Without further ado, our Wenchly reading for July:
Christina: Funny Story by Emily Henry
I love a good revenge story and what could be better than hooking up with your ex’s new girlfriend’s ex just to spite them? That’s what Daphne, the heroine of this book, pretends to do. But things don’t always go as planned … I don’t want to say any more about the plot because that will spoil things but I loved the complex characters, especially the hero who I totally fell in love with. Just read it
Anne: My Amazon woes have finally been sorted and I’m happily able to purchase books again. But for most of the month I’ve been rereading old books, and enjoying them all over again. Both recommendations today are fantasies.
One series I enjoyed again was CL Wilson’s Tairen Soul series. It’s a fantasy/paranormal series in 
which magic exists, but brings suspicion and often trouble with it. The story begins when simple woodcarver’s daughter, Ellie, is claimed in marriage by the tormented last Tairen Soul, a man who can transform into a Tairen — a large flying cat-like creature. The last few Tairen are dying in the egg and only Ellie can save them — only she has no idea how. I devoured the whole series of 5 books in about a week. It starts with Lord of the Fading Lands.
Next was A Coup of Tea, by Casey Blair. It’s the first book in a trilogy, set in a land where magic is accepted — in certain circumstances. The heroine, Miyara, is the fourth princess of the royal family. When the time comes for her to commit herself to the role in which she will serve the crown, she makes a shocking instinctive choice — she flees the temple and jumps on the first train leaving the city. She ends up on the far border of her country, in a divided community that sits on the edge of a magical disaster zone. Homeless, penniless, cold, wet and hungry, she takes shelter in the back doorway of a tea shop, where she is taken in by a young witch, who works there. And her new life begins.
It’s a lovely story, with allusions to the Japanese tea ceremony, among other things, as Miyara’s training as a princess sets her on a path to become a tea master, as well as discovering a way of serving her country in an unconventional manner. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Nicola: I picked up A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson in the bookshop as it looked as though it combined all the things I enjoy – a clever murder mystery, great characters, vivid YA writing and romance. I hadn’t realised at that point that it was apparently a TikTok bestseller and also a TV series.
Pippa Fitz-Amobi is completing her final school project before she goes to university, and she’s chosen to write about a five-year-old criminal case, the disappearance and suspected murder of schoolgirl Andie Bell. Although the case is closed and the police are certain they had the right suspect, Pippa 
isn’t so sure, and as she starts to dig into the case, she uncovers evidence and secrets that someone wants to keep hidden…
I was totally engrossed in this book from the start and couldn’t put it down. It was a real page turner and although I’m hardly the age group it’s aimed at, I could see why so many readers find it compulsive with its twisty plot and interestingly complex characters. Then, about two thirds of the way through, something happened in the plot that made me put the book down in horror. I don’t want to give too many spoilers but I will say that there is a small list of things that if they occur in a story, it’s a deal breaker for me. Okay, so I’m soft about animals. That’s all I’m going to say. It’s a tribute to the fact the book is so well written that after I had calmed down a bit, I actually picked it up again and skipped to the end to find out what happened because I had to know whodunnit. But this was a very conflicted reading experience for me!
Mary Jo: I had a rather odd reading month with some books I thought I’d like better than I did, but also several I really did like.
Lois McMaster Bujold is one of the Grand Masters (Mistresses?) of science fiction and fantasy. Most recently she’s been writing a series of novellas 
about Penric and Desdemona and they’re delightful. The first book, Penric’s Demon, establishes the situation and characters. Penric is an innocent young man on his way to his betrothal when he stops to aid a dying woman who happens to be a sorceress, and he inherits her demon when she dies. The demon contains the personalities and life histories of a dozen earlier female sorceresses, and it’s like having a dozen nagging aunts in his head.
Penric’s innate kindness and generosity help him navigate his new and unexpected life. He asks the demon what she wants to be called, which shocks the demon because no one ever asked her that before. He suggests the name Desdemona, she likes it, and a unique relationship is born.
I just read the two most recent novellas, Demon Daughter and Penric and the Bandit, and both are great fun. In Demon Daughter, a little girl who lives on a ship accidentally acquires a very small elemental energy–and starts setting fires. The first mate throws her into the sea to save the ship. She survives, barely, and ends up in Penric’s care so he can teach her how to control her little demon until it can be banished–if that’s what she really wants.
The other story is Penric and the Bandit. Penric is on a scholarly quest for long lost documents when a bandit sees him and thinks he’ll be easy prey. Except that he isn’t, and Penric once more shows his talent for survival, and for helping a damaged person find a better life.
The book I most enjoyed this month was Travis Baldree’s Legends and 
Lattes, and it’s actually a reread–I think Pat and I both recommended it in the past. The protagonist is Viv, an orc, who after many years as a lethally skilled mercenary wants to retire and do something different. In fact, having discovered the joy that is coffee, she decides to open a coffee shop in a city where no one even knows what coffee is.
