Word Wenches

Trials and Tribulations of Writing

Pat here: Unlike my psychic heroines, I have nothing insightful to tell you as we dive into the new year. I’m still trying to figure out what day of the week it is after the holidays, and almost missed my blog date because I haven’t updated my calendar yet. I have accounting worksheets piling up all over my desk for my personal taxes and those of an organization I work with. Who can write a book with all this new stuff spinning in the brain? Maybe I need that crystal ball!

Yet I continue to wade into the fray of writing mysteries. I’ve written characters for forty years now, savoring their romances and conflicts, and I still learn something new every day in how to depict their personalities. But mysteries. . . require actual plotting.

Regency Speak

I have spent the last couple of years writing contemporary mysteries and before that, Victorian romances. It’s been quite a few years since I’ve attempted Regency cant. I have an entire thesaurus of words, but my head simply isn't picking up the speech patterns that allow boxing cant or catty insults the way it used to do. Worse yet, the hero is American, and now I have to wonder how much of Regency-speak an American might use. Or a spinster who spends more time in books than society. Oh, and then there are the Frenchmen and the country folk. . .

Titles & Audiobooks

Answering Questions: Aristocratic Titles and Audiobooks

Compiled by Mary Jo

The Wenches invite readers to submit questions to us, and due to general overwork, two interesting questions got lost, but now are found.  So both questions are being answered today, and the questioners will each get a book from me.

Here is the first question from Rosa Berini Franco:

I would like to ask you about a question that has us debating several friends who are fond of historical romance.  The question is the following:

 When a distant relative inherits a title (e.g., earl) from someone who dies without direct heirs, do the sisters of that relative receive the courtesy title of lady?  By distant relative, I am referring to a fourth or fifth degree cousin who has no title whatsoever.

IMPRESSIONS OF EGYPT

I admire avid travelers who can recount events, name famous places, and give a coherent travelogue on the spur of the moment. I am not one of them. Since I have never had a reliable memory, I experience travel. I might close my eyes and recall the scent of saffron and cinnamon, the lights on the mosque, the tune of a street musician—and inevitably, the cry of “One dollar, only one dollar, miss!” as a vendor shoves an armful of bracelets at me. I will not be able to tell you the name of the market or the mosque. Although the one I’m recalling at the moment is in Cairo—and I didn’t take a single photo because I was living it, not recording it. Fortunately, my husband was not so lax!

Regency Gas Lighting

West Point 1820

Pat here:

I am not all certain why I dove down the bunny hole of gas lighting (And no, I don’t mean gaslighting. My characters won’t be psychologically manipulating anyone! That’s just mean.)  other than that the hero of the next historical is most probably a US Army engineer. (Yes, West Point was already turning them out in the early 1800s, probably only two or three a year but we don’t want to get picky about back story, do we?) The point is, I needed to know what kind of lighting my isolated manor might have and if it could be updated. And the answer is yes, yes it can. . .

We Have A Winner!

The wenches have drawn a name from our subscriber list and sent an email to the lucky winner of Merely Magic in this month's drawing. Sign up now so your name will be in the kitty for next month's book!

Ask A Wench — Bird Watching.

Anne here, and today the wenches are talking about birds. A few weeks ago, when we were chatting on line, as we often do, we started to share bird stories, and it transpired that we were all very fond of birds. So the question we each answer today is this: What are some of your favorite birds, and where do you get to see them?

Nicola: As a child I loved the English garden birds such as the robin, which I read about in my books and saw when I visited my grandparents. We lived in the city and had a tiny garden but my grandparents lived in the countryside and were surrounded by nature. My grandfather was a keen gardener who knew all the different birds we’d find when we were outside and would point out to me the blackbirds, blue tits and sparrows. It wasn’t until I travelled abroad as an adult that I realised that birds with similar names could be quite different in other countries! I loved seeing an American Robin, for example, and was surprised how different it looked from a European one – except for the orange chest!

My dh is a keen birdwatcher and far more interested and knowledgeable than I, and when we moved to our village in Oxfordshire, we became involved with Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in species protection. It was an exciting time; we had one of the rarest birds in the UK, the Montagu’s Harrier, nesting locally. This beautiful bird of prey is very common in some other countries but not in England. For a number of years, we monitored the breeding pairs and the nests and learned so much about them. Sadly, the harriers are long gone from our area now but instead we have red kites which are also stunning birds. I love the kites, which are a successful re-introduction into the UK. In the Middle Ages they were common and would fly over towns and cities looking for scraps of food to eat. With their forked tails they were known as “devil birds.” They died out but now they are back and I enjoy seeing them up on the hills and flying over the village.

A Very Brief History of Buttons

Pat here:

I’m still digging around in research for my current, very tentative, historical idea. I’m thinking the village I talked about last time has lost its inhabitants to industries which pay better than farming small plots. And I’m thinking whatever cottage industry once paid women has also died, so young people packed up and left, and there’s no one left.

Researching English Villages

I’m toying with an idea for a historical romance and haven’t quite decided on what era or area my characters and their situation might fit into. The idea requires a rather large manor house or even a sprawling aristocratic estate. I’m rather fond of houses, so the more house, the merrier for me. If it’s deteriorating, even better—so much story material there!

