Well we’ve now said goodbye to the worst two months of the year and spring will soon be here – in fact walking in Jersey today the roadsides were full of daffodils so maybe it has arrived!
This Week on the Blog
Well it’s been a jam-packed week here on Cleopatra Loves Books, just the way we like it! The week started with my posting my review of The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffiths as part of the blog tour to celebrate the publication of this, the ninth book in the Dr Ruth Galloway series.
My excerpt post this week came from Boundary by Andrée A. Michaud which I will be reading soon.
This Week in Books had titles from Sarah Hilary, Caroline Lea and Gillian McAllister proving that my March reading has started strongly.
Next I reviewed Caroline Lea’s book, When the Sky Fell Apart, a book about the Occupation of Jersey during the Second World War, a story told through the eyes of a few of the inhabitants adding a richness to the back story.
On Friday I posted my review for The Long Drop by Denise Mina which is one of the best inspired by a true crime book that I have ever read – the details of life in Glasgow in the late 50s share a set with the serial killer, Peter Manuel who recently was the subject of the TV drama In Plain Sight.
It was the turn of David Jackson’s book A Tapping At My Door to be featured on Put A Book on the Map post yesterday so we took a trip to Liverpool with the help of Karen from Go Buy The Book and her wonderful pictures of key parts of the book.
This Time Last Year…
I was reading In Bitter Chill by Sarah Ward a book set in a fictional town in Derbyshire. I loved all the aspects to this crime fiction novel but particularly that some was set in the past, in 1978 and those events have a consequence in the present day story. Although the story rattles along it is made up of many cunning layers which meant it easily earned the full five stars from me.
You can read my full review here, or click on the book cover
Blurb
Bampton, Derbyshire, January 1978. Two girls go missing: Rachel Jones returns, Sophie Jenkins is never found. Thirty years later: Sophie Jenkins’s mother commits suicide.
Rachel Jones has tried to put the past behind her and move on with her life. But news of the suicide re-opens old wounds and Rachel realises that the only way she can have a future is to finally discover what really happened all those years ago.
This is a story about loss and family secrets, and how often the very darkest secrets are those that are closest to you. Amazon
Stacking the Shelves
Only two additions this week both from NetGalley, the first being the second in the Nathan Cody series by David Jackson; Hope to Die – perfect timing as the first featured on yesterday’s Put A Book On The Map post! If you can’t tell I’m extremely excited about this one which will be published on 6 April 2017.
Blurb
When the victim seems perfect, is it the perfect crime?
On a bitterly cold winter’s night, Liverpool is left stunned by a brutal murder in the grounds of the city’s Anglican Cathedral. A killer is on the loose, driven by a chilling rage.Put on the case, DS Nathan Cody is quickly stumped. Wherever he digs, the victim seems to be almost angelic – no-one has a bad word to say, let alone a motive for such a violent murder.
And Cody has other things on his mind too. The ghosts of his past are coming ever closer, and – still bearing the physical and mental scars – it’s all he can do to hold onto his sanity. And then the killer strikes again . . . NetGalley
I also have a copy of The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde by Eve Chase which will be published on 13 July 2017.
Blurb
Nineteen fifty-nine. The four Wilde sisters, Isla, Violet, Maggie and Dot, are spending the summer in the Cotswolds, at Applecote Manor. Affectionately called the Wildlings, the sisters are exceptionally close, yet this year there’s a sense of nostalgia. Things are changing.
Except for Applecote itself, a house that seems frozen in time. The sisters haven’t been there in five years; not since their cousin Audrey mysteriously vanished.
But as they discover Applecote’s dark secrets and new temptations, the sisters begin to grow apart. Until the night everything spirals out of control and the Wildlings form a bond far thicker than blood… NetGalley
Since my last post I’ve read 3 books and gained just 2 so the grand total is 188
Physical Books – 110
Kindle Books – 65
NetGalley Books – 13