Review: Among the Mad

Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Maisie and Billy are innocent bystanders when a WW1 veteran explodes a bomb in London. Then an anonymous letter is sent to senior cabinet members, mentioning Maisie's name, threatening terrible consequences if the government doesn't announce wide reaching plans to support ex-servicemen. When the government fails to respond by the deadline the terrorist starts escalating matters and it becomes clear that he has the knowledge and skills to create poison gases which could kill half of London.

Maisie is brought in by Special Branch to give her unorthodox assistance to catch this man before he can carry out his threat. Her analysis of the handwriting, writing style, and appearance of the paper leads her to believe that he may have been injured in the war, and perhaps have sought or received psychiatric treatment.

It's a race against time which will lead Maisie to secret government poison gas laboratories and uncovering some nasty secrets about war.

This was good, but all the descriptions of horrible deaths due to poison gas make pretty grim reading.

Also, in light of also having read the next book in this series, I get the feeling that the author was under pressure to give Maisie a love interest as there are several interested gentlemen in this book.

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Review: The Mapping of Love and Death

The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Maisie Dobbs is asked to investigate when the body of an American cartographer, missing in action in WW1, is found in a German foxhole in suspicious circumstances. Michael Clifton came from a wealthy Boston family, although his father was British and the disowned heir to the Clifton Shoe manufacturing business. He joined the British Army in 1914, shortly after purchasing a large tract of land in California which he believed would yield oil. When his body, and several others, are discovered in France with personal papers which include letters from a young lady his parents travel to London to ask Maisie to find the young lady and to investigate his death.

I did enjoy this, although I felt both that some plot lines were telegraphed very early on and others were a bit convoluted, forced to twist and turn to meet the need for a big reveal.

Also, its 1932 and she is still investigating things arising from a war which ended 14 years earlier - if she's not careful it will be WW2 and she'll still be investigating WW1 stuff!

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Review: Best of Luck: A funny and feel-good romance

Best of Luck: A funny and feel-good romance by Kate Clayborn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The third book in the series and, for me, the weakest.

Greer and her two best friends bought a lottery ticket for a laugh on a girl's night out and won big. Greer used her money to help her family and put herself through college to become a social worker, helping people to get the long-term care or home support they need. Always the quietest of the three, despite coming from a large family, Greer is also very superstitious. Greer is devastated to learn that she may not be able to graduate as planned because of a snafu with her courses (she took two courses which were too similar and didn't meet the graduation requirements), she'll need a letter of recommendation from the photography professor or have to wait another year. Greer's family are very loving, but their constant refrain is that she takes on too much and can't cope, she doesn't want this to be yet another excuse for them to pity her.

Alex is the older brother of Greer's best friend Kit. He single-handedly raised Kit from when he was six years old while their father drank and gambled all his money away. Now a renowned photographer Alex is a rolling stone, despite Kit's best attempts to share her wealth with him and get him to make a home near her. Alex has recently been having problems with his work, shaking hands and lack of focus, all down to him having panic attacks, or worrying about having a panic attack.

When Alex (just) returns home for Kit's wedding, Greer recognises that he is deeply uncomfortable and finds him having a panic attack outside the venue. In return for Greer's assistance with his panic attack, Alex agrees to come along to her interview with the photography professor, hoping that it will impress the professor sufficiently to allow her to join his course a week late. Greer's professor agrees to let her join the class, but extorts Alex to appear at his exhibition the following month.

Despite his itchy feet, Alex finds Greer relaxing and he enjoys helping her with her photography assignments, but with one eye on the exit can there be any future for them?

I liked it but I didn't love it.

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Review: Why Is Nothing Ever Simple?

Why Is Nothing Ever Simple? by Jodi Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow, reading everything out of order just allows the reader to see how much foreshadowing/hints are dropped in these novellas.

Ian Guthrie is retiring due to his injuries so St Mary's grant his wish to watch the battle of Bannockburn. Obviously things go wrong, but it's more interesting to see new characters emerging and hints of things to come.

Loved it.

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Review: Long Story Short

Long Story Short by Jodi Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Some, mainly the free snippets, are three stars. Others, like And Now For Something Completely Different, or When Did You Last See Your Father are solid four stars.

Christmas Past
Max takes Matthew back to early Victorian England to help the two little boys who were chimney sweeps alongside him.

Oh Jodi, you pulled on my heartstrings with this novella. I can't say more without spoiling the story, just let me say that it was a lovely story and reflected what we all hope Christmas will be like.

The Battersea Barricades
For those of us who wondered what happened at the Battersea Barricades, wonder no longer. A novella for St George's Day.

The Steam-Pump Jump
Peterson is a bit down in the dumps after yet another of his girlfriends has died, and the last one was hand-in-glove with his arch-enemy to boot. So Max dreams up a cunning plan to cheer him, but she needs Markham to execute it in his own inimitable fashion.

Cute, sweet and very funny.

And Now For Something Completely Different
Absolutely bonkers holiday trip to witness the first Mars landing in person involving our usual suspects and my favourite Time Police - also a convincing explanation for why the flag fluttered on the first Moon landing.

LOVED IT.

When Did You Last See Your Father?
Told from Leon's POV, we get a potted history of Leon's life before Max, when he met Dr Bairstow, and when he met Max for the first and second times.

