July has been a bumper book month for me, I have read twelve books, eleven reviewed and one that I will review on August. I’m rather pleased with myself getting through so many book especially considering my husband and daughter both had two weeks off work in July (maybe I read more to get away from them 😂). Anyway, as always it hard choosing my top books of the month, but here are my choices.
Gods of Jade and Shadow Silvia Moreno-Garcia. What I loved about this book as the mix of historical fiction and Mayan folklore and the beautiful writing. Cassiopeia is treated like a maid in her grandfather’s house, after her and her mother returned to live there. She dreams of escape and visiting the city where the Jazz age is swinging and there are plenty of opportunities. When she opens a chest in her Grandfather’s room she releases a Mayan God of Death Hun-Kamé and finds herself on a journey she could never have dreamed of. With magical characters, wonderful places, in this world and the underworld, and plenty of historical detail this is a journey you won’t want to end.
Penshaw; A DCI Ryan Mystery by. L.J Ross. This is the thirteenth book in the brilliant DCI Ryan Series. DCI Ryan and DS Philips find themselves investigating the death of Alan Watson in a house fire, where there could delinks to the Miner’s Strikes of 1984. Ryan also finds himself heading the task force Operation Watchman, a cross department initiative aimed a quashing the drugs industry in the area and bringing down its kingpin Bobby Singh. With plenty of drama and suspense, a touch of romance and some brilliant Geordie humour, this is a must read for DCI Ryan fans.
The Photographer of the Lost by Caroline Scott. This book is one of the most beautiful and poignant books I have read in a long time. 1921, Harry takes commissions to photograph the graves and last known places of those killed or missing in action from World War I. He also has a personal quest, finding what happened to his brother Francis, classed as missing in action. Edie is Francis’s wife, and after receiving a photo in the post believes her husband to be alive, so joins Harry in France to search. This is a brilliant debut novel that looks at what happens after he fighting has stopped, how the families deal with not knowing what happened to their loved ones, how the towns were left in ruins and how the vast cemeteries we now know came about. This is a powerful and emotional read of love, loss, rememberance, hope and forbidden love.
The Girl at the Window by Rowan Coleman. Being a huge fan of the Bronte sisters this book was an absolute joy to read. After her husband is missing presumed dead Trudy takes her son Will back to her childhood home Ponden Hall on the Yorkshire Moors to love with her mother who she hasn’t spoken to in sixteen years. As the house helps her heal, it also reveals secrets of those who have lived there before. Moving from the present to the seventeenth and twentieth centuries, this is an homage to Emily Bronte and a book about family, love, hope and secrets that cross the centuries.
I am now looking forward to sharing my reviews of some more wonderful books in August, including The Secret Hours by Santa Montefiore, A Dream of Italy by Nicky Pellegrino and The Hiding by Naomi Wood.
