Watching what I’m reading . . .

Happy Sunday afternoon. Pete and I have been working in the yard this afternoon. Other one small corner still needing to be weeded, it’s looking really nice again.

I have enjoyed getting back into walking with my neighbour Helen, and going back to aquarobics this week. I finally feel like I have beaten off the last of the flu. It’s nice to have some energy again.

Currently I am reading Wake by Shelley Burr, a debut Australian crime thriller which I am finding difficult to put down. I featured this novel on my First Lines Friday post this week. You can check it out here if you missed it: https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/2022/12/02/first-lines-friday-9/

I am also reading The Second Chance Holiday Club by Kate Galley, another debut novel that I am loving.

And I am listening to The Angel Tree by Lucinda Riley.

Thirty years have passed since Greta left Marchmont Hall, a grand and beautiful house nestled in the hills of rural Monmouthshire. But when she returns to the Hall for Christmas, at the invitation of her old friend David Marchmont, she has no recollection of her past association with it – the result of a tragic accident that has blanked out more than two decades of her life. Then, during a walk through the wintry landscape, she stumbles across a grave in the woods, and the weathered inscription on the headstone tells her that a little boy is buried here . . .

The poignant discovery strikes a chord in Greta’s mind and soon ignites a quest to rediscover her lost memories. With David’s help, she begins to piece together the fragments of not only her own story, but that of her daughter, Cheska, who was the tragic victim of circumstances beyond her control. And, most definitely, not the angel she appeared to be . . .

This week I only have two reads for review to complete, so hopefully I’ll read a couple of backtitles as well. Just which titles they will be is yet to be decided. My next read will be The Whispering Dead by David Mark

Cordelia Hemlock is teetering on the verge of joining MI6 when she meets the enigmatic Walt, a high-ranking member of the Secret Intelligence Service, who tells her: They won’t want you to do well. They won’t ever trust you. They don’t trust me and I’m one of them. She takes this as a challenge rather than a warning. She wants to protect the nation. Serve Queen and country. Who would turn down such a glorious opportunity?

Fourteen years later, Cordelia is desk-bound after finishing an undercover operation and going quietly mad with boredom. So when the call comes through on the top-secret Pandora line – so-called after the locked-box the telephone is kept in – she answers it.

It’s Walt. No longer officially MI6, he still inhabits the murky world of intelligence, where information always comes with a price. He tells her he has a secret to share with her – and only her. And once she knows it, nothing will ever be the same again . . .

Followed by So Long Chester Wheeler by Catherine Ryan-Hyde

Lewis Madigan is young, gay, out of work, and getting antsy when he’s roped into providing end-of-life care for his insufferable homophobic neighbor, Chester Wheeler. Lewis doesn’t need the aggravation, just the money. The only requirements: run errands, be on call, and put up with a miserable old churl no one else in Buffalo can bear. After exchanging barbs, bickering, baiting, and pushing buttons, Chester hits Lewis with the big ask.

Lewis can’t say no to a dying wish: drive Chester to Arizona in his rust bucket of a Winnebago to see his ex-wife for the first time in thirty-two years—for the last time. One week, two thousand miles. To Lewis, it becomes an illuminating journey into the life and secrets of a vulnerable man he’s finally beginning to understand. A neighbor, a stranger, and a surprising new friend whose closure on a conflicted past is also just beginning.

I received only one new ARC for review from Netgalley this week, which is a bit of a relief after seven last week! It is Ever Since that Day by Sara James.

Well that’s me for the week. I hope you have had an enjoyable week of reading. I’m off now to make salads for our bbq dinner tonight. Happy reading. ❤📚