Top Ten Tuesday - Historical Fiction Set in France - the WWII Edition.

 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 HAD to Have Immediately but Still Haven’t Read (this is a throwback topic from 2022). However, given that this is the last Tuesday for me to do a Paris in July related Top Ten Tuesday I am going down that route instead. 

During last year's Paris in July, I shared a TTT post which was Historical Fiction set in France. When I put that list together I specifically excluded WWII fiction, so this week my theme is Historical Fiction Set in France - the WWII Edition. I have started with two books that come to mind instantly and then the rest are more recent books I have read set in France during WWII.

A Farewell to France by Noel Barber - in the 1990s I read a lot of Noel Barber books and I have such fond memories of them. I am not sure they would stand up all that well to read now though. 

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah - I am looking forward to seeing the movie of this one whenever it ends up actually getting made

The Resistance Knitting Club by Jenny O'Brien - I am just about to read the follow up to this book and can't wait! (review)

The Girl From Normandy by Rachel Sweasey - I really enjoyed this read (my review)

The Madamoiselle Alliance by Natasha Lester - What a fascinating this read was. It is based on a true story which makes it even more amazing! (my review)

The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin - This one is set in both France and Portugal (my review)

The Paris Dancer by Nicola Rayner - I was nearly going to say WWII Paris, but then I remembered that the whole theme for this post is WWII which makes that kind of redundant! (my review)

The Resistance Bakery by Siobhan Curham - I love a book set in a French bakery so this was always going to be a winner for me! (my review)

The Last Train from Paris by Juliet Greenwood - I thought this was a really great read with an interesting story! (my review)

The Lost Sister of Fifth Avenue by Ella Carey - The title might make you think this one is not set in Paris, but the majority of the story is! (my review)

Paris in July/Top Ten Tuesday: Books with the Eiffel Tower on the Cover

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Freebie/Throwback (Come up with a topic you’d like to do or go back and do an old topic you missed or just want to do again!). Given that today is the kick off for this year's Paris in July event (hosted by Emma at Words and Peace) how could I resist doing something Paris-y? My theme today is Books with the Eiffel Tower on the Cover.

That gives me another chance to share one of my favourite photos of the Eiffel Tower although deciding which one was a challenge!

Some are books that I have read earlier this year. Some are books that I found when I searched the word Eiffel on my blog. The reality is that I could probably do this topic again without too much difficulty.

A Secret Garden in Paris by Sophie Beaumont - I have really loved both of the books set in Paris by this author! I am looking forward to the next one which is out later this year. I will be sharing my review of this book at some point in July!

The Paris Bookshop for the Broken-Hearted by Rebecca Raisin - This author actually has a lot of books that I could have chosen for this theme. I think this is her best book yet! (My review)

The Anywhere Hotel by Gisele Stein - Unlike the rest of the books on this list, only a tiny part of this book is set in Paris. However, I love the cover, and the Tower is there so it counts for this theme!

The Dressmaker of Paris by Georgia Kaufmann - Haven't read this one yet, but I love the way that the Tower is represented here.

Die for Me by Amy Plum - This is an older book which might count as romantasy these days. It features revenants and numas who are fighting their age old battle in the modern streets of Paris. And the cover is gorgeous! (My review)

The Last Train from Paris by Juliet Greenwood - A WWII story that I read and loved a couple of years ago now. (My review)

Twenty One Nights in Paris by Leonie Mack - The first book I read by this author. Now she is an auto-buy. (My review)

Midnight in Paris by Gillian Harvey - I have loved all of Gillian Harvey's books set in different parts of France. I read this one earlier this year and loved it. I think it is my favourite of hers so far! (My review)

The President's Hat by Antoine Laurain - Another case where I had my pick of several covers! And it's nice to have an actual French author on the list as well!

The Little Paris Toyshop by Lauren Westwood - I will take any opportunity I can get to talk about this book which I read and loved a couple of years ago. (My review)

I am pretty sure that there might be another French themed Top Ten Tuesday this month, but I haven't quite decided just yet! Who am I kidding! Of course there will be! It's just a question of what it will be!

Six Degrees of Separation: Orbital to The Secret Daughter of Venice

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best. The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links. I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

This month's starting point is Orbital by Samantha Harvey.

