Category: week in books

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: April 22 – April 28

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After a busy week at work, I spent the weekend working, then watching Maggie Smith do an absolute tour de force in A German Life and then chasing round London supporting my little sister who was running the marathon.  So not as much reading done as some weeks.  But I had a lot of fun – and most of all my sister did it!  She finished the marathon!

Read:

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe

The Grave’s A Fine And Private Place by Alan Bradley

Running the Risk by Christina Jones

Stepping to a New Day by Beverly Jenkins

Chasing Down a Dream by Beverly Jenkins

Web of Love by Mary Balogh

Started:

The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujaya Massey

A Duke in Disguise by Cat Sebastian

Still reading:

Lies, Damned Lies and History by Jodi Taylor

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

Trainwreck by Sady Doyle

Three books bought – but they don’t count because they’re kindle copies of some the Cazalet Chronicles to complete the set so that I can re-read Clary and Polly and Rupert and everyone any time I want!

Bonus picture: Timothy West and Hayward Morse talking to Dr Emma Parker at an event at the British Library on Tuesday night about Joe Orton and What the Butler Saw.

Emma Parker, Timothy West and Hayward Morse

Book of the Week, new releases, romance

Book of the Week: The Austen Playbook

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I know. I know.  You’re not even surprised by this choice because I pretty much signposted it last Tuesday.  And yet somehow I’m not sorry and I don’t care.  There’s a new Lucy Parker book – it came out yesterday (aka Monday) and I’m going to write about it.

Cover of the Austen Playbook

This is the fourth in the London Celebrities series and this features another fun enemies (or sort of enemies) to lovers type relationship, still in the acting world but this time away from the West End.  Freddie comes from an acting dynasty – she’s successful in her field and knows what she wants to do.  The trouble is it’s not what her dad – who is also her manager – wants her to do.  He wants her to follow in the family footsteps and be a Great Dramatic Actress – preferably by taking the key role in the legendary play her grandmother wrote.  She wants to do the comedies and musicals that she loves.  While her dad is out of the country she accepts a role in a new Jane Austen-based TV show – against his wishes – to try and buy a bit of time to think and plan and just enjoy working.

Griff is a man with a problem – an empty bank account and a giant family house to save-type problem.  His parents get through money like it’s water, as they lurch from one obsession to another, and his little brother keeps coming up with harebrained schemes to save the family fortunes.  The latest is that same Austen-based TV spectacular – which is going to be broadcast live from the theatre in the grounds.  A theatre in fact that was built by his grandfather during a torrid affair with Freddie’s grandmother.  So having her on site won’t be at all awkward. Oh no not at all.  And did I mention that he’s a theatre critic who gave  less than favourable notices to Freddie’s last role? Yeah, that too.

As well as the enemies to lovers, this has forced proximity, a family feud, some terrible parents and an opposites attracts couple that works really well.  Freddie is sunny and optimistic and Griff is a bit of an Eeyore.  She balances out his pessimism but without losing any of her positivity or changing herself and becoming in some way less..  And he turns out to be really great at supporting her, so that she can do what she wants and stand up for herself a little bit better.  And the family feud subplot is really, really fun.  It is a little bit insta-love between the two of them once they get to the country house, but it didn’t bother me – because you were already aware that there was some chemistry going on from the opening scene.  In some of the previous books in the series, I’ve occasionally had issues with some of the language choices from Parker (who is from New Zealand) as not actually things that Brits would say* – but I don’t remember having any in this book.  I would happily read just as many books in this world as Lucy Parker can come up with.  Also, please can Freddy’s sister be the heroine of the next book – there seemed like some definite set up going on there for her and A N Other member of the supporting cast. Pretty please. Thank you.

Anyway, my copy came from NetGalley, but you should be able to get hold of The Austen Playbook from all the usual ebook retailers – Kindle and Kobo are £5.49 at time of writing this post.  And if you haven’t already read the others in this series, Act Like it (the first book) is £2.80 on Kindle and Kobo too. So – go forth and read some delightful romance.

Happy Reading!

*There was a big rant here about the use of “on the West End” rather than “in the West End” – which is one of my total pet hates but that’s not just a Lucy Parker thing – it’s rapidly spreading because of “on Broadway”. I won’t bore you with my ravings though. Or at least bore you more than this

 

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: April 15 – April 21

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So it turns out that rather than use my week off to finish the books I had already started, I mostly used it to go on a Beverly Jenkins binge.  What can I say, my reading brain wants what it wants – and the library was able to oblige. But given that it was Easter week and they’re Christian inspirationals, maybe it was actually quite apt.

