Top Ten Tuesday: Authors You Wish Were Still Writing Today

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is  Authors You Wish Were Still Writing Today (These could be authors who have passed away or retired/are taking a long hiatus from writing. You could also spin this and share authors who have switched to a genre you’re not interested in.) (submitted by Rebecca @ Top100Books)

When I  checked I realise that we did this topic a couple of years ago. Most of the names are the same (although I chose different book covers to share) but I did change a couple of them! For the most part I have chosen authors who have passed away, except for the last two!

I did have another author in my list and it was only when I went to Fantastic Fiction to check that I realised that she has actually had about 5 books out in the last few years. Whoops!

Anyway, here's my list.

Diana Norman/Ariana Franklin - I loved the Mistress of the Art of Death series which this author published under the name of Ariana Franklin, but I first started reading her books under her name Diana Norman, and I particularly enjoyed her Makepeace Hedley trilogy which started with A Catch of Consequence

Sharon Kay Penman - I love SKP's books and often mention books like The Sunne in Splendour or Here Be Dragons in relation to her. This time though, I am going to use the first of her Justin de Quincy mysteries as my choice. 

Carlos Ruiz Zafon - I think it is maybe time for me to reread The Shadow of the Wind. I loved that book so much. 

Susan Vreeland - It appears I have only read three of this author's books, but they definitely left an impact!

Lucinda Riley - When Lucinda Riley passed away before the last book in the Seven Sisters series was released, her son took over the writing. Recently, it's been announced that he has written a new book set in the same world. I am invested enough to want to read the book, but also not sure how I feel about it all!

Terry Pratchett - I do occasionally find myself wondering what Sir Terry would make of the world right now. 

Stieg Larsson - Remember how popular this author's books were back in the early 2000's. Crazy to think that he passed away before the books were published and so successful.

Kerry Greenwood - When this Australian author passed last year I was sad to think that we had no more Phryne Fisher novels to come, even though I still have a lot of the series to read.

Laura Florand - Laura Florand will always appear on these lists for me. No, she hasn't passed away, but she no longer writes. When I went through a reading slump that lasted for years a while ago, she was one of the few authors who I still read! 

Lisa Kleypas - Don't panic. Lisa Kleypas is alive and well. In fact, she probably shouldn't be on this list at all given that she has recently announced that there will be a new book coming out from her soon. It's just that it has been a long 5 years since the last one! This is one of her standalone books which is probably lesser known, but it is also one of my favourites.

Spell the Month in Books: August

 

Reviews From the Stacks

For 2025 I have decided to have a go at Spell the Month in Books which is hosted at Reviews From the Stacks. The link party opens on the first Saturday of the month, but I won't be posting until after that as I already have other things scheduled every Saturday and for the first two Sundays of the month. I will be sharing this post with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz.

The idea is that you use the titles of books to spell the month name. The theme for August is Written by your favorite author(s). To be honest, the two U's in this month have made this a bit tricky. Thankfully these are the last U months for the year. 

It is also Aussie August 2025 and so I have chosen to use only Australian authors. So here are my choices for August

Addition by Toni Jordan - I always love the sound of Toni Jordan's books. She has a new book coming out soon and again it sounds great! (My review)

Urn Burial by Kerry Greenwood - This is book number 8 in the Phryne Fisher mystery series. (My review)

Glitter Rose by Marianne de Pierres - This is a bit out of left field for me as I don't remember much about this short story collection. When I did read it, I gave it a 4.5 rating. (My review)

Undercover Billionaire by Amy Andrews - I had a lot of fun reading this book earlier this year. (My review)

Silver Wattle by Belinda Alexandra - I have really enjoyed the Belinda Alexandra books I have read! (My review)

The Tea Ladies by Amanda Hampson - I have read all three books in this series this year and I gave them all 4.5/5! (My review)

September's theme is Something to savor – longer books (define as you will) OR ones that have been on your TBR for a long time. The challenge for September is going to be finding three E books. That is three titles beginning with E, not three ebooks as I have hundreds of them on my Kindle

Will you be joining us?

Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge June Statistics (and for the first 6 months of the 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.

