Tag: book reviews

Recommendsday

Recommendsday: June Quick Reviews

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Only three things to tell you about today, and one of them is a check in on something I mentioned on release day, but hey, here we go:

One Last Summer by Kate Spencer*

I read Kate Spencer’s In A New York Minute back in 2022 and enjoyed it so I was really excited to see what she had written next. This is about a group of friends who met at summer camp and have kept a tradition going of meeting up at that camp again into adulthood. But this summer is the last hurrah – because the camp is being sold. Clara our heroine hasn’t been on the last few reunions – but her boss has forced her to take time off so she’s back – and now has to deal with her former camp crush Mack. I really liked the premise, but I found Clara really hard to like and the one-upmanship vibe that her relationship with Mack has is just not my thing. It will be for some people – but it veered to close to the “I’m pranking you to show you I like you” vibe that can really get on my last nerve. It was also much closer to New Adult in feel than I was expecting. Not for me – but never mind, I know other people will really like it, which is why I’m including it here.

Truly, Madly, Deeply by Alexandria Bellefleur

I mentioned this when it came out, so now I’ve read it, it’s only fair I come back to report. I’ve got a longer summary of the plot in that last post – but it’s a jaded romance author and a family lawyer at the centre of it and a enemies to lovers plot. I’m sad to report that it didn’t really work for me – mainly because of some issues with the subplots that I can’t really explain without spoiling them completely. But I am finding a theme with the Alexandria Bellefleurs that I’ve read that I like the idea of them or the plot description more than I like the actual execution. Count Your Lucky Stars was a BotW – but I had an issue with the final act. I don’t ever hate them – because I keep coming back for more – I just don’t ever love them-love them if that makes sense!

Career Books for Girls by Kay Clifford

It’s only a month to go before Book Con 2024, so I’m having a quick check that I’ve read everything I bought home from Bristol two years ago (yes, I know, I know) and this was one of the ones I found. As the title suggests, this is basically an encyclopaedia of books aimed at encouraging girls into careers, or informing them about what was actually involved in careers, in the long first half of the twentieth century. I had read more of them than I was expecting – and I really liked Kay’s writing which wryly points out the issues with the world view of these books as well as telling you about them. It’s not meant to be read all at once, more a dip into type thing, but that didn’t stop me!

And that’s it for this month, a reminder of the Books of Week in June were: Summer Fridays, Summer Romance, The Formula and A Nobleman’s Guide for Seducing a Scoundrel.

Happy Humpday!

Book of the Week

Book of the Week: A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scandal

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Yes, yes, I finished this on Monday, but I finished it on the train to work, before 8am and Goodreads still thinks that’s Sunday so it’s all fine right? Not cheating at all.

Anyway, Major Rufus D’Aunstey is the new Earl of Oxney and owner of a remote and ancient Manor House in the vicinity of Romney Marsh. He’s already been through a months long battle in the court with his uncle about his inheritance, and now Luke Doomsday, the son of a local smuggling clan has turned up with another claim against the title. But Luke is also a secretary, and Rufus needs a secretary to help him untangle the mess that his predecessor left behind him. Soon the two of them are allies, except Luke has a reason he wanted to come to the manor and it wasn’t to do with being a secretary and it’s all about to get a bit complicated.

This is the second in K J Charles’s Doomsday books set in the same area and with the same smuggling family on the one side, but some years later and a different family on the other side. You don’t need to have read the first one, although it may enhance the experience, this is standalone. This has got smugglers and terrible relatives and a happy ending after a certain amount of adventure. I also really like the setting – The Unknown Ajax is one of my favourite Georgette Heyers and this has a lot of the smuggling themes from that plus the tension between a military hero and the people who have turned to smuggling to get by but dialled up to 11 and with more normal people. All in all it’s a really satisfying read.

As you can see, I have a physical copy and I’ve spotted it in a number of the larger bookshops, so you should be able to get hold if it if you want a paperback, or of course you can get it on Kindle and Kobo.

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, new releases

Book of the Week: Summer Romance

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Last week was a bumper week of new romance releases, and Annabel Monaghan’s new book was one of them. And this choice may not be a surprise to those of you who study the reading lists each Monday.

