April 2013 wish list

As usual lately, a large number of books coming out on the same day.

Books I'm definitely planning to get

Now, this is a good month. Several of these are autobuy authors.


Love Irresistibly, by Julie James (Apr 2)

Yay, another Julie James! I’d buy her books without even checking the blurb, but this one sounds great. I like that the heroine has a job I don’t think I’ve seen before in a romance novel: she’s general counsel for a restaurant company, and the hero wants permission to plant a bug in one of their restaurants.







Let It Be by Kate Noble (Apr 2)

A Kate Noble book, and set in Venice! Squee! I like the sound of the story, too.





The Ashford Affair, by Lauren Willig (Apr 9)

It was mentioned in one of the DBSA podcasts a while ago, and I thought it sounded amazing (Downton Abbey meets Out of Africa, I think SB Sarah said!). Plus, I love the structure Willig uses of separate present-day and historical storylines, which connect to each other.





Whiskey Beach, by Nora Roberts (Apr 16)

Single title Nora Roberts books are always a treat. The description of this one starts out familiar, suggesting it’s going to be the usual romantic suspense, but then “they find themselves caught in a net that stretches back for centuries”, which suggests something a bit different. I’m intrigued.





The Mystery Woman, by Amanda Quick (Apr 23)

I should put it under the “I’ll wait for reviews” section, but who am I kidding? I’m going on the queue at the library as soon as it shows up as ‘on order’. It sounds like exactly the stuff she’s been writing for the past few years.





Wedding Night, by Sophie Kinsella (Apr 23)

This sounds like it could be loads of fun. A couple who suddenly decide to get married, two friends of theirs who think they’re making a mistake and try to stop them, a Greek island setting... I’m so there!




Books that interest me and I'll keep an eye on



Sweet Madness, by Heather Snow (Apr 2)

I haven’t tried Heather Snow yet, but she seems to write historicals with really unusual heroines. This one seems to be a student of psychology, and it looks like the hero suffers from PTSD.





Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson (Apr 2)

This one sounds like a bit of a departure for Atkinson. The books of hers that I’ve read have been mysteries (albeit quite literary ones). This one is, as far as I can tell, about a woman with an infinite number of lives.





Rush Me, by Allison Parr (Apr 8)

I can’t remember where I heard about this one (I added it to my wish list before it even had a proper release date!), but it does sound interesting (“ how can a Midwestern Irish-Catholic jock with commitment problems and an artsy, gun-shy Jewish New Englander ever forge a partnership?”), and I do like New Adult.

Read more...

I'm back!

I'm back! All rested up and recharged, after a whole month on holiday in Uruguay. I spent loads of quality time getting to know my first nephew, who was born only hours after I landed. I'm biased, but he's really the most beautiful and wonderful baby in the world (my sister calls this photo 'the Karate Kid').

I also spent my time catching up with old friends, watching football, and reading, reading, reading, sometimes even by the pool. Yep, unfortunately, the weather was nowhere near as good as it is when I visit over Christmas, but considering it was snowing back in England, I can't really complain.

I read some really good stuff, too. My favourite of all the books below was probably JK Rowling's The Casual Vacancy. My expectations were really low, after seeing reviews that mostly ranged between lukewarm and actively hostile, but I thought it was fantastic, a real punch in the gut. I'll be writing reviews soon.

Read more...

On hiatus

Bye bye for a little while! I'm off to Uruguay for the rest of the month, both to welcome my first nephew (who looks like he'll be arriving sooner, rather than later) and for a much overdue holiday. See you in April!

Read more...

February 2013 reads

Pretty good for a short month! A few DNFs -I'm becoming more and more willing to just drop books when they´re not working out, which I think is a good thing.


1 - Demon Blood, by Meljean Brook: A
original review here

Since I originally read these books as they came out, over a period of years, it's been difficult to compare them to each other, and realise how much better the series has got with every installment. Now that I've read all the previous ones in a matter of months, I can say that this one, the story of Guardian Rosalia and vampire Deacon, and her big plans to even out the fight between Guardians and their foes, is the best one so far. The plot is fantastic and jaw-dropping, and the romance is angsty and incredibly satisfying. I adored every page.



2 - Skios, by Michael Frayn: A-
review coming soon

A charming, irresponsible man decides, on an impulse, to claim to be the Dr. Norman Wilfred the beautiful young woman is waiting for outside of arrivals at Skios airport. Farce is not my favourite kind of comedy, but when it's done as well as this, and with as much satire, I love it.




