Category: Fiction

This Immortal Heart by Jennifer Saint

Published on by Margaret10 Comments

This is the oldest love story of all time . . .

Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, wields unparalleled power over every divine and mortal heart. Though her world is one of beauty, she is the most dangerous god of all, ruled by passion regardless of the consequences.

Ares, God of War, is her perfect contradiction: feared, unwanted and relentless in his devotion to chaos. Where she breathes life into longing, he thrives in destruction.

And yet gods are no more immune to love and loss than anyone else, and soon their lives collide. But even divine love can’t protect them from the fates of Mount Olympus, and whilst the God of War may be capable of greater love than anyone else, so may the Goddess of Love be capable of the gravest mistakes . . 

I’ve read several books retelling the Greek Myths, but none by Jennifer Saint, and none about Aphrodite so when I saw This Immortal Heart on NetGalley I decided to request it. Aphrodite is the goddess of love, sexual desire, beauty and procreation and in this retelling Saint focuses on her relationship with Ares, the god of war and with his brother, Hephaestus, the god of fire, blacksmiths, and metallurgy. She also includes several other stories in which Aphrodite appears. It’s episodic, not a plot driven story, but rather a collection of stories about Aphrodite as she is seen interacting with the other gods and humans.

The book begins with a Prologue in which Saint describes how Aphrodite was born. Ouranos, the ancient god who personified the sky, split apart as he sank beneath the waves pounding the rocky shore of Cyprus. He was slain by his son and Aphrodite was born from his agony, as his golden blood was scattered across the earth and fell into the churning froth of the sea. Aphrodite rose from the surface and strode forward onto the island shore. Flowers sprang from the ground where she walked and she felt ‘her power awakening in every glorious inch of her body’.

It took me a while to get settled into reading this long book of nearly 400 pages. For a while I was tempted to stop reading because Aphrodite initially came across to me as rather immature but I carried on reading. It’s too romantic for my liking – her affair with Ares, the god of war, whilst passionate and fiery, comes across as a classical example of ‘opposites attract’. Ares is not intelligent, lacking imagination, thinking of little else than war and violence. Aphrodite thinks he is ‘savage and utterly unreasonable, handsome though he may be‘. The standout sections for me are about Hephaestus – his story is much more interesting, from the myth about Pandora to that of his mother, Hera bound on the golden throne that he had made. He refused to release her and Zeus declared whoever made Hephaestus free her would be rewarded with Aphrodite’s hand in marriage. I found this completely engrossing keeping me glued to the book.

Saint’s writing is richly descriptive and lyrical, and gives a vivid picture of the different settings. However, I think the ending was rushed. Overall I found this an interesting book, but by the end I was left feeling I wanted to know more.

My thanks to the author and NetGalley for a review copy.

A Small Part of History: Book Beginnings on Friday & The Friday 56

Published on by Margaret2 Comments

Every Friday Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader where you can share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading. You can also share from a book you want to highlight just because it caught your fancy.

A Small Part of History by Peggy Elliott, is one of the books I’ll be reading soon. It’s one of my TBRs, historical fiction I bought in 2008. I’m featuring it today as the book caught my eye this morning as I browsed my bookshelves. I took it off the shelf and it made me think of all those cowboy series on TV that I used to watch about pioneers venturing out West. More recently I’ve enjoyed watching Taylor Sheridan’s television series Yellowstone and the prequels 1883 and 1923. 

It’s described on the back cover as:

an epic, heartfelt story of courage in the face of appalling adversity, and a haunting portrayal of how America was forged. Above all, it is a story of people and how the ties that bind us most strongly are those of friendship, of family and of love.

But what makes this book look a bit different is that it’s told from a woman’s perspective. In her Author’s Note Peggy Elliott explains that she’d read ‘a wonderfully thought- provoking book, Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey which pointed out how different women’s experience on the Oregon Trail had been compared to men’s.’

The book begins :

My papa always told me it was best to start a story at the beginning when I confused him by jumping into the things somewhere in the middle. so I am not going to talk about where I am today or even last month, because it all really begun back in June of 1845.

Also every Friday there is The Friday 56, hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice, but she is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. You grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an eBook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Page 56:

Poor Lizzie! There were dark shadows beneath her eyes and Rebecca could see pale blue veins throbbing in her forehead. What words of comfort could she possibly bring her, not being a mother herself? To have a young child on the trail brought one set of worries, but to bring yet another into the world while still travelling must present even more of a burden.

