... and what a medley it is.
Joanna here, with some lovely book suggestions from all of us.
I’m rereading one of Lois MlcMaster Bujold’s books. The Curse of Chalion. I picked it up at the library because the librarian had it out on the Recommended Shelf and I was reminded of it.
When we reread books we sometimes come at them a little differently or, at least, I do. This time, when I approached Bujold’s broken, exhausted, emotionally and psychically destroyed protagonist I was better able to see the honorable man beneath. It’s a new way for me to look at heroism and I’m hoping to learn from it.
This is not a Romance, but it’s a satisfying portrayal of a complex protagonist and — yes — a bit of a love story.
Andrea writes:
I’m a big fan of Charles Finch’s historical mysteries—I find his Charles Lenox series, set in early Victorian England, an absolute delight. So it’s always a treat when a new one comes out.
Now, Finch has done something really interesting with the series. In the first book, A Beautiful Blue Death, which came out 12 years ago, we meet Lenox as an established amateur detective. He’s a cultured, erudite, clever younger son, so his slightly “black sheep” profession is tolerated by family and friends (it helps that he’s such a lovely, sensitive fellow) And throughout the next nine books, we see him develop, take on new challenges, dabble in politics, get married, have a child . . . all while unraveling some very intriguing mysteries.
Then lo and behold, like the clever mystery writer he is, Finch suddenly surprised his readers with a unexpected plot twist. In his previous book, The Woman in the Water, the 11th in the series, he started writing a “prequel to the series—we meed Charles as a green cub, just down from Oxford, trying to decide what he wants to do in life. He loves solving conundrums, but everyone thinks he’s a fool to consider it as a possible career. Nonetheless, he keeps reading the papers about crime, and finds he has an idea he thinks may help solve one. The police, of course, dismiss him as fop and
His newest release, The Vanishing Man, continues with the young Charles. Rather than feel it's a disconnect, because I know the older Charles well, I love these early stories. We see him as a vulnerable youth, confident in many ways, but also surprising fragile, especially in his love life. One of the things I love about Finch is not only is he very perceptive about people, and writes very lyrically about everyday moments (his musings on Charles missing his recently deceased father is beautifully rendered.) He also has a sly and sharp wit, but uses it very gently. His books are “cozies” in the very best sense of the word, and for me, they’re the perfect antidote to the increasingly strident shouting that echoes all around us. If you’re looking for good writing and a more genteel world, I highly recommend the series.
Wench Pat brings us a book I actually have on my TBR pile. I’ve been following the author on Twitter
Pat says: I run funny and/or weird graphics on my Facebook page. I often don't know where they come from, they just catch my eye. I can't remember which one triggered a reader to tell me about Jenny the Bloggess. I tracked down her blog (https://thebloggess.com/) and was amused, so I looked up her books and tried
Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson, the Bloggess
This is not even close to a romance and not remotely historical except that it was published in 2012, but it’s hysterical and gives insight into why men used to call women hysterics. Jenny Lawson admits that she’s mentally ill. She has anxiety disorder and is OCD and the fact that her husband hasn’t killed her is proof that she’s too funny to die. And honestly, if I were raised with a father like hers, I’d probably be a serial killer, so being only half insane proves she’s still functional. Mostly. The most sane chapter is when she’s working for the HR department, and even my IT husband rolled on the floor over that one.
So if you need a laugh, go check out this book. I really don’t think I’ve laughed so much over a book—ever.
From Nicola:
This month past I have barely done any fiction reading and have been immersed in research for my new WIP.
It’s a dual time story set in the 15th century and the present. I haven’t read any non-fiction about the period since I was at college, so way too long ago to remember, but I dusted off my old text books and plunged in. First up was Richard III, magnates and their motives in the Wars of the Roses by Michael Hicks. It was quite… chewy. I think my concentration span has reduced since I last read it!
Then I dipped into Thomas Penn’s excellent biography of Henry VII, The Winter King. Despite my predisposition towards Richard I do try to be even-handed! Most interesting, and a clue to where the story might be taking me, was The Lost Prince, the Survival of Richard of York. Richard was the younger of the “princes in the tower” and rumours of his continued existence plagued Henry VII’s reign for a number of years. The author, David Baldwin, makes a clear and interesting case that Richard was passed off as “Richard of Eastwell” an illegitimate son of King Richard III to preserve his life, and that he subsequently lived to the grand old age of 81, pretending to be a stonemason. Those readers who enjoy Ricardian history and are as old as I may remember a fictional version of this story by Margaret Campbell Barnes, called The King’s Bed.
And Mary Jo:
Mary Jo Putney here, and I want to talk about Helen Hoang's The Kiss Quotient.
The book was one of the Washington Post’s 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2018 and one of Amazon’s Top 100 Books of 2018. It is also an #ownvoices book, meaning that the story content is by a minority writer speaking her or his own truth.
In The Kiss Quotient, the heroine, Stella Lane, is a brilliant and successful econometrician, meaning she's really good at crunching data. What she is not good at is human relationships because she's Asperger's and really awkward around people. The story starts when her mother says to Stella that she knows her daughter wants clear communication about expectations, therefore she needs to know that her parents are ready to become grandparents.
Stella loves her work, but her experience with relationships and sex have been very off putting. Yet she wants to please her parents so she needs to get good at sex and relationships, and in pursuit of that goal, she hires a well-vetted escort. As one does. <G>
Enter Michael Phan, half Vietnamese, half Swedish, totally gorgeous, and very patient. He doesn't like being a part time escort, but he desperately needs the money to keep his family afloat, so he will do what is necessary. Both of them have Issues, but there is real attraction and a deep relationship gradually develops. And yes, a happy ending that makes sense!
But I found the author's note at the end the most interesting part of the book because Helen Hoang describes how she started researching the autism spectrum and realized that she was on it. She also learned that women tend to react to the condition differently from men, and she'd been doing that her whole life. She had wanted to write a Pretty Woman story with the genders reversed, and the result is her much-acclaimed The Kiss Quotient.
On a lighter note, I don't believe I've ever mentioned the books of Beth Kendrick. They would be classified as chicklit, I think, since they are about young women getting their lives sorted out, but that label doesn't do her books justice.
My favorite is The Lucky Dog Matchmaking Service , described as a "hilarious and heartwarming story about bad dogs and the women who love them."
Lara Madigan loves dogs and has a gift for pairing the right person to the right dog, but she has a lot of sorting out to do in her personal and professional lives. Woof!
Susan brings us:
This month I did some reading, some research, some writing, and a lot of rushing about in the car, so I had time that way to finish one book in audio, and a very enjoyable listen it was. Sophie Kinsella's newest, I Owe You One, is as much a tale of family loyalties and tensions as it is a romance--possibly even more so.
Fixie Farr helps manage the family store in London alongside her mother, sister, and brother, and often is the one doing the hardest work. She is somewhat awkward, not the beautiful one, not the successful one; she is shy, a bit compulsive/obsessive (which is nicely drawn), and compelled to fix things, hence her nickname. And sometimes she just can't leave well enough alone. She also is half in love with a guy she's had a crush on since her teenage years. When he comes back into her life, she's head over heels, though it's maybe not the best thing or the best timing. She juggles trying to fix his problems, trying to run a busy store in her mother's absence and her siblings' disinterest, and trying to sort out everyone's life but her own.
When a disaster in a coffee shop results in her rescuing a stranger's laptop, for once she's thanked for her efforts. Sebastian Marlowe is endlessly grateful to Fixie for saving his files from obliteration, and promises any favor she needs. What she wants is to fix someone else's life. Promises and favors lead to one disaster and wrong turn after another--and fate brings Fixie together with Seb again and again, until she is involved far more deeply than she ever intended--and soon faces a tough decision between what is best for family, and what is best for her and her dreams.
This is a rich, layered, beautifully detailed story about family, about the difference and the challenge between what is owed and what could be given unconditionally. Wrapped within is a luscious, rewarding romance--if Fixie can get past her family's needs to realize what could be. Kinsella excels at quirky, energetic, lovable heroines and strong, resolute heroes, and she has an ability to convey a sense of warmth and naturalism throughout her stories. I was drawn into the book as if I knew these people, and could not wait to listen to the next chapter and the next. I love most of Kinsella's books (I never quite connected with the Shopaholic books, though I tried) -- and I find her individual novels increasingly complex and satisfying in emotional maturity without sentimentality, with lots of humor and a sense of love even beyond romance. Narrated by Fiona Hardingham, whose warm, lovely voice adds even more to the book, Kinsella's newest is delightful, compelling, and one of her best.
And Anne finishes out our reading month.
Rosie Hopkins Sweetshop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan, is one of those English romantic stories, rather than a full-on romance --where a nice woman with a dreary job and stale relationship has to move to the country for some reason, and ends up with a new life and a new man. In this case Rosie Hopkins has to go to a small village to pack up and sell her 85 year old great aunt's house and sweetshop, and move her into aged care.
I found it charming and very readable, with a lovely cast of minor characters. It's the first book in a series of three, and though the romance is achieved by the end of book one, book two and three follow the same couple through. Light, pleasant, feel-good reads, I read and enjoyed all three.
How about you?
What did you read this month that intrigued you or delighted you or made you laugh?