books

Books of the Year: New Fiction

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It’s that time of year again, where I’m rounding up the best things that I’ve read this year, and I’m starting with the new fiction because it has been a really good year for it.

As I’ve said already, in contemporary romance 2023 has been the year of the celebrity and normal person romance in my reading life. I’m still not sure if it’s an actual trend or if it’s just what the algorithm has been feeding me but I’ve really enjoyed it and the hardest part is how do I pick just one for this list? Well the answer is I’m not. I’m picking two: Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld and Once More with Feeling by Elissa Sussman. Yes, they are two of the books that were on my half year favourites list, but I really did love them and they’re two of the books that I’ve recommended the most this year. Romantic Comedy is still the only book with the quarantimes in it that I’ve enjoyed and Once More with Feeling made me so happy for some bookish revenge on a Justin Timberlake type figure.

Also in contemporary romance is Lucy Parker’s Codename Charming – this was one of my most anticipated books of the year, and it lived up to my internal hype for it when it finally arrived in the autumn. Also excellent was Christina Lauren’s True Love Experiment and Role Playing by Cathy Yardley, the latter of which has an older pairing than you usually see which was fun.

And finally it wouldn’t be one of my end of year lists without a Rich People Problems novel, and this year it is Pineapple Street, which was also on the mid year list.

I realise now that there’s no crime on this list, which is a slight surprise to me given how much mystery I have read, but a lot of it was either not new or from long running series and you know my policy on that. I wonder what 2024’s fiction list will look like?

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Recommendsday: Twixtmas reading

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I’m already back at work, but as I’m still trying valiantly to cling to the Christmas spirit, for today’s recommendsday here’s what I’ll be reading (or listening to) between now and the end of the year – once I’ve got my fifty states challenge finished (why are West Virginia and the Dakotas always so hard?) and some ideas for you too.

If you turn on the TV in the afternoon at this time of year, chances are you’ll stumble across a movie version of an Agatha Christie novel – Death on the Nile was on on Christmas Day, Mirror Cracked this afternoon and Murder on the Orient Express is coming up too in the next day or too. And the novels make a pretty good choice for this time of year too – there are some Christmas-set stories, but my pick is always Orient Express – something about being stuck in a snow drift just makes it Christmassy to me.

You also could do worse than a Christmas Meg Langslow, the only reason I haven’t read the new one yet is because I haven’t read the summer one yet because the kindle edition is eye wateringly expensive and I’ve even reading them in order from the very start and I refuse to change that now after more than thirty books! There’s also a Christmas book in Jenn McKinlay’s Cupcake Bakery series that came out this autumn that I can’t read yet because: Reading in order and a book or two behind, but if you’re not bothered about reading in order they’re a pretty reliable series.

In fact most of my favourite series have Christmas books – I’ve mentioned most of them ad nausem (Royal Spyness, Daisy Dalrymple, Phryne Fisher etc) but I might actually reread one of my favourite Drina books this year – ballet at Christmas is such a thing and in Drina Dances Again she’s in Edinburgh, playing Little Clara in the Nutcracker (although not at Christmas!) and it’s a pivotal moment in the series for reasons that are a bit spoilery. If I want a boarding school story, the Chalet School series is full of Christmas plays – I usually pick one from the early days of the series so maybe I’ll go later this year.

Once I’ve got the last few states ticked off my 50 states challenge I’m planning on reading another of the Christmas stories from the British Library Crime Classics series – I think I have The Christmas Egg on the actual to-read shelf but there’s bound to be one in Kindle Unlimited too.

And finally, it’s not strictly festive, but I’ve been listening to the Radio 4 serialisation of Miss Buncle’s Book on BBC Sounds this week, and it’s just such a lovely cozy book, if you’ve never read it before, this time of year would be perfect to discover it for the first time. You can find my review of the trilogy here.

Happy Wednesday everyone (yes, it’s Wednesday!)

books

Book of the Week: Maggie Moves On

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Happy Boxing Day everyone – if Boxing Day is a thing where you are. We’re on our way back home from the frozen North after a family Christmas at my sister’s house. However today’s pick is a non-Christmas book because I already told you about it in last week’s Recommendsday! The good news is that I got a stack of books that I wanted for Christmas so expect to hear more about them in the near future too.