Usually when I sit down to write this post, I just have to look at the book title and the idea of where the first link, and then the second link, etc etc will take me. My main challenge is in completing a chain not using books I have used multiple times before. This was not one of those months. Part of the reason is that I was trying to force a direction but it just wasn't working. Sometimes, you just have to keep it simple. 

Over the last 18 months, British author Gillian Harvey has become a must read author for me. She writes books about life in France and starting over. Her new book, Midnight in Paris, comes out in the next couple of weeks and I am looking forward to reading it!

Midnight in Paris is a movie that I have seen quite a few times and which features several very famous authors who lived in Paris in the golden years of the 1920s. One of those authors was Ernest Hemingway and the book I am choosing is A Moveable Feast.

From a moveable feast I am then linking to Immovable Feast: A Paris Christmas by John Baxter. Baxter is an Australian who has lived in Paris for many years and published a number of books about the city and his experiences.

My most recent read about Christmas in Paris was Christmas at the Little Paris Hotel by Rebecca Raisin. I do have several books that I could have chosen about Christmas in Paris. Is anyone surprised.

Moving from Paris to Venice, my next choice is The Venice Hotel by Tess Woods, which I read recently.

Also set mostly in Venice is The Secret Daughter of Venice by Juliet Greenwood. This is the second book in the Shakespeare Sisters series, and tells the story of a woman who is trying to find her true identity during WWII.

I mentioned that I struggled at the beginning this month. Once I get going though, the connections do just happen. I was just finalising this post when I realised I had accidentally done a seventh degree. I could probably keep going as well. Maybe I will do a Top Ten Tuesday one day with ten connections! 

Next month, the starting point is Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos

Will you be joining us?

Six Degrees of Separation: The Museum of Modern Love to Hamnet

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best.  The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links.  I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz. 

The starting point for this month is The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose.

I am choosing to start by focusing on the word museum. Whenever I visit Perth, I love to visit the port city of Fremantle. Even thought I have been many times I love to visit the Shipwreck Museum and visit the wreck of the Batavia. This was a Dutch ship which sank off the cost of Western Australia. A book which tells the story of the Batavia is The Night Ship by Jess Kidd.

When we visited the Netherlands just under 2 years ago, we stayed with my brother and sister in law. It just so happens that they live in the town where there is a replica of the Batavia. So my next link is the most recent book I have read about Dutch history, Midnight Blue by Simone van der Vlugt

A famous name that made a cameo appearance in Midnight Blue was the artist Vermeer. He was also a character in Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

My next choice is using he word pearl as the key, so I am choosing the fourth book is the Seven Sisters series, The Pearl Sister by Lucinda Riley.

And then using the word sister as the link I am choosing a book I read not too long ago, The Shakespeare Sisters by Juliet Greenwood

My final choice is Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell which is all about Shakespeare and his family. As an aside...we are going to go to the Globe when we are in London soon. Looking forward to it.

Next month the starting point is After Story by Larissa Behrendt.

Where has your chain taken you this month?

Top Ten Tuesday: Paris books!

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Throwback Freebie (Pick a TTT topic that has been previously done. Maybe you missed it, weren’t blogging then, or you’d like to update an old list you made. All previous topics are listed below.)




We are part way through Paris in July (hosted by Emma at Words and Peace), so rather than do a throwback, I am going to choose the last ten books I have read with Paris in the title

A Love Letter to Paris by Rebecca Raisin - My review of this one will be up in the next couple of days! It was good though!

The Last Train from Paris by Juliet Greenwood - WWII, dual timeline and a really good read! (my review)

The Paris Agent by Kelly Rimmer - I have enjoyed all the Kelly Rimmer books that I have read so far

Mrs Harris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico - I fell in love with the movie and then read the book. Here's my review of both

Twenty One Nights In Paris by Leonie Mack - This was my first Leonie Mack but I have read everything she has put out since. (my review)

The Girl from Paris by Ella Carey - Ella Carey has a few books set in Paris (my review)

The Black Swan of Paris by Karen Swan - This is a WWII novel but it is more of a thriller than I would normally read.

An American in Paris by Siobhan Curham - Another WWII novel (my review)

Saint-Germain-des-Pres: Paris's Rebel Quarter by John Baxter - I really enjoyed this short non-fiction look at a specific area of Paris

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George - Books and Paris. Yes please.