In terms of the books read in June, there were 70 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 20 participants. There were 69 individual titles reviewed, written by 66 different authors. There were 5 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 11 or just 1.

So which book was reviewed more than once in June? 

Last year The Women by Kristin Hannah was the most reviewed book for the whole year. This month, it was reviewed by both Bree from All the Books I Can Read and by myself. This book certainly made both of us feel a lot! 

There were also two other authors who had more than one book reviewed. 

I reviewed The Diamond Eye and Margaret from Books Please reviewed Signal Moon which is a short story. Both are by Kate Quinn.

Bev from My Reader's Block has been working her way through the Redmond and Haze mystery series by Irina Shapiro and reviewed the first three books. They were Murder in the Crypt,  Murder at the Abbey and Murder at the Mill.

I wonder what books will be featured next month!

It is hard to believe but we are half way through the challenge already for 2025, so I thought it would be interesting to look at the stats for the first 6 months and see what stands out. 

So far this year there have been 366 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 32 participants. There have been 335 individual titles reviewed, written by 292 different authors. There are 3 reviewers who have reviewed 25 or more books each with Laura from Laura's Reviews having contributed an astonishing 53 reviews so far! Thank you to everyone who has shared their links with the challenge.

There are 3 books that have all been reviewed 3 times for the challenge. They are The Lost Passenger by Frances Quinn, The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry and The Versailles Formula by Nancy Bilyeau.

Agatha Christie tops the list of authors who have been reviewed most with 10 reviews, followed by Kerry Greenwood who has been reviewed 6 times, and Kate Quinn and Patrice McDonough who have both been reviewed 4 times. 

And so far there have been 29 books reviewed that have the words death or murder in the title! What a bloodthirsty bunch of readers we are!

It will be interesting to see what changes over the next 6 months when I do the statistics for the whole year!

If you love historical fiction and reading challenges, it isn't too late to join us! All the details can be found in the sign up post.

I am sharing this with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz

Away with the Fairies by Kerry Greenwood

Following the news a few weeks ago that Australian author Kerry Greenwood had passed away, I had a quick look at my spreadsheet where I record all my books read and realised that it had been more than 15 years since I read an instalment in her Phryne Fisher series. I had just finished listening to a very long audiobook. I therefore decided to listen to the next book, the 11th book in the series, as it would be a complete change of pace and a relatively quick listen.

When the Honorable Miss Phryne Fisher is called in my her friend Detective Inspector Jack Robinson to visit the scene of an unexpected death, her real qualifications are just that she is a woman. Jack wants her to take a look around the very pink room, filled with fairies and the like, and see if anything seems amiss. However, once the autopsy results come in, it changes into a murder investigation.

The victim, Miss Lavender, wasn't particularly liked either in the apartment complex she lived in or where she worked. She was someone who liked to know everyone's business and wasn't afraid to use it against them if it is suited her.  It turns out that there was some crossover as some of the people who lived in the complex also worked at the ladies magazine as writers. The only thing to be done is for Phryne to start working at the magazine to see what she could find out. Yes, Miss Fisher got a job! Shocking!

The murder investigation is not the only thing that Phryne has going on. Her Chinese lover Lin Chung has gone missing after going to Hong Kong on a business trip and Phryne is worried enough to reach out to his family who disapprove of her. When she receives a gruesome package, she knows that it is time to swing into action, regardless of the danger she might face, especially given that it begins to look like she might be going up against pirates.

One of the things I loved about revisiting this series is the fact that it is set in 1920s Melbourne and the book is sprinkled liberally with mentions of roads and suburbs that I am very familiar with. Of course, they look very different now than they would have done but I could trace Phryne's movements on a map quite easily if I wanted to!

I was also able to easily reacquaint myself with all of the characters from the detective, to Phyrne's adopted daughters and not to forget Dot, Phryne's right hand woman.

The previous book I had listened to had been narrated by Richard Armitage, which is my idea of aural bliss, and it did take me a bit to get used to the narration in this book. By the end though I was enjoying the performance. It didn't take me long to get back into Phryne's world. It certainly didn't feel like 15 years, and I would like to think it won't be 15 years before I read the next one in the series. Who knows what mischief Phryne will get up to in the next book!