Clive Ronan has been meddling again and told Max's wealthy, influential, abusive father that she is living at St Mary's and has a baby. When Max's father arrives unannounced to take Matthew away, claiming that Max is an unfit mother it is up to Leon to save the day. Max's father can't be allowed to see ten year old Matthew when he should only be a toddler, also the years of abuse he suffered in the nineteenth century as a chimneysweep can't be eradicated and would give Child Services cause to remove him from Max's care. Let's not even go with the fact that actually Max is not really his daughter!

Anyway, this short story shows how much everyone at St Mary's loves Max and Matthew as they conspire to ensure that her father no longer has any power to hurt her again.

Immensely satisfying.

Dessicated Water
Very short story, Professor Rapson manages to reduce water to a fine powder for easier transportation on trips ... Reader, he didn't think it through.

Markham And The Anal Probing
Very short (10 pages) story written more to shock Jodie's publishers than anything else. Markham gets lost and Max and Peterson speculate that he's been abducted by aliens.

Little Donkey
My recommendation is don't read this unless you have read The Nothing Girl. This is not an easy entrée into the world of The Nothing Girl free of charge, instead it is choc full of allusions that only make sense if you have read The Nothing Girl.

Given that warning, it is Christmas, the vicar wants Marilyn to be in the nativity play - does he know nothing?

All our favourite characters are here - a lovely Xmas story for existing fans.

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Review: An Incomplete Revenge

An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Maisie Dobbs is engaged to investigate a series of acts of vandalism (mainly fires) and petty crimes around a Kentish brick factory that her client intends to purchase from the aristocratic owner. Travelling to the quaint Kent village, not far from the place where her father lives, Maisie finds that the village has an uneasy feeling.

It is hop-picking season so the village has an influx of Londoners down for a working holiday, plus a contingent of gypsies, also there for the hops. There's a lot of racism on all parts, with each faction blaming the other for the fires which seemingly only occur in September of each year, but the villagers are strangely loath to involve either the police or the fire brigade.

As Maisie digs she finds the truth centres around the local landowner and the tragic death of a local family whose bakery was hit by a Zeppelin during the war.

I live in Kent so reading about villages close to where I live is always interesting. Also my grandparents and great aunts and uncles used to regale me with stories of coming down to Kent from London for hop-picking season so that was another area of interest. I also 'enjoyed' reading about the trauma of WW1 more than a decade after its end. Maisie still suffers, as does her assistant, and her wartime Beau is still in a coma in hospital.

I read the first Maisie Dobbs book years ago, and enjoyed it but didn't love it. The books and eBooks are always so expensive that I have never bothered to read any more. However, recently quite a lot of the books have been limited time offers (starting with this one) so I bought three to give the series another try.

I liked the mystery element, obviously some of the character back-stories have been lost by not reading books two, three and four, but some of the woo-woo moments were a bit irritating. Again, enjoyable but not making me avid to devour the entire series.

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Review: When Did You Last See Your Father?

When Did You Last See Your Father? by Jodi Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Told from Leon's POV, we get a potted history of Leon's life before Max, when he met Dr Bairstow, and when he met Max for the first and second times.

Clive Ronan has been meddling again and told Max's wealthy, influential, abusive father that she is living at St Mary's and has a baby. When Max's father arrives unannounced to take Matthew away, claiming that Max is an unfit mother it is up to Leon to save the day. Max's father can't be allowed to see ten year old Matthew when he should only be a toddler, also the years of abuse he suffered in the nineteenth century as a chimneysweep can't be eradicated and would give Child Services cause to remove him from Max's care. Let's not even go with the fact that actually Max is not really his daughter!

Anyway, this short story shows how much everyone at St Mary's loves Max and Matthew as they conspire to ensure that her father no longer has any power to hurt her again.

Immensely satisfying.

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Review: And Now For Something Completely Different

And Now For Something Completely Different by Jodi Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Absolutely bonkers holiday trip to witness the first Mars landing in person involving our usual suspects and my favourite Time Police - also a convincing explanation for why the flag fluttered on the first Moon landing.

LOVED IT.

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Review: Desiccated Water

Desiccated Water by Jodi Taylor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Very short story, Professor Rapson manages to reduce water to a fine powder for easier transportation on trips ... Reader, he didn't think it through

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Review: Markham and the Anal Probing

Markham and the Anal Probing by Jodi Taylor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Very short (10 pages) story written more to shock Jodie's publishers than anything else. Markham gets lost and Max and Peterson speculate that he's been abducted by aliens,

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Review: Book Lovers

Book Lovers by Emily Henry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Four and a half stars.

I love, love, loved the start of this book. Nora is the other woman in every Hallmark movie, she's the high-powered, cut-throat executive in a thousand dollar suit who probably skewers puppies with her four inch stiletto heels. She doesn't want kids, or to leave New York, or a dog, or anything with a white picket fence. She's the villain that the hero dates until he falls in love with someone with a cutesy name like Daisy in a small town. You just know that Daisy is wholesome, never wears make-up and looks so dargone cute you could barf. Nora knows this because she's been dumped three times (and about to be four) by carefully chosen boyfriends who have all left New York and fallen for some small-town girl. Oh, and everyone calls Nora 'The Shark' behind her back and her boss refers to her agent approach as "smiling with knives".

Charlie Lastra is a brilliant editor, Nora's equivalent in his all-black designer outfits, and her nemesis when he refuses to edit Dusty Fielding's (her biggest client) latest book about a small-town called Sunshine Falls in North Carolina. Despite Charlie's distain, the book becomes a bestseller, selling over 500,000 copies.

