Tag: women’s fiction

Recommendsday

Recommendsday: Struggling Wives

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Happy Wednesday everyone, and yes, this is the second Recommensday inspired by reading At Mrs Lippencote’s! The first one back at Easter was about unhappy marriages, and this one is about Struggling Wives of various types.

Paperback copy of At Mrs Lippencote's

Julia in At Mrs Lippencote’s is the wife of an RAF officer who finds the social expectations of her frustrating and can’t ever quite get to grips with what she ought to be doing and what she wants to do. In Mrs Tim of the Regiment – Hester is also a military wife, but she’s not struggling with her relationship with her husband like Julia is – it’s everything else that’s causing her headaches. Her husband is away, and she’s been moved to a new area and has a lot on her plate: a new group to fit into, a friend with a romantic entanglement and some one chasing after her too. This is written as a diary and part of the fun of it is Hester’s obliviousness to the various men who are sniffing around her. In The Diary of a Provincial Lady, our heroine is also struggling – but in her case it’s mostly to keep the house from falling into chaos whilst also trying to keep up appearances in the neighbourhood. This is not the first time I have recommended this and I continue to love it and empathise with an inability to plant bulbs when you’re meant to!

In Marghanita Laski’s To Bed With Grand Music, Deborah is struggling in a different way: to be faithful to her husband who has left for Egypt (why always Egypt?) and who she promises to be faithful to despite the fact that he says he can’t promise to be. She up sticks for London, abandoning her son and takes lover after lover. Deborah is an awful person – and a terrible failure as a wife and mother – but it makes for great reading. and finally In Guard Your Daughters the daughters are the centre of the plot but their mother is absolutely a struggling wife. She’s not living in the real world or actually participating in the household and you could say it’s the root of all the problems in that household.

I have plenty of books that suggest they might be in a similar vein on the shelf to be read: like Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins, An Academic Question by Barbara Pym and Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple, so there may yet be a follow up-follow up post!

Happy Humpday!

new releases, Recommendsday, women's fiction

Book of the Week: Summer Fridays

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As if you didn’t know this was coming from my post on Thursday. I mean. Unless the sample was a total swizz this was odds on for the pick today. And here we are, and I feel fully justified in my decision to impulse purchase this in paperback after reading the aforementioned sample, which turns out to be up until page 47 of the paperback.

It’s the summer of 1999 and Sawyer is living in New York with her fiancé Charles. They’re getting married in the autumn and Sawyer is working in publishing, he’s got a job at a law firm – but he’s working ever longer hours, which he says is on a big case, but which Sawyer suspects may be linked to his co-worker Kendra. When Kendra’s boyfriend Nick reaches out to her about his suspicions, they meet up – and don’t get on. But when he finds her online to apologise, the two start to develop a friendship – as they spend their summer Friday afternoons together while their partners are working. They’re just friends – but what happens at the end of the summer.

I think this book is possibly one which should have “A Novel” on the front of it – because the signalling I get from the cover is that it’s a romance and I described it as such in my post on Thursday, but I think this is going to be a divisive one in terms of genre. And that’s because as you can tell from that plot write up, our central characters are in a relationship with other people at the start, and that is a state of affairs that does continue for a while (I can’t tell you more than that without spoilers) and that is going to violate some people’s no cheating rule. Now given that it is right there in the blurb that this is the case, you should be going in forewarned, but I’m mentioning it anyway.

For my part, I couldn’t put this down. I thought it was incredibly well written and really evoked a specific time period – pre-mobile phones, dial up internet – and place. I could have spent another 100 pages with Nick and Sawyer wandering around New York, and I thought the way that their relationship developed was nuanced and at times messy in a way that real life can be – especially when you’re in your early 20s and figuring yourself out but also have big life events hurtling towards you. I thought it was brilliant – and I hope Suzanne Rindell writes more in this sort of area, because I liked The Other Typist, but I loved this. And now I want to buy Three Martini Lunch and see where that fits into to the spectrum between the two!

