Also with a few on sale, it’s the new adaptations. Anthony Horowitz‘s Moonflower Murders is 99p – the TV version is on at the moment (as well as a new one coming next year) and Frederick Forsythe’s Day of the Jackal is on offer too as the new Eddie Redmayne series is going out on Sky at the moment too. I’m still not over the 1970s movie version, and I’m not sure I can bring myself to read the book.
And finally I don’t often recommend coookery books in ebook form but Diana Henry’s From the Oven to the Tableis one of my favourites and has some really excellent recipes for chicken thighs.
It’s the second Wednesday in November, so I’m back with another round of Kindle offers, and as we’re coming up to Christmas it’s a real bumper month – with relatively recent releases as well as Christmas themed reading. So lets get down to it…
Lets start with recent BotW The Darkest Sin by D V Bishop from his Cesare Aldo series. Also in historical mystery, the fourth in C J Sansom’s Shardlake series, Revelation is 99p – this is the next one I need to read in the series so I bought it, because it’s a total bargain for 600+ pages and it’s easier to read on Kindle when they’re that big! Just a mystery, not a historical mystery is C L Miller‘s The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder, as is the second Canon Clement, A Death in the Parish. More expensive, at £2.89 is last year’s Josephine Tey Mystery by Nicola Upson – the Daphne Du Maurier-y Shot with Crimson.
The 99p Georgette Heyer is A Civil Contract, which is possibly my least favourite of her Regency novels, but your mileage may vary. The Terry Pratchett is Thud at £1.99 which is one of the Watch stories – but is particularly Sam Vimes focused. On the classic front Carry on, Jeeves is 99p and Hercule Poirot’s Christmas is 99p and in KU as well if you’re in that.
On the non-fiction front, there’s another recent BotWThe Formula and also Laurence Leamer‘s Capote’s Women. And finally in things I haven’t read – there’s Rachel Lacey’s Stars Collide – and age gap romance with two pop stars at different points in their careers find they have more in common than music after they perform together 99p – also in KU – andCasey McQuiston, of Red, White and Royal Blue fame’s latest novel The Pairing is 99p
That your lot – Happy Reading and try not to spend too much…
Oh it’s such a good month for offers. Honestly, I would say this post was expensive to write, except for the fact that everything was on offer so it was more quantity rather than cost… Anyway – to the books.
Lets start with the Halloween related special offers. Recent release Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca is 99p (which was one of my purchases!), as is Ali Hazelwood’s The Bride. There’s an Agatha Christie short short story collection called Autumn Chills as well as the Poirot mystery Hallowe’en Party and Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
I re-read Nora Ephron‘s Heartburn the other week, and her memoir of sorts I Feel Bad About My Neck is on offer this month – I read it years ago and enjoyed it. Also on offer that I read years ago is Anthony Quinn’s Curtain Call – which apparently is the basis for the new Ian McKellan movie The Critic – which I would never have guessed from the trailer!
Also in adaptations but this time in things I haven’t read is Firebrand by Elizabeth Freemantle, which was previously called Queen’s Gambit and was presumably retitled because of the Chess book and movie and is actually about Catherine Parr. Also in books I haven’t read there’s The Art of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson is also 99p – I’ve got her Love in the Time of Serial Killers on the Kindle and I really need to read that and see if I like it before I buy anything else of hers. In things I haven’t read and probably aren’t my thing, but that I know are really popular, there’s R F Kuang’s Babel for 99p, the latest Nora Roberts romantic suspense Mind Games, Alix E Harrow’s Starling House, Coleen Hoover’s Reminders of Him and Maybe Not, Sarah Adams’s The Match
There’s also a pretty good selection of translated fiction on offer this month like Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Dallergut Dream Department Store and Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982, some of which I’ve read, others that I haven’t. And there’s Katherine Heiny‘s Games and Rituals on offer too and Brit Bennett‘s The Mothers, as well as Tales of the City which is the first in Armistad Maupin‘s series that I have written about more than once. The discounted Terry Pratchetts this month are Wee Free Men at 99p and Witches Abroad for £1.99 and the Georgette Heyers are Devil’s Cub, Infamous Army, Beauvallet and Pistols for Two which are all £1.99 so will probably come around cheaper at some point if you’re not in a rush. With the Heyers and the Peter Wimseys (although there aren’t any Wimseys on a good deal this month), there are more and more going out of copyright and so very cheap editions continue to pop up, but I have no idea how good a quality product they are – my history with them is that they can be not great at all.
