I'm planning to read six books in July.
Reading for NetGalley-
Twice Shy by Sophia Holloway
Rejected by her bereaved father at thirteen and then jilted at nineteen, Elizabeth Ashling is deeply distrustful of men and has no wish to return to London Society. However, circumstances mean she must endure a Season, and there she meets Sir Lucius Radstock. He is as ardent a horse-lover as she is, although that is the only subject on which they appear to see eye to eye. He is initially irked by her coldness, and, in a moment of temper, gives her the nickname, 'The Unassailable'. To Elizabeth's horror, this encourages more unwelcome men to make a play for her, although she remains ignorant of who coined it. As Elizabeth thaws towards Sir Lucius all seems to be going well, until an old rival reveals that Sir Lucius has been as duplicitous as the rest of his gender.
Reading for Book Club-
Enchantment by Orson Scott Card
Enchantment is the story of a Ukraine-born, American grad student who finds himself transported to the ninth century to play the prince in a Russian version of Sleeping Beauty. Early in the story, he muses that in a French or English retelling of the tale, the prince and princess would live happily ever after. But, "only a fool would want to live through the Russian version of any fairy tale." Although his fears turn out to be warranted, as he and his cursed princess contend with the diabolical witch Baba Yaga--easily Russia's best pre-Khrushchev villain--to save the princess's kingdom.
Reading with the Mystery Book Club-
First Degree (Cass Leary #7) by Robin James
This lawyer is her client’s last hope, and her town’s worst nightmare.
When
a popular cheerleader winds up dead in a ditch, the case lands in
defense attorney Cass Leary’s own backyard. Her niece’s boyfriend Cole
is charged with first degree murder and the whole Leary family jumps to
his defense. The evidence against him is as thin as the ice on Finn
Lake. But an overzealous prosecutor and a rookie detective seem
determined to see Cole go down for this no matter what.
Just as
she’s about to crack the case, new evidence emerges that convinces Cass
her client’s being framed. Cass’s dogged determination to defend him
could upend the police department and ruin careers. But if she doesn’t
uncover the truth, the real killer could strike again.
Can Cass bust open this conspiracy before another innocent girl dies?
Gather the Anarchists (Grace Designs #3) by Tilly Wallace
This royal visit is going to end with a bang…
Edward,
the Prince of Wales, is about to step foot on Kiwi soil, and Grace is
frantically finishing gowns for her wealthy clients to wear at the balls
thrown in his honour. But then a horrible accident and a dying man’s
last moments draw her into a conspiracy to harm the prince.
As
Grace follows the strands of a last memory, she discovers there is a
patchwork of conspirators all with grudges against England and the royal
family. This plot has unravelled beyond her group of friends, and if
she’s going to hem in the anarchists and save the prince, she needs
help. There’s only one person she can turn to... Detective Archer.
Can
Grace discard her differences to confide in the policeman with their
common goal of saving the prince, or will there be an explosive end to
the royal visit?
I Think I Was Murdered by Collen Coble and Rick Acker
A grieving young widow. The AI program that
allows her to continue to "talk" to him. And a message she never
expected: "I think I was murdered."
Just a year ago, Katrina Berg
was at the pinnacle of her career. She was a rising star in the AI
chatbot start-up everyone was talking about, married with an adoring
husband, and had more money than she knew how to spend. Then her world
combusted. Her husband, Jason, was killed in a fiery car crash. Her CEO
was indicted and, as the company's legal counsel, Katrina faces tough
questions as the Feds take over and lock her out of her office. The
final blow is the passing of her beloved grandmother.
Her most
prized possession is the beta prototype for a new, ultra-sophisticated
chatbot loaded onto her phone. The contents of Jason's email, social
media backups, pictures, and every bit of data she could find were
loaded into the bot, and Katrina has "talked" to him every day for the
past six months. She has been amazed at how well it works. Even the
syntax and words the bot uses sound like Jason. Sometimes, she imagines
he isn't really dead and is right there beside her. She knows it's
slowing her grief recovery, but she can't stop pretending.
On a
particularly bad day, she taps out: Tell me something I don't know. The
cursor blinks for several moments and seems frozen before the reply
flashes quickly onto the screen: I think I was murdered.
Distraught,
Katrina returns to her cozy Norwegian-flavored hometown in the northern
California redwoods and enlists the help of Seb Wallace, local
restaurateur and longtime acquaintance, to try to parse out the truth of
what really happened. They must navigate the complicated paths of
grief, family dynamics, and second chances, as well as the complex
questions of how much control technology has. And staying alive long
enough to do that is far more difficult than either of them dreamed.
Pick it for me book-
Kingdom of Ruses (Ruses of Lenore #1) by Kate Stradling
Viola Moreland’s life is a well-orchestrated
lie. For generations her family has fabricated the existence of the
Eternal Prince, a mysterious and powerful protector who watches over the
small kingdom of Lenore.
This practiced deception cracks,
however, when a nameless stranger stumbles across the truth and promptly
assumes the Prince’s identity. Unable to produce the genuine
figurehead, the Moreland family—and Viola in particular—must cater to
the impostor’s whims or risk having the web of carefully constructed
ruses crumble to pieces.
Of course, as with any good lie, nothing
really is as it seems. Contrary to Viola’s desires, this false Prince
with his cryptic agenda may well be the only thing that stands between
the true magic of Lenore and certain destruction.
