Top Ten Tuesday: Books with the Word Cafe in the Title

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books with the Word “[Insert Word Here]” in the Title (Choose a word and find ten books with that word in the title.)

My initial thought was to use the word girl but in the last few days I have read a couple of really good books which both had the word cafe in the title, so I am going with that! 

The Handsome Man's Deluxe Cafe by Alexander McCall Smith - This is book number 15 in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series

The Cafe by the Bridge by Lily Malone - This is the second book in a trilogy set in in southern Western Australia.

Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webb - I loved this book when I read it a few years ago (my review)

Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Cafe by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - This is the second book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series

The Custard Tart Cafe by Isabella May - Just thinking about this book makes me want to eat a Portuguese Custard Tart! (my review)

The Enchanted Garden Cafe by Abigail Drake - This is the first book in a series set in Pittsburgh. (my review)

Finding Family at the Cornish Cove by Kim Nash - whoops. Had this recorded in my spreadsheet as Finding Family at the Cornish Cafe. It is, however, set in a cafe so I am keeping it! It is the second book in the lovely Cornish Cove series. (my review)

The Pumpkin Spice Cafe by Laurie Gilmore - This is the first book in the very popular Dream Harbor series.

The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe by Catherine Greer - I just read this last week and I loved it. I will be reviewing it in a couple of weeks.

The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Woods - Whoops this is a bakery not cafe but it was such a good read I am going to count it anyway! 

I am also going to be sharing this post with Weekend Cooking which I host here! 

Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge statistics for December and the whole year!

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.

This month I am also sharing the stats for the whole of the 2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge!

First, December. 

In terms of the books read in December, there were 58 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 19 participants. There were 56 individual titles reviewed, written by 52 different authors. There were 4 reviewers who shared 5 or more reviews this month. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 12 or just 1.

So which books were reviewed more than once in December? There were two.

The first, somewhat fittingly given the Season, was Christmas with the Queen by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb. This was reviewed by Barbara from Stray Thoughts and Laura from Laura's Reviews. Click on the links to see their thoughts!

The second was Gabriel's Moon by William Boyd which was reviewed by Davida at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews and Helen at She Reads Novels. The links take you to their reviews.

I do have to be careful when I do these statistics as this month we had two different books with the title Euphoria, so it did look like there was another one, but there wasn't!

I already shared this in the Facebook group but there were a lot of books with a variation of the word murder in the title this month. Maybe there is every month, but it jumped out at me this month. There were 8 of those titles, plus another one with the word Death!

There were a number of authors where there were reviews shared for more than one of their books.

Barbara from Stray Thoughts shared two novellas from Amanda Dykes, and I have to say that the Tin Can Serenade one sounds really good to me!

Barbara also shared her thoughts on two books by Roseanna M White - An Honorable Deception and Christmas at Sugar Plum Manor. 

Finally, there were two reviews shared for stories written by Charles Dickens. Alexis at Goodreads read La battaglia della vita which is The Battle of Life. I read The Chimes, which is one of Dickens lesser known Christmas stories. And yes, I do read for this challenge, I just don't often get to highlight myself in these posts (;-))

So those were the stats for December. Let's get to the stats for the whole of 2024!

In terms of the books read and reviewed in 2024, there were 665 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 34 participants. There were 600 individual titles reviewed, written by 502 different authors. There were 7 reviewers who shared 30 or more reviews this month with our top contributor being Laura from Laura's Reviews who contributed an amazing 101 reviews!. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 101 or just 2.

This compares to 846 reviews in 2023, 841 reviews in 2022 and 775 reviews during 2021

So which book was reviewed the most during 2024? To be honest, I am not completely surprised given that this book one the Goodreads Choice award for Historical Fiction and has appeared on many best of lists. I will say though, it does seem to be a very divisive book. People either really, really love it, or they really don't!

Drumroll please!

The book with the most reviews during 2024 was The Women by Kristin Hannah

The next highest number of reviews was for The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonsen which was reviewed 4 times.

There were then 8 books that were reviewed three times:

Every Time We Say Goodbye by Natalie Jenner

Gabriel's Moon by William Boyd

James by Percival Everett

The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhorn

The Household by Stacey Halls

The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang

Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein

As I mentioned earlier, it can be a little tricky sometimes with books with the same title. Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein was reviewed 3 times, but there was also another book with the same title as well by C J Barker.

Here's a breakdown of review by author numbers

5 reviews - 1

4 reviews - 1

3 reviews - 8

2 reviews - 84

1 review - 548

If we look at the authors who were reviewed multiple times, then Agatha Christie is the runaway winner with 19 different reviews contributed. I don't think that is a surprise given that quite a few people are doing both this challenge and the Read Christie challenge.