The titular Maggie is a home renovation YouTube star. She buys houses, does them up, flips them and then moves on. Her latest project is in a small town in Idaho and it’s her biggest one yet. But she’s got a plan and she’ll be in and out in just a few months and on to the next thing. One of the things on her to do list is the gardens and grounds, so she sends for local landscapers to give her quotes for the work. One of them is Silas – a sexy local boy who sees her and decides that she’s the one for him. But Maggie’s time in town has an expiration date on it – and there’s no way it can be more than a casual fling, or can it?

So, first things first: Silas is the most alpha-y hero I’ve read in a long time and it was a bit jarring at first after a bunch of grumpy/sunshine romances to have this big hot guy fall in instantly-lust with the heroine and start trying to win her over. I was prepared to hate it, except that he does it with a smile and although he’s always telling her she’s his future wife he never actually pressures her to do anything. This has got a really nice found family sort of vibe to is as Maggie accidentally builds herself a community in Kinship and then has to work out if she wants to stay or go. This also means it has good cast of secondary characters for you to enjoy as well.

I read a Lucy Score and someone else romance as part of my 50 states challenge in 2021 and found it too New Adult for me, but this was much, much better. I do like a book with a house renovation at the centre of it – romances like The Honey Don’t List or cozy crimes like the Fixer Upper series so I like the concept of this as well as the romance. Basically it’s a nice fun read with a romance that doesn’t have an obviously cinnamon roll hero – although deep down he turns out to actually be a really champ.

Like a lot of Lucy Score’s books, this is currently in Kindle Unlimited – although I bought it this time last year when it wasn’t in KU, I suspect because I noticed it was set in Idaho which is always a tricky state in the challenge stakes!

Happy Reading!

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The Week in Books: December 18 – December 24

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Happy Christmas everyone! I hope you’re all having a delightful day filled with whatever you want to be doing and hopefully lots of lovely food. And that you got the books you wanted of course. I’ve checked off another four of my missing states so I may still get the list finished before the end of the rest! Wish me luck.

Read:

Tempest by Beverly Jenkins

The Christmas Book Club by Sarah Morgan

Six Geese a’ Slaying by Kathleen Bacus

Maggie Moves On by Lucy Score

The Ape Who Guards the Balance by Elizabeth Peters

Cowboy Dancing All Night by Jessie Gussman

Love in Winter Wonderland by Abiola Bello*

Started:

If Only You Knew by Kristen Higgins

Still reading:

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

Animal, Vegetable, Criminal by Mary Roach

Seven books bought and another preordered – there’s a sale on Beverly Jenkins and I needed to get the new Rivers of London ordered.

Bonus photo: a pile of presents (not for me) because if can’t post another gratuitous Christmas picture on actual Christmas Day when can I?!

*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

New(ish) Rivers of London graphic novel

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Cover of Rivers of London Here be Dragons

Yes, I’m running a bit late flagging this because Here Be Dragons came out two weeks ago – but I didn’t realise until I got the email from the comic book store late last week and then I picked it up at the weekend, so I’m mentioning now for those who might also have missed the arrival of a new Rivers of London graphic novel as we wait for the next instalment in the main series – which appears to be the long trailed Nightingale novella – be still my heart! The timeline in the graphic novels is actually slightly ahead of the books in some ways (and I can’t explain what I mean because: spoilers) which is fun and I just love the art and the humour. I think the writing team for the graphic novels do a really good job of making them seem cohesive and consistent with the novels. And can I just have a moment for how cool this cover is?

Anyway, you should be able to get this where ever you get your comics – but do try and support your local indie if you can.

books

Recommendsday: New Festive Reads 2023

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After last week’s not-new Christmas books, today I bring you some of the new festive books I’ve read so far this year in case you’re in the market for some last minute purchasing and reading before the big day. Because some of you may be more prepared for Christmas than I currently am!

