Emma and I hope you had a great month of summer reading. The July post with the linky for your July reviews will be here tomorrow. I’ve had a good start to my 20 books, reading 8 and reviewing 6 – I hope July will be equally productive, although I have managed to sign myself Read More
Month: June 2025
This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub – Book 5 of my #20BooksofSummer2025
That’s 8 summer books read now, so it’s time for another review, I’m getting behind in them. I’ve been meaning to read more novels by Emma Straub ever since I read her debut, Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures, which I loved. Despite its central SF conceit of time travel which may put some non-SF readers Read More
Shiny Linkiness – Kidd & Brown
I’ve had two reviews published at Shiny New Books in the past couple of week, so just highlighting them here. Murder at Gull’s Nest by Jess Kidd This is the first in a new series from the acclaimed Irish author. Subtitled Nora Breen investigates, we travel to a 1950s Kentish seaside town out of season Read More
Our Last Wild Days by Anna Bailey (with Ginny) #20BooksofSummer2025 No 6
So that’s 7 books read – I hope to fit in an 8th before the month is out, but have a couple of review copies to cover first. But I’m on track for my 20 books with the holidays and more reading time to come soon. Time for a review, accompanied by a photo from Read More
The Wild Swimmers by William Shaw – Alex Cupidi 5 – #20BooksofSummer2025 – Book No 3
William Shaw is one of my favourite UK crime writers. His DS Alex Cupidi novels, which are set in Kent and around Dungeness in particular, are particularly strong for their sense of place, but also there’s always a social justice theme running through them. It’s probably better to have read some of the others before Read More
Broken by Jón Atli Jónasson – blog tour
Translated by Quentin Bates A first novel in translation by an award-winning Icelandic screenwriter, Broken is a police procedural that’s the beginning of a trilogy – translated by Quentin Bates for Corylus Books: it sounds like a winner… It begins with a teenager going missing on a school trip. There’s no-one else available, so Dóra Read More
Invisible Kitties by Yu Yoyo, #ReadingtheMeow2025 #20BooksofSummer2025
Translated by Jeremy Tiang It’s great to be able to cover two challenges with one book – as well as being one of my 20 Books of Summer, Invisible Kitties is also for Mallika’s Reading the Meow 2025, the third year of her feline reading challenge, and what a super book I picked! I really had my Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: All Fours by Miranda July
First Saturday of the month and time for the super monthly tag Six Degrees of Separation, which is hosted by Kate at Booksaremyfavouriteandbest, Six Degrees of Separation #6degrees picks a starting book for participants to go wherever it takes them in six more steps. Links to my reviews are in the titles of the books chosen. The starter Read More
Oleander, Jacaranda: A Childhood Perceived by Penelope Lively – Book Group report and #20BooksofSummer2025 -No 2
When our Book Group, which is picking flora or fauna related titles at the moment, didn’t pull this one out of the hat for ‘J’, we recycled it for ‘O’! Published in 1994, Lively’s memoir centres on her childhood in Egypt in the 1930s. Her father worked for an Egyptian bank in Cairo; her mother Read More
Dinner Party: A Tragedy by Sarah Gilmartin – #20BooksofSummer2025 no 1
I read Irish author Gilmartin’s second novel, Service, a couple of years ago, which featured a three part #MeToo storyline involving a chef/patron of a top-end Dublin restaurant, his wife and one of the waiting staff, taking narration duties in turn. I enjoyed it a lot, planning to return to her first novel, which I’ve Read More
Red Water by Jurica Pavičić – blog tour
Translated from Croatian by Matt Robinson Earlier this month I read my first novel by a Bulgarian author, now I can add Croatia too to my European lit list with this multi European prize-winning novel. Pavičić’s bio says he is ‘known for hjs unorthodox thrillers and crime novels which mix social analysis with deep insights Read More
#20BooksofSummer2025 – all systems are go!
Thank you, thank you all for your fantastic responses to Emma and I keeping 20 books going. The number of sign-ups and comments on the planning post is just brilliant. If you still need to pick up the logos for the different numbers of books, or the bingo card, do visit the original post HERE. Read More