Summer Fridays is out now. It’s 99p on Kindle today – which is a massive drop from when I read that sample on release day last week and I would absolutely have bought the ebook if it had been that at the time I read the sample – so this sounds like your sort of thing (and bearing in mind that warning) then it’s totally worth that. It’s £3.99 on Kobo and it’s also in paperback as you know. I couldn’t spot any physical copies in Foyles when I was in there yesterday, and Waterstones isn’t claiming ot have Click and collect copies, so you’re probably going to have to order it.

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, books

Book of the Week: The Reunion

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As I said yesterday, it was a busy week last week, but I did have time to finish The Reunion – which I started before the Lagos trip, but couldn’t take with me because I was too far through to make it worth it. And given how much I enjoyed it, it was an obvious choice for today’s pick.

Liv is an actress working in LA. As a teenager, she was star of a wildly popular TV show – Girl on the Verge – and she spent a lot of her teenage years having to live up to and in the shadow of her character on the show. Now it’s twenty years since the show’s premiere and a streaming service is getting the original cast back together for a reunion episode. The fans are excited to see some unfinished business from the original finale resolved, but for Liv, it’s about seeing Ransom Joel again. He was her character’s love interest on the show – and her best friend and confidante in real life. But as the show ended he told her he needed space from her and left her reeling. Once they’re back on set together, they fall back into their old habits – but can this time have a different ending?

If you watched any of the WB shows back in the day, you’ll understand what this is trying to evoke – and there have been enough old tv shows getting reunions like this since the advent of the streaming services that it all feels pretty plausible. I was a teenager in the heyday of these sorts of series so I was a total sucker for the premise of this, but The Reunion has the worrying words “a novel” on the front – which can sometimes mean “we’ve written a blurb that suggests it’s a romance novel, but don’t get your hopes up for a happy ending” so I was slightly apprehensive going into this. But I think in this case, “a novel” is warning you more that this is about Liv and how she grows and develops as much as it is about her relationship with Ransom. There is not a lot of tension in their relationship – and when there was an issue, I had the culprit pegged pretty fast. But I still enjoyed it – I’m at a place at the moment where I don’t really want high angst and drama in my reading, so a meander through the life of an actress and a reunion of a show that reminded me a lot of the sort of thing that I used to watch was pretty perfect for me at the moment.

This looks like Kayla Olsen’s first book in this sort of area – I see some dystopian future type stuff on her good reads page, but nothing else giving these sorts of vibes – so I hope she does more because this was a really nice way to spend a few hours. My copy of The Reunion came from Foyles (in store, although they claim to have no click and collect copies at the moment), but it’s also on Kindle and Kobo.

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, books

Book of the Week: If You Only Knew

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Well after a bumper week of reading last week to get the fifty states challenge finished, I’m starting the new year with a Kristan Higgins book for Book of the Week which wasn’t one of the missing states. Who could have predicted that!

If You Only Knew is a dual narrative story about two sisters who are both at turning points in their lives. Wedding dress designer Jenny is moving back to her home town to open a new storefront after her divorce in an attempt to get away from her ex and his new wife whose lives she’s still entangled in. Her sister Rachael has a seemingly enviable life – adoring husband and cute triplet daughters. Except Rachael’s just caught him sexting with a colleague and she’s not sure what what to do about it – she’s not sure she believes in second chances but she’s also not ready to give up on her family dream.

This is really readable – I read it across about 36 hours despite it being Christmas – I liked the mix of big city New York and small town New York State and it all works out alright in the end, despite my fears at various points while reading it. As always with stories like this I liked one side of the story better than the other – in this case it was Jenny I wanted more of, but maybe that’s because adultery plots are never really quite my thing and I loathed Rachael’s husband (although now I’ve finished the book I don’t think you were meant to like him but I wasn’t sure about that at the time) and wanted her to burn it all down straight away. That said I’m not sure Jenny’s strand of the plot on its own would have been enough to sustain a novel – and I definitely wouldn’t have read just Rachael’s – so it was probably the right decision to do both!

Anyway you can get this on Kindle and Kobo and it’s only £2.99! It does have a paperback version but as it’s a few years old now it may not be that easy to get hold of a physical copy – Amazon is certainly asking crazy money for it, but the ebook is cheap so that’s something.

