Lil

A new month brings with it a whole load of new books to get my teeth into. I still have loads of reviews to write up, so watch this space for those, but until then feast your eyes on these beauties! First we have these two gorgeous titles courtesy of Pan Macmillan - I was only expecting a bookmark! These should fill the Poldark shaped void in my life nicely until the next series airs. Next up, my Bookbridgr haul. I may have got a little carried away with the request button... And last but not least, my library picks for the month. I already have five other titles on loan which I renewed (oops), but I couldn't resist picking up these two: Have you read any of these? What's new on your shelves this month?

March has been a busy month in terms of reading, and I have added plenty of new titles to my shelves this week! I tend to find there's a lull where I can't find anything I want to read, and then suddenly lots of exciting titles come along at once! The first book post of the week came courtesy of Pan MacMillan. Hausfrau has been billed as Anna Karenina meets Fifty Shades of Grey. My curiosity got the better of me and I dived straight into this one - pretty good so far! I also received these two books from Bookbridgr! Beatrice and Benedick tells the story of how the famous couple from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing first met. I just love the cover! The Prince Who Loved Me is a fairy tale of a historical romance set in Scotland. Historical romances are my guilty pleasure, and this one sounds perfect to bridge the gap between more heavy-going books. As if these books weren't enough, I picked up a couple of library books this week too! I've heard good things abou...

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands. True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­former...

Yesterday brought my second library trip this month. It's always such a great feeling when you walk through the doors and not just one but TWO of the books at the top of your tbr list are sat on the 'just in' shelf waiting for you. Can't wait to get stuck in! Petite Mort - Beatrice Hitchman A silent film, destroyed in a fire in 1913 at the Pathé studio, before it was seen even by its director. A lowly seamstress, who makes the costumes she should be wearing, but believes her talent - and the secret she keeps too - will soon get her a dressing room of her own. A beautiful house in Paris, with a curving staircase, a lake, and locked rooms. A famous - and dashing - creator of spectacular cinematic illusions, husband to a beautiful, volatile actress, the most adored icon of the Parisian studios. All fit together, like scenes in a movie. And as you will see, this plot has a twist we beg you not to disclose... India Black and the Gentleman Thief - Carol K Carr India Black’s d...

It's been an exciting week this week: I have five new books waiting to be read! Yesterday brought my first library trip of the month... Sense and Sensibility - Joanna Trollope  This has been on my to-read list for some time, and the other day I read a brilliant review of it over on Girl with her Head in a Book 's blog. It felt like fate when I saw it on the library shelf yesterday! When sisters Elinor and Marianne lose their father and their beloved home, Norland Park, all in a matter of weeks, the shock affects them in very different ways. As young architect student Elinor holds the family together, Marianne resists with all her might the change they must endure. Thrust into a tiny cottage in Devon, the two sisters are soon united by one thing, dilemmas of the heart. But where Marianne proclaims her love, Elinor holds her tongue. And in a world that turns on an axis of money, sex and power, what will prevail: following one's head or one's heart? Last Voyage of the Vale...

July's been a pretty slow month for reading, there's always so much going on in the summer that it's difficult to keep up! But even during a slow month there are a few books that manage to make their way onto my bookshelf... Ice Creams at Carrington's - Alexandra Brown Georgie Hart and Carrington’s Department Store have got the world at their feet. Since a reality TV series put them both on the map, life has been amazing! Carrington’s profits are in the pink, Georgie has found a place in the nation’s heart and her romance with Tom, the store’s boss, has blossomed. Now summertime has come to Mulberry-on -Sea and town is holding a big summer regatta. Georgie and the Carrington’s team are are going to make sure that the town puts on the show of the year! But Georgie is about to get the offer of a lifetime – something just too good to turn down, one that will test her loyalties to their limits… Will Georgie be able to pull off it off once again, or has her luck finally run ...

Today was just one of those days, I could only get three books out (as I already have seven renewed oops), and the library was full of new books to choose from. My local library is only tiny, and it's not even technically a library any more thanks to government cuts, so new books are a big thing for us! Here are the three novels I eventually settled on: Northanger Abbey - Val McDermid I literally ran through the door and grabbed this when I saw it; I've been desperate to read it ever since it was published, and thanks to the eye-catching cover  I spotted it straightaway. Seventeen year old Catherine 'Cat' Morland has led a sheltered existance in rural Dorset, a life entirely bereft of the romance and excitement for which she yearns. So when Cat's neighbours, the Allens, ask her to accompany them to the Edinburgh Festival, she is sure adventure beckons. Edinburgh initially offers no such thrills: Susie Allen is obsessed by shopping, Andrew Allen by the Fringe. A High...

