Welcome to First Lines Friday originally hosted by Reading is my SuperPower.
Instead of judging a book by its cover, here are the first few lines which I hope will make you want to read this book.
I smell him first, or rather the aftershave he used to wear. Joint by Roccobarocco. A 90s vintage scent – masculine and woody. A discontinued line.
Like what you’ve just read?
Want to read more?
These are the opening lines of one of my current reads, Who Did YouTell , the second book by Lesley Kara, who is a go to author for me.
It’s been 192 days, seven hours and fifteen minutes since her last drink. Now Astrid is trying to turn her life around.
Having reluctantly moved back in with her mother, in a quiet seaside town away from the temptations and painful memories of her life before, Astrid is focusing on her recovery. She’s going to meetings. Confessing her misdeeds. Making amends to those she’s wronged.
But someone knows exactly what Astrid is running from. And they won’t stop until she learns that some mistakes can’t be corrected.
Welcome to a wet and windy New Zealand Sunday afternoon. The wind howling around the house, the heavy rain and the thunder and lightning kept me awake last night. Today is a lot calmer, I’m pleased to say.
Unusually for me, I am not currently reading anything! Sorry, should I have warned you to be sitting safely down before I made that statement? But be reassured, it’s not as bad as it sounds. I finished reading two books this morning: The novella Foster by Claire Keegan
A small girl is sent to live with foster parents on a farm in rural Ireland, without knowing when she will return home. In the strangers’ house, she finds a warmth and affection she has not known before and slowly begins to blossom in their care. And then a secret is revealed and suddenly, she realizes how fragile her idyll is.
The Plot Thickets by Julia Henry, A Garden Squad Mystery #5
Ever the quintessential New England town, Goosebush, Massachusetts, truly shines in springtime, but when an underhanded undertaker digs herself an early grave, only Lilly Jayne and her Garden Squad can unearth the cryptic killer . . .
With spring’s arrival in Goosebush, Lilly and the Beautification Committee turn their eyes to new projects. A cleanup of the historic Goosebush Cemetery may be in order, after Lilly and Delia find the plots there sorely neglected and inexplicably rearranged. Lilly soon discovers that Whitney Dunne-Bradford snapped up custodianship of the graveyard once she inherited Bradford Funeral Homes. But before Lilly can get to the bottom of the tombstone tampering, she stumbles upon Whitney’s body at the Jayne family mausoleum . . .
Though at first it appears Whitney died by suicide, Lilly has doubts, and apparently, so does Chief of Police Bash Haywood, who quickly opens a murder investigation. Plenty of folks in town had bones to pick with Whitney, including her stepdaughter, Sasha, and funeral home employee, Dewey Marsh–all three recently charged with illegal business practices. But when the homicide inquiry suddenly targets an old friend, Lilly and the Garden Squad must rally to exhume the truth before the real killer buries it forever . . .
I have written reviews for both of these, and I also finished listening to The Tilt by Chris Hammer, but am still to write my review on this Australian crime thriller.
A man runs for his life in a forest. A woman plans sabotage. A body is unearthed.
Newly-minted homicide detective Nell Buchanan returns to her home town, annoyed at being assigned a decades-old murder – a ‘file and forget’.
But this is no ordinary cold case, as the discovery of more bodies triggers a chain of escalating events in the present day. As Nell starts to join the pieces together, she begins to question how well she truly knows those closest to her. Could her own family be implicated in the crimes?
The nearer Nell comes to uncovering the secrets of the past, the more dangerous the present becomes for her, as she battles shadowy assailants and sinister forces. Can she survive this harrowing investigation and what price will she have to pay for the truth?
I actually read all the books that I had planned to read for the week (1 dnf) , a definite bonus of having a chest infection.
I have loaded Day’s End by Garry Disher, #4 in the Paul Hirschausen series, to start reading when I have finished this post.
Hirsch’s rural beat is wide. Daybreak to day’s end, dirt roads and dust. Every problem that besets small towns and isolated properties, from unlicensed driving to arson. In the time of the virus, Hirsch is seeing stresses heightened and social divisions cracking wide open. His own tolerance under strain; people getting close to the edge.
Today he’s driving an international visitor around: Janne Van Sant, whose backpacker son went missing while the borders were closed. They’re checking out his last photo site, his last employer. A feeling that the stories don’t quite add up.