Other honourable mentions go to Roseanna M White who had 6 stories reviewed. Amanda Dykes and Verity Bright both had 5 stories reviewed!

There are a couple of little anomalies here. Kate Quinn writing solo was reviewed 3 times, but she was also reviewed 3 times for her collaboration with Janie Chang! Similarly, Hazel Gaynor and Aimie K Runyan were reviewed both as individuals and for their collaborative novels. There are probably others as well, but those are the ones that stood out to me.

Here's a breakdown of review by author numbers

19 reviews - 1

6 reviews - 1

5 reviews - 2

4 reviews - 6

3 reviews - 27

2 reviews - 56

1 review - 408

And here is the breakdown for the number of reviews for month

Oh, and for the record, there were 42 different books reviewed that had some variation of the words death and murder in the title! I am thinking of adding this into the monthly stats!

This year I added a column for the times I thought "oh, I would like to read that" when I read someone's review. That happened 68 times! And how many did I actually read - just one. Just goes to show that this challenge is bad/good for your TBR pile, depending on your perspective!

So now we look forward to the 2025 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. If you are interested in joining us, the sign up post is here. We would love to see what you are reading!

I am sharing this with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz

Top Ten Tuesday: Just Some of the Most Reviewed Books from the 2023 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

 

 

 

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Bookish Goals for 2024. However, don't really have that many goals, other than tryig to review all the historical fiction novels I read, and I am already behind on that goal! I am therefore going rogue and instead sharing some of the books that were reviewed multiple times during the 2023 Historical Fiction Challenge. On the weekend, I revealed  the book that was reviewed most during the challenge (five times) and the three books that were reviewed  four times. You can see those books here along with other statistics.

Today, I will be sharing the five books that were reviewed three times, and then five (out of the 75) books that were reviewed twice.

First off, here are five books that were reviewed three times:

A Marriage of Fortune by Anne O'Brien - It has been an age since I read any historical fiction with a medieval setting.

Strangers in the Night by Heather Webb - This book tells the story of Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner

The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor - This sounds like a very interesting story

The Orchid Hour by Nancy Bilyeau - Love this cover!

The Romantic by William Boyd - This book was longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction

And here are five books  that were reviewed twice which I have picked for various reason to share today

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak - I loved, loved,loved this book when I read it a couple of years ago.

The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane - This is another book that was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize. She is an Australian author, and I feel like she probably goes under the radar a little bit here.

Weyward by Emilia Hart - This was the winner of the Goodreads Choice Awards for Historical Fiction in 2023.

The War Nurses by Anthea Hodgson - I really liked this book when I read it last year.

The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson - I keep on being reminded that I really need to read this book!

If you love historical fiction and reading challenges, why not join us. t's not too late to join this year's challenge. All the sign up details are here!

Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - June - and the year so far!

 

Each month I share the statistics for the previous month for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I always find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! This month I have haven't had time to visit the reviews that have been shared. I will do better in the coming month. Given that we have just gone past the half way point of the challenge for this year, I thought I would also share the statistics for the year so far as well

First, the statistics for June.

In terms of the books, it was a quieter month in June for reviews with 64 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 19 participants. However, this is only 1 less than for the same month last year so maybe June is always a bit quieter. There were 60 individual titles reviewed, written by 55 different authors. There were 4 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 8 or just 1. 

Let's move onto the books. There were 4 books that were reviewed twice during June. Interestingly, one of these books was also on our most reviewed list for last month, which is quite unusual. 

The 4 books that were reviewed twice were

The Heiress Bride by Madeline Hunter is the third book in the A Duke's Heiress series. This book was reviewed at Laura's Reviews and also by Susan at Reading World,

The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor was reviewed at What Cathy Read Next and by Helen at She Reads Novels

 

The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson was also reviewed by both Helen and Cathy.

The final book to mention is Voices of the Dead by Ambrose Parry which was reviewed by Helen and Cathy again.

In addition to these authors, there were 5 authors who had multiple titles reviewed. 

Agatha Christie

Alexis Hall

D E Stevenson

Lydia Travers

Sandra Dallas

So how about for the first 6 months of the year. Well, we have had more than 500 reviews so far which is A-maz-ing! Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far. 

There are books that have been reviewed more than once, but these are the books which have been reviewed more than twice

Homecoming by Kate Morton  (4 reviews)

My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor (4 reviews)

Strangers in the Night by Heather Webb (3 reviews)

The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor (3 times)

In addition to those mentioned above there are also 15 other authors who have been reviewed more than twice.

Finally, I thought I would mention the winner of the Sir Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction which was announced in June. The winner was These Days by Lucy Caldwell, which was reviewed for the challenge by Helen at She Reads Novels back in March.

It's not too late to join the 2023 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. The sign up post is here, and you can find the June linky to add your reviews here.

