This week’s BotW is Sarah MacLean’s latest historical romance – which has been sitting on the pile since soon after its release waiting for an opportune moment. And after four night shifts I needed a treat.
Never Judge a Lady by her Cover is the final book in MacLean’s Rule of Scoundrel’s series – and tells the story of Georgiana, who MacLean fans first encountered back in her previous series. Since then she’s been leading a double life – disgraced daughter of a duke (complete with illegitimate daughter) by day and something else entirely by night. She is Chase, the powerful figure behind a legendary gaming hell. But will she get her happy ending?*
Another appalling photo. I blame the Huddl2. And the fact that I had 5 minutes before I had to leave for the train. Poor planning from Verity
As you can see I have the American edition (and mine is signed!) despite my embarrassment at bodice-rippery covers (though this is a better cover than many) because I’ve been reading MacLean’s books since before you could get them over here – and we all know I’ve got a thing about matching sets! Also the UK covers are wet and nowhere near as good as the ones other US romance writers get here.
Anyway, when the Big Reveal about Chase took place at the end of the previous book, those who didn’t manage to get accidentally spoilt (unlike me – I found out from the flabbergasted good reads reviewsª) were astounded. It really set the expectations for this book sky high and I’ll admit to being a little concerned that it wouldn’t live up to that – which is perhaps why it has been on to to read pile for a month or two.° But Never Judge a Lady is a brilliant end to what’s been a fabulous series.
The heroine is feisty, smart and independent, the hero is powerful, with a dubious past and missing some key information. Their romance is good (oh lord, the swimming pool scene), the peril is seemingly insurmountable and the dialogue is witty and sparky. Plus we also get plenty of our previous Heroes and Heroines taking pleasure in meddling as they themselves were meddled with. In short, everything you want in a good romance. Perfect post-night shift reading.
You can get your copy of Never Judge a Lady by her Cover from Amazon, Foyles, Waterstones or on Kindle. If you click on any of those, you’ll find out why I don’t like the UK covers – my US edition came from Word in Brooklyn who are Sarah MacLean’s local store and were offering signed copies at the time. Also if you haven’t read the rest of the series, I suggest you start at the beginning with A Rogue by Any Other Name and enjoy the Scoundrels in the order you were meant to. Oh and may be Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke’s Heart.
* Hint: this is historical romance. Of course she will.
ª I’ve only revealed it here because it’s on the blurb on the back of the book, and if you haven’t read the rest of the series, you won’t mind, and if you’ve only read one or two of them you’ll be wondering why it’s Georgiana’s book not Chases, because the series was clearly going to be a book for each of the Fallen Angel’s owners…
° Also I can’t take a book with a cover like this on the train or into work without risking raised eyebrows and scornful looks.
And this ladies and gentlemen is what a week of nightshifts – with train journeys and meal breaks where all you can do is read – will do for you. Yes it’s lightweight reading, but I really enjoyed it – and it was just what I needed.
Read:
The Sleeping Salesman Enquiry by Anne Purser
The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman
Not Quite Darcy by Terri Meeker
Lost and Found by Brooke Davis
Earls Just Want to Have Fun by Shana Galen
A French Pirouette by Jennifer Bohnet
A Sinful Deception by Isabella Bradford
The Importance of Being Seven by Alexander McCall Smith
Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover by Sarah MacLean
The Truth about Lord Stoneville by Sabrina Jeffries
Return to Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
Started:
A Murder of Magpies by Judith Flanders
Still reading:
n/a
I bought 5 books in the early hours of Wednesday. Oops.
This week’s BotW is a non-fiction book which has been on my to-read list since it was reviewed in hardback in the Sunday Times in October 2013 – and has been on the actual pile since soon after its paperback release in back in May. Which, to be honest, tells you all you need to know about the to-read pile…
But Rachel Cooke’s book – which is subtitled “Ten Extraordinary Women of the Fifties” – shouldn’t have languished on the pile for so long. It is really good. A series of essays about fascinating women that I’d never heard of, but who had lead fascinating and trailblazing lives. They’re not all tremendously likeable – Alison Smithson and her jumpsuit must have been very difficult to live with – but they all tried at least to live lives on their own terms, despite the constraints of the period. Not the greatest photo I know, but I'm on nights - give me a break!
