Blog Tour: The Way We Are Now by Julie Houston

 

When Anna Piasecki's son comes home and tells him about the girl he is now seeing, she is stopped in her tracks. The girl is the daughter of her one true love and suddenly she and Theo Mandeville are once again in each other's orbit.

The book flashes back to when Anna and her friend Fliss first met the gorgeous and aristocratic Theo when they were all students at university in Leeds. Anna is studying politics at uni, and she really wants to get a job in London but as the daughter of a miner from a small town in Yorkshire, she doesn't really have the necessary contacts to make that happen. But this is a tumultuous time in British history with the miner's strikes of the early 1980's ramping up against the government of Margaret Thatcher. Anna finds herself working in the mining union office and doing what she can to support the strikers.

By contrast, Theo Mandeville's future is laid out in front of him. He will inherit the family estate but his true passion is squash and he dreams of competing professionally. His family are firmly part of the aristocracy and therefore have very different views on the world than Anna's working class family. Despite a tragedy that has lasting implications for Anna and very different philosophies, she is drawn to Theo and he to her, and soon they are inseparable. 

Our star-crossed lovers are torn apart following an incident where his family blames Anna for everything, and they go their separate ways, and on to live their lives. Anna becomes a lawyer fighting for women's rights and eventually finds herself in politics whilst Theo goes on to live the life expected. However, every now and again Anna and Theo come into contact with each other, and all those feelings are stirred up again

The meat of this story is in the section that is set in the 1980s and that part was definitely my favourite. I have to give real kudos to the author for bringing a setting that you just don't normally see in fiction. She really captured the social issues of the day, with plenty of cultural and fashion touchpoints along the way too! She captures the turmoil of the strikes, the politics, the fear around the AIDS, the role of women in the workplace and so much more. A couple of the later sections feel a bit dramatic but well and truly worth it.

I guess part of the reason why I connected so well with the story as I spent 4 years living in Sheffield in South Yorkshire in the late 1990s. Leeds is the next major city up the motorway so I went there lots of times.

I hadn't read Julie Houston before. If this is representative of her books I am definitely going to be reading more!

I was also reminded of a movie called Love and Pride which is set in Wales during the miner's strikes and talks about the gay community in London raising money for the miners and them supporting teh community in the face of the epidemic, and vice versa. It must be time to rewatch it!

If you are looking for a really good read with a very unusual setting, then this is the book for you! I am so glad I took a chance on a new author!

I am sharing this review with New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog, British Isles Friday hosted at Joy's Book Blog and the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here. Thanks to the publisher, Netgally and Rachel's Random Resource for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the blog tour below.

Rating 4.5/5

About the book

The Way We Are Now

BRAND NEW from bestselling author Julie Houston comes a powerful story of first love, long-hidden secrets and second chances. Perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes, Marian Keyes, David Nichols and Ruth Jones.

First love, long-hidden secrets and second chances.

Anna Piasecki thought she had left her university heartbreak behind. After spending decades building a successful life, she arrives at sixty with everything as she wants it – a glittering career, a devoted partner and brightest star of all, her brilliant son Noah, the apple of her eye.

Theo Mandeville is trapped. Bound by aristocratic duty to his sprawling Yorkshire estate, he has spent decades living the life that was expected of him while regretting the star-crossed romance he walked away from.

When their children meet at college, Anna and Theo suddenly find their carefully constructed lives colliding. With a devastating forty-year-old secret hanging over them, can their families survive the truth and do they dare to trust that fate has other plans for them?

Spanning decades, The Way We Are Now is a sweeping, heartwarming and life-affirming tale of first love, friendship and second chances perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes, Marian Keyes, David Nichols and Ruth Jones.

Purchase Link - Mybook.to/TheWayWeAreNow

About the author

Julie Houston is the author of 17 best-selling Women’s contemporary/Romantic Comedy novels. Represented by Anne Williams at KHLA Literary Agency, she was previously published by Aria/Head of Zeus but now writes for Boldwood. She has had UK top 100 selling books and Looking for Lucy hit the number 1 spot in Australia. Sing me a Secret was shortlisted for, and won, the Popular Romantic Fiction Award in 2021.

Julie is Yorkshire born and bred and lives in Huddersfield where her novels are set. After University, where she studied Education and English Literature, she taught for many years as a junior schoolteacher. After teaching for a few years, she decided to go to New Zealand to work and taught in Auckland for a year before coming back to this country. She now teaches when the phone rings to cover absent colleagues and still loves the buzz of teaching junior-aged children.

Julie is married with a son and daughter, both in their twenties and now living in London. She has been a magistrate on the West Yorkshire bench for the last twenty-four years.

Social Media Links 

Instagram -juliehoustonauthor

Twitter/x @juliehouston2

Facebook - JulieHoustonAuthor

Blog Tour: The Secret Diary of Rome by M A McLaughlin

 

What makes you decide to try a new author? Sometimes it will be the blurb, sometimes it might be the cover and other times it might be the title. In the case of this book, it was all three!

