronica Dapunt

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

As I said at the top – 6 books, 5 ebooks. Oops.

Bonus picture: the wonderful library building in the middle of Stratford-Upon-Avon.

*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.

Book of the Week, memoirs, new releases, reviews

Book of the Week: Receipts from the Bookshop

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It’s Tuesday again and I’m back with another BotW post – but this time it’s a new release that came out last week. It’s also the first non-fiction pick of the year – just a few weeks off the mid-way point but we can gloss over that bit.

Cover of Receipts from the Bookshop

Receipts from the Bookshop is a year in the life of Katie Clapham’s real life actual bookshop in St Annes on Sea, which is in Lancashire and near Lytham and also the (probably) better known Blackpool. It’s based on her Substack of the same name which I used to read faithfully until substack changed the way they send their emails (or I changed something in my settings on substack who can tell) and then got a bit behind. But that’s ok because now there is a book! And the fact that I didn’t remember reading much of it before suggests that that substack change happened longer ago than I thought – or that I was less faithful than I thought!

If you’re a book person – and I assume from the fact that you’re reading this that you are – then this is a wonderful insight into what it’s like to own your own bookshop and as a bonus it will also give you plenty of ideas for books to read. I concluded (and told Him Indoors this) that I could not own a bookshop because I would buy myself too many books and/or crack the spines in the stock and turn them into secondhand books before they’d even been first hand. It’s a delightful soothing read with plenty of regular characters popping in and out of the shop through the year. Personally I would like to emulate the person who has a list of their required books (new hardbacks) on a personalised piece of stationery. That’s the sort of vibes that I would like to have. I mean I don’t – because although I love hardbacks I am bad at reading them because they’re not as portable as my other options.

Anyway, this is delightful. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it on the commute and it would make a lovely gift for the bookish person in your life. And you can even buy it straight from Katie’s shop Booksellers Inc via Bookshop.org or by emailing the shop direct if you want a signed one. I have definitely ordered from her in the past – but I can’t for the life of me remember what the book was except that it may have been a Curtis Sittenfeld because I’ve pre-ordered several of those from indie at least two of which (Rodham and Romantic Comedy) were to get Indie bookseller bonus swag (a tote bag and a key ring) iirc and I think one of the swag ones was from here (the other was likely to from Fox Lane Books in Yorkshire). My copy came from NetGalley – even if I didn’t manage to post about it before release day I had actually finished it before release day for once) and it’s also available in Kindle and Kobo. And I’ll throw in another link to the Receipts from the Bookshop Substack here just in case you want to go and have a read of that before committing yourself.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: June 1 – June 7

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A fairly solid week in reading all things considered, helped by commuting for the four days that I was working and some miserable weather as well. Having (finally) finished the first Heated Rivalry book last week, I then proceeded to binge through the next four, but managed to distract myself away to read some other things too so that I have some things to write about this week. Less good on the NetGalley front, but given the orgy of early June releases, the rest of the month is a little quieter for me on that front so hopefully I’ll catch up a bit this week. Still need to work on that long runners list.

Read:

Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie

Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid

Tough Guy by Rachel Reid

Receipts from the Bookshop by Katie Clapham*

Common Goal by Rachel Reid

Murder at the Fitzwilliam by Jim Eldridge

Role Model by Rachel Reid

Under the Milky Way by Jess K Hardy

Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon

Started:

Puck by Samantha Allen*

And Then There Was One by Martha Waters

Still reading:

Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronica Dapunt

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

No actual books, but a whole stack of Kindle ones because I was writing the offers post. Oopsies.

Bonus picture: The Elizabeth Tower aka Big Ben on Wednesday evening before I went to a reception at the House of Lords (!)

*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.

Book of the Week, romance

Book of the Week: Star Shipped

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Amidst all the Marilyn Monroe of yesterday, I forgot to mention that June is Pride Month and I’ve got some bits and bobs planned for that – so keep your eyes peeled on that front as we head through the month. And I’m also coincidentally starting the month off with a m/m romance pick so that’s somewhat serendiptious too. This was also one of the books in my Anticipated new releases post at the start of the year, so I’m really pleased that it lived up to my expectations for it!

