February is fast upon us and so is Valentine’s Day themed entertainment of which the Hallmark channel is abundantly ready to provide.
This year’s slate of romantic movies from Hallmark are all Jane Austen themed (starting with Paging Mr. Darcy this upcoming Saturday) and I thought that this would be a good opportunity to highlight some recent Jane Austen related novels for your reading pleasure.
Since the Hallmark series includes a new adaptation of Sense & Sensibility, author Nikki Payne’s Sex, Lies and Sensibility seems to be an ideal choice. The Dash sisters, Nora and Yanne, are picking up the pieces of their lives following a couple of shocking revelations, one of which involves their late father.
Their best chance at rebuilding a new future is in renovating a rundown inn near the beach in hopes of making a go of it before foreclosure is inevitable. A very eager assistant to this project is Ennis aka Bear Freeman, a local tour guide who thinks that this new business could expand on his own career goals, not to mention that he’s rather fond of Nora and she starts to feel the same.
However, will those secrets of the past get in the way of Nora and Bear’s budding romance or be cast aside for the good of all? This follow-up to Payne’s Pride and Protest is perfectly suited for this season of love(especially since it’s being released on February 13) and with this story being more of an Eleanor focused love story, many S&S fans will be delighted indeed:
For readers like me whose favorite Austen novel is Persuasion, Much Ado About Nada by Uzma Jalaluddin is definitely our cup of storytelling tea.
Our leading lady is Nada Syed, whose dreams of launching an advice app are cut short by a devious business partner and forces her to step back into a job that she hates.
To cheer herself up, Nada joins her friend Haleema at a convention to meet some new people, including Haleema’s fiancé. As it turns out, the fiancé brought his brother Baz, who Nada has known for years but they haven’t spoken since college when their secret relationship broke up bitterly.
Can this long ago romance be revived and if not, should anyone else know about their lovelorn past in the present? Jalaluddin really has a flair for Austen themed stories (Ayesha At Last is such a joy!) and her take on this particular book promises to be just as enchantingly engaging:
Speaking of enchanting, Melinda Taub’s The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch certainly sounds promisingly page turning there.
In this lively take on Pride and Prejudice, Lydia is born with magical powers (her sister Kitty was once an actual cat) that despite her best efforts, often lead her astray. Due to making a bargain with a demon in order to save herself and Kitty, Lydia must endure the dubious charms of Mr. Wickham, whose motives for mischief are sinister in more ways than one.
Despite the disapproval of Mr. Darcy, Lydia is even willing to use her mystical skills for the benefit of his sister Georgiana, suffering under a most dire curse. Can Lydia and her coven of friends set things right that once went wrong or doom them all to shades that would pollute more than Pemberley?
This does sound like fun and I for one enjoy mixing a dose of supernatural elements into a Jane Austen brew of bookish amusement-quite diverting to be sure!:
Normally, I don’t watch the Hallmark Channel very often but this time around, my dial will be tuned into these Austen themed films for my ultimate Valentine treat.
After all, what do we live for but to have something to watch other than sports and to allow our neighbors to enjoy their games on their own while we amuse ourselves in such agreeable company(of course, if you like both, that’s what DVRs are meant for!):
While I may have mixed feelings about the Oscar nominations announced this week(very happy for America Ferrera being up for Best Supporting Actress in Barbie but wish the director and lead actress were similarly honored), it’s all good for this year’s Edgar Awards.
This set of awards are for mystery/thrillers/suspense,etc…and rather prestigious for the whole genre. For once, several of the nominees are either on my TBR, currently being read or in one case, part of my shelved library.
In the Best First Novel by an American Author category, Ritu Mukerji’s Murder by Degrees is a prominent book. Set in Philadelphia of 1875, Dr. Lydia Weston is called upon to assist with a police investigation regarding the washed up body of a woman believed to have been one of her patients.
While she does suspect that the unfortunate victim was Anna Ward, who works as a maid in the household of a rather influential family, Lydia is not certain of the circumstances that lead to her possible demise. Her social connections may make it easier for her to learn things that the police can’t yet Lydia risks a great deal here as her own position in society is precarious as well.