Happy Reading!

books

Recommendsday: New Festive Reads 2023

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After last week’s not-new Christmas books, today I bring you some of the new festive books I’ve read so far this year in case you’re in the market for some last minute purchasing and reading before the big day. Because some of you may be more prepared for Christmas than I currently am!

A Holly Jolly Ever After by Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy

This is the sequel to last year’s A Merry Little Meet Cute and is also set in Christmas Notch, Vermont (Hello ticking another state off my 50 States Challenge for the year!). This time our heroine is Winnie Baker a former child actress who managed to keep her career going into adulthood by maintaining her wholesome Christian image. Except now her perfect life has come falling down and now she’s going to reinvent herself in a steamy holiday movie. Her co-star is Kallum, former boyband star and now owner of a regional pizza chain who went viral after a sex tape leaked (and who you may remember from that first book) and who has some history with Winnie that means that it’s all a bit awkward. But when Winnie has trouble faking pleasure on screen she asks Kallum for help with research and you all know where this is going. Sex lessons for reasons is always a fun trope – and obviously it’s extremely not closed door. The premise is bonkers, but it was an entertaining read even if purity culture makes me really angry.

The Christmas Book Club by Sarah Morgan

This is this year’s Christmas Sarah Morgan, and I’m probably cheating by mentioning her again so soon after reminding you about the Snow Crystal series, but this is women’s fiction and those are straight up romances so I’m just going to go with it. This follows four women – three friends approaching their fortieth birthdays and taking a Christmas trip to a quaint inn in Vermont and the inn’s owner, a young widow with a little girl whose husband died while they were renovating the hotel together. Each woman is facing some sort of challenge in her life and the week at the inn will help them figure out what to do next. I think I would have liked less main characters and more focus on each storyline but then I’m often a bit like that and I don’t know which woman I would be happy to lose! This is quite low stress and very festive and perfect for a winter afternoon once you’ve got your presents wrapped!

The Christmas Jigsaw Murders by Alexandra Benedict*

Early in December, crossword setter and grouch Edie receives a parcel in the post containing jigsaw pieces showing a crime scene and a note saying unless she solves the puzzle at least four people will die. Of course she starts investigating with the help of her nephew who is a police detective – until he starts to worry that she’s in danger and tries to shut her out of the investigation. But of course that’s not going to stop her. This is a murder mystery with some hidden clues in there that tie in for puzzlers, *but* don’t be deceived by the festive cover and colour scheme, it’s actually pretty dark. I was expecting/hoping for something Christmassy but with Thursday Murder club levels of grimness or something cozy crime adjacent, but if it wasn’t Christmas it would be a murder mystery with a dark and brooding cover, rather than an arty one. So not really a for me book, but I think it will appeal to a lot of people who like their crime a bit grimmer.

And that’s your lot today – I’ve got a couple more Christmas books I’m going to try and read this December, but who knows if that will actually happen, because I keep getting distracted away to other books!

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, Chick lit

Book of the Week: The Secret Bridesmaid

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As is often the way with me in the weeks after putting a Recommendsday post together on a theme, I’ve started reading some of the books related to the theme that I discovered on my Kindle in the process. And today it’s one that I’ve read after writing the Romances with Weddings post the other week!

Cover of The Secret Bridesmaid

Sophie is a professional bridesmaid. What’s that I hear you ask? Well harnessing the skills she developed as a PA, she’s hired by brides-to-be to pose as a friend and be their right hand woman throughout the wedding process. Think of it as a halfway house to having a wedding planner – but without admitting it! Anyway, she’s carving herself out a little word of mouth niche as the Best Bridesmaid Ever and then lands her biggest gig yet: to organise the aristocratic wedding of the year. Only trouble is, she’s been hired by the Mother of the Bride, and the bride herself is not happy about it. Can she pull it off – and keep her secret intact?

Now this is being shelved a lot as a romance – and as I said I read it after writing a post about romances set at weddings – but I think it’s actually closer to some of the women’s fiction I used to read back in the early 2000s, when it was being called Chick Lit (and although I have problems with that as a phrase, it is a useful descriptor in this case). It has a romantic element, but it’s not at all the main thrust of the plot. This is about Sophie trying to win over the prickliest and most hostile of clients and also figure out who she is after her own long term relationship ended. With lots of humour. Now some of that humour is a little too cringe/embarrassment-based for me, but I often found that with authors like Sophie Kinsella too and I know that other people love it.

