Saturday 30 September 2017

Book of the Month - September


a personal choice by Helen Hollick

From our SEPTEMBER Reviews



Several fantastic books this month, but I've chosen Cometh The Hour. 
Annie Whitehead is going to be the Sharon K. Penman or the Elizabeth Chadwick for the early Saxon period - and watch out Mr Cornwell - there's a lady writer of Saxon era fiction coming up close behind you! 
Fabulous read.
HH

Read the review HERE

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from my AUGUST reads
(no book reviews posted - but books were still read!)



Thoroughly enjoyable. I receive great pleasure from Ms Gaskell Denver's wonderful tales, and this one, to date is the best I think
HH

Read the review HERE

from our JULY reviews



No difficulty in choosing my favourite this month - I absolutely loved this novel! Apart from the fact that I am Royalist Supporter (despite the utter mess Charles I made of things, I guess I'd be a Royalist as I loathe Cromwell) I liked the major characters (the goodies!) from the instant I met them. The hero is my kind of hero, the heroine my kind of heroine, the baddy a real nasty baddy... thoroughly enjoyed it from cover to cover! Bravo Ms Bazos!
HH
Read the review HERE

from our JUNE reviews


I'm starting to regret opening this page of a 'best choice' because we have so many good books it is getting hard to choose a 'best of', but what swung this one for me was the 'delightful old biddy'! Loved this character and the entire book.
HH

from our MAY reviews


A tough one this month as there were several books I enjoyed but one alone had I to select, so...
...I've chosen Julia Brannan's The Mask Revealed because it was entertaining, enjoyable and blissful romantic escapism. Just right for reading in bed when 'to wind down' is desperately needed. The cover is lovely as well.
HH

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from our APRIL reviews
Medicus by Ruth Downie




Why I chose this book:

There were several novels I thoroughly enjoyed from our April reviews - but most were written by close friends (Alison Morton, Anna Belfrage, Pauline Barclay, Bernard Cornwell...) so it wasn't right for me to select those.
Yes, I do know Ruth, but I know a lot of authors (you tend to meet quite a few when you've been writing for over twenty years!) I reviewed Medicus because I thoroughly enjoyed it, it made me laugh in places, it kept me reading into the small hours, I loved the plot, the characters, the entire concept, and perhaps even more important, I went straight out and bought the next book in the series... and the next... and the next... So an obvious choice for my Book of the Month.
HH

read the review here

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from our MARCH reviews
PORTRAITS of PRETENCE by SUSAN GROSSEY


Why I chose this book:
I've enjoyed this series from the first book, The Man in the Canary Waistcoat. It takes skill to keep a series going - to keep readers wanting more, to come up with new plots and ideas and to keep the characters interesting. I also like the main characters Sam Plank and his wife, Martha, and Constable Wilson who is naive but 'growing' with the series. The research is detailed, the dialogue natural and the overall 'feel' very realistic.
HH

Read the review here


from our FEBRUARY reviews
The Fragrant Concubine by Melissa Addey



Why I selected this book: 
I chose this book simply because I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was so engrossed in the last quarter of the book I didn't notice, until I'd finished, that it was 3 a.m. 
There were a few 'but why didn't he/she do...?" questions in my mind (sorry no spoilers!) but characters do (or don't do) certain things because that is the format of stories, and this is a very good story!
HH

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 from our JANUARY reviews



Why I selected this book:
I chose this book because of the slightly different era for a 'police crime' novel, for the engaging characters and that 'lose yourself in the story' feel. 
HH
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All books selected will automatically be short-listed for our 


(to be revealed at the end of December 2017)

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