memes – Page 84 – What Cathy Read Next…

Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Why not join in too? Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!

Currently reading

Night Train to Marrakech (Daughters of War #3) by Dinah Jefferies (ARC, HarperCollins via Readers First)

MARRAKECH 1966. Vicky Baudin steps onto a train winding through Morocco, looking for the grandmother she has never met.

It’s an epic journey that’ll take her to the edge of Atlas Mountains – and closer to the answers she’s been craving all her life.

But dark secrets whisper amongst the dunes. And in unlocking the mystery of Clemence’s past, Vicky will unearth great danger too . . .

North Woods by Daniel Mason (eARC, John Murray via NetGalley)

FOUR CENTURIES. A SINGLE HOUSE DEEP IN THE WOODS OF NEW ENGLAND.

A young Puritan couple on the run. An English soldier with a fantastic vision. Inseparable twin sisters. A lovelorn painter and a lusty beetle. A desperate mother and her haunted son. A ruthless con man and a stalking panther. Buried secrets. Madness, dreams and hope.

All are connected. The dark, raucous, beautiful past is very much alive.

Recently finished

The Traitor by Ava Glass (Cornerstone)

What Cathy (will) Read Next

The Merchant’s Dilemma by Carolyn Hughes (eARC, Riverdown Books)

1362. Winchester. Seven months ago, accused of bringing plague and death from Winchester, Bea Ward was hounded out of Meonbridge by her former friends and neighbours. Finding food and shelter where she could, she struggled to make her way back to Winchester again. Yet, once she arrived, she wondered why she’d come.

For her former lover – the love of her life – Riccardo Marchaunt, had married a year ago. And she no longer had the strength to go back to her old life on the streets. Frail, destitute and homeless, she was reduced to begging. Then, in January, during a tumultuous and destructive storm, she found herself on Riccardo’s doorstep. She had no plan, beyond hoping he might help her, or at least provide a final resting place for her poor body.

When Bea awakes to find she’s lying in Riccardo’s bed once more, she’s thankful, thrilled, but mystified. But she soon learns that his wife died four months ago, along with their newborn son, and finds too that Riccardo loves her now as much as he ever did, and wants to make her his wife. But can he? And, even if he can, could she ever really be a proper merchant’s wife?

Riccardo could not have been more relieved to find Bea still alive, when he thought he had lost her forever. She had been close to death, but is now recovering her health. He adores her and wants her to be his wife. But how? His father would forbid such an “unfitting” match, on pain of denying him his inheritance. And what would his fellow merchants think of it? And their haughty wives?

Yet, Riccardo is determined that Bea will be his wife. He has to find a solution to his dilemma… With the help of his beloved mother, Emilia, and her close friend, Cecily, he hatches a plan to make it happen.

But even the best laid plans sometimes go awry. And the path of love never did run smooth…

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

The rules are simple:

Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want.
Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post.
Add your name to the Linky widget on that day’s post so that everyone can check out other bloggers’ lists.
Or if you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic Books on My Fall 2023 To-Read List. Here are mine (links from the title will take you to the book description on Goodreads):

A Day of Reckoning by Matthew Harffy – ‘The third thrilling historical adventure in the A Time for Swords series by Matthew Harffy, perfect for fans of Ben Kane, Simon Scarrow and Bernard Cornwell’
The Socialite Spy by Sarah Sigal – ‘London, 1936. Socialite and journalist Lady Pamela More pens the popular ‘Agent of Influence’ column, writing wittily about fashion and high society. For her latest piece, she interviews Wallis Simpson, the newly crowned king’s American mistress. That’s when she’s approached by MI5.’
Byron and Shelley by Glenn Haybittle – ‘Beautiful, moving and humorous, the stories are set all around the globe – spinning from Kansas City, Jerusalem, London, Venice, Prague and Hamburg to Florence, Memphis, Rome, Paris and Provence’
Sanctuary Motel by Alan Orloff – ‘Mess Hopkins, proprietor of the seen-better-days Fairfax Manor Inn, never met a person in need who couldn’t use a helping hand—his helping hand.’
Wolves of Winter (Essex Dogs #2) by Dan Jones – ‘For the Dogs, the war has only just begun.’
The Murder Wheel by Tom Mead – ‘a gripping locked-room mystery for fans of Golden Age crime fiction’
The Book of Fire by Christy Lefteri – ‘Once upon a time there was a beautiful village that held a million stories of love and loss and peace and war, and it was swallowed up by a fire that blazed up to the sky.’
Held by Anne Michaels – ‘a narrative that spans four generations, moments of connection and consequence igniting and re-igniting as the century unfolds’
Run to the Western Shore by Tim Pears – ‘Set in Britain in AD 72, a tale of quest and struggle, but also an ode to the land and a love story about the reconciliation of opposites in times of need’
The Unspeakable Acts of Zina Pavlou by Eleni Kyriacou – ‘A compelling historical crime novel set in the Greek diaspora of 1950s London – that’s inspired by a true story’