I know this was not the summer that anyone planned on having, but it certainly wasn’t mine. At the tail end of a much-awaited visit home to Winnipeg with Penny, she was admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes. So not only was the newsletter delayed (mea culpa!), but I got desperately behind on work, and that has pushed me further behind on my reading.
Of course, it was the summer I didn’t want on top of the winter and spring I didn’t want either. I have not done much reading and what little I have done has been comfort re-reads. A round of Deborah Harkness’ ‘All Souls Series’, now counting four titles (none in stock, but all can be ordered). Love in a Cold Climate and The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford (also not in stock, also available for order).
More relevant to the store’s interests, I enjoyed a reread of Vivian Shaw’s ‘Dr Greta Helsing’ series (Strange Practice, Dreadful Company, Grave Importance). It’s such a lovely combination of high-end urban fantasy, romance, and old school horror tropes and each book is wonderful. It’s also nice to read a short series sometimes, with a defined story arc for each character.
My new ‘to read’ pile turns toppling. I’m two behind on Anna Lee Huber’s ‘Lady Darby’ series and Dianne Freeman’s ‘Countess of Harleigh’ series. I started The Dark Heart of Florence by Tasha Alexander and Castle Shade by Laurie R. King but haven’t got beyond the first few chapters. But the beauty of books, of course, is that they don’t go anywhere and you will find them when you are meant to find them. So while my brain tries to reboot quietly in the background, I’m going to focus on rereads and light romances.
As it happens, not a lot of the authors I read publish books in the fall, so it will be a good time for me to get caught up. In that vein, I may undertake a reread of Sherry Thomas’ ‘Lady Sherlock’ series to get ready for book #6, Miss Moriarty, I Presume. It is the book I most look forward to every year, so the opportunity to read the first five before November will be a task I will look forward to undertaking.