Have you read any of these, or have any other Paris suggestions for me?

This Week....

I'm reading

Phew! Last week feels like quite an achievement. I had committed to reviewing four books on two days which was a bit crazy! And I managed to get them all read and reviewed. Last week, I finished reading A New Dawn at Owl's Lodge by Jessica Redland. I then started and finished the second book in the Shakespeare Sisters series,  The Secret Daughter of Venice, by Juliet Greenwood.

This week I have just one book scheduled for review which I am reading at the moment. That book is Under a Summer Skye by Sue Moorcroft. We are visiting Skye for a day later this year so it seems like a good time to read it!

I may actually be able to pick up something for fun this week. We'll see.



I'm watching

I have once again fallen with the dreaded lurgy. I was therefore feeling very average so on Friday afternoon I logged off from work early and just sat in the chair and watch all the available episodes of Bridgerton season 3. Definitely comfort viewing.

We also watched the first 2 episodes of Girls 5 Eva after two people at work recommended it independently of each other! I am not sure if we will continue or not.

We are still watching each new episode of Wrexham as it comes out, and of course still watching various Bake Offs and Masterchef with each new episode.

I did start watching a documentary series on Legendary Cities, which is interesting. The first episode was about Amsterdam and the second about London. I think it might be a French series that has had the narrative re-recorded in English.


Life

I seem to be having a bit of a bad run when it comes to health issues. Nearly everyone in our house is feeling unwell at the moment. Turns out it is Covid. Bleugh!!

Fortunately, I did get to go and see Bonnie Garmus on Tuesday night before I started feeling ill. I wrote about that experience for my latest Weekend Cooking post.

Our thoughts are turning to holidays. It is just under 10 weeks until we go away, and I think just about everything has been booked that can be. My thoughts have also turned to a potential destination for April 2026. Is it too soon to be planning that far out?

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I Would Love Another Book From

Blog Tour: The Secret Daughter of Venice by Juliet Greenwood (includes UK giveaway)

Blog Tour: Come Fly With Me by Helen Rolfe

Blog Tour: A Wedding in the Sun by Leonie Mack

Blog Tour: A New Dawn at Owl's Lodge by Jessica Redland

Weekend Cooking: Bonnie Garmus




I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date

Blog Tour: The Secret Daughter of Venice by Juliet Greenwood (includes UK giveaway)

 

Kate Arden has always known that she wasn't really an Arden. She had a vague memory of a life before she came to live at Brierley. Those memories are on the periphery of her brain, slight glimpses but nothing solid to grasp on to.

She also knows that she needs to get away from her home. She loves Brierley, with it's grand but crumbling house, the Roman mosaics that are just waiting to be further uncovered, and her three sisters, Rosalind, Cordelia and Bianca. But her father is domineering, determined to marry one of his daughters off to a wealthy member of the aristocracy. It actually doesn't matter which one of them really. More than anything though, she needs to pursue her passion for art.

When her Mama passed away she left each of her daughters an illustrated book of Shakespeare with the hint that there is a clue in the book for each of them.

Kate has looked through her book and could see no clues, until one day, she does find something. She finds an image of a terrace with a mountain in the background, which is something similar to one of the memories she has.  She also finds a picture of Venice.  What could it possibly mean?

And so Kate begins to follow a trail of clues that lead her first to Birmingham where she helps out a charity that is involved with children who have been orphaned during the war, to St Ives in Cornwall and then to Italy. Can this trail of clues help her to find out what or who she is looking for.

This is a dual storyline book, not timeline, but storyline. Whilst we follow Kate as she tries to work out what her story is, we are also following Sofia who has returned to Italy after many years of living in America. She is also searching for her true self, for the facts about what happened many years ago which prompted her to run away to America.

This book is the second book in the Shakespeare Sisters series by Juliet Greenwood. Because I don't like to read a series out of order I actually read the first book, The Shakespeare Sisters, a few weeks ago. From a timeline perspective, The Shakespeare Sisters was set in the years leading up to WWII and the in the years after the war. This book is more firmly set in WWII and it's aftermath.

I really liked both of these books, and will definitely read the next Shakespeare Sisters novel whenever it comes out. I liked the descriptions of the various locations from Cornwall to Venice and to the Bay of Naples. 

