WWW Wednesday: 21st July, 2021


WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Taking on a World of Words. Anyone can take part and it is a great way of sharing what you have just finished reading, what you are currently reading and what is next on the TBR.

The school term is now finished and I am free to read! It is very sunny and my pale gingery self can’t cope so I’m looking forward to hiding from the sun with a cold drink, a huge pile of books and the ever-present (but not long-lasting) family pack of Fruit Gums!

I’m now at 73/100 on my Goodreads Challenge.

Continue reading WWW Wednesday: 21st July, 2021

November Wrap-Up and December TBR

Another month end – and thank goodness! We are one step nearer to Christmas and (more importantly) 2020 being over. This month has lasted approximately 9000 years so I am glad it is done.

I’m posting this a bit early as I have a blog tour lined up for the end of the month.

Affiliate links are provided – I do earn commission on any purchases at no extra cost to you, so thank you for supporting my blog!

What I read in November

Considering that November felt eternal, I only managed to read 9 books! However, this puts me on 109/100 for my Goodreads challenge so that’s fine by me.

I started this month with a NetGalley ARC that I was really looking forward to – Cara Hunter’s ‘The Whole Truth’. This is the fifth instalment in the excellent DI Fawley series of police procedurals and is due for publication on 25th February, 2021. The story starts with a sexual harassment allegation and then gets much darker and more twisty. I don’t think it is the best in the series but it is very engaging – I really like the police team and they are really relatable and real. My review will follow nearer publication.

Then I read ‘The Wrong Sort to Die’ by Paula Harmon for a blog tour. This is a very enjoyable historical mystery featuring a great female lead – Dr Margaret Demeray, a pathologist working in pre-World War I London. You can read my review here.

Next up was ‘How Love Actually Ruined Christmas (or Colourful Narcotics)’ by Gary Raymond for another blog tour. It’s basically a jaunt through – scene-by-scene – the 2003 film ‘Love Actually’ and all the reasons why it is so bad. Fans of the film won’t appreciate it all, but I loved it! This book made me laugh so much – my review is here.

Then I read ‘The Cousins’ by Karen M McManus for yet another blog tour – this one is up Monday. I don’t read a lot of YA books but I did enjoy this story of family secrets in a wealthy tourist spot in America. Check out my blog on Monday for my full review.

Then another blog tour book – ‘The Watchful Neighbour’ by Debbie Viggiano. This is a psychological thriller about a woman who worries that her Neighbourhood Watch man is just a little too watchful. It is tense and surprising – my review will follow in December.

It does seem that I’ve read a lot of blog tour books this month – the next was ‘Banking on Murder’ by J D Whitelaw, a cosy crime novel with a trio of sisters as investigators. I really loved the interaction between the three women – the review will follow in December.

After all the blog tour books, I returned to my huge NetGalley backlog and read ‘The Split’ by Laura Kay. This is a lovely, uplifting and funny read about how Ally puts her life back together after she is dumped by her girlfriend. Family, friends and running prove her salvation, even though she has a similar feeling about running as me (clue: not positive)! This is due to be published in March 2021 and my full review will appear nearer this date.

Another NetGalley read was ‘The Shape of Darkness’ by Laura Purcell. I was really looking forward to this historical Gothic novel which promised spookiness, murder and spiritualism – and absolutely delivered. This is due to be published in January 2021 so my review will be up then, but if you loved Purcell’s previous books then there is plenty to love here too.

Finally, the lovely people at The Write Reads and I finally finished our readalong of ‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier. Having given up on this book on at least two previous occasions, I’m really glad I stuck with it – turns out it gets really good! Who knew?! I’ve loved reading with these lovely bloggers and their wild speculation, hilarious observations and brilliant (and sometimes odd!) ideas have been an absolute joy. My review will be up next week.


