A rollercoaster week in many ways, ending late on Sunday night with extra time in the World Cup Final and me rereading a Dimsie book instead of something new. Who knows what I’ll write about tomorrow given that the two NetGalley books that I finished aren’t out for months, and there are a lot of later in series on the list too. Oh well, I’m sure it will come to me…
Happy Tuesday everyone, it’s due to be sweltering again today and it’s also the France v Spain semi final so I suspect nota lot of reading is going to be occurring. But I do have something from last week’s heat affected list to talk about.
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I’ve struggled with how to describe the plot of this because the blurb really doesn’t give anything away. So here is what the blurb says:
A woman is on trial for her life, accused of murder. The twelve members of the jury each carry their own secret burden of guilt and prejudice which could affect the outcome. In this extraordinary crime novel, we follow the trial through the eyes of the jurors as they hear the evidence and try to reach a unanimous verdict. Will they find the defendant guilty, or not guilty? And will the jurors’ decision be the correct one? Since its first publication in 1940, Verdict of Twelve has been widely hailed as a classic of British crime writing.
So as you can tell this is an unusual type of murder mystery. Postgate introduces you to each juror – their backgrounds and the things that might influence their opinions as they are sworn in, and then jumps to the events leading up to the crime (without telling you who did it) and then the trial itself.
This was originally published in 1940 and as the blurb says murder was still a capital crime, so the defendant’s life is in the hands of the jury. It’s really well written to give the reader plenty to think about as you’re reading the book and I found the ending really clever too. If I had one problem with it, it’s that in the Kindle edition I read, there seemed to be an element missing from the graphics in the deliberation section, but I need to go and look at a paperback copy to see if that’s an issue in those, or maybe even a deliberate thing. This actually came out nearly ten years ago, when the BLCC range was a lot smaller, and is one of the genuinely forgotten but deserving reprints.
It’s in Kindle Unlimited at the moment, which means that the only version you can get through Kobo is the audiobook one, and of course it’s also in paperback and is one I’ve seen fairly regularly in stores. You can buy it directly from the British Library in their store at the library on the online one where it’s only £8.99 and is also in their 3 for 2 deal. Bargain.
It’s so hard to concentrate in the heat isn’t it? And to sleep. And to do anything other than slump somewhere and drink cold drinks and moan about how hot it is. That was basically my week. Lots of time on hot trains not being able to thing about anything except how hot I was. This week is meant to be a bit cooler (please, please, please) but we’ve also got an England semi-final at the World Cup (which I’ll be missing at least part of) and then whatever comes next. Who knows what all that means for the list…
Yes I know, this is the least unexpected BotW pick since, oh I don’t know, the last time I previewed a new release book on the Thursday and then promptly had it on the read list on Monday. But in my defence, I do try not to do this and pick my previews accordingly – and indeed when I went back and checked this the last time it happened is more than a year ago with A Murder for Miss Hortense (but only because I spaced out reading Dolly All the Time, The Paris Match and Finders Keepers from their previews – mostly because those were paperback preorders and not *right there* on my Kindle tempting me). But although there were a lot of books out last week, this was the one I was most excited about given how much I loved Pineapple Street. And also one of those other books that was out last week was a second Miss Hortense book – and was trying not to repeat on that front too. Anyway, with that slightly defensive opening over, to the review:
Caroline has always wanted to be a writer and when she gets a year long writer’s fellowship, she gives up her job in publishing and moves to Greenhead, Massachusetts and the cottage that writer the fellowship is endowed for once lived in. In Greenhead she meets Van. Van is one of the locals – an outdoorsy, ecologist who is like a big friendly dog made human. Soon they’re seeing each other and and Van is including her with his group of friends – including Bailey, who he’s been falling into bed with ever since they were at school. Van’s friends aren’t overly pleased at the advent of this rival to Bailey, and this only gets worse when Bailey realises that she’s pregnant with Van’s child. She’s definitely only in their circle because Van wants her to be – and what she does when she’s not anymore throws everything in the group up in the air even more than her presence did in the first place.
The blurb doesn’t reveal what it is that Caroline does – and as it happens a long way into the book (I want to say after the 60 percent point) I’m not either because it’s a huge spoiler, but it’s totally delicious and turns what was already a really good read into something truly excellent. This is very much a rich people problems novel as well as the Greenhead group with their family summer homes and ski trips, Caroline’s mother is a hugely successful writer and there’s never any sense that Caroline’s finances are dependent on whatever she writes on the fellowship being a success and so she’s an outsider only in that she doesn’t know them, not so much in status or class. And so it’s all about relationships and drama on that front and even if people break up you know they’re going to be OK financially, even if they’re upset interpersonally.
All of which makes it exactly my sort of soapy, beach read and I absolutely devoured it, messaging various people as I went along with choice quotes and how much I was enjoying it. It would be a perfect sun lounger read – and I can see why it’s the July pick for Jenna’s book club* because it’s a summer read and I can see people having diverging views about it – and in fact if you look at the goodreads reviews you will see that! If you liked Pineapple Street (which obviously I did), I think you’ll like this. That was about Rich People Problems in Washington DC, this is about Rich People Problems on the coast. The relationships are dysfunctional – and apart from Caroline that’s because they all have so much history together – and do they even really have that much in common any more aside from that shared history? Read it and find out, if you like the same sort of books that I do (and maybe that’s why are you here?) then I don’t think you’ll regret it.
