July Reading Round Up

Total books read this month: 14. It helps to have 31 days in a. month!

Book Ratings

The Nature of Secrets. Debra Webb. #2 in Finlay Sullivan series. 4 stars
Yours Truly. Abby Jimenez. 5 stars
Warrior Unearthed. Angeline Boulley 5 stars
The Lost Husband.  4 stars
Beyond the Moonlit Sea.  2.8 stars
The Scoundrel’s Daughter. 4 stars
My Name is Lucy Barton 3 stars
A Little Ray of Sunshine 3.25 stars
Part of Your World 4.75 stars
Someone to Romance 4 stars
The Brutal Telling. 4.25 stars
The Things We Leave Unfinished 4 stars
And Then I Found You. 4.25 stars
The Inn on Bluebell Lane 4 stars

New to me authors:

Elizabeth Strout

Settings

Tennessee USA
Minnesota USA x2
Michigan USA
Texas USA
England x2
Illinois and New York USA
Wellfleet Massachusetts  USA
Quebec Canada
Colorado USA
Wales
Alabama/South Carolina/ New York

Where did I get the books?

Library. Four
Audible  Four
Own Shelf. Three
NetGalley. Two
Kindle. One

Top Books for July

A few books I’d like to read in August.

First one is a review book, the second two are library books in the hand! I’d like to add some from my actual shelf but that will depend on reading mood.

Linking up with Nicole from FeedYourFiction Addiction.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet up and share what you have been, and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organise yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment and er… add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn here at The Book Date.

Jen Vincent, Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee of Unleashing Readers decided to give It’s Monday! a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels or anything in those genres – join them.

Another quiet week. I didn’t do that much, went to a soccer match (children’s) and watched a rugby match on TV. Read some, sewed some, visited and sewed. The usual! We had a long weekend with Friday being the holiday, in honour of Matariki,

Matariki is a star cluster that appears in the early morning sky in New Zealand during the mid-winter months. Matariki has different names around the world. In English, it is called by its ancient Greek name, Pleiades or the Seven Sisters.  We have just begun to celebrate this as a public holiday and it is our Māori New Year.

What I read last week:

What I am reading now:

And about to start listening to…

Up next:

 

Last Week’s Posts

Young Adult Books That Interest Me

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Books with Animals in them.

Linking up with ThatArtsyReaderGirl

I love a book with an animal on the cover and within the book. Here are some I’ve read, the first three are not on the cover but they are there within. I think my favourite might be Six-Thirty from Lessons in Chemistry. To me an animal just adds that much warmth and joy to a book.

The Color of Light

Lessons in Chemistry

In the Unlikely Event

By Book or by Crook – Charles the cat is a good judge of character.

The family You Make.

A Whisker of trouble. –  Elvis the cat is one smart cat.

 Out of the Clear Blue Sky.

 Murder Spills the Tea.

Dewey Decimated

 Christmas at the Edge of the World.

Books Read from my Shelf in July

I’m aiming this year – 2022, to read five books of my print shelf each month, and I have already achieved that for July.  Three were from 2022, one from 2021 and one from 2018.

About one quarter of the way through Nightwork I was ready to fire this book into the “get rid of pile” and concede I’d made a buying mistake. A hero who is a thief just didn’t wash with me.

But Its Nora Roberts! Plus at this point I read Debbie’s review at The Reading Frenzy and that sort of encouraged me.

And within a few more lines I was hooked. The plot turned a little, I became more involved with the characters and I increasingly liked this thief. And what a gifted one at that. Only 4.5 stars though for giving me a “poor start.” Which probably says more about me the reader than the book, but there you are!

I so wanted to love it, but Out of the Clear Blue Sky did not provide me with the reading I desired. Everything is going down the drain and very little of it is uplifting. The main character Lillie is a hot mess of a victim who does some downright retaliative mean and nasty things. I think they were meant to be funny but I thought they were so sad. Melissa the “other woman” has very little going for her, although there is a little hope she might improve. Lillie is a homemaker for sure and I guess she and Ben will one day be a great pair, but we just had to read and read all the whiny victim stuff. KH has been up until now an automatic buy, now I will most likely read the next one, but will be via the library. And hubby? Well what. a wet blanket! Best characters – the dogs! Cover does not relate to the book at all.  2.75 stars.

