Welcome to a new year of My Favourite Reads, the monthly series where I share the books I’ve loved and which will also celebrate its 10^th anniversary this year. Yay!

I don’t know about you, but I have enough books on my to-be-read pile to last me for at least two years. At the start of every year I tell myself that I’m not allowed to buy any new books until that pile is at least halved. Unsurprisingly, every year I fail.

Do I care?  … Nah. It’s important to support fellow authors and the book industry. That’s my excellent excuse!

Anyway, January proved another wonderful reading month, with nine excellent books read and only one did-not-finish. Good going.

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Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

Legends & Lattes was such a joyous read. It’s my first experience of cosy fantasy (at least, I think that’s what the genre is called; I can’t recall reading anything else like it) and I loved it.

The opening sees orc barbarian Viv slaughtering a scalvert (an icky creature), which wasn’t very cosy at all, but was an effective way to prove how much Viv wants to change. Viv has discovered the delights of coffee and plans to open a café in Thune, but to ensure its success, she needs a certain…  item.

Legends & Lattes is real found family stuff. The builder Viv hires to renovate her café turns out to be a genius, her succubus assistant has hidden talents, and her shy baker is a pastry maestro. Others soon gather and Viv finds herself happy, but when she comes to the notice of Thune’s underbelly, difficulties arise.

Gentle, sweet, heartwarming. Legends & Lattes was absolutely lovely. Highly recommended.

Oh, and the ebook edition I read had a related story at the back. Bonus!

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The Brass Queen by Elizabeth Chatsworth

It’s been a while since I read a steampunk, and The Brass Queen reminded me how much fun the genre can be. This was a blast—often literally, given the number of enemies our heroine has attracted.

I loved Constance Haltwhistle’s wit and cleverness. She ran rings around everyone and quite magnificently, too. With her baron father secretly enjoying a new life elsewhere, she’s been left to maintain the family’s ancient estate. But her beloved home is under threat and only her marriage or a change in law will save it. Except, attracting a husband is difficult when you’re a woman as eccentric as Constance, and she’s also rather busy fighting off assassins.

When US spy JF Trusdale saves her from death during the kidnapping of some of the realm’s greatest scientists, the two end up working together to get them back. Trust though, is hard to come by. And there’s still the little matter of marriage and the Haltwhistle estate.

Funny, pacy, romantic and an all-round hoot. I particularly loved the weird and wonderful polo game. Guess I’ll have to read book two, Grand Tour: The Brass Queen II, now for more steampunk goodness.

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Yes & I Love You by Roni Loren

Although I’ve been subscribed to her newsletter, The Nourished Writer, for quite some time, Yes & I Love You is the first Roni Loren novel I’ve read. And it was worth the time.

Yes & I Love You has a fantastic premise. Miz Poppy is a popular reviewer of New Orleans nightlife, famous for her clever reviews and sark. Except Hollyn—the woman behind Miz Poppy—has a condition that keeps her fearful and isolated. When her employer decides video is the future for reviews, Hollyn must step up or quit.

When improv actor Jasper discovers the shy woman he serves coffee to each day is actually Miz Poppy, he’s stunned but also aware she could provide the big break he needs. Cue Jasper offering to help Miz Poppy prepare for video reviews.

Yes & I Love You is packed with goodness. It’s wonderfully written and emotional, with gorgeous but flawed characters who have big hurdles to overcome. There’s even a bit of found family tropey goodness. Plenty of spice too.

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Starling House by Alix E Harrow

A creepy old house with a suspicious backstory on the skirts of a hostile town and populated only by its brooding and secretive last heir? I’m in!

Ah, I adore a gothic story, and Starling House fitted the bill perfectly. This read was a lot of fun. Opal was a great heroine—tough, brave and determined to find a way to get her brother out of the (very misnamed) town of Eden. Petty theft and working at a hardware store isn’t going to make that happen in a hurry, so when Arthur, the heir of Starling House, offers her a job, Opal jumps at the chance.

Except Stirling House, like Arthur, holds many secrets. Most of them dangerous.

Wonderfully gothic, well-written with great pacing and plenty of action, and a touch of romance. Loved it.

I already have Harrow’s Ten Thousand Doors of January and will be moving it to the top of my to-be-read pile.

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The Summer Children by Dot Hutchison

I adore this The Collector series. The first two books (The Butterfly Garden—my thoughts here and The Roses of May—my thoughts) were amazing reads. The Summer Children was no different.

The Summer Children is told mostly from Agent Mercedes Ramirez’s point of view. She arrives home to find a bloodied child on her porch, clutching a stuffed bear and telling a chilling tale of how an angel killed his parents. Except the parents weren’t just murdered, they were slaughtered. Bring in Ramirez’s colleagues from the Crimes Against Children team to investigate a crime that just keeps getting worse.

