Category: week in books

American imports, Book of the Week, mystery, Young Adult

Book of the Week: A Study in Charlotte

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And I just can’t help myself.  For the second time in three weeks, my BotW is a Sherlock Holmes-related novel: Brittany Cavalaro’s A Study in Charlotte.  But this time it’s Modern Sherlock descendants at a New England Boarding School so it is Completely Different from Sherry Thomas’s A Study in Scarlet Women. Even if the titles would lead you to think otherwise.  Honestly.  It really is.  Let me prove it to you…

Jamie Watson has won a rugby scholarship to a prep school in Connecticut.  He isn’t happy about it – not only doesn’t he want to leave London, he doesn’t really like rugby and the last thing he wants is to be closer to his dad and his step-family.  The only bright spot in this whole situation is that Charlotte Holmes also attends the school.  The Holmeses and the Watsons have been intertwined for generations – every since Sherlock solved mysteries and Watson wrote them down.  But Charlotte seems like more trouble than Jamie can (or should) handle:  she arrived at the school in mysterious circumstances, she runs a poker game at weekends and is rumoured to have a drug problem.  But the thing is, the two of them seem drawn to each other nonetheless.  Then a student is killed.  And not just any student – one who Watson had a very public fight with after he hassled Charlotte. And Holmes and Watson are being framed for the crime.  Charlotte may be the only person who can solve the case – but by investigating it may put them in the wrong place at the wrong time and make things even worse for them.

This is exactly my sort of YA.  There’s drama and peril and some angst here, but it’s not end-of-the-world or dystopian or bleak.  There’s school stuff and a mystery, but the issues are slightly more adult (drug addiction, sexual assault, stalkers) than you get in middle grade school stories and mysteries.  Jamie and Charlotte are incredibly engaging characters – and once again I had fun watching and seeing how Cavallaro had woven in the Sherlock-lore into her modern day characters.

I’ve actually had this on my reading wishlist for a while – Goodreads tells me I shelved this in November 2016 – but it’s not available in Kindle in the UK and it hadn’t come my way at the library or in the bookshops.  Or at least not at a point when I remembered to look for it anyway.  Luckily I found it in the library near my flat in the US and it was part of my marathon library book binge last week.  There are two more books in the series that have already come out and a fourth installment due in 2019.  I’m going to be be making proper efforts to get hold of them.  I might add the next one to my Christmas list…

You can get a copy of A Study in Charlotte in hardback or paperback from Amazon, but I’ve had trouble finding it for sale on any other UK-based vendors.  Which is a real shame because it is really very good.  But if you’re heading to the US anytime soon, put it on your to-buy list!

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: November 26 – December 2

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Well, the reading was going ok until the jetlag got me and my brain stopped being able to concentrate on words on a page and although I started a few things over the weekend, all I actually finished was comics.  Hey ho, fingers crossed it doesn’t last for too long.  As you may have seen in yesterday’s Stats post, I did a good job of clearing the library book pile before I left the US, so at least I have that to be happy about.

Read:

Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear

A Conspiracy in Belgravia by Sherry Thomas

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallero

Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear

Star Trap by Simon Brett

An Amateur Corpse by Simon Brett

Rivers of London: Water Weed 4 by Ben Aaronovitch et al

Rivers of Londong: Action at a Distance by Ben Aaronovitch et al

Started:

The Essence of Malice by Ashley Weaver

Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear

Still reading:

Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood

Fear by Bob Woodward

Simple Irresistible by Rachel Gibson

No books bought.  A miracle, achieved only because of lack of suitcase space and willpower not to visit a bookshop at the airport!

Bonus picture: part of Thomas Jefferson’s book collection at the Library of Congress

Some of Thomas Jefferson's books

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: November 19 – November 25

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I’m still blazing a trail through the library book pile.  I’m off back to the UK at the end of this week and I’m determined to read as many as I can.  But equally, there are still a few bits of sightseeing I haven’t done yet, so we’ll see how far I actually get!

Read:

Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastian

Come Hell or Highball by Maia Chance

What Angels Fear by CS Harris

Charlotte Holmes and the Locked Box by Sherry Thomas

Too Wilde to Wed by Eloisa James

Year of the Crocodile by Courtney Milan

Anyone but You by Jennifer Crusie

How to Party with an Infant by Kaui Hart Hemmings

Death in St Petersburg by Tasha Alexa

The Painted Queen by Elizabeth Peters and Joan Hess

Wilde in Love by Eloisa James

Started:

Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear

Simple Irresistable by Rachel Gibson

Still reading:

Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood

Fear by Bob Woodward

One book bought – the third Charlotte Holmes book to take home with me!

Bonus Photo: a panda at the National Zoo yesterday.

