August Roundup

August is always a bumper month of reading due to the amount of time I have off work and August 2016 is no exception.

Looking back I seem to have stuck to a particular genre of reading, I think that is mainly because I needed comfort from my reading and you get that from familiar authors and known tales. Lucinda Riley – The Storm Sister, the second in this planned series of seven books was published last year, it has taken me that long to get round to reading it. Not because I didn’t want to read the book, but I was almost frightened of reading it because I knew I would then have to wait for the next one. Ironically I have the third waiting and I do not think I will wait so long to read it this time. I really want to know more about the story.

Reading a series of books one after the other, must be like binge watching box sets. Which is the reason I followed Gervase Phinn – The School Inspector Calls with the fourth book Gervase Phinn – A Lesson in Love. I adore school tales, I love village tales and anything with Yorkshire humour in it is going to be a winner. These books have it all in abundance. Thinking that A Lesson in Love was to be the last, it turns out another books is winging its way out in October. I have preordered it already. Another book I cannot wait to read.

Working my way through some of the books that I challenged myself to read on my Random Reads I picked up Marian Keyes – The Brightest Star in the Sky. Not the strongest of Keyes novels for me and could have easily been better if it had been a couple of hundred pages shorter. Nonetheless I read it and it was passable, which is probably the reason I have not reviewed it. I am sticking to my not reviewing every book I read, and it is rather refreshing to read, close the book and pass it on.

I am also becoming more freeing in giving up books that are not doing it for me. (Perhaps I should have done that for the Marian Keyes one?) This was even more freeing because it was a book I had requested on netgalley. Rowan Coleman – The Happy Home for Broken Hearts. The blurb sounded good enough to intrigue me. Unfortunately the characters and the plot left a lot to be desired and I could not get drawn into the book at all. I put it down and honestly said on my netgalley review that the book was not for me. Get me!

Talking of not reviewing, Minna Howard – Mothers and Daughters was another passable book which was brought to my attention through Twitter, as being free on Amazon. It seemed my sort of book. It was but nothing to write home about and I am glad I did not pay for it.

Of the remaining books that I have read in August, I only paid for one of them. Netgalley is a blessing and a curse all wrapped into one. However I am lucky to have read a few books which I have reviewed and they will be coming out on this blog over the coming weeks. Including Kate Forster – The Last Will and Testament of Daphne Le Marche, an author I have enjoyed in the past and this time was no exception.

Lily Graham – A Cornish Christmas, Holly Martin – Christmas under a Cranberry Sky, Christie Barlow – Lizzie’s Christmas Escape, Tilly Tennant – Christmas at The Little Village Bakery reviews are coming up in the build up to the festive season. I have no idea why I have read that many Christmas based novels in August, but they were all rather good reads!

Back with authors that netgalley has introduced me to meant as soon as I spotted Helen Pollard – Return to the Little French Guesthouse I knew I wanted to read it. Back to the French countryside for the sun, the wine and the happenings in that little guesthouse.

I am pretty much up to date on reading all of Trisha Ashley’s novels, I think there are a couple of back catalogue ones that I have missed so far. Trisha Ashley – A Leap of Faith is a reissue of a previous novel An Urge to Jump and whilst not one of Trisha’s strongest, it made for an amusing read.

So far all of Cathy Bramley’s novels have been excellent and her latest Cathy Bramley – The Plumberry School of Comfort Food was brilliant and I know I am doing the right thing by waiting until they come out as a whole novels as opposed to novellas. It is a great way to read a story but when they are this good you need to devour them in one sitting.

Cath Staincliffe – A Silence Between Breaths is the only book of the month that cannot possibly fit into any of the genres of the others I have read. It was a breathaking read, that had me going back for one last chapter until I reached the conclusion. Having read Staincliffe’s work before I knew what I was getting, when I opened the first page. This book was a book that made you think, made you question and made you hold your breath. I am part of the upcoming blog tour for this novel so there will certainly be more about the book and the author on this blog very soon.

Phew! That was August, I have retreated to familiar as the month ends with dear Flavia and her latest adventures. It seems to me to be a year of sticking with what you know and going back to old favourites. Time to reflect perhaps and I have been doing a lot of that in recent weeks.

How was your August?