The ten women worked in different fields and had differing degrees of success, but they all did something. They challenge the idea that after the war women went back to the home until the sixties came along and shook everything up. As I said when I reviewed Viv Albertine’s autobiography, I can live my life the way that I do because of trailblazing women in the past who were prepared to put themselves out there and stand up and be counted in a way that I know that I would be afraid to do.
Rose Heilbron was my favourite of the women – the first female barrister, the first woman to lead a murder trial – and part of the group that changed rules about rape so that the complainant could remain anonymous and not have to answer questions about their sexual history. The pictures of her show that she also looked impossibly glamorous in her wig and gown. Attagirl.
But all the women’s lives are interesting – if not always happy. Nancy Spain, Joan Werner Laurie and Sheila Van Damme’s ménage sounds completely fraught. But it is gripping reading. You can get Her Brilliant Career from Amazon, Foyles and Waterstones and you can even listen on Audible. Don’t leave it as long as I did to get around to it.
There is a little bit of a theme to this week’s reading. I picked up a copy of the second Harper Connelly book at a charity shop on Thursday, read it pretty much straight away – and then went straight on to books three and four which were waiting on the pile (and had been for sometime). I’m on nights this week coming, so expect the reading matter to be lightweight and non challenging. I’ll be avoiding anything that’s potentially a weepy too!
Read:
Macdeath by Cindy Brown
Her Brilliant Career by Rachel Cooke
The Amazing Lightness of Scones by Alexander McCall Smith
Paper or Plastic by Vivi Barnes
Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris
An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris
Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris
Started:
Lost and Found by Brooke Davis
Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover by Sarah MacLean
Still reading:
n/a
While writing this, The Boy has been reading some of this post over my shoulder, and I’ve had to own up to a book purchase that I hadn’t mentioned to him(the Charlaine Harris). So I probably ought to mention that I bought two other books at the same time… But that was it for purchases this week. And I’ve read a non-fiction book this week – and a library book, so that’s working on my New Year’s resolutions. I’m not sure he’ll see it that way if he reads this!
This was so nearly last week’s book of the week – except that it didn’t get finished in time – and I can’t write a BotW post on something that isn’t over – after all it could all have gone terribly wrong in the last 100 pages. But it didn’t and it was still the best thing I read last week, even if I did finish it first thing on Monday (!) so here were are.
Such a pretty cover. I do love blue
Jill Mansell’s latest book tells the story of Hallie, Flo and Tasha. At the start of the book we learn that Hallie has Cystic Fibrosis and is on the way to London for a possible transplant that could save her life. Hallie runs a website where she answers people’s problems – like an agony aunt (but in a good way) – and her correspondents tell her three things about them before they tell her their dilemma. As she travels to the hospital, she’s writing her three things – an explanation – revealing her identity and her situation, in case she doesn’t make it. Then we jump back to find out how we got to here…
The three stories intertwine in a way that I don’t really want to explain, except to say that it really works. I loved all the characters in this book. It made me laugh and it made me cry* and I think it may be my favourite of Jill Mansell’s books that I’ve read. It’s definitely an evolution from her novels that I’ve read – and its a really good evolution. I know I haven’t written a lot here – but I don’t want to give too much away. But if you like smart, funny books with a heart, then this may well be for you.
Three Amazing Things About You is out now in hardback and ebook. You can pick up a copy at all the usual place – and the supermarkets too – or if you can’t wait here are some links – Foyles, Waterstones, Kindle or my shop in My Independent Bookshop (which send money to my local indie)
* Luckily I have learnt from the Rabbit Hayes experience, and I did my crying on the sofa at home, not on the train!
Quite a busy week of reading in the end – some of it very good, some of it less so. But then that’s the joy of reading. You never know what you’re going to get and whether you’re going to like it!
