Nicola here, welcoming you to the Word Wench "What We’re Reading" feature for December. It’s a bumper edition, including both Christmas-themed and other books, so jump right in and check out our choices, and let us know what you recommend this month!
Anne here, and as usual I've read quite a bit in the last month and have several recommendations. The first is The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley. Elderly artist, Julian Jessop is lonely and unhappy and, claiming that authenticity is the only possible solution for changing his life, he writes down how he feels in a small exercise book, and leaves it in a local cafe. The owner of the cafe finds it, and inspired by his words of wisdom, writes down her own secret dreams and fears. And leaves the book in a nearby park. And so it goes from person to person. Of course, all their paths begin to cross, and various stories begin to unfold. Quirky and fun -- I thoroughly enjoyed it.
In crime, I’ve just finished the latest JD Kirk — A Snowball's Chance in Hell. This is the 9th book in JD Kirk's excellent Scottish crime series. I've mentioned his books before. Crime, good characterization, humor, tension and a compelling mystery. I put his books on pre-order the minute they appear. They develop, so start with the first book in the series.
I'm also rereading E F Benson's "Lucia" novels, which I haven't read for years. They're delightful novels — very funny and gently satirical, about the intense rivalry, pretensions and ruthless one-upmanship (one upwomanship?) that takes place in the upper middle class society of a small English village in the 1930s. The series builds — for my money the pick of the crop is the middle book, Mapp and Lucia, where two strong-minded ladies battle it out for queen (or top of the pecking order) of their little society.
As the moment you can buy all six of the books in one collection for the ridiculous price of $2 (with a slight variation according to country.) But they're all good. If you have any doubts about whether you'd enjoy the books, read the first few pages of Mapp and Lucia (by clicking on the "look inside" feature on Amazon.)
Christina – As it’s the festive season, I have been reading my way through a pile of Christmas-themed books and I’ve enjoyed the snow and seasonal cheer vicariously – the snow especially since it’s done nothing but rain where I am! I started off with One More for Christmas by Sarah Morgan which Nicola recommended a while back and I absolutely loved it so I’m seconding her recommendation to read it. This was exactly the kind of feel-good book I needed right now!
Ever since I read Summer Island by Natalie Normann I’ve been waiting for the sequel, Christmas Island, and I wasn’t disappointed – it’s wonderful! I read it in one sitting and couldn’t put it down. I fell in love with that idyllic island in the summer time, but despite the horrible weather, it was just as lovely during Christmas and I so want to go there. This was in large part due to a big, grumpy Viking named Tor, with whom I fell instantly in love (despite his enormous beard!). He was tough and vulnerable in equal measures, and so very appealing. The heroine too is someone the reader can really empathise with – her humour and kind nature make that really easy. And I so enjoyed hearing about all the Norwegian Christmas traditions, many of which are very similar to the Swedish ones I grew up with. Made me feel very nostalgic! If you want to escape to a small island full of people with big hearts and a strong sense of community, and lose yourself in a gorgeous romance, this book is for you!
Finally, there was One Family Christmas by Bella Osborne. The Collins family Christmas has always been organised by Nana Rose, the matriarch who owns a lovely little manor house in the Cotswolds. She’s also acted as surrogate mother to Lottie and her brother since their mother is a total flake, and she’s the person everyone runs to in a crisis. When she suddenly dies just a few weeks before the holidays, Lottie is determined to have one last family Christmas just as her grandmother would have wanted before the house is sold. But there are a few problems with that, mainly that her family is completely dysfunctional, she can’t cook, and to top it all, the guy she was in love with nine years ago is suddenly back in the village and messing with her head. This is a heart-warming story with a very likeable heroine who tries so hard to make everyone around her happy that she loses sight of her own needs. I was rooting for her from page one and loved the satisfying ending! The US Amazon book links are:
https://www.amazon.com/One-More-Christmas-Sarah-Morgan-ebook/dp/B084Q65YSV/wordwench-20 https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Island-Natalie-Normann-ebook/dp/B08691C9CK/wordwench-20 https://www.amazon.com/One-Family-Christmas-Bella-Osborne-ebook/dp/B085XQXDB9/wordwench-20
Pat here: THE LIBRARY OF LOST AND FOUND, Phaedra Patrick--If you’re in the mood for a lovely women’s fiction-y story that includes lots of books, take a look at this one. The protagonist volunteers at the local library in a small seaside town. She’s been taking care of her parents for years and since they’ve died, she’s been filling the emptiness with volunteer jobs. There’s a fascinating back story, well drawn characters, and the usual family drama, but somehow Patrick makes this fresh and fascinating, the kind of feel-good book you can sink into, even as the layers of lies are peeled back one-by-one until the protagonist finally sees her life clearly.