Nora may put her career first in everything, but there is someone she would willingly die for, her younger sister Libby. Libby is the yin to Nora's yang, soft and gentle, a real homebody who married young and has two small children with a third on the way. So when Libby comes to see Nora, heavily pregnant and desperate to get away on a sister's road trip she doesn't hesitate. Libby has booked flights to North Carolina, she loves Dusty Fielding's book and wants the two of them to spend a month mooching around the town taking in the sights and living the small-town life.

Nora can tell that there is something amiss between her and Libby and she'll do anything to fix it, just like she's always fixed everything for Libby ever since their mother died, so when Libby brings up a ten point To Do list of small-town romance for them to complete Nora barely protests (think buy a plaid shirt, pet a horse). But Libby's attempts to win Nora a small-town romance are thwarted when Nora's nemesis turns out to also be visiting town.

This book doesn't hesitate to bring in every small-town cliché, but against all that are Nora and Charlie, surely the biggest fishes out of water ever. It was funny, sexy, sweet and a great read from cover to cover. One minor gripe. (view spoiler)[Dusty's new book ending felt a bit too much like the ending of the film (I haven't read the book) Breakfast at Tiffany's. (hide spoiler)]

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Luck of the Draw

Luck of the Draw by Kate Clayborn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second in a series about three best friends who win the lottery.

Zoe Ferris was a driven corporate lawyer before she won the lottery, regularly clocking up 70 hour working weeks, answering emails at weekends and climbing the greasy pole just as fast as she can. But her most recent work for a pharmaceutical company kept her awake at nights and when she won the lottery she quit her job, fully intending to travel the work. Instead, she's stuck in a rut, paralysed by guilt for every crappy thing she's ever done. Prompted by one of these new age help books, instead of creating a hope jar, Zoe creates a guilt jar, with notes of all the people she's insulted, belittled, made cry, or generally screwed over in her life ... and it's a big jar. Like the Ten Steps for AA, Zoe intends to make amends to all those she hurt.

The first card she pulls out is one of the worst, the family of an addict who died taking a drug which her client said would wean him off narcotics, Zoe was the one who bought their silence with a blood money cheque. But when she pulls up at their house she finds they have moved and their other son, Aidan, is living there. Aidan wants nothing to do with Zoe at first, but when she offers to do anything to make amends he makes a ridiculous offer, pretend to be his wife for six weeks to help him secure a former wilderness campground for his ambitious addict rehab centre plan.

Zoe might want to make amends but even she can tell this is crazy talk, but she consents to be his fake fiancé and help him with his presentation to the former owners who are considering bids from several other couples who want to own the camp, many of whom Aidan (and his brother Aaron) went to camp with as a boy.

A charming, thought-provoking enemies-to-lovers, fake-fiancé romance.

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Review: Reunion in the Outback

Reunion in the Outback by Nicole Flockton
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 48%.

Yolanda and her husband Michael left Bunya Junction years ago for the big city. Childhood sweethearts, she was tired of being mollycoddled by her family and he was trying to escape being the son of the town drunk.

They made a good life for themselves in the city, Michael rose to become head chef at a famous restaurant. Yolanda worked until they had a baby then was a stay-at-home mum with a burgeoning YouTube channel giving make-up advice and tutorials. Everything changed when Yolanda miscarried their second child and nearly died. The shock terrified Michael and as a consequence he started treating her like a fragile piece of porcelain, less of a partner and more of a responsibility. Michael's attitude reminds Yolanda of her family's over-protectiveness, especially when he refuses to countenance her having another baby, or getting a job, or putting the baby in childcare once a week. Suspecting she is in fact pregnant again, Yolanda broaches the possibility to Michael who overreacts and it culminates in Yolanda taking their daughter back to Bunya Junction for "a break".

Meanwhile, Michael is devastated at the loss of his wife and child who he loves more than anything in the world, then he is let go when the restaurant is sold to a new owner who wants to bring in their own chef. All his worst nightmares are coming true, Michael feels just as much a loser as his father. Determined to win back his wife, Michael comes back to Bunya Junction and lands a temporary job as chef at Yolanda's brother's bar and grill.

I really struggled with this book, it has that old-school Mills & Boon vibe to it which was off-putting to start with. Then I just realised that all this drama was caused because the two of them couldn't/wouldn't speak to each other, Yolanda especially does everything to avoid seeing or speaking to Michael - despite the fact that she loves him. Michael also has some pretty overbearing tendencies, I think if I was on a break and my partner sat in the bar every night while I worked, waited until everyone else left and then tried to put the moves on me I'd call the cops! Also they were both keeping secrets, Michael doesn't know Yolanda is pregnant, she doesn't know he's lost his job.

At nearly halfway through I was starting to get a rinse-and-repeat vibe, she melts every time he gets close then she runs away and doesn't want to speak to him. He gets all caveman but doesn't tell her the truth. Rinse and repeat.

Sorry, just not for me.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: On the Same Page

On the Same Page by Penelope Janu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Miles Franklin is the daughter of two literary writers (author and poet) but chose to become a lawyer instead. However, secretly she also writes historical romances under the pen name Emma Browning. Constantly harangued by her overbearing and narcissistic parents, Miles suffers crippling anxiety, she uses Emma as a crutch to lean upon and spends inordinate amounts of time rehearsing scenes from her books to make sure they are authentic (eg trying to make love in a moving horse-drawn carriage).