Then a call comes in: a roadside fire. Nothing much—a suitcase soaked in diesel and set alight. But two noteworthy facts emerge. Janne knows more than Hirsch about forensic evidence. And the body in the suitcase is not her son’s.
I have also loaded The Work Wives by Rachel Johns to start.
For work wives Debra and Quinn, it’s a case of opposites attract. They are each other’s lifelines as they navigate office politics and jobs that pay the bills but don’t inspire them.
Outside work, they are also friends, but where Quinn is addicted to dating apps and desperate to find love, Deb has sworn off men. Although Deb is not close to her own mother, her teenage daughter is her life and there’s nothing she wouldn’t do to protect her. But Ramona has other ideas and is beginning to push boundaries.
Life becomes even more complicated by the arrival of a new man at the office. One woman is attracted to him, while the other hoped she’d never meet him again.
But when Deb, Quinn and Ramona are forced to choose between friends, love and family, the ramifications run deeper than they could ever have expected.
And No Strangers Here (County Kerry Mystery #1) written by Carlene O’Connor, and narrated by Emily O’Mahony, to listen to.
On a rocky beach in the southwest of Ireland, the body of Jimmy O’Reilly, sixty-nine years old and dressed in a suit and his dancing shoes, is propped on a boulder, staring sightlessly out to sea. A cryptic message is spelled out next to the body with sixty-nine polished black stones and a discarded vial of deadly veterinarian medication lies nearby. Jimmy was a wealthy racehorse owner, known far and wide as The Dancing Man. In a town like Dingle, everyone knows a little something about everyone else. But dig a bit deeper, and there’s always much more to find. And when Detective Inspector Cormac O’Brien is dispatched out of Killarney to lead the murder inquiry, he’s determined to unearth every last buried secret.
Dimpna Wilde hasn’t been home in years. As picturesque as Dingle may be for tourists in search of their roots and the perfect jumper, to her it means family drama and personal complications. In fairness, Dublin hasn’t worked out quite as she hoped either. Faced with a triple bombshell—her mother rumored to be in a relationship with Jimmy, her father’s dementia is escalating, and her brother is avoiding her calls—Dimpna moves back to clear her family of suspicion.
Despite plenty of other suspects, the guards are crawling over the Wildes. But the horse business can be a brutal one, and as Dimpna becomes more involved with her old acquaintances and haunts, the depth of lingering grudges becomes clear. Theft, extortion, jealousy and greed. As Dimpna takes over the family practice, she’s in a race with the detective inspector to uncover the dark, twisting truth, no matter how close to home it strikes . . .
Other books that I have to read for review this week are: Auld Acquaintance by Sofia Slater
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Millie Partridge desperately needs a party. So, when her (handsome and charming) ex-colleague Nick invites her to a Hebridean Island for New Year’s Eve, she books her ticket North.
But things go wrong the moment the ferry drops her off. The stately home is more down at heel than Downton Abbey. Nick hasn’t arrived yet. And the other revellers? Politely, they aren’t exactly who she would have pictured Nick would be friends with.
Worse still, an old acquaintance from Millie’s past has been invited, too. Penny Maybury. Millie and Nick’s old colleague. Somebody Millie would rather have forgotten about. Somebody, in fact, that Millie has been trying very hard to forget.
Waking up on New Year’s Eve, Penny is missing. A tragic accident? Or something more sinister? With a storm washing in from the Atlantic, nobody will be able reach the group before they find out.
One thing is for sure – they’re going to see in the new year with a bang.
The Next Best Day by Sharon Sala
A fresh start for a young teacher to build the life she’s dreamt of A second chance at romance for a single dad The warm and uplifting small-town community cheering them on
After two back-to-back life-changing events, first grade teacher Katie McGrath left Albuquerque for a fresh start in Borden’s Gap, Tennessee. She is finally back in the classroom where she belongs, but it will take a little while for her to heal and feel truly like herself. She’ll need to dig deep to find the courage it takes to try again—in life and in love—but with some help from her neighbor Sam Youngblood and his adorable daughters who bring her out of her shell, her future is looking brighter than she dared imagine.
