Believe it or not I do stuff other than read (well occasionally) so I thought it would be fun to start doing a post on all of the non book things I’ve been loving. I also spotted a similar post over on Kristin Kraves Books so decided to copy her idea and do a monthly non book wrap up 🙂 It was originally going to be non bookish stuff I’ve been loving but you’ll probably see pretty quickly that a lot of these do seem to have a bit of a book connection somewhere. Read More »
The WWW Wednesday meme is currently hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words and is a great way to do a weekly update on what you’ve been reading and what you have planned.
To take part all you have to do is answer the following three questions:
I’ve somehow ended up juggling three books again which never ends well 🙂 The first of these is And the Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness. I picked this up from the bookshop last week and it is just sooo beautiful I knew I had to start reading it immediately. I’m a big stalker fan of Ness so I’ve been anxiously awaiting this story tagged as Moby Dick from the pov of the whale. It is however quite a big book to carry around so I’m only around a third of the way through but so far so good. I just love Ness’s writing and the illustrations throughout are beautiful.
The second book I’m reading is Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. I actually started this ages ago but had put it aside as the format of the ARC I’d received was killing my enjoyment of the story (the writing was tiny). I managed however to get a copy from the library on Monday so I’ve picked it up again and am enjoying it so much more (as are my eyes). With the break I had slightly lost the plot a little but I’m getting back into it again and all of the threads are starting to come together which is quite exciting. I am loving how there are a lot of fairytale references but it’s still pretty unique and quite dark.
I’ve also started a new audio this week, Dream a Little Dream by Giovanna Fletcher. I think this might be the first contemporary romance I’ve gotten on audio and it probably wouldn’t have been my first choice when I was hunting for something to listen to but I remembered I got an ARC of this from NetGalley 3 years ago and never actually read it or submitted feedback (oops) so thought it would give me the chance to get it off my shelf. I’m currently around 3 hours in and so far I’m finding it okay. Main character Sarah is kind of annoying me (I want to shake her) which is not ideal but hopefully the story will pick up.
The first book finished his week was A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer, which I’d received from Netgalley. It’s a retelling of Beauty and the Beast and yep I’ve read a lot of Beauty and the Beast retellings but this was definitely a stand out read. I did have a little bit of a wobble at the start, it’s a bit weird and confusing, but it quickly became an addictive and engaging read. I loved main character Harper and I had a very definite soft spot for Commander of the Guard, Grey. It’s way too early for a review but I think it’ll be a solid 4.5 stars.
The next book finished was audio book Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire. This is the second in the Wayward Children series and it’s the author herself who does the narration. I did enjoy it, particularly at the start, but I think I preferred the first book. The narrator has a bit of a tendency to talk directly to the reader which is funny at times but I felt like it stopped me from really becoming engaged in the story.
The fact that I couldn’t remember the next book I read and just had to go check probably says quite a lot about Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake. It’s not that it’s a particularly bad read, there’s just nothing particularly memorable about it. It sets itself up as this big battle to the death between triplets but that doesn’t really happen. Instead there are three separate stories about each of the sisters, setting up the world, the magic system and introducing the numerous characters. It’s fine, it’s interesting, there’s some great world building but it feels like not very much happens. I also never really understood the reason why these three 16 year old girls had to murder each other and why it’s a generally accepted and encouraged practice.
The fourth and final book read was Not So Nice Guy by R.S. Grey. Honestly this has just been lurking on my kindle since it was released and I was in the mood for something light and fun. It really is a great read. It’s a friends to lovers story and it’s so nice to finally have a romance without angst or obstacles or whatever. I loved the main characters, I loved the school setting, it made me laugh, it made me smile and I just really liked it.
I think my reading next pile is pretty much the same as last week’s with The Silence of the Girls or Mirage likely to be one of my next reads. I also picked up a copy of City of Ghosts at the bookshop last week so would love to start reading it soon too although I did just get my hands on an ARC of The Towering Sky by Katherine McGee which I’ve also been anxiously awaiting so we’ll see.
Have you read any of the books on my list this week? Any others you’d recommend? As always please feel free to leave comments and links below.
Happy Reading ❤
The Governess Game is yet another brilliantly fun historic romance from Tessa Dare. I loved the little nods to one of my favorite classics (and a certain movie with an iceberg).