Star Shipped is Cat Sebastian’s first contemporary romance and it’s a slow burn enemies to lovers story about two co-stars on a sci-fi TV series. It’s told entirely from the point of view of Simon, who has spent seven years hating his co star Charlie even as the fans analyse their every move on screen to try and work out if their characters are (secretly) in love. Now he’s leaving the show and can get away from it all. Except that there’s a chance that people might think he’s been forced to leave the show because he’s difficult to work with (which he knows he kinda is) and that could cause him problems down the line. Charlie is also worried that he might catch the blame for Simon’s exit because of what happened during his first season on the show. So they agree to stage a public friendship to try and quash any rumours. And then when Charlie needs to leave LA in a hurry, somehow Simon finds himself joining him. Thus begins a road trip that should be everything that Simon hates, but he’s actually sort of enjoying. And maybe they actually don’t hate each other after all?

I read this in less than 24 hours from getting my grubby hands on it (it was delivered to my parents house for *reasons*) and when I was on a family holiday away in Wales and probably should have been being more sociable (sorry family) because it was just so good. I’m going to have to take some time to think about why Simon – a hero with an actual anxiety problem that he’s not really dealing with that well – worked for me when some other anxious main characters have really not, because I’m not sure how I could have enjoyed it more. It also fell exactly on the right side of the enemies part of the enemies to lovers spectrum – mostly Simon’s “hatred” of Charlie consists of being snarky to him (off page, before the book starts) rather than pranks or things that actually affect Charlie’s career, and Charlie never really hated Simon to start with. Then you add in a road trip (love a road trip) with some Only One Bed scenarios and a bit of found family and it’s really my thing. Additionally this is quite low angst on the external front – and none of the angst comes from fear of being outed or homophobia in it’s many forms and I really like that too.

This came out in paperback at the end of April – I had mine pre-ordered from Waterstones in their pre-Christmas discount offer and what has turned up appears to be an American edition but I’m not complaining. I spotted this in Gay’s the Word when I was in there a week or two back, but I’m not 100 percent sure if I’ve seen it anywhere else yet. It’s £1.99 on Kindle and Kobo this month, which is annoyingly a pound more than it was lat month, but it’s not often that Cat Sebastian is on offer at all, so don’t necessarily rely on it dropping back down. That said there are a few of Sebastian’s back catalogue at £1.99 at the moment, so if you have gaps in your library you want to fill in this may be the time.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: May 25 – May 31

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Firstly – Marilyn Monroe would have been 100 today (June 1st) so if you need an excuse to watch Some Like It Hot or Gentlemen Prefer Blondes again, this is it. Secondly, if it seems like I’m on a bit of an Agatha Christie kick at the moment, that’s because after revisiting Caribbean Mystery the other week I’m trying to reread the whole series before the new continuation novel by Lucy Foley comes out and there was a Poirot short story collection that I haven’t read in Kindle Unlimited too. And because I forget about things and get distracted quite easily I’m striking while the iron is hot and getting on with it!

Read:

The Bad Quarto by Jill Paton Walsh

Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

The Nine of Us by Jean Kennedy Smith

Operation Goodwood by Sara Sheridan

Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian

Edward VII by Richard Davenport-Hines

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie

Started:

Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie

Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon

Still reading:

Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronica Dapunt

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

A few books bought – but mostly not for me so they don’t count!

Bonus picture: Sunday afternoon in Wales.

*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.

Book of the Week, new releases, romance

Book of the Week: The Paris Match

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Happy Tuesday everyone. It’s absolutely roasting hot here so it seems fitting that this week’s pick is summary book with a lot of wandering around Paris and lovely weather

I mentioned The Paris Match on the day that it came out but just a recap for you of the plot: it’s about Layla, who is going to Paris for the wedding of her ex’s sister. Layla has been like a sister to the bride but now she’s divorced the bride’s brother and this is the first test of the “amicable” part of their divorce and whether she can still be part of the family now she’s not officially in it any more. After a night out with the bride and her best friend, the bride decides she wants to break off the wedding and tells her fiancé it’s because of something Layla said. Thus Griffin, the best man, turns up at her room door and tells her she’s got to fix it. And so here starts Layla and Griffin trying to fix what’s gone wrong with the potential bride and groom for their own different reasons and in doing that they get to know each other and maybe fall in love.

This isn’t an all hearts and flowers book and that’s one of the things that I really liked about it. There’s some pretty serious backstory going on for both characters: Layla has her divorce and Griff has got some chronic illness and chronic pain that he’s dealing with. And a real feature of the book is how he moves through the world and how he is perceived in the world. But despite what you might think after reading that, it’s not super heavy or miserable read. And actually one of the things I really like about Kate Clayborn – and she’s done this in other books – is the way that she can manage to have quite serious subjects in the character’s lives and their back stories and yet the books don’t feel like it’s heavy or a slog. It just feels delightful watching these two people find each other and and fall in love – and not be fixed by their relationship per se but their lives made better by it. And I really found that with this.