A Body at Lavender Cottage, (A Kate Palmer mystery #6) by Dee MacDonald
Nurse Kate Palmer is Cornwall’s answer to Miss Marple! But when a body turns up in her own garden can Kate solve the crime? Or is the murder a bit too close to home?
Kate Palmer is stunned when she wakes up one morning to discover the body of a man in the beautiful garden of Lavender Cottage. She’s spent the last few years renovating her cozy, clifftop cottage with its gorgeous views of the sparkling Cornish sea. And a death right under her nose is more than a little unsettling…
When Woody Forrest, Kate’s new husband and the village’s retired detective inspector, takes a closer look he realises the victim is none other than Frank Ford – Woody’s old nemesis. Now, Frank is lying dead amongst the daisies… strangled with Woody’s blue police tie.
Kate is certain the man she loves is not a murderer and is determined to prove his innocence. But who would want to kill Frank and frame Woody? As Kate investigates, Frank’s family seem to be the obvious suspects. Could it be Jason Ford, the youngest son, who has an odd obsession with birdwatching? Sid Kinsella, the angry father-in-law? Or Sharon Mason, the troublesome daughter?
When another member of the Ford family bites the dust while Woody is tending his allotment, it’s clear the killer is determined to bury Woody’s reputation. But when a chance conversation on Bluebell Road provides Kate with a clue, she must find a woman named Rose, who could hold the answers Kate is looking for.
But Kate needs to dig up the truth – and fast! – before poor Woody is thrown behind bars. Can she solve the case and save her husband before it’s too late?
I received six new ARCs from Netgalley this week, including the audio of No Strangers Here. They are: Devil’s Way by Robert Bryndza
Those Empty Eyes by Charlie Donlea
On Spine of Death by Tamara Berry
Tell Me Lies by Teresa Driscoll
And the audiobook, The Couple in the Cabin, written by Daniel Hurst and narrated by Eilidh Beaton and Matt Bates
Do you have any of these on your tbr shelf?
Before I go, does anyone have a nice, tasty pumpkin pie recipe that they don’t mind sharing? I love pumpkin pie, but there are so many recipes out there it’s mind boggling!
EXCERPT: There are at least two sides to every story: Yours and mine. Ours and theirs. His and hers. Which means someone is always lying.
ABOUT ‘HIS & HERS’: When a woman is murdered in Blackdown, a quintessentially British village, newsreader Anna Andrews is reluctant to cover the case. Detective Jack Harper is suspicious of her involvement, until he becomes a suspect in his own murder investigation. Someone isn’t telling the truth, and some secrets are worth killing to keep.
MY THOUGHTS: Delightfully twisty. So twisty that I had doubts about everything and everyone. I felt like that girl in The Exorcist, the one whose head spins around and around.
His & Hers is intense, diabolically clever, and taut. It’s compelling, and wormed it’s way into my head, so that when I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about it, squirreling away at what I thought I knew, trying to make sense of it. I repeatedly made sense of it; just not correctly. I never even came close.
My reaction at the end was, ‘Woah! I didn’t see that coming!’
The characters are not at all likeable. They lie. They cheat. They hurt. They’re fascinating.
Jack: Three words to describe my wife: Beautiful. Ambitious. Unforgiving. Anna: I only need one word to describe my husband: Liar.
Just thinking about His & Hers makes my heart pound, my pulse race. I can’t wait to read more from this author.
EXCERPT: ADAM If every story had a happy ending, then we’d have no reason to start again. Life is all about choices, and learning how to put ourselves back together when we fall apart. Which we all do. Even the people who pretend they don’t. Just because I don’t recognize my wife’s face, doesn’t mean I don’t know who she is.
ABOUT ‘ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS: Think you know the person you married? Think again…
Things have been wrong with Mr and Mrs Wright for a long time. When Adam and Amelia win a weekend away to Scotland, it might be just what their marriage needs. Self-confessed workaholic and screenwriter Adam Wright has lived with face blindness his whole life. He can’t recognize friends or family, or even his own wife. Every anniversary the couple exchange traditional gifts – paper, cotton, pottery, tin – and each year Adam’s wife writes him a letter that she never lets him read. Until now. They both know this weekend will make or break their marriage, but they didn’t randomly win this trip. One of them is lying, and someone doesn’t want them to live happily ever after.
Ten years of marriage. Ten years of secrets. And an anniversary they will never forget.