Birds of a Feather by Australian author Tricia Stringer drew me in well at the beginning and then ensnared me in the day to day lives of three women. One in her seventies, one mid life and one the mother of two young children. They find themselves together and slowly some sincere and important relationships are formed. As well as that each of the three share and come to terms with what has been eating at them from the past and enables them to embrace their futures.  4 stars

A delightful book, With Love From London was one that is both full of love and loss, so both heart warming and tinged always with a sense of sadness. If only relationships could have worked out perfectly, but no. However what lasts, lasts and in a way in the end love wins. Plus a charming bookstore, books loved and a bookstore cat. Good reading.  4.25 stars.

An enjoyable story set in Scotland and involving a manor and a teashop and some fun characters. It has family and romance and new beginnings, nicely told, warm and cozy. The cover is especially delicious and does match the book! 3.75 stars.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet up and share what you have been, and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organise yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment and er… add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn here at The Book Date.

Jen Vincent, Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee of Unleashing Readers decided to give It’s Monday! a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels or anything in those genres – join them.

I had a good week – some of us got together for one of my sisters significant birthdays. Her daughter held it at her place and it was just great to get together with various family. We’d had to put it off once because of Covid in the family but this time it went ahead with only one couple not making it because of being sick with Covid.

I had a good reading week. My review for The Edge of Summer will be posted soon. I did not like Out of the Clear Blue Sky and a short review will be up later in the month.

What I read last week:

What I am reading now:

And still listen to and really enjoying An Island Wedding by Jenny Colgan.

Up next:

 

Last Week’s Posts

June Reading Round Up

Books Publishing in July

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More 2022 Books on my WTR List

Busy time of the year for books! These books have either already been published in 2022 or soon will be. They are ones I have organised in my online shopping in various places. If they are books I really like the author, I generally get a print book as I prefer reading in that format when possible. The first three will be print books, Viola Shipman’s will be a digital egalley and the last one will definitely go best on audio.

These all show my liking for women’s fiction with a bit of a mix of romance !

Flying Solo Linda Holmes. I really enjoyed Linda Holmes previous book – Evvie Drake Starts Over so this is an automatic buy for me. “Smarting from her recently cancelled wedding and about to turn forty, Laurie Sassalyn returns to her Maine hometown of Calcasset to handle the estate of her great-aunt Dot, a spirited adventurer who lived to be ninety”

The Emma Project.  This book is part of a series I’ve been reading. This one gives and Indian/American twist to Emma by Jane Austen. It’s a Rom Com and while that is not my favourite genre these books are well written and make a pretty  good read. So another buy book.

Kristan Higgins latest book Out of the Clear Blue Sky is another buy. I have found her last few books a little issue oriented but still can’t resist giving this one a read. Some readers I follow have loved it and some are not so warm about it. So I’ll have to read it and see where I sit. Perhaps knowing that I haven’t been so keen on her recent books might make me read this one slowly and patiently.

The Edge of Summer publishes on the 12th of July. I am fortunate to have a NetGalley copy of this one but if I totally fall in love with it I know I’ll want to buy it as well. It’s about a woman seeking out the mystery of her mother who has just died and secrets that have as yet to be revealed. Viola Shipman is a pen name for Wade Rouse. He has recently written a memoir I’d like to read too at some point.

An Island Wedding by Jenny Colgan. Well anyone who loves visiting the island of Mure will be waiting for this one. Looks like there are a few relationships happening and Flora and Joel are finding the going and hard and I can’t wait to see how Lorna and Saif are getting on. I love to listen to this series and so looking forward to it.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet up and share what you have been, and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organise yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment and er… add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn here at The Book Date.

Jen Vincent, Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee of Unleashing Readers decided to give It’s Monday! a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels or anything in those genres – join them.

What I read last week:

Another good reading week. I read the first two of the Sue Barton books – a nostalgic read as I read a few of them as a young person, but never read them all but always hankered for them. At some expense I bought the series from Amazon and now have finally begun to read them. I don’t know why but I thought they had been set in England but of course they are set in the USA.

What I am reading now:

I am organising myself to go right back to the beginning of the romantic suspense series by Karen Rose. This is the very first one she published. I have read a lot of the later ones but not the earlier ones.

Up next:

 

Last Week’s Posts

Once Upon a Wardrobe.  Patti Callahan Henry

Recently Read Books

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Recently Read Books.