I’d like the house to be relatively isolated, but it’s not a self-supporting estate, so I need some sort of small village nearby. People need to get out of the house occasionally! So I started by digging around in English villages to see where such a place might have existed in the 18^th or 19^th centuries. I don’t want to go further back than that.

June What We're Reading!

Mary Jo here…

…with the Wenches' ever popular "What we're reading" blog.  Dig out your credit cards, we're going for a joy ride!

I've always known that Jennifer Ashley is a very talented, prolific author who writes historical romances, paranormals, and historical mysteries, but I hadn't found her Leonidas the Gladiator series, written under her Ashley Gardner pseudonym.  So far there are only two novels and a novella, but more are coming.  The first book is Blood of a Gladiator.

Leonidas is the premier gladiator in Rome, a rock star fighter who is recognized in the streets, but he has reached the point where he can't face any more killing.  That is the moment when he receives his freedom from slavery and can finally quit being a gladiator and make his own life--if he can figure out how.

He has no financial resources, but an unknown benefactor gives him a modest apartment and a slave of his own: Cassia, who is a scribe.  Illiterate Leonidas doesn't know what to do with  a slave who does doesn't cook or do housework, but she can help him find jobs and is very good at negotiating contracts and making sure they get paid. 

Initially Cassia is afraid of him, but he's a good guy and doesn't ravish her and gradually they develop a bond of trust.  And have to deal with unexpected murders.  Ashley Gardner creates a wonderful sense of place and what it would be like to live in Rome during the reign of Nero.  But the best part is the characters and their slowing developing relationship. 

 

Ask A Wench: our noble ancestors!

Jean Hasbrouck House

Pat here:

The wenches thank Jane Irish Nelson for this fabulous question: Have you traced your family history? If so, what interesting stories have you discovered? And have you ever incorporated those stories into your books? Jane, you’ve won a copy of one of my books!

Wenches, being the history nuts we are, have delved into the lives and stories of our ancestors where we can and have some fabulous tales to tell…

Except me. I may have mentioned previously that both my parents were orphaned, my mother at birth and my father when he was young. I never had biological grandparents and have no family stories to tell. But after doing the DNA search on one of the genealogy sites and consulting with a cousin, I’ve traced bits and pieces. My father’s ancestors were deeply rooted in the Hudson

Huguenot cemetery

Valley of New York, well back to the original settlers. (There was a good deal of intermarriage in these early families. The same names pop up frequently on the tree.)  One of them has even written a small book with all the research he has done, although I seem to have lost the link. I have pages of research notes from family members, and all I can say is that I’m pretty sure that side of the family came from a lot of vain storytellers with too much time on their hands. <G> If I follow their irregular notes, I am descended from half of European nobility.

What We Read in May

Anne here, and it's that time again, where we share the books we've read and enjoyed in the last month. Brace your credit cards . . . 

We start with Christina:
My favourite read this month was Sue Moorcroft’s latest novel Summer at the French Café.  This story is an absolute delight and exactly what I needed right now to sweep me away from real life! It’s a wonderful tale of learning to trust, the importance of being open and honest with everyone, and the healing power of love. The reader can’t help but empathise with the hard-working heroine Kat from the start. She’s independent and capable, but with a positive outlook on life, and she never complains even when things go decidedly pear-shaped. A child of divorced parents, she has lots of emotional baggage, but for the most part, she manages to ignore it. Then the hero Noah arrives on the scene and he seems almost too good to be true. He has his own problems to contend with, but instead of charging in like a bull in a china shop, he stops to consider the best way of solving them. I fell head over heels in love with him – how can you not love a man as determined as he is to do the right thing for his very sensitive 8-year old daughter, while at the same time being the perfect boyfriend? Kat has to decide whether she dares to take a chance and believe that he is every bit as great as he seems, and I was rooting for this couple all the way. This is definitely the perfect summer story!  (If the links above don't work for you, try this one.)

I also very much enjoyed Under One Roof, a novella by Ali Hazelwood which she calls “STEMist”. The heroine Mara is an environmental engineer and extremely brilliant at what she does, but she’s fighting against sexism and prejudice in her workplace. She’s just been left a half share in a house by her former mentor, but she hadn’t reckoned with having to share it with the woman’s nephew Liam. At first glance he is everything she hates – a corporate lawyer working for a company that has no regard for the environment whatsoever. They try to co-exist as house owners, but drive each other nuts. But everything is not as it seems, and slowly but surely they begin to find common ground. I absolutely loved the chemistry between these two and watching the romance develop. This is only the first novella in a series of three and I can’t wait for the other two!

Pat Rice tells us about: SEVEN DAYS OF US by Francesca Hornak.

The basic story here is that Olivia Birch has been treating some kind of plague in Africa and when she comes home for Christmas, she has to quarantine for a week. So her family quarantines with her in their stately old, crumbling manor in Norfolk. Olivia is the no-nonsense doctor out to save the world. Andrew, her father, was a journalist who once thought he could save the world. Now he’s a food critic. Emma, his wife, gave up her dreams to be a mother and has buried herself in tradition. Phoebe is the younger sister with no purpose other than getting married. Into this suffocating atmosphere drops Jesse, an American son fathered by Andrew while he was in a war zone. He had been given up for adoption and is now searching for his birth parents. Nuclear explosion ensues.