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy of this book. I am sharing this link with the New Release Challenge hosted by The Chocolate Lady's Book Review blog and with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host

About the book

The Secret Daughter of Venice

The paper is stiff and brittle with age as Kate unfolds it with trembling hands. She gasps at the pencil sketch of a rippling waterway, lined by tall buildings, curving towards the dome of a cathedral. She feels a connection deep in her heart. Venice.

England, 1941. When Kate Arden discovers a secret stash of drawings hidden in the pages of an old volume of poetry given to her as a baby, her breath catches. All her life, she has felt like an outsider in her aristocratic adoptive family, who refuse to answer any questions about her past. But the drawings spark a forgotten memory: a long journey by boat… warm arms that held her tight, and then let go.

Could these pictures unlock the secret of who she is? Why her mother left her? With war raging around the continent, she will brave everything to find out…

A gripping, emotional historical novel of love and art that will captivate fans of The Venice Sketchbook, The Woman on the Bridge and The Nightingale.

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Daughter-Venice-absolutely-historical-ebook/dp/B0CVV7F4N7

https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Daughter-Venice-absolutely-historical-ebook/dp/B0CVV7F4N7

 

About the author

Juliet Greenwood is a historical novelist published by Storm Publishing. Her previous novel, The Last Train from Paris, was published to rave reviews and reached the top 100 kindle chart in the USA. She has long been inspired by the histories of the women in her family, and in particular with how strong-minded and independent women have overcome the limitations imposed on them by the constraints of their time, and the way generations of women hold families and communities together in times of crisis, including during WW2.

After graduating in English from Lancaster University and Kings College, London, Juliet worked on a variety of jobs to support her ambition to be a full-time writer. These ranged from running a craft stall at Covent Garden to running a small charity working with disadvantaged children, and collecting oral histories of traditional villages before they are lost forever. She finally achieved her dream of becoming a published author following a debilitating viral illness, with her first novel being a finalist for The People’s Book Prize and her first two novels reaching #4 and #5 in the UK Kindle store.

Juliet now lives in a traditional quarryman’s cottage in Snowdonia, North Wales, set between the mountains and the sea, with an overgrown garden (good for insects!) and a surprisingly successful grapevine. She can be found dog walking in all weathers working on the plot for her next novel, camera to hand.

 

 Social Media Links –

Storm:                 https://stormpublishing.co/

Website:             http://www.julietgreenwood.co.uk/

Blog:                    http://julietgreenwoodauthor.wordpress.com/

Facebook:          https://www.facebook.com/juliet.greenwood

Twitter: https://twitter.com/julietgreenwood

Instagram:          https://www.instagram.com/julietgreenwood/

BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/julietgreenwood.bsky.social

 

Giveaway to Win 3 x Signed copies of The Secret Daughter of Venice (Open to UK Only)

*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This week....

Life

This weekend was Melbourne Writers Festival in Melbourne and I was lucky enough to go to two sessions. the first was Irish author Paul Murray and American author Bryan Washington talking about their latest books, The Bee Sting and Family Meal respectively.

The other was Japanese author Toshikazu Kawaguchi who wrote the hugely successful Before the Coffee Gets Cold series. It was an absolute delight to attend this session! My plan is to write more about both of these session next week. 

In other news I have to go to the doctor every day, but other than that my recovery from my hospital visit last week has gone quite well!

We did go the beach last night to try looking for Southern Lights. There was us and several thousand other people. I haven't seen that many people at that beach since the last time there were fireworks for Australia day which would have been at least 15 years ago! Unfortunately, we were not lucky enough to see them. Maybe another time!

I'm reading

After a bumper reading week last week, mainly due to enforced rest, I really haven't read much at all this week. I am making some progress on The Shakespeare Sisters by Juliet Greenwood, but not enough. I need to get a wriggle on so that I can read my upcoming review books, otherwise I will start to the feel the pressure.

I'm watching

I was very excited this week. I found not one but two new Bake Offs. We have watched the Canadian Bake Off before but I didn't realise a new series was coming. The other was the South African version which I have never seen before!

We also started watching the third series of Welcome to Wrexham. Even though I know what happened during the season, I still can't wait to see how it all plays out during the TV show.

