You all know how much I love a fake relationship romance so I had to mention that this is out today. Say You’ll be my Jaan is Naina Kumar’s debut and it’s been blurbed by former BotW authors Nisha Sharma, Linda Holmes and Sarah Adler as well as the Colleen Hoover one on the cover. This is the blurb:
Meghna has tried everything to find her jaan: blind dates, the dreaded apps, even attempting conversations with strangers. Everything except arranged marriage.
Then Seth, her best friend and the-one-who-got-away, asks her to be his “best man” and suddenly her parent’s taste doesn’t seem so bad. Which is how she meets the cranky but handsome Karthik, who knows marriage is not for him.
They’re the perfect match – if not the one their parents think they are making – and a deal is struck. They’ll announce their engagement: Karthik will be excused from his mother’s set-ups and Meghna will have a date for the wedding from her nightmares.
But how can you fake it and get away with it, when you’re not faking it at all?
Doesn’t that sound right up my street? I know. I’m looking forward to reading it!
I mentioned one of Jeevani Charika’s previous books in my not new Festive reads post last month, so it seems only fair to mention that her new one is out in the UK today. If you’ve read either of her most recent books, you’ll recognise the hero here. I’m about half way through at the moment and enjoying it so far.
It’s finally here – the fifth volume of Heartstopper is out today (in the UK) and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m hoping that the comic book shop will have it for me when I go in this weekend, because I only ordered it… well it feels like years ago but it might only be six months. And this is meant to be the final volume of Nick and Charlie’s story too so I’m hoping for a happy ending but with Nick due to go to university I’m not going to lie, I’m a little worried. But if this doesn’t all tie it up with a nice bow, then Alice Oseman has to come back and write us more then right? Right?
This isn’t out until next week, but I really enjoyed it when I read it a couple of months back, and next week has a couple of books out, so I’m talking about it now, when you still might have time to pre-order a copy or ask your local comic book store to get you a copy. As you know I love a regency romance and I love a graphic novel, so this was pretty much ideal for me. It’s a Regency-set graphic novel that opens with a marriage of convenience (so much my jam) between Catherine, who has reputedly lost her virtue, and Andrew, who needs to marry a woman with a dowry for money to help fix the many problems on his estate. This is a delightful way to help fill in some time before the next series of Bridgerton hits our screens – or would serve as an introduction to graphic novels for people who have enjoyed the TV show (or in fact reading historical romance novels) but who haven’t previously consumed graphic novels. There’s no high peril – just two people in less than ideal situation and are now stuck with each other, but who work out that actually they might be the right fit for each other after all. What I also liked about this was that it left space for some of the secondary characters to get a bit of prominence, although I would maybe have liked a little bit more background to the main characters instead of one of the subplots. But I really liked the art and the whole feel of this. It’s quite open door though – like Bridgerton on TV – so go in aware of that. I would happily read more!
Back to historical romance this week – and this one isn’t actually out until next week, but I’ve already finished it, so I’m going with it today – sorry and all but you can at least preorder it if you like the sound of it.
Silver Lady is the first in a new series from Mary Jo Putney and is set in a lightly magical version of Regency Britain where some people are “gifted” – which means they have special skills that border on magic. Bran Tremayne is one of this – his powers of perception have made him an excellent investigator for the Home Office. But he finds himself drawn to Cornwall, where he was born before he was abandoned by his birth parents. When he is there he meets a mysterious woman who has had her memories suppressed. As she recovers her memories in his care, Bran discovers that Merryn is at the centre of a dangerous plot – can they survive the danger to get to a happy ending?
I mean it’s a romance novel, so I think you know the answer to that, but this is a fun read – it’s got some peril and adventure and the world building is pretty good – the “dangerous gifts” of the title are explained very well and naturally as part of the plot of the book . I’m not usually a lover of amnesia storylines, but this one makes sense within the framework that you’re given for the world and Merryn is less of a damsel in distress than I was expecting her to be. I’ve had a bit of a mixed record with Putney before, but I enjoyed this and will look out for the sequels when they come along.
Silver Lady is out next week – you can preorder it on Kindle and Kobo and if you’re in the US you should be able to get a paperback too.
I’ve been reading Alexa Martin since I heard her interviewed on Smart Bitches Trashy Books’s podcast when I was walking around a shopping outlet in Maryland five years ago. Then she was writing romances with NFL playing heroes – informed by her own time as an NFL wife, now she’s writing standalones. So this is a book that I would have preordered, ready to drop on to my kindle on release day, even if it wasn’t adjacent to one of my current obsessions – home renovation. Adjacent because Next Door Nemesis is about two people fighting to become president of a home owners association – a thing that exists mostly in my head as a problem for people renovating homes because of the rules about what you can do to the outside of your home, and the fees you have to pay. Is sounds like a really fun concept for an enemies to lovers romance and I can’t wait to read it!
After the disappointment of the airport last week, I have actually spotted some of the Christmas releases in the wild, so here we are with this Saturday’s post!
So to start with, thank you Sainsbury’s for being super useful, and not just for decaf coffee for my mum and dad. Their chart selection has a lot of those Christmas new releases if you’re thinking about gift buying and getting some loyalty points to help you in January! Obviously the Britney Spears memoir has had huge amounts of talk, and I’ve already mentioned the Patrick Stewart book too, but they’ve also got Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new book, Dawn French’s tour tie in, Billy Connelly and one I’ve been keeping an eye out for, Phillippa Gregory’s non fiction book about women in history. And then there’s the fiction options, with the latest batch of celebrity novels and some big names like Sophie Kinsella and Sarah Morgan.