MY THOUGHTS: This is clever. Very clever.
Alice Feeney led me up the garden path – and a very nice garden it is too – and then bombarded me with surprises. Nice twisty surprises.
It wasn’t so much the setting that made this a great read for me, but the characters. I love characters with hidden depths and ulterior motives, and Alice Feeney has written outstanding characters; characters that I am not going to forget in a hurry.
This starts out as a story of a marriage in trouble – you know that point where the shine has worn off, the conversation dried up into silences that are no longer comfortable, and those traits that you once thought were endearing are now just plain annoying. It’s the make or break point. But is a weekend in the Scottish Highlands going to rejuvenate the marriage? The answer to that question is totally unexpected.
I can only recommend that if you haven’t yet read this, you need to.
I listened to the HQ audiobook narrated by Stephanie Racine and Richard Armitage. I mostly enjoyed the narration, but every so often Stephanie Racine would speak like she was trying to entice a reticent kindergarten class into doing something that they didn’t particularly want to do. That, I found annoying.
Wow! Where did August go? It’s the meteorological first day of spring here in New Zealand, and it has been a beautiful spring day, but now – late afternoon – it’s clouded over and is cooling off. The daffodils and daphne are almost finished flowering, but the freesias look and smell beautiful; the hyacinths are about to flower, closely followed by the tulips. The kowhai trees are flowering – I planted two more over winter – and so the tui are back. I love listening to them; they are such clever mimics.
I started August with seventeen books to read for review, and managed not to add any during the month. That’s a first! I managed to complete twelve and am currently reading and almost finished three more. I will probably finish all three tonight. That’s an 88% completion rate. I read two more books purely for pleasure, but didn’t get to any of the titles on my backlist. So that was a total of seventeen books read during August.
One of the titles I am currently reading is a debut author – And Then There’s Margaret by Carolyn Clarke.
Two of the books I read in August were by new to me authors. They were: The Hidden Truth by Hilary Boyd ⭐⭐⭐.8
And one of my reads for pleasure, The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James. ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
The two books I didn’t get read during August were Solace and Other Stories by M. Syaipul Nasrullah
and Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid, which I intend to start tonight.
I only had one five star read in August – The New House by Tess Stimson. I loved this so much I had a huge book hangover afterwards which lasted until almost the end of the month.
I have somehow managed to collect twenty-five books for review in September 🤦♀️ – I’m sure that request button operates on its own volition while I’m asleep!🤷♀️
So, I’m off to finish my three almost finished titles. Happy September reading!❤📚
EXCERPT: ‘She was a star,’ her mother had said to Selma. ‘We don’t understand how someone could have treated her like trash.’ It took three hours to interview Daria’s mother; she was crying so hard she was largely incoherent. Selma tries to rid herself of the image that had alerted her to the story of prostitution and trafficking in the fashion industry in the first place, but she knows it is etched into her mind forever. Daria’s skinny, lanky body, naked but for Swarovski-studded bikini bottoms, face down in the pebbled surf like a beached sea mammal, found by local fishermen at the break of dawn. She recalls how her blood ran cold with fury at the headline of one newspaper – ‘Another Teenage Prostitute Meets Tragic Death.’ Another teenage prostitute. Just another teenage prostitute. Selma had pored over the images,both the dead, discarded young woman and the woman she’d been in life; hopeful, gorgeous, easy prey. Selma wanted to bring her justice. Turns out, it wasn’t possible – as much as it mattered to tell the story of Daria and several other girls like her, it was frustrating to repeatedly come up against a wall of protective silence around those really behind the trafficking and exploitation of the girls.
ABOUT ‘AFTER SHE’D GONE’: Liv loves her son, Adrian. That’s why she keeps a low profile in Sandefjord, Norway: just another tired single mother, trying to make ends meet. She has never told her son about the secrets she carries or the life she lived before he was born. She will do anything to keep him safe.
Anastasia’s life is transformed when she moves from Russia to Milan and starts modelling. Suddenly, she’s rich. She’s desired. But then she begins to see the dark side of her new life: the high-pressure catwalk shows; the glamorous, drink-fuelled after-parties; the sun-baked Italian palazzos owned by powerful men. She will do anything to escape
Selma is a feature journalist in Oslo. She’s horrified to uncover an unsavoury and dangerous underworld when she writes an article looking into the modelling industry. Then, a woman goes missing in Sandefjord…
MY THOUGHTS: I started reading this book, couldn’t get into it, put it down, picked it up again a few days later. I read almost half, put it down, picked it up again a few days later and finished it. And now? I don’t know . . .
The story is told from four points of view: Liv, the single mother of Adrian, a neuro-divergant boy obsessed by aeroplanes; Adrian; Anastasia, a model; and Selma, an investigative reporter. The storyline is non-linear, which I don’t normally have a problem with but, in this case, I became confused trying to work out just what time period of the story we were in. It was frustrating. I can see why the author did it, because to have defined the year would have given away major spoilers. But, by half way through, I had it worked out anyway, and the lack of definition just served to irritate me.
I loved Adrian and the bond he had with his mother. His teacher was incredible; I wish there were more like her. Like Liv, Selma is an incredibly strong character with just a touch of vulnerability.
There were parts of this read that I loved, that drew me in; but other parts that left me cold.
I wanted to love this book as I have everything else I have read by this author. I have no doubt that this will be a great success and it deserves to be. There is a powerful message in there. But for me, and I know that I am in the minority, After She’d Gone was just an average read.
THE AUTHOR: Half-American, half-Norwegian, Alex Dahl was born in Oslo. She is a serious Francophile and currently lives in both London and Sandefjord.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Head of Zeus via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of After She’d Gone by Alex Dahl for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com
This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and Goodreads.com
EXCERPT: The night of the charity gala, that night when everyone met for the first time, a tragic series of events was set in motion. Until then, you just had six ordinary people linked only by a simple desire to sell their houses.
But something changed for everyone that night. Our lives got tangled together. We became part of each other’s stories – with disastrous consequences.
A small quirk of fate, and everything could have turned out differently. Sometimes all it takes is for the wrong person to cross your path at the wrong time.
I’m not to blame for what happened that autumn. It took a perfect storm of circumstances; every single person involved in the drama played their part.
What if the estate agent had got stuck in traffic on the day of the viewing and someone else had got their bid in first?
What if the mortgage broker hadn’t listened to her voicemail?
I can see you all sitting there smugly telling yourselves you’d never have taken the law into your own hands, no matter what the provocation. You’re not capable of killing someone in cold blood, right?
Self-defense maybe. Or to protect your family.
But never murder.
ABOUT ‘THE NEW HOUSE’: Three couples. Three houses. One home to die for…
Stacey and Felix are the glamorous owners of the stylish, modern Glass House, with its pool and floor-to-ceiling windows. Now they’re downsizing, but Stacey can’t sell to just anyone. She needs the right buyer, who will keep her secrets.
Millie and Tom have always imagined living in the Glass House. Now it’s for sale. With property prices booming, if they can sell quickly, it could be theirs. But are the house and its charming owners all they seem?
Harper and Kyle are moving up in the world. They need a new house, in the right school district, to give their children the start in life they never had. Millie and Tom’s is perfect. It’ll take every penny they have, and more, but it’ll be worth it. Won’t it?
When one of the sales falls through, how far will someone go to get everything they’ve always wanted?
MY THOUGHTS: ‘These violent delights have violent ends, and in their triumph die, like fire and powder, which as they kiss consume.’ – Shakespeare
OMG Tess Stimson! A meteor shower of stars! Five just doesn’t cut it.
A big fat ‘YES!’ to all the hype and the publicity claims. I was gripped and consumed by this book. It’s crazy, compelling, addictive, mindblowing, twisty and more.
The New House is a book best gone into cold. Stock up on your favourite drinks and snacks, lock the door, turn off your phone, pick up your copy of The New House by Tess Stimson and prepare for a wild rollercoaster ride. You won’t regret it.
THE AUTHOR: I was born in Surrey, in the south of England, and read English at Oxford University.
Upon graduating I joined ITN as a news producer. I reported and produced regional and world stories, travelling to hotspots and war-zones all over the globe, before leaving bullets behind to become a full-time writer.
Since then, I’ve written more than a dozen novels, numerous short stories, and two non-fiction books, which have been published internationally and translated into more than twenty languages.
In recent years, I’ve moved away from writing women’s fiction and towards darker psychological thrillers, which seem to suit my personality better – make of that what you will.
