Tag: books

Authors I love, books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: May 10 – May 16

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Another incredibly busy week. And a fun set of books on the list too as I attempt to counteract the seriousness of the world situation with some lighter hearted reading. And of course the Amelia Peabody re-listen continues. I’ve got rather too many books on the go at the moment though, so a project for this week has to be to see to that a little I think.

Read:

Themes and Variations by David Sedaris

Dancers in Mourning by Margery Allingham

Let There Be Suspects by Emilie Richards

The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by K J Charles

The Mummy Case by Elizabeth Peters

Fabulosa! by Paul Baker

The Case of the Canterfell Codicil by P J Fitzsimmons

Started:

Elizabeth and Monty by Charles Castillo*

O Jerusalem by Laurie R King

Still reading:

Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth MacNeal*

Frieda by Annabel Abbs

Love in the Blitz by Eileen Alexander*

Bonus photo: You know I watched the film of Sense and Sensibility this weekend, for the first time in years – maybe decades. And I had forgotten how good it is. I remain convinced though that Colonel Brandon deserved better and that so did Elinor, poor woman having to sort out her family and be sensible and strong while they all throw hysterics around her. Alan Rickman did so much with just the twitch of the face – what a loss. This is his dawning hope face!

An * next to a book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley

Book of the Week, romance

Book of the Week: Love at First

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I like writing about swoony romantic books, so although I really liked the new Duncan MacMaster – I mean a murder mystery set at a Fyre-esque festival is lot of fun and I’m sure I’ll write about it properly at some point, but I just loved Kate Clayborn’s Love at First, so my inner romantic won out. Again.

Nora loves her flat, and the building it’s in. She’s loved it since she was a kid and visited her Nona every summer. Now her Nona is gone but the community of her friends is still there and Nora has taken over looking after them. She moved across the country to Chicago to live in it, she’s got her remote working situation sorted and now she just needs to make sure the building’s new occupant doesn’t change the atmosphere. For Will, the flat is an unexpected inheritance from an uncle he didn’t know and didn’t want to. He can’t imagine living in it – so he just wants to deal with it and move on. Soon Will and Nora are low key feuding as she tries to gently sabotage his plans. But it’s more like frenemies than enemies because there’s just something between the two of them…

So this has a lovely prologue setting it up, and then a delightful romance with enemies to lovers and friends with benefits stuff going on. Will and Nora both have reasons why relationships are tricky territory for them and watching them find their way towards each other is lovely. I also adored the other residents of the building with their quirks and their fun and sparky relationships with each other. I really liked Clayborn’s previous book, Love Lettering – I mean it was a Book of the Week and one of my favourites of last year – but I think maybe I like this one even more!

I borrowed this from the library, but I suspect I’m going to be ordering myself the paperback so that I can lend it around – after all I own Love Lettering in paperback and on Kindle… At the moment it’s only available as an import paperback in the UK but when I asked Kate Clayborn on Twitter what was going on, she said she thinks it’s just transitioning to a new imprint. I hope that’s what’s happening – because I have two books of a three book series of hers and I really need the third at some point, so I’ll keep my eyes open and try to remember to update you all when it’s on Kindle and Kobo again.

Happy Reading!

Authors I love, books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: May 3 – May 9

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Lots of fun stuff in last week’s list. I think I’ve decided what’s going to be Book of the Week tomorrow, but it’s a close one. The weather here has been distintly mixed, which has enabled a fair amount of reading time too.

Read:

Drop the Mikes by Duncan MacMaster

April Lady by Georgette Heyer

Vera Kelly is not a Mystery by Rosalie Knecht

Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin

Love at First by Kate Clayborn

The Clue in the Clam by Kathi Daley

To Love and to Loathe by Martha Waters*

Started:

Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth MacNeal*

Frieda by Annabel Abbs

Love in the Blitz by Eileen Alexander*

Let There Be Suspects by Emilie Richards

Still reading:

Fabulosa! by Paul Baker

Bonus photo: Regulars around here will know that Elections weeks are always busy ones for me – and this week was no different, so here’s a picture of a polling station sign to represent that!

An * next to a book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley

Authors I love, books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: April 26 – May 2

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The end of another month has come – so all sorts of goodies coming up here to wrap up my reading from April. I’ve also managed to get myself in gear and have no long running books on the list for once. Loads of good stuff last week though, so I have a lot I want to tell you about once I get my act in gear!

