February is the shortest month of the year and it has flown by in a flash. It is also the month of romance so what other genre could I choose to read the most of other than romance.
However, it must also be said that Romance books are not my normal genre to read so it has been an interesting time where I have stretched my reading to books that were not really in my favourite category. But I added a few different book in to complete my ‘Reading Challenge’ for February as well as choosing one of my new favourite authors Alis Hawkins, the author of the Teifi Valley Series. They are a real feast for the mind.
Please let me know what genre is your favourite, and what is the genre you avoid the most and why?
Enjoy your reading
Love Alis
Title: Dead Lions: Slough House Thriller 2
Author: Mick Herron
Genre: Thriller, Suspense, Mystery
Publisher: Baskerville
Date of Publication: 2022
Format: Kindle purchased myself
My Rating: 4**** I liked it a lot and recommend.
Book Recommendation - About Book: In the Intelligence Service purgatory that is Slough House, where spies mockingly called the slow horses are sent to finish what is left of their careers, their boss Jackson Lamb is on his way Oxford. A former spook has turned up dead on a bus. Not an obvious target for assassination, Dickie Bow was a talented streetwalker back in the day. Good at following people, bringing home their secrets. Dickie was in Berlin with Jackson Lamb. Now Lamb's got his phone, on it the last secret Dickie ever told, and reason to believe an old-time Moscow-style op is being run in the Intelligence Service's backyard. Once a spook, always a spook, and Dickie was one of their own. To unearth Dickie's dying secret Jackson Lamb and his crew of no-hopers is about to go live.
My thoughts: This is book 2 of 8 in the slough house series. A good book if you are a fan of old fashioned spy thrillers. The story line is complex but that is probably down to the writing style with scintillating prose and a collection of well crafted, flawed characters. I think it would have helped me if I had read the 1st book to know the characters as you do need to hit the ground running with this book and it did take me a while get to know them. There are many twists and turns along with the odd red herring thrown in for good measure. This book is difficult to put down, and I recommend it to those who love well-crafted characters and as I mentioned earlier an old-fashioned spy thriller. Thankfully, the story does not end here, and there are 8 books in the series and I will go back to the first book and read the rest in order.
Title: Snap
Author: Belinda Bauer
Genre: Crime Thriller
Publisher: Transworld Digital
Date of Publication: 2018
Format: Kindle purchased myself
My Rating: 3+++ I liked it, it’s OK
Book Recommendation - About book: SNAP DECISIONS CAN BE DANGEROUS . . . On a stifling summer's day, eleven-year-old Jack and his two sisters sit in their broken-down car, waiting for their mother to come back and rescue them. Jacks in charge, she'd said. I won't be long. But she doesn't come back. She never comes back. And life as the children know it is changed for ever. Three years later, Jack is still in charge - of his sisters, of supporting them all, of making sure nobody knows they're alone in the house, and - quite suddenly - of finding out the truth about what happened to his mother . .
My thoughts: I thought the book was OK, it started to come together about a third of the way through when the pace picked up and the characters became interesting. I felt for Jack and his siblings, and I really liked them I was annoyed at the system and their dad for not looking after them? I did think were lots of points of humour given such a dark subject which made me enjoy the book more.
Title: When you walked back into my life
Author: Hilary Boyd
Genre: Romance
Publisher: Quercus
Date of Publication: 2013
Format: Kindle I purchased myself
My Rating: 4**** I liked it a lot, and recommend.
Book Recommendation - About Book: For eight years Flora's love affair with Fin was a whirlwind of fun and spontaneity - but when Flora wanted to settle down and have children, Fin vanished.
Life moved on and Flora's world filled with other people, other cares. There were benefits to being single - no socks under the bed, no mess in the bathroom - even if the memory of Fin could never be completely erased.
But then suddenly, shockingly, Fin reappears. He's a changed man, he says, and her wants her back.
Is this a chance to put right the wrongs? Or a massive mistake?
My thoughts: Its February so I thought a romance novel would be appropriate and I wasn’t disappointed. This is a romance novel rooted in reality which I loved.
The relationship between Flora and Finn was interesting in the way it developed throughout the book. The relationship between Flora and her sister though, is more controlling.
I enjoyed the book, and the author kept me wanting to read the book so much so that I read it in two sittings.
An enjoyable read for those that want a real romance book with a feel-good ending.
Title: Married by Midnight
Author: Talli Rowland
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Publisher: Notting Hill Press
Date of Publication: 2014
Format: Kindle I purchased myself
My Rating: 3*** I liked it, it’s OK.
Book Recommendation - About Book: While choosing a vintage dress for her Christmas Eve wedding, Kate finds a cryptic note pinned to the inside of a 1930s gown. As doubts about her own ceremony loom, Kate is determined to track down the dress’ owner and determine what became of her – and the marriage. Will Kate find the answers she’s seeking to propel her down the aisle, or will her discovery prompt her to call off the wedding for good?
My thoughts: A fun easy read for February as I am trying to read more romance novels. It read like a fairy tale and has a feel-good factor with lovable characters and an easy theme to follow. If you’re a lover of chick lit then this is for you.