By Australian author Sophie Green. The second book I have read by her and one I put on my list to read during October 2021. It is set in the 1980’s. I guess that almost makes it historical fiction but feels quite contemporary.

Four women find each other as they set out to swim each morning in the sea. One had her husband die about five years ago, one has two children and a grotty husband, one has moved from England with her Australian husband and is not coping. And one – the youngest, is a nurse who is estranged from her family and keeps to herself.

We learn about each as they form a group who support and are there for each other through thick and thin.

Insightful and thought provoking. Would certainly read more from Sophie Green  4 stars.

Gone too Far by Debra Webb is the second in a series I couldn’t wait to read. A good romantic suspense is always welcome. Thoroughly enjoyed this complicated twisty suspense. Kerri and Luke are a great detective team. Kerri’s daughter adds big interest.and my heart goes out to the tough Sadie Cross. Oh my what a big story for her. She was an undercover cop who went through hell. The ending of the book for her was the beginning of something new. I do hope we see her in the next book. I have the next one sitting in my NG line up. Couldn’t resist. 4.5 stars.

To Scotland with Love by Patience Griffin was chosen because it has a quilting aspect. Plus it is set in Scotland. I became more and more engrossed in this book and ended up happy with one very soggy tissue. Really enjoyed the characters and I do hope even though the books seem to be pretty stand alone that we meet up with many of the village in the next ones. I was on the fence about it starting, but the characters pulled me in and plus the setting of course. Will read the next one Meet Me in Scotland.           4 stars.

The Mother’s Promise had sat on my bookshelf since I bought it after it published. But skipped over it each time. Finally I put it on my reading list for October. I resisted it the first few chapters. No – wasn’t going to like it. But then I was hooked in. Alice has cancer, her daughter Zoe has social anxiety. Kate the nurse is dealing with miscarriages, and Sonja the social worker is possibly in an abusive marriage. I think it was Zoe’s story that really pulled me in. I was rooting for her and her friend Harry. Alice was in a tough place, really with no one to support her, but I liked how her brother Paul pulled his weight where it counted. Of course there are some inter connectedness that I eventually saw coming.   4 stars.

I enjoyed this one. It was nice to go back to a Kristan Higgins more light hearted romance. I was entertained by the father/daughter relationship and the balance that I could see Posey or Cordelia was going to bring to the situation. I loved Posey’s job of working with antique things that had been reclaimed. 

I felt it dragged here and there and can’t say I found the cousin Gretchen that loveable but I guess it provided family tension. I really liked Posey’s relationship with her serious brother Henry and his partner Jon.

Not a keeper but still a satisfying read.  3.5 stars.

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet up and share what you have been, and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organise yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment and er… add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn here at The Book Date.

Jen Vincent, Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee of Unleashing Readers decided to give It’s Monday! a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels or anything in those genres – join them.

I had a really good week. It looks like I did a lot of reading and I did. But there were also outings and some sewing. One day we had really cold weather – like back to winter – and by 10am I lit the fire and sat by it all day and read. Don’t think I even did that in winter!

What I read last week:

What I am reading now:

Up next:

 

Last Week’s Posts

At the End of the Day.  Liz Byrski

Books by Irish Authors

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Five Books from Five Shelves

I have five shelves on my bookcase with about twenty books in each. I decided to pull one book from each shelf and endeavour to read them over October. They are all authors I have read before.

Book covers are linked to Goodreads

This one has been on my shelf since a book fair in 2019, and I have been going past it. It is by Australian author Sophie Green and I have read one of her previous books.

It’s about a friendship between four women who find each other I think as they swim each day in the ocean.

I bought this one new, most likely when it published in 2017 and then it has sat there and Sally Hepworth has published far more since then! I think she was born in England but lives in Australia, so if you live in the country then I call you Australian!

I got this at a book fair, not sure when. It is #4 in her Rose Harbor series. I have been reading it, so time to read on and see what is happening  in Cedar Cove at the Inn.

I bought this recently because it is one I hadn’t read and I just felt like an old style book by Kristan Higgins.  Just a plain straight romance.

A nostalgic read from childhood. A few years back I bought the whole set of these books – a reprint, so not original covers. Anyway they cost quite a bit and I haven’t read them all (seven altogether). So I decided to make a start!

So if I can fit them all in they will be October reads.

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