Miles' PA enters one of her books for the prestigious Australian Stapleton Prize for literature, when she wins the award her secret life threatens to become public, especially since the winner is obligated to do publicity and work with a prestigious publishing house.

What follows is a comedy of errors where Miles pretends to be Emma's lawyer and battles against Lars Kristensen, the new CEO of Iconic International Limited, a global publishing house which normally publishes high-brow fiction, poetry and non-fiction books, which sponsors the prize. Lars has been brought in from a non-publishing background to turn around the business, he sees the low-brow romances as a cash-cow to support the house's more important works and is determined to wring every drop of publicity from Emma. What makes it even more difficult is the visceral physical attraction that Miles feels whenever she is near Lars.

What can I say? This book expects the reader to, like Alice, believe in as many as six impossible things before breakfast. First, the idea that a publishing house could force an author to sign a contract which was so disadvantageous is ridiculous and, as a lawyer, Miles should have known that. Second, instead of renegotiating payment terms and a large advance, Miles tries to get the publisher to back out of the contract by requiring Lars to send her topless pictures and read all her previous novels. Third, Emma's writing is truly dire and her heroines appear to be TSTL. Also Miles' secret alter-ego appears to be the worst-kept secret in Australia! Don't even get me started on the pole-dancing.

Penelope Janu says that the first draft of this book was written when she was a Masters student in creative writing and TBH I think it shows, particularly the rather affected references to classic novels and novelists, it just screams 'I know stuff about Jane Austen and Madame Bovary, me'.

And yet, and yet, I did kind of like this despite all the things I hated. Lars faces Mr Darcy's dilemma of being drawn to Miles/Emma whilst also wanting to exploit her for the good of his failing company (which okay Mr Darcy's didn't want to do at all), and also finding her refusal to act the way he wanted. But then to be fair Miles/Emma's hot-and-cold relationship with Lars didn't make much sense either. Anyway, parts of this were a two star and parts were a four star, so it gets the average of three stars.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Just Friends

Just Friends by Jo Lovett
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 48%.

Lily and Matt dated for 15 months eight years ago (just let that sink in). One of Lily's BFFs, Tess, is also Matt's cousin and she is having a destination wedding in Greece which also includes hen nights and stag dos etc. Shortly after they broke up, Matt married someone else, although he is now divorced.

Obviously these two are still in love with each other, but Lily in particular has some issues, rooted in her severe asthma as a child which have left her paranoid about being pitied or treated as less than capable because her parents basically wrapped her in cotton wool. Now, even as an adult she can't/won't accept help, even when her beloved grandmother died, and broke up with Matt because he tried to talk to her about her grandmother's death! Even after dating (and living together) for 15 months Matt had absolutely no idea that Lily had severe asthma as a child, that spent most of her childhood in and out of hospitals, or even that she still has to use inhalers religiously twice a day.

Despite their mutual attraction, Lily continues to push Matt away and is irrationally angry that he got married just a year after she broke up with him. But fate, Lily's meddling friends, and a Carry On style series of wedding disasters contrives to throw these two together.

I have really enjoyed Jo Lovett books in the past but this is just dragging on and on and on. I am past the publication date and forcing myself to continue reading, because it's not awful, just slow and a bit slapstick (phallic water fountain features, a bridezilla, a man-mad friend who cops off with a local chef/waiter, the groom breaks his finger, etc). But then I looked and I'm still not even halfway through and I just lost the will to continue. I just don't like Lily very much TBH so I have given up.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Love Blooms at Mermaids Point

Love Blooms at Mermaids Point by Sarah Bennett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ivy Fisher has never felt more alone. Her beloved mother has died of cancer and her father may live in the same small village but they haven't really spoken since he ghosted her and her mother one day to move in with his girlfriend Wendy.

Alex Nelson is moving back to Mermaid's Point to be closer to his brother (the local doctor) after the break-up of his marriage. He wrote a self-indulgent, barely-disguised account of his marriage break-up which the publisher then edited to make it even more bitter and spiteful. Now he has a contract for two more books in a similar vein but all inspiration has deserted him.

Alex decides to use the proceeds of his house sale to buy the local bookshop, something that Ivy was hoping to do until the truth about her mother's will emerges. But the two of them decide to go into business, with Ivy helping in the shop but also selling her knick-knacks, re-purposed furniture and hand-made clothes. After his disastrous marriage, Alex knows he needs to be less impulsive and to take things slow, but everything seems so right with Ivy .. until his secret identity comes back to haunt him.

This is the third book in a series and it shows, there is a definite feel that the reader has walked in a on a conversation and missed half the story. We don't see how Ivy and Alex first meet, or even why Alex is already half in love with her when the story opens. Similarly, references to Alex's brother's wife who died and his new romance all expect the reader to have some knowledge of the previous books. This can be read as a stand-alone but be prepared to be updated about a whole load of people you don't know.

This was a cosy, small-town romance featuring an evil cat called Lucifer and a bookshop fer crissakes, but I just have this niggling irritation that there's a bit of female misogyny creeping in, from the tittle-tattling gossip Bev, to the leopard-print and tango-tanned Wendy, and even Alex's ex-wife Jo who is needy, a snob, money-grabbing, and wears so much make-up it makes Ivy's face itch. In contrast ,I can't think of a single man (other than Ivy's no-good father) who is anything other than kind and generous. Even Ivy gets a bit of subliminal bashing (from me as a reader) because after Alex supports her through one personal crisis after another she promises to be there for him, no matter what, then bails when his identity is revealed.

