Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week is a cover freebie! (Pick any topic related to book covers. You can make up your own topic or pick one from the list of previous ones!)
I am choosing to go with books that have that word Secret or Secrets on the cover. The reason why I have chosen this is because Secrets was the theme for my read on a theme book club and I was able to read a lot of books that met this theme, and several of them even had the word secret in the title.
So here are the last ten books I have read with either of these words in the title!
The Secret Dressmaker by Jenny O'Brien - A WWII story set in Paris. My review for this book will be up in the next couple of days.
The Secret Society of Librarians by Kate Thompson - This is another WWII story, this time set in London, and it was a 5/5 read
Secrets of the Italian Guesthouse by Sue Moorcroft - The secrets in this book are the family type! (my review)
Everyone this Christmas has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson - The first of a couple of Christmas secrets! (mini review)
The Secret Christmas Library by Jenny Colgan - This one involves searching for a secret in a Scottish castle at Christmas
The Secrets of the Huon Wren by Claire van Ryn - This is another book about family secrets, including a hidden identity. It is predominantly set in Tasmania. (my review)
A Secret Garden in Paris by Sophie Beaumont - This book had a map to guide you around some hidden gardens in Paris (my review)
Secrets Beneath a Riviera Sky by Jennifer Bohnet - I do enjoy a book about family secrets, but even moreso when it is set on the French Riviera (my review)
The Secrets of the Rose by Nicola Cornick - A dual timeline where the secrets that are being revealed are from the past (my review)
An Italian Island Secret by Victoria Springfield - Set on a small island off the coast of Italy, this book has a touch of Hollywood glamour! (my review)
Welcome to August! And yes, in my head I am thinking how did that happen!
It was a pretty normal reading week for me. I finished a book I had started last week, finished a couple of books and started a couple more! Seems to be my regular pattern at the moment.
The book that I had started last week was Summer at the French Bakery by Jo Thomas. As you might guess from the title it is about a woman who moves to France and starts a bakery. It was also the last book I reviewed for this year's Paris in July! My review is here.
I then had a complete change of pace. I used to read a lot of historical romance but it is very, very rare for me to do so these days. This was not only a historical romance it was also a m/m romance. How to Fake it in Society by K J Charles was so much fun. I originally picked it up as it would have fitted a prompt for the Spring Reading Challenge at Goodreads but then I ended up reading something else. I have already requested another K J Charles book from the library
I have three blog tours this week, so I realised that I needed to focus on those books. I therefore read The Secret Dressmaker by Jenny O'Brien. This is the second book in the Threads of Resistance series. My review will be up later this week.
Another book that I need to review this week is Finding Forever in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen. I love Maggie's books set in Pelican Crossing! I started this and I am about half way through, and it is the same comforting, familiar read! My review for this will be up later this week too!
I did also read the first couple of chapters in A Far-Flung Life by M L Stedman. It almost seems a shame to reading it now. Most years, my read on a theme bookclub decides we will go down the more traditional route of all reading the same book. We have chosen this book to read together in October, but this will be due back at the library long before then.
July was a pretty good reading month. I had one 5 star reads and I did have 4 books that I rated as 4.5/5 reads! I also had a lot of fun with Paris in July (as usual) which was Secret Society of Librarians by Kate Thompson! I have now read and loved all of her WWII librarians books so now I have to wait patiently for the next one of those which I think will be out in a couple of years. In the meantime, I will be starting to work through her backlist.
Books let our imaginations travel where our feet cannot - Nora Nguyen
Bookish travel
At the end of every month I like to look and see where I have visited through the books I have read. Here's where I travelled to in July
USA
Maryland - In the Weeds by B K Borison
Minnesota - Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J Ryan Stradal
Europe
Wales - The King's Jewel by Elizabeth Chadwick
Italy - Secrets of the Italian Guesthouse by Sue Moorcroft
France - Don't Brake My Heart by Leonie Mack, The Island of Mists and Miracles by Victoria Mas, Summer at the French Bakery by Jo Thomas
Ireland - Seascraper by Benjamin Wood, The Story Collector by Evie Woods
England - The Book Lover's Bucket List by Hannah Claire, The Secret Society of Librarians by Kate Thompson, The Palace Women by Jennifer Ryan, How to Fake it in Society by K J Charles
Portugal - Escape to the Turquoise Seas by Carrie Walker
Australia
Queensland - Everyone in this Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson
I'm watching
We started watching Ride or Die with Hannah Waddington and Octavia Spencer this week. So far we have watched three episodes and we will watch it through to the end.