Read:

Dying for Devil’s Food by Jenn McKinlay

The Curse of the Pharaohs by Elizabeth Peters

Runaways by Rainbow Rowell

The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer

The Devil Comes Courting by Courtney Milan**

Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q Sutano*

Jill, Lone Guide by Ethel Talbot

Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny*

Wicked Enchantment by Wanda Coleman*

Started:

Fabulosa! by Paul Baker

Vera Kelly is not a Mystery by Rosalie Knecht

Still reading:

N/a

Bonus photo: This week’s bonus post is a rare horticultural success for me. This is our peace lily, which my mum says is now so big it needs splitting. This is a miracle as usually plants only last for a matter of weeks in my house. I currently have four plants alive – a record – and I attribute it all to the fact that I’m home all the time so remember to water them!

A happy and large peace lily

An * next to a book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley

Authors I love, books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: April 19 – April 25

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Another interesting week in reading – and I have no idea what I’m going to be picking for my Book of the Week yet. Eeep. But there are several options – I guess it’s just going to depend which of them I feel like I can write the most about. Wish me luck….

Read:

The Moor by Laurie R King

The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer

An Unexpected Peril by Deanna Raybourn

He’s Not My Boyfriend by Jackie Lau

Lumberjanes Vol 17 by Shannon Watters et al

The Lying Witch in the Wardrobe by Duncan MacMaster

Die Noon by Elise Sax

Three Bedrooms, Two Baths, One Very Dead Corpse by David James

Started:

The Devil Comes Courting by Courtney Milan**

Still reading:

Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny*

Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q Sutano*

Bonus photo: A photo from my stroll around a local nature reserve last week. I think Spring may finally have sprung and stuck!

Lagoon-y lake-y thing at a nature reserve

An * next to a book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley

Authors I love, books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: April 12 – April 18

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How many times have I watched the BBC Pride and Prejudice in the last two week? Three, maybe four. Why? I don’t know, but something about it suits my mood at the moment. Debate is raging in my WhatsApp groups (at my instigation of course) about who smoulders better – Darcy or Captain von Trapp, so I’ve watched the Sound of Music again too. What can I say. I’m a creature of habit. Meanwhile, the great Amelia Peabody project hit a snag last week – when we reached the point where Audible (in the UK at least) doesn’t have the audiobooks available, so while I’m working out a solution to that we’ve gone back to the start. I look forward to hearing Him Indoors thoughts as we go through a second time – so far the headline is “Evelyn is much more annoying the second time”.

Read:

The Roommate by Rosie Danan

Christmas at Sandcastle Cottage by Christina Jones

Venetia by Georgette Heyer

Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters

What Were We Thinking by Carlos Lozada

America Dreamer by Adriana Herrera

Love is a Rogue by Leonora Bell

Started:

Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny*

Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q Sutano*

He’s Not My Boyfriend by Jackie Lau

Still reading:

The Moor by Laurie R King

Bonus photo: Our local excitement on Thursday night – as the electricity substation went up in flames.  We had a power outage for a bit on the night – but more of a problem the next day when something else got overloaded and we were without power for 6 hours. Luckily the advantage of a daytime power cut is that you can read a book in it, which is much harder work if it’s candle light!

Fire at an electricity substation

An * next to a book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley

Book of the Week, romance

Book of the Week: Enjoy the View

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So there were a couple of books in the market for book of the week this week, but in the end I’ve gone for Sarah Morgenthaler’s third book in the Moose Springs series for reasons that will be explained in a couple of paragraphs time.

River Lane is trying to reinvent herself. Her acting career seems to be on the wain, so she’s moving behind the camera and her first job is to make a film for the Alaska tourist board promoting the town of Moose Springs. But when she gets there, Moose Springs really doesn’t want to be promoted. She can’t get her filming permits, no one will go on camera and she and her crew end up sleeping in their truck after their accommodation chucks them out. Her last resort is trying to climb the Mount Veil. Their guide is Easton. Easton is not keen on the film crew – he got chewed out by River for ruining her shot, when he thought he was helping someone who was lost. But he loves the mountain and he’s a professional so he’s going to get them up and down safely. Except the weather and the mountain have other ideas…

I liked but didn’t love the first two books in this series and this book is why I have stuck with this series – because I knew there was a book as good and fun as this underneath it all. I feel vindicated! In the previous books there were flashes of snappy dialogue but not enough characterisation and they just generally didn’t sustain the momentum of the start. But this one has the snappy dialogue, the rounded characters, some proper peril and it has a marmot as comic relief. It’s a lot of fun.

My only real issues with it were one incredibly dumb decision from the heroine (but I sort of understood why she did it from a character point of view and from a drama one, I just think there might have been a better time to deploy that option) and that the ending wrapped up very quickly and I wanted more of a sense of what happened to the film in the end. But as we know I often think romances wrap up too quickly – so I try not to hold that against books too much! A warning though – a lot of this book is spent up a mountain in very cold and wintry conditions – so read it somewhere tucked up nice and warm!