He’s been a bad, bad rake—and it takes a governess to teach him a lesson
The accidental governess
After her livelihood slips through her fingers, Alexandra Mountbatten takes on an impossible post: transforming a pair of wild orphans into proper young ladies. However, the girls don’t need discipline. They need a loving home. Try telling that to their guardian, Chase Reynaud: duke’s heir in the streets and devil in the sheets. The ladies of London have tried—and failed—to make him settle down. Somehow, Alexandra must reach his heart . . . without risking her own.
The infamous rake
Like any self-respecting libertine, Chase lives by one rule: no attachments. When a stubborn little governess tries to reform him, he decides to give her an education—in pleasure. That should prove he can’t be tamed. But Alexandra is more than he bargained for: clever, perceptive, passionate. She refuses to see him as a lost cause. Soon the walls around Chase’s heart are crumbling . . . and he’s in danger of falling, hard
I really, really love Tessa Dare’s books and her latest is no exception. I wouldn’t say it’s my favourite, that honour goes to the first in this series, The Duchess Deal, but it does have all the things I love, a sweet but feisty heroine, a troubled hero, quite a few funny moments, a bit of drama and a lot of chemistry.
This time around there is a very Jane Eyre feel to the story as Alexandra Mountbatten, orphan making her own way in the world accepts a job as governess to the two wards of soon to be Duke and rake about town Chase Reynaud. She’s trying to make enough of a living to be independent and he’s looking to get the two wards he’s been landed with, who are not the best behaved, shipped off to school. Neither are really looking for a relationship but as you can probably guess sparks fly between them.
I really loved Alex as a character. She’s clever, caring, a little naive and wonderfully unconventional. She also doesn’t let her financial situation or the hardships of her past hold her back. She has no experience as a governess but seems to instinctively know how to help Rosamund and Daisy who it’s safe to say have some issues (doll Millicent dies of some horrific disease most days).
Chase, I have to admit, I had some reservations about initially. The rake thing doesn’t really do it for me, but as the story progressed he did grow on me. It’s also difficult to resist someone who’ll eulogize a doll so eloquently and hilariously (in case you can’t tell those doll funerals were a highlight of the story for me) and there are reasons for why he behaves as he does.
The biggest draw was however the relationship between Alex and Chase. There is some brilliant banter between them and some serious heat. I just loved how their relationship developed and changed. There aren’t many surprises (there’s no mad wife locked in the attic for example) but it’s an enjoyable journey.
If I had one criticism of this story it’s that there are certain elements that are becoming very familiar from Dare’s other books and it’s starting to feel a little formulaic (sorry). I suppose there is a limit on how unique they can be but if like me you’ve devoured a large number of them in a short space of time they start to all feel quite similar. Certain characters seem to keep popping up.
Despite this though I would really recommend to anyone who loves a historic romance. I should also add that while this is the second in a series it can easily be read as a standalone, although The Duchess Deal is brilliant so you should read it too.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy. As always all views are my own.
Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by The Purple Booker. If you want to join in grab your current read, flick to a random page, select two sentences (without spoilers) and share them in a blog post or in the comments of The Purple Booker.
This week my teaser comes from And the Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness. I picked up the copy I’d pre ordered from the bookshop on Friday and haven’t had much chance to read more than a few pages but I’m very excited about it. I mean it’s described as Moby Dick from the pov of the whale so it certainly sounds like Ness’s usual brilliant weirdness. I have had a quick flick through and the illustrations are absolutely wonderful, fingers crossed the story is just as good.
My Teaser
And everything I might have been, the different futures I might have taken, all my different lives and deaths that existed in their endless possibilities were extinguished in a single repetition of her three words. “You will hunt.”
Pg 8, And the Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness
With harpoons strapped to their backs, the proud whales of Bathsheba’s pod live for the hunt, fighting in the ongoing war against the world of men. When they attack a ship bobbing on the surface of the Abyss, they expect to find easy prey. Instead, they find the trail of a myth, a monster, perhaps the devil himself…
As their relentless Captain leads the chase, they embark on a final, vengeful hunt, one that will forever change the worlds of both whales and men.
The WWW Wednesday meme is currently hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words and is a great way to do a weekly update on what you’ve been reading and what you have planned.
To take part all you have to do is answer the following three questions:
I started reading A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer on Monday morning and I am flying through it. It’s just so good. It’s not out till January but when I spied it on NetGalley I couldn’t resist requesting and when my request was approved I couldn’t resist reading it. I love a good Beauty and the Beast retelling and even though I initially had my doubts on this one I am now completely hooked. Main character Harper is pretty awesome and I know I should be rooting for her and the prince but I love Commander of the Guards Grey.
