Let me start by wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving and may the rest of your holiday season be enjoyable at the very least.
Now, with various end of the year round ups on the way, not to mention the final voting for the Goodreads Choice Awards set to begin tomorrow, putting up my personal Top Five Reads seems to be in order here.
With one exception, most of these books are new releases and for this mystery title, I must credit Booktuber Mara of Books Like Whoa for her enthusiastic recommendation of The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett.
Told in the format of texts, e-mails and transcripts, this novel chronicles the rivalry between two reporters as they look into an infamous cold case regarding a bizarre kidnapping supposedly done by members of a cult that still leaves a lot of questions unanswered.
To tell any more of the plot would definitely spoil the spine tingling tense delight of reading this book and it’s one of those actual staying up all night to finish stories for sure. I’ve read another one of Hallett’s novels since then(The Appeal) and believe you me, this author is quite the talent to behold:
It’s been a very great year for witches in pop culture and my list happens to have a pair of unusual enchantresses worth being spell bound by.
For Jane Austen admirers, Melinda Taub’s The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch take a fiercely fun twist on Pride & Prejudice as the mischievous youngest daughter of the Bennet family has much to tell about her adventures as a budding witch who created a companion sister(yes,Kitty Bennet is an actual cat!) and her relationship with Wickham is truly diabolical in more ways than one.
Taub creates an elaborately creative world within Austen’s very familiar fictional realm that fits in as neatly as a puzzle piece that charmingly expands upon the original storytelling portrait of society and romance perfectly.
Also, by tapping into those off screen yet very active subplots involving Lydia from the source material, we get quite the “what if” version of P&P into the bargain:
As for the other witchy tale, it was my first read of a T. Kingfisher novel and wow, folks were not joking about the amazing quality of her work.
A Sorceress Comes to Call is set in a Regency era England where a young woman named Cordelia is constantly at the not so tender mercies of her mother , Evangeline, who uses her magical powers like a whip to keep those about her in line.
When Evangeline sets her sights on a gullible noble man as her next meal ticket, Cordelia finds an unexpected ally in Hester, who has serious doubts about her brother’s new acquaintance and is willing to believe the unbelievable to prevent her loved ones from being harmed.
This book is simply awesome, with moments of humor, suspense, romance and horror that are the perfect ingredients for a page turning plate of delicious fictional feasting that will leave you wanting seconds and perhaps more. This is one witches road that delivers on the promised tricks and trials with potential glory at the end:
When it comes to literary romcoms, this offbeat novel by Kristy Greenwood, The Love of my Afterlife, adds a dash of otherworldly charm into the mix.
When lonely Delphie dies via accident and lands in the netherworld, her afterlife counselor makes her wait in a laundry room style reception area, giving Delphie a chance to make an instant romantic connection with another arrival, a man who turns out to not be ready for the next world just yet.
Since her counselor happens to be a fan of romantic novels, she gives Delphie ten days back on earth to find this possible soulmate or become a candidate for an afterlife dating service.
Eager to find true love as well as another shot at life, Delphie winds up working with her grumpy neighbor Cooper on this wacky quest. Turns out love wasn’t as far away as she imagined but will this deadline truly be the end?
This story is weirdly fun, with beautifully bittersweet moments and entertaining characters that wish were on a TV series so that you could watch them again and again. Truly a heavenly experience, reading this book was:
The only book on this list that is not a new release (it was published in 2019) is also my solo nonfiction pick here.
However, this graphic novel style of memoir is very well known due to its status as one of the most banned books in America.
Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe chronicles the author’s journey as a non binary asexual person and artist (pronouns are e/em/eir) seeking to find eir place in the world. Told with humor and heartbreak at times, this book urges the reader to embrace empathy, something that seems to be severely lacking in our society right now.
I buddy read this book with a relative and we had many a good talk about the themes expressed within, not to mention just enjoying some of the great anecdotes that the author shares and appreciating the excellent art work.
Instead of being banned by the ignorantly fearful, Gender Queer ought to be more widely read by those both part of the LGBTQIA community and those who aren’t but would like to have a better understanding there. Young people, especially, would benefit from this honestly told story that shows just how human we all are:
Also, I do have a few Honorable Mentions to highlight as well:
Sex,Lies and Sensibility by Nikki Payne- a great modern day take on Sense & Sensibility that makes me hope that she does this for all of Jane Austen’s work (please do Mansfield Park!)
Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez-she’s having an incredible year with her heartfelt romance reads and while this one does slightly connect to her earlier books, you can enjoy this one sincerely on its own merits.
A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen-a rip roaring romantasy that has me eager for the follow up and fingers crossed that it’s a Book of the Month selection so that it matches my copy of this first part!
As we head towards what’s left of this year, it’s going to be hard to look forward to what lies ahead, no question about it. With any luck, we’ll do our best to push back against any negative forces out there and keep our collective spirits up, with the help of a few good books to talk about along the way.
I hope you all have had a great reading year and are planning on finding something to look forward to as the new year approaches, one way or another:
While Thanksgiving is nearly a week away, it doesn’t hurt to make some winter holiday plans right about now and mine involve the Seasons of Reading’s Yuletide Spirit Reading Challenge & Readathon , starting November 25th.
This event is being held at two of Michelle Miller’s websites, Seasons of Reading and Yuletide Spirit with the option of participating in both. I suppose that I’m doing a bit of each as my TBR is all Christmas themed books. One happens to be a brand new release while the other two are rereads yet all three of them are connected by more than just the holiday season…
One of the recent review copies sent to me by Harper Collins is a literary duet between authors Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, Christmas with the Queen begins in England of 1952 as Elizabeth II is reviving the tradition of an annual Christmas Day address to the nation.
This radio broadcast event brings together a pair of old friends: Olive, an ambitious young reporter eager to cover this story and Jack, a new cook in the royal kitchens. Both of them were separated by the past war and happy to see each other again, despite the drastic changes to their lives in this peacetime era.
Over the next five years, Olive and Jack manage to meet up at Christmas for the Queen’s address yet never quite make that ultimate connection of the heart that they are both longing to. However, in 1957, as the Queen is about to make her first televised Christmas Day appearance, something may change for more than just her Majesty this holiday season..
I do enjoy historical fiction, especially when it comes to the Brits , and this timely tale of love and facing change sounds perfect for this season. The novel is due out on November 19 and can be a nice early gift from Father Christmas indeed:
For something a little more modern day, I chose Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory.
When Vivian Forest decides to join her daughter Maddie on her work trip to England, she never expected to find a bit of romance under the mistletoe for herself.
As Maddie prepares to create the perfect bridal outfit for a member of the royal family, Vivian is unprepared for the charms of Malcolm Hudson, Queen’s private secretary. The two of them are quite well suited together as a serving of tea and crumpets yet is this the beginning of a long term relationship or simply a brief affair of the heart?
I fondly recall just how charming this book was when I received it as a Secret Santa gift and getting to revisit this lovely story is a pleasure to experience yet again as a gift to myself:
Finally, for some Jane Austen joy, my choice was Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas by Stephanie Barron, the eleventh entry in her Jane Austen Mystery series.
Jane and her sister Cassandra are planning to spend a rather dull holiday with their brother James and his constantly complaining wife when an invitation to the country estate of some old family friends is a welcome surprise to be sure.
While mingling with the other house guests, Jane makes the equally welcome acquaintance of Raphael West, son of a renowned artist who possesses some of his father’s talents for drawing, not to mention a keen eye for details.
Those skills will come in handy as the sudden arrival of a military messenger swiftly leads to murder and possible espionage. In great need of a proper partner in her investigation, Jane is happy to have Raphael’s assistance but can their mutual holiday be saved as well?
Barron’s Jane Austen Mysteries have come to an end recently (hope to read that last book soon!) but it is good to take them up again just as much as it is to engage with one of Jane’s wonderful works when the mood strikes.
Emma is the only Austen novel that I. An think of that really has a Christmas scene but I do wonder how well Miss Woodhouse would do with such a deadly mystery on her hands there:
The Yuletide Reading Challenge and Readathon both begin on November 25 and end on December 31, giving you plenty of time for some fine holiday reading. Sign ups are available here , along with more details on each event, plus a holiday bingo card!
I have to admit that given the current state of the world these days, I was reluctant to get into the holiday spirit. However, making myself miserable is no fun for anyone and since I have the unexpected blessing of a new Christmas themed book(that doesn’t interfere with my No-Buy November pledge) and seeing a couple of other titles on my shelves that would go great with it, it just feels meant to be, so to speak.
So, thank you to Michelle Miller for keeping our spirits bright enough to read by this year! It just goes to show that no matter how awful the world can be, there’s something this time of year that sparks a little joy here and there. Also, do love an English style Christmas, especially one with a sense of good humor:
My No-Buy November on books officially began on the third of this month as I did pick up a few new reads at the local rummage sale over a week ago.
