WWW Wednesday

It's time for WWW Wednesdays hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words 

   

This mid-weekly meme consists of answering The Three Ws:

What are you currently reading?

 What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

I'm reading . . .

I first saw this book featured by Cleo on her blog, Cleopatra Loves Books.  She's an avid reader and reviewer, and I find the best mystery, crime, and suspense novels in Cleo's posts.  Thus it's no surprise that I'm totally enthralled by The Crooked House. which is a very atmospheric mystery set primarily in an English village on the marshes.  

I finished reading . . .

  

The Vanishing Year features a troubled protagonist, now known as New York society wife Zoe Whittaker.  She is on the run from the dangers of her past and fears that her rich, distant husband will learn her darkest secrets.

Henry Whittaker has given Zoe a life she never dreamed possible, but is he the charming knight in armor she initially imagined him to be?  Changes in his behavior toward Zoe and his secretive nature unsettle her at an extremely vulnerable time.  Why is Henry so reluctant to share information about his own past, and what is he hiding?  This fast-paced suspenseful thriller is a satisfying read that twists and turns its way to an unexpected conclusion.  

and . . .

                  

Set in Edwardian London, Death on the Sapphire is the first book in the Lady Frances Ffolkes mystery series.  Unwilling to settle for the traditional female roles of the time, Lady Frances is a suffragist and advocate for the poor who is determined to make her own way in society.  Her intelligence and curiosity lead her to investigate the death of a family friend believed to have committed suicide and the disappearance of his tell-all manuscript.  Her keen powers of observation and deduction put her in harm's way as she unravels the truth of this and other deaths of military men who served during the Boer War.  Aided by her loyal lady's maid, Franny encounters danger--and romance--along the way.  This historical series is off to a fascinating start, and I am eager for the next installment.

I'm reading next . . .

 

I'm actually 124 pages into this much anticipated novel (more from Goodreads), but admit to being distracted by sampling The Crooked House, which quickly became my current read due to its un-put-down-ability.   So, I will be picking up The Little Paris Bookshop next so that I have it finished in time for a book club meeting at the end of the week.

I'm waiting for . . .

Publisher:  Crooked Lane Books

Publication Date:  October 11, 2016

After recently reading and enjoying Death on the Sapphire, I was delighted to learn that it won't be too long of a wait before the second book in the series is published.

From barnesandnoble.com:  Lady Frances Ffolkes is incensed when she finds out that her dear friends Gwendolyn and Thomasina have been subject to vicious threats. Promising to uncover their attacker, she travels with them to Kestrel's Eyrie, the fabled estate belonging to Gwen's family. But soon Frances faces an even greater problem, when Gwen’s father, a powerful diplomat, is stabbed to death with his prized ruby dagger.

Frances, with her loyal maid June Mallow at her side, jumps right into interrogating the estate's numbered guests: a charming Turkish diplomat with a habit of sneaking off into the night, a brash American heiress with lofty dreams of becoming mistress of the Eyrie, two gossiping widows with their own scandalous secrets, and Gwen's own aunt tasked with keeping the affairs of the estate in order among the chaos of the investigation. But as the case unfolds, Frances's righteous conviction might just be the very thing that leads danger--and even more death--to her own doorstep.

Old sins do indeed cast long shadows in Death Among Rubies a delightful closed-room mystery in the vein of Agatha Christie and the second in R.J. Koreto's effortlessly charming historical series.

What are your Wednesday updates?

WWW Wednesdays was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated.  

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph

It's Tuesday . . . time for . . .

                                                      

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea, where bloggers post the first paragraph(s) of a book they are currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

Today I'm featuring The Crooked House by Christobel Kent, which I borrowed from the library.  It's my current read--a very atmospheric mystery set primarily in an English village on the marshes.  

Goodreads Page 

Thirteen Years Ago

When it starts again, she is face down on her bed with her hands over her ears and she feels it more than hears it.  A vibration through the mattress, through the flowered duvet, through the damp pillow she's buried her face in.  It comes up from below, through the house's lower three storeys.  BOOM.  She feels it in her throat.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter One

Alone in the bed Alison sat bolt upright.  She had trained herself not to gasp when that happened, long before she woke next to anyone, long before there was anyone to ask her what had scared her.  But she couldn't stop the jerk upwards, as if she had to break through the surface, as if water was closing over her.  Paul  had never asked, though: it was one of the reasons she was still here, eight months on.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

When Alison returns incognito to her childhood community after thirteen years to attend a wedding with her boyfriend Paul, memories of the traumatic reasons she left, including the horrific murders of her family, come flooding back.  She has never shared this part of her history with Paul.  The village and villagers seem virtually unchanged to Alison, but her older self is more astute at piecing together clues and motives as to what really happened all those years ago.  Will she gain some sense of closure by confronting the ghosts of her past?