This is such a wonderful development for a new author and I am taking my time with this story as it’s too good to quickly devour. Instead, taking the time to enjoy the subtle nuances of the plot points and social class structures is truly rewarding:
A fun portion of the Edgar’s is the special categories dedicated to iconic authors such as Mary Higgins Clark and Sue Grafton.
One of those sections is named for Lillian Jackson Braun(best known for her The Cat Who..mystery series) and I spotted a name very familiar to me amongst the nominees: Vivien Chien.
Chien’ cosy culinary themed mystery books, The Noodle Shop Mysteries, is a favorite of mine and seeing the most recent entry, Misfortune Cookie,get a nom here is so great!
The leading detective of these books is Lana Lee, who has found herself to be doing well as manager of her family’s restaurant near Cleveland , Ohio and in this installment, she takes a trip to California with her uptight sister Anna May for both business and pleasure reasons.
While attending a restaurant convention, Lana witnesses a fight between a quirky reporter and a fortune cookie vendor that later leads to the reporter “accidentally “ falling to her death.
As it turns out, the woman in question was a good friend of Lana’s Aunt Grace(who she and Anna May are staying with at the moment). Did this woman’s tragic demise have anything to do with that earlier argument or was that just the way the fateful cookie crumbled?
This is such an engaging series and a lively one at that, with a youthful main character surrounded by enough amusing family and friends to rival the likes of Stars Hollow itself. Really keeping my fingers crossed for this tasty mystery morsel to win:
While the Edgars do cover other areas such as YA, true crime and paperback originals, the one category that I wish I was more brushed up on is the Best Television Episode Screenplay section.
Most of the nominees there come from the Peacock series Poker Face(there’s one for ABC’s Will Trent and the AMC show Dark Winds), that stars Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale, whose uncanny ability to detect the truth makes her ideal for solving crimes but difficult when it comes to other things in life.
Since I don’t have a subscription to Peacock, this show is only known to me via the great reviews from critics and viewers alike. There’s no doubt in my mind that PF will win(and probably deserves to) my best guess for which episode gets that honor is “Dead Man’s Hand” written by Rian Johnson. He not only created this show(inspired by the classic Columbo) but has revived interest in the old school style of mystery sleuthing with his films Knives Out and its follow-up The Glass Onion.
Hopefully in the future, Peacock will be on my streaming lineup but until then, Poker Face should get the acclaim it deserves and I’m pleased to see such genre love be well rewarded:
Since the Edgars won’t be handed out until May 1st, there is plenty of time to catch up on the reading and I’m already underway with one of the Best Novel nominees, All The Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby, and plan to dive into another one soon after that, Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll.
Congratulations to all of the nominated authors in all categories and may many more readers discover a new book or two , thanks to this list. In the meanwhile, I do recommend what I hope will be a future nominee in the TV category, Death and Other Details , currently airing on Hulu.
Mandy Patinkin stars as former great sleuth Rufus Cotesworth who teams up with former client Imogene (Violett Beane) on a high seas murder case. So far, it’s a snappy salute to the closed room mystery with some fine performances and well worth your entertainment time, along with a couple of good books of course:
Finally, I am able to showcase my holiday book loot(or in this case, after holiday)in full. Lots of great book buying bargains tend to crop up between Christmas and New Year’s and I was fortunate enough to get a half off discount for a book that’s been getting great reviews along with wonderful word of mouth praise.
Jessica Knoll’s Bright Young Women follows several women who are sadly connected by a serial killer’s attack upon a college dormitory in the late 1970s. One of them in particular, Pamela, was an eyewitness that survived and is determined to see this man behind bars.
The tact taken with this novel is to solely focus on the women affected by the violence and to not even say the killer’s name (it’s suggested to be based on Ted Bundy).
I was a true crime reader way back in the day, with only books and made for TV movies to rely on instead of the podcasts, documentaries and websites readily available today. This book reminds me of those times and it’s good to see some of the old school techniques blended into the new:
Since I decided to skip the January selections at Book of the Month Club, I went shopping at Better World Books and along with My Roommate’s a Vampire, my main purchase was All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby.
Sheriff Titus Crown is new to Charon County in more ways than one and a deadly school shooting on his watch only adds to the mounting pressure placed on him here.