Since her mother died, book restorer Emilia Rinaldi has been a bit lost, but she is now getting herself back together, thanks in part to her engagement to dashing Englishman Oliver after a whirlwind romance. While cleaning out her mother's house, she finds an antique music box which includes a page from a diary and an old photo. When she gets a phone call from Rome telling her that she is the sole recipient of her grandmother's estate, which includes a villa, she knows that she must go to Rome immediately, much to her fiancé's annoyance.

Emilia's mother and grandmother had had a falling out years before, and so Emilia never met her. Once in Rome, she is given a diary (the same one that the torn-out page had come from). It turns out that the diary was by Lizzy Siddal, wife and muse to Dante Gabriel Rossetti. In her own right, Lizzy was a model and an artist herself, but her relationship with Rossetti and his family was volatile, so she was often in low spirits.

As we progress through the story, Emilia begins to understand her mother's story and what drove her to move to America, and then as she does some restoration of the diary, she learns about Lizzy's life, her love with Rossetti, her concerns about dubious characters who take advantage and more. She also finds out about the other parts of her inheritance which include some paintings, as well as a priceless collection of antique books.

I do love a book about art history, and I have to admit I didn't really know much about Rossetti's art. I had heard both his and Lizzie's names before but I learnt a lot through this book, and have since found myself going down the rabbit hole of pre-Raphaelite art.

The majority of the book is set in 1960s Rome but there were quite a few references to events that happened during the WWII, given that it was only 15 years previous. Via the diary, we are taken back to the 1860s where we watched Lizzy in her triumphs but also in her despairs

Now I am keen to pick up the author's previous book which also has a connection to the famous Rossetti family.

I am sharing this review with New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog, the Bookish Books challenge hosted at Bloggin'Bout Books and the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here. Thanks to the publisher and Zooloo's Book Tours for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the blog tour below.

Rating 4/5

About the book

A hidden diary. A story thatʼs waited a hundred years to be told . . . 

1960, New York. 

Emilia Rinaldi restores broken books for a living. She knows how to bring lost stories back to life. 

The one story she cannot repair is her own. 

Then an unexpected gift from her late mother arrives — an antique music box containing a faded photograph and a torn page from the diary of Lizzie Siddal, the tragic Pre-Raphaelite muse and wife of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. 

Emilia follows the clues to Rome. To an abandoned villa left by a grandmother she never knew. To a collection of rare and beautiful books, hidden in a church crypt through the war . . . 

And a secret buried for generations. 

As Emilia pieces together her own past, Lizzieʼs diary reveals another story. Two Rossetti paintings. One genuine. One a flawless forgery. 

Separated by a century, the two mysteries are bound together. 

And when Emilia finally discovers the truth, she must decide whether some stories are meant to be preserved . . . or buried forever.

Purchase link

Goodreads

About the author

Marty Ambrose-McLaughlin is an award-winning, multi-published author of four historical mysteries set mostly in Italy, drawing on her background in nineteenth-century literature. Marty completed her M.Phil. at the University of York, England) and teaches creative writing at Florida Southwestern State College. She has also given numerous workshops in the U.S. and abroad on all aspects of creating/publishing a novel; her new novel, The Secret Diary of Rome will be published by Joffe Books in 2026.

Socials

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Website

Three Juliets by Minnie Darke

I am a big fan of Minnie Darke and so I was super excited when her new book was announced last year. I rushed out and bought it, I added it to my 20 Books of Winter list, I started it, but then other books got in the way and I put it aside. When I was creating my 20 Books of Winter list for this year, I added it back on the list again (along with two others I didn't get to read). The difference this year is that I actually read it! I am so glad that I did.

Claudie Miller is a very successful fashion designer who is a household name in Australia. She encourages people to make their own children's clothes using the patterns that she shares through the women's magazine that she works for. The most famous of these is the Juliet dress. 

For all her professional success, Claudie has faced and is facing big challenges. When she was sixteen, she got pregnant and was forced to give away her baby, leaving her both physically and emotionally scarred. Every year, she designs an outfit that would be suitable for the little girl she never even got to hold. The Juliet is one of the designs that she has made, and it is packed away in a secret box with the label "Now you are sixteen" alongside all the other items for each year.

When she learns that she has cancer, Claudie is determined that she will find her daughter before it is too later. As readers, we meet three young women, who all have a story to tell about their own version of the Juliet dress. Roisin, Mandi and Miranda were all born on the same day, and all three were adopted into their families, and live in different parts of Australia.

Structurally this is a very interesting book. Firstly, there are three timelines. We see what happened to Claudie as a scared young girl, whisked away to the country to hide her pregnancy and the associated shame. Fast forward to the 1980s and we meet all three young women as they navigate their own lives, particularly with questions in relation to who they are, and then we fast forward again to contemporary times where three versions of the Juliet are on display as part of an exhibition of the 25 most influential Australian dresses. In addition, there are multiple narrators (at least seven if I recall correctly), some of whom only have one or two chapters, but others who get a lot of page time. 

What Minnie Darke always does really well is write emotional, poignant stories with multiple viewpoints. There are very emotional themes underpinning the whole story, and yet it doesn't feel heavy. In fact, I closed the book with a very satisfied sigh, and then immediately went to order the one book that I haven't read by this author.

As I mentioned previously, this was one of the books on my 20 Books of Winter list. It also counts for Aussie Author August, the Big Books of Summer and Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. 