On audio I’m still listening to Down Among the Sticks and Bones, the second book in Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series. I only have about 30 mins left so should finish in the next day or so.
A slightly slower reading week for me this time with only two books finished the first of which was The Way of All Flesh by Ambrose Parry (aka Chris Brookmyre and Dr Marisa Haetzman). I’ve been a big fan of Brookmyre for a long time so was excited to see what he would do in historical crime fiction (and with his wife as a writing partner). I don’t read a lot of historical fiction but I really loved the setting in this and actually thought that part of the story was a lot stronger than the murder mystery (I guessed the killer very early on). The characters are interesting but what really fascinated me were the medical aspects, although be warned, some are not for the faint of heart.
The second book read this week was The Bus on Thursday by Shirley Barrett. This was one of those cases where I couldn’t decide what I wanted to read so went for a scout around on NetGalley and came across this. It was probably one line in the blurb “Bridget Jones meets The Exorcist” that drew me to it and while it’s not exactly like either it is brilliantly peculiar.
It’s about a woman who, recovering from cancer, accepts a teaching job in a small town in Australia. When she gets there however she discovers her predecessor disappeared in the middle of the night, there are an awful lot of locks on the door of her house and some very odd characters. The whole story is told in the form of a blog making it very difficult to tell what’s real and what’s fantasy. I would have loved it to be a bit creepier but it is really funny and unique so no real complaints 🙂
I’ve just started a new team reading challenge (Game of Thrones based this time) so I’m currently on the hunt to find a book to fit some very specific tasks. If anyone has suggestions for books with a character who’s a gardener or with a female ruling line let me know 🙂
Pending me figuring that out I want to finally pick up How to Stop Time by Matt Haig. I’m going to see him on Saturday evening so would love to read it before then. I’m also thinking about picking up The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker (I love that cover) or Mirage by Somaiya Daud.
Have you read any of the books on my list this week? Any others you’d recommend? As always please feel free to leave comments and links below.
Happy Reading ❤
Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by The Purple Booker. If you want to join in grab your current read, flick to a random page, select two sentences (without spoilers) and share them in a blog post or in the comments of The Purple Booker.
This week my teaser comes from A Curse so Dark & Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer, an ARC of which I received from NetGalley. It’s not out for a while yet but I just have to read the words Beauty and the Beast retelling and I can’t resist it for long. I absolutely loved the opening lines so had to use it for this weeks teaser.
My Teaser
There is blood under my fingernails. I wonder how many of my people I’ve killed this time
Pg1, A Curse So Dark & Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
Fall in love, break the curse.
It once seemed so easy to Prince Rhen, the heir to Emberfall. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, he knew he could be saved if a girl fell for him. But that was before he learned that at the end of each autumn, he would turn into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. That was before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.
Nothing has ever been easy for Harper Lacy. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother barely holding their family together while constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, she learned to be tough enough to survive. But when she tries to save someone else on the streets of Washington, DC, she’s instead somehow sucked into Rhen’s cursed world.
Break the curse, save the kingdom.
A prince? A monster? A curse? Harper doesn’t know where she is or what to believe. But as she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what’s at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.
With an intriguing premise and clever writing I found this to be an incredibly engaging and addictive read.
Set in an America where half the population has been silenced, VOX is the harrowing, unforgettable story of what one woman will do to protect herself and her daughter.
On the day the government decrees that women are no longer allowed more than 100 words daily, Dr. Jean McClellan is in denial–this can’t happen here. Not in America. Not to her.
This is just the beginning.
Soon women can no longer hold jobs. Girls are no longer taught to read or write. Females no longer have a voice. Before, the average person spoke sixteen thousand words a day, but now women only have one hundred to make themselves heard.
But this is not the end.
For herself, her daughter, and every woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice.
Despite being bombarded with promotion for this book all over social media it was only when I read the premise that I decided it was one I had to read. I was suspicious of all of the comparisons to the Handmaids Tale (I’m suspicious of all comparisons though) but there are actually a lot of similarities in the world the author creates. Due to a change in political power and the influence of religion, America is seeking a return to “traditional values” and family roles. The men are educated, given jobs, bring home money and make all of the decisions and the women are there to support them by keeping house.