Overall, maybe I found it all a bit twee and, dare I say it, I thought Alex was a bit wet.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: The Wednesday Morning Wild Swimr

The Wednesday Morning Wild Swimr by Jules Wake
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ettie was desperate to escape the inevitability of factory work, minimal pay, and single-motherhood that she grew up with. Unfortunately, her mother's ill-health forced Ettie to give up her ideas of university and a degree and concentrate on getting a job to support her, her mother, and her sister. But she finally escaped Yorkshire for London, since which time she's had a series of short-lived minimum wage jobs, when her latest job explodes (literally) she's forced to return home to Yorkshire and throw herself on the mercy of her family.

Then a chance job advert for a general dogsbody at the local 'big house' which is being renovated and turned into a hotel gives her a chance to shine. The co-owners of the house are a meek, elderly widow called Gracie and an injured ex-Navy heart-throb called Dominic. The original plan was for Dominic and Gracie's husband to turn the house into a outwards bound-style retreat but Gracie's husband's death and Dominic's injury have put paid to that. Ever since Dominic and Gracie have lost momentum and, as a consequence, the house is still not renovated and decorated.

Ettie gets involved with a group of odd-bods (including her grandfather) who like to swim in the lake in the hotel's grounds. Unfortunately, Dominic is paranoid about people drowning in the lake and has expressly forbid it, even putting up large signs saying swimming is prohibited. But Ettie thinks what Dominic doesn't know won't hurt him.

As Ettie makes herself indispensable at the hotel and uses her natural charm, multiple previous job experiences, and local knowledge to drive the redecoration forward, with great ideas about how best to utilise Dominic and Gracie's strengths, she and Dominic become closer - but can he ever forgive her when he discovers what she has organised behind his back?

Featuring some of the characters from the The Saturday Morning Park Run, this is a cosy, fell-good romantic comedy. Loved it.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: The Way from Here

The Way from Here by Jane Turner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not quite what I thought it would be.

Kate is having a bit of a mid-life crisis. After surrendering her intentions to become an immigration lawyer for the more child-friendly job of processing claims which allowed her to work part-time, she has brought up two daughters Poppy and Ella who are now both at university. Her husband Tim works in London and only comes home to Bath at weekends, when he seems to spend the entire time cycling or sleeping.

While dropping her youngest daughter off at university Kate sees a rowing eight on the river which evokes memories of her time at Cambridge. Determined to make a positive change, Kate decides to join the local rowing club, despite not having rowed for probably thirty years.

While Kate loves the rowing, she finds the other members of the ladies rowing team to be cliquey and unfriendly, other than one woman, Beth who coxes the team. Tired of being frozen out from the team, despite being better than many of the other ladies, Kate tries to set up a senior ladies team, by recruiting former rowers from the club.

I know absolutely nothing about rowing, and TBH I don't think I know much more after reading this book -not because the book is superficial, but because it is so technical and detailed. However, I really enjoyed it anyway (a bit like I enjoy the rugby or baseball romances, you don't have to understand to enjoy it, but I suspect that a real rower would find it authentic).

This is very much about women of a certain age (and I am one myself), finding new confidence and belief in themselves, standing up for their rights and showing everyone else how blimmin' amazing we can be, despite coping with sexism, ageism, indifference, classism and illness.

Really enjoyed this.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Beginner's Luck

Beginner's Luck by Kate Clayborn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the first in a series about three best friends who win the lottery.

Kit Averin is a brilliant scientist, but she tends to hide her light under a bushel, preferring to be the general lab dogsbody supporting her mentor Dr Singh rather than seeking the fame and glory that she deserves. After winning the lottery she just goes back to work, although she has bought herself a run-down period house which she intends to restore. The house purchase is a really big deal for Kit, as she and her brother were forced to look out for themselves most of the time as they moved from place to place at the whim of their father.

Ben Tucker and his best friend Jasper are in-house corporate head-hunters for Beaumont Materials, a large corporate based in Texas which manufactures pipes to jet engines and everything in between. Ben got into trouble as a teenager and was desperate to get out of a town where everyone knew him and what he had done. Now he has no intention of returning to small town life and the family business ever again.

Ben is in Barden to look after his father who has broken a leg, he's juggling his father's reclamation yard with looking after his father when his partner asks him to recruit Dr Averin for the firm. Against his normal approach, Ben rushes in, makes assumptions and, it has to be said, makes a fool of himself. He offers Kit scads of money, not realising that she's won the lottery, and promises her great things if she moves to Texas, not realising that Kit is desperate to put down roots and would never leave her two best friends or her mentor.

Of course, Ben and Kit run into each other at his father's reclamation yard. Ben tries to make amends for being underprepared by sending her a cabinet handle to replace one that broke on her outdated filing cabinets, then he helps her find period details like door handles to restore her house.

Romance blossoms, but if Kit refuses to leave Barden and Ben doesn't want to return how can they go further?

I really enjoyed this, I enjoyed the fact that Ben recused himself from trying to recruit Kit quite early on - so often that is the cause of contention and it is so easily avoided.

I will definitely read the other two books in the series.

