Mystery/Suspense
* While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams – a legal thriller set at the Supreme Court by the brilliant voting rights activist – my review
Hidden Depths by Ann Cleeves (Vera Stanhope #3) – Vera tries to find the connection between two murders involving ritual flowers.
Tennison by Lynda LaPlante – this introduces the career of police detective, then probationer, Jane Tennison, but I found it flat.
Romantic Suspense
The Rooftop Party by Ellen Meister – when the lecherous CEO of her company dies at a party, Dana tries to solve the mystery in this entertaining story
Legacy by Nora Roberts – romantic suspense that was enjoyable but forgettable: a mother and daughter who are fitness gurus, pursued by a psychotic killer. I got tired of the heroine pushing exercise and healthy eating.
Fiction
Sun in the Morning by Elizabeth Cadell – based on the author’s life growing up in India with older sisters
* Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center – a firefighter moves to Massachusetts to care for her estranged mother – my review
* Haven Point by Virginia Hume – a multigenerational story set in Washington, DC and Maine – interview with the author
In a Book Club Far Away by Tif Marcelo – a disappointing read about military wives and the stress of deployment
Historical Fiction
Meet Me in Bombay by Jenny Ashcroft – historical and overly melodramatic romance set in India against the backdrop of WWI; it sounded good but the devices that kept the main characters apart were tedious. The cover is charming, however, don't you think?
Nonfiction
* The Innocents from Indiana by Emily Kimbrough – the author’s description of her family’s move to Chicago when she was 11 – my review
The Illustrated Dust Jacket by Martin Salisbury – my review
Young Adult
* Never Jam Today by Carole Bolton – 17-year-old Maddy joins the cause for voting rights for women – my review
Juvenile Fiction
* The Only Black Girls in Town by Brandy Colbert – Alberta is excited when she learns she won’t be the only black girl in the 7th grade but that merely adds to the complications in her life – my review
The Apple Stone by Nicholas Stuart Gray – a fantasy by one of the masters of the Nesbit-like genre – my review
* 20 Books of Summer Reading Challenge
Tennison by Lynda LaPlante – this introduces the career of police detective, then probationer, Jane Tennison, but I found it flat.
Romantic Suspense
The Rooftop Party by Ellen Meister – when the lecherous CEO of her company dies at a party, Dana tries to solve the mystery in this entertaining story
Legacy by Nora Roberts – romantic suspense that was enjoyable but forgettable: a mother and daughter who are fitness gurus, pursued by a psychotic killer. I got tired of the heroine pushing exercise and healthy eating.
Fiction
Sun in the Morning by Elizabeth Cadell – based on the author’s life growing up in India with older sisters
* Haven Point by Virginia Hume – a multigenerational story set in Washington, DC and Maine – interview with the author
In a Book Club Far Away by Tif Marcelo – a disappointing read about military wives and the stress of deployment
Historical Fiction
Nonfiction
* The Innocents from Indiana by Emily Kimbrough – the author’s description of her family’s move to Chicago when she was 11 – my review
The Illustrated Dust Jacket by Martin Salisbury – my review
Young Adult
* Never Jam Today by Carole Bolton – 17-year-old Maddy joins the cause for voting rights for women – my review
Juvenile Fiction
* The Only Black Girls in Town by Brandy Colbert – Alberta is excited when she learns she won’t be the only black girl in the 7th grade but that merely adds to the complications in her life – my review
The Apple Stone by Nicholas Stuart Gray – a fantasy by one of the masters of the Nesbit-like genre – my review
* 20 Books of Summer Reading Challenge
You did read a lot of good books in June! That's what summer reading should always be like...lots of good books and time to enjoy them. Hope July brings you even more good summer reads. :)
ReplyDeleteThis is my problem with Nora Roberts, there's something so instantly forgettable with her writing. I don't doubt her popularity but to me all her books feel the same. You made me laugh when you said you got tired of her pushing exercise and healthy eating.
ReplyDeleteYou had an excellent, varied reading month. My favourite kind. I'll be investigating Sun in the Morning.
I am so, so envious that you have a sister (or two?) and a mother to share books with. No one in my family reads like I do, although my parents certainly fostered a love of reading and encouraged me. My grandmother did, but I was too young to appreciate that at the time. She did give me a lot of Rex Stout paperbacks when was in college.
ReplyDeleteMoving on to your books for the month. How do you read so many books in a month and review many of them and do so many other things? As usual, that is a very varied list.
I read your review of The Apple Stone by Nicholas Stuart Gray and it sounds good. I love the photo of the author with his cat.
I am very lucky that my sisters and mother are big readers and always share what they are enjoying (or not). At least one niece is an enthusiastic reader too (another is on the third Harry Potter and is reading Noel Streatfeild's Dancing Shoes with me, so is progressing) and the four nephews are good readers when not drowning in homework. My sister Clare and I were not big on playing outside as children and brought huge armfuls of books home from the library (we took out so many we couldn't keep track and they were often overdue, so we had to start making lists). We had some of the books my mother had loved as a child and accumulated more.
ReplyDeleteMost of my friends growing up were not readers but I had one friend who I met when I was six who often went to the school library with me and read voraciously as well. We stopped being friendly when we were about 10 but I found one of her books last year that I had clearly never returned, so wrapped it up on her birthday with a friendly note and brought it to the hospital where she is a neurologist, coincidentally 2 miles away. I was a little surprised she did not respond - it was not the kind of book one would read as an adult but it had belonged to her mother.