Read:
Three Amazing Things About You by Jill Mansell
No Known Grave by Maureen Jennings
Criminal Confections by Collette London
The Restoration of Otto Laird by Nigel Packer
Where’s my Hero by Lisa Kleypas, Kinley MacGregor and Julia Quinn
The Duchess War by Courtney Milan
Started:
Paper or Plastic by Vivi Barnes
The Amazing Lightness of Scones by Alexander McCall Smith
I’m back in the children’s section with this week’s book of the week – embracing my long time (20-year plus) love of boarding school stories with Arsenic for Tea by Robin Stevens – the second book in her Wells and Wong series.
I mentioned the first book – Murder Most Unladylike – back in September and have been looking forward to reading the next one ever since. In Arsenic for Tea, there’s a murder at Daisy’s house, where Hazel is staying during the holidays. Once again the Detective Society tries to work out who did it – from a cast of suspects including most of Daisy’s family.
When I started reading boarding school books – back in the early 1990s – the world that the girls at St Clares lived in wasn’t that different to the one that I was in. They called maths arithmetic and the trains they travelled on were steam ones, but I could recognise their school life and identify it with mine. Since then, with computers, mobile phones, tablets and the like, school has changed a lot. But Robin Stevens has found a way to write boarding school stories (yes this is set in the holidays, but it still counts) that still work for modern children. By setting it in the 1930s, she can avoid having to include technology and things that may date very quickly, but she’s also included things that writers at the time didn’t talk about – but that children today can relate to and using Hazel as the principal narrator is a masterstroke.
Hazel is from Hong Kong – and this lends her narration a sense of detachment that works well. She doesn’t fully understand this world either – so it makes sense for her to explain things that modern children might not quite understand but that would seem jarring if they were explained by Daisy who “belongs”. Hazel also faces prejudice – and these are subtly dealt with, showing how unfair it is – in a way you never got in “old school” boarding school books, mostly because the cast was either all white – or because the author didn’t think that it was unfair (a sad commentary on a genre of books I love).
Daisy’s parents also have issues – their relationship is clearly… troubled and that forms part of the plot – which again you don’t have in books like Mallory Towers or my beloved Chalet School (where one doesn’t mention d.i.v.o.r.c.e or have any relationships that aren’t perfect. Although there’s a high percentage of children missing one parent through death from TB or similar!). This makes the book relatable – as well as making the plot make sense and hang together
I said in my mini review of book one that it’s like Mallory Towers crossed with Agatha Christie – and I stand by that. There’s enough here for NotChildren like me to enjoy as well as the target audience. In fact, it’s a bit like a good animated movie – there are bits that adults will love – nods to golden age detective fiction, etc – but that kids would pass straight over without realising that they were missing anything. And Daisy and Hazel’s antics aren’t too outrageous – everything seems perfectly plausible for them to have been able to do, with enough peril to make it interesting, but not so much superhuman deduction that they don’t seem real. In fact, part of the fun as a (supposedly) grown-up is the reading between the lines of what Hazel and Daisy don’t understand.
Arsenic for Tea is out on Thursday – you can pre-order the kindle copy here if you’re a grown-up, but I suggest if you’re buying for the 8 – 12 year old in your life and want use of your e-reader/tablet device in the near future, you buy the paperback – here it is on Amazon, Waterstones, Foyles or on my page at My Independent Bookshop – which gives money to one of my local indies.
Hmmm. Not a hugely productive week – but some good stuff in there.
Read:
Fatal Waltz by Tasha Alexander
The Norfolk Mystery by Ian Sansom
Arsenic for Tea by Robin Stevens
Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris
Started:
The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham
The Other Duke by Jess Michaels
Still reading:
The Restoration of Otto Laird by Nigel Packer – should’ve been on last week’s list but got missed off – and by the time I realised, I was several days after the fact and beyond the point where I felt I could edit the post to add it…
I may have bought a few books this week. Ok, four paperbacks and three e-books. And I bought an ebook last week too. But I was working earlies all weekend so I deserved a treat. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
