#WWWWednesday – 4th August 2021

WWWWednesdays

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

Unsettled GroundUnsettled Ground by Claire Fuller (hardcover)

What if the life you have always known is taken from you in an instant? What would you do to get it back?

Twins Jeanie and Julius have always been different from other people. At 51 years old, they still live with their mother, Dot, in rural isolation and poverty. Their rented cottage is simultaneously their armour against the world and their sanctuary. Inside its walls they make music, in its garden they grow (and sometimes kill) everything they need for sustenance.

But when Dot dies suddenly, threats to their livelihood start raining down. At risk of losing everything, Jeanie and her brother must fight to survive in an increasingly dangerous world as their mother’s secrets unfold, putting everything they thought they knew about their lives at stake.

The Girl Who Fell From The SkyThe Girl Who Fell From The Sky by Simon Mawer (audiobook)

Marian Sutro would be just another young English woman wondering whom she’ll marry and how to find a way to be useful. But World War II has turned everyone’s life inside out. Marian happens to be bilingual (her father is English, her mother French) and is recruited by the “Inter-Services Research Bureau” and enrolled in a rigorous, take-no-prisoners espionage training course to aid the French resistance. Or at least that’s what Marian thinks at first.

But she learns more about the risky operation her superiors have in mind for her in occupied Paris, she begins to suspect that it may be a more personal connection that singled her out for assignment. A name from her past, Clement Pelletier, suddenly reappears, forcing Marian to call into question her first love, her dangerous mission, and how far she’s willing to go for the cause.


Recently finished

The Fair Botanists by Sara Sheridan 

This Lovely City by Louise Hare 

Three Little Truths by Eithne Shortall 


What Cathy (will) Read Next

Wolf at the DoorWolf at the Door (Bradecote and Catchpoll #9) by Sarah Hawkswood (eARC, courtesy of Allison & Busby)  

ll Hallow’s Eve, 1144. The savaged body of Durand Wuduweard, the solitary and unpopular keeper of the King’s Forest of Feckenham, is discovered beside his hearth, his corpse rendered barely identifiable by sharp teeth.

Whispers of a wolf on the prowl grow louder and Sheriff William de Beauchamp’s men, Hugh Bradecote and Serjeant Catchpoll, are tasked with cutting through the clamour. They must uncover who killed Durand and why while beset by superstitious villagers, raids upon manors and further grim deaths. Out of the shadows of the forest, where will the wolf’s fangs strike next?

My 20 Books Of Summer 2021: Progress Update #20booksofsummer21

20-books-of-summerWith just under a month left to go I’m continuing to make good progress but I still have some chunky books left on my list.

The annual 20 Books of Summer challenge is run by my namesake, Cathy at 746 Books.  This year it takes place between 1st June and 1st September 2021.  As (the other) Cathy explains, the rules are simple.  Take the Books of Summer image, pick your own 10, 15 or 20 books you’d like to read and add your link to Cathy’s master post here so she knows you’re taking part.

The rules are accommodating as well.  Want to swap a book? Go for it.  Fancy changing your list half way through? No problem.  Deciding to drop your goal from 20 to 15? She’s fine with that too.

I decided to aim for the full 20 once again. In putting together my list, I concentrated on blog tour commitments I had from June onwards, books on my NetGalley To Read shelf that published in June, July and August, and books I’ve received as Readers First giveaways but still haven’t read. My thinking was the first category contains books I need to read soon anyway, the second category will help me maintain my 80% plus NetGalley feedback ratio and the third will assuage any guilt at my tardiness in posting the expected reviews. So far that strategy seems to be working, as you can see below!

Links from the titles will take you to the book description on Goodreads or to my review when I’ve read them.


Read and reviewed

This Is How We Are Human by Louise Beech (Orenda Books)
The Serpent King by Tim Hodkinson (Aries)
The Fort (City of Victory #1) by Adrian Goldsworthy (Head of Zeus)
Scandalous Alchemy by Katy Moran (Head of Zeus)
Everything Happens for a Reason by Katie Allen (Orenda Books)

One Last Time by Helga Flatland (Orenda Books)
Two Women In Rome by Elizabeth Buchan (Corvus)
Mrs England by Stacey Halls (Manilla Press)
Yours Cheerfully by A J Pearce (Picador)
This Lovely City by Louise Hare

This Shining Life by Harriet Kline (Doubleday)
Those I Have Lost by Sharon Maas (Bookouture)
Cecily by Annie Garthwaite (Viking)
Three Little Truths by Eithne Shortall (Corvus)
The Fair Botanists by Sara Sheridan

Yet to be read

Gallowstree Lane (Collins & Griffiths #3) by Kate London (Corvus)
A Corruption of Blood (Raven, Fisher and Simpson #3) by Ambrose Parry (Canongate)
The Unfortunate Englishman (Joe Wilderness #2) by John Lawton (Atlantic)
A Line to Kill (Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery #3) by Anthony Horowitz (Century)
Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller (Fig Tree)

Wish me luck! If you’re taking part too, enjoy your summer of reading.