I basically read it in about a day – I started it one night and finished it the next afternoon which speaks to how much I enjoyed it. I was gonna save it for a time of need but it turns out the time of need came a little bit sooner than I was expecting and I regret nothing about that decision. I love Paris and I loved watching Griff and Layla move around Paris and recognise bits of my experience. Paris is such a great city a great setting for this and works so well with the story. If I have any complaints it’s that I wanted a bit more comeuppance at the end for some people that have done the hero with heroine wrong, but I can live with it because I think that the ending that the characters got was pretty perfect.

This should be a fairly easy one to find. I had the paperback pre-ordered but the Kindle is actually on offer at 99p this month and I’m impressed with myself for resisting the urge to buy a Kindle copy as well as my paperbacks so I could read it while I was away from home so you should be able to get hold of this pretty much everywhere.

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: May 18 – May 24

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A really solid week in reading, helped by a series of football matches that meant that I stayed in watching/listening to them while reading a book rather than going out to the theatre. And then the weather got really hot so it seemed like the sensible thing to do was to stay inside in the cool and read books. This week is due to be even hotter though…

Read:

A Ghost Hunter’s Guide to Catching a Killer by F H Petford*

The French Market Murder by Greg Mosse*

Windsor vs Windsor by Bert Tyler-Moore*

Debts of Dishonour by Jill Paton Walsh

Game Changer by Rachael Reid

Murder Off the Books by Tamara Berry

The Paris Match by Kate Clayborn

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré

Started:

The Bad Quarto by Jill Paton Walsh

Still reading:

Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronica Dapunt

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

Two books bought.

Bonus picture: A view across the river from the side of St Paul’s Cathedral last week. I was going to say it was old London and new London – but then I realised you can’t see the old London in the picture so you’ll have to trust me on that!

*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.

Book of the Week, first in series, Thriller

Book of the Week: Call for the Dead

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Happy Tuesday everyone, and I’m kicking off a slightly espionage themed week here on the blog with a thriller that’s an absolute classic of the genre.

Cover of Call for the Dead

A Call for the Dead is the first novel that features John le Carré’s most famous creation. When a civil servant kills himself after being the subject of a routine security check, George Smiley finds himself in the firing line as the person who carried out said security check. In order to dodge the finger of blame from his boss, Maston, Smiley begins his own investigation into the death. He’s warned off the case – but that evening receives a letter from the dead man. Do the East Germans know more about this than Circus think? Smiley is determined to find out.

Le Carré is said to have created Smiley as an antidote to James Bond – rather than glamorous women and high octane chases, Smiley’s Circus is a world of anonymous men doing paperwork and following routine. But although that might sound boring, what is on the page is compulsively page turning as you try to work out what on earth is going on. I read this and went straight on to the next book in the series, A Murder of Quality, which is completely different in terms of what Smiley is investigating, but just as good. And fortunately for me I had the third book waiting for me when I finished the second. Because of course this is one of those situations where I have been buying up the books when they appear in Kindle sales (because I enjoyed Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy so much) and then not getting around to reading them. But clearly this is the time to remedy that – it’s a classic for a reason. And it’s not a particularly long classic either – it’s under 200 pages but so much happens in it and it packs such a punch that it feels like a much longer book. So good.

You don’t need me to tell you how easy this is to get hold of – it was published in 1961 and it has been in print ever since in various iterations, including as a Penguin Classic. It’s available in every format, including as an audiobook written by the peerless Simon Russell Beale.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: May 11 – May 17

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Happy Monday everyone. I hope you used your weekend as wisely as I did – with a trip to see my sister and her family where we watched three episodes of Rivals, all of Eurovision and I read a lot of stories to a toddler. And despite all that, my reading list is still pretty good. Yay me?!

Read:

Major Bricket and the Body in the Bell Tower by Simon Brett*

Off With His Head by Ngaio Marsh

Murphy’s Law by Rhys Bowen

Henry VII by Seam Cunningham

Call for the Dead by John le Carré

A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie

A Murder of Quality by John le Carré

A Piece of Justice by Jill Paton Walsh

Started:

A Ghost Hunter’s Guide to Catching a Killer by F H Petford*

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré

Still reading:

Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronica Dapunt

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

Game Changer by Rachael Reid

Three books bought – the rest of the Imogen Quy series, one of which I’ve already ready!

Bonus picture: There are a couple of new coffee shops on my walk to work, one of which has this board outside for fairy bread matcha. I’m tempted to try it except for three things: i don’t like coffee, I’m not sure i like matcha and it feels like it might be super sweet. But it looks so pretty!

*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.