We went to watch a film that is showing as part of the German Film Festival last night. It was called From Hilde, With Love and it is based on a true story. I have wondered for a long time what kind of stories authors from countries like Germany tell about significant events like WWII. This was a German film telling a German story and it was very interesting. There were some things that I found really surprising. For example, there wasn't a single bomb dropped during the movie, mainly because during the time when the movie was set the war was elsewhere in Europe. My husband actually really enjoyed this and we had a really robust conversation about it on the way home.

Here's the trailer

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: May Flowers

Blog Tour: The Restaurant in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen
Weekend Cooking: Around the World

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - April stats

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date

Top Ten Tuesday: May Flowers

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is May Flowers - Pick your own title for this one to reflect the direction you choose to go with this prompt (books with flowers on the cover, flower names in the title, characters whose names are flower names, stories involving flowers/gardeners).

Here are some flowers that I have received this week!

Back in April, the theme was April Showers and rather than do showers, I thought I would share 10 years worth of April reads. I thought I would do the same with this week's theme. So here are 10 books I read in May over the last few years.

2024 - The Shakespeare Sisters by Juliet Greenwood - I am currently reading this book. I have the second book in the series to read soon too.

2023 - The War Nurses by Anthea Hodgson - I really liked this one when I read it last year.

2023 - A Taste of Italian Sunshine by Leonie Mack - The first book I read by Leonie Mack was set in Paris, this one in the vineyards of Italy, and the last one in the mountains of France. I already have the next book to read by her and this one is set in Spain

2022 - The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles - This was a long, but enjoyable read.

2021 - The Dressmakers of Yarrandarah Prison by Meredith Jaffe - this one is a 5/5 read for me!

2021 - All Systems Red by Martha Wells - I don't read a lot of sci-fi but this series is a lot of fun!

2020  - The Postmistress by Alison Stuart - Australian historical fiction set in a fictitious town inspired by an actual town a few hours away from me that I would love to visit

2020 - The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan- I do mix things up a little bit genre wise! This is crime fiction!

2019 - The Flat Share by Beth O'Leary - Still the best book by this author that I have read.

2018 - Templar Silks by Elizabeth Chadwick - This is one of my favourite historical fiction authors and yet I don't often read her. Must rectify that!

This week....

Life

Well, I didn't really have a hospital stay on my bingo cards for last week, but that's what ended up happening. I had a minor issue that I went to the doctor about on Friday the week before last. When I went back for the follow up she told me I had to go to Emergency for a minor surgery. What I didn't expect was to end up in hospital for four nights while I waited for my surgery. It wouldn't have been so bad apart from the fact that I had to start fasting at midnight each night just in case the surgery was going to happen the next day. Over the course of four days I had 2 sandwiches and 2 dinners and that is it food wise. You would think I would have lost a couple of kilograms as a result, but it doesn't seem that I have!! Very disappointing.

I am glad to be home. No more poking, prodding, lectures. No more being woken in the middle of the night.

We did go to Cirque de Soleil last night which was pretty amazing! Such a spectacle of colour, music, acrobatics, humour all within the big circus tent. I have been meaning to got to Cirque de Soleil for years, but it just hadn't happened before now. Of course, it probably would have been better not to go the day after getting out of hospital.

I'm reading

Well, it's been a big reading week for me. I guess that's what happens when you don't have many options on how to entertain yourself when you are not sleeping. I finished three books this week which gives me a little bit of space to read a non review book.

First of all, I finished reading Kate Frost's A Greek Island Summer. I was supposed to review this last week but hopefully I will get that review done in the next couple of days.

I then started and finished reading The Restaurant at Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen, who is definitely what I would call a comfort read for me - definitely required this week.

Next, I read One Greek Summer Wedding by Mandy Baggot. If I had to give a one word review of this book it would be madcap. I will have a review for this one shortly.

Finally, I started reading The Shakespeare Sisters by Juliet Greenwood. I have the second book in this series to read for a blog tour later this month. I definitely prefer to read series in order so I have found some time to read the first book so far.

I'm watching

I didn't watch anything this week, except for the view from the window

Posts from the last week

Six Degrees: The Anniversary to Equal Rites

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked (In My Kitchen) in April

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - May Links

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Autumn TBR

 

  

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books on my Spring 2024 TBR. As I am in Australia, this means I am looking at Books on my Autumn 2024 TBR

So these first 4 books are upcoming new releases that I will be reading for blog tours.