December TBR

After a month or two of being totally overwhelmed by the amount of books I have in the pile to read, I’ve narrowed it down to ones I want to read soon:

  1. ‘Lie Beside Me’ by Gytha Lodge – a NetGalley ARC and the latest in the DCI Jonah Sheens series.
  2. ‘Madam’ by Phoebe Wynne – a proof from the lovely people at Quercus (thank you!) This one looks like a brilliant historical tale in the Gothic vein about a remote boarding school.
  3. ‘Dangerous Women’ by Hope Adams – another NetGalley ARC and due to be published in March 2021. I love the early Victorian setting of this one, doubly so as it is on board a ship sailing for the colonies, and it promises to be an engrossing crime story.
  4. ‘Hyde’ by Craig Russell – set in Victorian Edinburgh and by an author I really rate. This is another NetGalley ARC and is due for publication in February 2021.
  5. ‘The Last House on Needless Street’ by Catriona Ward – I’ve seen some brilliant advance reviews for this one, a serial killer thriller, and cannot wait!

Who knows what I’ll actually end up reading, but that’s my best guess right now!

Hope you had a fabulous reading month in November and I look forward to reading your wrap-up posts and TBRs.


Header photo with thanks to Sincerely Media for sharing their work on Unsplash.

WWW Wednesday: 23rd September, 2020

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. It’s open for everyone to join in and share what they have been/are/will be reading!

Affiliate links are provided for books already published. Thank you for supporting my blog with any purchases.

What are you currently reading?

I had to put them on hold to meet blog tour obligations, but I’ve returned to ‘A Tomb with a View’ by Peter Ross and ‘More than a Woman’ by Caitlin Moran. Both are proving compelling and I am now racing through them!

What have you recently finished reading?

I finally finished ‘Unto this Last’ by Rebecca Lipkin that I was reading for a blog tour – my review will be up on Saturday so watch this space! This huge and meticulously-researched novel about artist and critic John Ruskin is a treat for anyone who loves all things Victorian.

I have just finished reading Dawn O’Porter’s new non-fiction book about her experiences of lockdown during the early part of 2020. This is due to be released on 1st October and my review can be found here.

I also read (as a buddy read with the lovely Jodie @relish_books) ‘Good Samaritans’ by Will Carver, a dark and twisty murder mystery. It is the first of (so far) three books featuring Detective Sergeant Pace and I’ve seen lots of praise for this series on Twitter. I found it engaging and fast paced, but I also thought it was perhaps a bit too dark and depressing for me – no-one comes out of it well!

What do you think you will read next?

I really want to read some more fiction as a lot of my recent choices have been non-fiction (or fiction based on real life events).

I’m planning on reading ‘Cows Can’t Jump’ by Philip Bowne for a blog tour on October – this debut book looks absolutely brilliant and I’m looking forward to the promised humour after the bleakness of ‘Good Samaritans’!

I also have a blog tour for ‘The Creak on the Stairs’ by Eva Bjorg Aegisdorrir. This one looks like an intriguing slice of Nordic Noir and I love the premise – a body found in a lighthouse and an investigation that uncovers a community’s well-hidden secrets.

My NetGalley shelf is (as usual) overflowing so I still have some lovely options there too – the 2021 Laura Purcell release (‘The Shape of Darkness’), the next Stuart Turton book (‘The Devil and the Dark Water’) and the latest in Cara Hunter’s excellent DI Fawley series (‘The Whole Truth’) are also vying for my attention!

As usual, thanks to NetGalley and blog tour hosts for keeping me in excellent books! All opinions are entirely my own.

Header photo with thanks to Sincerely Media for sharing their work on Unsplash.

WWW Wednesday: 16th September 2020

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. It’s open for everyone to join in and share what they have been/are/will be reading!

Affiliate links are provided for books already available – I may earn commission on any purchases at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog!


What are you currently reading?

I’ll admit that I’m still reading ‘Unto This Last’, the fictionalised biography of John Ruskin, for a blog tour later in the month. The length of the novel and the complexity of the writing mean that I’m slowing and savouring this one!

