a personal choice by Helen Hollick
No difficulty in choosing my favourite this month - I absolutely loved this novel! Apart from the fact that I am Royalist Supporter (despite the utter mess Charles I made of things, I guess I'd be a Royalist as I loathe Cromwell) I liked the major characters (the goodies!) from the instant I met them. The hero is my kind of hero, the heroine my kind of heroine, the baddy a real nasty baddy... thoroughly enjoyed it from cover to cover! Bravo Ms Bazos!
Read the review HEREfrom our JUNE reviews
I'm starting to regret opening this page of a 'best choice' because we have so many good books it is getting hard to choose a 'best of', but what swung this one for me was the 'delightful old biddy'! Loved this character and the entire book.
from our MAY reviews
A tough one this month as there were several books I enjoyed but one alone had I to select, so...
...I've chosen Julia Brannan's The Mask Revealed because it was entertaining, enjoyable and blissful romantic escapism. Just right for reading in bed when 'to wind down' is desperately needed. The cover is lovely as well.
HH
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from our APRIL reviews
Medicus by Ruth Downie
Why I chose this book:
There were several novels I thoroughly enjoyed from our April reviews - but most were written by close friends (Alison Morton, Anna Belfrage, Pauline Barclay, Bernard Cornwell...) so it wasn't right for me to select those.
Yes, I do know Ruth, but I know a lot of authors (you tend to meet quite a few when you've been writing for over twenty years!) I reviewed Medicus because I thoroughly enjoyed it, it made me laugh in places, it kept me reading into the small hours, I loved the plot, the characters, the entire concept, and perhaps even more important, I went straight out and bought the next book in the series... and the next... and the next... So an obvious choice for my Book of the Month.
HH
read the review here
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from our MARCH reviews
PORTRAITS of PRETENCE by SUSAN GROSSEY
Why I chose this book:
I've enjoyed this series from the first book, The Man in the Canary Waistcoat. It takes skill to keep a series going - to keep readers wanting more, to come up with new plots and ideas and to keep the characters interesting. I also like the main characters Sam Plank and his wife, Martha, and Constable Wilson who is naive but 'growing' with the series. The research is detailed, the dialogue natural and the overall 'feel' very realistic.
HH
HH
Read the review here
from our FEBRUARY reviews
The Fragrant Concubine by Melissa Addey
Why I selected this book:
I chose this book simply because I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was so engrossed in the last quarter of the book I didn't notice, until I'd finished, that it was 3 a.m.
There were a few 'but why didn't he/she do...?" questions in my mind (sorry no spoilers!) but characters do (or don't do) certain things because that is the format of stories, and this is a very good story!
HH
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from our JANUARY reviews
Why I selected this book:
I chose this book because of the slightly different era for a 'police crime' novel, for the engaging characters and that 'lose yourself in the story' feel.
HH
Read the review HERE
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All books selected will automatically be short-listed for our
(to be judged independently and revealed at the end of December 2017)
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