Tag: new arrivals

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Monday – I published my review of If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio.

Tuesday – I shared my review of crime mystery Sometimes People Die by Simon Stephenson as part of the blog tour. I also hosted a guest post by M. Z. Urlocker, authors of The Man From Mittelwerk, about some of their favourite Cold War noir novels. 

Wednesday – WWW Wednesday is a weekly opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next… and to take a peek at what others are reading. 

Thursday – I published my review of At the Breakfast Table by Defne Suman. 

Friday – I hosted a guest post by Barbara Evans Kinnear about her father’s memoir, Richard Eager: A Pilot’s Story. 

Saturday – I joined the #SixonSaturday gang with an update on what’s growing and what’s not in my garden.

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New arrivals

The Weather Woman by Sally Gardner (eARC, Head of Zeus via NetGalley)

Neva Friezland is born into a world of trickery and illusion, where fortunes can be won and lost on the turn of a card.

She is also born with an extraordinary gift. She can predict the weather. In Regency England, where the proper goal for a gentlewoman is marriage and only God knows the weather, this is dangerous. It is also potentially very lucrative.

In order to debate with the men of science and move about freely, Neva adopts a sophisticated male disguise. She foretells the weather from inside an automaton created by her brilliant clockmaker father.

But what will happen when the disguised Neva falls in love with a charismatic young man?

It can be very dangerous to be ahead of your time. Especially as a woman.

Mother of Valor (Valorie Dawes #4) by Gary Corbin (eARC)

As part of a prostitution sting operation, rookie cop Val Dawes uncovers a national sex trafficking ring operating out of Clayton, one with ties to a violent shadowy right-wing splinter group. Her investigation reveals the group may be planning a violent attack in a matter of days.

Just when the investigation heats up, her estranged mother, who left without a trace a decade before, suddenly reappears on the scene, with a nine-year-old brother Val never knew she had. Manipulative and cunning, her mother divides Val’s attention and loyalties, seemingly intent on disrupting both Val’s promising career and her rekindled relationship with her father.

As Val the group’s violent plans near, Val tries to safeguard her family, leading to shocking discoveries about why her mother returned – and why she left in the first place.

Can Val keep her community safe without destroying her family?

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On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

• Book Review: Life Time by Russell Foster
• Book Review/Blog Tour: The Santa Killer by Ross Greenwood
• Book Review: Island of Secrets by Patricia Wilson
• Book Review: Essex Dogs by Dan Jones

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Tuesday – This week’s topic was a freebie on an educational theme and (rather predictably) I went with Books Set in Schools. 

Wednesday – I published my review of historical crime mystery Blackstone Fell by Martin Edwards as part of the blog tour. WWW Wednesday is a weekly opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next… and to take a peek at what others are reading. 

Thursday – I published my wrap-up for the 20 Books of Summer 2022 reading challenge. Spoiler alert: It’s a story of failure. 

Friday – I chose my Five Favourite August Reads. 

Saturday – The first Saturday on the month means it’s time for 6 Degrees of Separation. My bookish chain took me from The Quiet People by Paul Cleave to The Illumination of Ursula Flight by Anne-Marie Crowhurst.

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New arrivals

Sleep When You’re Dead by Jude O’Reilly (eARC, Head of Zeus via NetGalley)

Elite assassin and spy-for-hire Michael North is the man you call when there’s nothing left to lose. His tradecraft is unparalleled, he executes every mission with determination, skill and a certain amount of flair. There’s just one problem: the bullet lodged in his brain. If it moves, he will die – and so will the mission.

Now North’s been sent to infiltrate a doomsday cult on the Isle of Skye. Their leader is planning a terrorist attack on the mainland, and it’s North’s job to stop him. Together with teen hacker FangFang – the only person in the world he cares about – North must face down the forces of evil on behalf of his country.

Best of Friends by Kamila Shamsie (Proof copy courtesy of Bloomsbury via Readers First)

Sometimes it was as though the forty years of friendship between them was just a lesson in the unknowability of other people.

Maryam and Zahra. In 1988 Karachi, two fourteen-year-old girls are a decade into their friendship, sharing in-jokes, secrets and a love for George Michael. As Pakistan’s dictatorship falls and a woman comes to power, the world suddenly seems full of possibilities. Elated by the change in the air, they make a snap decision at a party. That night, everything goes wrong, and the two girls are powerless to change the outcome.

Zahra and Maryam. In present-day London, two influential women remain bound together by loyalties, disloyalties, and the memory of that night, which echoes through the present in unexpected ways. Now both have power; and both have very different ideas of how to wield it. Their friendship has always felt unbreakable; can it be undone by one decision?

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On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

• Book Review: If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
• Book Review/Blog Tour: Sometimes People Die by Simon Stephenson
• Book Review: At the Breakfast Table by Defne Suman
• Guest Post: The Man From Mittelwerk by M. Z. Urlocker
• Guest Post: Richard Eager: A Pilot’s Story by Barbara Evans Kinnear