Category: week in books

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: December 16 – December 22

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I’m down to the last few states. It’s going to be close but I might just do it. Maybe. If I don’t get distracted. And it’s Christmas this week so chance of distractions is high. We will see. And as it’s Christmas I’m taking a couple of days off this week – so the normal pattern of posts will resume next week.

Read:

Urn Burial by Kerry Greenwood

Cure for the Common Breakup by Beth Kendrick

The Castlemaine Murders by Kerry Greenwood

A Picture Perfect Frame by Lynn Cahoon

Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria

Wedding Day and Foul Play by Duffy Brown

Murder in the Dark by Kerry Greenwood

Comic Sans Murder by Paige Shelton

Started:

Codename Zero by Chris Rylander

Still reading:

A Traveller in Time by Alison Utley

Not in My Book by Katie Holt*

Cher: The Memoir Part One by Cher

Less than you might expect given the way I’m working my way through the final states. Two total – but only thanks to the sterling efforts of Kindle Unlimited.

Bonus picture: some Christmas graffiti from the park on Saturday

*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

Book of the Week: Cure for the Common Breakup

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Did I finish this on Monday? Yes. Would I have finished it on the train to work if that train had taken ten minutes longer? Also yes. But still. This one was a lot of fun, so it deserves it.

Summer is a flight attendant – and her always moving lifestyle is perfect for her attitude towards relationships. Except… at the start of a long haul flight to Paris, she hears her boyfriend might be about to propose and she’s thinking about saying yes. But then the flight goes wrong and everything changes. Summer needs somewhere to recover (physically and mentally) and heads for Black Dog Bay, a small town in Delaware known as “the best place in America to bounce back from your breakup”. There she finds a small town community ready to welcome her – and a mayor who is definitely not her type and who definitely doesn’t do relationships…

The fact that this is set in Delaware probably gives you the hint about why I was picking this up last week, but often with the books I read at the end of the year to tick some states off, they’re a slog to get through (and I might have given up on them in other circumstances) but this was really nice. If you had told me it was written in the early 2000s I would have believed it too – except for the smartphones! Not because it’s outdated but because there’s just something about it that reminds me of the books I used to read back when I was at university – funny and slightly caper-y, and with a romance but more about the female lead finding herself than just getting the man.

Anyway, this is the first of a series set in Black Dog Bay – and I will happily read more and try and not use them all up as my Delaware option too fast!

I bought my copy on Kindle, but it’s also on Kobo. I suspect any physical copy will be harder to find, but I’m sure the big vendors will try!

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: December 9 – December 15

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A fairly solid list, but the real achievement is that I got four more states ticked off the list as I once again attempt to read a book from every US state. Still a few tricky ones to do, but I’m getting there. And in the real world, it’s fully Christmas now – the tree is decorated, presents are bought (some even distributed) and as well as the trip to A Midsummer Night’s Dream this week, I also went to the kids Christmas show at the local theatre – which is the Jolly Christmas Postman and was excllent.

Read:

Somewhere in the Night by Julie Mulhern

Raisins and Almonds by Kerry Greenwood

Hemingway and Sun Valley by Chris Moore

Holiday Hideaway by Mary Kay Andrews

Murder in Montparnasse by Kerry Greenwood

The Family Tree Murders by Laura Hern

The Winter Widow by Charlene Weir

Started:

Cure for the Common Breakup by Beth Kendrick

Still reading:

A Traveller in Time by Alison Utley

Not in My Book by Katie Holt*

Cher: The Memoir Part One by Cher

Three ebooks bought as I attempt to get those last few pesky states ticked off…

Bonus picture: Last week I was staying out by St Paul’s Cathedral so I got to see the nightscape again. I do love the way it’s lit.

*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, books, non-fiction

Book of the Week: The Divorce Colony

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It’s Tuesday again and as I said yesterday we are hurling towards the end of the year and I’m trying to finish the Reading challenges. Today’s pick covered me off for South Dakota…

It is well know that laws in the US can vary from state to state. And most people have probably read a book or watched a movie where someone goes to Reno for a quickie divorce, but what you might not have come across is the period in time where South Dakota was the location of choice for obtaining a divorce. April White’s The Divorce Colony looks at this time and some of the women who went to the frontier of the US to end their marriages.

