Crêpes by Suzette by Monica Wellington

Suzette operates a street cart selling crêpes all over Paris. She begins by making the batter, then shopping for fruit, and then begins her travels from the Left Bank to the Eiffel Tower and places in between. 

Spell the Month in Books - July

Spell the Month in Books is hosted by Reviews from the Stacks and usually occurs on a Saturday. This edition is brought to you from Trinity College in Dublin where I am spending the night before returning to Boston tomorrow.

J - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (1961). A charismatic teacher at a girl’s school in 1930s Edinburgh has made it her mission to introduce a selected group to arts and culture, as well as topics that would horrify their parents. Eventually, the girls turn against her. My book group read this in January and we found it very disturbing.

It’s a Great World! by Emilie Loring #20BOS26-9

Eve Travis has always admired Jeff Kilburn and is worried that his heart is broken when her cousin Moya dumps him for a British peer. After the wedding, she impulsively offers to marry him instead so he is not alone and vulnerable when he leaves for a business trip to South America. Jeff is startled by her suggestion because he has just learned Eve’s guardian has embezzled her $2 million fortune (and imagine how far that would have gone in 1935) and was asked to break the news (why there are no legal proceedings against this guardian is a mystery Loring never addresses) to her. 

A Wartime Marriage, aka Flight from Bucharest, by Mary Jane Staples

Captain Harry Phillips, a British officer, is a prisoner of war in a German-controlled hospital in Romania. It’s 1918 and while Germany has gone from near-victory to an unsuccessful Spring Offensive on the Western Front leading to eventual defeat, its army and military intelligence are still feared. Harry is recovering from being shot in the thigh but has been treated well, so is not worried when he is summoned to meet with the German officer in charge of the hospital, Captain Carlsen.

I, Spy, an impressive debut by L. M. Kemp

Kendal Carter is at a playground on the outskirts of Zurich with her four-year-old, Rosie, when she notices two men in suits lurking nearby who appear very out of place. She is instantly wary, especially because if the men are a threat, they are between her and the apartment where she has a “go bag.”

June 2026 Reading

I made good progress on my 20 Books of Summer in June: eight read and reviewed, and I am in the middle of the ninth. My favorite books this month were A Place Beyond Courage by Elizabeth Chadwick, a historical set in England and Normandy during the 12th century, and I, Spy by L.M. Kemp, about an ex-spy who thought she had escaped from a lifetime of espionage, only to be dragged back in unexpectedly.

Suspense/Mystery

The Double Image by Helen MacInnes #20BOS26-8 and Paris in July

April in Paris, and a sprinkle of rain, a sudden whip of cool breeze, a greying sky to end the bright promise of the evening. John Craig decided that his saunter along Boulevard Sant-Germain might come to a quick end any moment now, and began looking in earnest for a place of retreat.

Top Ten Tuesday: Book Titles That Include the Word *Summer*

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.  This week the theme is Book Titles That Include the Word (add the word of your choice – and I chose) Summer:

Deep Summer by Gwen Bristow (1937). When Judith is swept off her feet by handsome Philip Larne, an adventurer and slave trader, he builds her a beautiful plantation in Louisiana, where they raise a family, despite joys and sorrows along the way.  Bristow is focused on the development of Louisiana and the role all its people played, affluent whites, poor whites, and slaves, in this compelling historical novel.  My review.