A Holly Jolly Ever After by Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy

This is the sequel to last year’s A Merry Little Meet Cute and is also set in Christmas Notch, Vermont (Hello ticking another state off my 50 States Challenge for the year!). This time our heroine is Winnie Baker a former child actress who managed to keep her career going into adulthood by maintaining her wholesome Christian image. Except now her perfect life has come falling down and now she’s going to reinvent herself in a steamy holiday movie. Her co-star is Kallum, former boyband star and now owner of a regional pizza chain who went viral after a sex tape leaked (and who you may remember from that first book) and who has some history with Winnie that means that it’s all a bit awkward. But when Winnie has trouble faking pleasure on screen she asks Kallum for help with research and you all know where this is going. Sex lessons for reasons is always a fun trope – and obviously it’s extremely not closed door. The premise is bonkers, but it was an entertaining read even if purity culture makes me really angry.

The Christmas Book Club by Sarah Morgan

This is this year’s Christmas Sarah Morgan, and I’m probably cheating by mentioning her again so soon after reminding you about the Snow Crystal series, but this is women’s fiction and those are straight up romances so I’m just going to go with it. This follows four women – three friends approaching their fortieth birthdays and taking a Christmas trip to a quaint inn in Vermont and the inn’s owner, a young widow with a little girl whose husband died while they were renovating the hotel together. Each woman is facing some sort of challenge in her life and the week at the inn will help them figure out what to do next. I think I would have liked less main characters and more focus on each storyline but then I’m often a bit like that and I don’t know which woman I would be happy to lose! This is quite low stress and very festive and perfect for a winter afternoon once you’ve got your presents wrapped!

The Christmas Jigsaw Murders by Alexandra Benedict*

Early in December, crossword setter and grouch Edie receives a parcel in the post containing jigsaw pieces showing a crime scene and a note saying unless she solves the puzzle at least four people will die. Of course she starts investigating with the help of her nephew who is a police detective – until he starts to worry that she’s in danger and tries to shut her out of the investigation. But of course that’s not going to stop her. This is a murder mystery with some hidden clues in there that tie in for puzzlers, *but* don’t be deceived by the festive cover and colour scheme, it’s actually pretty dark. I was expecting/hoping for something Christmassy but with Thursday Murder club levels of grimness or something cozy crime adjacent, but if it wasn’t Christmas it would be a murder mystery with a dark and brooding cover, rather than an arty one. So not really a for me book, but I think it will appeal to a lot of people who like their crime a bit grimmer.

And that’s your lot today – I’ve got a couple more Christmas books I’m going to try and read this December, but who knows if that will actually happen, because I keep getting distracted away to other books!

Happy Reading!

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Book of the Week: The Socialite Spy

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As I said yesterday, although I should have been reading Christmas books and books that ticked off missing states in my reading challenge, actually last week I was reading a bunch of other stuff, so today’s pick is Sarah Sigal’s The Socialite Spy.

It’s 1936 and Lady Pamela Moore is somewhat unconventional socialite – she’s married but she’s the writer of a newspaper column called Agent of Influence – it’s about fashion and high society. When her editor asks her to interview Wallis Simpson for a puff piece about her wardrobe, she has no idea what will come next. She’s approached by MI5 to keep an eye on Mrs Simpson and Edward VIII and to report on their links to Nazi Germany. As she finds herself moving around in high society and political circles she discovers that things are not quite as she thought they were – but is she putting herself in danger?

My love of 1930s set books is well known and I have a particular soft spot for books and novels about the abdication crisis so this really appealed to me. If you’ve read other books set around this period you can probably figure out who Lady Pamela is going to be meeting and what Wallis is getting up to. This isn’t as good as my all time favourite Gone with the Windsors, but it’s doing something different to that with the thriller/espionage element. But it was still a fun read that stuck pretty closely to what I understand the actual history to be. But of course it did make me want to go back and read Laurie Graham all over again – which I really didn’t need to add to my list at the moment because I have plenty of other books to read.

If you like the Royal Spyness series, this will probably work for you as well – it’s got slightly more peril than those so, but it’s in quite similar sort of area in a way. I think there’s a chance we could get a sequel to this – which I would happily read, just to see what Sarah Sigal does with Pamela next.

I read The Socialite Spy via Kindle Unlimited – which of course means that it’s not on Kobo (at the moment anyway) but I can see the paperback also available on Waterstones too – with some click and collect availability.

Happy Reading!