A annoyed looking giant panda

American imports, Book of the Week, mystery

Book of the Week: A Study in Scarlet Women

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It’s nearly the end of my American Adventure, so my reading at the moment, as I mentioned yesterday, is mostly books I’ve borrowed from the library here.  I’m prioritising the pile too – because when I was borrowing books I was targetting books that I find it harder/more expensive to get hold of in the UK, so I’ll be gutted if I have to take some of them back unread.  And it also means that for the first time in a few weeks, I had lots of books to choose from for BotW this week, but it was a fairly easy choice – I raced through Sherry Thomas’s A Study in Scarlet Women on Saturday night – and it’s the first in a series.  Ideal.

Cover of A Study in Scarlet Women

So, A Study in Scarlet Women kicks off the Lady Sherlock series – which as you might guess is a gender-flipped Sherlock Holmes retelling.  Charlotte Holmes has never really felt happy with the life expected of a woman in upper class London in the late Victorian era.  And when her father reneges on a deal he made with her about her future, she takes matters into her own hands.  Unfortunately, that means making herself an outcast – and life as an outcast is harder than she thought.  And then there’s a series of deaths that are casting suspicion over the family she has left behind.  Soon Charlotte is investigating – under the assumed name of Sherlock Holmes – with the help of a few new friends, and one very old friend who has loved her forever.

I read this in almost one sitting** and it is so good.  Charlotte is a brilliant heroine.  The analytical mind that serves Sherlock so well creates as whole load of problems for a woman – who isn’t expected to speak up, or demand a life that doesn’t revolve around marriage.  Her deductions are clever, the mystery is great – and she’s much more sympathetic than Proper Sherlock is – she’s motivated by helping her family and her friends in a lot of what she does, not just the mystery solving.  Just a note though I’ve seen this categorized as a romance – which I think isn’t quite right.  I first head about it on the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books podcast and Sherry Thomas does also write romances, but for me this is definitely Historical Mystery with a side order of unresolved romance and sexual tension.  Don’t go expecting a resolution/Happy Ever After here.

Side note, I was listening to that edition of Smart Bitches after a night shift on the way back to where I was staying, and the combination of lack of sleep, going to a different station to where I was used to heading to from Waterloo station and being engrossed in this saw me in autopilot mode and getting on the wrong train and ending up in Richmond and not in Barnes.  I have a vivid memory of sitting on the platform at Richmond, freezing cold, watching it get light, waiting for a train back the other way and listening to Sherry Thomas talking about learning English as a second language through the medium of 70s and 80s historical romance novels!

Anyway, back to the book, if you like series like Deanna Raybourn’s Veronica Speedwell or Lady Julia Grey, Tasha Alexander’s Lady Emily – or even some of the interwar-set detective series like Daisy Dalrymple, Phryne Fisher, Dandy Gilver or Rhys Bowen’s Her Royal Spyness – then definitely give this a try, even if you’re not usually into Sherlock retellings.  And if you are a Sherlock fan, then definitely take a look at this.

My copy came from the library*, but you should be able to get your hands on this fairly easy.  It’s available in Kindle and Kobo as well as in paperback from all the usual suspects.  You might need to order it in though.  I already have the second book on loan from the library, and I’ve ordered the third to take home with me even though I have limited space in my luggage home.

Happy Reading

*Although I’ve since found it on my Kindle where I picked it up on offer for £1.49 last summer and then it got lost in the shuffle of books.  Insert comment about the state of my tbr pile here.

**I moved from the sofa to bed about halfway through, but ended up staying up late to finish it.

 

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: November 12 – November 18

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My parents were visiting me last week, so plenty of sightseeing, but still a solid week of reading as I try desperately to finish my massive pile of library books before I have to take them back ready to head back to the UK.  I’m hoping that Thanksgiving this week will help speed me on my way!

Read:

Malice at the Palace by Rhys Bowen

When A Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare

Agatha Raisin and the Witches Tree by MC Beaton

The Forgotten Room by Lauren Willig, Karen White and Beatriz Williams

Basket Case by Carl Hiaassen

A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas

So Much Blood by Simon Brett

Started:

The Painted Queen by Elizabeth Peters and Joan Hess

Come Hell or Highball by Maia Chance

Still reading:

Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood

Fear by Bob Woodward

No books bought – no time for shopping, only for reading and sightseeing.

Bonus picture: Michelle Obama’s Inauguration gown from the Smithsonian Museum of American History.

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: November 5 – November 11

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Check it out!  Reading more like normal – even though it was election week.  Thank you very much library.  Don’t expect this to last though – I’ve got more visitors arriving this week, so sightseeing will be back to full speed.  I’ve only got a few weeks left here now too.