I’ve just started my buddy read with the lovely Jodie at Relish Books – we are tackling ‘Good Samaritans’ by Will Carver. It’s early days but all good so far.


What have you recently finished reading?

I’ve just read Gill Sims’ latest book in her ‘What Mummy’ series – this one, the fourth and last – is called ‘Why Mummy’s Sloshed’ and follows Sims’ protagonist Ellen through the parenthood highs and lows of having teenage children. My review will be on the blog nearer to publication date (1st October) but it is – delightfully and hilariously – more of the realistic and relatable views of parenting we have come to expect from Sims.

I’ve also just finished Ruby Wax’s ‘And Now For the Good News’, an uplifting non-fiction book about the things that humanity is getting right – something I really needed to hear about! The review will follow on the blog nearer to the publication date next week.

Finally, I finished an audiobook by Adam Rutherford called ‘The Book of Humans’. It is a really interesting analysis of how humans differ (or perhaps don’t!) from other animals. I also love Adam Rutherford’s voice and could probably listen to him read the phone book so all was good!


What do you think you will read next?

I am absolutely never accurate with this because new things arrive and bump everything else down the TBR!

I’m still very excited to read some of the line-up of ARCs I’ve got on NetGalley, although I’m trying to prioritise in order of publication. I’m keen to read Stuart Turton’s ‘The Devil and the Dark Water’, Laura Purcell’s ‘The Shape of Darkness’ and Nick’ by Michael Farris Smith (based on the narrator of ‘The Great Gatsby’).

I’ve also just received this glorious-looking book, ‘Cows Can’t Jump’ by Philip Bowne for a blog tour in October that is just calling out to be read! It’s a debut novel that’s already won a Spotlight First Novel prize and I am looking forward to it. It will be published on 24th September.

My non-fiction TBR is also looking huge and precarious! Jilly Cooper’s ‘Between the Covers’ (ARC), Dawn O’Porter’s ‘Life in Pieces’ (ARC) and Olivia Williams’ ‘The Secret Life of the Savoy’ are all clamouring for my attention!


I received these books (apart from the Will Carver and Adam Rutherford ones) from NetGalley or a blog tour company in return for an honest review.

Header photo with thanks to Robert Anasch for sharing their work on Unsplash.

My Five Star Reads of 2020 (so far!)

It’s fair to say that 2020 isn’t going quite as any of us expected. The silver lining in what has been a hideous and staggeringly enormous cloud has – for me – been the opportunity to read more and enjoy some brilliant books.

I set my Goodreads challenge at 100 books for the year and am already on 68, way ahead of where I expected.

Of these, I gave 10 of them five star reviews, so this seems a good time to share with you the books I couldn’t put down this year. They are certainly a quirky, diverse and interesting mix!

In chronological order of when I read them as I cannot possibly rank these books!

Photo by Samantha Hurley from Burst

‘Difficult Women: A History of Feminism’ by Helen Lewis (published February 2020)

I thought I was pretty good on my history of women’s rights and feminism, but found plenty in this eye-opening, thought-provoking and engaging book that was new to me.

In the book, Lewis charts key moments in women’s history through 11 ‘fights’ – key moments in history when the titular ‘Difficult Women’ have stood up and made change happen in society. These changes range from divorce laws protecting women’s rights to have access to their children and property, the availability of safe and legal abortions, gaining votes for women after World War 1, establishing refuges for victims of domestic violence, achieving equal access to education and the changing roles of the female workforce. Each of these struggles is a separate chapter, with Lewis introducing us to some of the ‘difficult women’ who led the various movements.

What I loved about this book was that the stories told weren’t the usual ones. For every Pankhurst in the chapter on votes for women, there were a whole host of lesser known but still fascinating women who played important roles in achieving the women’s vote in 1918. I felt that I’d learnt about a whole new cast of feminists and so many different perspectives on feminist ideology. Lewis doesn’t try to convince us that these women were perfect – she tackles head on some of the contradictions of feminism and the internal disagreements, for example not shying away from Marie Stopes interest in eugenics or the suffragettes willingness to do violent and terrible things to achieve their aims.