The author's layering of past events, current mysterious characters connected to the wedding, and new information about the villagers has my full attention.  Every time I think I've figured out who was responsible for the killings, Kent throws another curve or two into the plot.  The level of secret keeping amongst the characters is palpable, and I am bracing myself for the revelation of the truth. 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated. 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings

It's Friday . . . time to share book excerpts with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an ebook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Today I'm featuring The Girl From The Savoy by Hazel Gaynor.  The excerpts shared are from the trade paperback I borrowed from the library.

  

Beginning:  Act 1--Hope--London 1923 

Dolly

"That's the fascinating thing about life, Miss Lane.

All its wonderful unpredictability."

"It is as simple as this: a person can be unpunctual or untidy, but if they intend to get on in life they certainly cannot be both."  I'll never forget these words, nor the housekeeper who barked them at me as I skulked back to the house--late and disheveled--from my afternoon off.

***************

Page 56:  "The hotel room is dark and unfamiliar when I wake.  I lie still, listening to the rise and fall of the girls' breaths, the pop of a mattress spring as they move, the rustle of bedsheets as they fidget in their sleep.  It is all so strange and new."

***************

My thoughts:   My favorite stories are those set in London in the first half of the 20th century.  This historical fiction blends aspects of class and societal mores, the glamor of London, and the consequences of war on the lives of Brits in 1920s London.

****************

From Goodreads:  Presenting a dazzling new historical novel … The Girl From The Savoy is as sparkling as champagne and as thrilling as the era itself.

Sometimes life gives you cotton stockings. Sometimes it gives you a Chanel gown …

Dolly Lane is a dreamer; a downtrodden maid who longs to dance on the London stage, but her life has been fractured by the Great War. Memories of the soldier she loved, of secret shame and profound loss, by turns pull her back and spur her on to make a better life.

When she finds employment as a chambermaid at London’s grandest hotel, The Savoy, Dolly takes a step closer to the glittering lives of the Bright Young Things who thrive on champagne, jazz and rebellion. Right now, she must exist on the fringes of power, wealth and glamor—she must remain invisible and unimportant.

But her fortunes take an unexpected turn when she responds to a struggling songwriter’s advertisement for a ‘muse’ and finds herself thrust into London’s exhilarating theatre scene and into the lives of celebrated actress, Loretta May, and her brother, Perry. Loretta and Perry may have the life Dolly aspires to, but they too are searching for something.

Now, at the precipice of the life she has and the one she longs for, the girl from The Savoy must make difficult choices: between two men; between two classes, between everything she knows and everything she dreams of. A brighter future is tantalizingly close—but can a girl like Dolly ever truly leave her past behind?

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated.   

What Are You Reading Wednesdays

Today I'm joining in What Are Your Reading Wednesdays, a new-for-me weekly meme hosted by Andie at It's A Reading Thing . . .

Participate by including some information about the book you're currently reading . . .
1.  What's the title?
2.  Share a few sentences from page 34 (or 34% of an eBook)
3.  Would you like to live in the world that exists within the book?  Why or why not?


I'm currently reading . . .

The Little Paris Bookshop 

Page 34 . . .

"Perdu rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt, checked that his black tie was straight, took out the reading glasses he had recently started wearing and with a deferential gesture, escorted the customer into the heart of his literary world: the leather armchair with a footstool in front of a large plate-glass window that framed a view of the Eiffel Tower.  There was, of course, a side table for handbags too--donated by Lirabelle.  And next to it, an old piano that Perdu had tuned twice a year, even though he couldn't play it himself."

Would I like to live in the world created by author Nina George?

Absolutely!!  Having access to a bookstore housed on a barge along the Seine with a view of the Eiffel Tower and a bookseller who pays great attention to detail, comfort, and hospitality is my idea of book heaven.   Reading this book brings back fond memories of visiting Paris and strolling along the Seine, perusing the books for sale in open-air stalls. 

What Are You Reading Wednesdays was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated. 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph

It's Tuesday . . . time for . . .

                                                      

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea, where bloggers post the first paragraph(s) of a book they are currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

Today I'm featuring Death on the Sapphire by R.J. Koreto, which I borrowed from the library.  It's the first book in a new historical mystery series set in London in the early 1900s.

