Tag: upcoming books

Book previews

Upcoming releases

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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…

Book previews

Anticipated Books 2023

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Lets start with authors I love who have new things coming. And the first is Andrew Cartmel – I love the Vinyl Detective books and he has what appears to be a related/in the same world book coming – The Paperback Sleuth: Death in Fine Condition is out in early June and I already have it preordered. A couple of days later there is a new Rivers of London novella (which I also have preordered) – it’s called Winter’s Gifts and that’s about all we know so far. I also have the Tobacco Wives by Adele Myers preordered – I can’t remember where I heard about it at this point, but it’s set in 1946 and is about a young woman taking on Big Tobacco and sounds really intriguing.

There’s a new Max Tudor book out later this year, but before that GM Malliet has the second book in her Augusta Hawke series out – I have it on NetGalley, although I haven’t read the first in the series yet! In fact I have quite a lot of stuff on NetGalley waiting for me. I’d been doing really well at being restrained, and then suddenly a whole bunch of stuff dropped and I got a little request happy. So I have the new Tom Hindle after I enjoyed A Fatal Crossing last year and the new Emily Henry because I loved Book Lovers so much it made my end of year list. Most of the rest are cozy crimes though – for me to try out and see if I like.

And after I had pulled together most of this post, Lucy Parker announced the title of her new book. Which is very, very exciting. You may remember that I binge reread the London Celebrities series last year in the absence of a new Lucy Parker book and this is the much awaited sequel to Battle Royal – which you may remember was a book of the week back in 2021. Yes I’ve got to wait until August for Codename Charming but I will wait happier knowing that it’s coming. The blurb says it’s a fake relationship with a grumpy sunshine couple and I am *very* excited. And it gives me a good excuse to reread Battle Royal too. Bonus.

This has ended up being shorter than I expected – despite the late arriving Lucy Parker – but I’m hoping that’s because the rest of the new books I’m going to love this year haven’t been announced yet! Here’s hoping…

Book previews

Pre-order update…

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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…

Authors I love

Squee: New Steven Rowley coming

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Ok it’s not coming till 2023, and all I know about is the title – The Celebrants – but I’m super excited about this. I loved The Guncle last year and The Editor the other week, so something new from Steven Rowley is very exciting to me. To be honest I’m not even sure it’s real, because Goodreads seems to be the only place it exists right now. But hey, I can hope/a girl can dream!

In the meantime, the paperback edition of The Guncle is out in the USA on the 5th and in the UK on the 12th. And you should definitely read that. And then try to resist the urge to buy a kaftan!

Happy weekend everyone!

previews

Squee: New Taylor Jenkins Reid coming!

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Do you remember when I said the other day in my preorder post that hopefully the release calendar would start to fill up soon? Well days later, just days later, guess what? Taylor Jenkins Reid announced she has a new book coming this summer!

And as you can see from the Instagram post, it’s tangentially related to Malibu Rising – in that it’s about someone that we met in that book – albeit some years later. I am *very* excited. But I will admit I haven’t preordered it yet – because I’m waiting to see if there is a signed edition coming somewhere or if she’s going to do any in person events for it because as you may remember, back in the beforetimes, I went to see her talk about Daisy Jones and the Six in the basement of Waterstones in Gower Street in March 2019 – I even paid money to go!

I do sort of love the idea that it’s the TJR universe and that the people in her books could run into each other. But that’s because I love it in romance series where you get to see the couple from the previous books pop up and being happy! Anyway, I suspect that this time if there is a tour it may be in a slightly bigger place – and again, I’ll happily pay money for it – especially if there’s a chance of getting some weird merch with it – the fake festival bracelet I got for Daisy is on one of my shelves next to my home office desk – along with my collection of bookish badges and postcards and the like.

Book previews

Anticipated books 2022

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We’re a few days in to 2022 now, and after the orgy of posts about the past year, it’s time for me to have a little look ahead to the books we have coming our way in this new year.

So the obvious place to start is with the stuff that I’ve got pre-ordered already. Firstly there’s the follow up to Hither, Page by Cat Sebastian, which I’ve been waiting for for ages. It’s called the Missing Page and coming out in the middle of the month (a little late birthday present for myself). Also before the end of January is the Alexis Hall’s first historical romance called Something Fabulous. Also from Alexis Hall, but not pre-ordered yet, and not out until August is Husband Material, the sequel to the wonderful Boyfriend Material.