The shooting in question was committed by a former student targeting a teacher and the student’s demise at the hands of the police urges most everyone to have Titus wrap up this case quickly and quietly. However, his investigation reveals a number of hidden secrets that promise to be messy to bring to light.
Last year, I read Cosby‘s Razorblade Tears and that book seriously slapped, hard enough to leave a memorable mark on my brain. While the tone of this book might be slightly different from that prior work, no doubt about the same intensely engaging quality still being there:
Just when I thought I was done with newer books, one of my library loans was due back in and I couldn’t resist getting a couple of more reads.
Along with J. Ryan Stradal’s Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club, I borrowed Homecoming by Kate Morton, which was a contender in the Mystery category in the recent Goodreads Choice Awards.
This blend of historical fiction with mystery is set in Australia as Jess , a journalist who has come to the aid of her injured grandmother ,discovers a trove of information regarding a tragic event in her family’s past.
Seeing as this long ago happening still haunts her grandmother to the point where she’s risking her physical safety, Jess vows to find the truth about what did occur back in 1959 and what can still be done about it. Will that knowledge bring real comfort or open barely healed wounds for all concerned, though?
I heard plenty of people talk how great this book is during the Goodreads Choice discussion and it’s been awhile since I dove into one of Morton’s well developed tales of the past forming the choices of those in the present.
Plus. a good chunky novel like this seems perfect for settling down with under warm blankets as we are truly getting some real winter weather this season:
I seem to have caught the mystery/thriller bug this early in the year but I might save at least two of these books for a future readathon this spring.
Cold weather does feel ideal for mystery reading and viewing; something about the outer chills matching the inner ones from such materials, I suppose. As much as I am thrilled with the True Detective: Night Country premiere (first time ever watching this series and it’s already a must-see!), it would be nice to be able to check the new Agatha Christie adaptation as well.
Then again, patience is a virtue that readers know all too well and is usually well rewarded so perhaps time is not that flat a circle as some might think:
Already halfway through to the middle of the first month of this new year and I’m all signed up for my first readathon of 2024!
Seasons of Reading (hosted by the excellent Michelle Miller) will be holding its annual Winter’s Respite readathon this upcoming February which lasts the whole month long. You can read what you want, no theme necessary but I chose to do a themed TBR here.
My general idea for this challenge is “cosy magic”, a genre that’s getting more popular these days.
Not trying to bandwagon my book reading yet it does sound so appealing right about now that it is hard to resist.
Since the supernatural fits into this category (for me, anyway), my first selection is My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine.
Cassie is an artist living in Chicago who just lost the lease on her apartment and spots an almost too good to be true online ad for a new place. One if the catches is that this is a roommate situation, with the current resident keeping nighttime hours.
Despite her doubts, Cassie takes the deal and most of her communications with the mysterious Frederick J. Fitzwilliam are by thoughtful notes left for her, which is weirdly charming. However, one day she discovers bags of blood in the fridge and confronts him only to learn that yes, he’s a vampire and no, his intentions are not devious.
As it turns out, Frederick has awoken from a hundred years sleep and is really looking for a mortal friend to help ease him into modern society. Cassie decides to help him out but is their relationship going to be truly friendly or potentially something a bit more romantic?
I picked this book up as part of my after holiday shopping and it arrived in the nick of time for this readathon TBR lineup. Vampire stories are usually a favorite of mine and this light hearted approach to the genre should be quite entertaining:
For my next pick, I went with Kate Robb’s This Spells Love, which was a BOMC selection from last year (how odd it is to say “last year “ regarding a few months ago!).
Our leading lady is Gemma, who decides to get over a bad breakup by performing a spell with her giddy Aunt Livi that goes seriously awry. Due to spell casting under the influence of alcohol, Gemma wakes up to a whole new life that doesn’t include her best friend Dax(who she kissed as part of the enchantment).
While kissing Dax again could break the spell, it’s not as easy as it sounds since Dax has no idea who she is or once was to him. Along with getting reacquainted with him, Gemma finds better opportunities in this alternate universe than in her previous life and starts to wonder if this present reality is worth trading in after all.
With Valentines Day coming soon (according to all of the candy displays set up everywhere right now), this seems to be an ideal read indeed:
Speaking of ideal, Bookshops & Bonedust, the prequel to Travis Baldree’s Legends & Lattes, was destined to be on my reading list.