That aside, I did really enjoy reading it – I miss books like this, or at least my memories of books like this – where they’re funny and female-centered with some competency porn in there too. It also has an added side of stately homes and rich people problems, so it’s ticking a bunch of my boxes.

My copy came from Netgalley aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages ago – but in a brilliant stroke of fortune it’s in Kindle Unlimited at the moment AND it’s also still available on Kobo and in paperback.

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, books

Book of the Week: Small Miracles

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I could write about Codename Charming again today, but you’ve already heard enough about Lucy Parker from me in the last week or so, so instead I’m going with Anne Booth’s Small Miracles which I finally got around to reading after I spotted it when I was putting together the Kindle offers post this month.

It’s the mid 1990s and Sister Margaret, Sister Bridget and Sister Cecilia are the last three members of their order and struggling to figure out how their convent can survive in the face of the loss of some of their number and a house in need of more repairs than they can pay for. But after 90-year-old Sister Cecilia decides to play the new National Lottery things start to change for them and their community.

This is a warm and uplifting novel which moves around between the nuns and some of the people whose lives they touch. It is about a religious community but it doesn’t feel preachy or overly religious – despite the fact that poor Sister Margaret has a lot to pray about at various points. One small miracle has a ripple effect – sometimes in ways that the people involved can see, others in ways that are only known to you as the reader. Basically it is just a lovely tale of how little things can start bigger things moving and can cause good things to happen.

So if you need a nice gentle read to make you feel warm inside, this would be a great pick. And as I mentioned in that offer post, there is a sequel coming – and it’s Christmas themed!

My copy of Small Miracles was an advance proof that I’m not quite sure how I got, and which I lent to mum before I remembered I needed a photograph. But it is 99p on Kindle and Kobo at the moment so run don’t walk if this sounds like your cup of tea.

Happy Reading!

Best of..., book round-ups

Books of the Year: New Fiction

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We’re hurtling towards the end of the year, and so it’s time for my annual lookback at what I read this year and for me to try and pick my favourite things. Today we’re looking at the new release fiction that I’ve loved this year. And trust me when I say it’s been tough! And it doesn’t happen often, but for once some of the books that I loved have made it onto a bunch of best books of the year lists. Oh and I should add that this only looks at standalone books and not later instalments in series.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin*

Cover of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

I’ve already recommended Gabrielle Zevin’s novel to a bunch of people – and it’s been named Amazon’s Book of the Year, as well as being voted Fiction book of the year in Goodreads Choice Awards as well as Book of the Month’s favourite of the year in their vote and it’s on The Atlantic’s Most Thought-Provoking Books of the Year too. It’s a hard one to describe – even Zevins says she struggles! – although I did give it a go in my BotW review but it’s a story about friendships and opportunities missed and love all set in the world of computer games development. I think there’s something here for most people, even if they’re not expecting it. It’s being turned into a movie – so read it now and be ahead of the game!

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Cover of Lessons in Chemistry

And another of my favourites that other people are picking too is Bonnie Garmus’ novel about Elizabeth Zott. It also won a prize at the Goodreads Choice awards – this time best debut, but it’s also on the Good Housekeeping list, and she’s also Waterstones’ Author of the Year. Elizabeth is a chemist turned TV chef who uses her platform to try and improve women’s lives, all while bringing up her daughter alone. I read this the same week that I read The Unsinkable Greta James (see below) – so this ended up in Quick Reviews rather than as a BotW – but it was in my best books of the first half of the year – and I’ve kept recommending it since, but do please bear in mind the warning for sexual violence and death early in the book. This one is also getting an adaptation this time into a series – Brie Larson is starring in it and it’s going to be on Apple TV+ next year apparently.

