Weekly Wrap Up (June 4)

Well the hectic nature of my life is continuing resulting in only two books read since last week! For the good news we’ve had some beautiful weather and my sunflower is continuing to grow at a pace!

This Week on the Blog

I started this week with my review of All The Good Things by Clare Fisher which tells the story of Bethany, aged twenty-one and in prison, the story is how she came to be there reaching back through a life in the care system. A thought-provoking debut novel.

My excerpt post came from Jane Corry’s second novel Blood Sisters which definitely sounds like a thrilling psychological novel

This Week in Books featured the authors Mark Billingham, Dorothy Fowler and Fiona Barton.

Thursday was the start of summer on the blog with my post of the first 10 books I will be reading for the 20 Books of Summer 2017! Challenge which I’m making a concerted effort to finish within the allotted time period this year – the trick obviously is not to have accepted or requested too many review copies for the same period, unsurprisingly the planning has not gone well!

My final review for the week was the five star read that was Greatest Hits by Laura Barnett, a rich novel about a singer songwriter with music as the backdrop.

This Time Last Year…

I was reading Bloody Women by Helen Fitzgerald in her story set in the world of the television interior designer, do you remember the endless shows that made-over someone’s house in no time at all? This is Cat’s career until she finds herself in prison arrested for murder. This author is the mistress of black comedy and she throws a few mental illnesses into the mix and stirs it all up with a few dashes of heartbreak. In other words this isn’t a straightforward mystery, although that element is there too but more a look at life for someone who doesn’t fit into what’s expected.

You can find my original review here or click on the book cover

Blurb

Bloody Women is delicious, ingenious, inventive and mordantly funny.
Helen FitzGerald has a real skill for making the totally absurd and goofy, thoroughly logical and reasonable’ – Big Beat from Badsville Returning to Scotland to organise her wedding, Catriona is overcome with the jitters. She decides to tie up loose ends before settling permanently in Tuscany, and seeks out her ex-boyfriends. Only problem is, they all end up dead and Catriona is the prime suspect. Amazon

Stacking the Shelves

Just the one book this week, but it is by one of my favourite authors, Sophie Hannah. I was lucky enough to be offered her latest novel, Did You See Melody? by Amazon Vine.

Blurb

Pushed to breaking point, Cara Burrows abandons her home and family and escapes to a five-star spa resort she can’t afford. Late at night, exhausted and desperate, she lets herself into her hotel room and is shocked to find it already occupied – by a man and a teenage girl.

A simple mistake on the part of the hotel receptionist – but Cara’s fear intensifies when she works out that the girl she saw alive and well in the hotel room is someone she can’t possibly have seen: the most famous murder victim in the country, Melody Chapa, whose parents are serving life sentences for her murder.

Cara doesn’t know what to trust: everything she’s read and heard about the case, or the evidence of her own eyes. Did she really see Melody? And is she prepared to ask herself that question and answer it honestly if it means risking her own life? Amazon

Did You See Melody? will be published on 24 August 2017 and I have it on very good authority (my daughter who is delighting in reading all my books before me while she’s living with us) that it is very good indeed!

Do let me know what you’ve found to read this week?

Since my last post I’ve read just 2 books but I’ve only gained 1.

The current total is therefore 182
Physical Books – 108
Kindle Books – 62
NetGalley Books – 12