Showing posts with label author: gregory philippa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label author: gregory philippa. Show all posts

Friday, 8 April 2016

Books read in January/February 2016

I really haven't been reading much this year.  As proof, have my "books completed Jan-Mar" Project Life layout... (It says Jan-Feb, because I didn't finish any books in March.)  But I'm planning to get back to reading now.  I have to, or my TBR pile will overwhelm me.


Loving Rose: the Redemption of Malcolm Sinclair (Stephanie Laurens) - I honestly didn't remember who Malcolm Sinclair was, although as I was reading I knew I should know him.  It had been a long time since I read any Laurens, and I think this one may have reignited my love of Laurens.

Netherwood (Jane Sanderson) - This one has a sticker on the front saying "For fans of Downton Abbey" (or something like that).  It's set prior to the Downton era (Edwardian era, late 1890s), and very far from what's going on in London, but I'm really quite enjoying it.  The working class aspect of the story is less likely for this genre, but I really appreciate it.  

The Kingmaker's Daughter (Philippa Gregory) - Oh, my.  I do NOT agree with Gregory's view of Anne Neville in this book.  On the other hand, having read the first three books in this sequence, I suspect the genius of Gregory is her ability to get inside the skin of her major characters - because Jaquetta in Lady of the Rivers and Margaret Beaufort in The Red Queen are the same.  I'm looking forward to The White Princess now.

The Tempting of Thomas Carrick (Stephanie Laurens) - There's at least one Cynster I've missed (By Winter's Light) which apparently contains the first meeting of Thomas Carrick and his feted partner, Lucinda Cynster, daughter of Catriona, the Lady of the Vale.  Lucinda is awesome, and kickass, and Thomas gets there eventually.


Wednesday, 17 February 2016

Wednesday reads... 17 Feb 2016

And then I realised that it was Wednesday...


What I've just finished reading:
The Kingmaker's Daughter, by Philippa Gregory
Netherwood, by Jane Sanderson
The Tempting of Thomas Carrick. by Stephanie Laurens
The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo

What I'm reading now:
The Queen's Choice, by Anne O'Brien
Epitaph for Three Women,  by Jean Plaidy
Blood Sisters: the hidden lives of the women behind the Wars of the Roses, by Sarah Gristwood
A Match for Marcus Cynster, by Stephanie Laurens

What I plan to read next:
The Virgin Widow, by Anne O'Brien
By Winter's Light, by Stephanie Laurens
The White Princess, by Philippa Gregory

And all of a sudden, I'm back into the historical fiction in a big way.  Laurens and Gregory have captured my imagination (with Gristwood as a non-fiction addition.)

Choices, choices.

Have I really not posted here since last June?  I'm so sorry!

I finished Philippa Gregory's "The Kingmaker's Daughter" today. I have many many thoughts on this book, and hope to get to writing a review of this book very soon. Meanwhile, the choice for next read is between:
- the next in Gregory's Cousin's War series, "The White Princess"
- Anne O'Brien's Anne of Warwick novel, "The Virgin Widow", or
- the Anne O'Brien I have from the library, "The Queen's Choice", which is a two-generation jump backwards to Joanna of Navarre. 

Also I just bought Sarah Gristwood's "Blood Sisters", a non-fiction book about a number of the women involved in the Cousins' War.