Again I only allowed myself two books from the library today (I renewed five so I've plenty to get through!) The Silver Linings Playbook - Matthew Quicke I saw the film adaptation of this last year and loved it, so I'm excited to read the book! "Imagine that your life is a film directed by God. A romcom, obviously, complete with happy-ever-after ending. Before the credits roll, there will, of course, be tears, tantrums and misunderstandings, but you know you'll get there - and get your girl - in the end. Welcome to Pat's world. It's a world of silver linings and true love, but also a world where God makes movies and Kenny G lurks in your attic - and when Pat inadvertently befriends the tragic Tiffany, he begins to question whether or not he might just have got the genre wrong. For anyone who loved The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time or Little Miss Sunshine , The Silver Linings Playbook is a novel about love, life and American football... and wha...

I went to the library this morning and picked up a couple of titles that looked really interesting. I only allowed myself two as I've already got five renewed, not to mention the number of NetGalley ARCs and Goodreads First-Reads that I have to get through! It's going to be a busy few weeks... The Illusionists - Rosie Thomas "London 1885. A shadowy and threatening place for a beautiful young woman of limited means. Eliza's choices lie between marriage and stifling domesticity or a downwards spiral to the streets. But Eliza is modern before her time and she won't compromise. One night at a run-down theatre she meets the charismatic Devil Wix - a born showman who is set on running his own company. His right-hand man is Carlo Boldoni, a irascible dwarf whose dazzling talent eclipses everything Devil tries to do. Forever linked to Devil by a boyhood tragedy is his friend Jasper Button, a gifted artist, and the fourth member of this strange crew is Heinrich, an enigmat...

This morning I brought home my first library haul of the month: Longbourn - Jo Baker "'If Elizabeth Bennet had the washing of her own petticoats,' Sarah thought, 'she would be more careful notto tramp through muddy fields.' It is wash-day for the housemaids at Longbourn House, and Sarah's hands are chapped and raw. Domestic life below stairs, ruled with a tender heart and an iron will by Mrs Hill the housekeeper, is about to be disturbed by the arrival of a new footman, bearing secrets and the scent of the sea." The Other Typist - Suzanne Rindell "New York City, 1924: the height of Prohibition. In a police precinct on the lower East Side young typist Rose Baker coolly records the confessions of killers and gangsters. But when a new typist arrives - the captivating Odalie - Rose finds a true partner in crime. Flitting between sparkling speakeasies by night and their work at the precinct by day, the girls are drawn further into a dark, glamorous world....

From London With Love - Jemma Forte " Everyone wants to be famous, don't they? Not Jessica Granger. Her father is the movie star who played the world's favourite James Bond and worse, her mother was voted sexiest-ever Bond Girl for her role as Heavenly Melons. Like it or not, fame is in her blood. But Jessica desperately wants to be someone in her own right. So she flees Hollywood for London, seeking independence in a city where nobody knows her name. But when she finds a job as a celebrity booker on a chat show she realises the more friends she makes, the harder it is to keep up the lies about who she is. And when Jessica falls for Paul, a writer on the show, her life as a double agent causes double trouble. As the truth about who she is becomes unavoidable, can Jessica convince Paul she's the real deal? Or will a sprinkle of the old 007 magic spice up her love life?"   Players - Karen Swan "Harry Hunter is the new golden boy of the literary scene. With hi...

Shopping, Seduction and Mr Selfridge - Lindy Woodhead In 1909, the first and largest department store built from scratch in London's West End opened in a burst of glorious publicity. The mastermind behind the facade was American retail genius Harry Gordon Selfridge: maverick businessman, risk-taker, dandy and one of the greatest showmen the retail world has ever known. His talent was to create the seduction of shopping, and as his success and fame grew, so did his glittering lifestyle: mansions, yachts, gambling, racehorses - and mistresses. From the glamour of Edwardian England, through the turmoil of the Great War and the heady excesses of the 1920's and beyond, Selfridges Department Store was 'a theatre with the curtain going up at 9 o'clock each morning'. Shopping, Seduction and Mr Selfridge reveals the captivating story of the rise and fall of the man who revoloutionised the way we shop. House of the Hanged - Mark Mills France, 1935: At the poor man's end ...