July 2025 Reading

The Kitchen Front and The Demon of Unrest turned out to be my favorite books this month and, as always, I enjoyed a Vera Stanhope mystery by Ann Cleeves. This detective has really grown on me. I listened to four audiobooks and am now in the middle of a very long one – 23 hours – which Hoopla will reclaim before I am done (luckily, I have an actual book as well).

Fiction

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (2025). After youthful romance with the affluent son of the manor fell apart, Beth married a local farmer and made a good life for herself. But when Gabriel returns with his son, she is recovering from tragedy and is vulnerable, and disaster results. This got great reviews and was well-written but was very slow paced and not suspenseful enough to be a mystery as I guessed most of the secrets. I liked it but would not put it at the top of any list.

Consider Yourself Kissed by Jessica Stanley (2025). The premise was good – lonely transplanted Australian working in London longs for a connection and meets a congenial widower with a delightful young daughter. But marriage brings its own stresses and Coralie did not stop complaining for the rest of the book, outweighing the undoubted humor of the book with her angst (some of which was justified but still tedious).

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler (2025). Gail wants to enjoy her daughter’s wedding but everything seems to go wrong: she learns she is being overlooked for a promotion at work; her ex-husband shows up for the wedding with a cat, expecting to stay with her; and her daughter’s mother-in-law is more involved in the wedding planning than she is. This was a pleasant read, full of dry humor. I haven’t read much Tyler so cannot compare it to her other books.

Historical Fiction

Strangers in Time by David Baldacci (2025). Three lonely people find each other during the London Blitz: Charlie, a Cockney youth who has lost his family; Molly, a mature teen who was evacuated at the beginning of the war, and has returned to find out why her parents have stopped writing; and Ignatius, a lonely bookseller with more than one secret. Together, they can overcome their troubles as WWII wages endlessly on. While I enjoyed it, it felt odd not to have more suspense/violence although he did include some espionage. My review.

*The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan (2021). Also set during WWII, this is a more upbeat story about a group of women, including two sisters who made very different choices, competing in a cooking competition – the winner will appear on a BBC radio show! There were some improbable bits but I really liked reading about rationing and the creative ways cooks coped with shortages. The growing camaraderie among the contestants was also appealing.  This is the third book I have enjoyed by this author.  My review.

Mystery/Suspense

*Past Tense by Catherine Aird (2010). The death of Bill Wakefield’s elderly great aunt appears uneventful until someone breaks into her room at a nursing home and a guest at her funeral dies mysteriously. The inimitable Detective Inspector C.D. Sloan and clueless Detective Constable William Crosby are called in to investigate. I am very fond of this series and recommend it for those who like humor with their mysteries.  I am looking for a home for this copy, if you are interested.  My review.

The Other Passenger by Louise Candlish; narrator, Steven Mackintosh (2019)(audio). Although they don’t know it at the time, it is a complete disaster for Jamie and Clare to befriend a younger couple, Melia, who works in Clare’s real estate firm, and Kit, who commutes with Jamie by ferry to their jobs in central London. But once Jamie and Melia start an affair, the friendship, not to mention life as they knew it, will soon be over for all four. This is my second book from this author. Jamie was a jerk but Candlish skillfully made me somewhat sorry for him. “Don’t do it!” I kept admonishing him but got no response.  This was very well done, if you like psychological suspense, which I go back and forth on.

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie (1940). Poirot is so nervous about his dentist appointment that he barely notices some very odd activity at the office – including murder! I read this for Read Christie 2025. My review.

The Darkest Evening by Ann Cleeves; narrator, Janine Birkett (2020)(audio). On a snowy December evening, detective Vera Stanhope gets lost driving home and winds up at the estate of her father’s estranged family. She finds an abandoned car with a baby inside; his mother has been murdered nearby. As Vera investigates, she is forced to interact with the relatives who barely showed up for her father’s funeral. Birkett is a wonderful narrator and gives each character a distinctive voice.

The Shell House Detectives by Emylia Hall (2023). I don’t usually like cozy mysteries but the Cornwall setting along with two appealing protagonists: a quiet widow and a former police officer made for a satisfying series launch. I just started the second in the series, although there were several other books demanding my attention. My review.

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane; narrator, David Strathairn (2003)(audio). In this historical novel of suspense, set on one of Boston’s Harbor Islands, Teddy Daniels is a US Marshal, sent to an island insane asylum to investigate the disappearance of a murderess who has disappeared from her cell. This was a weird but compelling book! I was considering picking it for my library’s community read but, annoyingly, I looked to see if there were good discussion questions online before I had finished the book and accidentally saw a giant spoiler.  Let that be a warning to all - do not Google your book before you are done!

Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts (2005). After being shot on the job, Sloan, a Natural Resources police officer (maybe these only exist in Maryland?) goes home to recover at her parents’ home.  Soon, she can’t help noticing – and investigating – some strange abductions in the area, not realizing her own escape from death fits a certain pattern. This attracts the attention of the creepy perpetrators (but I suppose all murderers are creepy) who now see Sloan as a threat.

Nonfiction

Cher: The Memoir, Part 1 (2024). Don’t laugh! I was curious about Cher and wondered how she connected with Sonny Bono, then rebounded to Gregg Allman. This provided a lot of information about her dysfunctional upbringing, which was followed by Sonny’s controlling mentorship, then their marriage. This was from my What to Read - Fall 2024 post (I read all but two of these but did not review them all) and was fairly entertaining (but a good one to have got from the library - would I read Part 2?  Probably not.). My review.

The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson; narrator, Will Patton (2024) (audio). Larson looks at the months leading up to the attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, starting with the gallantry of Southern life (for the ruling class only) and the election of Lincoln, which agitated slave owners who assumed he would challenge their way of life and their prosperity. I chose this for my book group for July and we all enjoyed it. I hope they September’s book about Paul Revere as well!  My review.

Contemporary Romance

Meet Me in a Mile by Elizabeth Hrib (2024). In this contemporary romance, architect Lydia signs up for the New York Marathon to impress an attractive male coworker, then – coming to her senses – hires a personal trainer to prep her. Luke is much nicer than the men she works with (who predictably exploit her) but will Lydia realize it in time?

A Ferry Merry Christmas by Debbie Macomber (2025). It’s Christmas Eve and Avery is taking the ferry to Seattle to spend the holiday with her brother. But when the ferry gets stuck in the middle of Puget Sound she meets a handsome sailor who restores her faith in humanity. Sappy and predictable but good when you're in the mood for a comfort read.

The Mysterious Bakery in Rue de Paris by Evie Woods (2014). When Edie realizes she needs to challenge herself by leaving Dublin and doing something different, she finds a job a bakery in Paris, which seems perfect – until she arrives and finds out she misunderstood the address and her destination is an hour north of Paris! Luckily (inevitably), she makes friends, helps the locals, solves a WWII mystery, and finds romance all in just a few weeks! It’s a French miracle for Paris in July 2025! My review.

Children’s and YA

Once a Queen by Sarah Arthur (2024). This had many alluring elements, beginning with an author’s note mentioning Constance Savery and Dorothy L. Sayers, two favorites of mine. The heroine is a 14-year-old American who has never met her English grandmother and travels with her mother to spend the summer at the historic Carrick Hall, which is full of magic and secrets. On paper, this sounds like the sort of book I loved growing up but it just did not deliver. The author’s worldbuilding was extensive but didn’t appeal to me and Eva spent most of the book trying to understand what was going on, which got tedious.  Pretty cover, however.

Love & Other Great Expectations by Becky Dean (2022). Britt has just graduated from high school and is recovering from the news that her soccer playing days are over. Distracting her from this disappointment (which also means she can’t afford college without a scholarship), she is chosen to compete in a literary scavenger hunt in Britain with three classmates. Britt mentions her dislike of reading  annoyingly often but I enjoyed her travels and recommended the book to my classmates from my Study Abroad program.

*The Active-Enzyme, Lemon-Freshened Junior High School Witch by E.W. Hildick (1973). While on vacation, 12-year-old Alison finds an ancient witchcraft manual so she decides she and her little sister Jeannie should become witches. Their harmless antics amuse the reader and exasperate her parents but when the family returns to Manhattan and Alison becomes obsessed with a mysterious neighbor, she gets into real danger. This was a childhood favorite that was almost as amusing many years later. My review.

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson (2014). Emily is devastated when her best friend, vivacious Sloane (two in a month – who on earth is named Sloan in real life) leaves without any explanation. She does send an itemized list of activities Emily should do to be more outgoing and, in the process, Emily makes new friends and gains self-confidence. I liked Emily’s job at an ice cream store no one patronizes and her friendship with the quirky girl who works at the pizza place in the same strip mall. This author is a reliable 4-star read.

Challenge Reading

For my *20 Books of Summer, I’ve read 13, started five, and left one at Cape Cod last week. Getting a lot of library books at the same time distracted me this month, so I will need an extension to September.  In July, I also read two books for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, three for the Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge, and one for Paris in July (I only count the ones I review).