Make no mistake about it, this is a deliberately literary novel, so you won’t get your fun and games happy ending, but the writing is positively compelling. The reader is dragged into their mixed-up lives and really needs to know how all these good, but confused, people fix themselves or each other. We root them on as they grope about in their darkness. I can promise that they find a new kind of light at the end of their week of togetherness, so it’s well worth diving into for your escapism addiction.

History of Detective Fiction

Pat here:

As we all know, my Malcolm/Ives families started out in historical romance, took a wicked right turn at the Victorian Age, and crossed over into the contemporary market. With my new Psychic Solutions  series, they took another zig-zag and ended up in mystery. I’ve done romantic suspense, so it isn’t a total departure. But romance is where my heart and soul have been for so long, that I can’t quite let it go. So, of course, romance wraps its way around the mystery because it makes me feel good.

And I miss my historical research. I probably should have missed it enough to dig into the roots of detective fiction so I had a clue of what genre I was actually writing, but my characters are gonna do what they’re gonna do. So I probably saved myself a step.

Who is James Edward Oglethorpe?

Pat here, just back from a three week trip by plane, boat, and car (don’t know how we missed train. . .) and a little too overwhelmed to write a coherent blog. The original intent of our travel was research in Charleston and Savannah, but weather upended most of those plans. Both cities are charming, and their early days would be great for contrasting, but that would take more time and space than I have. So I thought I’d dive into Savannah’s history first—until I remembered General James Oglethorpe, the city’s founder. The man was absolutely fascinating and a century before his time, at the very least. If only all our rich and famous could be as broad-minded. . .

History of US Income Taxes

I’ve been working on my income taxes, and my brain is too fried to come up with any better topic. As a former CPA, I’m always fascinated by how we finance roads, bridges, military, and the countless other expenses of government. (The federal government—our taxes— represents 30% of the gross national product, making it the biggest industry keeping the economy rolling) Fun fact: the earliest known tax was in Mesopotamia 4500 years ago and was paid in livestock.

Comfort Food!

by Mary Jo

In complicated times, we need our comfort foods!  What foods and drinks do you reach for when you need soothing?

Nicola is first:

I’ve been a comfort eater ever since I was a teen and over the last couple of years my eating did rather spiral out of control as a result of all the stresses in the world, macro-sized ones and personal challenges. One bag of crisps became an entire family sized bag I had to myself and the same went for chocolate. When I realised that I needed an entirely new set of clothes to accommodate me and my eating habit, I realised I had to stop.

So I signed up for a programme to help me change my mindset towards food. It wasn’t a diet because it didn’t need willpower, which was good because I don’t have any when it comes to eating. Instead it sort of reset my attitude towards food. So the brilliant thing about it is that I can still eat all the lovely comfort foods I enjoy – cheese and onion crisps, chocolate mini-eggs, hot buttered toast – but as treats rather than in huge quantities. And I’ve discovered the comfort of eating stuff that’s actually good for me: luxury jacket potatoes, lovely rich casseroles in winter.

But when it comes to the ultimate in comfort food then I seek out baklava. For those who haven’t yet discovered it, baklava is a layered filo pastry dessert filled with chopped nuts (my favourite being pistachios), sweetened with honey and spiced with cinnamon and cardamom. When it’s warm the filo pastry is all soft and gooey with the honey mixture, and the spices are subtle and delicious. You can cut it into square pieces to eat as sweet treats – as large or small as you like. It’s scrumptious and there’s a wonderful recipe for it here:

 

What We're Reading

Pat here with the Word Wenches monthly reads!

My contribution is Lizzie and Dante by Mary Bly (Eloisa James)

I imagine most of you recognize Eloisa James as a wonderful historical romance writer. This first contemporary under her real name is a romance, but also heartbreakingly uplifting, original women’s fiction. Lizzie is a Shakespeare professor with cancer who agrees to take an all-expenses paid trip to Elba with her gay best friend, a horror writer, and his still-in-the-closet famous superhero actor lover. I suppose everyone in the book needs to be rich and famous and talented to make up for the fact that the protagonist is dying. She is preparing for death throughout the story. What she isn’t prepared for is the rich life  she discovers dealing with her friend’s frustration, a twelve-year-old looking for a mother, a brash breast cancer survivor, and the man of Lizzie’s dreams, a brilliant cook who creates food she hates but who pours his joy into living. As this family of friends forms around her, Lizzie is faced with actual life-and-death decisions. And this is still the most romantic, tear-jerking, lovely story you may have ever read.

Writing Short!

By Mary Jo

More than you ever wanted to know about writing short fiction!

I became hooked on books as soon as I learned how to read, so it's no surprise that when I got a computer, learned word processing, and decided to see if I could write, what I dived into was a book: a full length Regency romance, The Diabolical Baron.

Clearly my natural instinct was to write long.  My Signet Regencies were supposed to be 75,000 words, but two of my first four drafted at about 125,000 words.  Ooops!  Nonetheless, when I was invited to write a Christmas novella for the second Signet holiday anthology, I couldn't resist saying yes, so I had to learn to write a lot shorter.

