I had planned for this year’s Cannonball Read to focus solely on the books that have been sitting on my shelves for years waiting to be read, but I’m breaking that vow already because I’m just so delighted with this book. Lisa Kleypas has long been one of my favourite romance writers. Not all her books are perfect, and they’re fairly standard fare in terms of characters and plots, but they are reliably well written and engaging, with better period detail than 99% of historical […]
A somewhat problematic murder mystery
Last year, I gave up on Cannonball Read in February. I kept reading, but the pressure to review got to be too much, and I ended up too far behind. This year, I’m not going for quantity, but instead am aiming to tackle all the books that I’ve bought over the years that for one reason or another have sat unread on my shelves. The first of these books is The Fashion in Shrouds by Margery Allingham, which I bought several years ago at Hatchard’s because […]
Cat people humour
All my life I’ve been a dog person. Which isn’t to say that I don’t like cats, I always have, simply that I felt more affinity with dogs. I understand dogs. They are bouncy and loving and they lick your face. However, I am married to a cat person, and last summer when my friend’s daughter’s cat had kittens, the husband and I decided to adopt two of them. I still don’t consider myself a cat person, although I love my cats. They are obviously […]
A time travel romance for the ages
A mention of time-travel romances in the comments of another review inspired me to revisit my very favourite time-travel romance, Son of the Morning, by Linda Howard. I first read this book 10+ years ago and was completely gripped from beginning to end. I’ve since re-read it several times. It’s one that never gets old for me. Perhaps ironically, what I love most about this book is not the time travel or the romance. In fact, those parts are my least favourite. What I love […]
A solid romance classic
Candace Camp is an author that I used to read when I was a teenager, nicking books from my mom’s special cupboard. I have vague but positive memories of her work, so when I saw that some of the books she published in the 80s were out for Kindle, I thought I’d give one a try. This book was originally published in 1984, and what struck me in particular was how much of a statement it made on the subject of privilege, something that I […]
A bit too much of the wrong brother
This is the fourth book in the Johannes Cabal series, and the only one that uses its main character sparingly. I loved the first three Cabal novels, particularly Johannes Cabal the Detective, which is the second one. I also love the handful of Cabal short stories, particularly Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day, the first Cabal story and a brilliant introduction to a brilliant character. Johannes Cabal is a German-born man who was raised from middle childhood in England. He is a necromancer ‘of some little infamy’, […]