Mary Jo here, with two books that aren't Christmassy but are definitely fun.
Pet Noir by Pati Nagle
A native New Mexican, Pati Nagle (http://patinagle.com/ )is a very versatile author who has written a wide range of fantasy under her own name, historical novels as P. G. Nagle, and cozy tearoom mysteries as Patrice Greenwood.
Pet Noir is science fiction for cat lovers. Her protagonist, Leon, is a genetically engineered Maine Coon with many special abilities such as a really quick mind, a tongue designed to speak human languages, and thumbs. He's been commissioned by the security chief of a space station to be an undercover agent because cats go everywhere and can hear everything.
Leon has all these special abilities but is also totally a cat who is always scrounging for food. <G> He's great fun as he makes friends, learns to manage in zero gravity, and solves several mysteries on the space station. My enjoyment was enhanced because Leon reminded me of my Maine Coon-ish Princess Flufferbella, who hasn't learned to speak English yet, but is very gogd at conveying her meanings. <G>
The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa
Like Jasmine Guillory, Mia Sosa writes romantic comedy with diverse characters. (Interestingly, Guillory is a graduate of Stanford Law and Sosa is a graduate of Harvard Law. There are a fair number of lawyers who have escaped over the wall into writing romance. <G>)
Told in alternating first person chapters, The Worst Best Man features Max Hartley, a marketing guy who wakes up to a text by his brother Andrew on the morning of what should be Andrew's wedding day to be told that the wedding is off so Max must break the news to the jilted bride, and by the way, Max, thanks for what you said last night about why Carolina Santos and I wouldn't suit.
Needless to say, Lina is not pleased by the news, especially since she's a wedding planner. Lina is Brazilian-American and her mother, aunts, and other elements of Brazilian culture are a hoot.
Lina is a survivor so she carries on. Time passes, she is about to lose her office space and real estate is Washington, DC is crazy expensive. Then she gets a chance to make a presentation to a high class hotel that wants to create itself as a major DC wedding venue. It's a dream job. The hitch? She has to develop her pitch with Max, the marketing man and ex-best man, while the other candidate for the job is working with ex-fiancé Andrew. NOT a good situation, particularly since Lina and the Hartley brothers all panic when introduced to each other by the hotel owner and don't mention their prior relationships.
What follows is a fun story that has both over the top comedy and serious relationship issues. I'm looking forward to reading more of Mia Sosa's books.
Nicola here and I have been on a crime spree this Christmas, at least in my reading. First was Richard Osman’s runaway bestseller The Thursday Murder Club. Plot-wise I’m always reluctant to say much about crime novels since I don’t want to give anything away but basically there are some very dodgy businessmen who are looking to make money out of building developments at a retirement village and when they all start to meet a grisly end, a group of intrepid elderly sleuths step in to solve the case.
I can see why this book is such a success. It’s funny, clever and has the sort of warmth that is very appealing in the current climate when a lot of us are looking for a reading and viewing experience that is cosy and reassuring (murders notwithstanding). The retirement village setting is well drawn and the cast of characters is absolutely wonderful. The resourcefulness, humour and fascinating past lives of the members of the Thursday Murder Club is a reminder of how interesting our older friends and relatives can be. Very highly recommended!
I also read Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz which is a book within a book and two murder stories in one. It’s fiendishly clever and complicated, drawing on the classic country house Agatha Christie type story but with very modern twists. There aren’t many likeable characters in the book which does make it all the more satisfying when the thoroughly dislikeable ones get their comeuppance!
