The Books I'm Reading Now
I'm reading Our Woman in Moscow, Beatriz Williams's story of Cold War espionage and family loyalty; I'm reading The Unsinkable Greta James, Jennifer E. Smith's light fiction about an emotionally distant father and daughter trying to find connection on a cruise to Alaska; and I'm listening to Nora Roberts's first book in The Dragon Heart Legacy series, The Awakening. That's right, draaaagons!
What are you reading and enjoying these days, bookworms?
01 Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams
In Beatriz Williams's historical fiction, Our Woman in Moscow, my book club's upcoming read, it's 1948, and Iris Digby, her American diplomat husband, and their two children have disappeared overnight. Those who knew and worked with them were shocked. Were the Digbys abducted by Soviet agents...or did they make their own way behind the Iron Curtain with a suitcase of American secrets to trade?
In Williams's historical fiction mystery, four years later, Iris's twin sister Ruth finally receives a postcard from her sister. Ruth is soon on her way to Russia to try to extricate her sister from danger--but the truth about Iris's marriage and past is more complicated and fraught than Ruth could have imagined.
02 The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E. Smith
In Jennifer E. Smith's new (published tomorrow!) light fiction novel The Unsinkable Greta James, Greta is an up-and-coming indie rock star whose father has never approved of her career. He'd rather she settle down and marry, have kids, and stop traveling the world and working to boost her fame and recognition.
To say that stubborn Greta and her willful father clash (and always have) would be putting it mildly.
But Greta's mother passed away recently, and the couples' trip to Alaska that her mother had planned for her fortieth wedding anniversary is looming. Greta's brother Asher convinces Greta to go along to keep their dad company--and he obviously not-so-secretly hopes the trip will help Greta and her father find their way to each other somehow.
I received a prepublication digital galley of this book courtesy of NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group's Ballantine Books.
03 The Awakening: The Dragon Heart Legacy, Book 1 by Nora Roberts
When I was asking for dragon-book recommendations so that I could beef up my Dragons shelf on Goodreads and put together a post of my favorite dragon books (that's right, love it or leave it!), several people asked if I'd read Nora Roberts's Dragon Heart Legacy series. I had no idea Nora Roberts had written any dragon books because, I realized, I don't believe I've ever read a single Nora Roberts book, despite the fact that she has published TWO HUNDRED titles.
Anyhoo, in The Awakening, which I'm listening to as an audiobook--I highly recommend this because: Irish accents--twentysomething Breen emerges from her average life in Philadelphia to realize she is part of a storied clan, a powerful family, and a magical line, and that she is in fact a chosen one and two worlds are depending on her for their existence.
This is a cozy-dragon book so far, with lots of drinking tea while uncovering secrets, as well as: meeting long-lost family members, encountering a brooding man who seems sure to become a love interest, coming into windfalls of wealth, wondering at the emergence of magical powers, and Breen's coming into her own with talents like singing and writing, but also embracing her own previously latent but formidable spirit.