Bookshops and Bonedust by Tavis Baldree (audiobook)

Pages: 368 

Publisher: Macmillan UK Audio 

Released: 7th of November 2023 

First loves. Second-hand books. Epic adventures.

Viv’s career with the renowned mercenary company Rackam’s Ravens isn’t going as planned. Wounded during the hunt for a powerful necromancer, she’s packed off against her will to recuperate in the sleepy beach town of Murk – so far from the action that she worries she’ll never be able to return to it. What’s a thwarted soldier of fortune to do?

Spending her hours at a struggling bookshop in the company of its foul-mouthed proprietor is the last thing Viv would have predicted. Even though it may be exactly what she needs. Still, adventure isn’t far away. A suspicious traveller in grey, a gnome with a chip on her shoulder, a summer fling and an improbable number of skeletons prove Murk to be more eventful than Viv could have ever expected.

Sometimes, right things happen at the wrong time. Sometimes, what we need isn’t what we seek. And sometimes, we find ourselves in the stories we experience together.

Set twenty years before the events of Legends & Lattes , Bookshops & Bonedust is a standalone cosy fantasy by BookTok sensation Travis Baldree about the power of good bookshops, great friends and the unexpected choices along the way.

What I Have to Say 

This was wonderful. It's hard to top Legends and Lattes, but I don't think it needs to be topped. This was a lovely prequel, showing Viv and a few new characters on a whole new cosy fantasy adventure! I loved the new setting of a bookshop, because in case you hadn't noticed, I love books. The new characters were just as good as the original characters (I would die for Potroast) and it was a story that was just as good as the first. 

I feel like this book had more action in it than the last. Though there was some action in Legends and Lattes, this one had a bigger overall story with mystery and adventure and murder. For people looking for something cosy and low stakes like Legends, this book still has those cosy moments, but it does have high stakes. Conversely, for people who liked Legends but thought it could use a bit more action, this one could be perfect for you! I feel like Bookshops added action adventure without losing that lovely cosy vibe that the first book had going for it. It got a good balance between the two. 

For anyone asking if the books connect up, they do! Though I don't think you necessarily have to read Legends and Lattes to understand Bookshops and Bonedust, those who've read Legends are rewarded for their efforts! I really think this was the perfect prequel. 

Read for bookshops and well bonedust as well as great characters, sapphic love, found family and a sprinkling of action! 

5 stars 

My thanks go to Macmillan and Netgalley for providing me with this gifted audiobook for review. 

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Sutanto

Pages: 341 

Publisher: HQ

Released: 30th of March 2023 

Put the kettle on, there’s a mystery brewing…

Tea-shop owner. Matchmaker. Detective?

Sixty-year-old self-proclaimed tea expert Vera Wong enjoys nothing more than sipping a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy ‘detective’ work on the internet (AKA checking up on her son to see if he’s dating anybody yet).

But when Vera wakes up one morning to find a dead man in the middle of her tea shop, it’s going to take more than a strong Longjing to fix things. Knowing she’ll do a better job than the police possibly could – because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands – Vera decides it’s down to her to catch the killer.

Nobody spills the tea like this amateur sleuth.

What I Have to Say 

This book was wonderful, I loved the characters so much. Vera was like no other character I've seen before and yet I could imagine her perfectly. She had such life to her. I would love to go to her tea shop and try her tea, it sounds just like the sort of place I like to go. 

As with all mysteries, obviously, the case was important to the book. But I found the more we got into it, the less I was actually bothered by it. I didn't want to see it solved and see one of the characters I'd grown attached to locked up for murder! I loved them all. But the solution came and I was satisfied with it. It had just the right number of twists to stop it from being predictable and yet the clues were all there in the text. 

I think this is standalone, but I would quite like to see it become a series. Now Vera's got a taste for solving crimes will she really go back to just running the tea shop and managing the people in her life? I'm not ready to be done with this characters yet. 

 4 stars 

My thanks goes to HQ and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review. 

The Weather Woman by Sally Gardner

Pages: 496 

Publisher: Head of Zeus 

Released: 10th of November 2022 

Neva Friezland is born into a world of trickery and illusion, where fortunes can be won and lost on the turn of a card.

She is also born with an extraordinary gift. She can predict the weather. In Regency England, where the proper goal for a gentlewoman is marriage and only God knows the weather, this is dangerous. It is also potentially very lucrative.

In order to debate with the men of science and move about freely, Neva adopts a sophisticated male disguise. She foretells the weather from inside an automaton created by her brilliant clockmaker father.

But what will happen when the disguised Neva falls in love with a charismatic young man?

It can be very dangerous to be ahead of your time. Especially as a woman. 

What I Have to Say 

This book was a celebration of what it means to be different. It showed characters who didn't fit in with society but still find a life and a home in a beautiful unconventional family. It shows acceptance and found family and gives hope to anyone who sees the world differently. 

I really liked the book for the most part. I liked the characters and the way they interacted with society. I liked Neva and her male persona. But the ended didn't hit quite right. I felt that so many things fell into place in the story, all the legal stuff just sort of righting itself by chance more than anything else and so I found it hard to believe that the characters were in any actual danger. Everything had worked out so far so why shouldn't they continue to work out? It just ruined a book that I was really enjoying up until that point. 

I was glad to see there was a mention of someone living in a gender that they were not assigned at birth while Neva was learning how to act and behave as a guy. I felt that was a good head nod to the trans community. But I was disappointed that the only other LGBTQ+ representation was the villains in a very unhealthy relationship. Especially in a book that's so much about respecting what is different, I expected me. 

I also felt that the author leaned too much into giving people a happy ending with a partner and children. It really felt as though the only happy ending was through marriage and kids. 

3.5 stars 

My thanks go to Netgalley and House of Zeus for providing me with this copy for review. 

 

To Night Owl from Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 304 

Publisher: Egmont 

Released: 21st of February 2019 

Avery (Night Owl) is bookish, intense, likes to plan ahead, and is afraid of many things. Bett (Dogfish) is fearless, outgoing, and lives in the moment. What they have in common is that they are both twelve years old, and their dads are dating each other.

Bett and Avery are sent, against their will, to the same camp for the summer vacation. Their dads hope that they will find common ground and become friends – and possibly, one day, even sisters.

Against all odds, the girls soon can’t imagine a life without each other. But when the worst happens, and their dads break up, Avery and Bett must figure out a way to get them to fall in love again. Is keeping a family together as easy as they think it is?

From two extraordinary authors comes this moving, exuberant, laugh-out-loud novel about friendship and family, told entirely in emails and letters.

What I Have to Say 

This beautiful reverse Parent Trap style novel was just perfect. I loved the two girls and their voices so much. Their emails back and forth to each other while they tried to split up their dads made me smile and laugh.  They both had such distinct voices and the way they kept saying that they would never meet each other and they were obviously going to be complete strangers at the same time as asking each other random get to know you questions and becoming best friends was completely wonderful. It felt really real and genuine, the way that young girls really interact. 

It was great to see a gay relationship between the parents of the girls. Both had single dads, Avery's dad having never married and Bett's having been married but had his partner die. It was a great way to show the different types of relationships that gay parents can be in. It was nice to see the representation go beyond two gay people in a committed relationship having a child. 

I adored the email format of this book as well. I don't know what it is about a book told through letters or emails or even diary entries, but I just find them so fun to read. They're a bit of a change from the regular style of story, I suppose. I'm not sure I'll ever get bored of all the interesting and different ways that people find to tell a story. 

Perfect for anyone who loves plucky young girls trying to change their parents dating lives. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Egmont for providing me with this free copy for review.