I had a good reading week, happy with all the books I’ve read. Today I’ve decided to return one book to the library and may borrow it in the future if I feel like a sad read set in WW11. It is held in high regard by many readers and published this year. I peeked at the end and noticed it had the same kind of ending as a book I read last year The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali, and I thought, you know what – I can take one book ending like that, but not another just at the moment!
What I read last week:
What I am reading now:
I am almost at the end of this and should finish it this Monday as my last book in August. I have really enjoyed it, I love that Downton Abbey feel to the kitchen where Kat the heroine is the cook back late nineteen century. I really like this cozy mystery series. I have NOT peeked at the ending of this one, tempting, I am a bit of a take a look at the ending reader, but being disciplined for this one!
Up next:
This one is published October 29th, although I do have a NetGalley review copy, so all set there. Women’s Fiction by an Australian author I tend to auto-read.
And lastly an author I haven’t read for quite awhile but I do enjoy some of her historical fiction so I am putting this on the list and it does come out earlier than the others on September 1st. Set in 1853 in Oregon and has to do with women’s rights and suffrage. A fictionalised story of a real life person Abigail Scott Dunniway. It is a possible.
To celebrate their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, Grace has planned the surprise of a lifetime for her husband—a romantic getaway to Paris. But she never expected he’d have a surprise of his own: he wants a divorce. Reeling from the shock but refusing to be broken, a devastated Grace makes the bold decision to go to Paris alone. I found this a delicious story of an unusual friendship, mid life marriage crisis, the effect of alcoholism on lives and a dusty bookshop. And of course a summer in Paris. It included lost and found love and new love. Plus Sarah Morgan never fails to delight me.
The Paris Seamstress is a dual time line book, that ranges in setting from Paris to New York to Australia. One era is the war years – and the effects on France especially. The other era is one recent and modern. And through the years there is the mystery of family and friendships. It tracks the endeavours of one woman – Estelle and her love of designing dresses and other clothing. When she finds herself in New York her journey begins. It probably has the smallest Paris setting but still felt Parisian.
I enjoyed The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George. When a book lover sees book or bookstore in a title we’re drawn to it. Sometimes it is worth the read, sometimes not so much. For me The Little Paris Bookshop was a joy from beginning to end. I was hooked by the dedication – do you always read the dedication – I always do!
I very much liked this book, as I do with most Jenny Colgan books. . It made me chuckle out loud, as well it had me feeling deep sadness for some of the characters. There’s a bittersweetness to it.
This is the first book I read by Kimberly Martin. In this book we have a female urologist who comes up against some discrimination of the LGBTQ community patients that has her standing up for what she believes. At some point I want to read her previous book. The author is actually a doctor herself.
Robyn Carr presents us with a much loved character in Maggie Sullivan in her first book of Sullivan’s Crossing. She too is a neurosurgeon. She is under pressure and in danger of burnout so she returns to Sullivan’s Crossing to recuperate. This is a romance, so she finds someone who just might help with that recovery.
The Gilded Hour is historical fiction set back in 1883 in the USA. It has as its central characters Dr. Anna Savard and her cousin Sophie an obstetrician. They doctor to the poor and this is a book that highlights terrible discrimination. It’s pretty bleak! There is a second book that carries their lives on further but I haven’t read that one.
To round off the list, the last one is a medical thriller. I read this back in 2014 so its somewhat hazy compared to the other four. Dr. Abbey Matteo is on a cardiac team that do heart transplants. She finds herself confronted with someone who receives a heart, who wasn’t in line for one. A rich one. Where did the heart come from? She investigates! Grisly and horrifying. Not my usual read!
What a honey of a book. I was originally enticed into this book by the US edition with its warm tones, however as I read the book I came to love this cover too. Sugar is a treasure and the amazing ‘family’ of people she gathered around her was endearing and satisfying. As it says on the cover – a novel of honey, love and manners.
It’s been ten years since Georgia left her family home on the coast of Florida, and nothing much has changed, except that there are fewer oysters and more tourists. She finds solace seeing her grandfather still toiling away in the apiary where she spent much of her childhood. I’d forgotten this book had bees in it. Another book to reread!
And this one I haven’t read – yet! But I’ ve put it on my TBR. It includes France, and old chateau, beekeeping and a story from WW11.