We also started watching World War II with Tom Hanks which we will continue with. I am, however, a bit surprised that there are twenty episodes to get through, so it might take us a while.
Breakaway Femmes - The Forgotten TDF - documentary about the women's Tour de France in the late 1980s. It was a really interesting documentary and fascinating to think that the rampant sexism and misogyny talked about in this series was so recent! By which I mean in my adult lifetime! And shocking to think that it took until the mid 2010s for the women's TdF to start again. Here's the trailer:
Life
On Saturday we had a lovely day out in the Yarra Valley which is a wine area about an hour and a half away from us. We did something called the Coldstream Food Trail which has about 10 stops on it, although we only did 4 stops. We stopped at a brewery, and then went to a place called Coombe Yarra Valley which is a lovely place that has been created in the former home of world famous Australian opera singer, Dame Nellie Melba. from there we did some cider and cheese tastings. The main reason we went out there was to do a Fondue and Bingo lunch at Chandon which was a lot of fun! I mean, fondue and sparkling wines...what's not to love. It was a beautiful clear winter's day and a lovely way to do some exploration of just one tiny pocket of the Yarra Valley. We did see some amazing looking restaurants that we will go back and visit again at some point!
The other thing that we did last week was go to see the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Winter Gala which featured music from composers such as Bernstein, Gerswhin and Cole Porter! It was a lot of fun, and the tickets were super cheap at only $20 each. My husband loves orchestral music so we go semi regularly, but this was too good an opportunity to pass by.
Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best. The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links. I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.
This month, the starting point is Land by Maggie O'Farrell, which is a book that I do intend to read but haven't yet. It's funny, I had already done my chain when I actually read the synopsis and I am pretty sure I could have come up with a completely different chain! Anyway, it's done now, and I am happy with it, so here we go!
Maggie O'Farrell is an author who I should have read more from, but I haven't. The only one of her books I have read is Hamnet, which I really loved.
Hamnet tells the story of Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes, particularly following the impact on their lives of the loss of their son. Last year, I listened to Dame Judi Dench's book Shakespeare: the Man Who Pays the Rent which was co-written by Brendan O'Hara. This was an excellent book and audio.
My latest audio book is Unruly Kings:The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens by David Mitchell who not only wrote the book but is also narrating it as well. I am familiar with David Mitchell from the British panel show Would I Lie to You
One of our favourite regular panelists on Would I lie to You is comedian Bob Mortimer. Last year we started listening to his novel The Satsuma Complex, which he also narrates, while we were on a weekend away but we never finished it.
An audiobook that I started listening to recently but decided to stop was The Names by Florence Knapp. It wasn't that the book wasn't good or that the narration wasn't good. Irish actor Dervla Kerwin was doing a great job. It's just that I felt like it is a book that I need to read so I can get through it quickly rather than listening to it over a number of weeks or month.
If I think of books that I have read set in Florence, one that immediately comes to mind is Still Life by Sarah Wingate. This book is almost a love letter to the city and it is a read that has stayed with me, despite it not being an absolute favourite!
Next month, the prompt is start with your book group’s current selection (if you’re not in a book group, start with the book that you’re currently reading).
Welcome to the first Saturday of the month where I share everything I have made over the previous month. It's been a busy month. I've had a couple of fun foodie experiences and tried some delicious new recipes! Let's start with what I made during the month of July!
Caramel Miso Apple pudding -Do you ever just randomly pick up one of your cook books looking for something and then find something else and go I have to make this? I was looking through Around the Table by Julia Busittil Nishimura for something (no, I can't remember what!) and I saw this recipe and through that looks appealing, especially given how cold it has been here. It was also very simple, and very tasty! Definitely a make again recipe.
Chocolate Orange Cake - Rather than having a specific cook book of the month in Lambs Ear Cookbook Club, we had an author. Valli Little was the long time food editor for Delicious Magazine. I chose to borrow the book Delicious: Love to Eat - Around the world in 120 simply delicious recipes, and this was one of the simply delicious recipes in the book! This is a version of the whole orange cake, so started with boiling whole oranges for 2 hours and then blitzing them up in the food process.
Traditional shortbread /Pistachio, sour cherry and white chocolate shortbread - The featured produce for the month was nuts, so I couldn't resist the urge to make these again. The recipe comes from Emelia Jackson's book Some of My Best Friends are Cookies.