Read:

The Austen Playbook by Lucy Parker

Something Old, Something New by Beverly Jenkins

A Wish and a Prayer by Beverly Jenkins

Heart of Gold by Beverly Jenkins

For Your Love by Beverly Jenkins

Due Dilligence by Anna Zabo

Bronzed Betrayals by Ritter Ames

From Duke Til Dawn by Eva Leigh

Started:

The Grave’s A Fine And Private Place by Alan Bradley

Stepping to a New Day by Beverly Jenkins

Still reading:

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe

Lies, Damned Lies and History by Jodi Taylor

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

Trainwreck by Sady Doyle

On the upside: No books bought.  So that’s where all my willpower went!

Bonus Picture: Bank Holiday weekend sunshine.

a park on a sunny day

Book of the Week, romance

Book of the Week: He’s So Fine

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If you’re in any way family with my reading habits you’ll have seen a lot of familiar names on yesterday’s Week in Books post.  This made picking a BotW tricky, because I liked a lot of books – but not a lot of the ones by people who I haven’t reviewed before. Or at least not enough to be able to pick the without feeling like I was bigging them up more than I actually liked them.  The Alyssa Cole that I finished on Monday was already last week’s pick – so I couldn’t chose A Hope Divided (even though I liked it a lot) because even though I do repeat authors, three of her books in less than a month would be too much even for me! The Beverly Jenkins was good too – but she was my BotW pick two weeks ago.  I have finished the Lucy Parker now – but in the early hours of Tuesday so it would be cheating and that’s not out until next week anyway. I loved the Mary McCartney photographs of Twelfth Night – but that’s because that production was the best thing that I’ve ever seen on stage and it brought back wonderful memories and anyway there aren’t enough words in that for it to count as a Book of the Week.  And so that leads us to Jill Shalvis.  Who of course has featured before – but not this calendar year so that’s something.  And I did love this latest trio of Lucky Harbor books that I’ve read (one afer the other practically in less than seven days) so it’s hardly a hardship.  So which to pick?

Paperback copy of Its In His Kiss

He’s So Fine’s heroine is prickly Olivia, who owns a vintage shop and lives next door to the heroine of the previous book, and who was an intriguing and enigmatic presence in that.  And when we get to know her, we discover that she’s got a big secret that she’s protecting – who she really really is.  In keeping with my spoiler free policy, I’m not going to tell you the details of Olivia’s backstory – but believe me, it’s good.  This trilogy has the owners of a charter boat company for the heroes – this is Cole the boat captain, the first one was Sam the boat builder, and the next one (One In A Million) is Tanner, the deep sea diver.And Cole is a great character – he’s dashing and handsome and caring, but he also sees life in very black and white terms.  On top of that, his last relationship ended badly a couple of years ago and he hasn’t really recovered or moved on – except to decide that love isn’t really worth it.  Olivia doesn’t exactly have a great track record with relationships, so their mutually beneficial relationship seems ideal, to start with at least.

I liked this a lot but I had two quibbles. The first was that I wanted Olivia to come clean to Cole earlier, but that’s fairly usual with me and romances – I want people to sort out misunderstandings as soon as possible and not lie to each other.  But that’s because I don’t like conflict and secrets in real life – I know that without the conflict there’d be no book a lot of the time!  The other was that I wanted a bit more resolution.  And I know I say that a lot too – but this one is more than just me wanting to see a bit more of their happily ever after, because the book comes to a big screeching, grinding halt and there are still somethings that I thought needed resolving or at least talking through.  And having read the next book now too, I know that you don’t get any more of Cole and Olivia in that either.  But this is minor stuff.  The romance is swoonworthy, the characters well matched and Lucky Harbor is a great place to spend time.  And when read as part of the trilogy, its all very satisfying indeed. And after a run of secret baby/child stories, this is refreshingly pregnancy aggro free – if that’s a thing you look for in romance (I do).

My copy of He’s So Fine came from The Works – where they had all three and all in their 3 for £5 offer.  It was a little while ago now, but they still had a few Shalvises (Shalvii?) last time I was in there the other week.  It’s also available on Kindle and Kobo (£3.99 atow) or in an omnibus edition on  Kindle and Kobo with the other two in the set for £6.99.  And if you haven’t read any Lucky Harbor before, the first three book omnibus is £3.99 at the moment on Kindle and Kobo – which is definitely worth a look.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: April 8 – April 14

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Another busy week at work and another goodly pile of books read.  And I didn’t do too badly at working my  way down that ongoing reading pile.  I’m not at work this week, so my aim is to do soe more work on the NetGalley backlog as well as on the actual TBR pile.  Wish me luck.