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Review: Hope for the Best

Hope for the Best by Jodi Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

TBH I've read these last five books totally out of order (Max would be so proud) that I don't know where I'm going. Suffice it to say this book contains, in no particular order (as they say on Dancing on Ice): dinosaurs; Bloody Queen jane; sex clubs; the Time Police; and so much more.

Loved it.

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Review: Lucie Yi Is Not a Romantic

Lucie Yi Is Not a Romantic by Lauren Ho
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lucie Yi left Singapore after the break-up of her relationship with Mark and is coming to the end of her two year secondment to her firm's New York office. Having decided that she is never going to find a man, fall in love, get married and have babies the traditional way, one of her two BFFs suggests a website where like-minded people who want children can find each other (sort of like Tinder for your baby's parent0, you agree to co-parent a child together but nothing more. Since IVF is not allowed in Singapore Lucie would have to agree to a co-parenting arrangement while she is in New York.

Being a tax accountant/consultant Lucie does her homework and the site seems legitimate, but she has some specific requirements, not least of which is that the baby's father must be willing to relocate to Singapore where Lucie's family and friends live (and of course where she works normally).

amazingly, Lucie meets Collin Read, a Malaysian guy working in New York with a father who lives in Singapore. Collin is sweet, funny, wants a child but doesn't believe in marriage, also he can work from home and has a friend with a start-up in Singapore who could offer him a job. Lucie and Collin become firm friends, he gets her jokes and they love to watch horror films together.

But then once they are pregnant and move to Singapore things start to unravel.

This is billed as akin to the love child of Jane Austen and Kevin Kwan, I'm not sure I see the Jane Austen that myself, but I would say that if you liked Crazy Rich Asians and wanted something in a similar vein without the gazillionaires then you'd love this.

Funny, sweet and thoroughly enjoyable.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: The Steam Pump Jump

The Steam Pump Jump by Jodi Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Peterson is a bit down in the dumps after yet another of his girlfriends has died, and the last one was hand-in-glove with his arch-enemy to boot. So Max dreams up a cunning plan to cheer him, but she needs Markham to execute it in his own inimitable fashion.

Cute, sweet and very funny.

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Review: Crowbones

Crowbones by Anne Bishop
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This series just gets better and better.

Picture a post-apocalyptic world (actually the Great Predation) where vampires and shifters are probably the least terrifying aspect of the Others, the ancient creatures (terra indigene) rose up against the way in which humans were destroying the world and decimated everything. Now small pockets of humanity are eking out a life, very much at the mercy of the whims of the Others.

Vicki Devine is a former abuse victim who has found sanctuary in the small town of Lake Silence. for whatever reason the terra indigene feel protective towards her and her bed and breakfast business called The Jumbles. It's Trickster Night (aka Halloween) and the cabins and rooms are full of academics and honeymooners wanting the authentic Other experience, the Crows (Others who can shift into human form are capitalised rather than their 'ordinary' brethren the crows) who live and work with Vicki are also excited at the idea of dressing up (or just shifting parts of themselves) as part of the entertainment, until someone comes to the door dressed as Crowgard, the Crow bogeyman.

As the bodies, both human and Crow mount up, Vicki and the other inhabitants must uncover who, or what, is responsible before things get out of hand.

Obviously, I haven't mentioned the four Sanguinati (vampire) teenagers being fostered by the local Shade, the Five, the Elemental shifters, the vampire Fixers, or the fascination the Others have for books and stories!

This was clever, and creepy, and scary, and amazing all at once. Loved it.

PS, am I the only one who wishes Vicki and the police chief would get together rather than the burgeoning romance between Vicki and Julian?

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Review: Made in Manhattan: The dazzling new opposites-attract rom-com from author of The Prenup!

Made in Manhattan: The dazzling new opposites-attract rom-com from author of The Prenup! by Lauren Layne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not going to lie, I bloody loved this, even though several people who's opinions I value have rated it meh.

Violet Townsend is a wealthy twenty-seven year old orphan living in Upper East Side Manhattan, acting as an unpaid gopher/companion to Edith, CEO of Rhodes International, who is also the closest thing to family Violet has left in this world. Violet is the epitome of the wealthy woman who doesn't need to work (think Gossip Girl or Charlotte from Sex and The City).

Edith has just discovered that her son, who recently died from an overdose, had an illegitimate son called Cain, who is living in Louisiana. As her only living relative, Edith wants to pass on the CEO role of Rhodes International to her grandson Cain, but his manners and appearance are more suited to a bar-room brawl than the rarefied atmosphere of a Manhattan board room.

Very much against his will, Violet agrees to perform a make-over on Cain, changing his wardrobe and his personality to fit the role of CEO. Of course the process changes Violet just as much as it changes Cain, she realises that she has been sub-consciously (or even consciously) people-pleasing ever since her parents died when she was a child. Her 'romance' with another Upper East Side inhabitant, Keith, who happens to also be on the board of Rhodes International, is pleasant and dependable, they know the same people and visit the same galleries, but Violet comes to realise that Keith has no idea about her favourite food or music. Whereas, Cain may have hill-billy clothes and a potty-mouth, but he instantly warms to her toy dog, loves the same kind of music and creates a spark of electricity strong enough to light up the Empire State Building.

Everyone bills this as a remake of My Fair Lady (or Pygmalionif you are being traditional), I can't say I liked that film/book very much. I'd say it's more like a mash-up with She's All That.

Anyway, it has all the components of a classic Lauren Layne romance and I loved it.

