Weekly Reading Round-Up

Huzzah for uninterrupted airplane reading!  This week, as I flew back and forth from Team W’s retreat, I managed to get in some pure leisure reading, including:

— the latest in Lucy Parker’s London Celebrities contemporary romance series, The Austen Playbook, about a choose your own adventure Austen production gone wrong (or gone right, depending on how one looks at it), and various familial secrets that come out along the way’;

— Anthony Horowitz’s Vermeer to Eternity, a short story by the author of Magpie Murders;

The Sword in the Stone, in The Once and Future King, which is always a joy– how can one not love Sir Ector being an old tilting blue, claiming that the wars were won upon the playing fields of Camelot?– although the copy I have on my Kindle cuts the scene with the witch for some inexplicable reason, which is just wrong;

— and now I’m reading Jasmine Guillory’s The Wedding Date, a clever, light-hearted contemporary romance, because I have learned that when my college roommate says “you must read this”, she’s generally right. Okay, always right.

And speaking of my college roommate, I’m heading back to New Haven for my mumble-mumble college reunion this weekend! My publisher and the Yale Bookstore have teamed up to make copies of The Summer Country available– a week pre-pub! So if you’re in the area and want to get an early crack at The Summer Country, stop by the Yale Bookstore this weekend.

What have you been reading this week?

16 Comments

  1. Céline on May 24, 2019 at 10:30 am

    I kinda envy those lucky few who will get their hands on the Summer Country one week in advance!! Happy them!!

    As for me, I am reading The Gown, by Jennifer Robson, and I am loving it!!
    Just before, I read The Huntress and it was pure genius. I loved it so much!!

  2. Becky on May 24, 2019 at 10:34 am

    The Seven 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle… honestly have struggled through it a bit, the concept is really unique but there’s a LOT of keep track of.

  3. Heather H. on May 24, 2019 at 11:48 am

    I actually was able to snag an ARC of “The Summer Country” last week, and I finished it on Wednesday! LOVED IT, and I’m recommending it to my book club for their summer reads. I’m also re-reading “A Game of Thrones,” because I’m not ready to let go of the show, and I’m about to pick up N.K. Jemisin’s “The Fifth Season.”

    • Lauren Willig on May 24, 2019 at 11:55 am

      Thank you, Heather! I’m so so happy you enjoyed it– and I hope your book club does, too! (The book club guide is up on THE SUMMER COUNTRY page (https://laurenwillig.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/MP30026_SummerCountry_BookClubGuide-v4.pdf), but I’d advise anyone who hasn’t read the book yet not to open the guide, because there are lots of spoilers– but you’re all cleared to go. : )

      • Heather H. on May 28, 2019 at 12:05 pm

        Thank you so much! That will definitely come in handy!

  4. Elizabeth (Miss Eliza) on May 24, 2019 at 6:26 pm

    I finished The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, which I didn’t love, many issues with the fictional world taking credit for real world creations… so feeling under the weather I decided on a comfort re-read and have been enjoying Jasper Fforde’s Shades of Grey, which has just amazing and unique post-apocalyptic world building. Will probably spend the weekend on the graphic novels I have out from the library… or perhaps an Agatha Christie…

    • Lauren Willig on May 28, 2019 at 12:15 pm

      What was the series you mentioned a few weeks back, the one you said reminded you of Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

      • Elizabeth (Miss Eliza) on May 28, 2019 at 6:32 pm

        Alison Goodman’s Lady Helen series, the first is The Dark Days Club, followed by The Dark Days Pact, and the trilogy ends with The Dark Days Deceit. SO GOOD!

  5. JOAN on May 25, 2019 at 12:40 am

    I have been reading Madeleine Brent’s gothic romantic suspense novels from the 1970’s and 1980’s. Moonraker’s Bride, Tegaron’s Daughter, and Golden Urchin were my favorites. Madeleine Brent was the pseudonym for Peter O’Donnell who wrote the Modesty Blaise spy/adventure novels.

    • Lauren Willig on May 28, 2019 at 12:15 pm

      I loved those Madeleine Brent books!

  6. Tara on May 25, 2019 at 6:33 am

    Ruin and Rising, the last in the Shadow and Bone trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. I’m starting the Game of Thrones book series next.

  7. Therese on May 25, 2019 at 11:29 am

    I read the Jacobite Chronicles by Julia Brannan this past week which I really enjoyed, although I think some of it requires you to suspend disbelief on certain scenarios it was still really entertaining and I was on the edge of “my seat” to see what happened to all the characters.

    • Lauren Willig on May 28, 2019 at 12:15 pm

      Ooooh, I’ll have to look for those!

  8. Lori on May 25, 2019 at 7:47 pm

    Still reading Park Avenue Summer by Renee Rosen -lots of to be reads piling up!

  9. JOAN on May 27, 2019 at 12:38 pm

    I read the Jacobite Chronicles earlier this year and loved them!

  10. Liz D. on May 29, 2019 at 10:22 am

    I just finished “The Unhoneymooners” by Christina Lauren which was delightful – definitely laughed out loud a few times! Now into “The Peach Keeper” by Sarah Addison Allen. Her magical realism always feels like great summer reading to me!

Leave a Comment