Welcome to Litsy!

I loved Longbourn by Jo Baker & so i picked up her new book pretty quick. Its an engaging historical fiction set around the Blitz in London. Baker takes what at first seems like a typical English “office girl” (Charlotte) and slowly fills in her background until we realise she is not typical at all. As C goes through the loss of friends & workmates she gets caught up unravelling a mystery and gets into real peril. A good read 3.5 stars

I want to catch up here with some of the books I‘ve read during the year but not posted, for one reason or another. I enjoyed all of these m/m romances.

Catching up from last weekends reading and I'd enjoyed the birdwatcher so much I picked up the next in the series in which DS Culpidi takes centre stage. She is a single mum police officer transferred from te met to Kent police and is a great character as are those surrounding her. The plot features migrant workers and their exploitation by gang members. Definitely a series I will be going back to soon.

I started THE DUKE AT HAZARD while I looked after Daisy, who declined to pose, and finished it while I enjoyed my new projector lamp. (The green stars are still and the blue bits swirl.) It wasn‘t one of KJ Charles‘s standouts, but it was still an enjoyable way to spend a few hours. Lots of solid character development and creative problem solving.

I found it disconcerting how much the early part of this book borrowed from Heyer, specifically The Foundling, and I've noticed that even readers who don't recognize the source are baffled by the difference in tone. Once past that though, the characterizations are excellent and the romance very passionate.

Not an easy read. I'd not seen the experience of social interaction from an autistic woman's point of view so recognisably depicted: oh, the relief!... until it started to feel all exposing and nasty.
I couldn't bear how casually cruel almost everyone was to Sunday.
I was intrigued by her fluency in sign language.
It did get rather repetitive (a saggy middle caused by all those horrendous dinners?)
I thought the ending hit the right note.

I loved Longbourn by this author. Her voice as a writer really works for me. I enjoyed this novel set during the Blitz. Reads like a historical mystery. My only hesitation is that the author tackles so many topics that, at times, it comes off as a bit muddled. Still recommend this novel for Historical Fiction fans. 3.5 🌟

This one wrecked me. It‘s small in scope, but the ache it planted in my chest was big & deep & lingering. Mother/daughter relationships can be hard. So can those with ex-in-laws or new friends. But for Sunday, the novel‘s neurodivergent protagonist, they‘re further complicated by the canyon between who she is & who others want/expect her to be. The hurts & hardships caused by this gully - some accidental, some not - were enough to break my heart.

There is a palpable tension and anxiety that builds in this novel because the MC Sunday seems so vulnerable, though there isn‘t anything explicitly threatening in it. I could feel how Sunday‘s rich inner emotional life conflicted with the flat affect of autism she presented. It was a relief when she quit struggling to conform to social expectations and allowed herself to just be. Worth a reread!

This book. 💔 An exquisitely written, heart wrenching story of motherhood, cruelty and betrayal. The narcissistic Vita and cowardly Rolls. Beautiful Sunday. And young Dolly in the middle of it all. A powerful start to my reading year.