In things I bought, there’s D is for Death by Harriet F Townson, which is the crime pen name of Harriet Evans, the Jen De Luca that I already mentioned (and started) and got samples of The Golden Spoon and a few others.
Back once again to tempt you into opening your wallet/breaking your book purchasing rules, here I am with the Kindle post. t’s actually a really good month for offers – and given the positive orgy of book acquisition I’ve been on over the last few weeks, the very act of writing this was a little bit risky. How much more will I have spent by the end of this post? Who can tell, and you’ll have to read to the end to see if I’m prepared to admit to it…
Lets start with a book whose sample I loved so much that I bought the paperback straightaway – because the kindle edition was too expensive – because now that Kindle version is only 99p! Yes Summer Fridays is on offer, and it’s really good – although read my review for the caveats about why some romance readers may have an issue with it. Also a bargain and really good is last year’s Christina LaurenThe True Love Experiment. I really enjoyed Kirsty Greenwood‘s The Love of My Afterlife when it came out a few months back, and it’s got loads of buzz and great reviews too – so it’s a total bargain for 99p at the moment. More expensive at £2.29 but worth mentioning because it’s also in Kindle Unlimited now is Annabel Monaghan’s latest book Summer Romance which was BotW just a couple of months ago. A little bit older, but still a BotW is Rachel Lynn Solomon’s Business or Pleasure.
Emily Henry’s Book Lovers, is 99p, as is one of the earlier Katie Ffordes Life Skills, which is one of her books that features canal boats (yes there are more than one of them). The fourth in Jenny Colgan’s Little Beach Street Bakery series Sunrise by the Sea is 99p at the moment. I’ve only read the first in the Lovelight Farms series, but I keep seeing them everywhere in the bookshops, so it’s only fair to mention that the final instalment Business Casual is 99p at the moment.
I’m a big fan of Curtis Sittenfeld as regular readers will know, and Rodham, her alternative story of what might have happened to Hillary if she hadn’t married Bill Clinton is 99p at the moment. I really like Barbara Pym and should probably mention her more often, so you should definitely take a look at Jane and Prudence which is 99p at the moment if you’re interested in witty British authors from the mid-twentieth century. Also in this category is Elizabeth Taylor – I bought one of hers that I haven’t read (yet) in Paris, but one of my favourites of hers is Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont – I have a lovely Virago Designer hardback copy, but you don’t have to have such a pretty one when the ebook is 99p! Another book that I should probably have mentioned more, and which has a spot on the downstairs bookshelf is Mary McCartney’s The Group – if you haven’t read her novel about a group of young female Vassar graduates in the 1920s, where have you been?
I’m slowly working my way through the Matthew Shardlake books when I get a chance, and the second one of them, Dark Fire is £1.49 at the moment. I’ve got the TV adaptation on my list of things to watch next time I get a Disney+ subscription (which may be sooner rather than later given the arrival of the latest series of Only Murders in the Building). Also in historical mysteries is Umberto Eco’s In The Name of the Rose which I have recommended more thanonce and is really worth reading – there’s also a recent TV adaptation of it to add to the movie (which has Sean Connery!).
This month’s Discworld is Jingo at £1.99 – it’s the fourth in the City Watch sub-series, and it’s a good one, as a new island appears in the sea between Ankh Morpork and Klatch and causes no end of trouble. The Georgette Heyer is The Nonesuch, which I actually listened to (again) last week on Kindle and always think is underrated. Summer Lightning, which is one of my favourite of P G Wodehouse’s Blandings series is on offer too
Frank and Red by Matt Coyne is on my Kindle waiting to be read, but it’s also 99p at the moment. And I read a lot of Jenn McKinlay’s cozy mysteries but her latest non-cosy Love at First Book is 99p at the moment. On the non-fiction front, still on the pile after I bought an airport paperback copy when we went on holiday but now out in actual paperback and on offer for £1.99 is David Mitchell’s Unruly.
What did I buy while writing this? Well Patrick Stewart’s memoir Making It So, Hema Sukumar’s Minor Disturbances at Grand Life Apartments which I’ve had my eye on for a while and is finally on offer and Nisha Sharma’s Marriage & Masti which is the third book in her series which started with Dating Dr Dil and is a Twelfth Night* retelling.
And that is surely enough books to tempt anyone – I hope you’re not leaving me to spend alone…
Happy Humpday everyone!
*my favourite Shakespeare play, forever and always.
I’m back with the most expensive post of the month – as it’s a rare month when I manage to write this without buying books myself. But I’ll give it a go – hang around until the end and I’ll let you know how I get on!