 

Ask A Wench - The Best Love Story You've Read

Nicola here, introducing this month’s Ask A Wench which has a Valentine romance theme. When I first asked the Wenches: “What is the best love story you’ve ever read, seen (or written!) and what is it that makes it so good?” there were groans all round and complaints along the lines of “How do you expect us to choose just one?”

Yes, it is a problem narrowing the field down but somehow we’ve managed it and here are our thoughts. And you’d better start thinking about your own favourites too, because at the end of the blog we’ll be putting you on the spot for your recommendations!

Anne here, finding it impossible to choose my "best love story or movie" or even a most romantic scene, because the power of a scene so often depends on context. Instead I am choosing a most romantic letter — the one written by Capt. Wentworth in Jane Austen's Persuasion. It's wonderfully romantic, especially as it's written by a stern-seeming buttoned-down Naval officer.

AAW—what we're watching

Anne here, and today, because so many of us have been spending more time indoors than usual, the wenches are answering the question: Seen any good TV shows or movies lately?

Christina says – I’m afraid the answer to that is no - and not for lack of trying! I managed several visits to the cinema in the run up to Christmas but was sadly disappointed each time. First, I saw the new James Bond film, No Time to Die, which was OK but I absolutely hated the ending!

Soon after, I was seriously underwhelmed by that the new Marvel film, Eternals. Then I watched the new version of Dune. Admittedly this was beautifully made and perfectly captured the book IMO, but sadly it was part one of two (where the second hasn’t even been made yet!). Why? That’s like selling me half a book and saying I should be happy with that because it’s good so far.  And don’t get me started on A Castle for Christmas with Cary Elwes (doing a bad Scottish accent) and Brooke Shields. Although the setting was stunning, I wish I’d just watched The Princess Bride instead for the umpteenth time – at least Cary was perfect in that! Finally, I will grudgingly admit to enjoying the new Disney movie Jungle Cruise, although it tries a bit too hard to be like Pirates of the Caribbean. Still, a lot of fun!

Really, I think the only saving grace was my discovery of the TV series Endeavour (the Young Morse).  This is a prequel to the Inspector Morse series, set in Oxford and based on the books by Colin Dexter. One night I happened to catch an episode of this, which is all about the start of his career. He’s a young detective, quiet and introverted, but incredibly intelligent. Of course he always solves the murders and shows up his superiors (who don’t appreciate that for obvious reasons). And he’s just a really likeable character who you can’t help but root for. If you like crime drama that’s not too gory and you haven’t seen it yet I’d recommend it.

Pat says: While waiting for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel  to return from break, we’ve been watching a lot of old detective shows, mostly on Britbox, I think, although some can be found on Netflix.

New Year’s Day and the New York Times

Pat here:

 Were you one of the billion people to stay up New Year’s Eve to watch the ball drop over Times Square? Do you know who started this idiocy? The New York Times, that’s who.

At the turn of the 20^th century, the NYT bought property in what was then called Long Acre Square (after London’s carriage district). Originally, the square was a large open horse market with dreary tenements surrounding it. But once electricity and public transit were installed, the area became a hot market. In 1903, the New York Times started building the second largest tower in the city at the time. Once it was complete, it apparently took very little arm twisting for the newspaper to persuade the city to rename the square after itself, and Times Square came into existence. In celebration, in 1904, the Times threw a huge block party on New Year’s Eve, well, huge for back then, anyway. The theater district consisted of maybe one theater, but they celebrated with music and fireworks every New Year’s Eve—until the city banned fireworks in 1907. In their place, an engineer built a 700 lb wood and iron ball illuminated by a hundred lights to drop from a flagpole at midnight. And the tradition began!

Within a decade, the Times outgrew its skyscraper. That towering, skinny NYT office building offered prime real estate for advertising, especially for the theaters crowding into the area. A giant news ticker went up in 1928, and ultimately, the huge sides of the building started the trend of Times Square flashing advertisements. Today the building is mostly empty but the party and the crystal ball drop have become world famous. Nothing like a good party for creating a tourist attraction!

Did you watch the ball drop? If not, how did you celebrate the new year?

Image: Bernt Rostad from Oslo, Norway

Merry Saturnalia!

Pat here, wishing all a wonderful holiday season!

While you’re wallowing in gifts and possibly debt from buying them, remember that the partying, gift-giving season most likely started with the Roman’s Saturnalia, a celebration of agricultural bounty in honor of the god Saturn, and quite possibly co-mingled with a celebration of the solstice from earlier times since the dates of the celebration fell between Dec 17-23^rd.

Several other religious celebrations also mark the end of the year with gift-giving, such as the Jewish festival of lights Hanukkah or the Hindu celebration of Pancha Ganapati in honor of Lord Ganesha. So the end of year tradition was well-established before Santa Claus took over.

But it was the Romans who really got into making sacrifices and wild partying, followed by private gift-giving. In their effusive generosity, the Romans treated even slaves as equals during these celebrations. Generally, the  gifts were of small value such as candles, figurines, and gag gifts. Apparently,  the lowlier the gift, the stronger the bond of friendship it represented. Some bosses often gave a gratuity to their clients or employees to help them purchase their gifts—the first version of the Christmas bonus.