Rating 4.5/5

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - September links

 

Thank you to everyone who contributed a review in August for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I will be back in the next week or so with all the statistics for August and seeing what new reviews are linked up in September.

I am looking forward to reading your reviews throughout the rest of the year! I am sure there is going to be a lot of great historical fiction discovered and shared with fellow HF lovers over the course of this year!

If you haven't already signed up, it's not too late! The sign up post is here.

Just to recap what participants need to know. At the beginning of each month I will put up a post which will have a Mr Linky embedded into it for you to add your link.

Please remember...

• add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky we’ll be adding to our monthly post (please, do not add your blog link, but the correct address that will guide us directly to your review). 
• it doesn't matter where you review - Bookstagram, Goodreads etc as long as you share a direct link to your review.
• any kind of historical fiction is accepted (fantasy, young adult, graphic novels...)
• if you have time, have a look some of the other links that are present. You never know when you will discover new blogs or books!

You can also join the challenge group on Facebook which you can find here and don't forget to use the #histficreadingchallenge hashtag on the socials.

Let the reading begin!!

Weekend Cooking: Kate and Frida: a novel of friendship, food and books by Kim Fay

 

A couple of years ago I read Love and Saffron by Kim Fay for Cook the Books and I really enjoyed it! I was a bit surprised to learn that there was going to be a follow up book because the story felt complete, but I was also excited at the prospect. It has, however, taken me a while to get to it. I finally read it while I was on holidays recently.

One of the things I loved about Love and Saffron is that it was an epistolary novel where the story is told via letters between the two characters and the author uses that same technique in this book. Whilst the structure is the same, and there is a connection between the two books, they are distinct and you can read them separately. 

It is the early 1990s and Frida Rodriquez (daughter of Joan from Love and Saffron) is living in Paris. She has moved there with the hope that she might become a proper journalist, maybe even a war correspondent.

Kate works in a bookstore in Seattle. She used to dream of writing but these days she is content working in the store. One day, Kate receives a letter which contains an order for the book, The Face of War by Martha Gellhorn, which she duly sends off, but only after reading the book first. Little did either correspondent know, this is the beginning of a friendship that will become very important to them both. Both women are looking for their place in the world and this friendship helps them grow into the people they are destined to be.

As the letters go back and forth across the ocean, Kate and Frida share their lives, from the books they are reading, their favourite authors, their love lives, food and so much more. They encourage each other, and at times challenge each other when they feel the need. Kate is inspired by Frida's more adventurous spirit, and Frida relies on Kate's steadiness.

The reason why I read this book now is that it was one of the options for the 90s category on the Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge, and the 90s references were on point! I was in my early 20s in the early 90s and so many of the pop culture references took me right back to that time. I found myself thinking about what I was doing back then. In the mid 1990s I went overseas for the first time and then not long after ended up moving to the UK for 5 years after travelling for a couple of months. 

One of the most interesting and most emotive parts of this book is when Frida finally gets the chance to be a war reporter in the former Yugoslavia, an experience which impacts her very intensely. It also introduces her to some young people who show her their lives. In particular, two young women who should be enemies given that they have different religion and cultures, but are best friends. They are doing all they can to stay safe in war, which is difficult given that snipers don't care if they target innocent civilians, including children. She also witnesses the destruction of the library in Sarajevo, and Frida finds herself involved in the effort to save as many of the rare texts as she can.

I was travelling in Europe by 1994, and I have a very distinct memory of going to visit the concentration camp at Dachau. There I saw the photos of almost skeletal humans being held behind barbed wire fences. Then, shockingly, we went back to our hotels where we could watch the news and see very similar images coming out of the Balkan war. There was around 50 years difference but the similarities were intense. Did we learn nothing from WWII?

You might be wondering where is the food, given that I am posting about this in Weekend Cooking. I promise you that there is food all through this book, and at times, talking about food becomes the vehicle for telling the stories of the characters. At times, food is used as a way of connecting with people, particularly when Frida learns how to cook some of the Balkan dishes and sharing them with her displaced friends 

In addition, whilst some of the inspirations in the story comes from the WJD (War Journalist Dames like Martha Gelhorn), there are also references to prominent food writers such as M F K Fisher and Lawrie Colwin. The author also shares a number of recipes, including one for Bosanski Lonac which is a Balkan lunch box and Laurie Colwin's Tomato Pie. 

I was excited to see that there is going to be a third connected book and I already know that I will be reading that book. 

I am sharing this review with Foodies Read, hosted at Based on a True Story, with the Bookish Books challenge hosted at Bloggin Bout Books and with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host. 

Rating 4/5

Weekly meals

Saturday - Butter Chicken Pizza
Sunday - Spaghetti Bolognaise
Monday - Tomato and Paneer Curry
Tuesday - Leftovers
Wednesday - Takeaway
Thursday - Pork schnitzel, mash, broccoli, mushroom gravy
Friday - Beef and Broccoli Noodles

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: July statistics

Every month I share some of the statistics related to the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I try very hard to visit every post which has been linked (time permitting) and I find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! I often end up adding a couple of books to my never ending TBR list.