Read:

A Conjuring of Light by VE Schwab

The Ruin of a Rake by Cat Sebastian

The Soldier’s Scoundrel by Cat Sebastian

It Takes Two to Tumble by Cat Sebastian

Now That You Mention It by Kristin Higgins

Turbo Twenty-Three by Janet Evanovich

Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came by MC Beaton

A Terrible Beauty by Tasha Alexander

Hardcore Twenty-Four by Janet Evanovich

Started:

So Much Blood by Simon Brett

When A Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare

Still reading:

Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood

Fear by Bob Woodward

The Forgotten Room by Lauren Willig, Karen White and Beatriz Williams

Malice at the Palace by Rhys Bowen

One book bought and a few more library books borrowed…

Bonus picture:

Jasmine Guillory talking to Petra Mayer at Politics and Prose at the Wharf on Thursday.

Book of the Week, detective, Forgotten books, mystery

Book of the Week: Cast, In Order of Disappearance

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Back to semi-normal service this week, in that there is a BotW post, albeit a shorter one because I spent the week working and then gadding about Washingotn with my sister.  However after she and her boyfriend left on Saturday evening I consoled myself with books and this was one of them.

Cast, In Order of Disappearance is the first novel in the Charles Paris series by Simon Brett. Set in 1974, Charles is a middle-aged actor, with a drink problem and a career problem.  But when he meets up with a previous paramour (from a seaside run in panto) he ends up getting entangled in blackmail, the murder of a theatre impresario and all sorts of other shenanigans.  It’s all set against the backdrop of petrol shortages, electricity rationing and the winter of discontent which makes for a slightly different take on the murder mystery.  Charles is very much in the mold of the classic amateur sleuth, and even as he’s being terrible (drinking, womanising etc) he’s still strangely likeable and very readable.

This is the first book in a seventeen-book series – which I came across because the radio adaptations popped up in my recommendations on audible.  I’ve been listening to some of them – which are great fun as they have Bill Nighy as Charles (he’s predictably brilliant) but they have been considerably updated.  I really liked both of them – and although the original version is probably my favourite, it does require a level of knowledge about Britain in the 1970s which may not work for modern audiences.  Anyway, I’m already stockpiling more of these to read, so you may well here more of them anon.

Yes, this is short, but it’s been a busy week – and it’s about to get even busier.  As this posts, I should be gearing up for a midterms overnight shift.  Anyone who’s known me for any length of time knows that I love elections – so it’s a big night for me and requires proper preparation.  Hence the short post.  Sorry, not sorry.

You can get Cast, In Order of Disappearance on Kindle or Kobo, but the paperbacks are out of print.  But the radio plays are available on audible and Kobo.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: October 29 – November 4

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Another week with not a huge amount of reading done – but I had a fabulous time with my sister and her boyfriend while they were here.  I’m all on my lonesome again now, but it’s midterm elections on Tuesday so reading time may not be huge this week…

Read:

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina 1 by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa

True Blood 1 by Alan Ball

Star Trek TNG: Mirror Broken 0 by David Tipton

Tricky Twenty-Two by Janet Evanovich

Queen of Hearts by Rhys Bowen

Cast, In Order of Disappearance by Simon Brett

Started:

Malice at the Palace by Rhys Bowen

Turbo Twenty-three by Janet Evanovich

Still reading:

Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood

Fear by Bob Woodward

A Conjuring of Light by VE Schwab

The Forgotten Room by Lauren Willig, Karen White and Beatriz Williams

Little Sis left on Saturday – I consoled myself with a trip to the library and a massive pile of library books.  Which is an improvement on my usual method of cheering myself up by buying a stack of books…

This week’s bonus picture: Washington Wizards trying (and failing) to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder

Basketball game

Book of the Week

Not a Book of the Week post…

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As I mentioned in yesterday’s Week in Books post, I said I wasn’t sure if I was going to have a BotW to recommend today, and I don’t. I just didn’t read enough last week to have something to recommend that’s not a repeat or clashing with a post I’ve already got planned. I was totally wiped out after a busy week at work and that trip to Texas. I fell asleep on the sofa one night at 9.30. And the last time that happened was back when I worked breakfast shifts!

Anyway, you did get a bonus post last week for Halloween reads, so go back and read that if you haven’t already, and I’ll attempt to resume normal service next week. Although my sister and her boyfriend are here this week, so I’m going to be busy again…

Bonus picture: the US Supreme Court on Sunday!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: October 22 – October 28

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I feel like I spent the first half of the week recovering from Texas and the second half preparing for my little sister and her boyfriend to arrive. And that’s before all the news that happened this week. Which was a lot. So not as much reading done as I wanted, and I have no idea if there’ll be a Book of the Week post tomorrow. Sorry.

Read:

Heirs and Graces by Rhys Bowen

Sorrow on Sunday by Ann Purser

A Picture of Murder by TE Kinsey

Sleep Like a Baby by Charlaine Harris

Started:

Queen of Hearts by Rhys Bowen

The Forgotten Room by Lauren Willig, Karen White and Beatriz Williams

Still reading:

Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood

Fear by Bob Woodward

A Conjuring of Light by VE Schwab

No books bought, but a big stack borrowed from the library…

Bonus picture: my favorite specimen at the Botanic Gardens. It’s like a muppet and a plant had a baby.