As in everything, the Christian church usurped this holiday and made it about the Magi and the gifts to the Christ child. For good measure, they later threw in the tales of Saint Nicholas, a fourth-century bishop and gift-giver, so the pagan holiday became about gifts and goodwill toward men.

And then along came the poem about “The Night Before Christmas” and Santa handing out goodies to good children, and the novella by Dickens of A Christmas Carol telling us all to be good to our neighbors, and the merchants jumped in with both feet and marketed the heck out of gift-giving.

Did you enjoy your Saturnalia?

Favorite Christmas Stories

by Mary Jo

The original Christmas story is of the journey to Bethlehem and the newborn infant who was laid in a manger, and the holiday has been inspiring Christmas stories ever since. They are stories of warmth, family, and love, of kindness and reconciliation.  One of the most famous is the poem "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" written in 1823 by Clement Clark Moore.  The depictions of Santa Claus, the chimney, and the sleigh pulled by reindeer have helped shape the imagery of American Christmases ever after. 

Travels in Italy--Part Three

Pat here:

As many do, I fell in love with Umbria and Tuscany, the hill country of Italy. It’s hard to define why this area is so special. Perhaps because I’m not a fan of cities and the rural countryside with rolling hills and olive orchards appeal to my introvert self. But I think it’s also a matter of seeing the layers of Italy’s ancient history, largely untouched in some areas, that made it come alive for me.

WWR—What We've Read in November

Anne here, and this month we have a bumper crop of recommended reads for you, from YA to timeslip, to Christmas treats, romance, literary fiction, crime and more.

We'll start with Christina: This month I’ve read and enjoyed a couple of books recommended by fellow Wenches. First and foremost, The Christmas Escape by Sarah Morgan which was exactly as wonderful as I had hoped. The fact that it is set in snowy Lapland in the north of Sweden was just the icing on the cake! I now long to go there to take sleigh rides through the forests and see the aurora borealis in all its glory.

Then there was Boyfriend by Sarina Bowen, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was very happy to find that it was the first in a series penned by different authors, all connected through the fictional US college Moo U in Vermont. The second book in the series, Blindsided by Victoria Denault, was just brilliant! As well as keeping up with hockey practice and his studies, hockey star Tate Adler is trying to save his family’s farm by doing an illicit side job. Their neighbours the Todds have their own problems. They are sworn enemies so when fellow student Maggie Todd finds out what Tate is doing, she doesn’t hesitate to blackmail him. But whenever they meet, sparks fly and their chemistry is off the charts. Can they risk a relationship or will the feud remain forever? This love story was just explosive and I loved every minute of it. I’m now reading my way through the rest of the series.

A friend also recommended a brilliant YA series by L.J. Shen, starting with Pretty Reckless. It’s raw and angsty with a lot of misunderstandings, but I’m thoroughly enjoying these stories too. Penn Scully is from the wrong end of town with a drug addict mother and a deadbeat step-father, while Daria Followhill is a rich and spoiled princess. He believes she took away the only thing he ever loved and is out for revenge. When Penn’s mother dies, Daria’s parents decide to take him in as a foster son and he can set his plans in motion. As for Daria, she’s tired of always coming second in her mother’s eyes and wants to lash out at everyone and everything. But things don’t go to plan for either of them …

Next comes Pat, who says: If you’re in a literary mood, Anne Tyler is always a good bet.

In REDHEAD BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD, Micah Mortimer, is a 40-something computer tech. He’s the youngest of a large, messy family, and in consequence, he’s a tad obsessive about keeping his personal life contained, so contained that he has a bad habit of shutting doors on the world. The story follows Micah through a series of events that opens his eyes to what he’s been missing all his life. There’s no violence, no sex, just a lovely journey of discovery told by a fabulously talented writer. It’s wonderful to settle in for the evening in safe hands—I didn’t skim a single page!  

Travels in Italy--Part Two

Pat here, still rambling about our Italy trip. (The Vatican's masked Swiss guards to the left just because) In my last segment, I was so eager to get to hill country that I forgot to mention Rome at all. We’ve visited Rome several times over the years. It’s still a very busy city, much of it walkable if you’re staying in the forum area, which we were. The beauty of this visit was that the number of tourists was waaaay down. The lines at the forum and the Vatican were, at best, maybe fifteen minutes long. The guides—just now getting back to work after our long Covid vacation—were ecstatic about how much more they could show us without crowds.

What We're Reading in October

Nicola here with our monthly blog post on What We Are Reading. As usual, there's a wonderful range of intriguing books—so dive in for some great recommendations and be sure to tell us what YOU have been reading too!

Christina: This month I’ve read my way through Sarina Bowen’s True North series, starting with Bittersweet. I wasn’t sure if I’d like these stories as much as the ice hockey ones (Brooklyn Bruisers), but I did and once I’d started, I couldn’t stop until I had devoured them all. Bittersweet is the story of Griffin Shipley, a farmer and cider brewer who has had to step into his father’s shoes far too early and shoulder the responsibility for the family, thereby giving up some of his dreams. He feels the strain and the last thing he has time for is dating, but then an old flame turns up unexpectedly and suddenly he’s not as tired as he thought … It was great seeing this gruff and grumpy man being tamed by the right woman – a wonderful start to the series. But my favourite of all is Speakeasy, because the hero, Alec Rossi, is simply irresistible! He’s a total player, but with a fabulous sense of humour and he’s way smarter than he gives himself credit for. I fell in love with him right from the first page and wanted him to prove the doubters wrong!