July was a big month. There were 70 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 18 participants. There were 69 individual titles reviewed, written by 62 different authors. There were 5 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 9 or just 1.

In the recap posts for May and June we had no books that were reviewed more than once in May and only one in June. We didn't have any authors who had more than one book reviewed in either month which was quite unusual. This month is unusual because we had a LOT of authors who had more than one book reviewed. 

First though, there was one book that was reviewed twice this month. It is the new one from Lisa See, Daughters of the Sun and Moon which was reviewed by Deb at Readerbuzz (on Goodreads) and Laura from Reading Books Again. 

We had 6 authors who had more than two books reviewed, with two authors having three books reviewed and linked up. The first was Laura Ingalls Wilder. Deb from Readerbuzz had just completed reading all nine books in the Little House on the Prairie series. Coincidentally, the second was the author combo of Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie (yes, another Laura). Laura from Reading Books Again read My Dear Hamilton, America's First Daughter and A Founding Mother.

There were quite a few books read on American history in July, which I guess makes sense when you consider that America was celebrating a big birthday (you know, one ending with a 0!)

The other authors who had more than one book reviewed were Jean Plaidy, Lee Strauss and Manda Collins.

If you enjoy reading Historical Fiction why not join us? You can find all the details here.

I am sharing this with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Hopewell's Library.

Blog Tour: The Secret Dressmaker by Jenny O'Brien

 

When Flora Toussaint was a young woman she found herself in the unhappy predicament of being pregnant to an older man.  After giving birth to twin girls, she reluctantly hands them over to their father and flees to Ireland with no intention of ever returning to France.

Fast forward 18 years, Flora is now working in a parachute factory in WWII when she is approached by British intelligence. They suspect the girl's father, famous couturier Lucien Lumineau, is a collaborator. More alarmingly, one of her daughters has disappeared.

Taking the opportunity to leave her unhappy marriage, Flora finds herself living in a room above a brothel, her nearest neighbour is a singer named Edith (as in Piaf) and she is tasked with finding out whether Lucien is indeed a collaborator. It also gives her the chance to find out what happened to her daughters. She had believed that Lucien was raising both of their daughters with his glamourous wife Sabine, but it turns out the truth was very different.

Whilst working in the wardrobe department at the famous Moulin Rouge, Flora is able to use her skills as a seamstress to not only help maintain the gorgeous costumes but she also helps develop an ingenious way of delivering messages across enemy lines using a simple code. With the help of her Paris contact, a Paris wine merchant, she is able to work out her own complicated history and maybe find a future. It won't be without danger and challenges though! 

There is a lot that happens in this book, and at least two things that I was surprised by.  I was also a bit surprised when I realised that there was a character from the previous book, The Resistance Knitting Club which I reviewed here, that played a key role in this book. Don't let that worry you though. I didn't make the connection until I was looking to see if Tomas had appeared in the earlier book or not. 

I mentioned Edith Piaf but she isn't the only big name cameo to make an appearance. Lucien's work as a designer brings him into contact with the great, the good and the not so good in Paris!

I am already looking forward to the next book in this series. If I was to hazard a guess, I think the next book might feature Marguerette and it might feature crocheting! Of course, I could be wrong!

I am sharing this review with New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog and the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here.  This is also one of the books I nominated for 20 Books of Winter. Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the blog tour below.

Rating 4/5

About the Book

The Secret Dressmaker

Shelves of sequins in a kaleidoscope of colours. Bolts of silk and tulle against the back wall. The sewing room was the last place anyone had seen her daughter alive.

Northern Ireland, 1942. Flora Toussaint packs parachutes for the RAF, haunted by the twin daughters she was forced to give up eighteen years ago. When British intelligence shows her photographs of her girls – now young women in occupied Paris – her world shifts. One is safe. One has vanished. And their father, the celebrated couturier Lucien Lumineau, is suspected of collaborating with the Nazis.

Flora agrees to a dangerous mission: parachute into France, pose as a seamstress at the Moulin Rouge, and uncover the truth. Lodging above a brothel where Edith Piaf sings after hours and where Pablo Picasso still holds court, she mends costumes between shows, searches for any trace of her missing daughter between curfews, and circles closer to Lucien.

But Lucien isn’t the man she remembers. Neither is their history. And what Flora discovers will unravel everything she thought she knew – about Lucien, about her daughters, and about the night she gave them away.

A sweeping tale of wartime Paris, family secrets and impossible choices. Fans of Kate Quinn, Pam Jenoff and Kristin Hannah will be mesmerised by The Secret Dressmaker.

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Dressmaker-Jenny-OBrien-ebook/dp/B0GSVGSK36

https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Dressmaker-Jenny-OBrien-ebook/dp/B0GSVGSK36

About the author

Jenny O’Brien writes complex thrillers and heartbreaking historical fiction, as well as intriguing romances. Silent Cry, initially self published, topped the Amazon kindle chart in both the UK and the USA. Most of her books have followed suit.

Jenny has over 40 years experience as a qualified nurse. She turned to creative writing as a hobby when her children were born. Now, 20 years later, she's retired from the day job to focus on writing. She's currently working on the third book in the Threads Series.

Born in Ireland, she now lives in Guernsey with her husband and children.