3 - Doukakis's Apprentice, by Sarah Morgan: B+
review here

The Greek tycoon hero takes over the advertising agency the heroine has been running to get back at her father, who owns it. Very Harlequin Presents setup (well, it is an HP), but Morgan turns these elements on their heads and delivers a reasonable, intelligent hero and a heroine who gives as good as she gets. I really, really liked it.




4 - The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things, by Paula Byrne: B+
review here

A look at Jane Austen's life and times, using objects relevant to her life as a starting point. Really interesting and absorbing. I liked this thematic, rather than strictly linear, approach.



5 - King of Darkness, by Elizabeth Staab: B
review here

The set-up reminded me of JR Ward's books. We've got the newly ascended vampire king, struggling to lead his subjects in a fight against beings devoted to destroy them. It's got a completely different feel to it, though: no ridiculousness and larger-than-life exageration in the characters, and really strong females. It did fall down a bit on the plotting side, but it's a promising start.



6 - Death du Jour, by Kathy Reichs: B
review here

Audiobook. 2nd in the series featuring forensic anthropologist Dr. Tempe Brennan. In this book, Tempe's busy. There's a horrific domestic arson fire, the body of a candidate for sainthood for her to analyse, a missing girl, bodies found on a monkey island, plus, Tempe's worried about her sister. The coincidences were a bit much, but I was able to suspend disbelief and enjoyed seeing how it all came together.



7 - The Girl With The Cat Tattoo, by Theresa Weir: B-
review here

Max the cat is worried about his owner, who's still in a bad state after her husband's death. He decides to find her a man. Cute book, but it sometimes skated a bit too close to cutesy. I did like the scenes narrated from Max's POV, though. He was a very cat-like cat!




8 - Lessons in Love, by Charlie Cochrane: B-
review coming soon

Starts the Cambridge Fellows mystery series, in which the two titular characters, professors of English and Mathematics respectively, fall in love and solve mysteries in early 1900s Cambridge. I had some issues with stilted dialogue and that things felt a little bit simplistic, but the romance was sweet and very romantic, and I'll continue with the series.




9 - In Pale Battalions, by Robert Goddard: B-
review coming soon

Twisty, soap operaish novel involving family mysteries arising from the 1st World War. I liked the twists and was intrigued, but I found pretty much all the major characters unpleasant (even the ones who were supposed to be good guys) and some of the more soap opera elements made me roll my eyes.



10 - The House on Tradd Street, by Karen White: DNF
review here

Melanie unexpectedly inherits a historic old house, complete with ghosts. Jack suspects there's treasure hidden in it and approaches her. I stopped reading after realising that every single character was trying to bully Melanie into living her life as they thought she should be living it, especially the hero, who was an asshole about it, to boot.


11 - Beyond The Night, by Joss Ware: DNF
review here

Starts a post-apocalyptic series, centred around a group of men who wake up after an earthquake and find out they've been asleep for 50 years and the world has been devastated. The heroine in this one is part of the developing resistance against the beings she suspects of having caused the seemingly natural disasters that wrecked the world. I read about 2/3 of it. I was initially fascinated by the world-building, but then it all became too ridiculous. Plus, the romance just didn't engage me.


12 - Ash, by Malinda Lo: DNF
review here

I picked this one up because I heard it was a lesbian retelling of Cinderella, and thought that sounded interesting. The characters weren't, though, and the narrative felt very superficial. I struggled through almost half of it, and then gave up.



13 - Graceling, by Kristin Cashore: still reading
review coming soon

Set in a world where some people have special powers ('graces') that give them all sorts of skills, our main character is Katsa, whose grace is killing. So far, it's just as good as the wonderful Fire, and I'm loving it.



14 - A Murder is Announced, by Agatha Christie: still reading
review coming soon

When an invitation to "a murder" at someone's house in the village appears in the local paper, everyone assumes it either refers to a game or is a joke. But then someone dies. I'm about halfway through, and so far it's good, but not amazing.



15 - Calculated in Death, by JD Robb: still reading
review coming soon

Eve Dallas' latest outing takes her into Roarke's world of money and business. At least, that's what it looks like about a third into it. My main impression so far is that it's good, but sad.

Read more...