Title: Just the Two of Us
Author: Georgie Capron
Genre: Romance
Publisher: Aria
Date of Publication: 2017
Format: Kindle I purchase myself
My Rating: 4**** I liked it a lot and would recommend.
Book Recommendation - About Book: Lucy is the wrong side of thirty and tormented daily by the idyllic family pictures cluttering up her Facebook newsfeed. All of her friends seem to be getting married and having babies, and yet here she is, resolutely single, and no prospect of creating the perfect family she's always dreamt of. How she longs for it to be her turn. But finding love is complicated, and as time passes she wonders if there might just be another way to make her dreams come true. Is she brave enough to go it alone, or is the fantasy of 'baby makes three' just too precious to give up on? My thoughts: An enjoyable book that has love and optimism that draws you in from the very beginning. The characters felt authentic and were intriguing a testament to the author. An even mix of light entertainment with seriousness thrown in a very current book. A must for any chick lit lovers.
Title: Dark Matter
Author: Blake Crouch
Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller, Crime
Publisher: Macmillan
Date of Publication: 2016
Format: Kindle I purchased myself
My Rating: 5***** I loved it and highly recommend
Book Recommendation - About Book: Are you happy in your life?' Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. Before he awakes to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before the man he's never met smiles down at him and says, 'Welcome back.' In this world he's woken up to, Jason's life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible. Is it this world or the other that's the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could've imagined – one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe.
My thoughts: This is the first science fiction book I have read as I am trying to expand the genre of books I read and therefore my outlook and knowledge.
I chose this book as my reading challenge that said "choose a book with tech on the cover", but it was the synopsis that drew me in.
Not surprisingly I found the book difficult to comprehend or understand what is happening. However, I am drawn in completely by the characters Jason and Daniella and what is happening to their lives, wondering if Ryan is really behind everything or at least has something to do with it. I find the book difficult to put down, it is a clear page turner. The writer unfolds the plot, running between the lives and I find this really helpful in keeping me on track with the story line.
As I continue reading things sort of make sense, I say this tentatively as a non-scientist. However, I put this down to the gift of the write in making the subject clear and available to all. A very successful read that I thoroughly enjoyed and would definitely recommend.
Title: In Two Minds
Author: Alis Hawkins
Genre: Historical, Crime, Suspense
Publisher: Canelo
Date of Publication: 2020
Format: Kindle I purchased myself
My Rating: 6****** A great book I can't recommend it highly enough
Book Recommendation - About Book: Solve a murder, bring a killer to justice... but at what cost?
Harry Probert-Lloyd, a young barrister forced home from London by encroaching blindness, has begun work as the acting coroner of Teifi Valley with solicitor's clerk John Davies as his assistant.
When a faceless body is found on an isolated beach, Harry must lead the inquest. But his dogged pursuit of the truth begins to ruffle feathers. Especially when he decides to work alongside a local doctor with a dubious reputation and experimental theories considered radical and dangerous.
Refusing to accept easy answers might not only jeopardise Harry's chance to be elected coroner permanently, but could, it seems implicate his own family in a crime.
My thoughts: Alis Hawkins quickly became a much loved author and ‘In Two Minds’ has not disappointed me. This is book 2 of 4 in the Teifi Valley Coroner series and Alis brings to life the Teifi valley so much so you almost feel you are there .n the valley The characters are well thought out and Harry and John pull you in to their own issues as well of those in the plot. There are so many strands running through this book that it keeps you enthralled all the way through. Alis knows her subject matter and that shines through and makes the book all the more interesting and I have learnt so much. I am definitely going to read all of those in the series and can’t recommend this book highly enough.
Title: The Listener
Author: Taylor Caldwell
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Bantam Books
Date of Publication: 1960
Format: Book I purchased myself
My Rating: 3*** liked it, it’s OK
Book Recommendation - About Book: The Listener is Taylor Caldwell's inspiring story of how ordinary people, full of hopelessness and despair, from all walks of life, find the inner peace they desperately need. Each chapter is a modern parable of someone who has lost faith in themselves, the people close to them, or the world in general. In his final days on this earth, John Godfrey built a beautiful sanctuary which had inscribed above its portal: 'The Man Who Listens'. Because of man's need for someone to truly listen, suffering people were drawn to this place at all hours of the day and night. The Listener, although kept behind closed curtains, would reveal himself to those who were truly in need. True peace, hope and happiness were restored to all who poured out their soul to Him. This is a powerful novel of anguished souls on a self-analytical, almost mystical, journey toward inner peace.
My thoughts: A headline on my Reading Challenge was a book written in the year I was born. The Listener by Taylor Caldwell enticed me in with the description on the back page.
John Godfrey the main character, a man that knew what he liked and did not waiver from that. A simple man with simple needs all throughout his life, never deviating from his way of living. But do we ever know a person.
A thought-provoking book from the start, with lots of questions. The Listener is what everyone needs.
The book takes you through different individuals bearing their souls to a stranger they cannot see.
A book that as you read is of its time, a lot of things that would not be written now but a lot that are still relevant. An interesting read but a disappointing end as it did not seem to bring everything together.
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