Sticky date pudding ginger cake - This is another recipe from the Delicious cook book. We hosted Christmassy in July on 25 July and this was what I served for dessert! Winner, winner, chicken dinner. Well, yes, there was chicken but there was also pork and other deliciousness.
Earlier in the month we had a very European weekend where I visited the Bastille Day French market at Queen Victoria Market near the city. We have been for the last few years and every time we pick up some of this delicious pate. This year I also picked up some truffle butter and these interesting flavoured French chips/crisps. Of course, there was also can can dancers, jazz and so much more.
We also visited a German Christmas Market which is in a small country winery about half an hour away from our house. We have been before and it is a lot of fun. This time, we had hot chocolate with Baileys which was a delicious surprise and I picked up the gingerbread above.
One of our highlights in July was going to a Bastille Day dinner which I posted about here. 5 plus courses, can can dancers, French wines and cafe style music! Fun night!
I have mentioned Christmassy in July! What do I mean by that? My sister always hosts Christmas and she used to do the same meal again for Christmas in July. We decided to host this year but didn't go the full Christmas experience. I put on my Christmas jumper (which it is usually way to hot to wear on actual Christmas day) and put on a Christmas music playlist. We served roast chicken with champagne sauce, air fryer roast pork, broccoli and cauliflower cheese, roast potatoes, cider gravy and more! Oh, and the Sticky Date Pudding Cake. Everyone went home having eaten way too much, so I guess that was a success then!
We did visit a new to us Korean café after we went to see an exhibition about ancient Rome at the museum. There's a few cafes doing these style of patisserie so I wanted to try one. I tried the pear version. It looked amazing and tasted very peary! So good!
I managed to only buy one cook book this month, which I think showed tremendous restraint. The book I bought was Tender by Lucy Tweed, which was last month's cook book of the month in the cook book club. The good news is I already own the August cook book!
New recipes
We tried a few different recipes for the first time this month!
Slow Cooker chilli - Poppy O'Toole - It is very cold here so it is perfect weather for slow cooker meals.
Caramel Miso Apple Pudding - So good!
Chocolate Orange Cake - Another winner!
Air Fryer Pork Roast - This is now our go to method for cooking roast pork. The crackling comes out really crispy and it is super easy to do.
Truffled Chicken with Champagne Sauce - This was a bit fancy, but oh so good, and the champagne sauce will go with roast chicken, whether it is truffled or not! We made this sauce a couple of times this month.
Saturday - Christmassy in July Sunday - Leftovers Monday - Tomato and Paneer Curry Tuesday - Salad Dressing Chicken and Rice Wednesday - Mac and cheese Thursday - Out for dinner Friday - Chicken stir fry
I am sharing this post with In My Kitchen hosted at Sherry's Pickings.
Thank you to everyone who contributed a review in July for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. It's been a good start to the 2026 challenge. I will be back in the next week or so with all the statistics for the month.
I am looking forward to reading your reviews throughout the rest of the year! I am sure there is going to be a lot of great historical fiction discovered and shared with fellow HF lovers over the course of this year!
If you haven't already signed up, it's not too late! The sign up post is here.
Just to recap what participants need to know. At the beginning of each month I will put up a post which will have a Mr Linky embedded into it for you to add your link.
Please remember...
add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky we’ll be adding to our monthly post (please, do not add your blog link, but the correct address that will guide us directly to your review).
it doesn't matter where you review - Bookstagram, Goodreads etc as long as you share a direct link to your review.
any kind of historical fiction is accepted (fantasy, young adult, graphic novels...)
if you have time, have a look some of the other links that are present. You never know when you will discover new blogs or books!
You can also join the challenge group on Facebook which you can find here and don't forget to use the #histficreadingchallenge hashtag on the socials.
This year's Paris in July has come to an end! It has been another fantastic month with a plethora of French related posts! This month I have talked about books set in France, movies, food and more! Here's all the links!
July is coming to an end, and so to is Paris in July! I just had time to squeeze in one more read set in France, and only just enough time to actually write the review!
I have read a number of Jo Thomas books over the last few years and I have enjoyed them all. I love the way that she incorporates food into all of her story. Over the years I have visited Italian towns with lasagne wars, a chocolate school in the alps, an oyster farm in Ireland and a German Christmas market amongst other places. This time we are in a small town in France!