As usual, lets start with the former books of the week that are on offer. At 99p there’s Emily Henry’s Happy Place, which is last year’s release and thus just out in paperback. Also on offer because the author has a new book out is Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis – and at this point Hazelwood seems to have a book at 99p every month, so you just have to wait long enough for the one you want to come around. I’m still waiting to get my hands on the new Christina Lauren, but The Unhoneymooners is on offer at the moment – this is an enemies to lovers, forced proximity romance– where food poisoning in the bridal party sees the bride’s twin sister go on the honeymoon with the best man – who happens to be her nemesis.
I’m really trying not to be annoyed about this considering I went out and bought the hardback on release day, but the final Maisie DobbsThe Comfort of Ghosts is down to £2.99 at the moment. This was my favourite book I read last month and is a lovely ending to the series, but as usual you’ll probably want to have read the others to get the most out of it.
On the non-fiction from Tara Westover’s Educated is 99p – it’s a few years now since I read this one, but it has really stuck with me because Tara’s childhood is so awful and she has overcome so much. Something I read much more recently is Nick de Semleyn‘s The Last Action Heroes about the stars of the blockbuster action movies of the 80s and 90s -if you liked the Arnold Schwarzenegger documentary on Netflix, then you’ll be interested in this. And if you want some history, Lucy Worsley’s Jane Austen at Home is 99p too.
I still haven’t watched the new series of Bridgerton, but the book that inspired it Romancing Mr Bridgerton is on offer this month – all the usual caveats about the differences between the twenty-plus year old source material and the adaptation.
Hello I’m back again to tempt you into spending more money on Kindle books to add your to-read piles, which I’m sure are already bulging, but we’re heading into summer holiday season, so if you needed an excuse to buy a book (or two) make this it!
The third Emmy Lake book is 99p at the moment – I reviewed Mrs Porter Calling when it came out last year, but it’s got a fresh cover (I assume for the paperback edition) in case that’s confusing you. I’m still hoping for a fourth in the series too, but no news yet and it’s usually two years between these so it’s not “due” until next year so I’m not worried yet. It’s got a new cover since I bought it, but K J Charles‘s The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting is 99p – the second in this series (although it will be standalone) is out next month as well.
Carley Fortune is a new to me author, but I’ve seen lots of good reviews of her other books and her latest This Summer Will Be Different is 99p at the moment – I bought this last month – but it’s still on offer as I write this. In other new books that I haven’t read yet, Sarah Morgan’s summer novel is 99p at the moment – it’s called The Summer Swap. And I mentioned Kirsty Greenwood’s new book in my Summer of Not Sequels post, so it’s only fair to mention that another of the Novelicious crew Cressida McLaughlin has a new book out this summer too and The Happy Hour is 99p.
We’re only on series three of Bridgerton, but book five in the series – aka Eloise’s story – is on offer at the moment. I really like To Sir Philip, With Love, but I know that it’s not everyone’s favourite and if you’ve watched the series before reading the books it may be a bit of a shock to you! In other TV tie-in news, we have The Magpie Murders at 99p – I loved the books, I loved the TV series and I’m on record as wishing Anthony Horowitz could write more of them. I’m almost embarrassed about how many times I’ve mentioned Curtis Sittenfeld’s Romantic Comedy now, but I did love it so much that I can’t really be sorry. It’s 99p, read it on the beach.
My dad recently discovered that there was a Discworld book he hadn’t read – I wish I could have a similar moment but sadly I know I’ve read them all. But it’s that time of year again where I’m thinking about which Discworld book to re-read – and Guards! Guards! is always right up there and if I didn’t already own it, it’s £1.99 at the moment and is a great place to start the series. GNU Sir Terry and if you’re wondering, the one that Dad hadn’t read was Equal Rites. Talking of my family, Ralph’s Party by Lisa Jewell was one of my sister’s favourites back when we were teenagers, I thought it was new at the time – but doing the maths as it has a 25th anniversary edition out now, it really can’t have been!
When the month starts on a Wednesday it does mean the Kindle offer post comes around very quickly doesn’t it? Anyway, we did Quick Reviews last week, so it is time – and here are are this month’s offers. And it’s a real bumper month – so it’s been a lot of fun to pull it all together.
