Category: Recent Reads

Recent Reads: The Little Library on Cherry Lane by Katie Ginger

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

Elsie works at the local library, and leads a quiet, safe life.  Jacob works for his father’s building company, and there are plans for shutting the library down for a housing development, which Jacob is going to help with.

He’s building affordable housing, Elsie is trying to help the local community.  But who is going to win?

This is a sweet romance, with lots of community spirit, and the perils of the housing market driving young people away due to house prices.

I enjoyed the story, and agreed with both sides of the argument, which made it hard to know who to be cheering for!

The Little Library on Cherry Lane was published on 11th March 2022, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Katie Ginger on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and on her website.

You can read my reviews of other Katie Ginger books below:

The Perfect Christmas Gift

The Secrets of Meadow Farmhouse

The Little Theatre on the Seafront

I was given this book in return for an unbiased review, and so my thanks to NetGalley and to HQ.

Recent Reads: Slan by A.E van Vogt

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟

Slan by A.E van Vogt was first published in 1940, and so is from the golden age of science fiction.

Jommy Cross is an orphaned mutant in a world of those prejudiced against mutants.  Jommy must survive and maybe see if he can find more like him.

I didn’t find this book to be great, but I am judging it with contemporary eyes, and I’ve read that it’s a very important book in science fiction.

Slan was published in September 1940, and is available from Amazon.

Recent Reads: The Circus Infinite by Khan Wong

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟

The Circus Infinite by Khan Wong has Jes, who has escaped from the institute which experimented on him, and now he’s running as far and as fast as he can, and ends up at a circus.

This is a sci-fi book with aliens, set in space, and with lots of different powers described.

I didn’t find that I loved the book, or the characters, but I liked the premise, and LGBTIQA+ representation with found family.

The Circus Infinite was published on 8th March 2022 and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Khan Wong on Twitter and his website.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Angry Robot.

Recent Reads: The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

In The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake every 10 years, 6 of the world’s most uniquely talented magicans are chosen to try for the Alexandrian Society initation.  These 6 have to spend a year together, and only 5 of them will be initiated.  Atlas Blakely is the one who contacts them, and is the one they have the most dealing with, but they don’t feel he’s telling them everything.

There is manipulation, deception, powers being used, and all that you would expect of a group of young people trying to fight for a place.

It’s not a school of magic book as it’s about graduates, but there are some of the tropes, like clichs.  

I enjoyed the story, and I’m looking forward to the next book in the series!

The Atlas Six was published on 3rd March 2022 and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Olivie Blake on Twitter, Instagram and her website.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Pan Macmillan.

Recent Reads: Moonlight and the Pearler’s Daughter by Lizzie Pook

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

Moonlight and the Pearler’s Daughter by Lizzie Pook is set in Bannon Bay, Western Australia in 1896.

Eliza is a young woman who came with her family from England 10 years ago.  Her father is the captain of a pearl diving boat, which her brother also works on, along with others.

When her father doesn’t return one day, and her brother won’t say what’s happened, Eliza starts to look into what’s happened, in a time when women aren’t meant to be investigating in this way, especially when blackmail and corruption is involved.

This is a very evocative book that transported me to the heat of Western Australia.  I find Eliza to be a sympathetic character, and I was carried along on her journey.

Moonlight and the Pearler’s Daughter was published on 3rd March 2022, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Lizzie Pook on Twitter, Instagram and her website.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Pan Macmillan.

Recent Reads: The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

The Paris Apartment has Jess, who is heading to her half brother Ben’s apartment in Paris to get away from her old job.  Jess and Ben aren’t close so whilst he wasn’t jumping for joy at her coming, he is letting her stay there.  Except he’s not around when she arrives.

As he stays missing, Jess gets more worried, and starts to discover things that make her wonder what’s going on!

This is a good thriller, set in a place that makes you feel like an outsider as much as possible.

This is the third book I’ve ready by Lucy Foley, and they’ve all been very good thrillers, with interesting set ups and all based in very different places.

The Paris Apartment was published on 3rd March 2022, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Lucy Foley on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

You can read my review of The Guest List by Lucy Foley here.

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, and so my thanks to NetGalley, and to HarperCollins for this book. 

Recent Reads: The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

The Keeper of Stories has Janice, a cleaner, who collects the stories of people she meets.  She feels it’s the way to really understand someone.

When she starts cleaning for Mrs B, a crafty widow in her nineties, she finds someone who wants to hear her stories.  But Janice doesn’t think she has a story to tell, or at least not one that she wants to tell anyone.

Janice’s collection of stories is entertaining, along with the names she gives people like Mrs ‘YeahYeahYeah’, and is a mostly light hearted read.

The Keeper of Stories was published on 28th February 2022, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Sally Page on Twitter and her website.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, and so my thanks to NetGalley and to HarperCollins, One More Chapter.

Recent Reads: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black (The Folk of the Air book 1)

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

Jude was 7 years old when her parents were murdered, and she and her two sisters were taken by the murderer, Modoc.  He takes them to live in Faerie, to the High Court.  Jude and her twin are human, and so don’t fit in with the fae.

Prince Carden is the son of the ruler, and he presides over a gang that picks on Jude.  Jude wants to belong and so she plunges into palace intrigue, learning more about herself than she could have expected!

The Cruel Prince was published on 2nd January 2018 and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Holly Black on Twitter, Instagram and her website.

 

Recent Reads: Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Bridge of Birds is set in an ancient China that could have been.  Number Ten Ox sets out to find a wiseman when the children in his village come down with a mysterious illness, and so he meets Master Li Kao.

Master Li has some ideas about how to cure the children, and so they set off on a series of adventures, and a series of coincidences.

This is a simple story that reads like mythology or an ancient story, and as the author claims it’s a novel of an ancient China that never was, then it works really well!

Bridge of Birds was published on 1st April 1984, and is available from Amazon. 

Recent Reads: Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

Posted on by Pam

My review: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan is set in a world of magic, mythology, love and betrayal.

Xingjin’s mother is hiding her from everyone, including the Celestial Emperor, after her mother was exiled for stealing the potion of immortality.

Xingjin is bored with a very quiet life, but knows no other.  All is safe and well until Xingjin’s magic flares and attracts attention.  She has to leave, and disguised, she trains alongside the Emperor’s son.

Xingjin hears of something that cold mean the Emperor would grant her wish, and she plans to ask for her mother to be freed.  

I listened to this audiobook, and enjoyed the narrator.  It’s a fantastical story that I really liked listening to the story.

Daughter of the Moon Goddess was published on 20th January 2022, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Sue Lynn Tan on Twitter and her website.