Social Media Links – https://www.facebook.com/JennyOBrienWriter/

https://www.instagram.com/scribblerjb/

https://x.com/ScribblerJB

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - August links

Thank you to everyone who contributed a review in July for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. It's been a good start to the 2026 challenge. I will be back in the next week or so with all the statistics for the month. 

I am looking forward to reading your reviews throughout the rest of the year! I am sure there is going to be a lot of great historical fiction discovered and shared with fellow HF lovers over the course of this year!

If you haven't already signed up, it's not too late! The sign up post is here.

Just to recap what participants need to know. At the beginning of each month I will put up a post which will have a Mr Linky embedded into it for you to add your link.

Please remember...

• add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky we’ll be adding to our monthly post (please, do not add your blog link, but the correct address that will guide us directly to your review). 
• it doesn't matter where you review - Bookstagram, Goodreads etc as long as you share a direct link to your review.
• any kind of historical fiction is accepted (fantasy, young adult, graphic novels...)
• if you have time, have a look some of the other links that are present. You never know when you will discover new blogs or books!

You can also join the challenge group on Facebook which you can find here and don't forget to use the #histficreadingchallenge hashtag on the socials.

Let the reading begin!!

Paris in July: Island of Mists and Miracles by Victoria Mas

I often try to read at least one book by a French author for Paris in July, not in French though. Over the last few years I have read Antoine Laurain, Valerie Perrin and last year Victoria Mas's book The Mad Women's Ball. I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed that book given that it was quite dark.

That darkness is something that permeates The Island of Mists and Miracles, although it is a very different book. The story brings together a number of characters to a small together on l'île de Batz, a tiny island off the coast of Brittany. 

Sister Anne is a nun who believes that she has been promised that she would see a visitation of Mother Mary, and therefore she accepts a mission that takes her to Brittany. She had turned to religion after some childhood trauma. Before accepting the mission, she had rarely left her community so it she is very much out of his comfort zone. 

One of the residents of the island is Isaac, an outsider from a devout family and then there is Hugo, his only friend whose family life is shaped by the fact that his younger sister, Julia, is always sick.

With Anne waiting for the visitation, she is disappointed when she is not the one who sees but rather it is to Isaac that the vision is revealed, setting in wheels a series of events that quickly get out of control. At first the islanders are intrigued at the idea that Isaac is seeing the vision. Some believe wholeheartedly, like his grandmother Madden, but others do not, like Hugo's father who forbids Hugo from seeing Isaac. It doesn't take long for intrigue to turn to jealousy and other, more primitive emotions.

For a very short book, this story is very powerful and it has so many layers. It is a story of grief, of friendship, of small island rivalries, of faith and tragedy. It is mystical, mystical, shattering and human. The sea and the natural environment of the Breton countryside are very much part of the story and help build the atmosphere in the story! There are also quite a few mentions of traditions and foods from the area

In French, the title for this book is Un Miracle so it is interesting that the title in English is so much longer. I think the simpler title actually works better in this case. 

Framing the story, we also hear the story of Catherine Labouré who was a young novice in 1830 who had a vision of the Virgin Mary

Both of the books from Victoria Mas have kind of mixed reviews, but for whatever reason her writing style really works for me. I like the depth that she achieves within a short time, the way that she looks at relationships with a good dash of mysticism and religion. I already know that I am to read whatever Victoria Mas comes out with next! As an aside, I just found out this week that Mad Women's Ball was adapted into a movie. I am planning to watch the movie over the weekend!

In addition to reading this book for Paris in July, it also counts for the Books in Translation challenge hosted at Introverted Reader and the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host.

Rating 4.5/5

 

Sunday Salon: Six in Six

I haven't done Six in Six before but I saw it over at Words and Peace and I decided to join in! I thought it would also be a good way to do a roundup of the various challenges that I am doing this year. Along the way I will mention 7 out of the 8 books that I have given 5/5 to so far this year! I just couldn't make the last one fit into any of these challenges. That book is First Time Caller by B K Borison.  

There is one challenge that I haven't included in this list as I really wanted to have a category for Australia authors and that is the New Release Challenge hosted by The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog. Of the 77 books I have read so far this year, 30 have counted for the New Release Challenges. Foodies Read (hosted at Based on a True Story) is probably not technically a challenge, but I do enjoy linking up whenever I read a foodie book!

6 Historical Fiction Books - 28 books read 

The Goldsmith's Wife by Jean Plaidy, (5/5) - mini review

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters (5/5) - mini review

The Silent Resistance by Anna Normann (5/5) - review

The Strawberry House by Rachel Burton - Also New Release Challenge - review

Seascraper by Benjamin Wood

The King's Jewel by Elizabeth Chadwick

6 Bookish Books - 10 Books read

The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson (5/5) - Also Historical Fiction Reading challenge - review

The Secret Society of Librarians by Kate Thompson (5/5) - Also Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

The Croatian Island Library by Eva Glyn - Also New Release Challenge - review

This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page

The Seaside Book Club by Helen Rolfe - review

6 Books in Translation - 11 books read

Us Against You by Fredrik Backman (5/5)

Dinner at the Night Library by Hika Harada - Also Foodies Read and Bookish Books - review