Ali’s mum died two years ago, a year later her husband left her and she’s been trying to keep her head above water ever since juggling her kids and her career as a professional organiser. But the first time she put proper clothes (ie not joggers and a baggy t shirt) on in months to take the dog to the dog park she meets a man who she is fairly sure is flirting with her. And the more she gets to know Ethan, the more she likes him. But he’s only in town for the summer, so it’s just a summer romance – isn’t it?

As you may remember, I really loved Nora Goes off Script – but I didn’t like Monaghan’s follow up last year the same way. This however was a lovely return to what I wanted. It’s pretty low stakes and low conflict between the romantic leads, but there is plenty of stuff to work through for the heroine to get her happy ending. And I was rooting for her the whole time. My only real complaint is that I wanted more comeuppance for Ali’s ex husband for being so horrid and dismissive of her. But she’s definitely the winner in the end – and she does it for herself too, not because Ethan makes it happens for her – which is my biggest gripe with the Legally Blonde musical vs the film and I can rant at you about that all day if you set me going!

I had a copy of Summer Romance pre-ordered (although I also got approved for it on NetGalley on release day!) and it’s out now on Kindle and Kobo for your summer enjoyment.

Happy Reading!

Recommendsday

Recommendsday: May Quick Reviews

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As you may have realised, May has been a really busy month – and I’ve already written about a lot of the new-to-me stuff that I’ve read this month, so only two books here this month in the quick reviews.

Lips Like Sugar by Jess K Hardy

This didn’t make it in to the Summer of Sequels post, because it actually came out in February and it just took me a while to get to it. Also it’s not really a sequel because it’s a romance series so it’s a fresh couple that are linked to the one in Come As You Are. Anyway, we’re back in the same town in Montana – but this time our heroine is Mira, bakery owner and mum to a teenage boy. Our hero is Cole, grunge-band-drummer turned music-studio-owner. It starts as a fake date to Madigan and Ashley’s wedding, but obviously it turns into something more. It’s lots of fun and really easy to read – and hopefully setting up for a third because there’s a big old loose end dangling I think – although it’s would be a bit of a pivot for the series.

Cut and Thirst by Margaret Atwood

Every now and again, Amazon pops up with a new short story from Margaret Atwood and I rush out to read it. I have a somewhat mixed record with her novels but I really like her short stories. This one is about three older women who are plotting to take revenge on the men who did one of their friends wrong years ago. It’s just dark, and funny and delightful. If you’ve got Kindle Unlimited, then this is really worth a read.

And that’s it – like I said, only two reviews this month but hey, what can I do. There have been some other great books in May that I’ve already written about – so if you’re not caught up on my reviews of Happy Medium, Mona of the Manor, You Should Be So Lucky and The Reunion, go check them out as well as my Recommendsday post about Books with Ghosts.

Happy Reading!

books, new releases, previews, romance

Bonus review: Fake Flame

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I read it in April and it’s been out in the US for about a month now, but Adele Buck’s new romance Fake Flame is out in the UK today, so I’m taking the opportunity to give you a little bonus review!

Fake Flame opens with a public proposal – of the most unwanted kind. University professor Eva’s ex-boyfriend has decided that the way to win her back after cheating on her is to serenade her in the middle of the quad. Eva disagrees and finds it deeply manipulative (she’s not wrong there!) and tries to set the piano on fire. Sean is one of the firefighters called to the scene and manages to talk her down. And soon he’s offering to be her fake boyfriend to keep the Awful Ex off her back. He’s hot and sweet – but he’s also younger than Eva – but there’s something about him that makes her agree. And soon they’re enjoying spending time together – but it can’t go anywhere can it?

This is the first in a new series from Adele Buck and it’s a lot of fun. It’s a reverse age-gap, fake relationship romance, with a smart heroine who knows what she’s looking for in life, and a hero who is pretty wise for his age, but needs to work a few things out. There’s not a huge amount of conflict between the two of them until quite late on, but I actually liked it more for that – and there’s other sources of conflict going on to keep the tension going. I think if you liked Cathy Yardley’s Role Playing, then this will hit some of the same spots for you. I basically inhaled it, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what the rest of the series brings. And if you haven’t read any Adele Buck before, may I point you at my post about her Centre Stage series, which I read last year.

My copy of Fake Flame came via NetGalley, but it’s out now in the UK as well as the US on Kindle and Kobo, and Waterstones is claiming to have the paperback too, which is exciting.