It’s a biannual event (Fall and Spring) that I really look forward to and given the current state of the world right now, having such a nice moment like this to remember helps to bring me some comfort (more on that later).
Anyway, I spotted two Nora Roberts titles and one of them I’m reading at this point in time; Tribute, which was published in 2008. Our leading lady is Cilla, the granddaughter of acclaimed actress Janet Hardy, who has left show business and gone into house renovations.
She’s bought her late grandmother’s country house and is restoring the place with a few upgrades of her own design. Across the way is Ford, a graphic novelist who finds Cilla to be the perfect inspiration for his next action adventure heroine.
While she has plenty on her plate already, Cilla discovers a set of hidden letters, written to Janet by a secret lover who also happened to be a married man to boot. Curious about this past affair, she decides to look into the matter but there are those that don’t want such a long ago relationship to be revealed. Is Cilla putting herself in danger here or does this secret deserve to be brought to light once and for all?
I have to say that so far, this is a very engaging story with solid characters that fully click well together. Some of my favorite scenes involve dreams where Cilla is speaking with Janet via the elder’s past memories. It’s a concept that plays out believably and should lead to an interesting plot point along the narrative way.
I also learn that this book(among other Roberts novels) was made into a Lifetime Channel movie starring Brittany Murphy! I may have to check that out once I finish the book:
The other Nora Roberts was Three Fates, originally released in 2001 , where a stolen statue brings together a trio of siblings on a mission to reclaim this family heirloom.
Ironically, this inheritance was stolen to begin with as the great grandfather of Gideon, Malachi and Rebecca Sullivan survived the sinking of the 1915 luxury liner The Lusitania with one of the three silver Fate statues in his possession. That experience lead to his reformation, keeping the statue as a reminder of his petty theft past.
Nevertheless, his descendants are not about to let some cutthroat art dealer get away with this robbery and reluctantly team up on an international quest to retrieve their lost legacy, making enemies and allies as they go.
This does sound like fun and I would like to see how Nora handles an action adventure caper like this:
To my surprise, the next book that I added to my purchase pile was a much more recent release from this past spring.
An Inconvenient Wife by Karen E. Olson is subtitled A Modern Tudor Mystery as the story takes an imaginative twist on the six wives of Henry the Eighth.
Kate Parker is the sixth and current wife of wealthy Hank Tudor, whose assistant she was when his marriage to wife number five, flighty actress Kaitlyn Howard, went bad.
Granted, Kate knew enough about Hank’s past and expected to deal with some flack from his prior relationships but when Kaitlyn is found dead in a manner very similar to wife number two, things get even more complicated than anyone expected.
Convinced of his innocence, Kate teams up with wife number one, reclusive Katherine Alvarez and wife no. four, B&B owner Anna Klein, to find out what really happened to Kaitlyn and hopefully stop it from happening again!
As someone who finds the six Tudor wives very fascinating, this fresh fictional spin is a must read indeed:
My last pick yet far from least is a lovely collection of culinary tales from Everyman’s Library.
Stories from the Kitchen is a 2015 anthology that includes excerpts from classic novels by Virginia Woolf and Marcel Proust to short stories from modern writers such as Amy Tan and T.C. Boyle, all themed around food and its emotional impact upon people, places and things.
As a fan of foodie writing, this book feels like a banquet of tasty storytelling worth savoring with the ultimate dinner quest list that has Charles Dickens, M.F.K. Fisher and Nora Ephron ready to be seated:
Sadly, a few days later, the election results came in and I am sure that I’m not the only one to sigh and say “Well, here we go again!”(that being the mildest response to the situation for sure).
As it is now, the future looks pretty bleak and it will be important to not totally give into despair. Not an easy task to be certain but supporting one another as we do our level best to speak up against what’s wrong and to protect our friends, family and neighbors from injustice is what has to be done.
Keeping our spirits up is also going to be a challenge but it is necessary for our collective mental and emotional health. I intend to keep this bookish blog going if only to provide some relief from the deluge of disastrous headlines that are sure to come.
Reading is a vital part of freedom and one that needs to celebrated now more than ever. I hope to see a better world someday and with any luck, that path will be paved with wonderful books . So let us join hands and sing of glory at the end of this particular witches road:
Happy November, folks, and I hope you all had a properly spooky Halloween! Mine was not too bad, except for the head cold that I caught (and still getting over).
