The Outsider by Jane Casey (2023)(ebook). This is a novella about readers’ beloved character Rob who was written out of the series when he took on an undercover assignment (perhaps we were misled? – unreliable narrator and all that). Casey used this story as a way to reveal what Rob has been doing and also to show whether he and Maeve have a future. I can’t decide how I feel about this except to urge you to start this series at the beginning with The Burning.
First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston (2023)(audio). Loved this suspenseful story about a con artist sent to a small town in Louisiana to infiltrate herself into the life of a small businessman. My review.
The Helsinki Affair by Anna Pitoniak (2003)(audio). When a Russian walks into the US Embassy in Rome to reveal an assassination attempt, Amanda Cole, the CIA’s Deputy Station Chief is plunged into multiple conspiracies – the challenge she has longed for – but finds them more disturbing than anticipated. My review.
Historical Fiction
The Women by Kristin Hannah (2024). Frankie enlists as a nurse to get sent to Vietnam where her brother is already fighting. The reality of combat nursing is a harsh adjustment but the most difficult assignment for Frankie is adjusting to civilian life when she returns to 1960s America. My review.
Fiction
The Door-to-Door Bookstore by Carsten Henn (2023). Carl has been pushed out of his job at a venerable bookstore in Germany but he still selects and hand delivers carefully curated books for a small group of customers who prefer not to leave their homes. His routine is upended when a young girl decides to join him on his rounds. My review.
The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams (2021). Loved this story of best friends since high school – dance teacher Bree who is in love with star quarterback Nathan but he only thinks of her as a buddy, or does he? Three weeks of fake dating might change how they see each other . . .
A Rose Petal Summer by Katie Fforde (2019). When she was a teen, Caro Swanson spent a magical evening with Alec and she remembers everything he told her. Twenty years later she sees an ad for a companion in the remote town in Scotland he came from so it only makes sense to apply – wouldn’t you? Not as strong as her early books, unfortunately, but at least the reunion wasn’t a coincidence as in Summer of Love.
Simply the Best by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (2024). I am a longtime fan of SEP from back when Jennifer Enderlin handed me the manuscript of It Had to Be You in 1993. In this book, she returns to the world of the Chicago Stars: the heroine is the insecure older sister of the Stars quarterback and is mistaken for an escort by Brett Rivers, his high-powered agent. Brett knows it would be a conflict of interest to get involved with a client’s family member but that might not stop either one of them. I enjoyed the tribute at the end to my former coworker, editor par excellence, Carrie Feron.
The Breakup Tour by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka (2024). This was highly recommended but seemed like a very mean-spirited contemporary romance about a pop star who writes bestselling breakup songs about every man she dates, but finally has a second chance with the first guy who broke her heart. Although how can you hold a grudge against someone who left the music world to keep his family’s retirement home business going? This book is aimed at Swifties – I am not one but sympathized with their annoyance.
Juvenile
The House on the Hill by Eileen Dunlop (1987). When Philip temporarily moves in with his Great Aunt Jane and cousin Susan, he learns the old family mansion in suburban Glasgow is haunted. As he and Susan untangle family secrets, Philip matures and learns to appreciate his mother’s family. My review.
Yours From the Tower by Sally Nicholls (2023). This charming epistolary YA historical novel follows three close friends after they leave school: Polly to work in a Liverpool orphanage; Sophia to make her debut in London, hoping to marry well; and Tirzah to become – very reluctantly – a companion to her strict grandmother in Scotland.
Mother was thinking aloud, “I can use that lining out of King Lear’s cape – the purple one that Mitie singed with a candle. Um-hmm, I’m sure I can cut around the singed part to make new sleeves. Now which trunk is that in, Dora?”Tea and Hot Bombs by Lorna Lewis (1943/reprint 2023). Jackie Lawrence, a jolly teen who has just left school, joins the emergency Mobile Canteen Corps until she is old enough to join the WAAF and is immediately in the thick of WWII bombing in London. Who knew delivering tea and cake in the middle of the Blitz could be so fun?
Dora said after a moment’s thought, “It’s in the bottom of the one with the trundle-tray. Dora began tugging at the clasp of a big trunk with a rounded top. This was the trundle-tray trunk. Beginning with Dora, each one of them, as babies, had slept in the tray of this old battered trunk.
4 comments:
Wow you did have a great reading month in February. I'd like to read The Women, the Helsinki Affair, and The First Lie Wins. So you've added to my TBR list. Vietnam nurses must have seen some horrendous things ... Happy reading in March!
You read more books in February (17?) than I read in January and February (12). Several of the books here I will read eventually: The Door-to-Door Bookstore, The Women, The Helsinki Affair, and First Lie Wins. Although just based on the cover, I would avoid that last one, and it may be too suspenseful.
Tracy, it must have been Leap Day that made the difference! Actually, I think it was the three day weekend, plus the fact that I am not trying to review every book I read.
Susan, I'm glad you enjoyed the Jayne Anne Phillips book as I know it was somewhat dark. It is still on my TBR but all my library books seem to arrive at the same time. It's quite different from the days where one would stop by, wander around until one had an armful, then go home. Of course, my two systems allow us to freeze our holds but I don't always manipulate it perfectly.
The four I've picked out to look at from your February list are, The Helsinki Affair, China Court (appalled to always have to admit I haven't read anything ber her), The Door to Door Bookstore and Tea and Hot Buns. I like how eclectic your reading is.
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