Read:

An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole

He’s So Fine by Jill Shalvis

On the Road and off the Record with Leonard Bernstein by Charlie Harmon

The Binding by Bridget Collins

One in a Million by Jill Shalvis

Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins

Twelfth Night: Mary McCartney by Mary McCartney

The High Tide Club by Mary Kay Andrews

A Hope Divided by Alyssa Cole

Started:

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

Trainwreck by Sady Doyle

Still reading:

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe

The Austen Playbook by Lucy Parker

Lies, Damned Lies and History by Jodi Taylor

Two books bought:  the gorgeous Mary McCartney – which is very much a coffee table book, but as I read every word of it, it counts – and the new Cat Sebastian ebook.

Bonus picture: the theatre before Sir Ian McKellen’s one man birthday show on Sunday night!

Theatre programme with picture of Sir Ian McKellen with a stage in the background

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: April 1 – April 7

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Not a bad week’s reading, considering it was a really busy week for various reasons.  But the Still Reading list is starting to look a little out of control, so I’m going to try and tackle that this week.  We’ll see how that goes!

Read:

Just One of the Guys by Kristen Higgins

Operation Atonement by Talia Hibbert

The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins

Not Quite Over You by Susan Mallery

It’s In His Kiss by Jill Shalvis

Takeover by Anna Zabo

The Return of Mr Campion by Margery Allingham

Started:

He’s So Fine by Jill Shalvis

The Austen Playbook by Lucy Parker

Lies, Damned Lies and History by Jodi Taylor

Still reading:

The Binding by Bridget Collins

On the Road and off the Record with Leonard Bernstein by Charlie Harmon

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe

An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole

Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins

No books bought!  Hurrah!

Bonus picture: Misty London on Monday morning. NB: for Maisie Dobbs fans, the square I’m about to walk into is Fitzroy Square where Maisie has her office!

View of the BT tower and Fitzroy Square

American imports, Book of the Week

Book of the Week: Bring on the Blessings

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I really enjoyed my reading last week – writing the Diverse Romance post sent me off down a rabbit hole of library loans and kindle bargains and mailing list freebies and they all really lifted my mood.  So it’s fitting that one of the authors I mentioned in that is my pick this week for BotW.

Cover of Bring on the Blessings

Bring on the Blessings is the first in Beverly Jenkins’ Blessings series.  It tells the story of Bernadine Brown who, when she  catches her husband cheating on her on her fifty-second birthday, takes him for half of his (vast) fortune and uses it to buy a struggling town on ebay with a view to turning it to give foster kids a second chance at life.  This story introduces you to Bernadine, the historic black township of Henry Adams, Kansas, and its residents.  Bernadine is trying to pay back her blessing from God (the cash from her divorce settlement) by doing some good and paying it forward and giving back is the main theme of a lot of the storylines.    As well as Bernadine, there are five foster children from across the country and the families that are going to look after them, as well as various other town residents.

First thing to say: This is not a romance.  It has romantic elements, but there is no Happily Ever After for anyone at the end of Bring on the Blessings. What it does have is the set up and first phase of an overarching plot for the series and some incremental progress into resolutions for each of the story threads. I’ve struggled a little bit to figure out exactly which genre it fits in to to be honest, but Goodreads lists its as Romance, Fiction and Christian Fiction and Amazon lists it as Small Town and Rural Fiction, African American Fiction and African American Romance, all of which gives you a bit of a flavour of what is going on.

I absolutely raced through this. The characters are engaging, the plot has enough peril to keep you reading but without being stressful. And I think possibly the cleverest thing about this is the way it weaves all its messages together in a way that doesn’t become overpoweringly About The Message.  It may be more overtly religious than most of my reading, but it’s not saccharine or too preachy.  It’s also got a wry sense of humour tucked in there as well. I mentioned in my post last week that Miss Bev is a giant of the romance genre and this totally shows why. Addictive reading that suits the romance reader in me, but which isn’t wholly romance.  It’s sort of like a whole load of the subplots from a romance novel bundled themselves together into a book.  And that’s a good thing. I went straight on from book one to book two (thank you library) which says a lot about how much I was enjoying life in Henry Adams – and how keen I was to find out what would happen next – and I would have gone on to book three, but then I got distracted…

I borrowed my copy of Bring on the Blessings from the library, but it is available on Kindle, Kobo and in paperback in the UK – although I suspect the latter may be a special order job.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: March 25 – March 31

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It’s been a bit of a week.  First of all I was away for three nights for work – and used each evening to go out and do something, which ate into my reading time.  In fact I was out four evenings – I finally saw The Favourite on Monday, then Taylor Jenkins Reid talking about Daisy Jones and the Six followed by the hilarious A Night at the Musicals with Le Gateau Chocolate and Jonny Woo on Tuesday, Emilia the play on Wednesday and Follies (again) on Thursday.  And then we had dinner guests on Friday.  That’s like a month’s worth of social life in a week for me!  But I’ve been quite productive on the post front – if you missed it, there’s my Quarter 1 favourites post from yesterday and my Romance Recommendations from Wednesday (which I think you can tell have been influencing my reading this week!).