Book Lovers by Emily Henry*

Cover of Book Lovers

I’ve actually done quite well in the Goodreads Choice awards this year – because Book Lovers won Best Romance – beating out TikTok favourite Colleen Hoover, even if you add her two nominated books together! This is big city literary agent in a small town for the summer where she discovers a professional enemy is also in residence. It’s a delight – I love enemies to lovers romances as you know and add a twist on the small town trope and it’s just a delight.

The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E Smith

Unsinkable Greta James

Now this got a whole lot less attention than the picks above, which is a shame because I adored it. I picked it as a BotW over Lessons in Chemistry partly because it was lesser known, and it really annoys me that more people haven’t heard about it. Greta is an indie popstar with a problem – she has writers block after her mother’s death and a meltdown on stage. She finds herself accompanying her father on the Alaskan Cruise that he was meant to be taking with her mum and things happen. It’s wonderful if sad at times, but the ending is perfect.

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

Killers of a Certain Age

Now this was nominated for Best Crime and Thriller in the Goodreads Choice, but lost out to Nita Prose’ The Maid, which I read at the start of the year and enjoyed, but I think this is more fun. It’s about a group of women who have spent their lives working for an elite agency of assassins, but upon retiring find that they are now the targets. If you like Raybourn’s historical mystery series, you’ll like this. And if you’ve read the Richard Osman Thursday Murder Club books and are looking for something sort-of similar (The Bullet that Missed was also nominated in the same category) this might well scratch that itch.

That’s my five fiction picks. Honourable mentions should go to Carrie Soto is Back – which won the Historical fiction prize in Goodreaders choice (beating Lessons in Chemistry) – Thank You for Listening, Mad About You and Something Wilder.

book round-ups, fiction, Recommendsday

Recommendsday: (Late) Summer Holiday Reading

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Yes, this is very late now, but it’s a bank holiday weekend coming in the UK this week and last week I had three nights away from home so I *finally* pulled my finger out and read the rest of the books that I had been thinking about for this post. I know – I started writing this in late June, but I got distracted by the rereads and exciting new series. And some of the books I was going to put into this ended up in other posts, or as books of the week (Acting Up I’m looking at you) I am such a mood reader. I don’t even know why I try to make lists and plans of what to read when. And yes, this is all romance or romantic comedy or adjacent genres, but that is what I like to read on a sun lounger. Sue me. As usual, if it has an * next to the title if came from NetGalley, otherwise I paid for it with my very own money. And you’ll be glad to know I’ve already started on the Christmas reading post. Maybe I’ll get that one done on time…

Beach House Summer by Sarah Morgan*

Sarah Morgan‘s summer novel this year follows the ex-wife of a TV chef in the immediate aftermath of his death in a car crash. Stay with me, I know that sounds like it might be miserable, but don’t worry. To return to the plot: Joanna’s marriage to Cliff was dysfunctional to say the least and carried out in the glare of the media spotlight. So when she finds out that there was a young woman in the car when it crashed and that the woman is pregnant, Joanna knows she has to help her. The two women head to Joanna’s house in the town that she grew up in to hide from the paparazzi. Joanna hasn’t been there since she ran away with Cliff in the aftermath of a breakup with her high school boyfriend and she’s soon going to have to face the past and the community she left behind. Ashley needs space to plan her and the baby’s future – but there are still a few secrets to come out… This is a delightful sun lounger read, if you can just get past the death-y bit at the start, which I did – but that’s why it was on the list for a couple of weeks! It’s basically a small town, second chance romance with relatively low peril.

The Friendship Pact by Jill Shalvis

On to another regular author of mine and Jill Shalvis’s summer ‘22 book is a second chance romance for two characters who have been damaged by their childhoods. Tae spent her childhood worrying about money and about her mum’s attempts to find a man to make them a family. Riggs’ dad was an alcoholic who liked to hit his kids. But the two of them were friends in high school – until they weren’t. Now Riggs is back in town to visit his brother and his company providing adventures for athletes with disabilities and wounded veterans. Tae’s events planning company is organising their summer programmes. The two of them reconnect, but there are obstacles to a happy ending for them. I read it in 24 hours and was nearly late back from my lunch break because I was enjoying it so much. There’s a testimonial for you!

In a New York Minute by Kate Spencer*

Franny Doyle is already having a bad day before her dress catches in the subway door: she’s just been made redundant. But now her dress is ripped but even worse – the whole subway can see her bum and her knickers. luckily fellow passenger Hayes lends her his jacket to save her blushes. That would be the end of it – except someone has posted what happened to their Insta stories and now they’re viral sensations – #SubwayQTs. Their new found fame (notoriety?!) means they end up seeing each other again, and again, and again: but is there more there than just a hashtag? This has a buttoned up and awkward hero who comes off as aloof and a creative heroine with a tight knit group of friends. If I hadn’t had to do actual things, I could probably have read this in one giant sitting – it’s light and fluffy and endearing.

Donut Fall In Love by Jackie Lau

And finally, this isn’t a summer new release (it came out in October last year!), but I’m giving it a quick shout out because it feels like it would be a fun read if you were on a sun lounger. This has a Hollywood star and a normal person pairing (which I like – see Olivia Dade!) and it’s also got a bakery and a baking show. What’s not to love.

Book of the Week, fiction, reviews

Book of the Week: The Unsinkable Greta James

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So, I had a really hard time picking today’s choice, because I loved Lessons in Chemistry *and* The Unsinkable Greta James and I could only pick one. But as Lessons in Chemistry is all over the place – including in paperback at the airport – I thought I’d write about Great today because you might not already have heard of it.

Greta James is an indie music star. She’s had magazine covers and sold out gigs and a few hit songs. So why is she on a cruise around Alaska with her dad weeks before she’s due to be launching the always tricky second album? Her parents were meant to be taking the trip together for their fortieth wedding anniversary, but her mum died suddenly three months before the cruise. And at her first gig after her mother’s death, Greta had an onstage meltdown that went viral. So she’s on the trip with her dad, attempting to ignore what’s going on with her career and trying to improve her relationship with her dad. Because her mum was the supportive one – who encouraged her to follow her dreams and her dad was… not. Will this trip bring them closer together or drive them further apart than ever? Also on board the ship is author Ben Wilder – who is there to deliver a lecture about his book about Jack London’s Call of the Wild, but is struggling with writing his follow up…

I really enjoyed this. I do like a book about a musician (see Daisy Jones and the Six) and I love stories about family relationships (see Guinevere St Clair and Young Pretenders most recently) and it’s only a couple of weeks since I wrote a post about mysteries set on ships, so we know that I like them too. And this does everything that I was hoping it would do. Greta is passionate about her music and determined to succeed and her fractious relationship with her dad, her blossoming relationship with Ben and her grief and anxiety about the death of her mum add up to a fascinating leading character. And it’s a minor thing, but I really liked how explicit the book was about the work and the practice that had gone into Greta’s success – she plays her guitar, you hear about the hours she puts in to playing and composing. I feel like you don’t always get to hear about that in books about people in the arts – it’s portrayed like a magical thing that comes easily to people. And maybe to some people it does, but I think to a lot of musicians and other artists of various kinds it actually comes after thousands of hours of work and the first song you write (or painting you make, or book you write) isn’t the one that’s the big success – it’s the 5th or sixth or tenth or thirtieth.

I hate the term women’s fiction, but that’s the best I have got for this. It has a romantic plot strand but it’s not primarily a romance. And it’s much easier to read than literary fiction (another label I hate) tends to be. I read it across two evenings once the actual physical copy arrived chez moi after I bought this as part of my sample reading spree the other week. I’m not sure where I saw it recommended. I thought it was from Goodreads, maybe in their Anticipated Summer reads article, but no. So it could have been twitter or the algorithm because I can’t find it in any of my book-ish emails. Anyway this is the first Jennifer E Smith book that I’ve read and I shall keep my eyes out for more because it was a really delight.

I bought mine in hardback because after reading the sample I thought it might be one I would want to lend (and I think the prices for the physical copy vs the ebook were not that far apart on the day I bought it) and I have already sent it out on loan! I can’t see that it’s in stock in any of the Foyles stores so it may be one that you do have to order rather than pickup in a store, but it’s also available in Kindle and Kobo. The paperback is out early next year….

Happy reading everyone