I am sharing this review with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here.

Rating 4/5

Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - April stats

 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 March , there were 61 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 19 participants. There were 54 individual titles reviewed, written by 52 different authors. There were 6 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 6 or just 1.

So which books were reviewed more than once in April ? There were actually two books that were reviewed three times each, and then a further 3 books that were reviewed twice!

The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry was reviewed by Jenia at Story for Dessert, Barbara at Stray Thoughts and at Laura's Reviews. Interestingly, there was also a short audio story called which was also written by this author, although this time the name it was published under was just Patti Callahan which Barbara also posted about!

The other book reviewed three times was Nancy Bilyeau's new book The Versailles Formula which was reviewed three times by Laura at Reading Books Again, Helen at She Reads Novels and by Davida at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews.

The books that were reviewed twice were A Slash of Emerald by Patrice McDonough reviewed by Kim and Bev at My Reader's Block, Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall which was reviewed by Cathy from What Cathy Read Next and at Laura's Reviews. The third book was The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie which was reviewed by Shellie from Shellie Loves Books and Laura from Laura's Reviews.

There was also another Patrice McDonough book reviewed by Kim which was Murder by Lamplight.

Kerry Greenwood was the other author who was reviewed more than once this month with Bev at My Reader's Block reading both Blood and Circuses and The Castlemaine Murders. I also read a Kerry Greenwood book this month, but the review won't be up until next week...probably!

In other news, the shortlist for the Sir Walter Fiction Prize for Historical Fiction was announced in April, and they shared a cool video announcement

The shortlisted books are:


The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry
The Mare by Angharad Hampshire
The Book of Days by Francesca Kay
Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

I know that we have a couple of participants in the challenge who are reading the nominated books. Have you read any of these?

I wonder what books will be featured next month!

If you love historical fiction and reading challenges, it isn't too late to join us! All the details can be found in the sign up post.

I am sharing this with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz

This week....

I'm reading

I finished reading The Rainfall Market by You Yeong-Gwang, and liked it. It was a book I picked up on a whim from the library having not heard anything about it. It has a really fun premise, is a bit fantastical and just that little bit different.

I started reading The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson. This is the current Cook the Books selection and so I will be reviewing it later this month and finding something to cook from it as well. It's not as foodie as most of the other selections are so I am not sure what I will make yet.

I read One More Day of Us by Shari Low, which I am due to review this week. I also started The House on the River by Rachel Burton which is also due for review this week. I actually have another book that I need to squeeze in before Friday but I haven't started that yet. 

A couple of weeks ago I went to an author event at my local library to see Australian author Amanda Hampson talk about her latest book, The Deadly Dispute, which is the third book in the Tea Ladies series. I just finished reading the first book in the series, called The Tea Ladies, and it was a fun tea-cosy mystery! It is set in the garment trade in 1965 so it is also a great choice for my read on a theme book club this month as the theme for that is the 60s.

On audio, I finished listening to Away with the Fairies which is the 11th book in the Phryne Fisher series by Kerry Greenwood. I hadn't actually read any of the series for many years, but it didn't take me long to get back into that world! I then started listening to Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry. Is there a more perfect author/narrator combination than Emily Henry and Julia Whelan? I'm not sure there is!

I did also go to one author event last week. I drove to a small country town called Gisborne which is about 40 minutes away from me to hear Natasha Lester talk about her new book, The Madamoiselle Alliance which is based on a real person. What a woman! I was ready to drop anything and just start reading that book straight away. I will read it next week as it is one of the book club selection for the readers retreat I am going to in a couple of weeks.

I did share my April highlights on Instagram which were the books below. There are reviews for three of them up on the blog already, and a fourth will be up this weekend. These are the books I rated as 4.5 or 5 star reads with Pictures of You being the 5 star read for this month.

I'm watching


Masterchef Australia is back! Yay! This is a show that my husband and I enjoy watching together. This year it is a Back To Win series, meaning that all of the contestants have been on the show once or twice before but never won! I think I would prefer a show with new contestants but this will still be good.

