Weekly Wrap Up (May 27)

I have found my reading mojo, it’s not that I lost my love of books, but over the last couple of months I haven’t read as much or as compulsively as normal. This led the OH to ask in a worried voice ‘You are going to be reading as normal on holiday aren’t you?’ I think he was worried that I was going to expect him to talk to me non-stop. Anyway, it’s all good and I’ve started to consider what books I’m taking so additional conversational input will be required!

This Week on the Blog

I started the week by reviewing my first ‘proper’ audio listen to Crippen: A Novel of Murder by John Boyne which I thoroughly enjoyed.

My excerpt post came from a book that has languished on the TBR since 2011, Cry For Help by Steve Mosby.

This Week in Books featured the authors Iain Maitland, Kathryn McMaster and Claire Dyer.

My second review of the week was for one of my Classics Club Reads, The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes; one creepy tale!

I moved from London to the Lake District next to review the third in the Martin Edwards series The Arsenic Labyrinth.

And my final review of the week was for a fictionalised true crime which happened near Bradford in 1888; Who Killed Little Johnny Gill? by Kathryn McMaster.

This Time Last Year…

I was reading Greatest Hits by Laura Barnett, a lighter book than my usual choices and one that wowed me with its richness. The novel links to the idea that we all have a soundtrack to our lives, those tunes you listened to at key moments in your life and how those opening bars can transport you to a different time and the emotions that accompanied them.

The novel follows songwriter Cass through her life with sixteen titles to head up the chapters. Sadly, I didn’t have the accompanying soundtrack when I read the ARC but I wish I had.

You can read my full review here or click on the book cover

Blurb

If you could choose just sixteen moments to define your entire life, what would they be?
Cass Wheeler has seen it all – from the searing heights of success, to earth-shattering moments of despair. She has known passion, envy, pride, fear, and love. She has been a daughter, a mother, a singer, a lover.

A musician born in 1950, Cass is now taking one day to select the sixteen songs in her repertoire that have meant the most to her. And behind each song lies a story – from the day her mother abandoned her, to her passionate first love, to the moment she lost everything. The dreams, the failures, the second chances. But what made her disappear so suddenly from her public life and, most importantly, can she find her way back? Amazon

Stacking the Shelves

Just one book has made it into my house this week; Girls’ Night Out by Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke was sent to me by the publishers Lake Union Publishing. This book will be published on 24 July 2018.

Blurb

For estranged friends Ashley, Natalie, and Lauren, it’s time to heal the old wounds between them. Where better to repair those severed ties than on a girls’ getaway to the beautiful paradise of Tulum, Mexico? But even after they’re reunited, no one is being completely honest about the past or the secrets they’re hiding. When Ashley disappears on their girls’ night out, Natalie and Lauren have to try to piece together their hazy memories to figure out what could have happened to her, while also reconciling their feelings of guilt over their last moments together.

Was Ashley with the man she’d met only days before? Did she pack up and leave? Was she kidnapped? Or worse—could Natalie or Lauren have snapped under the weight of her own lies?

As the clock ticks, hour by hour, Natalie and Lauren’s search rushes headlong into growing suspicion and dread. Maybe their secrets run deeper and more dangerous than one of them is willing—or too afraid—to admit. Amazon

Since my last post I have read 5 books and I have gained 1 the TBR is at a low of  175
Physical Books – 112
Kindle Books – 45
NetGalley Books –17
Audio Books –1

 

All four books I reviewed this week were from my own bookshelves so I am 3 books in credit!