The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi de Lampedusa - Also Historical Fiction - review

We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida - mini review

Piglettes by Clementine Beauvais - Also Foodie Reads - review 

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy - Also Historical Fiction -  thoughts

6 Speccie Fiction Challenge - 7 books read

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Gate to Kagoshima by Poppy Kuroki - Also Historical Fiction - review

The Astral Library by Kate Quinn - Also Bookish Books - mini review

The Seven Rings by Nora Roberts

We'll Prescribe You Another Cat by Syou Ishida - Also Books in Translation - mini review

6 Australian Books - 16 books read

In a Paris Fashion by Sophie Beaumont (5/5) - review

Past the Shallows by Favel Pavrett - Also Historical Fiction - mini review

Careful He Might Hear You by Sumner Locke Elliott - Also Historical Fiction - review

The Palace of Lost Virtue by Anthea Hodgson - Also Historical Fiction -  review

Don't Brake My Heart by Leonie Mack - review

The Model Murder by Amanda Hampson - Also Historical Fiction

6 Foodie Reads - 9 books read

The Language of Food by Annabel Abbs - Also Historical Fiction - review

A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang by lee Onhwa - also Books in Translation and Speccie Fiction - review

Bite by Bite: Nourishments and Jamborees by Aimee Nezhukumatathil - review

The Boulangerie on the Corner by Susan Buchanan - Also New Release challenge - review

Hot Chocolate on Thursday by Michiko Aoyama - Also Books in Translation - review

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J Ryan Stradal 

So there's my Six in Six for this year! And an update on my challenges at the same time.

I am sharing this with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Hopewell's Library.

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 short reviews

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Books I Want to Read by New to Me Authors (Share books from your to-read list that are written by authors you’ve never read before.)

I am going rogue today (again!) and sharing one to two sentence short reviews of books I have been meaning to review that I have read so far  this year but not yet done so!

The Goldsmith's Wife by Jean Plaidy - Read this for the Childhood Favourite theme at my F2F book club. It's been years since I read a Plaidy but it was still so good! And a really interesting story about Jane Shore, a woman who was the mistress of a king and yet ended her life in poverty. Read this for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. (5/5 read)

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters - This book is set in 1930s US and Canada, and tells the story of a young indigenous girl who disappears one day while her family is working as berry pickers. We hear of her life but also that of her brother who was the last person to see her. Incredibly moving. A 5 star read for me. Read this for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. (5/5 read)

We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida - I don't really like cats. I am more of a dog person, but I don't mind reading about cats in books, particularly in Japanese books where there is often a twist in the tail (see what I did there?).  I read this one for the Goodreads Spring Challenge. (4/5 read)

We'll Prescribe You Another Cat by Syou Ishida - I think that you might not quite understand what is going on here unless you read the first book in the series. The third book comes out soon and I will be reading it! Both of these books count for the Books in Translation and Speccy Fic Challenge. The translator for both books was E (4/5 read)

Past the Shallows by Favel Parrett - I borrowed this book at least 10 years ago and so when my rerad on a theme book club had a book you borrowed from someone as the theme, it was finally time to read it. Set in Tasmania, it looks at a family whose mother has died and how that event has impacted the father and three sons. I really enjoyed this one and will more from this author, eventually. This is an Aussie author and the book counts for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. (4.5/5 read)

The Astral Library by Kate Quinn - I have loved Kate Quinn's historical fiction novels. This one is a complete change in direction. It is set in the Boston Library where a young woman find the way to live inside books. It was good, but not as good as the historical fiction. Will be interested to see where Kate Quinn goes next. This book counts for the Speccy Fic Challenge, Bookish Books and New Release Challenges (4/5 read)

The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan - This was another book club read. This time the theme was Mothers and Daughters. I haven't read Amy Tan for many, many years and I liked this one a lot. It counts for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

The Paradise Pact by Anita Heiss - I have met Australian author Anita Heiss a number of times and really like her. She is smart, opinionated, and passionate about her indigenous identity. These traits showed in the characters in this book but I didn't really connect with the story as well as I would have liked. This qualifies for the New Release challenge(3.5/5 read)

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon - I feel like Ariel Lawhon is an author I should have read before now, but I haven't. I will read more from her now. I really liked that this book was based on the life of a midwife who lived in the 1800s, and tells the story of what happens in a small town when a body is found trapped under the ice in the frozen river. I read this for the Goodreads Spring Challenge and for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. Even though this is a short review, this book counts as a Big Book of Summer at 448 pages long. (4/5 read)

The Couples Retreat by Mercedes Mercier - This is a book that I read for a recent book club retreat that I attended. This book was set on Kangaroo Island and features a newbie police officer who is pulled into a murder investigation at a luxurious house on the island. I liked it. It isn't my normal genre but that's one of the good things about book clubs right? This counts for the New Release Challenge and was one of the books I nominated for 20 Books of Winter.  (3.5/5 read)

Phew! I feel a bit caught up now! 

Have you read any of these books? 

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: June stats and mid year update

Every month I share some of the statistics related to the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I try very hard to visit every post which has been linked (time permitting) and I find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! I often end up adding a couple of books to my never ending TBR list.

