Weekly Reading Round-Up

Most of my reading this week has been of the contest judging variety, but I did seize the opportunity to read two other books:

— Kristan Higgins’s crossover into women’s fiction, If You Only Knew, was the bright spot of an otherwise rainy week. Told from the viewpoints of two sisters whose lives are crumbling around them in various ways, the characters are so well drawn and real that you can picture them as people you know– people you know and actively want to hang out with.

— James Livingston’s work of non-fiction, Arsenic and Clam Chowder: Murder in Gilded Age New York, was retroactive research for the work-in-progress, but definitely worth reading just for fun, as you unravel how the descendant of the Livingstons, a putative heiress, is reduced to living in a hotel with her four illegitimate children– and, just possibly, poisoning her own mother with a bucket of overpriced room service clam chowder.

What have you been reading this week?

7 Comments

  1. Christina on May 6, 2016 at 10:09 am

    I’ve been on a fantasy kick. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas and Magic Strikes & Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews. Loved them all.

  2. Alice on May 6, 2016 at 5:58 pm

    The last book in the Survivor’s Club series by Mary Balogh, Only Beloved. A great end to a great series! Probably one of my favorites in the series. And the first in a new series by Darcie Wild, A Useful Woman. The series is off to a great start! I enjoyed the heroine, the mystery and all of the supporting players!

  3. Lauren H on May 6, 2016 at 7:19 pm

    I’ve had a really bad week, so I’ve been looking for comfort reads.

    I’m working on finishing up Mary Balogh’s Bedwyn series, currently on Slightly Sinful. I’ve also started Tessa Dare’s Castles Ever After series with Romancing the Duke.

    Then I picked up Leigh Bardugo’s new one Six of Crows. I also started Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians because someone said it was unputdownable and I thought maybe it could distract me.

    So far all the light reading seems to be doing the trick.

    • Betty Strohecker on May 6, 2016 at 7:29 pm

      Love Mary Balogh. Her Slightly series is wonderful.

  4. Pat Dupuy on May 6, 2016 at 7:43 pm

    My last three reads have all been very good. First was Julia Quinn’s Because of Miss Bridgerton.Then What You See by Hank Phillippi Ryan. I just finished Delia’s Shadow by Jaime Lee Moyer. Ghosts, a woman who sees ghosts, and a serial killer in San Francisco nine years after the Big One. Got my name on the sequel at the library!

  5. Sheila on May 7, 2016 at 8:51 am

    I usually love everything Carla Kelly writes, but this last one, Do No Harm, was just a bit preachy. Still worth reading because she is just so good. My Husband’s Sweethearts, by Bridget Asher, was fun, but not frothy, with some illuminating discussions of life, love, loss, etc.

  6. DJL on May 8, 2016 at 9:15 pm

    I am starting Game of Thrones and am enjoying very much. Also the second Sarah MacLean in the numbers series. Recently picked up A Useful Woman mystery by Darcie Wilde. My mother just finished Wonder Cruise by Ursula Bloom and really enjoyed it.

Leave a Comment