Juliet has just gone through treatment for cancer and as a result she wants to make some changes in her life. She convinces her husband Pete that a holiday in France is just what the doctor ordered. There they find an unused water mill and in her mind she can see that it will make the perfect salon de thé. The only problem is that she can't see herself doing this with Pete. He is quite content with his life that is filled with routine. Juliet does not want that anymore. Her children are all grown up with lives of their own so they don't need her as much as they used to. Can she follow her dream of reinvigorating the water mill on her own?
Juliet's plan after refreshing the décor is to open a salon de thé where she can serve cakes and tea in an elegant lake side setting. However, it isn't too long before she hits her first hurdles. First, there is the mayor who wants Juliet to reopen the town boulangerie which has been closed for years and he won't support her plans unless she agrees to it. Now, there is only a tabac in town, and that only has a few customers. The town is served by a bread vending machine which is maintained by a slimy baker from a nearby town. He is not happy at the prospect of a rival taking his customers, especially given that Juliet rejected his advances.
As an aside, recently I was at the supermarket when I witnessed the check out operator doing something that I thought would be sacrilegious, but apparently the customer was asking her to do it. He had bought at least a dozen bread rolls including several baguettes which she folded in half to fit in a shopping bag! I made a joke about man not being able to live on bread alone. Turns out he didn't speak English and so he didn't get my joke. I was shocked at the folding of the baguette, so the idea that you could buy a baguette from a vending machine in France is similarly shocking to me
Back to the book, the biggest issue is that Juliet doesn't know how to bake bread, particularly not the delicious, crusty, fluffy French bread that the town deserves. And in order to be called a boulangerie, the bread must be baked on premises. Juliet can make a lovely Victoria Sponge and a very nice Lemon Drizzle cake, but not bread. Juliet is going to need all the help that she can get, especially in getting the right ingredients to give it the right taste and texture. After all, there are only four ingredients in bread - flour, water, salt and water. But in order to get the help she needs she is going to win over the gorgeous tabac owner Laurent and her grumpy upstairs neighbour who is initially opposed to Juliet's plan for her own reasons.
I liked that the author showed that it isn't easy to just decide to move to France anymore. Juliet had to meet certain criteria in order to get the right visas to be able to keep her French dream alive and the mayor's conditions might put that all at risk. Whilst this story is all about taking a chance on a new life, but I was really moved by Juliet's friendship with Annie who is undergoing her own treatment back in the UK.
Once again, food and community are right at the centre of Jo Thomas's books. It would have been nice to have a bit more of a feel about where in France the book was set but this was another fun read from an author who really knows how to draw the reader in, and to make you wish that you could eat a delicious baguette right now!
I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews, with Weekend Cooking which I host here, with Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story and with Paris in July hosted at Words and Peace.
It doesn't matter which month it is, I quite often enjoy watching French movies. This year, I haven't watched as many as I normally would but I still though I would share some brief thoughts on the ones I have seen before Paris in July ends!
On Sunday, I went and saw Colours of Time which is a dual time line film, set in the 1890s and current day. Whilst there have been lots of dual time line books around for years, it is not something that you see all the time in movies and when I do see them it does tend to be in European movies. In this one, a group of strangers are bought together when it is identified that 30 of them are descendants from one woman. This is important because a developer wants to knock down the ramshackle house that she owned in Normandy but they can't do so without their permission. Four of them are nominated to go and look at the house and there they find a painting, letters and photographs of their common ancestor. In the other strand, we follow Adele from rural Normandy to Paris where she is trying to locate her mother who left her to be raised by her grandmother as a baby. We get to see many of the historical sites of Paris and meet some interesting characters from history. There is one short section that is a bit weird but otherwise it was a really nice movie. Here's the trailer:
Another movie we saw with a strong focus on art was The Stolen Painting which is about a painting that was thought to be lost during WWII being found. It was based on a true story. In the movie, a young factory work buys a house, contents and all and it turns out one of the paintings is a masterpiece by Egon Schiele. It is a combination legal drama and art history. I really liked it! Here's the trailer
Earlier this year I watched a movie called Nun in the City while on the plane home from India. I do seem to watch quite a few foreign films on planes, and now I look for them when I am on a long haul flight. This was such a fun movie. A bit silly, but fun nonetheless. A nun named Lucie finds herself discovering what life is like after 20 years in a convent. The world has changed a lot since she has last been out in the world!
The good news is when I was at the movies on Sunday I saw three trailers for upcoming French files and they all looked really good!
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