Goodreads Page

Chapter 1

London, 1906

The surprising coda to the tragic death of Major Daniel "Danny" Colcombe, a restless war hero, capped what was already an especially busy day for Lady Frances Ffolkes. The morning had been taken up writing a speech on women's suffrage in her capacity as chair of the outreach committee of the League for Women's Political Equality.  Next was following up on arrangements for the Ladies' Christian Relief Guild soup kitchen in the East End.  She had also made an appointment for what would no doubt be a tedious meeting with Henry Wheaton, the family solicitor--ever since moving out of the family home and into Miss Plimsoll's Residence Hotel for Ladies, she had started taking care of her own finances.  A dull task, but rather liberating nonetheless for an independent woman.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?   

The first paragraph describes why I am so enamored of books set in Edwardian London--strong, independent ladies who fight for women's rights and social justice and are dedicated to improving society in the early years of the 20th century.

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated. 

WWW Wednesdays

It's time for WWW Wednesdays hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words

  

This mid-weekly meme consists of answering The Three Ws:

What are you currently reading?

 What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

I'm reading . . .

 

I borrowed an ARC of this book, which will be published this September, from a librarian friend.  It is a suspenseful read that hooked me immediately.  More from Goodreads.

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I finished reading . . .

I didn't expect to, but I fell completely in love with the oddball called Ove.  On the surface, Ove is a stickler for details, unsociable, ornery, and set in his ways.  As the story unfolds, however,  the details of the trials and traumas Ove has suffered over the years give insight into what has shaped his character.  When it appears that Ove can no longer endure the sadness and losses of his life, encounters with his new neighbors and a stray cat lead to unexpected friendships and give new meaning to Ove's life.  This novel, filled with dark humor and unforgettable characters, is ultimately uplifting and profound.  More from Goodreads.

**************************** 

I'm reading next . . .

 

This mystery, described as a dark and gothic tale, is very popular at the library.  It took a while to get my hands on a copy.  More from Goodreads.

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I'm waiting for . . .

 

Publisher:  St. Martin's Press

Publication Date:  November 22, 2016

From barnesandnoble.com:  "They think I am still a little girl who is not capable of being a Queen.”

Lord Melbourne turned to look at Victoria. “They are mistaken. I have not known you long, but I observe in you a natural dignity that cannot be learnt. To me, ma’am, you are every inch a Queen.”

In 1837, less than a month after her eighteenth birthday, Alexandrina Victoria – sheltered, small in stature, and female – became Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. Many thought it was preposterous: Alexandrina — Drina to her family — had always been tightly controlled by her mother and her household, and was surely too unprepossessing to hold the throne. Yet from the moment William IV died, the young Queen startled everyone: abandoning her hated first name in favor of Victoria; insisting, for the first time in her life, on sleeping in a room apart from her mother; resolute about meeting with her ministers alone.

One of those ministers, Lord Melbourne, became Victoria’s private secretary. Perhaps he might have become more than that, except everyone argued she was destined to marry her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. But Victoria had met Albert as a child and found him stiff and critical: surely the last man she would want for a husband….

Drawing on Victoria’s diaries as well as her own brilliant gifts for history and drama, Daisy Goodwin, author of the bestselling novels The American Heiress and The Fortune Hunter as well as creator and screenwriter of the new PBS/Masterpiece drama Victoria, brings the young queen even more richly to life in this magnificent novel.

What are your Wednesday updates?

WWW Wednesdays was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated.  

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph

It's Tuesday . . . time for . . .

                                                      

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea, where bloggers post the first paragraph(s) of a book they are currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

Today I'm featuring The Vanishing Year by Kate Moretti, which I borrowed from a librarian friend.  This book will be published on 9/27/16 by Atria Books.

 

Goodreads Page

Chapter 1

April 2014, NEW YORK CITY

Lately, I've been dreaming about my mother.  Not Evelyn, the only mother I've ever known, the woman who raised me and loved me and taught me to swim in the fresh water of Lake Chabot, bake a sticky sweet pecan pie, fly-fish.  I've thought about Evelyn plenty in the five years since she died--I'd venture to say every day.*

*Text taken from an advanced reader copy.

 

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?   

I'm half-way through this suspenseful novel, and I can't put it down.  The protagonist, now known as New York society wife Zoe Whittaker, is on the run from the dangers of her past and fears that her rich,distant husband will learn her darkest secrets.  

Henry Whittaker has given Zoe a life she never dreamed possible, but is he the charming knight in armor she initially imagined him to be?  Changes in his behavior toward Zoe and his secretive nature are unsettling her at an extremely vulnerable time.  Why is Henry so reluctant to share information about his own past, and what is he hiding?  I can't wait to finish this page-turner to find out.

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated.