Top Five Tuesday – Books on my Christmas wish list

It’s Top Five Tuesday which is hosted by Meeghan Reads, every week we’re given a book related topic and we choose our top five! This week we’ve got to share the books on our holiday wish list! I’ve only actually asked for three of these but I’ve got a gift card from my birthday which I’ll use for the others.

1. The Pearl Sister by Lucinda Riley

I love this series and I’ve been waiting to continue it for a while so I’ve asked for the fourth and fifth books for Christmas. The Pearl Sister follows CeCe to Australia on her journey of self discovery.

2. Making History by Stephen Fry

An earnest history student and a German physicist have the idea to stop Hitler ever being born. From their success a new world is born, it’s different and in some ways better, but also worse. I am so excited to read this, I live alternate history ideas so to have a whole book…just brilliant!

3. The Moon Sister by Lucinda Riley

The fifth book in the series is focused on Tiggy, she currently lives in Scotland and loves her job looking after deer at a sanctuary. We also go back in time to Spain during their civil war. I don’t know a lot about that time so that will be really interesting.

4. The Forgotten Room by Karen White

I’ve had this on my TBR list forever but I’ve struggled to find a place to buy it from so I kept pushing it back! In New York 1945 a young woman is drawn into a mystery that connects three generations of women in her family to single room in Gilded Age mansion.

5. The Queen’s Choice by Anne O’Brien

France, 1399: The Duke of Brittany is dead and his widow, Joanna of Navarre, has inherited control of their land – a testament to her intellect, integrity and political prowess. Then comes an unprecedented proposal from Henry IV, King of England. The price of becoming his Queen? Abandoning her homeland, leaving her children and sacrificing her independence. Henry’s hold on the crown is unsteady and war is brewing. With the constant threat of rebellion, Henry will trust no-one – not even his new Queen. It looks so good and I don’t know much about this time, so I’m pretty excited.

I just realised that these are all historical fiction! What books are on your holiday wishlist?

Top Ten Tuesday – Auto-Buy Authors

I do have a collection of authors that I have to read everything they’ve ever written!

1. George R.R. Martin

This man though….he’s honestly a genius. I’ve read all of A Song of Ice and Fire and the first part of Fire and Blood which is about the Targaryen kings and queens. I’ve got Nightflyers waiting on my bookshelf which is a completely different genre from ASOIAF. It’s set in space in the future and I’m really looking forward to reading it.

2. Kate Morton

All of her books are stand alone but they all have a similar style. Set in different times but centred around the same place, usually an old house. The characters are so well written and I always form a strong connection to them. I love Kate’s descriptions of the houses and the different time periods feel real. I’m reading the Clockmaker’s Daughter at the moment which goes from 1862-2017 and lots in between but every time we switch there’s a different feel to the chapter, I don’t know how she does it. I’m always eagerly awaiting her next book!

3. Kate Atkinson

I first discovered Kate Atkinson when I read When Will There Be Good News? which is part of her Jackson Brodie series, he’s a private detective but the books aren’t so much focused on the crimes in them, more about the characters and how they’re affected. I read the rest of the series and when Life After Life came out I was bowled over with the incredible writing and depth of this book, it’s so beautiful and covers the theory of parallel worlds but not in a super sci-fi way. I recently read Transcription which was again historical fiction and I loved it.

4. Nicci French

Nicci French is actually a husband and wife duo! Their books are crime/psychological thrillers and some of them are super scary. I can’t stand scary films but these are different they’re full of suspense. The Frieda Klein series is really good, Frieda is a psychologist who consults with the police and seems to attract trouble. I’ve still got two books left to read from that series and then I’m going to tackle all the ones I haven’t yet read.

5. Laura Andersen

I’ve read her first trilogy The Boleyn Trilogy which is written as if Anne Boleyn had given birth to a son, she survived Henry and her son and daughter are heirs to England. It’s great historical fiction with a twist, the new characters who are friends of the Prince and Princess are Minuette and Dominic all four of them are true friends and have to try and navigate court life together. I’ve started the second trilogy which is set twenty years after the first, I can’t wait to read the rest. I really like Andersen’s style and choice of genre!

6. Lucinda Riley

I am loving her series of The Seven Sisters, every book tells the story of one of the D’Apliese sisters on the journey to discover where they were born. They also flashback to characters in history of each place, so far we’ve discovered Brazil and Norway! I really enjoy reading about the sister’s dynamics, I only have two sisters but they still reminded me of us a little bit! I’m really excited to read the rest of the series.

7. Ian McEwan

I read Atonement for the first time years ago and fell in love with it, since then I’ve read Sweet Tooth which is set in England during the Cold War, Solar and The Children Act. I love how all his novels are completely different, I’ve got all of his older ones on my TBR list and the newest one about robots!

8. Katherine Webb

Webb’s style is similar to Kate Morton, based in the past with ties to the present. The Legacy was the first book I read by Katherine Webb and I was completely hooked. Her others look just as intriguing, The Unseen is next on my list, it’s set in the early 1900s in a small village in England, when two strangers show up and change the town forever.

9. Stephen Fry

I’ve been reading Stephen’s books about Greek Mythology, the way he ties them all together is so clever. Mythos was great, I used to love learning about the many Greek Gods and Goddesses at school but I had forgotten how funny they were. I’ve started Heroes and there’s a third book still to come!

10. J K Rowling

Although we haven’t had anything from Rowling for a while and despite the epic disappointment the was Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (which wasn’t written by Rowling), I would probably still read anything she writes. After Harry Potter we had the Casual Vacancy about a small town, it’s residents and their complicated relationships and biases, I really enjoyed the book, I might re-read it soon.

So there they are, who are your must buy authors?

Top Five Tuesday – Books I Predict Will Be Five Stars

A new Top Five Tuesday, the promts are created by Bionic Book Worm. It takes a lot for me to rate a book five stars, I’m British, we’ve always got something to moan about, five stars has to be pretty much perfect. I want to be completely transported and involved with the story. Here are my predictions:

375398201. Transcription by Kate Atkinson

I love all of her books so I have a lot of confidence that this will be five stars. It’s set in Britain throughout WWII and onwards through the Cold War. I’m really excited to read it.

 

 

377566542. The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton

Again this author never fails to deliver, all of her books are incredible so I expect this one will be too!

 

 

121118233. The Winds of Winter by George R.R. Martin

Whenever it arrives I’m sure I will love this book as much as I have loved the rest of the series.

 

 

309692714. The Shadow Sister by Lucinda Riley

I’m loving this series so far and Star who’s story we follow in this book fascinates me. We don’t know a lot about her as she is often overshadowed by her slightly younger sister.

 

 

410149895. Making History by Stephen Fry

I found this book the other day, I was looking for alternative history books. This is about what would have happened if Hitler had never been born. Stephen is a complete genius so I can’t wait to see what happens!!

And that’s it, I’m pretty confident with the whole list. Have a good day!

Mythos Review

Mythos is written by Stephen Fry, he tells us some of the myths from Ancient Greece.

I’ve both listened to this as an audiobook and read it. I really enjoyed both, Stephen Fry’s style of writing flows so well. Not even for a moment do you feel like the stories are dated and boring. I loved learning about all the Gods and Goddesses and finding out where we get so many words from! My favourite Goddess was Artemis, she protects women from painful births, she breaks gender stereotypes and kicks any man’s ass who comes too close.

The book is funny, witty and I am really excited to read or listen to the next book in the series about the heroes of Ancient Greece.