Summer at the Santorini Bookshop by Rebecca Raisin - I have read a number of Rebecca Raisin's books set in various locations. I am looking forward to visiting Greece.

Making Memories at the Cornish Cove by Kim Nash - Looking forward to returning to Driftwood Bay.

 

A Single Act of Kindness by Samantha Tonge - A new Samantha Tonge book. Yay!!

The French Cookery School by Caroline James - A cooking school in France. I'm in!

The remainder are books that I have on my TBR for a variety of reasons:

The Chocolate Factory by Mary-Lou Stephenson - I just started reading this yesterday!

Something New by Lucy Knisley - I borrowed 3 of Knisley's books at the same time!

The Other Bridget by Rachael Johns - One of the few paper books I have bought recently

At the Stroke of Midnight by Jenni Keer - I just finished reading another Jenni Keer

The Shakespeare Sisters by Juliet Greenwood - I am hoping to read the second book on the Shakespeare Sisters series.

The Air Raid Book Club by Annie Lyons - I have heard many good things about this book!

Have you got any of these books on your TBR list?

Top Ten Tuesday: New to Me Authors I Discovered in 2023

 

I read 38 new to me authors last year. Now, I could do a Top Ten Tuesday post with 38 different books, but I decided to narrow it down a bit by only including the new to me authors who I graded as either 4.5 or 5 out of 5 reads.

Here we go:

Erin Littekin - The Lost Daughters of Ukraine was so good. I am definitely intending to go back and read her debut novel! (my review)

Pip Williams - The Book Binder of Jericho - I haven't read Dictionary of Lost Words yet but I need to get onto it as we are going to go and see the play at the end of February.

Anthea Hodgson - My first book by this author was The War Nurses. I also listened to The Drifter which was great too. 

Jane Lovering - I read The Recipe for Happiness. Lucky for me there is quite a backlist available from this author (my review)

Durian Sukegawa - Sweet Bean Paste was so good! (my review)

Lauren Westwood - I loved The Little Paris Toyshop so much. (my review)

Bonnie Garmus - I was a bit late to the party when it comes to reading Lessons in Chemistry. I am supposed to be going to hear her talk soon too. Must check when that is. (review)

Rebecca Yarros - I really enjoyed Fourth Wing, and have since read Iron Flame. I am curious to read more but all of the other books she has written look completely different from these two books.

Kim Fay - Really enjoyed Love and Saffron by this author (my review)

Juliet Greenwood - The Last Train from Paris was really good and I will be trying to read more from this author's backlist as well. (my review)

Have you read any of these authors?

Top Ten Tuesday: Best of 2023

 

 

 

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Favourite Books of 2023.

I read four books that I rated 5/5 stars and they were 

The Lost Daughters of Ukraine by Erin Littekin - I hadn't read any WWII fiction set in the Ukraine before (my review)

The Book Binders of Jericho by Pip Williams - I went to hear Pip Williams speak at Melbourne Writers Festival this year which prompted me to read this book. I still need to read Dictionary of Lost Words, hopefully before I go see the play in a couple of months.

Dreaming in French by Vanessa McCausland - I loved this book so much! Haunting and evocative. (my review)

The Little Paris Toyshop by Lauren Westwood - I read this as part of a blog tour and I was blown away by it! (my review)

In exciting news, I have already read my first 5 star read for 2024!!

Here are just some of the books I rated 4.5/5 in 2023

The War Nurse by Anthea Hodgson - I was lucky enough to hear Anthea Hodgson talk about this book at the book club retreat I went to earlier this year.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus - I was a bit late to the party on this one, but I loved it. I just finished watching the TV adaptation too. (My review)

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros - I expect to see this on quite a few lists this week!

The Martian by Andy Weir - After watching bits of the movie approximately 2,735,478 times I finally got around to reading/listening to this book. And it was good!!

The Last Train from Paris by Juliet Greenwood - I really need to read more of this author's books now. (my review)

Without Further Ado by Jessica Dettmann - When I read this book I felt like I really need to go and watch the Emma Thompson/Kenneth Brannagh version of Much Ado About Nothing. I still must do that!

This list is a bit of a mix of Australian and non-Australian authors, books I read for fun and for blog tours, some I reviewed and some I didn't and different genres!

Are any of these books on your list this week?