This focuses on four society women who made the trip to Sioux Falls and the different challenges they faced. I found the women themselves fascinating as well as the quirks and tribulations of divorce laws. As social history it is fascinating and an illustration of how much has not changed as well as how much has.

My copy has is a hardback, and it’s probably going to be a special order and the Kindle price has dropped since I bought a hard copy!

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: December 2 – December 8

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The end of the year continues to hurtle towards me, as I desperately scramble to tick off those final states for read the USA 2024 – four more off the list this week but there are still a few to do. But a doable number if I keep myself at it! A good week in reading though all in all. So that’s good.

Read:

The Divorce Colony by April White

Murder on the Ballarat Train by Kerry Greenwood

Double Mint by Gretchen Archer

Blood and Circuses by Kerry Greenwood

Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey

God Land by Liz Lenz

All By My Elf by Olivia Dade

Murder on the Oceanic by Edward Marston

Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur

Murder on a Bad Hair Day by Anne George

Started:

A Traveller in Time by Alison Utley

Still reading:

Not in My Book by Katie Holt*

Cher: The Memoir Part One by Cher

No books bought, but I don’t think that’s going to last given the reading challenge situation…

Bonus picture: courtesy of my dad, a beautiful tree out in the village last week before Storm Darragh and all the bad weather hit (again).

*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, reviews, romance, romantic comedy

Book of the Week: The Rom-Commers

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It might be December, but today’s pick isn’t a Christmas book (sorry), it is a literal beach read from my holiday last week. But even if you’re not on a sun lounger right now, I think it’s still a pretty good option for a bit of escapist reading if that’s what you need.

Emma has always wanted to be a screenwriter – she’s studied for it, she’s obsessed by rom coms and she’s been writing her own for years – and she’s won contests with them. But she’s not in Hollywood hustling for gigs, she’s in Texas looking after her dad. That is until she gets a call from an old friend to offer her the chance to work with a legendary screenwriter. Charlie Yates has won all the awards you could think of but the screenplay for his new movie sucks. It’s a rom com written by a man who doesn’t believe in love – and it shows. Charlie is Emma’s writing idol so she heads off to LA for six weeks to doctor his script. Except when she gets there, he doesn’t want to work with her and he doesn’t even care about the script, it’s just a means to an end. But Emma isn’t letting her big chance go without a fight…

Now I love a Rom Com – I’ve actually been revisiting some of my old favourites recently (with somewhat mixed results, but that’s a story for another day) so as a premise this was right up my alley. And this has got all the banter and sparks flying that you could want. Emma and Charlie are a chalk and cheese duo on the surface but as you get to know them you realise how perfect they are for each other underneath. It’s got a third act twist that made me worry that I’d missed a “a novel” disclaimer on the front, but it was OK in the end. I don’t think I would have able to write about it if it had broken the rom com conventions that it was writing about – unless I was rage-writing any way.

I enjoyed Katherine Center’s previous two book Hello Stranger and The Bodyguard, but I think this is my favourite of hers yet. And I’m looking forward to seeing what we get next too.

This is out now – it’s a relatively recent release in paperback so I haven’t had a chance to check out the bookshops to see how easy it is to find in person, but I’m hoping it shouldn’t be too hard. And of course it’s on Kindle and Kobo.

Happy reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: November 25 – December 1

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A mega list this week because we’ve been on holiday. It was warm and sunny and there were plenty of comfortable places for me to read books. And there was a plane ride there and back to read on too. Generally most satisfactory. Less satisfactory is the situation with the various reading challenges, but I’m going to give them my best shot in the month that I’ve got left. I’m back at work tomorrow and I’ve got a theatre trip planned this week and it’s starting to get a bit Christmas-y so we’ll see how the list looks this time next week…

Read:

Murder at Christmas by Rupert Latimer

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

Prime Time Romance by Kate Robb*

How to Solve Murders Like a Lady by Hannah Dolby*

Flying Solo by Linda Holmes

Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood

We Solve Murders by Richard Osman

Guilt at the Garage by Simon Brett

Birding with Benefits by Sarah T Dubb

A Classic Case by Alicia Thompson

A Fatal Groove by Olivia Blacke

Flying Too High by Kerry Greenwood

Started:

Not in My Book by Katie Holt*

Still reading:

Cher: The Memoir Part One by Cher

The Divorce Colony by April White

One ebook bought.