The map at the front of the book shows the length of the Oregon Trail from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City.

Description from the back cover:

In the summer of 1845 Rebecca Springer and her family join the Oregon wagon train in search of land thousands of miles away. It’s a hard and dangerous journey through blizzards and searing heat, over prairies, desert plains and mountains and, at times, it seems as if it will never end. But an unbreakable bond develops amongst the travelling women as they are tested, physically and emotionally, and their shared experiences of new life and tragic death will bring them closer than blood ever could.

And now I’m really looking forward to reading this book.

If you have read A Small Part of History, what did you think?

Quite Ugly One Evening by Chris Brookmyre

Published on by Margaret6 Comments

Abacus| 7 May 2026| 359 pages e-book| Review copy 4*

An Atlantic voyage. A family at war. A secret worth killing over.

Reporter Jack Parlabane thrives on chasing stories in unlikely places, and where could be less likely than a fan convention on a cruise liner celebrating a contentious Sixties TV series? But unlike the media family exploiting their show’s renewed relevance, he’s not there to stoke controversy: he’s there to solve a murder.

Already in deep water with his employer, Jack desperately needs a win, and solving this decades-old mystery could be it. Problem is, he’s in the middle of the Atlantic, and someone onboard has already killed once to keep their secret.

And that’s not even the tricky part. No, the tricky part is definitely the dead body locked in a stateroom with him, covered in his blood. Now Jack has to solve two murders, otherwise the only way he’s getting off this ship is in handcuffs – or in a body bag.

Quite Ugly One Evening by Chris Brookmyre is the ninth book in the Jack Parlabane series. Jack, now 60, is an investigative journalist, who finds himself in competition with his younger colleagues, grateful that he still has a job.

The first book by Chris Brookmyre I read was Quite Ugly One Morning, the first in the series. That was in 2010 and since then I have read and enjoyed more of his books, including those he’s written under the pseudonym Ambrose Parry with his wife, Marisa Haetzman. But, I haven’t read the other Jack Parlabane books. However, it wasn’t a problem and I don’t think you need to have read the other books to enjoy this one, as it does read well as a standalone.

It is a ‘locked room’ type mystery as the action takes place on a cruise liner as it crosses the Atlantic. The ship is full of fans of the Maskyn family’s 1960s TV puppet series, The Imaginators, attending a convention, symposium and 60th anniversary celebration. They are also looking to update the series as sixty years later the series is not only dated but also obviously racist in some of the puppet designs. And the family are split over a takeover bid from a billionaire, with some wanting to accept his offer and others bitterly opposed to it.

It’s also complicated, with a large cast of characters and multiple layers. It took me a while to work out who is who, as I was reading a proof copy which does not have the Maskyn family tree included in the published edition – it would have been really helpful. Jack is onboard after being approached by MI5 who want him to act as an undercover agent investigating the death of an agent, Simeon Wickham forty years earlier. MI 5 had intelligence that the Maskyns had been infiltrated by an agent of a foreign power at that time. Just who was Simeon Wickham, what was his involvement with the Maskyns and who killed him?

Right from the start of the book it appears that Jack is the main suspect for killing the man found dead in suite 1114. The first half is slow going with detailed descriptions of the layout of the ship, with Jack getting lost in the different staircases that looked the same, confused by the position and direction of the ship and not sure which deck he was on. There is a great deal of description about the TV puppet show and about the current criticism it’s attracting. However, the pace begins to speed up at about 49%, and it was a race to the end.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, murder, onboard a luxury line in the middle of the Atlantic, with a complex plot, interesting characters, social commentary, told with humour and a hint back to the Golden Age of murder mysteries.

Spell the Month in Books June 2026

Published on by Margaret8 Comments

Spell the Month in Books is a linkup hosted by Jana on Reviews From the Stacks on the first Saturday of each month. The goal is to spell the current month with the first letter of book titles, excluding articles such as ‘the’ and ‘a’ as needed. That’s all there is to it! Some months there are optional theme challenges, such as “books with an orange cover” or books of a particular genre, but for the most part, any book you want to use is fair game!

As Jana is not back on her blog yet, there is no theme for this month, so I am featuring books that spell the word June using the first letters of the book titles. These are all books that I’ve read and are linked to my posts on them.

