Tag Archives: Lindsey Kelk

SISTER SCRIBES’ READING ROUND UP: JULY

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Jane

Rosanna Ley is one of my favourite novelists, which is the main reason I signed up for one of her writing retreats. That, of course, transported me to Spain, but her novels have taken me all over the world. From Venice with Love is no exception, as I followed Joanna not only to Venice, but to Lisbon and Prague, each city so beautifully described I felt I was really there. But it was Joanna’s sister Harriet’s story that held me, and she doesn’t even leave the Dorset village where they both grew up. She is an exquisitely drawn character, warts and all, and I felt as I was at her shoulder as she made a very different type of journey to her sister. Highly recommended.

 

Kitty

I listened to Candice Carty-Williams’ Queenie as an audiobook and it had me hooting with laughter whilst frantically winding the windows up in the car as some of her more detailed sexual exploits were narrated. The premise initially appears to be typical romcom with Queenie coming to terms with her break-up and with potential suitors popping up all over the place. However, as the book progresses we realise it encompasses far more and that Queenie is in no need of a hero. It takes a real deep dive into mental health and societal pressure and does so in a way that never loses humour or the readers attention. The family relationships had me squeaking with joy. The writing is hilarious, poignant and searingly insightful. Fabulous.

Lindsey Kelk really does deliver on all those descriptions applied to romantic comedy. Hilarious, laugh out loud, devastatingly witty – she hits them all. I have not yet read a book of hers I haven’t loved and In Case You Missed It is another example of her delivering the perfect romcom. It has a truly relatable heroine in Ros, a hero you quite want to bring home yourself, the coterie of well-defined and always amusing friends, the hideous boyfriend from her past, and beautifully described well-meaning but slightly cringy parents.

There is not a page that does not make me giggle and she manages to write comic scene after comic scene whilst developing a fabulous plot and proper romance along the way. Absolutely faultless.

I really enjoyed Clare Marchant’s dual timeline novel, Secrets of Saffron Hall. The book interweaves the story of a grieving mother in the modern day and a young wife in the time of Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine Howard. Both were written sympathetically and I thoroughly rooted for both characters. However, it was the historical timeline I found absolutely captivating. I loved being immersed in Eleanor’s story – the fear and uncertainty of living under a capricious king in times of religious upheaval, and the sense of doom contributed to by the reader knowing what will befall the queen, although unsure of how that will impact this particular family. The farming of the saffron itself was also of great interest and whilst aware of the value of saffron, I felt like I was learning something as I read. The authors historical research was clearly well done and she held my attention throughout. I am looking forward to reading more of her books.

 

SISTER SCRIBES’ READING ROUND UP: SEPTEMBER

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Jane:

Sometimes I catch sight of a new book I just have to read as soon as possible. It doesn’t happen often and it’s always a leap of faith; will a favourite author dash my expectation of brilliance – or will they, once again, triumph.

Elizabeth Buchan’s The Museum of Broken Promises is, like her other books, a slow starter. I have learnt to be patient while she creates a tapestry of detail so rich and wonderful, holding my breath until to story tips into second, third and fourth gears and becomes unputdownable.

The book is set in Paris in the present day and in Prague in the 1980s. The end of the Cold War was in touching distance, yet nobody knew it, and this adds an additional poignancy to the narrative. Laure, a young woman coming to terms with the death of her father is an au pair to a businessman and party insider, and while trying to make some sense of life behind the Iron Curtain, meets a dissident musician who steals her heart and soul. Years later in France, she sets up the Museum of Broken Promises, full of artefacts people donate in attempt to avenge or assuage the pain of betrayal – and some of them belong to her own past.

Slowly the book teases out truths from a long ago Czechoslovakian summer. One moment achingly beautiful, the other shocking in its violence, the whole fits together like a handmade glove. It stayed with me, too – and it’s only now I’m writing this review I finally understand the most important promise. And who broke it. A must read. Honestly.

 

Kitty:

This month I have been racing through the romcoms. I have just finished Lindsey’s Kelk’s One in a Million and absolutely loved it. She writes with such quick-fire wit that every page had me giggling and a little bit in awe. I enjoyed myself so much, I read it over two days, that I have gone and bought lots more of her books and am looking forward to laughing my way through autumn.

I also devoured The Man Who Didn’t Call by Rosie Walsh. I was immediately drawn into this novel. It tells the story of Sarah and Eddie and how they fall deeply and desperately in love over the course of a week, the reader is in no doubt that these two are bound to be together, that anything else would be ridiculous. Then Eddie goes on holiday and Sarah never hears from him again. This provides a thriller-like element to the story, where is he? Why has he not called? What on earth has happened? This is combined with their romance, the angst of the waiting for a phone-call, a connection that you know was special, that simply can’t peter out. I won’t give anything away and reviews show this is a little bit of a marmite book, but I absolutely adored it and suffered that sad book hangover feeling you have when a story you have loved has come to an end. Highly recommended.

I’ve just started Evie Dunmore’s Bringing Down the Duke and as a life-long fan of Julia Quinn I am over the moon to find another writer who can deliver such well-written historical comedy gold, this time set in Victorian Oxford rather than the Regency period. With whip smart dialogue and a fabulous premise, a bluestocking gathering support for The Women’s Suffrage movement, how can I not fall in love?