Away from the romance-y side of things, there is the fourth in the Isabel Rogers’ Stockwell Park Orchestra series. The Prize Racket is out in January and sees the gang taking part in a TV music competition. I can’t wait to see what havoc they wreak. There’s a bit longer to wait for the the Vinyl Detective series, which is out in May, is called Attack and Decay and the musical genre this time is… Death Metal. I cannot wait.

Then there is the stuff that I haven’t pre-ordered yet because I’m waiting to see who has the best edition of it. So that’s books like Amongst Our Weapons, the ninth Rivers of London book. I’ve managed to get the last couple of those in nice signed editions from author events and I’m hoping to do the same again. Also in this category is Heartbreaker, the second in Sarah MacLean’s Hell’s Belles series – this year I got Bombshell sent over from Word in Brooklyn to get a signed copy of the American edition, but I’m hoping that by this summer we may be at a point where Sarah MacLean can come over again and there will once again be a tea party, although my mania for matching sets means I’m not ruling out buying in the American version again…

On top of all of that there are a few things that I have already waiting for me in the NetGalley pile, for I am a very lucky duck. Included in that is Nina de Gramont’s The Christie Affair, out later in January and which is a fictionalised look at what happened in the 11 days that Agatha Christie disappeared for in 1926. I do love a fictionalised real life person book – see my enduring passion for Gone with the Windsors and also my various posts about other examples over the years. Also on the historical mystery front and on the same day is Tom Hindle’s The Fatal Crossing, which is a murder mystery set on a transatlantic crossing in the 1920s. A Scotland Yard detective happens to be on board and so starts to investigate, but he only has a few days to figure out what has happened. Also out the same day as is the very buzzed about The Maid, which features a murder victim discovered by a chambermaid at a fancy hotel. It’s already been optioned for a movie and the info on NetGalley talks about a lot of elements that I like but it also has a couple of people giving it blurbs that make me wonder if it’s going to be too dark for me. We will see…

I’ve had a bit of a fallow period on the historical romance front – with even a few of my old favourites letting me down – but I have high hopes for Sophie Irwin’s debut A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting, which is set in 1818 and features a young lady who needs to catch a rich husband so the bailiffs don’t move in, but who’s plans could be thwarted by the brother of one of her suitors. Based off the blurb it ticks a lot of my boxes – I’m hoping for it to be a bit of a modern mash up of The Nonesuch and Masqueraders. It’s out in May, so you may have to wait until then to find out if I’ve got the right signals…

I’ve tried to be a bit restrained with my requesting finger on NetGalley, because I still have a lot of books outstandint there – and (once again) one of my New Year’s Resolutions is to deal with that, so just one more to talk about on the advance copy front. Dial A for Aunties made it onto in my best books of the year list for 2022, and I have the sequel Four Aunties and a Wedding via NetGalley already – it’s out in March.

Also on my best books of last year list was Patrick Radden Keefe’s Empire of Pain. He has a new book out in June – called Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks. The blurb says it’s bringing together some of the best of his writing in the New Yorker – and as I’ve read quite a lot of his New Yorker stuff after I heard Winds of Change (and before my New Yorker subscription expired!), I want to see it in the flesh and have a flick through before I buy it, in case I’ve already read a lot of it, but if you haven’t got a New Yorker subscription, this should definitely be on your list.

You may have noticed that a lot of the books that I’ve talked about so far are for the start of the year. I suspect that’s because the pandemic and the supply chain issues are conspiring to mean that some of the stuff that should already have come out has been pushed back into early 2022 and that some of the stuff that would already have been announced is still waiting on dates and details. So this is where this post gets a bit speculative. The fourth in Jen De Luca’s Well Met series, Well Travelled is due out in September, it’s still long enough away that pre-ordering the Kindle edition isn’t an option in the UK, but as I’m still waiting for my library hold on Well Matched to come in, I can cope!

