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| Recent new books - 3 I bought and 1 I received for review. |
Since I've been able to finish books a bit more quickly, I thought I would try to go back to doing the It's Monday! What are you reading? meme on a weekly basis rather than as a monthly round-up.
Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. Covers and descriptions from Goodreads.com
Finished
In ebook...
Fatal Masquerade (Lady Alkmene Callender Mysteries #4) by Vivian Conroy
I saw this one at Netgalley when looking at what is coming out in October and just had to request it. I've not read this author before, but I love the cover. It is a bit like Downton Abbey meets Clue. It was a fun read. Read my full review.
Masked danger…
Lady Alkmene Callender has always loved grand parties, but when she receives an invitation to a masked ball thrown by Franklin Hargrove – oil magnate, aviation enthusiast and father of her best friend, Denise – she’s never seen such luxury. The estate is lit up with Chinese lanterns in the gardens, boats operated by footmen float across the pond and the guest list features the distinguished, rich and powerful!
But below the glamour, evil is lurking. When a dead body is discovered, it forces Lady Alkmene to throw off her mask and attempt to find the true killer before Denise’s family are accused. If only her partner, Jake Dubois, weren’t hiding something from her…
This case might just be more dangerous than either of them could have imagined.
Buy Fatal Masquerade at Amazon
In audio...
The Secret Adversary (Tommy and Tuppence #1) by Agatha Christie
I like Agatha Christie mysteries and this series is good. I think I enjoy Miss Marple a bit more, but that might just because I'm more familiar with that series than this one.
Tommy and Tuppence, two young people short of money and restless for excitement, embark on a daring business scheme – Young Adventurers Ltd.
Their advertisement says they are ‘willing to do anything, go anywhere’. But their first assignment, for the sinister Mr Whittington, plunges them into more danger than they ever imagined.
Buy The Secret Adversary at Amazon
I saw this one at Netgalley when looking at what is coming out in October and just had to request it. I've not read this author before, but I love the cover. It is a bit like Downton Abbey meets Clue. It was a fun read. Read my full review.
Masked danger…
Lady Alkmene Callender has always loved grand parties, but when she receives an invitation to a masked ball thrown by Franklin Hargrove – oil magnate, aviation enthusiast and father of her best friend, Denise – she’s never seen such luxury. The estate is lit up with Chinese lanterns in the gardens, boats operated by footmen float across the pond and the guest list features the distinguished, rich and powerful!
But below the glamour, evil is lurking. When a dead body is discovered, it forces Lady Alkmene to throw off her mask and attempt to find the true killer before Denise’s family are accused. If only her partner, Jake Dubois, weren’t hiding something from her…
This case might just be more dangerous than either of them could have imagined.
Buy Fatal Masquerade at Amazon
In audio...
I like Agatha Christie mysteries and this series is good. I think I enjoy Miss Marple a bit more, but that might just because I'm more familiar with that series than this one.
Tommy and Tuppence, two young people short of money and restless for excitement, embark on a daring business scheme – Young Adventurers Ltd.
Their advertisement says they are ‘willing to do anything, go anywhere’. But their first assignment, for the sinister Mr Whittington, plunges them into more danger than they ever imagined.
Buy The Secret Adversary at Amazon
Currently Reading
In print...
This is for my post-apocalyptic book club that meets on Thursday. I'm about halfway through and really enjoy it.
In the American Southwest, Nevada, Arizona, and California skirmish for dwindling shares of the Colorado River. Into the fray steps Angel Velasquez, leg-breaker, assassin, and spy. A Las Vegas water knife, Angel "cuts" water for his boss, Catherine Case, ensuring that her luxurious developments can bloom in the desert, so the rich can stay wet while the poor get dust. When rumors of a game-changing water source surface in drought-ravaged Phoenix, it seems California is making a play to monopolize the life-giving flow of the river, and Angel is sent to investigate. There, he encounters Lucy Monroe, a drought-hardened journalist, and Maria Villarosa, a young refugee who survives by her wits in a city that despises everything she represents. For Angel, Lucy, and Maria, time is running out and their only hope for survival rests in each other’s hands. But when water is more valuable than gold, alliances shift like sand, and the only thing for certain is that someone will have to bleed if anyone hopes to drink.
Buy The Water Knife at Amazon
In audio...
Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman
Until her paper, the BALTIMORE STAR, crashed and burned, Tess Monaghan was a damn good reporter who knew her hometown intimately--from historic Fort McHenry to the crumbling projects of Cherry Hill. Now gainfully unemployed at twenty-nine, she's willing to take any freelance job to pay the rent--including a bit of unorthodox snooping for her rowing buddy, Darryl "Rock" Paxton.
In a city where someone is murdered almost everyday, attorney Michael Abramowitz's death should be just another statistic. But the slain lawyer's notoriety--and his noontime trysts with Rock's fiancee--make the case front page news...and points to Rock as the likely murderer. But trying to prove her friend's innocence could prove costly to Tess--and add her name to that infamous ever-growing list.
Buy Baltimore Blues at Amazon
Up Next
In ebook...
It's a little early for Christmas books, but I agreed to be on the tour at the end of October for this book. I've enjoyed the other books by Lilly Bartlett, and I'm looking forward to this one.
Put your feet up and tuck into the mince pies, because you won’t have to lift a finger to enjoy this Christmas!
Too bad the same can’t be said for single mother and extremely undomestic goddess, Lottie.
When her beloved Aunt Kate ends up in hospital just before Christmas, Lottie and her seven-year-old daughter rush to rural Wales to take over her B&B. A picky hotel reviewer and his mad family are coming to stay, and without the rating only he can give them, Aunt Kate will lose her livelihood.
But Lottie can barely run her own life, let alone a hotel. How will she manage to turn the falling-down guesthouse into the luxurious wonderland the reviewer expects? And could the mysterious taxi driver, Danny, who agrees to help her, turn out to be the real gift this season?
As the snow sparkles on the trees and hot chocolate steams in your hand, snuggle into the delicious magic of Christmas at the Falling-Down Guesthouse.
Buy Christmas at the Falling-Down Guesthouse at Amazon
Hollow City by Ransom Riggs
This sequel to the first novel, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, begins in 1940, immediately after the first book ended.
Having escaped Miss Peregrine’s island by the skin of their teeth, Jacob and his new friends must journey to London, the peculiar capital of the world. Along the way, they encounter new allies, a menagerie of peculiar animals, and other unexpected surprises.
Complete with dozens of newly discovered vintage photographs.
Buy Hollow City at Amazon
In print...
Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
A 50th-anniversary edition of the landmark novel about three "gone girls" that inspired the acclaimed 1975 film and an upcoming TV series starring Natalie Dormer
With a foreword by Maile Meloy, author of Do Not Become Alarmed
It was a cloudless summer day in the year 1900. Everyone at Appleyard College for Young Ladies agreed it was just right for a picnic at Hanging Rock. After lunch, a group of three girls climbed into the blaze of the afternoon sun, pressing on through the scrub into the shadows of the secluded volcanic outcropping. Farther, higher, until at last they disappeared. They never returned. . . .
Mysterious and subtly erotic, Picnic at Hanging Rock inspired the iconic 1975 film of the same name by Peter Weir. A beguiling landmark of Australian literature, it stands with Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, and Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides as a masterpiece of intrigue.
Buy Picnic at Hanging Rock at Amazon
Last week when I posted by September round-up I wondered if I would be able to finish a 12th book before the end of September since I still had a week. I can now report I finished 13 books last month. Definitely a record for me. (To be completely honest a couple of books I was almost finished with at the end of August and finished them up the first day or so of September).
Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.
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Posts
Thank you for your well wishes. If you were even too sick to read, that sounds like you were really sick. I saw you bought The Book of Life. I loved that series; it is one of the very few that I actually own, but on my Kindle.
ReplyDeleteIt was one of those memorable sickness because it was so bad - high fever for days. I love the All Souls Trilogy. I actually picked up The Book of Life for my niece. When she was visiting this summer she started re-reading my copy of A Discovery of Witches and then mentioned that she had never read The Book of Life. I had duplicates of the first two books because I won them and then was sent a set by the publisher when the 3rd book came out to review. I sent the first two home with her and have been keeping my eye out for a discount copy of the 3rd. I was lucky to find it on the bargain shelf when B&N had its members appreciation weekend.
DeleteI was actually thinking about picking up a Christmas Novella already, lol. I love seasonal reads :)
ReplyDeleteGreat list of books. Fatal Masquerade looks really good and a cute cover.
ReplyDeleteFatal Masquerade does look good, just the cover would pull me in.
ReplyDeleteThat Christmas book looks fun! I will have to add it to my list for this holiday season. :) And Picnic at Hanging Rock sounds intriguing too - that is definitely going on my list as well. Have a good one!
ReplyDelete