I’d wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in women’s history or changing place in society. The book isn’t – and doesn’t claim to be – an exhaustive history of feminism, but it is lively and entertaining, well-researched and engrossing. The topics covered are fascinating and Lewis is a witty, perceptive and clear-sighted guide through some tricky subjects.

Photo by Matthew Henry from Burst

‘The Switch’ by Beth O’Leary (published April 2020)

Wow, this was an absolute treat! I enjoyed O’Leary’s first novel but this one is even better. It’s not a genre I usually read, but I couldn’t resist this big-hearted, charming, touching story of a life swap between grandmother and granddaughter.

Lena Cotton is a high-flyer in London and supposedly living a dream life with her high-powered job, handsome boyfriend and trendy warehouse flat in Shoreditch. When a presentation at work goes wrong and she is told to take a two month sabbatical, she retreats to the Yorkshire village where her mother and grandmother live, each dealing in their own ways with a family tragedy. The grandmother in question, Eileen, is at the centre of village life, always organising and busy but unsuccessfully looking for love. When the two agree to swap lives for the two months of Leena’s leave, neither foresee the results of their quirky experiment.

The novel is packed with lucky coincidences and chance events that make everything perfect and neat, but that (which I thought might annoy me) was just lovely. What makes the book, however, is the cast of characters. They are a great and astutely observed bunch of people and they become like friends in a way that reminded me of the eclectic mix of family and friends surrounding Bridget Jones (another book I love). The plot was predictable in places but always charming and touching – it didn’t shy away from the subject of grief but without becoming maudlin or mawkish.

I’d highly recommend this to anyone who wants a big slice of comfort reading. Its engaging and humorous, life-affirming and reassuring that it’s never too late to find your place in the world.


Photo by Nicole De Khors from Burst

‘The Graves of Whitechapel’ by Claire Evans (published June 2020)

I’ve already published this review on here and raved about this book on Twitter, but – for completeness – here it is again!

I really liked Claire Evans’ debut novel, ‘The Fourteenth Letter’, but I think this one is even stronger. It’s a twisty and tense murder mystery set on the streets of Victorian Whitechapel – what’s not to love?!

It’s 1882 and Cage Lackmann is a corrupt lawyer. Although he does some work to defend the innocent, he also fights legal cases to acquit gang members as he is in the pay of a powerful man. When one of his ‘innocent’ defendants is accused of committing a second murder, Cage is in trouble. The police want to frame him, his customers are abandoning him and he is in a race against time to get the evidence he needs. Everyone has secrets and Cage has to work out who he can trust with his own.

I loved everything about this book! I kept thinking I’d figured it all out, only for the rug to be pulled from under my feet the next second. The depiction of gritty, grimy, seedy Whitechapel is great – this is a place where loyalties can be bought and sold, everyone has a price and violence is rife. That said, this isn’t a depressing book – it’s clever and engaging and fast-paced. I read this in a day and would recommend that any lovers of historical crime do the same – clear some time in the diary and settle down for an absolute treat.


‘A Curious History of Sex’ by Kate Lister (published February 2020)

(Mum, you can skip this review!)

I first found Dr Kate Lister on Twitter through various other historians on the site – history is one of my passions and I loved the quirky and often funny things that she posted using her ‘Whores of Yore’ account. When I found that she was writing a book – crowdfunded through the brilliant publisher Unbound – it seemed obvious that I’d sign up and support the project. Doubly so when she donated half her profits to the Basis Sex Work Project in Leeds – a charity supporting sex workers. As an early supported, my name is in the back of the book – very exciting!

(Incidentally, you can find new projects and support your own books on Unbound’s website here.)

The (long-awaited) finished book is absolutely brilliant. It is far from encyclopaedic as that was never its intention – instead, it picks up a variety of issues in short, engaging chapters. Kate Lister is very funny and her take on the history behind various sexual topics is eye-opening (sometimes eye-watering!) and absolutely engaging. These areas of focus range from medical history to cultural practices, from FGM to prostitution, from Victorian prudery (mostly a myth) to feminism and they’re all fascinating.

The fabulous hardback copy I have contains a lot of images to support Lister’s text and it’s probably sufficient to say that it is one to shelve way out of the kids’ reach!

This is an absolutely fantastic book on the history of sex and one I would recommend to anyone interested in social history. It’s well-researched and academic, but also gloriously readable.


Photo by Shopify Partners from Burst

‘Broken Silence’ by Liz Mistry (published April 2020)

Another one that I’ve already championed on this very blog, but review posted here again:

I’d not read any books by Liz Mistry before this, but I’ll certainly be looking for more! This is the second in a series featuring DS Nikki Parekh and, although there are references to the backstory, I don’t think its essential that you have read the previous novel.

After a multi-agency conference, police officer Felicity Springer leaves the venue for her drive home. As she heads through the country lanes, she sees someone trying to get her attention from inside the van in front. Felicity Springer doesn’t make it home and an investigation is launched into her disappearance. However, that proves just the tip of the iceburg and DS Nikki Parekh and her team are thrown into a complex and dangerous investigation in Bradford’s criminal underworld.

I’ll admit that this is a bit more gritty and grim than my usual reads, but it’s also compelling and very pacy – I kept planning on reading one more chapter to see what happened until I realised it was 3am and I should just finish the book! I liked the portrayal of multicultural Bradford and the diversity within the police team and Nikki herself is an interesting protagonist. Often the personal lives of the police officers can overshadow the actual crime story in this kind of novel but this never happens here – the plot is tight and twisty throughout.

I’d recommend this to anyone who likes police procedurals, especially those with a feisty female police officer in charge. Just don’t pick up this book unless you have a clear run of reading time in which to finish it because you absolutely won’t want to put it down.


‘Grave Secrets’ by Alice James (to be published September 2020)

A full review for this one will follow closer to publication date. However, let’s just say that this one is an absolute treat for those who loved the Sookie Stackhouse ‘True Blood’ books and TV series. This is a brilliantly British take on vampires and zombies with plenty of humour and a great female lead. It’s also worth me pointing out that this is outside of my usual genres but it totally won me over.

Definitely one to watch out for!


‘This is Shakespeare’ by Emma Smith (published April 2020)

This is another book I’ve talked about on the blog before, but it definitely warrants repeating here.

Professor Emma Smith is a Shakespeare expert and Oxford University lecturer who I had only encountered previously as a result of her ‘Approaching Shakespeare’ podcasts. She really knows her subject inside out, but the refreshing thing about this book is the lightness of touch. I’ve read a lot of books on Shakespeare (it comes with the English graduate and teacher territory), but few are as engaging and readable as this one without skimping on the academics.

In this book, Professor Smith takes the plays one at a time and presents a shortish essay/chapter on each. These essays are ordered roughly chronologically, although obviously we can never be entirely sure of the exact order in which the plays were produced. Each chapter addresses a play from a different or unusual perspective, so opens out some interesting thoughts about Shakespeare’s biography, sources, intentions, themes, characters…the list goes on and Professor Smith takes the essay wherever is interesting rather than having any particular set formula for her writing. This means she moves between topics fluidly and avoids labouring points.

Her approach is always rigorously academic and scrupulously referenced, yet full of humour and surprising elements – I loved her defence of Keanu Reeves’ acting in ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ on the basis that it is his character rather than Keanu who is as wooden as a wardrobe! She never shies away from more controversial ideas either, such as the idea that if ‘The Tempest’ was Shakespeare’s swansong and the character of Prospero intended as parallel to Shakespeare himself (as is a commonly accepted idea), then perhaps we wouldn’t have liked Shakespeare (as a man) much. In other essays, she identifies plot holes, discusses source texts and how reactions to plays have changed over the 400 years or so since they were written. The idea isn’t that this is a definitive guide, but that the plays cannot be pinned down and explained as they continue to develop different meanings to different audiences.

