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#bookspinbingo list for April

I‘m on hold for the next Hamish book so I decided to dive into another cozy mystery series by M.C. Beaton, this time set in the Edwardian era. It had its funny moments & the narrator did a great job with all the voices, but it didn‘t capture my full attention. It‘s not bad, just not my favorite. 3⭐️

#audiobook
#MCBeaton
#cozymystery
#historicalfiction

Book two in The Last Binding trilogy, and in this one, we are searching for the second object that forms part of the Last Contract.

I wish I'd learn from my mistakes and would read series without gaps. I read book one over a year ago, and it took me a fair few chapters to get back into this world.

I did, however, get back into it, and while I didn't love this adventure as much, it was a decent read, and it was nice to get to know Maud better.

This was my January book. It‘s a chunk and it‘s slow, and has a massive amount of research (which Byatt said was rewarding). The book takes English children of the 1870‘s, born into the liberal artistic intellectual world of the Fabian Society, and carries us with them through WWI, after which they are clearly no longer children. I adored this massive thing and its vast spread across 50 characters. I read it with a Booker group on fb.

A low Pick. It's enjoyable and can be read without knowing the first book in the series. But for me it was lacking on atmosphere and chemistry between the characters. Even though they were written quite well, I never felt close enough to really care about them or their case.

(And yes, I need to finish my reviews before 2025!)

This was a different type of mystery, with elements that confused me (though I‘ve been reading this for a few months with breaks, so I may have forgotten why certain things happen). Truelove reminds me of Amelia Peabody, though I like Peabody a bit more. The ghost of Queen Victoria speaking to Truelove was odd. So-so book for me.

And with a birdhouse on the cover of A Restless Truth, that's September! I've now completed half of this year's cards. #ISpyBingo @Clwojick @TheAromaofBooks

I didn‘t think I could love a book more than I did the first two, but it happened! Marske makes excellent use of a trope I usually hate - enemies to lovers - and continues to build on already vivid character and world dynamics. She‘s also a master at spicy scenes if those are your jam, constantly one-upping her prior scenes somehow. Given how much I love this series, I was delighted to see a glimmer of more on the horizon. #lgbtqia #magic

I love when past me sends present me gifts! I totally forgot I preordered this until it showed up at my door!

5⭐️

This is an extraordinary novel that depicts the entangled lives of the Wellwood, Fluud, and Cain families at the end of the 19th and into the 20th century. Byatt is remarkable in her descriptions of the Kentish countryside during the halcyon days of childhood.
I was reading this for the WWI prompt for #BookedinTime I'm not sure it counts as the war only appears in the last few chapters. However, by giving us such a detailed, prolonged

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