My copy of Enjoy the View came from the library, but is available now on Kindle and Kobo as well as in paperback – although judging by Waterstones website, probably as a special order.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: April 5 – April 11

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As I’m sure you can imagine, it was a really quite unusual week in my day job, and the reading list reflects the fact that work has taken up quite a lot of my time.  I did however attend a bunch of sessions from Hist Fest 2021 on Saturday and Sunday evenings, which has given me some books I want to buy – and reminded me of some things I wanted to write about here!

Read:

Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual by Luvvie Ajayi-Jones*

Arabella by Georgette Heyer

The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Soloman

Enjoy the View by Sarah Morgenthaler

After the Flood by Alexis Hall

The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan*

Started:

Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

The Roommate by Rosie Danan

The Moor by Laurie R King

Still reading:

Love is a Rogue by Leonora Bell

A couple of books bought – ebooks rather than actual books – but as mentioned above, there’s a wish list off the back of Hist Fest now that I need to take a look at…

Bonus photo: snow in the park on Tuesday. British weather everyone.

Snowy grass and play equipment under a heavy grey sky

An * next to a book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: March 29 – April 4

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Belated Happy Easter to those of you who are celebrating. I’ve had a long weekend, where the weather has swung between cold and sunny, colder and less sunny and hail and snow. Current status: Cold, clear and sunny.  If you missed the April stats, you can find them here. Coming up this week as well as Book of the Week, there will be mini reviews on Wednesday too.

Read:

Me and Carlos by Tom Perrotta

Women vs Hollywood by Helen O’Hara

Sylvester by Georgette Heyer

Billion Dollar Loser by Reeves Wiedeman

Black Light by Jo Perry

Holy Disorders by Edmund Crispin

The Second Marriage by Gill Paul*

Devil’s Cub by Georgette Heyer

Death of a Sinner by Derek Farrell

Started:

Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual by Luvvie Ajayi-Jones*

Love is a Rogue by Leonora Bell

The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Soloman

Still reading:

n/a

I’m quite pleased with my progress this week – I finished the longer runners, and the books I started last week and read some other interesting books too. The observant among you may have noticed that there’s a strong vein of Georgette Heyer rereading (and relistening) coming through at the moment – I’ve been revisiting some of my old favourites. I don’t know what it is about my mood at the moment that necessitates Heyer’s most alpha-y heroes, but I do know that when I finished Sylvester this week, I then went back and relistened to the final few chapters another three times. There is just something about Phoebe, Edmund, Sir Nugent and the button – and Sylvester messing up proposing that did exactly what I wanted this week.

Bonus photo: this month’s flower delivery turned out to be a wreath for me to make. I was quite pleased with how it turned out, so it’s this week’s picture so I can show off a little!

Spring flower wreath

An * next to a book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley

Book of the Week, historical, new releases, romance

Book of the Week: Wild Rain

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More romance this week – but this time historical. I’ve also recommended Beverly Jenkins before – but for her contemporary Blessings series. This is also pretty new – it came out February so I’m fairly up to date for the second week in a row!

Cover of Wild Rain by Beverly Jenkins

And so the plot: self-sufficient and self-contained female rancher Spring finds Garrett injured in the snow, and takes him back to her cabin to escape the storm. Garrett has travelled to Wyoming from Washington DC to write an article about Spring’s doctor brother. But soon he’s finding Spring much more interesting. Spring, however, is not interested in men or relationships – after a traumatic incident in her past she just wants to be left alone to raise her horses in peace. But as the attraction between the two of them grows, will they be able to overcome their differences and find a happy ending?

Well it’s a romance so you know they will, but it’s a really interesting journey to get there and I really liked that it was Garrett who did most of the adapting. All too often it’s the woman in a romance – particularly in a historical romance who has to do all the changing to fit the man’s circumstances. Garrett may fall for the community he finds in Wyoming, but he has to do some thinking about what he wants from life as well. I don’t read many western-set romances – mostly because there’s a lot about the American West that makes me uncomfortable- but if someone was going to tempt me, of course it would be Beverly Jenkins. She creates such interesting characters and worlds and I love her writing style. This did everything I wanted it to do – The peril with the villain ends up wrapping up a little quickly, but then the romance is what you’re there for so, actually it was fine by me.

My copy of Wild Rain came from the library, but it’s available now on Kindle and Kobo and if you’re in the US it should be able to buy fairly easily in paperback. I suspect in the UK it will be harder but several stores seem to have it available to order – although it’s a bit confusing as Book Depository say they can send it to you now, but Waterstones and Bookshop.org.uk have it as a preorder.

Happy Reading!