Read:

I’ll Catch You by Farah Rochon

FIT by Rebekah Weatherspoon

Bring on the Blessings by Beverly Jenkins

A Second Helping by Beverly Jenkins

Come to Dust by Derek Farrell

Always with You by Talia Hibbert

Rafe by Rebekah Weatherspoon

Started:

An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole

Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins

Just One of the Guys by Kristen Higgins

The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins

Operation Atonement by Talia Hibbert

Still reading:

The Binding by Bridget Collins

On the Road and off the Record with Leonard Bernstein by Charlie Harmon

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe

Five ebooks bought or pre-ordered…

Bonus picture: Taylor Jenkins Reid chatting on Tuesday

Book of the Week, new releases, romance

Book of the Week: Can’t Escape Love

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A big list of books last week in the end – thank you holiday, extra days off and weekend away from home for work.  But in the end it was an easy choice for Book of the Week – because the new Alyssa Cole novella came out and it is wonderful.  Really wonderful.

Cover of Can't Escape Love

Regina is a geek girl who has just left her “proper” job to take her website – Girls with Glasses – to the next level.   Trouble is the stress is giving her insomnia and the only thing that works for getting her to sleep when this happens is the voice of a live streamer called Gus.  But his archive has been deleted and so she’s going to have to track him down (virtually, shes not a stalker) and ask him if he can help her by recording talking to send her to sleep.  Gus is a puzzle fanatic tasked with creating an escape room based on a popular romance animé for a convention, but trouble is, he’s not quite the superfan that the job requires, but Regina is.  Can Gus and Reggie help each other solve their problems?

Doesn’t that just sound ridiculously cute?  If it doesn’t, I’m telling it wrong, because this is so much fun.  This is a fill-in novella between titles in Cole’s Reluctant Royals series (you may remember I went mad for A Princess in Theory this time last year) and timeline-wise runs parallel to the second book in the series, A Duke By Default, where Reggie’s twin sister Portia is the heroine.  My only disappointment was that this was a novella and not a full length book – but given that neither Reggie nor Gus is a royal, I guess it wouldn’t fit the theme of the series!

I mentioned in my post about Princess in Theory that there is great representation in Alyssa Cole’s books – and this is no exception.  Reggie is black, Gus is Vietnamese American, both are neurodiverse and Reggie uses a wheelchair.  But none of those things are the main plot points about their characters – which is obviously exactly as is should be, but is sadly not always the case.  It’s been quite a week in Romancelandia (of which more tomorrow), full of people saying that they “don’t see colour” or “don’t like to read about gangs and violence” as reasons why they don’t read books by black authors.  They all need to sit down, shut up and read Alyssa Cole or one of the other wonderful non-white writers who are creating brilliant romance stories at the moment that show a full range of happily ever afters – and not just the ones for white people.  I could rant, but this is not the place (come back tomorrow for that).

Anyway, Can’t Escape Love is the nerdy romance that I needed last week and I can’t wait for the third book in the series – A Prince on Paper – to come out at the end of April. I pre-ordered that in November (Kindle/amazon paperback/Kobo).  And if that isn’t enough of a recommendation for you, I don’t know what is.  Can’t Escape Love is 99p on Kindle and Kobo at the moment as is the previous novella in the series, Once Ghosted, Twice Shy (Kindle/Kobo)which is a second-chance queer love story about the super efficient assistant to the prince in A Princess in Theory and the dating app hook-up who broke her heart.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: March 19 – March 24

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Started the week in Portugal and ended it by working all weekend, so this week’s list has some plane reading, some commuter reading and some days off work and taking advantage reading!

Read:

From the Corner of the Oval by Beck Dorey Stein

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

Why Not Tonight by Susan Mallery

The Road to Grantchester by James Runcie

First Comes Marriage by Huda Al-Marashi

Eve’s Hollywood by Eve Babitz

It Happened One Christmas by Susan Mallery

Can’t Escape Love by Alyssa Cole

Mrs Martin’s Incomparable Adventure by Courtney Milan

Started:

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe

Still reading:

The Binding by Bridget Collins

On the Road and off the Record with Leonard Bernstein by Charlie Harmon

No books bought 🙂

Bonus picture: Creepy statue from a Portuguese monastery.  If i have to have nightmares, so do you: