Tag: book preview

Book previews

Out this Week: Alexandra Vasti

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I’ve got one for the historical romance fans this week, while you wait for the second half of the latest series of Bridgerton to arrive next week! This is a paperback release of the first two books in Alexandra Vasti’s Halifax Hellions series – In Which Margo Halifax Earns Her Shocking Reputation and In Which Matilda Halifax Learns the Value of Restraint – rather than something new-new, so serious fans may have read already. I have Vasti on my to-read-once-the-pile-goes-down list because so many people in the romance communities that I hang out in are huge fans of her books, and she’s also a really interesting interview, which is usually a good sign too. This is out in Kindle next week, but in the meantime Ladies in Hating, which came out in September is on offer on Kindle for 99p!

Happy Reading!

Book previews

Out This Week: New Chicago Stars

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The NFL season may be over and the Seahwawks have taken the Vince Lombardi trophy back to Seattle, but this week we have a new addition to Susan Elizabeth Philips’s Chicago Stars series. I’ve written about these before – the last one actually came out the week following the Super Bowl too, but they remain one of my favourite sports romance series (maybe my actual favourite?) despite the huge swaths of NFL and NHL romances that are on the shelves at the moment. The new book is called And the Crowd Went Wild, and it has a star quarterback and an actress as the duo – now I could get cynical about this (yes Taylor is a pop star and Travis is a tight end, not a QB) except that it’s Susan Elizabeth Philips and this is what she does but also I just heard Julia Quinn recommend it on last week’s Smart Bitches Trashy Books podcast. I’m really looking forward to reading this when I get hold of it.

Book previews

Out Today: Misty Divine sequel

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It’s the first Thursday of February, and I wanted to mention that there is a sequel out today to one of last February Quick Review books, Murder in the Dressing Room. The sequel is called Missing in Soho and has a missing photographer and an attack on a private detective. As I wrote in that review of the first book, there is was a big hanging plot thread left in that one, so I’m intending to read this one to find out what happens next. I will try and remember to report back! It also should be noted that that first book has had a bit of a cover redesign since last year so don’t be confused if you spot the paperback in the shops and it looks a bit different to the one from last year.

New cover of Murder in the Dressing Room
Screenshot
Book previews

Out Today: Night Rider

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Happy Thursday everyone, and I have another new book out today that I wanted to talk about. So we have a big trend of Cowboy and ranch romances at the moment, but Night Rider is adding in the famous person and normal person trope in this case a a cowboy and a Hollywood starlet. But. But. Look at this cover: Pastel colours, illustrations. Yes there is the word suspense in the Bailey Hannah quote, but does this look like a romantic suspense novel? Because this is the final line of the description:

But that dream is threatened when Nina’s past catches up with her. And when an unlikely predator strikes, she and Maverick must make a choice: to let each other go or face the world together.

So. I have a copy of this via NetGalley because I am behind with the Cowboy/Ranch trend and I wanted to get in on it, but when I was picking it out, I didn’t really peg it as being as Romantic Suspense as the Amazon page says it is. So I’m going to read it, and see how romantic suspense it is, and then go and find some more cowboys to see if they’re all actually romantic suspense and cover signalling has gone even more out the window than I previously thought!

Book previews, series

Series Redux: Marlow Murder Club

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The latest Marlow Murder club mystery is out this week and so I thought now was a good time to point you back at my post about the series last year – which you can find here. This new books is The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts centres on a secret from Judith’s past. She’s always been a bit of an enigma, but it looks like we might be about to get some answers as someone from her past appears in town. On top of that, there’s two dead local celebrities for the ladies to investigate. I really enjoy these – actually more than the TV versions of them as the adaptation seems much more played for laughs/humour than it reads to me as a book. The new one is in hardback and should be pretty easy to find in shops as well as in ebook and audiobook from all the usual sources. And if you haven’t read the earlier books yet, the first is in Kindle Unlimited at the moment and all the others are on offer for £2.99.

Book previews

Out Today: New Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy

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Happy Thursday everyone, and having mentioned one of the Christmas Notch books in my Not-New Christmas Recommendsday, I wanted to flag that Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy have a new book out today, The Fundamentals of Being a Good Girl. This is set in a college town and has a professor for the hero and a new lecturer in town for the heroine. I’m looking forward to reading it, but have a few reservations about the conflict of interest situation here because as you know I’m all about the competent heroines. However given that they’ve managed to handle similar stuff quite well in Christmas Notch I’m prepared to go with it and give it a try!

Book previews

Out this week: New Catriona McPherson

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Now we’re into December the new releases have really slowed down because all the stuff that was hoping for big sales in the run up to Christmas is already out there and we’re now into the counter programming. For context, the list that I usually look at for new releases has December bundled in with November instead of having a separate page. And most of them are November books, believe me, I checked. So today I wanted to mention a new book from an author that I really like, but in a series of hers that I haven’t read: Catriona McPherson’s Last Ditch series. I’ve read McPherson’s Dandy Gilver books and one of her 1950s set Helen Crowther books, but not any from this contemporary and (mostly) California set series with a Scottish Heroine. Scots Eggs has some missing tourists and a potential double murder and the whole series sounds a lot of fun. Don’t be surprised if you see the first in the series pop up on the reading list in a few weeks, just as soon as I’ve got the Dakotas sorted out on the 50 states list…

Book previews

Out This Week: New Olivia Dade

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By the time you read this, my final* pre-order of the year will have dropped through my front door because Olivia Dade’s Second Chance Romance is out in the world. I ordered this back in March, but I’ve been waiting to see what Karl the Baker’s deal is since I read the first Harlots Bay book At First Spite back in February last year. According to my reading plan, I’m meant to be reading Christmas books this month but there is a fairly high chance that this will be jumping right to the top of my to-read list.

*Unless I’ve forgotten one!

series

Mystery Series: HM The Queen Investigates

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In Wednesday’s Recommendsday, I wrote about From Russia With Love which is a spy adventure with the Cold War and Russia as a key protagonist. This week also saw the release of the latest H M The Queen Investigates novel which is also venturing into Cold War spying Territory – with a title that evokes John Le Carré. I mentioned The Queen Who Came in from the Cold back in January in my series releases post, and I think it’s the last book from that post to be released (that hasn’t been bumped back into 2025*). In this book it’s 1961 and the Royal Yacht is heading for Italy for a state visit, but on board the Queen and her private secretary are investigating a possible murder that someone thinks they saw from the Royal Train. I really like this series as you know and I’ve been looking forward to this for more than a year so I’m hoping it will live up to that. I think it’s a sensible decision to move the series back in time, but I remain sceptical about how many scenarios there actually are to keep this series going. But given that I thought similar about the Royal Spyness books and they’re still going I may be surprised! If you haven’t read any of this series, do go back and check out my series post about them – the first is in Kindle Unlimited at the moment and the other three are at sensible prices on Kindle as well.

*there are two of them that have slid back into 2026 – the final Thursday Next book which should have been this month but which I sort of half expected to slide given how long we’ve been waiting already and the now final Phryne Fisher book, which presumably was slowed down by Kerry Greenwood‘s final illness.

Book previews

Out this Week: New Sherry Thomas

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I’m a big fan of Sherry Thomas’s Lady Sherlock series, so it would be remiss of me not to mention that Thomas has a new book out this week, even if it’s not another instalment in the adventures of Charlotte Holmes. The Librarians is a neither historical nor a romance – per the cover it’s “A Novel”. Those words can sometimes strike terror into my heart when it’s an author that I’ve enjoyed in other genres, but the blurb is promising. It’s set in Austen, Texas with four librarians whose secrets are threat to come out into the open when two bodies are found in the library after a murder mystery themed games night. This one looks like it’s only out in hardback in the UK, no Kindle version, so I may have to wait a while to read it, but I will be keeping my eyes peeled for it in the shops.