What I've Been Reading

I’ve been on vacation from blogging about books—actually, blogging about anything—because the first few months of the year are too packed with work for me. But I’ve been reading every spare moment (usually in the middle of the night).

So here are a few recommendations:

 

The Rockliffe Series by Stella Riley. These are brilliantly-written Georgian-era romances reminiscent of Georgette Heyer. 

I’ve read the first three – The Parfit Knight, The Mésalliance, and The Player, and I’m in the middle of book four, The Wicked Cousin (and will go right back to it when I finish writing this blog). 

The characters are all related somehow -- friends, relatives, business partners, etc. -- so each book foreshadows later romances. Once you start reading this series, you simply have to keep going.

If you want a gripping historical romance to whisk you away from the stressful present, these are for you.

  

The Beatrix Potter mystery series by Susan Wittig Albert. If you don’t mind a bit of the whimsical in your cozy, these stories are your cup of tea.

They follow Beatrix Potter’s life at her farm and the nearby villages in the Lake District of England. Some characters are real people and some are not, and we are treated to the point of view of the animals as well. The mysteries, which involve little to no violence, are solved by Potter, who is portrayed as a determined and inquisitive character.

I love all of it – the people, the animals, the beauties of the countryside, the workings of an English village in the early 20^th century, and the details about Potter’s life. These are great comfort reads. The first is The Tale of Hill Top Farm.