As well as writing fiction I continue to work as a journalist, and also teach reporting for media and creative writing at a university in the North-Eastern US.
I live in Vermont with my husband, and am visited intermittently by my three grown-up children whenever they need their laundry done.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Avon Books UK via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The New House by Tess Stimson for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com
This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and Goodreads.com
Happy Sunday. Is it my imagination or are Sundays coming around much faster than they used to?
Currently I am reading The Last House on the Cliff by Anne Wyn Clark. Interestingly, this house is also a funeral home. I read the first 75% of this in one sitting. It’s a far more intriguing read than the blurb suggests.
A secluded island. A missing child. A home built on lies.
On the death of her aunt Gwyn, Lowri returns once more to Gwyn’s home on the remote island of Anglesey, Wales, with young daughter Ruby in tow. Lowri hadn’t seen her aunt in years, but this beautiful island offers a fresh start.
Yet right away, strange things begin to happen. Ruby insists an old woman is visiting her when no one else is watching, and a tattered old doll keeps being left for Ruby to find.
Then Ruby goes missing. Desperately seeking answers no one seems to have, Lowri looks to her dark family past for clues. But the secrets she uncovers suggest that Ruby is not the only one in danger, and time is running out – for both of them…
I also started The Hidden Truth by Hilary Boyd on my tablet while my Kindle was charging. Another intriguing read. I’m a little over halfway and I’m not entirely certain Bernard is telling the whole truth. Add to that the strange things that happen when Sara visits his home – a haunted pepper-grinder! – and I am hooked.
While I am walking to and from work on the nice days, we’ve had a few this week – I am listening to The Enigma of Room 622 written by Joël Dicker and narrated by Chris Harper. Although I initially found this quite ‘dry’, there have been a couple of interesting curveballs introduced which have revived my interest.
One night in December, a corpse is found in Room 622 of the Hotel Verbier, a luxury hotel in the Swiss Alps. A police investigation begins without definite end, and public interest wanes with the passage of time. Years later, the writer Joel Dicker, Switzerland’s most famous literary ingenue, arrives at that same hotel to recover from a bad breakup, mourn the death of his longtime publisher, and begin his next novel. Little does Joel know that his expertise in the art of the thriller will come in handy when he finds himself investigating the crime. He’ll need a Watson, of course: in this case, that would be Scarlett, the beautiful guest and aspiring novelist from the next room, who joins in the search while he tries to solve another puzzle: the plot of his next book. Meanwhile, in the wake of his father’s passing, Macaire Ebezner is set to take over as president of the largest private bank in Switzerland. The succession captivates the news media, and the future looks bright, until it doesn’t. The bank’s board, including a certain Lev Levovitch-Geneva’s very own Jay Gatsby-have other plans, and Macaire’s race to the top soon becomes a race against time.
This week, in addition to The Last House on the Cliff, I am planning to read: After She’d Gone by Alex Dahl (Love this cover!)
Liv loves her son, Adrian. That’s why she keeps a low profile in Sandefjord, Norway: just another tired single mother, trying to make ends meet. She has never told her son about the secrets she carries or the life she lived before he was born. She will do anything to keep him safe.
Anastasia’s life is transformed when she moves from Russia to Milan and starts modelling. Suddenly, she’s rich. She’s desired. But then she begins to see the dark side of her new life: the high-pressure catwalk shows; the glamorous, drink-fuelled after-parties; the sun-baked Italian palazzos owned by powerful men. She will do anything to escape
Selma is a feature journalist in Oslo. She’s horrified to uncover an unsavoury and dangerous underworld when she writes an article looking into the modelling industry. Then, a woman goes missing in Sandefjord…
A Cornish Recipe for Murder by Fiona Leitch (Nosy Parker Mysteries #5)
When popular TV baking contest and national institution ‘The Best of British Baking Roadshow’ rolls into town and sets up camp in the grounds of Boskern House, a historic stately home near Penstowan, former police officer Jodie ‘Nosey’ Parker finds herself competing to represent Cornwall in the grand final.
But with a fellow contestant who will stop at nothing to win and a drag queen host with secrets of their own, Jodie discovers that the roadshow doesn’t just have the ingredients for the perfect showstopper cake, but also for the perfect murder…
And when a body is found in the grounds of the house, Jodie is drawn into another high-stakes case along with local DCI Nathan Withers.