In terms of the books read in June, there were 54 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 18 participants. There were 53 individual titles reviewed, written by 53 different authors. There were 2 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 6 or just 1.

If you recall, last month we didn't have any titles that were reviewed more than once, which was very month. This month was similarly varied, although we did have one book that was reviewed twice

The Palace of Lost Virtue by Australian author Anthea Hodgson is a dual timeline set in both 1890s and 1920s Kalgoorlie, a mining town in remote Western Australia. I reviewed this book as did Shelleyrae at Book'd Out!

There were no other authors who had more than one book reviewed this month!

Given that we are now more than halfway through this year's challenge, I thought I would share some stats about the year....so far!

In terms of the books this year, there were 295 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 25 participants. There were 280 individual titles reviewed, written by 248 different authors. There were 4 reviewers who reviewed 20 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links. I appreciate everyone who participates in the challenge!

When I look at the book that has been reviewed the most throughout the year so far, there is one book that has been reviewed 3 times so far.

I am surprised and pleased to see that it is another Aussie author. A Far Flung Life by M L Stedman has been reviewed by Shelleyrae at Book'd Out, by Tracey at Carpe Librum and by Helen at She Reads Novels. I think it is interestesting because M L Stedman had a huge hit with The Light Between Oceans, but it that book came out in 2012 so it has been a very long time between books! I am planning to read this book soon, as long as I can get to it before it has to go back to the library!

There are five other authors who have been reviewed more than twice. Agatha Christie leads the way with 6 reviews, followed by Elizabeth Camden with 4 and then Colleen Cambridge, Ellis Peters and Lee Strauss have all been reviewed three times.

Whenever I do this milestone reviews I also like to share how bloodthirsty we are as readers. This year so far there have been 23 books read where the title includes the words murder, fatal or death in some form or another!

I look forwards to see what everyone reads during the second half of the year!

If you enjoy reading Historical Fiction why not join us? You can find all the details here.

I am sharing this with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Hopewell's Library.

Classics Club Spin: Careful, He Might Here You by Sumner Locke Elliott

When I put together my classics list, I deliberately went in search books that were considered Australian classics and included them as part of my list. One of my choices was this book, Careful, He Might Hear You by Sumner Lock Elliott. When the spin landed on this as the selection I was pretty happy. I had no idea, though, that I would love this as much as I did.

I am not sure that this author is one that I knew particularly much about, although I had heard of the movie version of this book which was made back in the 1980s. Apparently Elliott was a very successful writer and well known in the US. This book, which came out in 1963, was very autobiographical and also very successful, winning the 1963 Miles Franklin prize which is our top literary prize.

Our story opens with a glimpse into the life of a young boy named PS, so called because he was a postscript to his deceased mother's ridiculous life. Sinden died shortly after his birth, and with his father being perennially off searching for gold, his Aunt Lila and Uncle George are raising him as requested by his mother before she passed 

They live a very modest lifestyle, but there is a lot of love and Sinden is fondly remembered as Little One. When PS and his aunt go to visit her grave they refer to it as the The Little Garden, planting flowers but never mentioning that it is his mother's final resting place. It might be more whimsical as opposed to truthful, but PS is happy and secure.

When Aunt Vanessa turns up, PS's life is gradually turned upside down. Vanessa was sent to England at a young age to be a companion to a relative and so the life she leads is very different to that of her sisters. Vanessa believes that she too has a mandate to care for PS. In her eyes, this means providing him with the very best of everything including education, elocution correction to get rid of his terrible Australian accent, piano lessons, a big house, and impressive toys. These are all things that the humble Lila and George can not possibly provide

Ultimately this leads to a bitter custody battle over the bewildered little boy who just wants to go home and who doesn't really understand what it going on.

Whilst this is PS's story, we also get glimpses into the past lives of the sisters, including Sinden who was a writer who had received critical claim but not financial success. We also meet the father, Logan, who is irresistible to the sisters and who, ultimately, absconds from all responsibility for his son. One of the fun things for me was that Logan comes from Bacchus Marsh which is just up the road from me. 

Ultimately though, this is a quintessentially Sydney book. We catch the ferry across the harbour and the train to various locations, we feel the heat and witness spectacular summer storms and so much more. It is also a Depression story, with particular reference to the impact of the world financial situation on ordinary Aussie families.

This is a long book, coming in at 495 pages. It was very readable and I read it in a couple of days. I just had to pick it up to read and see what happened next at every opportunity My emotions ebbed and flowed with the story, and I recognised some of the bewilderment that PS felt from my own childhood experiences when my parents divorced. 

Bring on the next Aussie classic!

This book was one of the books I nominated for 20 Books of Winter and counts for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, the Big Books of Summer (hosted by Sue at Book by Book and Melinda from A Web of Stories) and also fits my read on a theme book club theme which is Secrets.

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: July links!

Thank you to everyone who contributed a review in June for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. There were nearly 50 links shared during June and I am looking forward to coming and visiting them soon. I will be back in the next week or so with all the statistics for the month and maybe even a mid year recap!

I am looking forward to reading your reviews throughout the rest of the year! I am sure there is going to be a lot of great historical fiction discovered and shared with fellow HF lovers over the course of this year!