Next acrosswe have some more of the Christmas releases – I saw Michael Palin at work the other week while he was doing the promotional trail for his book Great Uncle Harry, and David Mitchell has done a bunch of the talk shows for his book about the monarchy as has Miriam Margolyes about her latest memoir. We also have a sighting in the wild of the new V E Schwab. Then there’s the usual batch of cook books, the traditional Alan Partridge book and Clare Balding. I’ve also read a bunch of Dan Jones’s history books but haven’t read any of his historical fiction yet – Wolves of Winter of the second in what going to be a trilogy – if you’re in the US, this second one doesn’t come out where you are until January.
Next up, more cook books, plus Strictly start Johannes Radebe’s memoir and buzzy autumn release Yellowface, which I have read and didn’t love but I know lots of people who have really entered it. Plus the usual batch of best seller authors like John Grisham and Jo Nesbo. Then there’s an Anthony Horowitz James Bond and Lessons in Chemistry – the adaptation of which has just dropped on Apple TV!
The next shelf was a bit patchy, so I’m skipping it, but you can see the interesting bits in the edges of this photo and the last one – so Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and the S J Parris on the last picture and the Mary Berry baking book on this one! Finally, right down the end her we have some Colleen Hoover (because is it even a book selection without her at the moment!) plus a few more of the high selling, long running favourites. And then there’s the kids books obviously!
And that’s your lot for today, hourly is been at least somewhat useful as you plan your Christmas book purchasing – and don’t worry, I’ll have some recommendations coming up in the next few woods to!
I just wanted to mention that the third in Ashley Herring Blake’s Bright Falls series of F/f romances has come out this week. I read the first two back to back earlier this year and have been waiting for this one to finish off the set. Iris has been a secondary character in the other two and I’m really looking forward to seeing what her happy ending looks like. This is very much a trilogy (or at least I think it is) so do try and read the others first for maximum effect. And I promise I will report back when I’ve read it.
Today’s Book of the Week is actually out today – so it’s very apt and I’m sort of pleased with myself for the timing of my reading. Look, it’s the small things at the moment. I’ll take positives where I can find them.
Sam is the manager of a bed and bath store. His days are spent trying to pull the rest of the staff out of whatever disaster they’ve just caused. They need the jobs and he likes them. Trouble is, Jonathan, the owner of the chain has noticed that’s Sam’s store isn’t doing as well as the others so he sends for him to visit the head office in London. The trouble is, while Sam is there, there’s a little accident involving a shower enclosure and the next thing Sam knows he’s in hospital with concussion and he’s accidentally made Jonathan think he has amnesia. With no one to call to help, Sam ends up staying at Jonathan’s house and how on earth is he going to get out of this, especially as maybe Jonathan isn’t as bad as he thought he was…
So, amnesia-related storylines are not my favourite type of romance plots, but generally I have loved Alexis Hall’s contemporary romances, so I made a rare foray in to the trope to see what he would do with it. And it’s a lot of fun. It made me surprisingly emotional at times – and obviously faked amnesia is an easier sell for me than actual amnesia – although there are some issue still around how you un-fake the amnesia. It’s a grumpy-sunshine sort of thing, although I’m not sure we really got to understand enough of why Jonathan is the way he is – especially as he’s so mean to start off with – I wanted more of him being kinder. Also I wanted to know a bit more about Sam – but then when I did, I got what was going on there, and yes I know that’s a bit cryptic but it will make sense if you read it! I don’t think I love it as much as I loved Boyfriend Material, but it’s still a really, really good read and I will happily recommend it. In fact I already have, even before this post!
My copy came from NetGalley (praise the gods of books!) but as I said at the top it’s out today in Kindle, Kobo, audiobook and paperback – which Waterstones seem to have in stock across their Central London branches so I’m optimistic that you’ll be able to get a copy if you want one!
Back in old Hollywood for this week’s BotW. It might have taken me a couple of weeks to actually get time to properly sit down and get into this, but once I did, it was worth it.
As I mentioned in my post about this on release day, this tells the story of Eileen Sullivan who made her way to Hollywood via Chicago as a 14 year old chaperoned by her grandmother where she became a silent movie star with the stage name Doreen O’Dare. When the reader meets her, it’s the 1960s and she’s on her way to a museum in Chicago where a dolls house she created is on display. The model then jumps backwards and forwards between Doreen’s early life and film career and her conversations with the museum curator about her dolls house which she built during the Depression to house her collection of miniatures and toured it around the country.
Doreen/Eileen and her dolls house are based on the real life silent movie star Colleen Moore – at least in terms of the Hollywood career, dolls house and some aspects of her later life. I didn’t know anything about Moore before I read the book – and was astonished when I went to read up afterwards how much of the story was based on truth. This is my first book by Kathleen Rooney and I enjoyed the writing style as well as the Old Hollywood setting. It’s hard to tell how you’d find this if you did know more about stars of silent movies, but given that I’m fairly into stuff like this and didn’t know anything about her – despite the fact that it turns out that she’s credited with popularising the bob (and in the pictures it’s basically Phryne’s bob) – I reckon people who do know about her may be in the minority!
So I would rate this as well worth a read if you liked Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and want more movie stars – even if this has less twists and secrets, and is set in a different time. It also has the added bonus of being in Kindle Unlimited, although my copy came via NetGalley .
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 