The Books I'm Reading Now
I'm reading The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby, an art-focused historical fiction mystery in two timelines; I'm reading The Tainted Cup, a fascinating fantasy-science-fiction mystery by Robert Jackson Bennett; and I'm listening to a romantic story with complications that feels sure to have a happy ending, Ready or Not by Cara Bastone.
What are you reading these days, bookworms?
01 The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby by Ellery Lloyd
In The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby, Ellery Lloyd offers a gorgeously wrought historical fiction mystery in two timelines.
In 1938, runaway heiress and aspiring artist Juliette Willoughby gives up her inheritance for love, then disappears into Europe, only to perish in a Parisian apartment fire.
Fifty years later, two Cambridge students (who are falling in love) on the hunt for dissertation topics stumble upon a treasure trove of items belonging to Juliette Willoughby--and indications that the fire that ended her life was no accident at all.
I'm very much enjoying Lloyd's writing style and structure so far.
Ellery Lloyd is also the author of The Club and People Like Her.
02 The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
In Robert Jackson Bennett's novel, The Tainted Cup, he blends a rich, historical fiction-feeling story, a Sherlock Holmes and Watson-type investigatory relationship, and fascinating otherworldly fantasy and steampunk elements into a captivating story.
In a mansion in Daretana, an imperial officer lies dead--with a tree growing out of his body.
Brilliant, grumpy, extremely high-ranked detective Ana Dolabra and her inexperienced, staid, intuitive apprentice, Dinios Kol, aim to use their magical enhancements to get to the heart of what seems to be a murder--one that might threaten the whole Empire.
Robert Jackson Bennett is also the author of the Founders Day trilogy and the Divine Cities trilogy.
03 Ready or Not by Cara Bastone
Eve Hatch is an administrative assistant at a wildlife conservation organization who's obsessed with creating a homey, personalized tiny Brooklyn apartment for herself to cozy into.
Eve's parents died when she was younger, and her Midwestern brothers are far older. But she's got Willa close by--her friend-like-family best friend since childhood.
While Eve's largely letting her life happen to her, Willa and her husband are struggling to conceive a child. But another beloved figure in Eve's life, Willa's older brother Shep, has moved to Brooklyn, and the three of them are ready for some carefree fun.
Then a one-night stand with a cute neighborhood bartender leads to an unplanned pregnancy, and suddenly everything changes in Eve's world.
You might also like the novels on the Greedy Reading Lists Six Lighter Fiction Stories Perfect for Summer Reading, and you can find other Bossy light fiction reviews here.
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