Apparently, the author intended to write a sequel that had a Murder She Wrote vibe to it originally but it just wasn’t working. Eventually, he chose to add a bookish take to the backstory of Viv, a warrior woman that ends up running a coffeehouse after her fighting days are done.
Just goes to show you that creativity is not a straight nor narrow path there and sometimes that is truly for the best:
Happy reading to all who sign up for this(or any other) readathon and there is a link above to check Winter’s Respite out if you’re interested.
February is a good time to catch up on your reading since the weather is usually pretty rough around that time and it looks as if we might be getting some real snow falling soon. A good steady flow of snow is perfect for cozy winter reading, if you ask me:
Now that the holiday season is mostly over for now, we can get back to the regular business of books. However, it’s still soon enough to chat about our holiday book hauls!
This year, I let my Book of the Month selections be given to me as family Christmas gifts (easier shopping that way) and I’ve already started one them, Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs. This debut novel focuses on two sisters, Joanna and Esther, who deal with the family legacy of caretaking magical books in different ways.
Esther moves from place to place, never staying longer than a year due to her father’s warning that those who destroyed her mother will be able to find her if she lingers too long somewhere. With her father being recently deceased, Esther decides to ignore that order but it turns out that maybe her dad was right all along…
Meanwhile, her half sister Joanna is stuck at home, tending the library alone and trying to unlock the secrets of the book that killed their father. If only Esther would come back to help her out…
So far, this book is an engaging slow yet steady burn that I know will be better to take my time with than to hurry up to get to the end. Magic books in any form are literary catnip to me:
Next, Nita Prose’s The Mystery Guest promises to be an unexpected delight. This follow-up to The Maid has the quirky Molly the Maid still working at the Grand Regency Hotel only now as head housekeeper.
When a famous mystery writer literally drops dead at a press conference in the hotel ballroom, Molly is considered a prime suspect due to serving him the last cup of tea that he would ever drink.
While she’s innocent of his murder, the victim is no stranger to Molly as she and her late grandmother used to be his house cleaner in the past. Can her insider knowledge help her find the real killer here?
While I thought the first book was good enough on it’s own to not need a sequel, this new story looks to be as smartly entertaining as an episode of Molly’s favorite mystery TV show, Columbo, which I have grown to love as well:
For something completely different, my last choice was Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher.
Art is a royal descendant of King Arthur’s son Mordred who is meant to marry Gwen, a reigning princess of Camelot. Neither of them like each other on first sight but the marriage is still to take place so they have to figure out some way of getting along.
It turns out that they do share one thing in common and that mutual secret helps them become allies who cover each other’s backs in that regard. With both of them falling in love with other people, can this friendly arrangement lead them to a true happy ever after one way or another?
YA historical romance is not something that I read often yet this story sounded like a welcome change of pace there. Nice to see certain genre tropes get shaken up a little in the best sense:
Lastly, I did receive one book that wasn’t a BOMC selection. Usually, prequels aren’t my jam but Bookshops & Bonedust is clearly the exception to such a rule.
This early look at the leading warrior woman from Travis Baldre’s Legends & Lattes shows Viv back in her mercenary days, having to temporarily leave her crew due to an injury.
Her reluctance to stay behind while her friends hunt down a necromancer brings Viv to channel her energies towards the local bookshop, where bookseller Fern has a nearly magical knack for finding the right book for any reader. As time goes by, Viv makes some new friends and perhaps an enemy yet despite enjoying her stay, is determined to rejoin the merc crew no matter what.
L&L was such a wonderful read that even a look into Viv’s backstory is a real treat indeed. This should tide over fans of that charming cozy fantasy until we get another book from Baldee. At the very least, it’s a great excuse to reread L&L, something a certain Disney princess would approve of:
Well, this was a Merry Christmas for me, book wise but those after holiday sales peaked my interest too, which means that I have a part two of this post as soon as the rest of those books come in!
Meanwhile, I hope you had a great holiday season of reading and find many more page turning treasures in this new year. As much as I like winter, this spring to come does give us a new season of Bridgerton that happens to be a two parter to boot! Perhaps duets will be the literary theme for this year, we shall see:
