Weekly Reading Round-Up
This will be just a quick post, since I’m about to grab the Even Littler Blue Bag and hop on a plane for Boston for today’s talk and tomorrow’s signing. Also because I’m having a hard time remembering what I read this week. Some of it is for a Contest That Shall Remain Nameless, so the books also have to remain nameless. And some of it is just because I have writing brain right now, which precludes memory of such things as what I read the day before yesterday and where I left the toddler.
The stand out? Josephine Tey’s The Franchise Affair, in which a country lawyer needs to prove two women in an isolated house innocent of abducting a teenage girl. The girl’s story is oddly plausible… but there’s something off about it. But how to prove it? I’d read this book years ago and had forgotten just how compelling it is. I felt bereaved when it ended and it’s taking a major act of will to go back to reading the books I’m meant to be judging rather than plunging straight into another Tey.
What have you been reading this week?
The Passenger by Lisa Lutz – a definite departure from her Spellman family books. Excellent thriller.
Magic Bites & Magic Burns – Ilona Andrews. The first two books of Kate Daniels series. Very entertaining so far. I feel a series binge coming.
I’ve been on a tear. I read Lost Among the Living by Simone St James. Love her stuff! Rules of Murder and Death by Book by Julianna Deering. These take place in England between the wars. Amateur sleuths ala Peter Wimsey. And Fall of Poppies. Wonderful stories. To lighten things up, Much Ado About You by Eloisa James, and two of Jill Shalvis’s Cedar Ridge books: My Kind of Wonderful and Nobody But You.
And I’m still waiting for the law firm of White, Williams, & Willig to come out with another book. Break out the wine, ladies.
A sequel to Ice Limit, a Preston& Childs thriller, is coming out soon, so I reread that. Also a Kasey Michaels oldie, Come Near Me, a little bit paranormal. A Danielle Steele novel, Property of a Nobleman, had a great premise, but her style is too simplistic for me. April has been kinda blah so far.
I was continuing with Galen Beckett’s Mrs. Quent trilogy, oh my, book two was epicly awesome. Can NOT wait to start the third, but am cramming in The Magicians by Lev Grossman for book club this weekend. The Magicians… not so good. Too self impressed.
I read so much lately and was too busy last week to chime in.
Most especially I want to mention the Ashford Affair, which is fabulous, really wonderful, and the characters were so complex and it was really well-done.
I also read Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare, Midnight by Beverly Jenkins, Crimson Frost by Jennifer Estep, and The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear, all of which were great
Let’s see, the newest Nora Roberts, The Obsession, which was ok. It just felt like she spent 70% of the book setting up the story. It moved slowly. The last 30% seemed like a rush job. Also the newest Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes, The Murder of Mary Russell by Laurie R. King. Fantastic!! Breathed new life into the series. I couldn’t put it down. After a several year hiatus, Amanda Stevens has a new book in her Graveyard Queen series, The Visitor. It did not disappoint! I cannot recommend this series enough. She really keeps the series fresh and original.
Devoured Eidolon by Grace Draven in one sitting. It was fabulous!! Also the Toll Gate by Georgette Heyer, and Getting Rid of Bradley by Jennifer Cruisie. Mama is going through Anne Stuart novels, latest Ritual Sins, loving them.
Read three great new releases in historical romance, Temptations of a Wallflower by Eva Leigh, How the Duke was Won by Lenora Bell, and Dawn at Emberwilde by Sarah E. Ladd. I’m now reading The Earl Takes All by Lorraine Heath, and despite this being the first I’ve read by her, I’m enjoying it.
I just finished Juliana Gray’s Affairs By Moonlight trilogy because Beatriz made a point of mentioning that she had a book inspired by Shakespeare, too! I’m currently reading Rachel Caine’s Prince of Shadows because Shakespeare books!