The Three Ws are:
What did you recently finish reading?
What are you currently reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
Recently Finished :
Educated by the Earl by Alexa Aston -- The "Currently Reading" from last week's WWW Wednesday and the book for the most recent Book Beginnings & Friday 56 post. I'm still day-dreaming about the oh-so-swoon-worthy hero of this one and anxiously awaiting the next in the series.
Mary Lancaster's Pleasure Garden series -- I have now read the first four in the series. Three of them were used for Sunday's I'll Sleep When I've Read... post, and the fourth was yesterday's Tuesday Intros & Teaser Tuesday. There is supposed to be only one book left, but I'm really hoping that Lancaster changes her mind or does a spin-off series or something of the sort because there are a couple of characters I'm more than a bit anxious to read more about. Heck, I would even read novellas and I kind of hate novellas.
Currently Reading:
The skeletons in the closet have nothing on the one in your backyard.
Freshly divorced and grieving the death of her father, Josie Lauer has caged herself inside her home. To cope with her losses, Josie follows a strict daily routine of work, playing with her dog, Po, and trying to remember to eat a decent meal—and ending each night by drinking copious amounts of vodka. In other words, she is not coping at all.
Everything changes when Josie wakes to find a small shrub has sprouted in her otherwise dirt backyard the morning after yet another bender. Within hours, the vine-like plant is running amok—and it’s brought company. The appearance of the unwieldly growth has also heralded the arrival of a busybody new neighbor who insists on thrusting herself into Josie’s life. The neighbor Josie can deal with. The talking skeleton called Skelly that has perched itself in Josie’s backyard on a throne made of vines, however, is an entirely different matter.
As the strangely sentient plant continues to grow and twist its tendrils inside Josie’s suddenly complicated life, Josie begins to realize her new neighbor knows a lot more about the vines and her bizarre new visitor than she initially lets on. There’s a reason Skelly has chosen to appear in Josie’s suddenly-blooming backyard and insists on pulling her out of her carefully kept self-isolation. All Josie has to do is figure out what that reason is—and she has only a few days to do it, or else she might find herself on the wrong side of catastrophe.
LITTLE BIRD is a story about found family, no matter how bizarre.
I decided that I needed a little break from bodice rippers (very little ... like, the length of this book little) and the March challenge for the Alphabet Soup group on Facebook is Two-Word Titles and the book I was intending to use, as it turns out, is a spin-off from a series I haven't read yet with overlapping characters and my brain started to twitch .... so I hopped on to NetGalley in hopes of a Two-Worder in the Read Now listings. Then I saw the cover. And then I hit "Read Now." And then I read the description. It actually sounded pretty dang good.
Really, though. That cover is amazing.
The book itself started with lines well-worthy of your standard Book Beginnings & Friday 56 post.
The morning was always too bright after a bender. Well, perhaps not a bender, but a carefully controlled evening of adult beverages that had gone slightly off the rails.
And still under the assumption that this would be the perfect book for Friday's post, I checked out the 56% mark as well.
"Years. She's going to live in my yard for years?"
"I doubt that. I've known her long enough to know this behavior is different. Her deal with you, the ferocity of these vines, her constant lingering in your yard. Something is happening, something big."
"Oh, that's just super."
So that short little break from bodice rippers is going to be significantly shorter than I had first expected because it's a short and fast read. It's not the greatest book I've ever read, but it's not awful. Of course, I still have 22% left since I took most of Tuesday off from doing more than binge-watching Alice in Borderland on Netflix. Pretty sure that the only reason I'll get through the last 22% before my shift ends this morning is that Netflix is blocked on the work computer and I neglected to bring the Kindle.
Let's just say that so far the cover and the two blips I would have used if it had made it to Friday were some of the best bits. It's listed as "horror" on NetGalley and Amazon and GoodReads and I just don't get it. Yeah ... there's a random talking garden skeleton, but unless Skelly starts slaughtering pets and people really soon I would simply tag this as "strange" rather than "horror."
What's Next?
Back to the bodice-ripping I go!
I have the first two books in Abigail Bridges' Ashton Park series waiting for me, as well as the first book in a new series from Darcy Burke. I already have this Sunday's I'll Sleep When I've Read... post all set to publish because of a release blitz something or other I signed up for eons ago. It's a sweet book so come back then ... and on Friday to find out which I've decided on for the upcoming Book Beginnings & Friday 56. Very early next Wednesday morning I'll be leaving on a mini-vacation (which was supposed to happen last month) so I'm not sure if there'll be anything else until I come back.
For now, the Friday debate continues:
She wants to protect the innocent. He wants to regain his reputation. Will working together bring redemption—or ruin?
Welcome to Book 1 in the fabulous new series from Abigail Bridges.
Spinster Lady Rose Timmons has one purpose in life: protecting the vulnerable young women in London's Society from the scores of scoundrels who would prey on their innocence. She has an extensive network of informants who keep her up to date on all their misdeeds and schemes, and she will take any action needed—even public humiliation.
Thomas Ashton, Lord Newbury and heir to the Duke of Kennet, is one of those Lady Rose has in her sights. Despite being a childhood friend—and a man she has long been fascinated with—Lady Rose is determined not to let his rakish behavior spoil the debut season of her beloved sister or any other woman.
Lord Newbury, however, has his own ulterior motives about rejoining Society after years as a rogue. He desperately needs an heir—and an heiress. Society, however, is not so eager to welcome home a prodigal son. When he crosses paths—and wits—with Lady Rose, he proposes an unexpected bargain: if she will help him regain his reputation, he will help her destroy the one scoundrel she has never been able to touch, a man who has hurt dozens of people, including Rose herself.
Lady Rose, intrigued and as fascinated by Newbury as ever, accepts the challenge. But even as they are drawn ever closer to each other, they remain unaware that their efforts to bring down a ruthless man could endanger more than their reputations—it could cost them their lives.
OR
As a refinement tutor, Mrs. Juno Langton helps young ladies develop the skills and confidence to secure an advantageous marriage. Her cheerful disposition never wavers no matter how challenging her assignment. When a house party provides an opportunity to match her difficult charge with a duke, Juno will go to any lengths to satisfy her employer and ensure the young lady’s future. Too bad the duke is an unsmiling, rigid grouch, albeit an irritatingly handsome one.
The Duke of Warrington dislikes social gatherings and despises the Marriage Mart which makes it nigh impossible to find a wife. He plans to secure his future duchess at a house party, but she’s being managed by a thoroughly meddlesome—and provocative—Mrs. Langton, who is determined to find his better nature. He’ll do anything to avoid her sunny charm and room-brightening smiles, but she’s breaking through his shell and the only way he can think to keep her quiet is to kiss her. He must marry the young lady, not desire the companion.
But now he’s rethinking his wife choices.