My copy came via NetGalley but I think this is going to be everywhere. Pineapple Street was, and as previously mentioned, this has been picked by one of the big US book clubs so I’m expecting this to be as everywhere as Pineapple Street, if not more so. And of course it’s also on Kindle and Kobo and in audiobook.
Happy Reading!
*Jenna is Jenna Bush Hager, daughter of George W Bush and presenter of the Today Show on which her book club is a feature.
Not going to lie, I’m really feeling it after getting up to watch the England match in the middle of the night and my brain’s not really working right now. So this might be a shorter than usual post because of the brain fade but basically the top line is that I finally finished a long runner and because I was writing the offers post I may have bought some things…
Happy Tuesday, it’s book of the week day again. and I think maybe the Deanna Raybourn was my favourite-favourite last week – but that’s the eighth in the series and the given that i’s nearly the end of June and thus the end of Pride month, it’s maybe fitting that the last BotW of the month is a queer romance.
Dream On, Ramona Riley is both a small town romance and a normal person and famous person one. When Ramona’s mum ran away, teenage Ramona helped her dad with her baby sister until Ramona left for college. Then when her dad was involved in an accident, she dropped out and gave up her dreams of a career in costume design to come home and help her family again. But now Olive is about to leave for college and Ramona’s best friend wants her to give up her job in the local diner and pursue her dreams again. And it just happens that this summer there is a big budget Hollywood rom-com coming to film in town, that might give Ramona the chance to kickstart her dreams. The only problem is that one of the stars of the movie is Dylan Monroe, the actress daughter of two 90s rock stars and also Ramona’s first kiss, one magical night back when she was a teenager, and now Ramona has to teach her to waitress and other Normal People things.
I realise that that seems like it’s already quite a lot of plot, but actually it really is just the set up and there’s loads more that happens after that and I’m not spoiling anything. This has got the same sort of witty dialogue that Ashley Herring Blake’s previous series Bright Falls has – and actually in a delightful crossover between the old series and the new, the movie that is being filmed is based on one of Iris’s books. It’s got a culture clash between the small town life and the famous people one, Dyland has got a lot of issues about her upbringing that she’s working her way through and the two heroines are keeping so many secrets from each other it’s a wonder they manage to sort it all out satisfactorily at the end, but they do, and I’m almost convinced that they’re going to manage to make it work despite their very different life experiences. It’s got quite a lot of sex scenes in it – more I think than the Bright Falls series and some language in them that I don’t love, but hey, each to their own, at least nothing was described as oozing or dripping…
I’ve already got the second in this series, Get Over It, April Evans, on the shelf after my trip to Gay’s the Word, whcih was actualyl the catalyst for reading the first one, and there is a third (and maybe final?) book in the series, Take a Chance, Sasha Sinclair, coming out in September, so you never know by the end of the year I may even have read the whole series! I definitely enjoyed this one enough that I won’t delay reading the next one too long.
I bought this in Saucy Books back at the end of last summer, but I’ve seen it in a bunch of other bookshops since then too. And it’s available on Kindle and Kobo too.
Well as you can see, I didn’t get any of the long runners ticked off, but also the heat was even worse than I was expecting it to be. Honestly. The office was fine – but getting there was not, and sleeping at night was terrible. I feel like I need to sleep for a couple of days to recover. Apparently this week is going to be better until we get to the weekend. Thoughts and prayers everyone…
Happy Tuesday everyone, and possibly not a surprise that I’ve picked the new Annabel Monaghan this week, but it is so fun and I enjoyed reading it so much that I couldn’t help myself.
Dolly is a problem solver. When her mum left when she was a preteen, now her family needs her and she’s 39. She’s back in her home town with her son for the summer to try and help save the family home. And that’s why, when the scion of the Whitfield family (so prominent the town is named after them) asks her to pretend to be his girlfriend after she helps him with a flat tire, she says yes. Except that the more time they spend together, the more she likes him – and the more she thinks he likes here, even though his world of galas and charity dinners is usually one she only sees when she delivers the seafood from her family store. But can Dolly bring herself to put her trust in someone else for once?
If I was doing the 50 states challenge this year, this would be the book for Rhode Island and it would not have been a hardship at all. I love a summer people and year round people clash of cultures story (it’s sort of rich people problems adjacent really isn’t it) and also a hero who can come in and make life easier for the heroine by throwing some cash around in a nice, non-skeevy way. A rich hero could be a little fraught in the current climate, but Monaghan deals with that pretty well, by making Stewart the guy who wants to pivot his family property business towards renovating historic buildings (rather than strip malls) and he’s not a billionaire so it was fine for me.
I read this in double quick time and really, really enjoyed it. It’s a satisfying romance with a great cast of characters and a lovely setting, which does some of the things I like about Pretty Woman, but without the sex work, rude sales ladies and opera! It’s not quite Nora Goes Off Script (but what is!) but I think it may be my favourite Monaghan after that.
This should also be pretty easy to get hold of – I’d preordered the paperback but it’s also on Kindle and Kobo.
Morning everyone and welcome to the (extreme) heatwave. Houses in Britain aren’t made for this sort of weather and I’ve found myself researching portable air conditioning units more than in the last week! Anyway on the reading front, we’re just over a month out from Book Con and so I’ve started clearing out my shelves for the sale table – which lead to three Lorna Hills in 24 hours rather than finishing any of the still reading books. Because of course it did. Lets see if I can concentrate enough in the heat this week to get them read shall we (I doubt it).
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.
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.
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 