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Review: Beneath the Lies

Beneath the Lies by Sapna Bhog
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Aaliya has been married to Damien to five years and they have a young son Rian. Damien left their home in India after his father and brother died in a car accident to attend their funerals in London ... and never returned. Damien's best friend Gabe calls Aaliya and tells her than Damien too has been in a car accident which has caused amnesia, he no longer remembers his life in India, Aaliya or their son.

Aaliya travels to London to see Damien, but Gabe prevents her from seeing Damien. Unbeknown to her, Damien left a voicemail message on Gabe's phone alleging that someone had murdered his father and brother and they could be after him next, his last words were to protect his wife and son.

When Aaliya does meet Damien he doesn't recognise her, indeed she can barely see her kind and loving husband in the cold man she meets. Also, Aaliya discovers that Damien is actually a member of the aristocracy and has now become the Duke of Kittridge, the wealthiest man in England. Damien is fascinated by Aaliya, her sassy attitude, and her lack of ceremony, he wants to possess her yadda yadda.

This was okay but I felt the writer figuratively threw the kitchen sink at this. There's the interracial marriage, the amnesia, the assassination attempts, the FSoG seduction scenes, the obligatory society ball, the bitchy ex-girlfriend, the cold dowager duchess, the secret baby, the billionaire romance, the estranged friends, the blood diamonds argument, I could go on.

All I will say is that the person trying to murder Damien doesn't appear to be who I thought it was - so that's a relief.

Also, this is not a standalone novel, there are unanswered questions.

This book was free from the author's website.

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Review: My Mechanical Romance

My Mechanical Romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Bel's parents are getting a divorce and her mother has taken Bel and her older brother Luke to live in a small apartment on the other side of the city. Her maternal instincts are going overboard and she has enrolled Bel in a snooty private school, very different to the one she has studied at until now. Here everyone is into AP classes and extracurricular work and getting their college applications done, whereas Bel just wants to hang out at the Mall with her friends.

Then a last minute class project brings Bel to the attention of one of the physics teachers who sort of blackmails Bel into trying out for a place on the school's robotics team (literally Robot Wars). This kind of reminded me of when Harry Potter gets spotted as a potential seeker by Professor Mcgonagall. The robotics team is led by the school's all-round high achiever Mateo. The son of a Silicone Valley CEO gazillionaire and a former super model, he is driven to succeed at everything, football, class, robotics etc. he takes the weight of the world on him and feels personally responsible for every failure. Again, this reminded me of an old Buffy episode where a little boy is blamed by his coach for the baseball team losing a match.

Bel doesn't understand the design software the robotics team uses so she sketches out a design on paper for the deceptively simple task set for potential candidates. When Mateo sees the sketch he immediately drafts her into the team, without consulting anyone else. Personalities soon clash, especially when Bel points out that Mateo is super-controlling, he doesn't really listen to anyone else's ideas or tolerate criticism.

There's lots to unpick here: parental expectations; the differences between the haves and have-nots; the impact of divorce on family dynamics; teenage romance; misogyny; robot wars; and more. I also liked the diversity of the characters, although I also have a concern that the characters' diversity was perhaps more about references to ethnic foods and festivals with a few non-English words thrown in for good measure, rather than a faithful representation of different ethnic backgrounds. Then again, it may just be that these are teenagers born and brought up in the US wit US cultural norms sitting alongside their parents and their grandparents' ethnic background.

Anyway, there's teenage angst; romance; drama; and lots and lots of robot wars. Loved it and read it in one day.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: An Argumentation of Historians

An Argumentation of Historians by Jodi Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well what a difference a year or so makes!

Back in the day I started reading this, got to the point where Clive Ronan captures Max YET AGAIN, and gave up muttering darkly about 'rinse and repeat', 'same-same but different' and other saying which all amounted to me feeling like the St Mary's books had got stuck in a rut and nothing was being resolved.

But I requested the 13th book as an ARC and loved it so much I am randomly reading the missing books in no particular order (as they say on Strictly).

Max comes up with a cunning plan to lure Ronan to St Mary's when most of the team would be offsite at Persepolis, recording the moment when Alexander the Great decided to raze the city to the ground. Unfortunately, Max makes the mistake most beloved of all horror writers and decides to go off alone to record events, the inevitable happens and Max ends up stranded in medieval St Mary's with no money, no equipment and no tags to assist in a rescue.

Once I got over my hissy fit about Clive Ronan (which was literally a few more pages!!!!!) I loved this book. I really love the historical trips and an extended stay in medieval England was great to read.

It may have taken a time - but eventually I loved it.

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Review: One Night on the Island

One Night on the Island by Josie Silver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Cleo is a London journalist who writes a very popular column in an online magazine about dating. But as her thirties approach she is feeling a bit jaded, disappointed with dating, and all that. So her boss suggests she spends a few weeks on a remote Irish island called Salvation, learning to love herself, a kind of 'I can't find anyone to marry, so I guess I'll just marry myself' moment.

However, when Cleo gets to the remote cottage she finds she is not the only occupant. The owner's American cousin has also been given the one-bed cottage to stay in while he tries to get over the break-up of his marriage.

With neither of them willing to leave, Cleo and Mack fall into an uneasy truce, especially when the weather is so bad that the ferry can't come to the island to remove either of them anyway.