Where it diverges however, and what fascinated me, is that this is enforced by limiting women’s access to words and language. Every woman/girl is given an allocation of 100 words a day and is fitted with a counter to ensure they stick to it. They are not permitted to read or write, have no access to computers, mobile phones or tablets and there are cameras set up to ensure they don’t communicate by any other means. It’s extreme but it really intrigued me. How would a loss of language affect your life, how would it affect your relationships and the dynamics within a family?
Through a number of situations and little nuggets of detail the author does an incredible job of portraying this world in a way which feels very real and easy to imagine. It’s clear that a lot of thought has gone into it in the way that the author answers almost all of the questions I had about what kind of impact this would have on the day to day life of different types of people. There are maybe a few too many coincidences and it lacks a little subtlety at times but it gets the message across.
I liked that the main character Jean (Gianna) was a former professor of neurolinguistics and the opportunities this gave for bringing a lot of the science into the story to give it a bit more depth and direction. Jean herself is a complicated character and I thought it was interesting how flawed the author made her. There was a lot I could relate to and empathise with but there were aspects of her behavior I just didn’t like or agree with. I also thought it was good the way the author brought in different and very diverse characters to illustrate the impact this society was having on them.
For a debut this is a pretty impressive book. I did have some minor quibbles with some of the writing, I found the alternate scenarios irritating and there were a couple of jumps which confused me but otherwise it was very readable. The pacing was pretty much spot on and I loved how the author managed to work in the events leading up to the current position without info dumping.
Overall this was a truly engaging read with a fascinating premise. One I’d definitely recommend.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this. As always all views are my own.
Dark, twisted and laugh out loud funny. If you enjoyed Sweetpea I think you’ll love this. If you’re easily offended or don’t particularly like swearing or violence in your books I’d maybe steer clear.
Spoiler alert: as this is a sequel there may be some spoilers for the first book from here on in.
The darkly comic crime sequel to Sweetpea, following girl-next-door serial killer Rhiannon as she’s now caught between the urge to kill and her unborn baby stopping her.
If only they knew the real truth. It should be my face on those front pages. My headlines. I did those things, not him. I just want to stand on that doorstep and scream it: IT WAS ME. ME. ME. ME. ME!
Rhiannon Lewis has successfully fooled the world and framed her cheating fiancé Craig for the depraved and bloody killing spree she committed. She should be ecstatic that she’s free.
Except for one small problem. She’s pregnant with her ex-lover’s child. The ex-lover she only recently chopped up and buried in her in-laws’ garden. And as much as Rhiannon wants to continue making her way through her kill lists, a small voice inside is trying to make her stop.
But can a killer’s urges ever really be curbed?
I’ve been a big fan of C.J. Skuse for a few years now and I probably enjoyed Sweetpea way more than I should when I read it last year. Needless to say I was very excited about getting my hands on a copy of follow up In Bloom and it did not disappoint. It’s every bit as dark, twisted and funny as the first book.
I’ve always kind of described these books as a combination of Bridget Jones Diary and Dexter. The story is told in the form of journal entries as MC Rhiannon describes her day to day life, her relationships with family and friends, and those people she’s met who she either wants to kill or has killed in a brutal and bloody fashion for some real or perceived misdemeanor (or just because they annoyed her).
This time however it’s a little more Bridget Jones Baby than Diary as Rhiannon is up the duff as the story begins. Rather than the focus being on her relationship with her fiance (who was having an affair with one of her co workers) and the guy she was cheating on him with, this time it’s all about the horrors delights of pregnancy and childbirth. Pregnancy unfortunately doesn’t seem to agree with Rhiannon, mostly because the side effects (lethargy, morning sickness, hearing the voice of your unborn child in your head) interfere with her acting on her murderous urges.
To make matters worse, as she murdered the baby’s father and framed her fiance for murdering a few other people she killed, she’s having to keep a fairly low profile and ends up staying with her almost in laws, something that could drive the most calm and collected person off the deep end.
I really loved how Skuse moved the story forward with this book. I have to admit I was worried it was going to be more of the same and by the end of the first book the joke was beginning to wear a little thin but that was not the case at all. There are still a lot of the elements I loved, the kill lists at the start of every chapter (I’m tempted to start doing them myself) and Rhiannon’s often spot on observations of what we’re all probably thinking (it’s not just me is it?) and incredibly dark humor but it felt like her character really grew and developed.
I loved how brutally honest she was about being pregnant and the associated discomforts, the pressure put on you by everyone to eat the right things and do the right things and to fit in with all of the other mummies. How your body is no longer really your own and how the attitude of others changes towards you. It was wonderful to see Rhiannon within a different social circle and living with Craig’s parents. Some of the interactions between them were laugh out loud funny but so familiar.
I have to confess though that this time around I struggled a little with the serial killer, side of the story. When I read the first book the brutal and bloody murders didn’t bother me too much (not sure what that says about me) but this time it felt a bit nastier and a little more uncomfortable to read. I guess the author had to step it up a bit to keep the shock value but this seemed a lot more gruesome and bloody. I consider myself pretty shock proof but there were definitely a few reading through the fingers moments even for me and there was one death in particular that I found especially hard to read.
Other than that I very much enjoyed this book. I thought it maybe drifted a little in the middle but otherwise the pacing was spot on and that ending was perfect.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC. As always all views are my own.
This book about the aftermath of a school shooting deals with some difficult and controversial issues but Keplinger handles it with real sensitivity and a focus not on the shooter (or the why) but on the impact an event like this has on both the survivors and the community as a whole. I loved the messages running through it and also have to applaud Keplinger for the diversity in her characters.
Six survived to tell the story, but who knows the truth? The next hotly anticipated YA novel from bestselling US sensation Kody Keplinger, author of THE DUFF and RUN
It’s been three years since the Virgil County High School Massacre. Three years since my best friend, Sarah, was killed in a bathroom stall during the mass shooting. Everyone knows Sarah’s story – that she died proclaiming her faith.
But it’s not true.
I know because I was with her when she died. I didn’t say anything then, and people got hurt because of it. Now Sarah’s parents are publishing a book about her, so this might be my last chance to set the record straight . . . but I’m not the only survivor with a story to tell about what did – and didn’t – happen that day.
Except Sarah’s martyrdom is important to a lot of people, people who don’t take kindly to what I’m trying to do. And the more I learn, the less certain I am about what’s right. I don’t know what will be worse: the guilt of staying silent or the consequences of speaking up . . .
There seem to be quite a few books about school shootings at the moment but this is probably the first one I’ve been tempted to read. It’s such a difficult topic and I really didn’t want to read a book that was going to deal with such a heavy or emotionally charged subject. This however appealed to me firstly because of the author but mostly because this book focuses on the survivors and how they’re coping (or not) three years down the line.
Mass shootings and gun control are very topical at the moment and this story does cover a lot of the arguments and some scenes which will be very familiar to anyone who’s watched the news recently. What I liked about it though is rather than necessarily putting across a specific argument or trying to explain the why behind the shooting or how it could have been prevented this looks at the effect of media coverage and all of this arguing on the victims and survivors. News coverage and social media put stories out there instantly and once a particular version of events is out there it often becomes the accepted story. The victims and survivors are often pushed into roles they may not necessarily want, courageous hero, martyr, spokesperson, face of a campaign or if they’re really unlucky, coward or liar. The story becomes twisted to fit the agenda of the various lobbying groups and the truth and more importantly the impact on the survivors and the families of the victims is forgotten.
This book demonstrates very effectively just what it’s like for those to survive this type of ordeal. The story is told from the pov of Lee who was one of six survivors of a mass shooting in her school and was with her best friend Sarah when she was killed. When Sarah’s parents decide to publish a book about their daughter who has become a bit of a martyr as the girl who died for her faith, Lee decides the truth has to come out. She begins collecting the real stories of the survivors and the victims but is she doing it for the right reason and what impact could telling the truth have on her life and the life of those around her.
I thought the author did a wonderful job of portraying what kind of impact this type of ordeal would have on someone and the different ways the survivors have found to cope (or are still struggling). It may be three years later but they’re still grieving, they feel guilty, suffer from flashbacks and panic attacks but with the media attention and the whole community watching them they’re trapped into specific roles.
I loved how this story revealed more about each of the survivors and victims. Lee sets out to show the world that they are more than what happened to them. They were not all heroes and or saints. They were regular people, flaws and all and they were in a terrifying situation. They shouldn’t have to do or be anything and they shouldn’t have to carry the weight or attention of the media or whatever lobbying group. That being said, it also raises the issue of whether it’s okay to put the truth out there when it could upset the families of the victims.
One other thing I have to say I loved about this story was how diverse it was. Lee the main character is on the asexual spectrum (something I don’t think I’ve ever really come across before), there are two characters with physical disabilities, different races represented but also different religious beliefs. I’m not sure I would necessarily say that I particularly loved or connected to any one character but I was invested in their stories.
