Tag: Read

My Week in Books – 7th April ‘19

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MyWeekinBooks

New arrivals

Tell Me Where You AreTell Me Where You Are by Moira Forsyth (paperback, courtesy of Sandstone Press and Ruth Killick Publicity)

Frances spent thirteen years not wanting to hear her sister’s name.

The last thing Frances wants is a phone call from Alec, the husband who left her for her sister thirteen years ago. But Susan has disappeared, abandoning Alec and her daughter Kate, a surly teenager with an explosive secret. Reluctantly, Frances is drawn into her sister’s turbulent life.

Pre-order Tell Me Where You Are from Amazon UK (link provided for convenience not as part of an affiliate programme)

The Playground MurdersThe Playground Murders (The Detective’s Daughter #7) by Lesley Thomson (hardcover, advance review copy courtesy of Head of Zeus)

Wormwood Scrubs playground, 1980. The wind blows across the common, and the girl in her shorts shivers. The playground is isolated, timeless. Far from the prying eyes of grown-ups, she and her friends can play make-believe here. The looming slide is a mountain; the upturned log a pirate ship. But six-year-old Sarah Ferris does not know that in two days’ time, she will be dead: a victim of jealousy, betrayal, and her own innocence.

Hammersmith, 2019. Cleaner Stella Darnell loves rooting into shadowy places and restoring order. She’ll clear your attic, polish your kitchen and scrub your bath – but she also investigates cold cases. Stella can spend hours sifting through forgotten evidence looking for shreds of evidence the police might have missed. So when a woman is found dead, and the killer is linked to the Sarah Ferris murder, Stella is the woman for the case. But dredging up the past can be dangerous. Especially if the playground killer is back.

The Long TakeThe Long Take by Robin Robertson (audiobook)

Walker, a young Canadian recently demobilised after war and his active service in the Normandy landings and subsequent European operations. Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and unable to face a return to his family home in rural Nova Scotia, he goes in search of freedom, change, anonymity and repair. We follow Walker through a sequence of poems as he moves through post-war American cities of New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. (Shortlisted for The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2019)

De Bohun’s Destiny (The Meonbridge Chronicles #3) by Carolyn Hughes (eARC, courtesy of Rachel’s Random Resources

How can you uphold a lie when you know it could destroy your family?

Margaret, Lady de Bohun, is horrified when her husband lies about their grandson Dickon’s entitlement to inherit Meonbridge. Margaret knows that Richard lied for the very best of reasons – to safeguard his family and its future – but lying is a sin, and an assured road to ruin. Yet Margaret has no option but to perpetuate her husband’s falsehood…

Margaret’s companion, Matilda Fletcher, decides that the truth about young Dickon’s birth really must be told, if only to Thorkell Boune, the man she’s set her heart on winning. But Matilda’s “honesty” serves only her own interests, and she is oblivious to the potential for disaster.

Thorkell doesn’t scruple to pursue exactly what he wants, by whatever means are necessary, no matter who or what gets in his way…

LiarLiar by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, trans. by Sondra Silverston (paperback)

If being old meant making up things so you wouldn’t be alone, then it really wasn’t very different from being seventeen.

Nofar is just an average teenage girl – so average, she’s almost invisible. Serving customers ice cream all summer long, she is desperate for some kind of escape. One afternoon, a terrible lie slips from her tongue. And suddenly everyone wants to talk to her: the press, her schoolmates, and the boy upstairs – the only one who knows the truth.

Then Nofar meets Raymonde, an elderly woman whose best friend has just died. Raymonde keeps her friend alive the only way she knows how – by inhabiting her stories. But soon, Raymonde’s lies take on a life of their own.

A heart-stopping novel about deception and its consequences, Liar brilliantly explores how far a lie can travel – and how much we are willing to believe.

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Blog posts

Tuesday – I published my review of The Conviction of Cora Burns by Carolyn Kirby as part of the blog tour.  This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic  was Things That Make Me Pick Up A Book.

Wednesday – WWW Wednesday is the opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next…and have a good nose around to see what other bloggers are reading.

Thursday – I published my review of Sunwise by Helen Steadman, the sequel to Widdershins as part of the blog tour.  I also picked my five favourite books I read in March.

Friday – I shared my review of historical fiction novel Josephine’s Daughter by A.B. Michaels, the fifth book in the author’s ‘The Golden’ City series.