I feel that I’ve written a lot about this book without really grappling with even a fraction of the fascinating ideas put forward. It certainly gave me a lot to think about in relation to the Shakespeare plays I know and love, but also a way into the ones I don’t know so well. It even made me reconsider the plays I know and really don’t love!

This is a fantastic book about Shakespeare for everyone from the casual reader to Shakespeare fans, from those who want to know a bit more about their favourite play to those engaged in academic study. It is entertaining, surprising in places and entirely readable – not a given for books in this field usually.


‘Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity’ by Greg Jenner (published March 2020)

Greg Jenner is another historian that I was following on Twitter. He’s worked extensively on the BBC’s ‘Horrible Histories’ TV series for children and I loved his humorous, quirky takes on aspects of history. ‘Dead Famous’ is his second book, the launch of which was blighted by the start of lockdown, so I quickly bought myself a copy of the hardback.

Jenner starts with the concept of ‘celebrity’, a strange idea in itself. He tries to pin down what this means and apply it to historical figures, a process that leads him to conclude that the idea of modern celebrity can be traced to the 1700s. From this point, he introduces the reader to a range of historical celebrities, always seeking out the interesting and unusual stories. Clara the Rhino, the obsession with a ballet dancer’s ears, warring Shakespearean actors…they’re all here!

What I liked in particular is that this isn’t a chronological account; Jenner skips between stories and makes links between diverse ideas with ease and it is a joy to follow where he leads. Although some of the stories are tragic, Jenner writes with academic rigour and also humour where appropriate and there are accompanying illustrations and photos that really bring the stories to life.

Another highly recommended history book for those who want to be engaged, entertained and utterly engrossed.


‘The Miseducation of Evie Epworth’ by Matson Taylor (published August 2020)

Another one I’ve written about before, but this is a comic classic in the making.

This book was an absolute delight! I thought it would be a humorous ‘chick-lit’ type book (although I hate that term), but instead I got a charming coming-of-age story that made me laugh and love the main character. Evie Epworth has been compared in other reviews to the great Adrian Mole as a brilliant, naive, fictional teenage narrator and I can definitely see the similarities. However, Evie has a voice and quirks that are all her own!

Sixteen-year-old Evie lives on a farm in Yorkshire with her father and Christine, a gold-digging ‘scarlet woman’ who is making changes to Evie’s (dead) mother’s farmhouse that Evie is really not happy with. The plot follows Evie’s attempts to rid herself of Christine and also to find her own way in a world full of choices.

As mentioned already, Evie is a lovely narrator and this gives the book warmth and depth. However, the joy of the book for me was in the comic characters – the plot is hardly complex, but Evie’s 1960s Yorkshire village is brought to life by the people. Christine is gloriously awful, a vision in garish pink, while other villagers are hilarious – I have a particularly soft spot for Mrs Swithenbank and her digestive issues! The humour is somewhat broken up by the poignancy of Evie’s mum’s story being included in the story as interludes to Evie’s narrative, but this also adds depth to the novel and another reason why the terrible Christine needs to go.

I really loved this book – it made me laugh and root for Evie as she navigates her tricky teenage landscape. This is a charming novel and one that is both genuinely funny and a comforting read in turbulent times.


Photo by Shanu D from Burst

‘Death in the East’ by Abir Mukherjee (published November 2019)

The review is elsewhere on this site, but worth repeating:

I don’t know why it took me so long to pick up this book! Now I’ve read it – the fourth in the series featuring Captain Sam Wyndham and his Sergeant, Surrender-Not Banerjee – I’ve fallen in love with the series and shall immediately be making up for lost time with the other books. Although it would have been good to read these in order, I didn’t feel that I was disadvantaged by reading this one first – it works as a standalone, I think.