This really was a brilliantly written story and I loved how sensitive the author was in dealing with such a difficult topic. I do get the impression some serious research has gone into this but if I had one criticism it’s that I wish there was some acknowledgement of this or some details at the back. I was however reading an ARC though so perhaps that will pop up in the final version.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC. As always all views are my own.
The WWW Wednesday meme is currently hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words and is a great way to do a weekly update on what you’ve been reading and what you have planned.
To take part all you have to do is answer the following three questions:
I started reading The Way of All Flesh by Ambrose Parry (aka Chris Brookmyre and Dr Marisa Haetzman) yesterday morning and am making pretty good progress with it. I’ve been a big fan of Brookmyre for many years now so was interested to see what he (in partnership with his wife) would do with historical crime fiction. As I’m writing this (last night) I’m around a quarter of the way through and very much enjoying it. Other than the discovery of a body at the start by the MC there hasn’t been much in the way of murder mystery but I’m loving all of the detail around medicine in 1847.
On audio I’m still listening to Down Among the Sticks and Bones, the second book in Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series. I haven’t had much listening time over the past week so even though it’s only 4 hours long I’m still only around halfway through but still really enjoying it. I really love McGuire’s writing and this series is quite fairytale-ish albeit a dark and gruesome fairytale. This book is a kind of prequel to the first and tells the story of two of the characters, twins Jack and Jill. I’m not sure I’m loving it quite as much as the first book but I’ve only just gotten to the bit where they go through a door into another world so I’m expecting it to pick up.
The last week was another pretty good reading week for me with four books finished and a five star read among them.
The first book finished was The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M Danforth which I’d received from the publisher via NetGalley. I really wanted to love this story of a girl growing up in small town Montana but I’m afraid to say it didn’t wholly work for me. The writing is brilliant and there are some great characters and descriptions which all make it feel very real but I just never found an emotional connection to the story or the main character. And, with this type of story, I need some kind of feels.
After Cameron Post I decided to take some brave pills and finally tackle The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa which I kind of needed for a Goodreads challenge (cat on cover) but mostly wanted to read because I’ve been trying to read more translated fiction and I liked the sound of this story about the relationship between a man and a cat. I was a little wary going in as I had an inkling it may be sad, and it was, but I’m so glad I’ve read this. Yep it turned me into a big teary mess but it also made me laugh and left me feeling uplifted. It really is a beautiful story.
As I predicted last week, after the emotional trauma of the Travelling Cat I needed something much lighter so picked up The Governess Game by Tessa Dare and it was just what I needed. It’s the second book in the Girl Meets Duke series but like most of Dare’s books can easily be read as a standalone. I very much enjoyed this historical romance with it’s elements of Jane Eyre (and a random Titanic reference) but I’m not sure I loved it quite as much as the previous book. It may just have been that I’ve read a lot of Dare’s books over the past few months so the novelty’s worn off a bit. What I will say is that I read the whole thing in one sitting so it obviously wasn’t too much of a chore 😉
The fourth and final book finished this week was The Heartbreakers by Ali Novak which I borrowed from the library. I’d love to say it was one that had been on my TBR for a while but if I’m honest I was looking for a book with a musical instrument on the cover for the same challenge as above and this had a guitar and some pretty good ratings. It did however surprise me in the best possible way. It’s a really cute and funny romance with a heck of a lot of chemistry. I will be tracking down more books by this author I think.
Per last weeks post I was hoping to pick up Surface Breaks by Louise O’Neill next but unfortunately by the time I got to it I only had a couple of days left on the loan and others were waiting so I decided just to return it rather than rushing through it. I don’t think I’m in the mood for another mermaid book right now anyway so probably for the best. What I am in the mood for is something dark and twisty. It’s not too long till Bloody Scotland so I think I may pick up Luca Veste’s latest book The Bone Keeper next. It looks suitably creepy and I haven’t read any books by Veste yet despite owning a couple.
I’m also going to see Matt Haig on the 25th of this month so really want to read How to Stop Time before then. Finally, I’m thinking I may pick up A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kmmerer. I got this from NetGalley and it’s not out for ages but I do love a Beauty and the Beast retelling and this is getting some great reviews.
Have you read any of the books on my list this week? Any others you’d recommend? As always please feel free to leave comments and links below.
Happy Reading ❤
A Bookish Life 