I watched the first three episodes of a new show called The Secret DNA of Us. The idea is that a couple of hundred people from a town all come together and get DNA tested and then they come back together once the results are in and talk about what connects them. In some cases they find out that they might be fourth cousins, or that at some point they had an ancestor from a part of the world they had no idea about. There is also a reporter who is a researcher and she has come up with some very interesting stories to connect the DNA results with history. It's my kind of show!

I need to say thank you to Erin from Still Life, with Cracker Crumb and Lisa from Boondock Ramblings who are hosting the Springtime in Paris movie event. I have been meaning to watch the French movie The Intouchables starring Omar Sy for the longest time and I never quite got around to it! It was this week's selection for the event, and I loved it!

The Intouchables is about a young unemployed man named Driss who just needs someone to sign his paper to say that he attended for a job interview and was unsuccessful so he can get his unemployment benefit. The job is to look after a man named Philippe who is a quadriplegic. No one is more surprised than Driss is when he is offered a trial period. Philippe is an aristocrat who lives in an amazing house in Paris, Driss grew up in the projects. Philippe loves classical music and expensive art. Driss grew up living off his wits and getting by however he could. What sets Driss apart from everyone else is that he doesn't see Philippe as just a quadriplegic man, he sees him as a man. A man who used to love extreme sports, a man who now has an accessible van to move around in but has a very expensive, fast car just sitting in the driveway.

The movie is a touching look at care and compassion and about seeing the best in each other, and it is even more touching given that it is based on a true story I am so pleased to have watched it now. 

Here's the trailer

The last movie for the event is Charade which I hope to watch this week.

Life

I went to aqua class for the first time in forever last week. In fact, I went twice and I am going again this morning. It's a friendly enough group, who clearly have all known each other for a long time. The first class I did I was thinking that it wasn't really pushing me, until later that day when I could definitely feel it in my legs. 

On Wednesday night we went to see German composer Hans Zimmer live in concert. My husband loves listening to movie soundtracks while he is working and Hans Zimmer is one of his favourites so this was his birthday present! It was a really good show, different to what I was expecting really. I wasn't familiar with everything but I still enjoyed the show. There was music from movies like Gladiator, Inception, Dune and much more. The highlight for me was music from The Lion King.

On Saturday it was our federal election. In Australia it is compulsory to vote, or should I say it is compulsory to turn up to the polling station and get your name crossed of. If you are lucky, your polling station will have a barbecue set up where you by what is known as a democracy sausage. It is a sausage in white bread, sometimes with onion, and with the sauce of your choice. Australians do get excited about the democracy sausage on election day. My polling station doesn't have a barbecue. I think we are going to have to find one that does for the next election.


Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with the Word Cafe in the Title
Blog Tour: The House of Lost Whispers by Jenni Keer
Blog Tour: A Greek Island Gift by Mandy Baggot
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - May Links
The King's Messenger by Susanna Kearsley
Where the Birds Call Her Name by Claire van Ryn
Weekend Cooking: In My Kitchen - April
Six Degrees of Separation: Rapture to The Swan Maiden



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

This week

I'm reading

I did a lot of starting books this week! Some finishing but nowhere near as many as I started!

One book that I finished was the audio of Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley and Harry Whittaker, the final book in the Seven Sisters series. I have listened to all of these on audiobook. Given that each of these books is more than 20 hours long that's a lot of listening time! I started listening to the first book more than 6.5 years ago, so it has been a bit commitment! This final book was narrated by Richard Armitage for Pa Salt's parts and Tuppence Middleton for the modern story. It feels like this book did what it needed to do in terms of tying all the origin stories together, and telling Pa's story, so I was satisfied with the end of the series. I did have one question about what happened on the luxury super yachts (IFYKYK) but overall it was good. 

I then started listening to Away with the Fairies by Kerry Greenwood. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Kerry Greenwood had passed away recently, so I thought it would be a good time to go back to the next Phryne Fisher book. It did surprise me a little that is 16 years since I read one of the books but I think I have slipped back into the world quickly. After listening to Richard Armitage for so long it did take me a little while to get used to the sound of a new narrator but I think I am there now!

We did a bit of a roadtrip on the Friday and Saturday of the Easter weekend, and I convinced my husband that we could listen to a book while we drove. It needed to be something that he would enjoy too, so I chose The World According to Kaleb by Kaleb Cooper. Kaleb Cooper is a young British farmer who is now a bit of a celebrity thanks to his appearances on Clarkson's Farm, a reality TV show featuring well known British....presenter I guess is the best word....Jeremy Clarkson. It is only a short book at around 2.5 hours and it was amusing. Kaleb is a young man who knows exactly what he likes (farming) and what he doesn't like (sheep among other things!). 

As that book was so short, we then started listening to The Satsuma Complex which is both written and narrated by Bob Mortimer. Bob Mortimer is a British comedian who appears regularly on panel shows such as Would I Lie to You and he makes us laugh a lot every time he is on! He's a great oral storyteller. We will listen to this when we are in the car together for the next little while!

In terms of books I was reading myself, I finished The Best Days of Our Lives by Helen Rolfe. The review for that will be up this week. 

I then read The House of Lost Whispers by Jenni Keer, which is another super interesting book by her! It's a bit of a genre bender but I will say more when I review it next week!

I also started The Tea Ladies by Amanda Hampson which is going to be my read on a theme book club selection this time around. The theme is 1960s and this book is set in 1966 so it fits the theme beautifully. 

I also started The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe by Catherine Greer. I picked it up on a whim when I went to the library last week, but I can only borrow it for a week so I needed to get going with that one sooner rather than later!

Finally, I didn't take the physical books I was reading with me when we went away so started The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Woods. I am a bit torn now as to which book to finish first as I did get sucked into this one pretty much straight away!


I'm watching


We are big fans of the archeological show Time Team here in my house. It is often on the Real History channel at around dinner time so we will watch it if it is on, even if we have seen the episode multiple times before. I was a bit surprised to find that over the last couple of years they have been making Time Team specials that are only on Youtube! This week we watched one called Digging Band of Brothers which was an excavation of the camp where the US 101st Airborne Division was based in Britain. There are a few other specials that we will watch now! If you are interested this is the link.

We also started watching a new series of  the American Baking Show which is the first one I have seen where Paul and Prue are the judges.

I also watched How to Steal a Million as part of the Springtime in  Paris event hosted by  Erin from Still Life, with Cracker Crumb and Lisa from Boondock Ramblings. What a fun movie! It starred the beautiful and ethereal Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole, who was very handsome as a young man.  The premise is that Audrey Hepburn's father is a serial art forger. He agrees to hand over a famous statue to display in a museum without realising that he has agreed to have the piece authenticated. If it is tested, then it will be revealed as a fake then he will be found out. Hepburn's character then enlists the help of a man she caught stealing a painting from her own house (or so she thought) and hijinks ensue. The movie had such charm and naivety. I couldn't help but think if the movie was made today how very different it would be! I am planning to watch the next couple of movies for the event this week.


Life

I had to go to the funeral of a friend last week. He was a larger than life character who drew people to him. It was a reminder to live life to the best of your ability as you don't really know how long you have. Also #$%$ cancer.

In Australia, Easter is a four day weekend with public holidays on both Good Friday and Easter Monday. A lot of people choose to go away for the weekend. Originally, we were planning to go away overnight next weekend, but then my son is going interstate that weekend so we decided to go on Friday and come back on Saturday.

You probably recall that we like a good art silo, and this trip we managed to see 4 full size ones, plus a collection of smaller ones. The main reason for heading up the highway was to go to the Lake Boga Flying Boat Museum. During WWII, Lake Boga was a secret base for the repair of flying boats like the Catalina aircraft and saw Australian, American and Dutch planes landing on the lake.  It was also a key point in the communications between the Allies. It was a fascinating place, and I think it might be a place that we go back to should we be up that way again. Recently there has been a new art silo done at Lake Boga, which reflects this history. The other photo is of a silo at a place called Sea Lake, which was cool because in the day you can see the image below, but at night they projects some films onto the silos taking about the farming and the dark sky environs around which means amazing stargazing

One of the highlights of the trip was going to a nearby lake called Lake Tyrrell which is the largest salt water lake in the state of Victoria.  We went at sunset the first night and it was spectacular. I took so many photos. The next morning we went at about 8am and we were pretty much the only ones there. Well...us and the flies. 