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, historical, new releases

Book of the Week: You Should Be So Lucky

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This was the other book that came out the week before last – and so they’ve both now been BotW picks. So that’s two new books in a row, two romances in a row – although this one is set in the past – and two books I’ve been looking forward to that haven’t let me down!

It’s 1960 and baseball player Eddie O’Leary is having the worst time of his life: after being trading to the New York Robin, his swing has vanished and he doesn’t know how to get it back. On top of that all his teammates hate him after comments he made on TV after finding out he was being trading live on air. Mark Bailey is an arts writer, except that recently he hasn’t been writing much at all. So when he’s assigned to ghost write a weekly column for the city’s most notorious baseballer, he is distinctly unenthusiastic. But when he meets Eddie he finds someone who might be as lonely as he is and there’s a definite pull between them. But it’s 1960 and Eddie is a professional sportsman, and Mark doesn’t want to be anyone’s secret (again) so nothing can happen right?

This is in the same world as Sebastian’s earlier book We Could Be So Good which was also a BotW pick here. That was set at the same newspaper that Mark works at – and you’ll see some familiar faces here if you’ve read that book too. This is a grumpy-sunshine type story and is very, very slow burn for some very valid reasons for the characters, but it’s very satisfying watching these two figure out their stuff and get their acts together. I read it across two evenings – and would have read it faster if I didn’t have to do actual work.

My copy was on Kindle, but it’s also on Kobo and in paperback.

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, books, new releases

Book of the Week: Happy Medium

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Oh I’m cheating. You know it, I know it and I don’t really care. I finished this on Monday but I read more than half of it last week and it was one of those preorders that dropped onto the kindle so a review is timeline and yah boo sucks I’m doing this!

Gretchen Acorn is a fake medium, except she’d like to think she’s an ethical fake medium – because she tries to leave her clients in a better state than she found them, even if she is being paid for her services. When one of her wealthiest clients asks her to go and help her bridge partner by stopping the hauntings that are stopping him from selling his goat farm, she expects to be working with an OAP. But what she gets is Charlie – handsome, young and absolutely convinced that she’s a fraud. Which of course she is, except that as she’s leaving the farm she meets her very first real ghost, who it turns out has been causing havoc at the open houses to protect Charlie from a curse. Now all Gretchen has to do is convince Charlie not to sell – but how can she win over someone who had her pegged as a fake at first sight?

As regular readers will know, I have a somewhat chequered relationship with books that feature the paranormal or supernatural – in that I can never really work out which ones I’m going to like and what it is that I do like in them. But Mrs Nash’s Ashes was one of my favourite books of last year and I reminded myself how much I had enjoyed The Dead Romantics and put on my preorder despite my issues above. And I’m so glad that I did. This is funny and charming and, yes, quirky but not so quirky it made my teeth itch and its also funny and has enough darkness in it to counter act a possible overload of sweetness (goat farmer! Medium! Con artist! Ghost!).

It’s got some dementia in it, so if you’re dealing with that in your life at the moment approach with care, and Gretchen spends a lot of the book keeping everyone at arms length for reasons that absolutely make sense – and at times it was so touching it brought some tears to my eyes. But I came out the end with a big smile on my face – and convinced that Gretchen and Charlie were perfect for each other, which is quite a feat based on their first meeting!

My copy was a Kindle edition, but it’s also on Kobo and in paperback. Mrs Nash’s Ashes was in all the shops last year, so I’m expecting this to be too.

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, books

Book of the Week: Mona of the Manor

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I wonder how many of you predicted that this would be today’s choice when you saw the list yesterday? Yes, it is breaking a rule because it’s the tenth in a series, but I think you absolutely can read this one standalone, although obviously you’ll get more out of it if you’ve read the others.

It’s the 1990s and we’re in the English countryside. Yes, this is filling in a gap in the series and we’re finally going to find out what Mona got up to in Britain after she inherited a stately home from her husband. Of course it’s all a little more complicated than that, but that’s the bare bones of how she ended up running a hotel – of sorts – in order to keep the bills paid and avoid having to sell up. At the start of the novel, while Mona and her adopted son are looking forward to a visit from the San Francisco contingent, they welcome a couple from the US and it all gets a little complicated and they have to sort it all out before Michael arrives.