Saturday – I took part in the blog tour for historical mystery, Barnabas Tew and the Case of the Cursed Serpent by Columbkill Noonan by publishing a spotlight post.  I also participated in the monthly Six Degrees of Separation meme.

As always, thanks to everyone who has liked, commented on or shared my blog posts on social media this week.

On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

  • Event Review: Ursula Buchan at Oxford Literary Festival
  • Blog Tour/Book Review: The Storyteller by Pierre Jarawan
  • Waiting on Wednesday
  • Blog Tour/Guest Post: The Spitfire Girl in the Skies by Fenella J. Miller
  • Blog Tour/Book Review: The Golden Hour (The Lady Evelyn Mysteries #4) by Malia Zaidi
  • Book Review/Giveaway: The Confessions of Frannie Langston by Sara Collins

Book Review: Josephine’s Daughter (The Golden City #5) by A. B. Michaels

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Josephine's DaughterAbout the Book

What’s worse than a mother like Josephine? Turning out to be just like her.

In the late nineteenth century, wealthy and headstrong Kit Firestone chafes under the strictures of the Golden City’s high society, especially the interference of her charming but overbearing mother, Josephine. Kit’s secret rebellion leads to potentially catastrophic results and keeps her from finding true happiness.

When her brother nearly dies from a dangerous infection, Kit defies convention and becomes a working nurse. Through her troubled romance with a young doctor and a series of dramatic events, including a natural disaster and her mother’s own critical illness, Kit begins to understand who her mother truly is and what their relationship is all about. She may not get the chance to appreciate their bond, however, because, through no fault of her own, a madman has Kit in his crosshairs.

Format: Paperback, ebook (395 pp.)    Publisher: Red Trumpet Press
Published: 10th March 2019          Genre: Historical Fiction

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com 
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find Josephine’s Daughter (The Golden City #5) on Goodreads

My Review

Alternating between the experiences of Josephine in 1860s Philadelphia and those of her daughter, Katherine, in 1890s San Francisco,  the book explores the inferior position and powerlessness of women in all aspects of society, even those born in to well-to-do families.  It reveals the ways in which women can fall prey to the whims and desires of men, at times in quite shocking fashion and with long-lasting consequences.

Although Katherine and Josephine struggle with their relationship and often come into conflict with each other, in fact they are more similar than they might like to think.  Both are independent-minded, intelligent and ambitious and seek ways to take back control of their lives in any way they can and to use the power of reputation to punish men guilty of wrongdoing.  The book is packed full of fascinating historical detail.

What the book description doesn’t reveal but, to be fair, the author did make clear in her email to advance readers, is that Josephine’s Daughter is in part the ‘She Said’ version of events involving two of the main characters – Tom and Katherine – from the previous book in the series, The Price of Compassion (which you can read my review of here).  This explains the strong sense of déjà vu I felt when reading the last third of Josephine’s Daughter as scenes and conversations from The Price of Compassion are repeated (in the case of conversations, verbatim) albeit from a different point of view.  I’m afraid for me, having read The Price of Compassion, this change of perspective added relatively little.

However, on the plus side, it means Josephine’s Daughter is perfect as a standalone novel for those who have not read The Price of Compassion (and I have reflected this in my rating on Amazon and Goodreads).   As essentially a prequel to The Price of Compassion, Josephine’s Daughter didn’t completely work for me because of the amount of overlap and repetition between the two books.  However, I enjoyed the earlier parts of the book.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of the author.

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In three words: Dramatic, emotional, spirited

Try something similar…The Cornish Lady by Nicola Pryce (read my review here)

03_A.B. MichaelsAbout the Author

A native of northern California, A.B. Michaels earned Masters’ degrees in history and broadcasting, and worked for many years in public relations and marketing. Now that she’s an empty nester, she has time to write the kinds of stories she loves to read. Her historical series, “The Golden City,” follows characters who make their way in turn of the twentieth century San Francisco. “I love creating flawed characters I can relate to, who have to make difficult choices, and who long for happiness like the rest of us. So much was happening in the early 1900’s that help shape my novels. Once I tear myself away from the underlying research, they are fascinating stories to write.”

Currently Ms. Michaels lives in Boise, Idaho with her husband and two furry creatures who are unclear on the concept that they are just dogs. In addition to writing, she loves to read and travel. A dabbler in fabric art, she also plays bocce in a summer league.

Connect with A. B. Michaels

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