Another story I really enjoyed this month was Jenni Keer’s Hawthorn Place, a timeslip story with magical elements. It is based on two amazing Arts & Crafts houses (from the late 1800s), mysteriously designed and built by the same architect, and the heroine Molly in the present visits them both. To begin with, she is naïve, spoiled and entitled, but she is also endearing and the reader can’t help but like her. Bewildered by her parents’ sudden tough love, we watch her grow in maturity and blossom as she gains some valuable insights and starts to turn her life around. Her adventures throughout a summer spent with her grandfather in Dorset were a joy to read about. Then there is 19^th century architect Percy, whose unrequited love seems hopeless, even though the reader wants nothing more than for him to be happy. Gentle humour abounds, and there is a simmering love story in the present, as well as an all-consuming one in the past. Both were equally riveting and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about them – a lovely dual time story.

Finally, I had the pleasure of reading an ARC of Sue Moorcroft’s new book, Under the Mistletoe. If you’re in the mood for a perfect Christmas story, this is it! I loved this book from the first page to the last, and stayed up way too late to finish it. Laurel, the heroine, has returned to the village where she grew up in order to help her sister, who suffers from agoraphobia. It’s the last place she wants to be as she has bad memories from an incident that happened there when she was a teenager. Making things worse, she immediately comes face to face with some people from the past who she’d rather not see again. But meeting up with old flame Grady awakens feelings she thought long forgotten, and he’s such a wonderful hero – how could she resist him? I definitely couldn’t! I was rooting for this couple all the way through and hoping they could find a resolution to their problems. I really wanted Laurel to forgive and forget, because Grady didn’t deserve to suffer for something he didn’t do. This is a truly festive read, complete with mistletoe, snow and Christmas cheer!

Pat here: I recently dived into the ARC for Andrea's MURDER AT THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS for the next episode in her wonderful historical mystery series featuring Wrexford and Sloane, the earl and the satirical artist. In this one, the intrepid pair set out to find who murdered a scientist who had found a cure for malaria—and for the plant that might save millions. And they really need to solve this case before their wedding! The familiar cast of characters grows in depth and interest and are just as fascinating as the mystery. Historical mystery fans--and anyone who just likes a great story, highly recommended!

And then for a lovely departure from history:  Rosaline Palmer takes the Cake by Alexis Hall is hilarious, angsty women’s fiction about a single mother who expected to become a doctor. Instead, she ends up on a British bake show in hopes of winning enough to fix her alien boiler. Warning: tons of the funniest swearing I’ve ever read, a bit of graphic sex, an almost-forced sex scene, and truly terrific depictions of not-always-heterosexual perspectives. If this all sounds like a contradiction in terms, that’s because this book is. It has romance but it’s not a romance. It has amazing mother/daughter scenes while being totally about a fascinating collection of bake show contestants. Let’s just call this book original and funny and if you want to get out of your rut, give it a try.

Susan writes: The other day I finished 500 Miles from You by Jenny Colgan, and loved it. She is a favorite among the Wenches, though this is the first of her books that I've read. When Lissa, a nurse based in London, witnesses a shocking accident and is devastated by the experience, she is assigned to a temporary post far away from the madding crowd to give her a chance to recuperate mentally and chill a little. The assignment sends her to the Scottish Highlands to substitute for another nurse, a former Army medic who will temporarily take her place in London until they swap jobs again. Cormac, a native Highlander, is not keen on taking on duties in London, which seems a foreign and unappealing place to him. The swap has both Lissa and Cormac experiencing some culture shock. The city girl is not used to the peace and quiet of the Highlands or the whimsical laid-back attitude of the locals, and the country guy is at odds with the pace and demands of city life, and for both, the medical duties are very different as well. Jenny Colgan sets up a unique romance that grows slowly between two people who are only texting and emailing - an interesting story challenge - and the progression is fascinating, as they begin to rely on and care about one another. When they finally meet, it's unexpected and deliciously romantic, and I adored it. This is a comedy of errors with wonderful characters, humor, and real depth - and a nice plus is that it incorporates one of my favorite Scottish rock songs, the Proclaimers' "And I Would Walk (500 Miles)." Colgan writes with a light hand and yet with true wisdom and a deft touch that is at times poignant, meaningful, touching, yet without ooky sentimentality. Just lovely, and I will be glomming her other books soon. No wonder she's a Wench favorite! 

Nicola: It’s no secret that we Wenches are big fans of Sarah Morgan and I grabbed her latest book The Christmas Escape as soon as I could get my hands on it. As with all Sarah’s books, it’s a wonderful multi-generational story full of reflections on friendship and relationships, with some gorgeous Christmas sparkle! Christy Sullivan had planned the perfect Christmas on a dream trip to Lapland with her family and her best friend Alix. Then her marriage to Seb is plunged into crisis and she has to ask Alix, and Seb’s oldest friend Zac, to take her daughter Holly on the trip, aiming for them all to meet up to celebrate Christmas Day together.

