What We're Reading in June

The Word Wenches have been reading the most lovely books.

Mary Jo's recommendations for this month include one of my own old favorites.

Mary Jo:

I've read some new books this last month, but the only stories that really grabbed me were two oldies.  The first was Mary Stewart's The Ivy Tree.  We've discussed Mary Stewart here before--the Wenches are major fans and she shaped the writing for several of us, me included.

The Ivy Tree was the first Mary Stewart I ever read, in a condensed version in my mother's Ladies Home Journal.  I was riveted, and the big story twist was like being clubbed. (I'm harder to surprise now, but it's still one heck of a twist. <G>) 

Stewart is marvelous in her descriptions of story settings, and she makes a Northumberland summer come alive with sensual warmth.  Good suspense and romance, too.  (A lot of smoking goes on, as in most of Stewart's books, a sign of the changing times.)  It's still a wonderful story. 

My other favorite book is Sarah-Kate Lynch's The Wedding Bees, which I learned about on an earlier WWR.  I think it was recommended by Anne Gracie and Pat Rice.  I was a little wary, not being over fond of stinging insects, but within a couple of chapters, I was hooked.  It's kind of magical realism with the heroine, Sugar Wallace, exiled from her beloved Southern home and each year moving herself and her bees to a new city chosen by her queen bee, one of a succession of Elizabeths.  (The current queen is Elizabeth the 6th.)

This time she's led to New York City in an apartment with a great views, a terrace for her bees, and a half dozen other units in the building occupied by miserable people.  Sugar is a healer with both her honey and her warmth, and by the end of the book, everyone in the building is happy, and they and her bees have healed her into happiness and love. A delightful story.

 

Susan brings us a most interesting mystery series and a rather famous book about writing itself.

 

Susan:  This round, I read something new to me and something much-read (I won't mention the stack of to-be-reads, half-reads, meant-to-finishes, and forgot-I-hads that I didn't get through!). I'm leisurely making my way through Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway mystery series, picking one up now and then, and Dying Fall was a very good point in the series, about halfway through so far. Archaeologist and forensic bone specialist Dr. Ruth Galloway--single mom to a toddler she shares with Nelson, a local detective chief inspector--is drawn into a major archaeological discovery by an old friend who is soon murdered.

Griffiths writes tightly structured mysteries that move along quickly, helped by present tense, straightforward characters and no-frills language. She keeps it rolling along and I found this one especially enjoyable and interesting. The major find centers on the possible discovery of King Arthur's tomb, and the further chance that the warrior was of African descent rather than Briton. Add to that the interesting developments in Ruth's life that continue book to book--her relationship with Nelson being just one of those threads--and I'll keep going with this series. The intriguing info about Africans in the Roman legions in Britain sent me to find out more--all very interesting! 

 

After several years of collecting dust on a bookshelf, an old favorite got plucked up for a reread: Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird. Now and then, I find this one is like a B12 boost for writing energy. When I first read it as a new writer, I was a newbie soaking it up--now, reading it as a veteran, I am seeing the pure truths and clarity of her insights from a new angle while refreshing my own understanding of writing--scraping away the rust, as it were, and remembering to take it not just bird by bird, but word by word, page by page. If I read only one book on writing craft ever, this would be it. And while I'm taking some of that wisdom to the current manuscript that so far resists being finished, I may find time for the next Elly Griffiths in my TBR stack. 

 

Nicola brings us some lovely reads.

This month I’ve got back into my reading after a slump. I very much enjoyed A Royal Kiss and Tell by Julia London. It’s set in the Victorian era and is book 2 in the Royal Wedding series. I loved the first book, The Princess Plan, but I think I enjoyed this one even more. Julia’s writing is quirky and charming and funny, and she creates such wonderful characters and strong emotional stories. I loved both Caroline, the heroine, who is warm and loving and confident, and Leo, the hero, who is struggling with the issue of being the spare not the heir and trying to find a purpose in life. These two are, on the face of it, quite incompatible and yet they could not have been more perfect for each other.

I also read a brilliant novella by Elizabeth St John who has been a Word Wench guest in the past. Counterpoint: Henry, the King’s Cavalier is part of The Lydiard Chronicles, set in the English Civil War, and is the prequel to book 3 in the series, Written in their Stars. It tells the story of the meeting between Henry Wilmot and Nan Lee, and is gorgeously written and very romantic.

