Ah, June. You brought me some great reads! Everything from a classic to contemporaries to historicals.
Howard’s End by E.M. Forester
I do love this story. I think it is such an interesting character study. Lots of intriguing insights into the way people think and act. I re-read it after watching the 2017 BBC mini series version of the book, but of course the book goes much deeper into the characters. The older movie version with Emma Thompson, Anthony Hopkins, and Helena Bonham Carter is really good, too.
Of Literature and Lattes by Katherine Reay
This book picks up with some of the characters we met in The Printed Letter Bookshop, which I read in February of this year and loved. And while this second installation with some of these characters, it didn’t draw me in as quickly as the one before it. However, I did love the way the story captured the longings and misunderstandings and movement from past to future of a mother and her young adult daughter. I could relate to so many of those feelings.
The Lost Lieutenant by Erica Vetsch
I love regencies. I love Erica Vetsch. I love this cover. Throw in my absolute enjoyment of a marriage of convenience romance, and yes, this book lived up to all of my lofty expectations! Can’t wait for the next in the series—The Gentleman Spy—releasing in July!
A Mosaic of Wings by Kimberly Duffy
I so enjoy tales of intelligent, college-educated women in a time where that wasn’t the norm. And I love going to exotic locations in my reading, too. So this book was perfect for me! Science isn’t my thing, but it is my daughter’s, so it was kind of fun to picture her in Nora’s adventures and ambitions in the science world. Wonderful detail in location and history and science. And I loved, too, that a couple of the characters were real people from the annals of history!
Foundations of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
We heard this author speak at the Texas Book Festival last year, but when we got to the book tent they were sold out of this book, her most recent release. Instead, we read one they did have, and loved it. So when I found this one I snatched it up. It begins in 1950s Madrid, under General Franco’s rule, a time and place I knew little of. Sepetys writes beautifully, capturing both place and people in ways I aspire to do. I love her masterful blending of history and fiction. And while this story was heartbreaking in so many ways, it was ultimately a story of hope.
Conspiracy of Silence by Ronie Kendig
I don’t read much in the military suspense category, but I do enjoy the way Ronie Kendig weaves a story. Her characters always capture my heart and keep me reading. I’ll admit I can’t read these fast, mostly because I can’t read them before I go to sleep! But when I’m yearning for something action-filled, she doesn’t disappoint!
The Lady and the Gent by Rebecca Connolly
I don’t often have good luck with random Amazon authors, but lately I seem to have stumbled on several really good ones who write Regency romance. This was my first book by Connolly, but it won’t be my last! In fact, I’m already itching the read the next in this series. That says a lot considering how much is already in my To Be Read pile!
That’s the run down for June! Hope you’ll try one—or several—and let me know what you think!