On the historical fiction side of things I really enjoyed Fools and Mortals by Bernard Cornwell. The hero is Richard Shakespeare, lesser-known brother of the famous William, and the story takes place against a background of London’s Tudor playhouses, filthy back streets and palaces. It’s atmospheric and vividly written, there’s a great mystery at the heart of it, we see Richard mature and step out of his brother’s shadow and there’s a cute romance for good measure!
Andrea: A friend recently recommended Rules of Civility by Amor Towles, which came out a while ago and garnered great acclaim. I’m not sure how I missed it back then, but am so happy to have gotten the heads-up. It’s a wonderfully stylish novel, with echos of The Great Gatsby’s complicated—and sometimes ruthless—high society world. Set in 1938 New York, the reader follows Katey Content, daughter of Russian immigrants, who has climbed up a rung or two of the social ladder to garner a good secretarial job in Manhattan. On New Year’s Eve, she and her firecracker girlfriend from the boarding house for struggling professionals are at a second-rate jazz dive, musing on life and men, when a handsome, charismatic Ivy League banker walks in, expecting to meet his brother. The brother never turns up and the three of them begin to party together . . .
Katey soon finds herself drawn into the world of WASPs and Old Money, and as she navigates through the shoals of innuendo and privilege, she slowly discovering that things aren’t always what they seem. She’s also plotting her own path in life, and as a narrator on finding one’s place in the world, she’s full of fascinating insights and reflections on friendship, desire, and what ultimately makes one happy. The writing is beautiful, and the charcters compelling. I highly recommend it!
Susan: Despite good intentions over the holiday weeks, I didn't read Christmas stories, but did finish a few books on my PRL (partly read list!). Days ago I finished Beach Read by Emily Henry. The tempting premise sends romance writer January Andrews to a beach house to discover that former high-school crush and literary fiction success Gus Everett is her next-door neighbor. Both plagued with writer's block, they decide it's easier to write what the other writes; so they compete, and tumble headlong into the emotional secrets each is shielding. The story has plenty of energy, with character depth, romantic fire, and palpable and sometimes dark emotion. And I love that Henry goes into what it's really truly like being an author. As love rekindles and secrets are exposed, the story grows more complex and takes on challenging emotional directions that while surprising are ultimately rewarding. An excellent read, whether you're at the (socially distanced) beach or stuck inside in winter!
Just now I'm halfway through News of the World by Paulette Jiles, which has been in my TBR pile--but seeing the movie trailer, I jumped on it and I'm barreling along in a terrific story set in the Old West. Captain Kidd is a literate man in the dusty ol' West who travels around reading newspaper accounts to groups eager to pay to hear the news. Soon he agrees to return a ten-year-old girl to her family. A Kiowa captive for so long that she barely remembers her earlier life, she is wild and wise, and fascinating. Kidd is a good man challenged to communicate and to protect her as they travel. The dry prose is fresh and quick, very effective, the historical setting is authentic, and the fullness and subtlety in the characters is superb. I'm finding it a palate cleanser after reading a slew of contemporaries, along the lines of True Grit (which I have read three times), and I am loving this!
And I'm happy to report I finally got to Lucy Parker, a favorite among the Wenches, so you'll have heard about her books before. Act Like It, the first in her London Celebrities series, pairs stage actress and good-girl Lainie Graham with temperamental bad-boy celeb Richard Troy as they fake a romantic relationship to rescue his reputation from a hungry press. Frustrated with each other, they begin to see behind their seemingly opposite temperaments, balancing each other's strengths and weaknesses as they fall in love. Lucy Parker writes smart, snappy, sexy books filled with convincing characters and a sense of wraparound love and friendship that's just a joy to read. I absolutely blew through the second book in the series--Pretty Face is equally enjoyable. TV actress Lily Lamprey and stage director Luc Savage must work together on a stage production while protecting deep secrets--it's real, compelling, full of spark, humor, and passion. Lucy Parker is a real find, and I'm about to glom all of her books!
So there you have it - our reads and recommendations for the month of December. Now over to you! What have you been reading and enjoying this month?