Number of books read: 7
Number of rereads: 0
Number of physical books: 0
Number of ebooks: 0
Number of audiobooks: 7
Number of ARCS: 0
5* reviews: 0
4.5* reviews: 0
4* reviews: 2
March is always a bit of a busy month because it’s my birthday month. This means socialising is both necessary and welcome. I’ve also had the pleasure of going to see Snoop Dogg on tour. We bought the tickets way back in 2020 but Covid ruined our plans to see him that year. Finally getting to see him was incredible. Such a fantastic evening. Although, it was a massive effort to make sure I got my reading in that day. I’ve been trying to read at least 1 page every day. Even if I’m rolling in after a night out. It did help me achieve a pretty good amount of reading in March. Here’s how my month went.
CARRIE SOTO IS BACK BY TAYLOR JENKINS REID
Synopsis:
Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular.
By the time Carrie retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Slam titles. And if you ask her, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father as her coach.
But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning, British player named Nicki Chan.
At thirty-seven years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record. Even if the sports media says that they never liked the ‘Battle-Axe’ anyway. Even if her body doesn’t move as fast as it did. And even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley. Like her, he has something to prove before he gives up the game forever.
In spite of it all: Carrie Soto is back, for one epic final season. In this riveting and unforgettable novel, Taylor Jenkins Reid tells a story about the cost of greatness and a legendary athlete attempting a comeback.
Read my review.
Synopsis:
An electrifying story of friendship, power and betrayal by the bestselling, Baileys-prize shortlisted author of The Bees.
It’s the day after tomorrow and the Arctic sea ice has melted. While global business carves up the new frontier, cruise ships race each other to ever-rarer wildlife sightings. The passengers of the Vanir have come seeking a polar bear. What they find is even more astonishing: a dead body.
It is Tom Harding, lost in an accident three years ago and now revealed by the melting ice of Midgard glacier. Tom had come to Midgard to help launch the new venture of his best friend of thirty years, Sean Cawson, a man whose business relies on discretion and powerful connections – and who was the last person to see him alive.
Their friendship had been forged by a shared obsession with Arctic exploration. And although Tom’s need to save the world often clashed with Sean’s desire to conquer it, Sean has always believed that underneath it all, they shared the same goals.
But as the inquest into Tom’s death begins, the choices made by both men – in love and in life – are put on the stand. And when cracks appear in the foundations of Sean’s glamorous world, he is forced to question what price he has really paid for a seat at the establishment’s table.
Just how deep do the lies go?
Read my review.
A THOUSAND SHIPS BY NATALIE HAYNES
Synopsis:
This is the women’s war, just as much as it is the men’s. They have waited long enough for their turn . . .
This was never the story of one woman, or two. It was the story of them all . . .
In the middle of the night, a woman wakes to find her beloved city engulfed in flames. Ten seemingly endless years of conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans are over. Troy has fallen.
From the Trojan women whose fates now lie in the hands of the Greeks, to the Amazon princess who fought Achilles on their behalf, to Penelope awaiting the return of Odysseus, to the three goddesses whose feud started it all, these are the stories of the women whose lives, loves, and rivalries were forever altered by this long and tragic war.
A woman’s epic, powerfully imbued with new life, A Thousand Ships puts the women, girls and goddesses at the center of the Western world’s great tale ever told.
Read my review.
Synopsis:
Sold by her mother. Enslaved in Pompeii’s brothel. Determined to survive. Her name is Amara. Welcome to the Wolf Den…
Amara was once a beloved daughter, until her father’s death plunged her family into penury. Now, she is owned by a man she despises and lives as a slave in Pompeii’s infamous brothel, her only value the desire she can stir in others.
But Amara’s spirit is far from broken. Sharp, resourceful and surrounded by women whose humour and dreams she shares, Amara comes to realise that everything in this city has its price. But how much will her freedom cost?
The Wolf Den is the first in a trilogy of novels reimagining the long overlooked lives of women in Pompeii’s lupanar. Perfect for fans of Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls and Madeline Miller’s Circe.
Read my review.
THE ACCIDENT ON THE A35 BY GRAEME MACRAE BURNET
Synopsis:
From the author of “His Bloody Project”, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2016.
There does not appear to be anything remarkable about the fatal car crash on the A35. But one question dogs Inspector Georges Gorski: where has the victim, an outwardly austere lawyer, been on the night of his death?
The troubled Gorski finds himself drawn into a mystery that takes him behind the respectable veneer of the sleepy French backwater of Saint-Louis.
Graeme Macrae Burnet returns with a literary mystery that will beguile fans of “His Bloody Project” and “The Disappearance of Adele Bedeau”. Darkly humorous, subtle and sophisticated, “The Accident on the A35” burrows deep into the psyches of its characters and explores the forgotten corners of small-town life.
Read my review.
RIVERS OF LONDON BY BEN AARONOVITCH
Synopsis:
Book 1 in the Rivers of London series, from Sunday Times Number One bestselling author Ben Aaronovitch.
My name is Peter Grant, and I used to be a probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service, and to everyone else as the Filth.
My story really begins when I tried to take a witness statement from a man who was already dead…
Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. After taking a statement from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost, Peter comes to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny.
Suddenly, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic.
Read my review.
CIRCE BY MADELINE MILLER
TBC
Synopsis:
Woman. Witch. Myth. Mortal. Outcast. Lover. Destroyer. Survivor. CIRCE.
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. Circe is a strange child – not powerful and terrible, like her father, nor gorgeous and mercenary like her mother. Scorned and rejected, Circe grows up in the shadows, at home in neither the world of gods or mortals. But Circe has a dark power of her own: witchcraft. When her gift threatens the gods, she is banished to the island of Aiaia where she hones her occult craft, casting spells, gathering strange herbs and taming wild beasts. Yet a woman who stands alone will never be left in peace for long – and among her island’s guests is an unexpected visitor: the mortal Odysseus, for whom Circe will risk everything.
So Circe sets forth her tale, a vivid, mesmerizing epic of family rivalry, love and loss – the defiant, inextinguishable song of woman burning hot and bright through the darkness of a man’s world.
Review coming soon.
Yipee ki-yay, motherbooker 
Sounds like a decent month.
And snoop dogg is still alive? Man, how old is that guy now? I feel like he’s been around forever 🙂
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He’s somewhere in his 50s by this point. Still put on a good show. Pretty impressive.
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For some reason I thought he was in his 70’s….
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He has been around for a while!
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“The Accident on the A35” sounds absolutely awesome. Consider my interest piqued! Congrats on a great reading month and thanks for the great descriptions. March has been a slow reading month for me but I did manage to read a fantastic book by Wendy Koenig, “On the Sly” (A Sylvia Wilson Mystery). I always enjoy reading about a kick-ass woman who has to take matters in her own hands. Sylvia, a bar owner, finds a dead body in her bar and turn out, it’s an ex-police officer. With little evidence other than she is the only person who has the alarm code to get in and out of the bar and there was no forceful break-in the cops keep coming back to her as being a possible suspect. Sylvia has to find out who the killer is to clear her name and not only that, but the killer also reaches out to her directly and threatens those who are close to her. It’s an exciting whodunnit and it has some really witty and funny moments too. Sylvia is a super likable character, and you find yourself rooting for her throughout. I know you’re busy busy but perhaps this book could be added to your summer TBR? Happy reading!
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Thanks for the recommendation. It sounds like a great book. I’ll have to check it out.
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A little late here. Hope you have a good rest of the month.
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