In an effort to forge some kind of common ground they start telling each other three random facts about themselves at night, while he sleeps in the bed and she sleeps on the couch. Gradually as the days progress Cleo finds the lack of WiFi, or even a phone signal anywhere except on top of a windswept hill, quite liberating. Even the islanders turn out to be a friendly eclectic bunch of people who invite Cleo to join their knitting circle and welcome Mack to the Salvation Arms for a Guinness and a roast dinner.

This was a pleasant enough romance/finding yourself novel, it did stray into hippy-dippy Eat, Pray, Love (the film because I haven't read the book) self-indulgent twaddle on occasion (I'm thinking of Cleo's self-marriage ceremony), but overall it stayed on the right side.

In fact my biggest bugbear was how friggin' long the book was (I've checked and it is 376 pages so it wasn't that it just felt long), I mean come on, the two of them are stuck on a remote island with no internet etc, there isn't much to do and yet it takes Josie Silver forevah to say it.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: The Devil You Know

The Devil You Know by Kit Rocha
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hmm, a remarkably tame book from two of the raunchiest writers in town.

To recap, post-apocalypse the US has degenerated. TechCorps have started up food and power production and now run the US, but they regulate it carefully so that there are the haves living in luxury in high-rise condos and the have-nots living a hand-to-mouth existence on the ground.

The Mercenary Librarians are on a mission to maintain literacy and basic standards by saving and scanning books, films, and games from their base in Atlanta. In this way they can help others to repair machinery as well as enrich their souls aka Information Brokers. But the librarians are each in their own way also escapees from TechCorps genetic experiments.

Maya has been bred/genetically engineered to have a perfect memory and act as a Data Courier for one of TechCorps senior management who was also secretly plotting revolution. When her boss is murdered Maya takes the opportunity to fake her own death and create a new life with the librarians. Maya has been taught to believe that too much stimulation will cause her brain to overload and so she leads a very insular life.

In the first book The Silver Devils, a group of elite genetically enhanced soldiers, were sent to infiltrate and ultimately betray the librarians but instead have joined forces as the head librarian Nina fell in love with the leaders of the Silver Devils, Knox.

Grey is one of the super soldiers, a cold-blooded sniper. The implant in his brain is slowly decaying and he knows he is dying.

Grey and Maya are fascinated by each other, each believing they are alone in their feelings. Then the group uncover an unpleasant group who are selling genetically-enhanced children on the black market. But as they race to save a group of children they could be falling into a bigger trap.

I liked this but I didn't love it. It was a bit too warm and cuddly TBH. No graphic violence or kink, slow and gentle without much of the Mad Max vibes I got from the first book and definitely not in the same category as the Gideon's Riders series.

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Review: What Next?

What Next? by Shari Low
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Apparently this is the the third book about this group of four women who have been friends since primary school. I haven't read either of the other books and while this can be read as a standalone it definitely feels like a What Happened Next kind of book.

The book opens with all the main characters in police lock up.

Carly has recently married her boyfriend from when she was in her 20s. he's now a Hollywood film producer and all round big-shot. She's about to leave her semi-detached house in London, her sons from her first marriage, her friends and family and love to LA.

Carol is married to Carly's brother. She seems to have a perfect life, a former model turned Instagram influencer, she is beautiful, has a loving husband and children, great business, and over a million followers.

Jess has her own PR/damage limitation business, able to work wherever she has fallen in love with Carly's husband's stunt double, a man 10 years older than her with two ex-wives and two adult children.

Kate lives next door to Carly and doesn't really feature.

Carly is ready to leave London for LA when her Aunt Val descends from Glasgow. A force to be reckoned with, Val has featured heavily in all their lives so when she announces that she is coming to LA to fulfil a bucket list she drew up with her deceased best friend the girls are all-in - although it soon becomes clear that this may be just to escape their own troubles.

Flitting between LA, Vegas and New York these friends discover that there is always something new to discover about each other, that things aren't always what they seem, and of course that friendship lasts forever.

I enjoyed this but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had read the two previous books.

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Review: Another Time, Another Place

Another Time, Another Place by Jodi Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars. But probably would have been 4 stars if I had read them in order.

The book opens with Markham and Hunter leaving St Mary's Institute of Historical Research. Then Leon leaves, taking Matthew, Mikey and Adrian with him, to secure the Archive from hostile forces within government who appear to be trying to circumvent St Mary's neutrality for their own gain.

Markham's departure gives these faceless enemies the opportunity to catapult Captain Hyssop in as temporary acting Head of Security, over Dr Bairstow's objections. Determined to stamp her authority over St Mary's, Captain Hyssop tries to take charge of the jumps with increasingly disastrous results.

Then tragedy strikes, in more than one way, and Max can no longer stay at St Mary's.

This is a difficult review to write, because I am reading the books I missed out the first time I already know what happens next which removes all the shock and awe from the things that happen in this book and the later revelations. Also, there is something that happens to Max in this book which, to me, in this book seems pretty trivial but A LOT is made of it in the next book. Having read the next book (golly, it's just like time travelling isn't it), I was really surprised at how minor the incident was. (view spoiler)[Max's hair being cut off. (hide spoiler)]

Ranging from a minor curious mystery in Tudor times, to the Tower of Babel, and Victorian London this has everything I love about St Mary's and if I had only read it before I got an ARC of the next book I would have given it a solid 4 stars. No Ronan, less of the comedy by rote by a cast of thousands it is all building up to the glory of the next book.



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