Over on Facebook Kerry Greenwood has written about the fact that she’s writing a new Phryne Fisher novel called Murder in Williamstown. She’s hoping it will be out in Australia by the end of 2022, but we do often have to wait for the UK edition, so I’m trying not to get my hopes up too much. I’m also hoping there will be something new from Gail Carriger in 2022, but so far she’s not giving any dates for anything in her newsletter so it’s all very up in the air. I’m also hoping the the 2024 date for the next Tessa Dare book gets revised back to 2022, but The Bride Bet is still showing as TBA on her website so anything could happen there too. Despite even less information – it hasn’t even got a title on Amazon or Goodreads yet – I’m more hopeful that the sequel to Battle Royal will be out in 2022 – Lucy Parker usually releases a book a year, so I’m clinging to that.

Book previews

Books I’m looking forward to in 2020

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Happy New Year everyone. It’s the start of 2020, so after looking back at 2019, it’s time to look ahead to some of the books coming out this year that I’m excited about.  And as with last year’s list, it’s fairly weighted towards the start of the year – because that’s just how it always happens.  Will one of these be this year’s Daisy Jones and the Six for me? Who knows.

The Mirror and the Light – Hilary Mantel (March)

Cover of The Mirror and the Light

Lets start with the big name, potential blockbuster released.  The final part of Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy has been so long coming.  It’s about 7 years since I read Bringing up the Bodies – I know because it was pre-this blog, but after I started working at the BBC (I know because I read it during a run of nightshifts up behind the old BBC World studio, which means the latest it can have been is autumn 2012).  I mean it’s even been a few years since the TV adaptation of the first two parts. Whether it can live up to the hype and awards of its predecessors, who knows, but I’ll be reading it to find out.   I studied the Tudors back in the day, and one of the big achievements of this series is to make Thomas Cromwell likeable. I know how this story ends (hint: not well for him) but I can’t wait to see how she finishes it all off.

Miss Austen – Gill Hornby (January)

Cover of Miss Austen

Why did Cassandra Austen destroy a cache of letters written by her famous sister, more that 20 years after Jane’s death? My love of Austen-related books is well known, as it my love of mysteries and books about books and authors so I’m hoping this will be right up my alley.  It’s out at the end of January and I’ve got a copy from NetGalley waiting on the Kindle already, so if I do like it, chances are you’ll be hearing about it.

The 24-Hour Cafe – Libby Page (January)

Cover of The 24-hour Cafe

I really liked Page’s debut, The Lido, when I read it back in April 2018, and I’ve got high hopes for this. Set in a cafe, where two best friends work together, this is promising a story of friendship and community.  The 24-Hour Cafe is another January release that I have a copy of from NetGalley and I’m hoping this will be a nice uplifting book to carry me through the dark and cold of the post-Christmas, pre-birthday period.

The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle (April)

Cover of The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle

Per the blurb Benjamin & Edgar Bowen head off on a Grand Tour of Europe to meet People of Quality, but it turns out the People of Quality may not want to meet them. But then Benjamin meets Horace Lavelle and his education really begins.  I love a grand tour novel and this sounds like it might be right up my street.  I have a copy from NetGalley and so this is another one which you may hear more about sooner rather than later.

The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman (September)

This is probably one of the more anticipated books for next year. The blurb for this promises a group of octogenarians, who meet up at their retirement village every week to investigate unsolved killings, investigating a real crime when a property developer ends up dead near by. Sounds right up my street already doesn’t it?  Add to that the fact that Richard Osman is the tall guy behind the desk on Pointless and back when I worked at TV Centre, one of my treats to myself during tea breaks was to go and stand in the viewing gallery and watch episodes of Pointless being filmed and you’ll see why I’m really quite excited about this one and have been since it was announced back in May. It feels like it’s been a long wait already.

So there you have it, five books that I’m looking forward to this year.  The list could have been longer – there are new books coming that I’m looking foward to from Lucy Parker, Gail Carriger, Deanna Raybourn and more, but I thought I’d try not to be too predictable!

Happy Reading!

Book previews, books

Autumn New Release Preview

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Why hello there.  It’s September.  The schools are going back and the nice weather won’t last.  So to ease your pain, I thought I’d tell you about some upcoming books I’m looking forward to or have been fortunate enough to have already enjoyed.  But if that’s not your bag, here’s my books about schools post from two years ago if you feel the need to start the academic year with a boarding school book or two! So, in no particular order (well not by date anyway) here we go:

Where Am I Now? by Mara Wilson (22 September)

Recognise the name?  Yes, it’s that Mara Wilson – who played Matilda and was in Mrs Doubtfire – now all grown up, she’s written a collection of essays and it’s getting a lot of buzz.  It’s hard to find out what it’s about – from what I can work out it’s part memoir, part life lessons – but I’ve seen lots of good buzz about it – and the early reviews on Goodreads are really positive.  Plus I’ve always wanted to know what she did after she left films.  I’m hoping this will answer some of my questions.  Pre-order on Amazon, Kindle, Kobo, Waterstones, Foyles.

Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple (6 October)

Today Will Be Different follows a day in the life of Eleanor Flood, who knows she’s a mess but wants to tackle the little things to try and get back on track.  Unfortunately today is the day that life is going to get in the way.  I’m a little trepidatious (is that a real word or one that I got from Buffy/Clueless?) about this one.  Will this be Good Semple or Bad Semple?  I loved Where’d You Go, Bernadette, but I detested This One Is Mine to the point that if I hadn’t enjoyed …Bernadette so much I would have DNF’d it.  I like the plot summary and several of the book podcasts I listen to are excited about it, so I’m hoping for the best and going to give it a go. Pre-order on Amazon, Kindle, Kobo, Waterstones, Foyles.

How to Party with an Infant by Kuai Hart Hemmings (8 September)

Single mum Mele is trying to get over her obsession with the father of her daughter by writing an entry for a cookbook writing contest.  Except she’s doing it a little differently and going into “elaborate and shocking detail”. This is a recent addition to the list (and coming out really soon) after I saw it on Book Riot’s What We Read In August list where the contributor said “This made me laugh the way Where’d You Go, Bernadette? did.” and then I had to have it.  Maybe I’ll save it until after I’ve read Today Will be Different in case that’s a disappointment and I need a pick me up! Pre-order on Amazon, Kindle, Kobo, Foyles.

The Wangs vs The World by Jade Chang (3 November)

Charles Wang has lost the fortune he made after he arrived in the US.  Now he’s taking his family on a cross country journey from their foreclosed Bel-Air mansion to New York to pick up his other daughter. But will the journey bring them all back together or will it split them even further apart.  And will they all even make it as far as the other coast, faced with temptations en route?  I just keep hearing about this book.  Everywhere.  So I want to read it.   Pre-order on Amazon, Waterstones, Foyles.

Queen Bees by Siân Evans (8 September)

I’ve actually already read this – after lucking into a preview copy a month or so back.  This is a collective biography of six famous society hostesses in the UK between the wars. It is not the most massively in depth look at any of them – I wanted a little more detail on some of them – but you get a really good sense of the personalities of the women and the rivalries between them.  If you’ve read anything about society in this era (perhaps some of the Mrs Simpson saga, or some of the many timeslip novels set in the 1920s and 30s which feature real people as well fictional ones), you’ll have heard of some or all of these women – Lady Astor (first woman to take up her seat as an MP) and Emerald Cunard are probably the two most well known – but it’s also peppered with other people of the period – like the aforementioned Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII and then Winston Churchill, The Mitfords and the Mosleys.  This is a period I love reading about (and have read quite a lot about) and I enjoyed Queen Bees and felt I learnt stuff from it.  I’ve lent it out already – and will go and find a proper copy in the shop when it comes out so I can check out the bibliography and references – which were missing from my version – to get some more reading ideas.   Pre-order on Amazon, Kindle, Kobo, Waterstones, Foyles.

The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch (3 November)

This is the sixth book in the Rivers of London series and if you’ve been reading my book based ramblings for any length of time, you’ll know how I feel about PC Peter Grant (see here, here and here ) – and be unsurprised that I’m hopping around with excitement at the prospect of the next book.  I’m trying to take my time reading the latest comics so I’ll be bang up to date for this one, which apparently sees Peter, Nightingale and the crew from the Folly trying to solve a bloody, magical problem in mansions of the super-rich in Mayfair.  I can’t wait.  If you’re not already on this bandwagon, do yourself a favour at start at the beginning. Pre-order on Amazon, Kindle, Kobo, Waterstones.

And there you have it.  Five books I’m looking forward to reading and one I’ve already read as a bonus. It may have got a touch long, but I hope you’ve enjoyed it.  Hopefully none of these will end up on the 50-pages and out pile and I can report back in positive terms in a couple of months time.  Please do recommend any more upcoming releases you think I might like in the comments – you know how much I love making the to-read pile bigger – and let me know if you’ve already read any of these and have Thoughts.

Happy Reading