If you haven't already signed up, it's not too late! The sign up post is here.

Just to recap what participants need to know. At the beginning of each month I will put up a post which will have a Mr Linky embedded into it for you to add your link.

Please remember...

• add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky we’ll be adding to our monthly post (please, do not add your blog link, but the correct address that will guide us directly to your review). 
• it doesn't matter where you review - Bookstagram, Goodreads etc as long as you share a direct link to your review.
• any kind of historical fiction is accepted (fantasy, young adult, graphic novels...)
• if you have time, have a look some of the other links that are present. You never know when you will discover new blogs or books!

You can also join the challenge group on Facebook which you can find here and don't forget to use the #histficreadingchallenge hashtag on the socials.

Let the reading begin!!

If you have any further links to add, please add them to the August post which you can find here.

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge Participants

1. Deb Nance at Readerbuzz (Daughters of the Sun and Moon) 2. Deb Nance at Readerbuzz (Esperanza Rising) 3. Deb Nance at Readerbuzz (The Long Winter) 4. Deb Nance at Readerbuzz (The Lark and the Laurel) 5. Deb Nance at Readerbuzz (The Little Town on the Prairie) 6. Deb Nance at Readerbuzz (These Happy Golden Years) 7. Mists of Midnight (Barbara H.) 8. The President’s Wife (Laura@RBA) 9. With Enduring Tides by Jane Kirkpatrick (Laura's Reviews) 10. In the Kingdom of Men by Kim Barnes (Maphead's Book Blog) 11. Billie King (Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out) 12. The Rail Splitter (Laura@RBA) 13. Daughters of the Sun and Moon (Laura@RBA) 14. Murder at Ochre Court (Mark @ CC) 15. Marg (Careful, He Might Hear You) 16. My Dear Hamilton (Laura@RBA) 17. Miss Bates by Catherine Cliff (Laura's Reviews) 18. America’s First Daughter (Laura@RBA) 19. A Fatal Love (Cathy@WhatCathyReadNext) 20. Murder at Brighton Beach (Bev@My Reader's Block) 21. The Lost Chateau (Helen @ She Reads Novels) 22. A Founding Mother (Laura@RBA)

23. Hammer of the Scots (Shellie@ShellieLovesBooks) 24. Marg @ The Intrepid Reader (War and peace) 25. Invitation from a Dictator (Cathy@WhatCathyReadNext) 26. A Far-Flung Life by Stedman (Staircase Wit) 27. American Harlot, by Rebecca Flynt (Kim) 28. The Hapless Milliner by Jessica Bull (Laura's Reviews) 29. Ladies in Waiting (Laura's Reviews) 30. The extraordinary adventures of Horatio Lyle (Alexis Drake) 31. Chimaira (Alexis Drake) 32. Courting Mr Lincoln (Laura@RBA) 33. Strange Medicine (Mark @ CC) 34. Don't Upstage the Body by Naomi Stephens (Laura's Reviews) 35. The Final Problem by Arturo Pérez-Reverte (Maphead's Book Blog) 36. The Millionaire Waltz (Cathy@WhatCathyReadNext) 37. The Changeling by Kate Forsyth (Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out) 38. Marg @ The Intrepid Reader (mini reviews) 39. Murder in Moscow (Shellie@ShellieLovesBooks) 40. Lincoln's Lady Spymaster (Laura@RBA) 41. Jinjer (Perfume) 42. These Empty Places by Sarah Loudin Thomas (Laura's Reviews) 43. The Boleyn Secret (jessicabookworm @ The Bookworm Chronicles) 44. The Spy Keeper of Marseille (Barbara H.)

45. Murder at Morrington Hall, by Clara McKenna (Kim) 46. Marg @ The Intrepid Reader (The Island of Mists and Miracles) 47. The Bachelor Spy by Pepper Basham (Laura's Reviews) 48. The Scandalous Ladies Football Club (Helen @ She Reads Novels) 49. Suzanne (Davida @ The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog) 50. The Alchemist's Secret (Helen @ She Reads Novels) 51. The Enemy and Miss Innes (Shellie@ShellieLovesBooks) 52. L'altra donna del re (Alexis Drake) 53. Blotto, Twinks & the Dead Dowager Duchess (Bev@My Reader's Block) 54. Two Bronze Pennies (Bev@My Reader's Block) 55. Murder at the Royal Albert Hall (Bev@My Reader's Block) 56. A Spinster's Guide to Danger & Dukes (Bev@My Reader's Block) 57. A Wartime Marriage (Constance at Staircase Wit) 58. The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa (Maphead's Book Blog) 59. Land (Davida @ The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog) 60. The Persian Boy (Helen @ She Reads Novels) 61. Henry Tudor Must Die, by Jillian Laine (Kim) 62. A Chance for Kallie Mae by Ann H. Gabhart (Laura's Reviews) 63. What the Trees Remember by Abigail Cutter (Laura's Reviews) 64. The Eagle & the Wolf (Cathy@WhatCathyReadNext) 65. How to Dance with a Duke (Bev@My Reader's Block) 66. Trouble On a Country Lane (Shellie@ShellieLovesBooks)

Learn more about Historical Fiction Reading Challenge here.

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