Angieville

I'm sorry, but these brand spanking new Veronica Speedwell covers are divine, and that's all there is to it. I mean, the hardback cover of A Curious Beginning wasn't too shabby at all (the dress . . . the fog . . . ), but these ones have my heart. The silhouettes. The butterflies. The font . The problem, of course, is an old one and one that has plagued dedicated book collectors like myself for what seems like time immemorial. This new A Curious Beginning cover belongs to the paperback edition (due out July 12), while the matching cover for A Perilous Undertaking (the second book in the series) will be hardcover (due out September or thereabouts). Naturally, I own the hardcover copy of the first book. Sigh . Why? Why must my series be unmatched? All covers are not created equal, and I want these two gorgeous matched pretties on my shelf. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of lender copies, and my husband will assure you I have zero problem throwing down for ...

I've been truly impatient to read Evelyn Pryce 's sophomore novel ever since I thoroughly enjoyed her debut A Man Above Reproach a couple of years ago. And so it was with utter delight that I opened my mail a few days ago to find a copy of  The Thirteenth Earl , complete with wax-sealed note. It's the charming little things, guys, that just make my little world go round. Montlake has gifted this novel with another gorgeous cover in the same vein as the first one that initially caught my eye. They're just slightly refined in a way that appeals to me, and I love seeing their spines on my shelf. If you haven't tried any of Evelyn's work yet, I highly recommend snagging a copy of both of these. She writes lovely historical romance with characters I feel for that make me laugh. Just what the doctored ordered for the doldrums before spring arrives full stop. Jonathan Vane's title is Viscount Thaxton, but he is better known to all and sundry as the Ghost. The ...

You guys. I've been waiting to fall this year. I've been waiting for that first review (embarrassingly late, I know) to need to be written. I've been reading and reading. And I've really liked a number of things (reviews on those to come, promise). But the night before last I fell into a book that filled me up in just the way I needed to kick me into gear to talk about it. Which is good, because you'll want to pick this one up.  His Road Home by Anna Richland is a contemporary novella that I wished was twice as long as it was because I didn't want to be separated from the characters and their compelling situation by its ending. Happily, according to Richland's acknowledgments at the end, we may have a sequel to look forward to in the near future. This is my first outing with Ms. Richlands writing, and I picked it up based on my trusty Chachic 's rating over on GoodReads. Grace Kim's fairly straightforward (very quiet) life is thrown into rather...

I am placing this here because I cannot tell you how excited I am for its release. And because if you haven't read Six of Crows yet, now is nothing if not the time. September 22nd is still a distressingly long way off. But this cover, you guys. This Crooked Kingdom . Will the pages be edged in black like its companion? Or will they be blood red?  Kaz. Inej . Tell me it's gonna be all right. 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/412783122068554937/ I am an emphatically  moody reader these days, guys. I know it can drive my close associates out of their minds (and rightly so), because handing me a book to read can often sometimes be the death knell on me ever actually reading it. It's an inexplicable and a tiresome truth, but unfortunately it's a real one. And so lately I've been thinking about what influences my moods. Some of it is seasonal, to be sure. Much of it is literally how a single day went before I was finally able to drag my tired body into bed and settle in to read myself into a better mood. With Valentine's Day approaching, I've been casting about for the right thing. Who knows what I'll be feeling like tonight, tomorrow, or Sunday? And so I've come up with a number of possibilities to fit this moment in time's particular moody bill. The truth is, I could likely sit down with any one of these this weekend. They are all lovely and...

A week or so ago, my dear friend Chachic wrote a delightful post on her top ten gateway books . Ever since, I've been musing over which books would make up my own list. I'm a huge believer in the notion of gateway books—those marvelous titles that find their way into your life and wind up serving as your successful  point of entry into an entirely new genre. In my mind, they're the door in the back of the wardrobe leading to Narnia. Appropriately, the first book on my list is unquestionably  The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe , sent to me by my aunt when I was ten and about to embark anxiously on my own unknown . So here is my list, and as I look at it my mind shies away from the thought of having never discovered even a single one of them. Where possible, I've tried to include the cover of the edition that I first read. Please share one or ten of yours in the comments! Fantasy The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe   by C.S. Lewis The line that hooked me: ...

I've mentioned before that I wrote my masters thesis on The Tenant of Wildfell Hall . What that means is this book is extremely dear to me. I first read it while on study abroad in London, and I fell madly in love with Anne's fierce introduction to the second edition and with Helen Graham and the way she slammed her bedroom door—her heart too thoroughly dried to be broken in a hurry, absolutely determined to live as long as she could. I own a rather limp Wordsworth Classics edition that I believe I picked up for a pound in a charity bookshop. It will always be my first. But I admit to having been on the lookout for a lovelier one for some time now. Which brings us to these three pretties. All available in fairly affordable copies from The Book Depository . Each eye-catching in its own way. I have to say, it will be difficult for me to resist the overturned glass of wine for the chills is sends down my spine (not the good ones, but if you've read the book you know ...