I am looking forward to seeing what people share during July. 

I am also sharing this post with Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge March statistics

 

Last year I started sharing statistics each month for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, and my plan is to continue to do this again this year. I find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! This month I have been around and visited most of the reviews and added several books to my TBR list.

In terms of the books, it was another really good month for reviews with 88 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 25 participants. This is 12 more than for the same month last year. There were 85 individual titles reviewed, written by 83 different authors. There were 8 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 7 or just 1.

Let's move onto the books. There were three books that were reviewed twice during March.

 

The first is Goodnight from Paris by Jane Healey which was enthusiastically reviewed by Davida at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review and by Susan at Reading World

The next book to be reviewed twice is Strangers in the Night by Heather Webb which was also reviewed by Davida as well as at Laura's Reviews. This book is the story of Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner's tempestuous relationship.

The third book to be reviewed twice was The Book Spy by Alan Hlad. I have requested this one from my library based on the reviews I read at Laura's Reviews and also Becky's Reviews. WWII librarians who are spies sound like my kind of read!

There are two authors who both had two books reviewed being Lauraine Snelling and Trish MacEnulty. Barbara from Stray Thoughts reviewed 2 books which actually comprise 5 novellas, all set in North Dakota in the early 1900s and featuring Norwegian immigrants. The first collection comprised 3 novellas called Dakota Dream, Dakota Dream and Dakota Dusk. The second collection is the final 2 novellas called Dakota December and Dakota Destiny.

Yvonne from A Darn Good Read reviewed two books by Trish MacEnulty which are the first two books in the Delafield and Malloy Investigations historical mystery series. The first book is The Whispering Women and the second is The Burning Bride.

Recently the shortlist for the Sir Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction for 2023 was announced, so I thought I would share the books from the longlist which have been reviewed for the challenge so far. I have noted the books which have made the shortlist

The Romantic by Willian Boyd

These Days by Lucy Caldwell (Shorlisted)

My Name is Yip by Paddy Crewe

The Geometer Lobachevsky by Adrian Duncan (Shortlisted)

Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris (Shortlisted)

The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho by Paterson Joseph

The Chosen by Elizabeth Lowry (Shortlisted)

The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley by Sean Lusk

The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane (Shortlisted)

Ancestry by Simon Mower (Shortlisted)

I Am Not Your Eve by Devika Ponnanbalam (Shortlisted)
The Settlement by Jock Serong

Cathy from What Cathy Read Next has read several of the listed books including The Romantic, I am Not Your Eve and The Settlement.

Is anyone else planning to read any of short or longlisted books for the Prize?

It's not too late to join the 2023 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. The sign up post is here, and you can find the March linky to add your reviews here.

I am also sharing this post with Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Top Ten Tuesday: Favourite Settings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Favourite Settings

So, in no particular order, here are some of my favourite settings

WWII - The Tolstoy Estate by Steven Conte - I know that there is a lot of talk out there about people being over WWII as a time period, but I still love it, mainly because there is so much variety. You could read about Europe, America, Australia, Japan, about someone on the frontlines or the people left behind or so much more. This book is set in Russia, features a German main character and was one of my favourite books of last year. (review)

WWI - The Desert Nurse by Pamela Hart - Actually,  I do enjoy books set against any big conflicts, so I do enjoy it when I read a good book with a WWI setting. I must find some more.

Bookshops/Libraries  - The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan - There's something very comforting about reading books about books, whether it is characters who love to read or work in bookshops or whatever.

Cafe/Bakery/Restaurants -  Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber - The heat in the kitchen (both due to the cooking and between the people who work there on occasion), the sense of community, the delicious sounding food! What's not to love.

Scotland - The Vanished Days by Susanna Kearsley - I love both historical and contemporary books set in Scotland. It is a place that keeps calling my name.

Paris - The Black Swan of  Paris by Karen Robards - Speaking of places that call my name. One day I will get back there. The most recent book I read set in Paris was this one.

Russia - Tsarina by Ellen Alpsten - I don't read them as much as I should be I do love a good book set in Russia.

Africa - Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi - I have long loved a book set in Africa. I chose this book to spotlight because it is a book that was set in Africa (at least at the beginning) and I read it while I was in Africa

Melbourne - Earthly Delights by Kerry Greenwood - I love it when you get to read a book where you recognise the landmarks and places that are mentioned in a book.

Rural settings - Snowy Mountains Daughter by Alissa Callen - I do love a good rural romance setting. There are so many great books out there. Whole series set in small country towns where you get to know the whole community.

And what's better than one of these settings? When you manage to combine two or more. Bookshop cafe in Scotland...I'm there. Although I am not sure all the combinations would work.

What are your favourite settings?