On What Cathy Read Next last week
Blog posts
Monday – I shared my review of The Last Secrets by John Buchan.
Tuesday – This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Books That Give Off Summer Vibes.
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 Patrol by Fred Majdalany as part of the blog tour.
Friday – I published my review of One Hundred Miracles by Zuzana Ruzickova with Wendy Holden.
Saturday – I took part in the 6 Degrees of Separation meme forging a chain that started in Dublin and ended on the French Riviera. I also shared my Five Favourite May Reads.
As always, thanks to everyone who has liked, commented on or shared my blog posts on social media this week.
New arrivals
The Night of Shooting Stars (Martin Bora #7) by Ben Pastor (eARC, Bitter Lemon Press)
Bora is ordered to investigate the murder of Walter Niemeyer, a dazzling clairvoyant, a star since the days of the Weimar Republic. For years he has mystified Germany with his astounding prophecies.
Bora’s inquiry, supported by former S.A member Florian Grimm, resurrects memories of the excessive and brilliant world of Jazz Age cabarets and locales. Around them, in the oppressive summer heat, constant allied bombing, war-weary Berlin teems with refugees and nearly a million foreign laborers. Soon Bora realizes that there is much more at stake than murder in a paranoid city where everyone suspects everyone, and where persistent rumors whisper about a conspiracy aimed at the very heart of the Nazi hierarchy.
Could the charming Emmy Pletsch, who works for Claus von Stauffenberg, be a key to understanding what is going on? Bora eventually meets with Stauffenberg, facing an anguishing moral dilemma, as a German soldier and as a man. The 20 July plot and its dramatic implications as never told before.
The Girl From Vichy by Andie Newton (eARC, Aria via NetGalley)
1942, occupied France. As the war in Europe rages on, Adèle Ambeh dreams of a France that is free from the clutches of the new regime. The date of her marriage to a ruthless man is drawing closer, and she only has one choice – she must run.
With the help of her mother, Adèle flees to Lyon, seeking refuge at the Sisters of Notre Dame de la Compassion. From the outside this is a simple nunnery, but the sisters are secretly aiding the French Resistance, hiding and supplying the fighters with weapons.
While it is not quite the escape Adèle imagined, she is drawn to the nuns and quickly finds herself part of the resistance. But her new role means she must return to Vichy, and those she left behind, no matter the cost.
Each day is filled with a different danger and as she begins to fall for another man, Adèle’s entire world could come crashing down around her.
Adèle must fight for her family, her own destiny, as well as her country.
On What Cathy Read Next this week
Currently reading
Planned posts
- Blog Tour/Book Review: The Sea Gate by Jane Johnson
- Top Ten Tuesday: Books Recently Added To My TBR
- Waiting on Wednesday
- Blog Tour/Book Review: Warriors for the Working Day by Peter Elstob
- Book Review: The Bell in the Lake by Lars Mytting
- Buchan of the Month: Introducing… Homilies and Recreations by John Buchan
Lockdown and social distancing measures continue here in the UK due to the coronavirus, albeit slightly relaxed since Monday 1st June. For example, last week my sister was able to come over and sit in the garden with me and my husband, suitably socially distanced of course. And in week or so’s time, we have the enticing prospect of being once again able to enjoy the simple pleasure of browsing in a bookshop, although it will be a case of look, don’t touch unless you’re going to buy.