One thing that definitely made my month better was the FrightFall readathon , held by Seasons of Reading’s Michelle Miller. This annual event is a fun way to indulge in the sinister vibes of the season without costumes and candy(not that you can’t have either one on hand….).
For this year, I went with the mystery/thriller genre for the most part and even with a last minute switch, managed to finish two books and still working on the third one; more about that latter title later.
The first book that I completed was Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson. The novel introduces us to Ernest Cunningham, who is reluctantly attending a family reunion.
Part of the reason for his unease in going to this gathering is that it’s a celebration for his older brother Michael, recently released from prison. A main reason why Michael went to jail is because Ernest turned him in and testified against him in court.
Nonetheless, Ernest joins his estranged family at the remote ski lodge his aunt booked for the occasion and before Michael even gets there, a dead body is found nearby. When he does finally arrive, Michael is immediately under suspicion for this murder and Ernest is the only one he trusts to find the real killer.
It’s a very quirky story as Ernest narrates the overall story with regular fourth wall breaks to the reader(the character writes how-to books about writing, particularly mysteries) which makes the book challenging yet entertaining, sort of a Columbo vibe there.
If you can get into that groove, this is a great read with humorous moments regarding family dynamics and is apparently the first in a series. I certainly would be willing to tune in for the next book, that’s for sure:
After that, I took up Julia Bartz’s The Writing Retreat, which is quite the wild ride indeed!
We start with Alex, who has had writers block for over a year due in part to a brutal parting of the ways with her best friend Wren.
Sick of her situation, she leaps at the chance to be part of an exclusive writer’s retreat held by legendary author Roza Vello, who insists that all attendees stay at her remote mansion known as Blackbriar. One big drawback is that Wren is also going to be there but Alex refuses to give up such a once in a lifetime opportunity like this.
Roza challenges the group to complete a full novel in one month with a mandatory daily word count; the book judged to be the best will get a million dollar publishing contract. It’s a bit much but Alex and the others are willing to give this a serious try.
However, things are not what they seem, especially when one of the women assembled goes missing in a deadly snowstorm…..
I don’t want to give anything else away but yes, this takes a few interesting twists and turns that kept me up late at night reading! This dazzling debut from Bartz has sharp wit and teeth when it comes to the complex nature of friendship boundaries and competitiveness, that makes me eager to check her next novel(The Last Session, due out in 2025)as soon as may be:
At the moment, I am more than halfway through The Stone Witch of Florence, a debut novel from Anna Rasche. Yes, I was going to read The Lost Apothecary but blame it on Agatha All Along for casting a witch book spell on me!
Ginerva is the spellcaster of the title, wanting only to use her powers for healing with the use of gemstones for the benefit of others. However, her skills threatened the male medical hierarchy and she was banished from the city for her troubles.
Now, during a time of plague, she is summoned back but not to heal what’s left of the population. Instead, Ginerva is tasked to discover who is behind the strange rash of thefts at local churches, in which the bones of saints are stolen and small glowing vials are left in their place.
Her reward for this investigation is a full return to Florence and the chance to become an accredited healer; something that’s she has always dreamed of. So, with the help of some new friends and former colleagues, Ginerva is on the hunt for the thief while doing what she can to aid the those stricken with illness as well. Can she deliver two deadly birds with one magical gemstone?
This is such a riveting book and if it weren’t for the nasty cold that I caught last week (don’t worry, I’m getting better), I would be finished by now. Then again, it may be best to take my time with such a vivid tale of love, loss and renewed purpose like this.
This does put me in mind of a major character from Agatha All Along, Lillia, a divination witch who struggles with her abilities yet regains her sense of self at the end. If you’re a fan of that show and that particular character, this is definitely the book for you:
So, thank you to Michelle Miller for yet another wonderful readathon! There is a Christmas themed readathon coming up next at Seasons of Reading but I am not sure if I will take that one up this time around; we’ll see.
In the meantime, please remember to vote this week (my family and I voted early for the first time in our lives!) and let’s all hope that things work out on that front for the collective good here.
Also, while it’s understandable that people want to dive into the Christmas spirit right away, maybe we could slow down a little and savor the joys of Thanksgiving? With all of the free flowing anger and divisiveness going on lately, maybe we all need the chance to settle down and consider our blessings together.
Especially if this election walks us down a more positive road, the best way forward might be to share our bounty with loved ones and newcomers alike, adding the gravy goodness of generosity and compassion to the celebration feast:
