Hilariously, given that my pre-ordered copy of The Bodyguard arrived less than a week ago, Katherine Centre’s new book is already out! I’d been waiting for the Bodyguard to come out in the UK for about a year – and now they’ve timed the release of Hello Stranger to match the US one. Bonkers. Anyway, the new one is out, and it’s got a heroine suffering from face blindness after an operation and trying to save her career as a portrait photographer. This sounds intriguing to me – although I only liked not loved The Bodyguard over the weekend so I may not buy it straight away!
A bunch of Beatriz’ Williams’s books have featured on the blog over the years. I’m enough of a fan of hers that I was on her mailing list, back in the time when authors had actual, physical lists and still sent stuff to readers abroad – so I have a postcard from her for the release of A Certain Age. Her Last Flight and A Hundred Summers were Books of the Week and a couple of others have featured in various recommendsdays and roundups. And of course she also writes books with Lauren Willig and Karen White. Her earlier books tended to be interlinked, but more recently they’re more standalone. And The Beach at Summerleys looks like it’s a standalone-y one. The blurb is promising Cold War intrigue, New England rich people and secrets and a split timeline between 1946 and 1954. I’m also really interest that the cover art is quite different to her other novels – in colours and design so I’m wondering if that’s indicating a change too. I’m looking forward to reading it – when I can justify getting my hands on it!
Another one of my frequently recommended authors has a new book out today – this time it’s Mhari McFarlane. She writes romances with serious issues at the heart of them – I originally wrote rom-coms, but actually although they have humour in them it, it feels a bit wrong as she’s dealing with issues like relationships breaking up, gaslighting and similar. Between Us is about Roisin, who discovers on a weekend away with her writer partner and all their friends that Joe seems to have been writing her and their friendship group into his work – so that would track with being more serious than a rom com would make you think. I’m looking forward to reading this – but if you want a bit more of a sense of what McFarlane does you can check out my reviews of Mad About You, Don’t You Forget About Me and If I Never Met You.
I’ve already written about one book out this week, but actually it’s a busy week for it. And among them is a new one from T J Klune who wrote The House in the Cerulean Sea which I loved a few years back. This one is called In the Lives of Puppets and is a Pinocchio retelling. I’ve read a fair few fairytale and folktale retelling a over the years but I’m not sure I’ve ever done Pinocchio – or at least I can’t remember that I have so this is definitely intriguing!
Honestly I think I’m allowed to squeal about this one – you all know how much I love Sittenfeld at this point. I’ve reviewed a bunch of them here, and I got excited about this arriving only a few weeks ago. I’ve got a hard copy ordered and I’ve got an advance via NetGalley – which of course I’ve started – and it’s so good I’m trying to ration myself…
Anyway as the title suggests this is a romantic comedy where a writer of a comedy show that is Definitely Not Saturday Night Live falls for one of the guest hosts. It’s only a week since I wrote about Funny You Should Ask and a few weeks since Nora Goes Off Script and I’m hoping this follows them in the famous people and normal people romance stakes, rather than another couple I’ve read hunting for the magic but which haven’t worked as well.
The stats are coming tomorrow, but I just wanted to flag a new book that’s out today. Hannah Dolby’s debut, No Life for a Lady is about a 28 year old woman in 1896 who is trying to find her mother, who disappeared ten years earlier, whilst also trying to avoid her father’s efforts to marry her off before it is too late. The Amazon blurb says “perfect for fans of Dear Mrs Bird,The Maid and Lessons in Chemistry” which as you know would suggest that it is right in my wheelhouse in terms of reading tastes. I’ve started it (because I have it via NetGalley) and so far I’m really enjoying it, not least because it’s not set in London, which so many novels set in a similar setting are. I will report back when I finish it I’m sure, but I thought it was worth mentioning today because Hannah Dolby has a zoom event with a Northumbria libraries this lunchtime but it’s also been getting quite a lot of buzz as one of the interesting debuts of 2023 so I think you’ll be spotting it in bookshops all over over the next few months.
And just before I go – I’ve already mentioned it once in this post but Bonnie Garmus’s Lessons In Chemistry is out in paperback today. I loved it when I read it, everyone who I’ve loaned my copy to has loved it to, and it made all of the end of year lists too.
Out today is The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes by Dr Kate Strasdin which examines what we can learn about Victorian life through one woman’s textile scrapbook. I’m always fascinated by the clothes people are wearing in portraits and I love a costume museum/exhibition as well so this sounds like it’s going to be my sort of thing. Coincidentally I was following the author on Twitter before I’d even heard of the book because as well as interesting historical stuff she also posts pictures of gorgeous dresses from history. And I do like a look at history through the medium of something mundane/normal.
A couple of years ago, I read The Button Box by Lynn Knight, which looked at the changing lives of women in the twentieth century by looking at the contents of a box of buttons that has been passed down through her family. I have a copy of The Dress Diary… so I intend to report back, but given how easily I get distracted by cozy crime or romance, I thought I probably ought to give it a mention today before I suddenly realise it’s three years later and I still haven’t read it. Which is basically what happened with The Button Box…
When I wrote the Anticipated Books post at the very start of the year, I was lamenting the lack of detail on what was coming and when, but things are getting a little clearer now, so I’m back with a release update.
There are a couple of things coming next month. Firstly there is a new novel from Jacqueline Winspear, that is not in her Maisie Dobbs series. The White Lady is about a former spy living a retired life in 1947 Kent but who gets drawn (back) into a world of violence. And there’s a new novel from Jesse Sutano – I loved Dial A for Aunties, but didn’t like the sequel anywhere near as much, so I’m looking forward to seeing what she does with something different – Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murders has a 60 year old heroine who discovers a dead body in her tea shop.
The most exciting (for me anyway) might be the new Curtis Sittenfeld which is coming out in early April and is called Romantic Comedy. The blurb promises a TV screenwriter who is over romance but who meets an unlikely love interest that might change her mind. It’s nearly three years since Rodham and given that Eligible (her Pride and Prejudice retelling) is my favourite of her novels, I just can’t wait. Also in April is the new Emily Henry, which I did mention in the previous post and a new book from T J Klune – which is a Pinocchio retelling called In the Lives of Puppets.
Going even further into the future, I’m looking forward to the next Ali Hazelwood romance and Alice Bell’s Grave Expectations – a murder mystery about a medium with a ghost who follows her around and which has got a quote from Ben Aaronovitch on the cover. Talking of Aaronovitch, there’s a new Rivers of London novella coming in June called Winter’s Gifts. And there are a fair few of my regular autobuys who have books coming up – I wrote about Donna Andrews Meg Langslow series last week, and she has two more in the series coming in the second half of the year, including the fabulous pun Birder, She Wrote. Sarah MacLean’s next, Knockout is out in August, Christina Lauren have The True Love Experiment coming in May, Bridgerton author Julia Quinn is due to have a new book out in May, although there isn’t even a title yet – just a date on Amazon! And there’s a new Veronica Speedwell just a couple of weeks away too.
And no, I’m not telling you how many of these I have already preordered…
Actually this is another of those strange split releases that we seem to be getting so much now as the Kindle edition was out on the 10th, but the paperback is out today. Exes and O’s is the next book in the series that started with Set On You last year. This features unlucky in love Tara, who is revisiting her exes to try and find her shot at a second chance romance with her new flatmate Trevor as her sidekick. I have this on the to-read pile, but haven’t got to it yet, because: Meg Langslow binge, although writing this has reminded me why I really wanted to read it. It’s blurbed by Beth O’Leary and Ali Hazelwood if that helps you make your decision in the absence of a review from me!
Every now and again I like to do a post about stuff I’ve got preordered and the anticipated books list, so as we head towards the autumn, I thought now was a good time to have a quick look ahead to what’s going to be dropping onto my doormat or my kindle in the next few months…
You’ve seen this list before. It’s got a little bit more blue than last time, and now it goes all the way to the bottom of the page. I’ve included it again as a bit of a reminder of what we’ve had going on this year – and some of the stuff I’ve already talked about in Anticipated books part one and part two.
Deanna Raybourn’s Veronica Speedwell and Lady Julia Grey series are favourites of mine, so I’m really looking forward to her new book Killers of a Certain Age, about a group of retired female assassins. It’s out in about a week, and I have the kindle version pre-ordered and the paperback one (which is out early in 2023 here) just because I can!
In early October, the new book from Mary Roach is coming out in paperback here – it’s called Animal, Vegetable, Criminal. Roach writes amazing non-fiction books about quirky subjects, so I’m looking forward to getting my hands on this one. And once again, I’m getting it in paperback because they’re just more portable than hardbacks. Also all my other books of hers are in paperback and you know what I’m like for matching sets…
You already know about Carrie Soto is Back, which is also just days away now, and Lucy Worsley’s Agatha Christie biography, which is out in the autumn. And it’s probably not a surprise that I’ve got the next of Sherry Thomas’s Lady Sherlock mysteries pre-ordered too – although A Tempest at Sea isn’t actually out until March 2023.
It’s not a preorder, and it’s also another 2023 book, but I’ve also got the next Kate Claybourn book via Netgalley, although to be honest, I’ll probably end up buying the paperback too. And I think that’s the lot. For now at least…
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 