Alix is a career woman who is inexperienced with children and terrified that she’ll not be up to the task of taking care of Holly. Plus she has history with Zac that she’d rather not remember. The spiky relationship between the two of them is funny and sexy whilst the barriers that Christy and Seb have to overcome to find honesty between them are deftly handled and thought-provoking. It’s a happy feel-good read with depth and poignancy and it’s also so, so Christmassy! I wanted to run away to Lapland for Christmas and ever after!

Andrea here:

I was lucky enough to snag two ARCs this past month and am delighted to give a big shout-out to both! First of all, our own Mary Jo has a new Rogues Redeemed book, which is always cause for celebration. Once A Laird (which just released!) features the enigmatic Kai Ramsay, who has been an intriguing presence earlier in the series. He's been summoned home to the remote Thorsay Islands in Scotland after years of absence. The old laird is dying, and Kai must face his duty of taking over the responsibilities of caring for the islands and his people . . . and who better to teach him than the fiery Signe Matheson, who has been handling the demands in his absence. Needless to say, sparks fly when the old acquaintances meet and need to work together despite their complicated past. What I love about Mary Jo’s books is that her characters are so wonderfully real and “mature”—they have suffered disappointments and set-backs, so they are bruised, but also strong, having gained wisdom and resilience. They think beyond their own needs to make honorable and hard decisions . . .which is why it is always such a joy to watch them slowly come to discover love and fulfillment with the perfect partner. Complementing the engaging characters, the setting of the starkly beautiful islands is magical . . . and who can resist a one-eyed cat named Odin!

The Regency-era setting continues in Stephanie Barron’s latest book in her delightful mystery series starring Jane Austen as the sleuth. In Jane and the Year Without A Summer, we find a mature Jane now beginning to suffer from fragile heath—which she thinks is caused by the travails engulfing her family. With money short, and the future uncertain, she decides to take her apothecary’s advice and splurge on a visit to the spa in Cheltenham with her sister Cassandra in order to take the waters. The weather is wretched—Britain is suffering from a horribly cold and wet summer—and so they find themselves much confined to their lodging house . . .where the presence of a beautiful invalid and her quiet companion soon draw Jane into the middle of a dark mystery. The invalid turns out to be a runway wife, and when her husband appears demanding to take her back home, a number of questions arise, complicated by the intentions of the other guests at the lodging house. I love this series, as Barron always creates such a wonderful ambiance, a twisty mystery and a lovely imagining of Jane, based on meticulous research. It’s a slightly bittersweet story as we see Jane struggle with her health, but it’s a wonderful read— and it has poignant romantic element that mirrors the manuscript that Jane is currently writing.I highly recommend it!

From Mary Jo: I've had a bunch of reading fails this month, and the books I like most were rereads of old favorites. But I found one new winner:

Boyfriend by Sarina Bowen. Sarina Bowen is popular with the Wenches, and this new release was great fun. It's set at Moo U, which I assume is Bowen's version of the University of Vermont.  Naturally, the hero is a hot hockey player. <G>

The heroine, Abbi, is another student who works long hours as a slinger of burgers and chicken wings to pay for her cold, tiny apartment.   She particularly likes it when the hockey team comes in after practice or a game because they're fun, they tip well, and she has a quiet crush one of the players, the handsome and charming Weston Griggs.

Abbi doesn't want to go home for Thanksgiving for a good reason, so when she sees an anonymous posting on a bulletin board:

Rent a boyfriend for the holiday. For $25, I will be your Thanksgiving date. I will talk hockey with your dad. I will bring your mother flowers. I will be polite, and wear a nicely ironed shirt…

When she finds out it's posted by Weston, she makes a pitch and he chooses her.  Of course he recognizes her from the restaurant, they get along find, and he is just the buffer/fake boyfriend she needs for Thanksgiving.

It turns out that Weston has good reasons for not wanting to go to his home for Christmas, so he enlists Abbi to go as his fake girlfriend….  As I said, the book is lots of fun and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Anne here, and this month I have three recommendations for you. The first is The Last Bookshop in London, by Madeline Martin. August 1939 and war is hanging over England. Orphaned Grace Bennett comes to London with her friend Viv, hoping for a job in Harrods. Instead she gets one in a messy, cluttered and dusty bookshop in the heart of the city. Grace is no reader, but she's a good worker and has a gift for organization and sales and soon the bookshop is attracting more customers. She meets an attractive man, but before their first date can happen, he's called up. He gives her his favorite book, The Count of Monte Cristo, and that eventually starts Grace reading.

The war finally hits London, in horrific nightly bombing raids, and one night Grace starts reading her current book aloud to the others sheltering in an underground station. And it becomes a regular thing.

I won't tell you any more, except to say it's a wonderful story. It's very evocative of what it must have been like for people stuck in London during the Blitz, and while it doesn't shy away from the terrors of war, it's also heartwarming and ends on a positive note. As well, it's an ode to the power of good books. I couldn't put it down. Highly recommended.

As regular readers will know, I'm a fan of Trisha Ashley's books, especially her Christmas ones, and her latest book, One More Christmas at the Castle is a worthy addition to the collection.

