My February 2024 Reading

February was a great month of reading for me with two five-star books, First Lie Wins, which was extremely suspenseful and entertaining, and The Women, which was harrowing (set in the Vietnam era) yet impossible to put down. I also really enjoyed The Cheat Sheet, a contemporary romance with a friends to lovers theme. There were quite a few books that made a very good impression on me, as you will see below:

Mystery/Suspense

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 Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman (2023). In the fourth Thursday Murder Club installment, Elizabeth is facing a more serious challenge than just the mysterious death of the antiques dealer who appeared in the last book, but her friends will investigate while she deals with other issues. This series is so good I almost hate to start reading each book because then it will be over. It is also impressive how Osman can combine humor and heartbreak.

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

China Court by Rumer Godden (1979/reprint 2023). This is a nonlinear family saga set in Cornwall that begins when its main character dies! The beautiful new edition published by Manderley Press is a good reason to buy this unusual story.  My review for #ReadIndies month.

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.

Romance

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.

Run the Risk by Lori Foster (2012) (audio). In book 1 of this romantic suspense series, Detective Logan Riske has gone undercover to find Pepper Yates, a potential link to his best friend's unsolved murder, by renting the apartment next door to her, and is determined to seduce her into cooperation. I was curious about this author but the book was disappointing.

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

Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum (1907). In the third (and my favorite) Oz book, Dorothy finds her way back to Oz when she goes overboard on a sea voyage. Clinging to a chicken coop with Billina, a talking hen, Dorothy washes up in the country of Ev where she is menaced by the Wheelers and imprisoned by Princess Languidere before Ozma comes to the rescue. But the adventures aren’t over yet! My review.

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.

Sing for Your Supper by Leonora Mattingly Weber (1941). This hard-to-find historical novel is about a troupe of actors in the Rocky Mountains, trying to eke out a living. It may be 1865 but practical (and appealing) sister Dora will remind every reader of Beany Malone and the way the family creatively makes do is typical of all Weber’s families (my review):

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?”

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.

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?