Another pacey, page-turnery, twisty novel from Dot Hutchison. Loved it. Next: The Vanishing Season. Yay!

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QAnon and On: A Short and Shocking History of Internet Conspiracy Cults by Van Badham

Regular readers will know that, apart from cookbooks and writing craft books, non-fiction isn’t my jam. But after experiencing first-hand the ravings of a conspiracy theorist in my hairdresser’s a few years ago, I was interested to know how someone could get caught up in and truly believe in bonkers ideas like lizard people living among us and that Hillary Clinton was raping and eating children in a suburban pizza restaurant.

QAnon and On does an excellent job of revealing the origins of these conspiracies, the incredible damage they do, and how believers seem to be impervious to truth and fact. There’s also a chapter on how people can help others recover from what is essentially a cult.

Fascinating and scary.

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The Summerfield Saddler by Penelope Janu

I’ll be chatting to Penelope at a couple of events in February as part of her The Summerfield Saddler tour. Find details on the Events page of this website.

In preparation, I was sent a copy of The Summerfield Saddler to read in advance of the events and was delighted!

This is such an interesting, atmospheric and complex read. I really liked the mystery thread too, which added even more depth and that special page-turning quality. Both MacKenzie (our saddler heroine) and Kit (aka The Viking, and our hunky hero) have difficult backstories. Mac is particularly affected, leaving her with trust issues, among other things, except with her beloved grandfather.

The relationship between Mac and her grandfather was beautifully done. The love they share was sweet and poignant. I was so glad Mac had him after the traumas and tragedies of her upbringing.

Which brings me to the slow-burn romance. Sigh. How could anyone resist Kit? Not only is he smart, he’s kind, caring, multi-talented, and a complete action man. Totally swoonworthy. I know she had issues, but how Mac resisted him… She has more self-control than me!

I’m so looking forward to talking to Penelope about The Summerfield Saddler. Hope you can attend!

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The Last Summer by Karen Swan

Regular readers will know what a fan I am of Karen Swan’s Christmas stories but when I spotted The Last Summer on sale I hesitated. I wasn’t sure how she’d tackle an historical romance, and I wasn’t sure about the time or setting—1930s and an isolated island on the Outer Hebrides, off the coast of Scotland.

Oh, me of little faith! The Last Summer was fascinating.

Ellie lives a simple life on St Kilda, caring for her father, their small holding of farm animals, using her superb climbing skills to catch birds and eggs, and completely unaware of her own beauty. When Lord Sholto and his bird enthusiast Earl father visit the island, Ellie is assigned to show them around. Despite a world of differences, lord and lass fall madly for each other.

When the islanders are granted leave to evacuate for the mainland, Ellie is bereft, but her future brightens when the Earl offers Ellie a job curating his collection. She will see Sholto again. Except on arrival at Dumfries, Sholto doesn’t act like the man she met, and both he and Ellie are keeping secrets.

Swan’s descriptions of life on the island, its hardships, the relationships between the villagers, and the operations of their tenancies, were so interesting and based on a true event. I wouldn’t mind reading more about this, and the islanders’ decision to evacuate. That must have been incredibly difficult.

Everything else about this story was wonderful: the romance between Sholto and Ellie, Ellie’s treatment by the islanders and then by the staff and guests at Dumfries.

A word of warning, while we get our happy ever after in The Last Summer, there is one matter that remains unresolved, which means I’ll have to read Ellie’s friend Mhairi’s story to get more insight. Not a hardship!

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A Pregnancy Bombshell To Bind Them by Annie West

Another fantastic marriage of convenience romance from Annie West, and with the initial scenes set in Australia!

A Pregnancy Bombshell To Bind Them opens with Laura and Vissili enjoying an indulgent stay at an exclusive resort. It’s not model Laura’s habit to succumb to random men, but Vassili is irresistible, not interested in committment, and a girl’s entitled to a no-strings fling now and then.

It’s not until later that Laura learns the extent of Vassili’s betrayal. Her lover, a man she’d believed was honest and decent, had been cheating on his fiancée. And now Laura is pregnant with his baby.

 When rumours of her possible pregnancy reach Vissili, he’s determined to discover the truth. Except Laura refuses to take his calls, which leaves him only one option: face her in person. But will Laura believe the truth, and will she see that the only way through is a marriage of convenience?

Full of passion, deep emotion, likeable characters, and some pretty spectacular settings, oh, and a quite marvellous and memorable confrontation, A Pregnancy Bombshell To Bind Them is one of Annie’s best. I’m honoured to be one of the people she dedicated this book to.

Highly recommended.

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What are your most recent favourite reads? Share away!

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