At the start of this book, Captain Sam Wyndham of the Calcutta Police is in a state – he is an opium addict who is taking himself off to an ashram in rural India in order to break his addiction through a frankly barbaric vomiting cure. It’s 1922 and the story mostly covers Wyndham’s experiences at the retreat and then afterwards in a neighbouring town where he gets embroiled in investigating a crime. However, the story is also partially set in 1905 in Whitechapel in the East End of London where a young Sam Wyndham, a new Metropolitan police officer, is involved in solving a crime that has echoes and repercussions for him later in India.

I really loved the Indian setting of this book – it seemed at once exotic and interesting, but there was also a sense of the simmering resentments around the British Raj which added a frisson of danger to the proceedings. It was interesting to see the white privilege in action in the way that Wyndham was treated very differently to Banerjee in the expat community, even though Banerjee was meant to be the main investigating officer at one point. The characters are well drawn and I cannot wait to get into the other books to find out more about Banerjee in particular as he does not feature heavily here. There’s clever plotting, peril and vibrant description – what more could you want?!

My only quibble was that I solved the murder and worked out the method well ahead of poor Captain Wyndham, but when the novel is so beautifully written as this then that really doesn’t matter.

Overall, this is an excellent historical crime novel with real depth and interest. I would recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone who enjoys this genre or who wants more insight into the British Raj in India – it certainly is an eye-opener on this front!


So there you have it – 10 great books that have really kept me entertained during the year so far. I hope that you have found some inspiration and I’d love to hear about your own five star reads of 2020.

If these books sound like they are up your street too, please do follow my blog!

Aside from ‘Dead Famous’, ‘The Curious History of Sex’ and ‘This is Shakespeare’ (which I bought with my own hard-earned pennies!), books were provided free from NetGalley in exchange for honest reviews.

July Wrap Up and August TBR

The end of my first month on the blog!

The school summer holidays could not have come sooner. Finally, I’ve had the chance to tackle some of those books that have been sitting on my NetGalley list for too long, as well as some new books and recommendations from my fellow bloggers.

I’ve read 12 books read this month – a good month for me and taking me to 66/100 books read on my Goodreads challenge (you can find me on Goodreads here).

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

My five-star read of the month is ‘Death in the East’ by Abir Mukerjee – in case you missed it on the blog, my review is here. This led me on to the rest of the series, starting with ‘A Rising Man’ which introduces Captain Sam Wyndham of the Calcutta Police and Sergeant Surrender-not Banerjee. A brilliant series and highly recommended to anyone who loves crime fiction with a vibrant historical setting.

In a similar vein is another of my July reads, ‘Midnight at Malabar House’ by Vaseem Khan. You can read my review here – it is the start (I hope) of a great series set in Bombay in 1950 and taking in the new political landscape of Indian independence from British rule. It features a brilliant lead character, Detective Persis Wadia, who is trying to forge her path as India’s first female police detective.

This month has also been a good one for contemporary crime fiction and I’ve absolutely devoured ‘The Postscript Murders’ by Elly Griffiths, a lively mystery with an unlikely cast of detectives investigating the death of a ‘Murder Consultant’ used by crime writers. This is the second book featuring DI Harbinder Kaur but works well as a stand-alone novel – review to follow on the blog.

I also enjoyed the highly-anticipated debut novel by Richard Osman due out in September, ‘The Thursday Murder Club’. Set in a retirement village, this is a quirky and humorous crime story with plenty of twists – review to follow.

Some other strong contemporary crime fiction novels I’ve enjoyed this month are ‘Lost Cause’ by Rachel Lynch, the latest in the excellent DI Kelly Porter series set in the Lake District, and ‘The Chalet’ by Catherine Cooper, a tense and twisty thriller set in a ski resort and moving deftly between 1998 and the present day.

‘Nothing Can Hurt You’ by Nicola Maye Goldberg was another one of my fiction reads this month; this one is more an interesting exploration of the impact of a murder on a community and is very powerful on the subject of gendered violence. It is dark and really quite unusual, presenting a range of voices of those connected with a 1997 murder.