We had to come back on Saturday as we had a show from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival featuring another British comic, Tom Allen! He is on various UK show and he was very entertaining. This was the only show we got to go to in this year's festival as we were away for most of it!


Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: What I Read on Holidays
Blog Tour: Under a Riviera Moon by Helen McGinn
Blog Tour: Secrets Under a Riviera Sky by Jennifer Bohnet

Weekend Cooking: What We Ate on Holidays: Japan and South Korea - the Sweet Edition

Spell the Month in Books - April





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

Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - March 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.

In terms of the books read in March , there were 64 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 20 participants. There were 61 individual titles reviewed, written by 57 different authors. There were 6 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 8 or just 1.

So which books were reviewed more than once in March? There were actually three!

First is Pam Jenoff's latest book Last Twilight in Paris which was reviewed by Jenia at Story for Dessert and Laura from Laura's Reviews.

Frances Quinn's book The Lost Passenger was reviewed by Helen at She Reads Novels and by Constance at Staircase Wit

Finally, as part of the Read Christie challenge, Laura from Laura's Reviews and Shellie from Shellie Loves Books both read Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie

We also had some other authors who had multiple books reviewed this month. Bev from Readers Block is working her way through the Phryne Fisher series by Kerry Greenwood and so reviewed three books, The Green Mill Murder, Murder on the Ballarat Train and Death at Victoria Dock. This is timely as during the week it was announced that Kerry Greenwood has passed away. The final book in the series is due to be released later in the year.

There were also two books reviewed by Amanda Dykes. Barbara from Stray Thoughts reviewed both Up from the Sea and All the Lost Places.

Finally, Erica Ruth Neubauer also had two books reviewed. Shellie from Shellie Loves Books reviewed Murder at Wedgefield Manor and Mark from Carstairs Considers reviewed Homicide in the Indian Hills (yay Mark!). These are both part of the Jane Wunderly mystery series.

I wonder what books will be featured next month!

If you love historical fiction and reading challenges, it isn't too late to join us! All the details can be found in the sign up post.

I am sharing this with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz

This Week..

I'm reading

We are back from holidays! We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Japan and South Korea. We are already talking about when we will go to Japan again! One thing that was surprising was how much reading time I had! I think it is because there was no TV to watch on the ship, and I wasn't playing any games  or doom scrolling on my phone due to limited internet. I also had pre- written all the blog posts for the time I was away so no blogging required either! I normally wouldn't read too much while on holidays but this time I finished 10 books! I am not going to list them all here as I am planning to share them in next week's Top Ten Tuesday post. I also now have a ton of reviews to write as I used this time to get a little bit ahead on review books, but also read a few books just for fun!

What I will talk about is what I have been reading since I got home.

A book that I started on the plane but finished yesterday is Secrets Beneath a Riviera Sky by Jennifer Bohnet. This is a book that I will be reviewing in a couple of weeks time.

Another book with a review due in a couple of weeks time is The Best Days of Our Lives by Helen Rolfe. I loved her Skylarks books set in an air ambulance unit, and was hoping for more, but this is not connected to that series at all!

This morning I started reading Pictures of You by Australian author Emma Grey. I could say I started this on a whim, but the reality is that the library wants its book back, and I don't really want to return it unread, so binge read here I come!

March was a really good month for me. I finished 17 books which is probably the highest I have had in quite some time. I know that I am not going to maintain that pace going forward though. Of the books I read in March, I gave two of them 5 stars (The Jam Maker and The Winter Sea), and another five books rating 4.5/5! Here they are:

I just wanted to mention the passing of Kerry Greenwood. She was the author of the Phryne Fisher and Corinna Chapman series, and lived a very colourful life. It has been a number of years since I read any of her books, but I think I will pick one up when I go to the library!