Not going to lie, reading this was a treat that I had been saving myself and I just couldn’t wait any longer. I love this world and I love Maupin’s writing, and it was lovely to go back in time and get some more of them in their younger glory. And there are some nice nods in this to earlier books – and some bits of 90s culture that Maupin would have had to disguise or fictionalise at the time (if he’d known about them) but can now just put in there. This isn’t as interwoven with the events of the time as the original few books were – but that’s only to be expected when they’re no longer being written contemporaneously with the events themselves. If you like the series, I don’t think this will disappoint. If you’ve never read them before then it’s not a bad place to jump in – but you could always just start at the beginning and slot this in in its chronological spot in the series.

You should be able to get this in any good bookshop – I think they’ve even put the paperbacks out in new editions to match this one, which is nice but also annoying because now my set matches even less. I’ll cope though I’m sure! And of course it’s on kindle and kobo too

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, books

Book of the Week: The Darkest Sin

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I said yesterday I didn’t know what I was going to write about today, but it all became clear to me while I was trying to get to sleep last night, even if this is slightly rule breaking.

It’s rule breaking because The Darkest Sin is not the first book in the series – but I didn’t realise that when I bought it and I haven’t read the first in the series. I picked this off the shelf to take on holiday because it is set in Florence and we were going to Tuscany so it seemed fitting – and it was really good.

Cesare Aldo is an investigator at one of the criminal courts in Florence, a city full of factions, alliances and secrets. When he is sent to a convent to investigate reports of night-time intruders, he finds rivalries and secrets – and that’s even before the body of a naked man is found inside the convent. Alongside this, a constable of the same court finds the body of a missing colleague, that was pulled from the river near his childhood home. who would have dared kill a court officers – and if Carlo Strocchi can find out, it could secure him the promotion he yearns for. But Florence is dangerous and treacherous and the answers could prove a bigger problem than the mysteries.

Having not read the prior book in the series, I don’t know how much of the backstory in this had already been revealed in that – and what would have been a twist to a reader already familiar with Aldo. But going in blind, this was a twisty and page turning thriller with clever, well-drawn characters – not just in the main characters but in the supporting roles too. Sixteenth Century Florence is also a character in this – you can hear it and smell it and sense the danger lurking all around.

As I said yesterday, it was a doing and seeing sort of holiday not a lazing around one – so I was still finishing this on the plane home, and I was actually annoyed when the plane landed sooner than I expected and I had to leave it unfinished for a few hours while we made our way home. I’ll definitely be looking for more of these – I want to find out what the first book told you and see what happens next!

You can get The Darkest Sin on Kindle and Kobo and in paperback. There are three books in the series available now – with a fourth coming in the autumn.

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, books, new releases

Book of the Week: How to End a Love Story

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I said yesterday that I didn’t know what I was going to write about today, and it took a lot of thinking about because there wasn’t a lot of options on the life without breaking some of my own rules, but when it comes down to it, I had the most to say about this one, because I have Thoughts. Lots of thoughts!

Helen is a successful young adult author whose trilogy is about to be turned into a TV series. She’s negotiated herself a place in the writers room, but it turns out that also in the room is Grant. Grant went to high school with Helen and they are bound together by a “tragic accident” – that’s the blurb’s choice of words, not mine. But as they work together, sparks start to fly between them and maybe they might be the key to each others future?

I said on Thursday when I wrote about this for release week that I wasn’t sure if Helen and Grant’s shared past was some thing that they would – or should- be able to get past, and I absolutely stand by that. If the event in their past was almost anything else, I think it would be ok, but this specific issue felt unfixable. And I’ll put the issue at the bottom if you really want the spoiler. Now that aside, it’s a great read – Grant is a charismatic leading man who stays charming without veering into insufferable. It’s also fun watching Helen find her feet in Los Angeles and build a life for herself. They are a good couple in every way, except for that one thing. And other people’s views on that may vary.

This is Yulin Kuang’s debut and there is lots about it that I did like, so I will be looking out for whatever she writes next, as well as those Emily Henry adaptations that she is working on.

My copy of How to End a Love Story came from Netgalley but it’s available now on Kindle, Kobo and as an actual book.

Happy Reading!

The tragic past is that Helen’s sister killed herself by stepping in front of Grant’s car.