My new Kindle Oasis

My last fiction choice this month was inspired by a fellow blogger – thank you, Amy at littlelionbooks.co.uk. ‘The Revolt’ by Clara Dupont-Monod (translated from the French by Ruth Diver) is another novel featuring a disparate range of voices in monologue, principally Eleanor of Aquitaine and her son, Richard I of England. This was a historical period I knew little about, but was fascinated by this woman who was Queen Consort to both the kings of France and then England, led a revolt against her own husband and bore future kings as well as having considerable political power in her own right. This book is beautifully written – review to follow.

In terms of non-fiction, I read ‘Three Women’ by Lisa Taddeo, ‘Older and Wider’ by Jenny Eclair and ‘The Gran Tour: Travels with My Elders’ by Ben Aitken. You can read my review of Eclair’s funny and wise book about the menopause here. Aitken’s book was also humorous and highly recommended; it’s a Bill Brysonesque travelogue about coach trips that Aitken took and his experiences of these interactions with (primarily) older people on these. The Taddeo book was the book of the month in my Books that Matter subscription box and was an interesting but challenging read about the real life relationships and sexuality of three American women.

Looking forward to August, I’m very much looking forward to using my new Kindle Oasis. I finally upgraded my old Kindle and will share my thoughts when I get used to it a bit more!

Here’s what I’m planning to read:

Evil Things by Katja Ivar

‘Evil Things’ by Katja Ivar (gifted by Bitter Lemon Press – you can see their amazing catalogue here). This is a historical crime novel set in 1950s Helsinki and looks brilliant!

‘The Child Who Never Was’ by Jane Renshaw – I’m joining the blog tour on this one (organised by damppebbles.com) and am looking forward to sharing my thoughts on this tense psychological thriller.

The Child Who Never Was by Jane Renshaw book cover

‘The Betrayals’ by Bridget Collins – her last novel, ‘The Binding’, was one of my favourite books last year so I’m very much looking forward to what comes next!

‘People of Abandoned Character’ by Clare Whitfield – a Victorian setting and Jack the Ripper links so this one could not be more perfect for me.

‘Pandora’s Jar’ by Natalie Haynes – this retelling of Greek myths focusing on the overlooked women in the stories looks like an instant classic.

‘The Honey and the Sting’ by E. C. Fremantle – this historical tale of three sisters with a deadly secret sounds absolutely engrossing.

Plus whatever else takes my fancy as the month progresses!

With thanks to NetGalley for ARCs – they supplied a lot of the books but all opinions are very much my own!

Header photo by Samantha Hurley from Burst

Notes from a Nervous Newbie…

I can’t remember a time I wasn’t obsessed with reading. From the early days of illicit Secret Seven books devoured after lights-out to breakfasts spent poring over cereal packets to the more highbrow demands of a Literature degree…if there’s reading material available, I’m there!

Having spent years talking about books with anyone who would listen, I then found NetGalley and settled in to reviewing books alongside my day job as secondary English teacher. I kind of refined my genres and interests and my passion for books continued to grow. I’d say it was a well-cultivated and controlled development, like a beautiful bonsai tree. My husband would say an obsession growing more like knotweed, but heigh-ho…

So I’ve finally taken the plunge and here is my very own blog. You can expect book reviews covering a range of genres – historical crime is a favourite, alongside anything set in the Victorian era, but I really am not prescriptive. I love funny books, fiction and non-fiction, ‘Women’s fiction’ (always thought that was a weird category title, to be honest), police procedurals and books about books. But also anything else that takes my fancy along the way.

You also don’t get to be a long-term bookworm without becoming au fait with all kinds of literary gifts, subscription services and other connected bits and bobs. I’ll be chatting about these too.

Most importantly, all the opinions are my very own and have no ulterior motive. If I don’t love it, I’m not recommending it!

So welcome to my blog and thanks for stopping by. This is one scary step so please be kind!