I'm watching


I didn't watch anything on the plane on the way to Japan, but on the way home I watched Wicked. I saw it in the cinemas when it came out, but I had forgotten how long the movie is! It was a delight to watch it again though.

The French Film Festival finished yesterday and because I was away for most of it, I didn't get to see all the films that I wanted to see. I was therefore delighted to see that a couple of them were available on the plane. I chose to watch The Marching Band! It was such a good film, although I do seem to have the knack of picking films to watch on a plane that will make me cry! 

Here's the trailer

Speaking of films set in France, kind of, Erin from Still Life, with Cracker Crumb and Lisa from Boondock Ramblings are hosting a Springtime in Paris movie event. The idea is that each week we watch a film and then share our thoughts. The schedule is below.

I did come home from holidays with a bit of a head cold, so sitting down and watching Mrs Harris Goes to Paris was the perfect way to spend Sunday afternoon. It is a movie that I have watched numerous times, and I have listened to the audiobook! I shared my thoughts about the book and the movie a couple of years ago during Paris in July which you can find here.

We also started watching Amanda and Alan's Spanish Job. We loved the two series set in Italy so we were always going to watch, and it is interesting to see the Spanish culture and food.


Life

I am hoping to have big news next week! Let's just say I had to do some job interviews via Teams whilst I was on the cruise, which is a bit odd! I am crossing everything for one of the roles in particular. 

In big news, I bought a new fragrance while we were away. I am one of those people who tends to wear the same fragrance for years until they stop making it, and then it takes me an age to find another one that I like. And then I wear that until they stop making it! Over and over. I also got a sample bottle of another one so now I have three choices every morning!



Max

As seems to be normal with Max he needed to go to the vet while we were away as he had some sores suddenly appear on his belly. He's good in himself, so nothing to worry about but we do need to get his medical conditions under control which I suspect means a change of medication. 

I think he is glad we are home though. He has barely left our sides in the last couple of days. This is a live action shot from a minute ago.

Posts from the last week

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - April links

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Degrees of Separation

Sunbirds by Mirandi Riwoe

Weekend Cooking: In My Kitchen - March

Six Degrees of Separation: Knife to Here Be Dragons


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

Sunday Salon: Spell the Month in Books -- February

 

Reviews From the Stacks

For 2025 I have decided to have a go at Spell the Month in Books which is hosted at Reviews From the Stacks. The link party opens on the first Saturday of the month, but I won't be posting until the third Sunday as I already have other things scheduled every Saturday and for the first two Sundays of the month.


The idea is that you use the title of books to spell the month name. There is also a theme each month, with the theme for February being Valentine’s Day/something sweet on the cover. 

Finding Love at the Christmas Market by Jo Thomas - A caterer in an aged care home takes a busload of pensioners with her when she goes to Germany to meet a baker she met online.

Earthly Delights by Kerry Greenwood - This is about a baker who solves crime on the side and it is set in Melbourne! This author is better known for her Phryne Fisher series. (my review)

Battle Royale by Lucy Parker - Two bakers go head to head for the chance to cook for a royal wedding. At first they are fierce rival but when they have to work together, sparks fly.

Rosie's Travelling Tea Shop by Rebecca Raisin - After all that cake we need a cup of tea, surely? (my review)

Under the Maui Sky by Kellie Coates Gilbert - I haven't actually read this book but I do own it. The family in this one run a pineapple plantation! Just the thought of that brings back memories of eating pineapple ice cream when we visited Hawaii a couple of years ago.

The Art of Cake Alice Oehr - This was a delightful little book featuring some history of cake, some recipes and lots of sweet drawings. Click on the link for an example of a page. (my review)

The Recipe for Happiness by Jane Lovering - This book features a cook in a day centre for the aged. (my review)

Yellowcake by Margo Lanagan - To be fair, this book isn't really about cake at all or have much sweetness, but it works for this prompt! (my review)

The hardest letter for me this month was the U! 

The theme for next month is Science Fiction. Not sure I will be able to the whole thing with science fiction as it isn't a genre I read a lot of, but I will try.

I am also sharing this post with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and given the foodie theme which inadvertently ended up being in the post I am also sharing it with Weekend Cooking which I host.