Elderly widow Sabine is dying, and she wants one last Christmas in Mitras Castle, her grand family home — the kind of Christmas she loved as a child. To this end she invites the people who most matter to her for Christmas and hires Dido Jones and her business partner Henry, who run a brilliant service called Heavenly Houseparties to organize and cater the whole event.

It's classic Trisha Ashley with an intriguing collection of characters, a number of family and other secrets lurking beneath the surface, a lovely dose of romance, and all the fun of Christmas, including her trademark lashings of English comfort food. Most enjoyable, and I've already read it twice.

Lastly, if any of you have been reading the JD Kirk Scottish crime series I've regularly recommended, I bought and read the first in his new series — Northwind — a spinoff that stars disgraced former Detective Superintendent Bob Hoon. I wasn't sure I'd like it — in the original series Bob Hoon distinguishes himself as foul-mouthed, infuriating and not particularly likable. However in recent books he showed there was more to him than that. To quote from the amazon blurb: "He may be a disgraced ex-copper, a barely-functioning alcoholic, and a borderline psychopath, but Bob Hoon still believes in justice."

Anyway to cut a long story short, it's funny outrageous and dramatic, and if you've hesitated about picking up the Hoon book, don't — I loved it.

Now it's over to you! What are your reading recommendations this month? Please share!

 

Once a Laird

Anne here, and today I'm interviewing Mary Jo about ONCE A LAIRD, her final book in the "Rogues Redeemed" series, which was based around five men held captive in a cellar in wartime, facing execution as spies in the morning. Of course they escaped and lived to tell some wonderful tales.  (Ramsay was using the name Chantry at that time for various sneaky reasons.)

Once a Laird is about Ramsay, who made the biggest impression on me in Once a Scoundrel, where he was instrumental in freeing three ladies from a harem in Constantinople after they'd been taken hostage by Barbary pirates. I've been waiting for his story ever since.

There have been some lovely reviews of Once a Laird."  Here's one from Booklist:

"In the latest splendidly crafted addition to her Rogues Redeemed series, Putney (Once Dishonored, 2020) brilliantly utilizes all of the key elements her readers crave—engaging characters, an expertly evoked setting, an intriguingly different story line, even a quintessential cat—and the result is another exemplary-in-every-way romance.” – Booklist

 

Forever Autumn?

by Mary Jo

Today's topic was inspired by a back room chat among the Wenches in which we extolled the delights of autumn: crisp air, vibrant colors, the recharging of energy after summer languor.  Several Wenches said they'd like it to be autumn all year round.  

But do we really want that?  So I asked: What  are your favorite seasons? Are there any you'd like to see all year round?

 

Travels in Italy--Part One

Wench Pat here, just back from a two-week trip to Italy, combining business with pleasure. I’ve dug up some fabulous ideas for the new mystery series and enough material for a year’s worth of blogs. I should probably just post photos and not blather on!

One of the lures for this trip was the opportunity to explore the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii. The winding, narrow coast drive is every bit as hair-raising as promised. We were a small group in a small bus and thankfully, most cars were smaller than us, but those giant buses. . . !  Ai yi yi. Traffic would back up on every curve when two buses met each other and had to maneuver their way out of the mess.

Ask A Wench — What We've Been Watching

Anne here, with our regular "Ask a Wench" feature. And today we're responding to this question: Have you watched any good TV shows or movies lately?

Christina said: I haven’t been watching much TV at all as I’ve become obsessed with reading every night during lockdown, but there have been a few shows that I've enjoyed. For some reason I hardly ever read crime novels, but I love watching it on TV and so called “Scandi Noir” really does it for me. It’s dark and gritty and well worth watching. One of my favourites is the Swedish series Beck about an aging Stockholm detective and his team. The crimes may be gruesome on occasion, but there is always humour in these stories as well since the main character Martin has a crazy neighbour called Valdemar who is hilarious. Martin himself is a very sympathetic character and the whole series has a realistic feel to it that I like immensely. 

Another one I’ve really enjoyed is the Icelandic programme Trapped. The first series was set in a small town in northern Iceland during a very cold winter when everyone was snowed in and couldn’t get out because all the roads were closed. That made for a very claustrophobic atmosphere with a killer on the loose and it was incredibly exciting and gripping. The second series was almost as good and I’m hoping there will be more soon. 

I’ve only been to the cinema once in the last two years but I am eagerly awaiting the new sci-fi movie Dune, based on the novels by Frank Herbert. The trailer looks very promising! I first read these books back in high school when I took a course called Futuristic Lit (so much more fun than the classics!) and I was hooked. I really hope this new version does them justice as the first time this was adapted for the cinema the result was very disappointing. Here's a trailer.

Pat said: The Guy and I watch a show every other night when we can. We’ll try new shows that sound interesting or pick up ones others have recommended, but the ones we settle in to watch long term are limited and usually humorous. Right now I’m utterly incensed that Amazon Prime has discontinued New Tricks, my very favorite sit-back-and-enjoy series. It’s about a group of former British police detectives who are brought back to work unsolved cases. The characterization is hilarious as they play off each other—one by-the-book curmudgeon, a neurodivergent genius on meds, a playboy who’s been married more times than I  can count, and the younger female officer who has to keep them reined in. It’s on Britbox now but I haven’t resigned myself to buying a new service for just one show.