Bonus picture: what else but a sun lounger snap?

*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, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: November 18 – November 24

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A pretty good week in reading, partly because I was commuting back and forth and not staying in lining, partly because the weather was awful so going out seemed very unappealing. I’ve started on the Christmas-themed reading now too, so there’ll be some more on that front coming too. And as you can see, I have now read the actual book of Rivals…

Read:

Frequent Hearses by Edmund Crispin

Dramatic Murder by Elizabeth Anthony

What Bloody Man is That by Simon Brett

Rivers of London: Stray Cat Blues by Ben Aaronovitch et al

Soulless by Gail Carriger

Rivals by Jilly Cooper

Small Bomb at Dimperley by Lissa Evans

Midwinter Murder by Agatha Christie

One Lucky Subscriber by Kellye Garrett

Started:

Cher: The Memoir Part One by Cher

Murder at Christmas by Rupert Latimer

Guilt at the Garage by Simon Brett

Still reading:

The Divorce Colony by April White

Two books, no ebooks.

Bonus picture: Snow at the station on Tuesday morning on the way to work. I think the season really has changed now…

*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, Children's books, Forgotten books

Book of the Week: The Top of the Climb

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I was wondering what to write about this week and then I realised that I was the only person to have read and rated this on Goodreads and so obviously the choice became clear! And so this week we have another in my intermittent series of career books for girls from the mid-twentieth century.

As you can tell from the cover, this is the story of a plucky young wannabe air hostess through her training and into the early stages of her career. In this case it’s Caroline, who comes down from the north of England for her interview at London airport and doesn’t speak much of any foreign language, but clearly has the right accent and the right stuff for the job. This runs you through the skills that an air hostess needed at the time, and then a bit of the day to day of the job once you qualify.

The rest of Betty Beaty’s books appear to be Mills and Boon category romances – between air hostesses and pilots, but there’s not actually a lot of romance in this – for all that the traditional love interest is easily spotted early on. There’s a dollop of glamour with trips to New York- but also the usual dash of teething troubles and peril. I’ve said before that my expectations for air travel were made unrealistic by the fact that I read Shirley Flight, Air Hostess as a child – and this would have done the same, although maybe not quite to the same extent.

Of course the main issue with a lot of this era of books is that problematic content can pop up anywhere – and anything with travel tends to have at least a few issues. The Shirley Flight books are particularly bad when it comes to the portrayal of anyone non-British, and although it has a moment or two, The Top of the Climb is better than they are on that front. And also, spoiler, there’s no plane crashes in this. Shirley crashes in practically every other book, but Caroline makes it to the end sans wrecked plane – despite a few scares. All in all an interesting and mostly fun way to spend a couple of hours.

I bought this at Bristol Book Con this year, and I can’t see any other copies anywhere, so if you want to read this you may have to make me an offer. But I don’t suppose you will – and indeed I’m not really suggesting you should.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: November 11 – November 17

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A steady old week in Reading and a very busy week in life. So I suppose I’ve done OK all things considered. And Kiss Me, Kate was wonderful at the cinema too yesterday afternoon so that was delightful as well.

Read:

The Killer in the Choir by Simon Brett

Star Trap by Simon Brett

A Comedian Dies by Simon Brett

Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood

A Jingle Bell Mingle by Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy*

Death in the Dark by Julia Buckley

The Measure of Malice edited by Martin Edwards

The Top of the Climb by Betty Beaty

Started:

Frequent Hearses by Edmund Crispin

Still reading:

The Divorce Colony by April White

Small Bomb at Dimperley by Lissa Evans

Another preorder turned up, and one other acquired. Oopsie

Bonus picture: The British Museum as I walked past on my way back from a comedy gig one night last week. I can’t pass it without thinking about Amelia and Emerson…

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