This is a warm hearted family of choice story in which Viv finds friends and allies and even love as she creates a new life for herself, and convinces the locals that there is nothing better than a hot coffee and a really great pastry.
What encouraged me to reread Legends and Lattes was the fact that Travis Baldree had written a new book in the same world, Bookshops and Bonedust. The book had its moments, but it took me a while to realizes it’s actually a prequel to Legends and Lattes. It has a young Viv recovering from a wound in a small town, meeting people, learning to love books, and defeating a heinous villain. The book had its points, but there’s a reason why prequels aren’t always fun. Just ask George Lucas about his Star Wars prequel trilogy. <G> But it did encourage me to reread Legends and Lattes, so it was still a win for me!
Andrea: I have been huffing and puffing toward a book deadline in August, so my reading has been a bit curtailed of late. I did, however, grab a book highly recommended by my local library that sounded very interesting. The Wealth of Shadows is a novel by Graham Moore, Academy-award winning screenwriter of The Imitation Game. It’s based on a true story from the 
beginning of WWII, involving a secret plan by a special unofficial task force within the Treasury Depart of the U.S. government to hamstring the Nazi ability to wage war by “tanking” the German economy. An eccentric group, including a lawyer, a university economics professor and a handful of bureaucrats, is assembled, with the knowledge of Franklin Roosevelt, who very much wants to aid Britain, but must be careful to keep its efforts under wraps as the country’s prevailing sentiment is to stay neutral.
The story is quite entertaining, with cloak-and-dagger trips to South America to bribe governments to not sell oil to Germany, secret jaunts to London to figure out how to get Britain the arms it desperately needs, and various Washington sleights of hand. You learn a lot about the cleverness of the Lend-Lease Act, the freezing of German gold in U. S. banks, and various other inventive ploys to keep Britain going. I probably learned more than I needed to know about the famous British economist John Maynard Keynes. But all in all, the mix of fact and fiction was a fun and engaging read.
Susan: I’m not much of a summer blockbuster reader, but when my husband couldn’t stop reading Eruption by Michael Crichton and James Patterson, I had to pick it up after he blew through it. Written with intense 
pacing and deep research, packed with detail and rich with characters who are earthy and authentic, Eruption is a true blockbuster. Michael Crichton’s death in 2008 left the manuscript unfinished, and his widow took time to find the right match to complete it: James Patterson. With a seamless blend of styles and a powerful plot and premise, the book is remarkable and compelling as a story and as an accomplishment, one writer finishing another’s work without a detectable hitch. And what a story, made not only for fast, fascinating reading, but created so visually and intensively that I could easily see the movie in my mind as I read. When John MacGregor (Mac), geologist and volcano specialist heading Hawaii’s volcano observatory, realizes that activity is ramping up at an alarming pace on Hawaii’s Big Island, he has to keep the news from escalating before the situation and its big and scary implications are understood. Trying to get a plan of action going, Mac has to rely on a host of scientists, military, and grandstanders who have varying agendas; some are meaningful personally to Mac, an acerbic, reserved guy who isn’t perfect and is juggling a lot. Escalation is hardly the word for what begins to happen–think big, then think bigger, and you can keep up with Eruption. The pacing is incredible, and in places no holds barred. A deep science-based thriller is an unusual read for me these days, but I’ve read most of Crichton’s books over the years and was not going to miss this one. Patterson’s contribution is true mastery, bringing all the elements together and finishing the rest of the story as Crichton might have imagined it, all without taking it over as his own. It’s brilliantly paced and reaches high for a powerful story. I enjoyed it (and freely admit I skimmed a lot of the sciencey stuff, differing from my husband’s reading approach, lol) — and I’m looking forward to the movie!
Pat: Rocky Start by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (new release)
I love Crusie’s humor, and even though this book doesn’t fit any normal classification (Crusie calls it romantic-comedy-adventure-mystery-weird-okay-you-try- to-describe-it fiction), her voice still sings to me. Mayer’s 
military background comes through loud and clear in this new series, so I’ll call it romantic suspense with humor. The couple aren’t exactly together at the end, and we know there’s more to come, but it’s as satisfying an ending as one can expect in a small town owned by retired mercenaries, one that straddles state lines, so storeowners can cross the room to charge less sales tax. Even when the locals bring in the big guns and armored vehicles (a minivan, of course), the humor wins. The heroine is a 50-year-old pickpocket and not exactly the usual swooning lead. She stands up for herself and everyone she loves. The hero is a burned-out mercenary and recovering alcoholic, but he is very much a hero. So, typically delightful Crusie/Mayer fare only. . . more, way more!
Now, your turn. . . what books are you enjoying? We always need recommendations!