Like Wench Susan, I’m also on a bit of an Elly Griffiths glom. I love the Dr Ruth Galloway mysteries; they combine just about everything I like in a crime novel – intriguing stories that aren’t too graphic or violent, complicated relationships for interesting characters, humour, history and a tinge of the supernatural. The way she creates a sense of place and atmosphere is terrific. I’ve just finished A Room Full of Bones, which was excellent, and am reading Dying Fall at the moment. Brilliant stuff!

 

 

Pat recommends Poison in Paddington, a Cassie Coburn mystery by Samantha Silver.

She says, I adore a good mystery, usually a cozy because the violence is limited, and I enjoy getting to know the characters and the setting. But lately all of the cozies are alike, and I’d about given up on the genre. But I bumped into this one with a chicklitty cover, read the first page, and was hooked. The writing is excellent, the characters intriguing, and while I might quibble a bit over the mystery and clues, I thoroughly immersed myself in the story anyway.

The story is told from the POV of a woman whose career as a surgeon was stolen by an accident six months before she finished her residency. Depressed, she heads to the UK, where she meets a most unusual detective—a Frenchwoman who seems to be on the autism spectrum. On the way to solving the mystery of a serial killer who isn’t a serial killer, the characters learn about friendship and why life is worth living. A very nice change of pace, recommended! and it looks like it’s free!

I’ve since read Bombing in Belgravia, book #2, and enjoyed it in the same way.

 

Christina brings us some armchair escape.

Christina: I’m afraid I haven’t read very much this month as I’ve been busy editing my own work, but as I was in need of some more armchair travel, I made time for Escape to the French Farmhouse by Jo Thomas. The sunny cover totally drew me in and this novel proved to be the perfect way to go abroad. I have never been to Provence but I now feel as though I know exactly how it feels – the warm sunshine on my face, the mistral wind sweeping through from time to time, the scent of lavender hanging in the air, and best of all – the food! I long for a bowl of moules marinières, boeuf bourguinon, a freshly baked baguette or flaky newly baked croissants. And I want to taste the exquisite lavender cookies the heroine bakes in her farmhouse kitchen. This is not your usual romance, as the heroine battles to come to terms with things that have happened in her life which will never be perfect, but it shows the reader that happiness is what you make it. The most important things are courage, kindness and living life to the full, then new beginnings can be exactly what we need!

 

For the rest of the month I’ve been in need of comfort reads, so I turned to Georgette Heyer – she never fails to cheer me up! I hadn’t re-read The Toll Gate for quite a while – I’ve always loved that story and so it proved again. However, I didn’t remember quite how much Regency slang (or ‘cant’) Ms Heyer used in this book and I couldn’t help but feel it could have done with a bit less. The Reluctant Widow and Cotillion, however, were just as wonderful as ever before, making me laugh and forget everything else. The perfect antidote to these worrying times we’re living in! I shall now continue with The Talisman Ring, another favourite …

 

Anne offers some reading magic:

My reading this month has had a bit of a magical theme. I always enjoy Juliet Marillier's writing. Her evocation of historical times is wonderful, and the magic she weaves through her stories is enthralling. Her latest book is Heart's Blood.

Caitrin has been trained by her father, a noted scribe, but when he dies, and brutal relatives take over her home, she flees. With nothing to support her but her skills, and in a time when reading and writing were rare, in desperation she takes a job in a castle that everyone warns her is cursed. And indeed it is . . . 

 

My magic theme continued with two books by Emily Larkin — each one the beginning of a new series. Both are a continuation of her "baleful godmother" series, where one wish is granted to each member of a family at their coming of age.  Primrose and the Dreadful Duke is the first in a "cousin-based female series, and Octavius and the Perfect Governess is the first in a male-centred series, where the wish now goes to a family with only male descendants.

 

Both books are most enjoyable. Emily Larkin knows her Regency era — you can tell she grew up reading Georgette Heyer — but the magical aspects add an extra layer in which she often explores some quite contemporary ideas. 

 

The first book in the Baleful Godmother series, Unmasking Miss Appleby, was about a poverty stricken young woman who chose the gift of transformation. To escape a dreary and restricted future, she takes the form of a man. As well as a romance and a mystery, it's also a fun exploration of what it means to be a man. (It's also free)

 

In Octavius and the Perfect Governess she does the opposite. Octavius, having lost a bet, is challenged to attend an event as a woman, and because he also has the gift of transformation, he's female all the way. He discovers what life can be like for an unprotected female in the 19th century — and he decides to act to teach the men concerned a lesson they won't forget. Fun and feminist.

I'm looking forward to seeing where both series take us.

 

 

Andrea brings us a Romance adventure.

 

Andrea: This month I’ve been working my way through a very LONG but very fascinating biography of Ulysses S. Grant (more on it when I finish, but it’s by Ron Chrenow, who wrote the bio of Hamilton, on which the musical was based.He’s a wonderful biographer, and the book won all sorts of accolades when it came out, as it paints a very different portrait of Grant than the accepted view of him as a  drunk and an incompetent leader.) in between that, I read two shorter books, both of which I really enjoyed. 

 

I was lucky enough to get an ARC for A Duke, the Lady and a Baby by Vanessa Riley, which releases June 30, and can’t say enough good things about it! It’s such a fresh take on a Regency romance, with wonderfully nuances and complex characters, rich emotional intensity and a very engaging  plot. The heroine, a recently widowed West Indian heiress, questions whether her aristocratic English husband really committed suicide—and the man’s smarmy cousin immediately had her thrown in an asylum and takes charge of her infant son—the only person standing between the cousin and the title and estate. However, the twist he didn't expect was that Patience’s husband had named another relative as guardian—the Duke of Repington—a military hero recovering from a grievous war wound—and the duke takes his responsibilities seriously

 

Patience escapes from the asylum, and with the help of a group of ladies who come to her aid, she manages to get herself hired as a nurse to her child while she plans to contrive a way to escape and spirit the child out of England so he can’t be taken away from her. She finds the duke unbending and irascible, and he finds her managing and  . . mysterious. Sparks fly, yet slowly but surely a wary trust develops between two wary people who are nursing deep wounds. There’s wonderful humor in many scenes—I love the argument over whether an infant should have "crawling drills" to teach him discipline and resilience, And there are deeply poignant scenes of vulnerability and self-doubt as the two forge trust and and friendship—and then a totally unexpected love. And the HEA is is very fulfilling I highly recommend it!

 

I also read the latest “Daniel Pitt” mystery, One Fatal Flaw by Anne Perry. I really like this new series, which follows the son of her longtime hero/heroine Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series. Daniel is now  grown up and is a young barrister with a prestigious firm in London. So they are legal mysteries as a opposed to his father and mother’s police mysteries, with very complex and interesting cases. What makes them really appealing to me is the heroine is a spinster scholar who is 15 years old than Daniel. She’s a chemist and interested in using science to solve crimes, and the two of them have solved two crimes together. The relationship is getting very intriguing, and the plots are very well-woven. This is the third book, and I’d recommend starting with the first of the series. But for any fan of historical mysteries, this series is a winner.

 

And for myself ..

Joanna here, winding things up.

My most interesting read this month has been by the writing team of Ilona Andrews. It's a work not yet finished. It's not even an ARC.

The story is set in the Kate Daniels World. Eight years ago Julie, adopted daughter of Guild Mercenary Kate Daniels and the Beast Lord Curren Lennart, got on her horse and left Atlanta to ...

I dunnoh. She was a teenager. Maybe she was escaping the overwhelming presence of super-magical parents. Maybe she wanted to find herself. Who knows why teenagers do anything?

So, anyhow, the last Kate Daniels book, Magic Triumphs, ends with Julie headed off to parts unknown, seeking adventure in magic- and monster- filled post-apocalyptic America where she is almost certain to find it.

Now she's back. She's returned to Atlanta with a new name, new skills, and a deadly mission -- to keep her mom from getting killed.

This new book, Ryder, is a story in the making. Ilona Andrews posts chapters as they finish them. Sometimes they go back and add in extra bits.

I find the process fascinating. The growing manuscript is here. You can watch the work-in-progress or wait a bit and the story will doubtless be finished and offered online in its entirety.

 

What did you read recently that rang your chimes or gave you joy or just livened up a dull evening or two?