I only received one new ARC this week so my TBR pile should shrink just a little. I was invited to read Keeping Up Appearances by Tricia Stringer by the publishers. I accepted instantly as I love this Australian author’s books.
It’s been beautiful weather here the past few days so I have, as I said earlier, been walking to and from work. Pete didn’t work this weekend either so he’s caught up on the lawns, and I have been weeding the garden and have pruned all the hydrangeas. I still have the roses to do.
When I roasted a leg of lamb for dinner last night, I doubled up on the vegetables and gravy, so we are having more of the same tonight.
Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful week. ❤📚
I started July with 18 books to read for review and ended up with 20 🤷♀️ Of those I read 15, and am almost finished the 16th, giving me an 80% review success rate, well up on my dismal 64% rate for June. Plus I read or listened to four books purely for pleasure during the month. And read and reviewed two titles from my backlist. So that was a total of twenty-two reads for the month of July.
I read one debut novel during July, A Murder of Crows by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett which I rated ⭐⭐⭐.6
plus I read five books by authors I haven’t previously read. They were: Aft the Flood by Dave Warner ⭐⭐⭐⭐.3
Old Friends Reunited by Maddie Please ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Saint of Lost Things by Tish Delaney ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
One Last Day of Summer by Shari Low ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
#Rejected Goddesses by Natalie Watson and Nina Holmes ⭐⭐.9
My Netgalley feedback ratio is still at 69%. I wonder what it will take to crack the 70% mark. I think I would need to stop requesting books entirely, and that’s not likely to happen.
The four books I didn’t read in July that are now added to my backlist are:
Guilt Trip by Ed James
Golden Age Locked Room Mysteries edited by Otto Penzler
Mother of All Secrets by Kathleen M. Willett
Truly, Darkly, Deeply by Victoria Selman
My five star reads for July were: In the Middle of Hickory Lane by Heather Webber
Outside Looking In (DCI Matilda Darke #2) by Michael Wood
A Room Full of Killers (DCI Matilda Darke #3) by Michael Wood
The Lost Children (DCI Matilda Darke #9) by Michael Wood
One Last Day of Summer by Shari Low
Old Friends Reunited by Maddie Please
I have seventeen reads for review scheduled for August. Fingers crossed that there are no late approvals. If I don’t read anything from my backlist I should be able to get through all of these.
My June reading was severely impacted by my return to work. Two of the books I had scheduled to read in June had their publishing dates moved to August so I rescheduled those (26 – 2 = 24) plus I received one late ARC, which brought the total up to 25. I have only read 16 of my 25 reads for review, though I did manage to sneak in two titles from my backlist and two reads purely for pleasure. So my read for review success rate dropped from the dismal 69% in May to an even more dismal 64% for June.
I read one debut novel in June, which was Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor
plus I read five books by authors who were new to me. They were
The Secret World of Connie Starr by Robbi Neal
The Beach Babes by Judith Keim
The Secret Life of Albert Entwhistle by Matt Cain
Beyond the Moonlit Sea by Julianne Maclean
Out of Her Depth by Lizzy Barber
My Netgalley feedback rate is hanging in there at 69%, though I don’t quite know how 🤷♀️ Since I have been back at work I have been requesting more books that I am reading. I find it unwinds me from the stresses of the day.🤦♀️
The books that I didn’t get around to reading were:
The Lies I Tell by Julie Clark
Backstory by William L. Myers
Her Dying Day by Mindy Carlson
Riverbend Reunion by Carolyn Brown
First Victim by Debbie Babitt
The Saint of Lost Things by Tish Delaney
The Lost Children by Michael Wood (a publisher’s widget) which I will be starting tonight
The Girl Who Left by Jenny Blackhurst
I read four ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ books in June. They were – in no particular order:
The Island by Adrian McKinty
Blind Justice by David Mark
The Apartment Upstairs by Lesley Kara
Out of Her Depth by Lizzy Barber
I have 18 reads for review scheduled for July and one blog tour to participate in. Hopefully I should be able to just about achieve my goal for the month.
Have you read any of the books I bypassed in June? Let me know.
Sandy's Book a Day Blog 