First of all, I mentionedTo Woo and to Wed when it came out back in February, I’ve got the paperback sitting on my shelf waiting for me, but the Kindle price has done a big old drop to 99p at the moment. Also 99p is Katherine Center’s The Bodyguard, which is one of the celebrity and normal person romances that seemed to be everywhere last year! Ali Hazelwood’s Love, Theoretically is also 99p this month – I’m a little bit over Giant Men and Tiny Women, but this does have a good grovel in it if you want one of those at the moment. Side note: We’re just over a month away from this year’s Ali Hazelwood contemporary romance, Not In Love, which is out in mid June. It’s only a week or two since my post about the Bright Falls series, so it’s a good time to mention that Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail is 99p at the moment. Well Matched from the Willow Creek series is also on offer
I feel like I mention Curtis Sittenfeld’s Eligible every time it’s on offer, but I love it so much I’m not even sorry. I read The Other Side of Mrs Wood last year – if you like novels about mediums and spiritualism in the Victorian era, this might be 99p you want to spend. Also on the historical fiction front, there is Elizabeth Macneal’s Circus of Wonders, which was a Book of the Week back in 2021. Slightly more expensive, but there are quite a few of Susan Elizabeth Philips’s Chicago Stars series on offer at £1.99 at the moment – including the newest one Simply the Best which I really enjoyed.
On the mystery front, the second in Richard Coles’ Canon Clement series, A Death in the Parish is 99p, presumably because we’re less than a month out from the release of book three now. If you’re a Kindle Unlimited member, The Ashes of London and The Fire Court, the first two books in Andrew Taylor’s Marwood and Lovett series is in KU at the moment – I reviewed Ashes a year or two back.
On the non fiction front, The Radium Girls is 99p – it’s hard to read because of what happened to the women but it is a really interesting and readable book about a forgotten bit of history. Lucy Worsley’s Agatha Christie biography was in the Quick reviews last week and while that’s not on offer at the moment, a couple of her other books are 99p: Queen Victoria which I’ve mentioned before and A Very British Murder, which I haven’t read but I did watch the TV series that goes with it back when it came out. The Missing Cryptoqueen is 99p at the moment – I haven’t read the book but I’ve listened to the podcast series so if it’s anywhere near as good as that it’ll be a great read.
It’s the second Wednesday of the month, and you know what that means, it’s time for me to tempt you to spend a whole bunch of money on cheap Kindle books!
In relatively recent picks, Come as You Are is 99p – this one was a BotW pick last year – and I think the price is down now because a second book in the series has just come out – and although that one is more expensive to buy Lips Like Sugar is also in Kindle Unlimited! Also 99p is Delilah Green Doesn’t Care, which is the first in Ashley Herring Blake’s Bright Falls series. As you know I’m currently reading the last one (when I can find the paperback, which I keep misplacing!) in this trio of romances featuring a friendship group in a small town. Alexandria Bellefleur also has a new book coming out this month and I think that’s why all three of her Written in the Stars series are £1.99 at the moment.
I’ve written whole posts about how much I love A J Pearce’s books about Emmy Lake, so it’s only right that I flag to you that the second in the trilogy (so far) Yours, Cheerfully is 99p this month – and the first one is in Kindle Unlimited at the moment as well. Double bonus. I read Alexander McCall Smith from time to time – and I think The 44 Scotland Street series is my favourite of his – and the first one of those is 99p at the moment. He’s definitely an author to read in order and if you binge too many in a row (like MC Beaton) you may notice patterns and trends and enjoy them less so pace yourself for best effect.
In older favourites, Jenny Colgan’s Little Beach Street Bakery is 99p. The heroine escapes a horrible relationship and does some healing through bakery, way before sourdough was the craze of the early pandemic. I have a special place in my heart for this book, because I won a competition when this came out and the prize was a new oven. I think enough time has passed now that I can admit that what I actually got was a stack of John Lewis vouchers to buy the oven – and as I didn’t need a new oven at the time, I held on to them and they bought new pillows and a new washer dryer when the one that I inherited from my grandpa gave up the ghost! Thank you lovely competition.
Another old favourite is Trisha Ashley – and her Wedding Tiers is 99p this month if you want to visit her Lancashire universe. We’re only a just over a month away from the first part of the third series of Bridgerton dropping on Netflix, but if you can’t wait (and bearing in mind everything I’ve said about the difference between the books and the series) then The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown is 99p – this is a collaborative effort with Julia Quinn and two other authors each telling a story in the Whistledown world.
This month’s bargain Georgette Heyer is Bath Tangle, which isn’t one of my favourites, but which I probably should re-read again to see if I’ve changed my mind on it, as can sometimes happen as I get older and wiser. This has a formerly engaged couple coming back into contact with each other when he is appointed her trustee after the death of her father. Devil’s Cub and An Infamous Army are among the ones at £1.99, There’s also a PG Wodehouse omnibus on offer for 99p if you want some Jeeves and Wooster.
I should probably mention some non-fiction too right? The Dress Diary of Miss Anne Sykes is 99p. I don’t recommend a lot of cook books, but when I do it tends to be Rukmini Iyer – I love her Roasting Tin series, and The Green Roasting Tin is £1.99 if you are someone who can cope with cook books on tablets.
And in books I bought while writing this post, there’s Genevieve Cogman’s Scarlet – I’ve read The Invisible Library and really liked it and this is French revolutionary vampires and comes with comparisons to Gail Carriger who you know I love. I’m excited to read it – and there is a sequel coming next month too. I also bought The Storied Life of A J Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin, which was her big book before Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow went mega-huge. And finally I bought The Partner Plot which is the new book from Kristina Forrest, who wrote The Neigbor Favor which was a book of the week last summer.
It’s that time of the month again – where I buy even more books in the process of compiling the list of books on offer on Kindle this month. It is a slightly shorter list this month because there seem to be a lot of repeat offenders (so to speak) on offer this month, so I’ve tried not to duplicate too much this time. It wasn’t any less expensive a post for all that though!
So let’s start with one that I bought – and it’s The Excitements which is about two nonogenarian sisters who are World War Two veterans. On a trip to France to receive the Legion D’Honneur their nephew starts to suspect that they may be hiding some secrets about their past. This has a for fans of Richard Osman tag, but also blurbs from lots of authors that I like including Jenny Colgan and S J Bennett, so I’m looking forward to reading it. Talking of SJ Bennett, A Three Dog Problem, the second in the HM the Queen investigates series is also on offer this month.
Going back a long way to pre-BotW days, and Libby Page’s The Lidowas a holiday reading pick – a sequel has just come out which I suspect explains the offer at the moment. A little more recently, I reviewed Tom Hindle’s Fatal Crossing back in January 2022 – he has two more since then, both of which are on my tbr pile, but this first one is on offer at the moment. I read Emily Henry’s Beach Read a bit more recently than that and would recommend it – I’ve read a couple of warring writers books in the last couple of ears and I think this one is my favourite – so 99p is s steal. Coming even more recently in my reading and I read Days at the Morisaki Bookshop not that long ago, and really enjoyed it – it’s 99p so if you fancy a slice of Japanese bookshop fantasy, it’s a steal.
Mhairi McFarlane’s It’s Not Me, It’s You is a book I loved in the days before this blog – I haven’t been back to it since I first read it in 2014, but my Goodreads review is positively glowing and I’ve enjoyed many of her books since so I’m not too worried about recommending it despite that. In a complete tonal about turn, Emma Cline’s The Girlsis also on offer – it’s about a sort of Manson-y situation in the US in the 1960s and I enjoyed it but it was on the edge of what I can cope with – so I haven’t read her second novel, The Guest, which looked entirely too creepy for me on the basis of the blurb. Another book I enjoyed in the pre-pandemic days when I still read literary fiction is Brit Bennet‘s The Mothers.
And there is the usual offers on my favourite authors. The cheapest “proper” Georgette Heyer edition is Devil’s Cub at £1.99. And the 99p Julia Quinn is Just Like Heaven, the first of the Smythe-Smith series. This month’s Terry Pratchett is Making Money, the second Moist von Lipwig book and source of this genius quote:
‘Look, I can explain,’ he said. Lord Vetinari lifted an eyebrow with the care of one who, having found a piece of caterpillar in his salad, raises the rest of the lettuce. ‘Pray do,’ he said, leaning back. ‘We got a bit carried away,’ said Moist. ‘We were a bit too creative in our thinking. We encouraged mongooses to breed in the posting boxes to keep down the snakes …’ Lord Vetinari said nothing. ‘Er … which, admittedly, we introduced into the posting boxes to reduce the numbers of toads …’ Lord Vetinari repeated himself. ‘Er … which, it’s true, staff put in the posting boxes to keep down the snails …’ Lord Vetinari remained unvocal. ‘Er … These, I must in fairness point out, got into the boxes of their own accord, in order to eat the glue on the stamps,’ said Moist, aware that he was beginning to burble.
Making Money by Terry Pratchett
Oh and I also bought the latest Mary Balogh, Always Remember while I was writing this. Oops.
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 