J is for Julius by Daphne du Maurier

Julius is the life story of a ruthless man, driven by his lust for power, and his dedication to getting ‘something for nothing’. It’s a chilling tale about a man whose love for his daughter brings about his ruin. It was her third book written when she was twenty-six. It may lack that magic quality of her later books, but it is still compelling and disturbing reading, rich in detail and characterisation.

U is for Ultimate Prizes by Susan Howatch

I read this book before I began blogging, so no review. It’s the third book in the Starbridge series, six self-contained yet interconnected novels that explore the history of the Church of England through the 20th century. I loved all six books. This one is about Neville Aysgarth, archdeacon, and right-hand man of the Bishop of Starbridge, who has spent his life chasing worldly success. In 1942 he has a perfect wife, a perfect family and a perfect future in the Church of England – all ultimate prizes.Then Aysgarth meets an attractive young socialite and is soon dangerously and chaotically involved in adultery, hypocrisy and obsession.

N is for No Further Questions by Gillian McAllister

I was hooked right from the start of this book. It plunges straight into a trial as Martha sits in the courtroom listening to expert witnesses being questioned  and cross-examined about the death of her baby, Layla, just eight weeks old. Her sister Becky is accused of murdering her. Martha doesn’t want to believe Becky is guilty but as the trial proceeds, as medical and social worker witnesses as well as neighbours and a school teacher present their accounts it looks increasingly bad for Becky.This is a tense, tightly plotted book and I was gripped. I didn’t want to stop reading it and when I wasn’t reading it I was thinking about it, about the characters and their relationships, about how they had got themselves into such a terrible situation. 

E is for The Elopement by Gill Hornby

This is historical fiction about the life of Jane Austen’s niece Fanny Knight and Mary Dorothea Knatchbull, Fanny’s stepdaughter. Fanny’s father was Edward Austen, who was adopted by the wealthy Knight family. In 1820 Fanny married Sir Edward Knatchbull, a widower, with six children. Fanny and Mary Dorothea, the only daughter, had a difficult relationship right from the start. Fanny is not a warm character and Mary is reluctant to accept her as a substitute mother, but Fanny comes from a large, happy and sociable family and Fanny’s sisters become Mary’s first friends. Her aunt, Miss Cassandra Austen of Chawton, is especially kind. Her brothers are not only amusing, but handsome and charming, and when Mary and one of the Knight brothers fall in love and want to marry Fanny is not all happy.

Spell the Month in Books May 2026

Published on by Margaret9 Comments

Spell the Month in Books is a linkup hosted by Jana on Reviews From the Stacks on the first Saturday of each month. The goal is to spell the current month with the first letter of book titles, excluding articles such as ‘the’ and ‘a’ as needed. That’s all there is to it! Some months there are optional theme challenges, such as “books with an orange cover” or books of a particular genre, but for the most part, any book you want to use is fair game!

Jana hasn’t added anything to her blog since January and as she was expecting a baby I’m thinking she’s been busy since then! So, for May I’m featuring books I’ve read in the past two years to spell the word May using the first letters of the book titles. The first two are nonfiction and the last one is a Maigret murder mystery.

M is for Maiden Voyages by Sian Evans

This book covers a wide range of topics that fascinate me – not just travel, but also social history, both World Wars, the sinking of the Titanic, emigration, the impact that the ocean liners had on the economy. and on women’s working lives and independence, adventure and so much more besides.

It is a ‘collection of selected biographical tales, both cautionary and life-affirming, about dynamic women on the move, set primarily between the two World Wars, during the golden age of transatlantic travel.‘ (page 25)

A is for Appointment in Arezzo: A Friendship with Muriel Spark by Alan Taylor

In July 1990 Alan Taylor first met Muriel Spark and her friend Penelope (Penny) Jardine. Their meeting led to a friendship and since then they met frequently during the last fifteen years of her life. With sources ranging from notebooks kept from his very first encounter with Muriel and the hundreds of letters they exchanged over the years, this is an invaluable portrait of one of Edinburgh’s premiere novelists. 

Y is for The Yellow Dog by Georges Simenon

This begins with the shooting of Monsieur Mostaguen, a local wine merchant, followed by the appearance of the yellow dog, a big, snarling yellow animal, and then an attempt at poisoning for Inspector Maigret to investigate. No one knows who the owner of the yellow dog is. The locals had never seen it before and they all viewed it with fear and suspicion. Maigret keeps his thoughts to himself until the end of the book, when like Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, he explains it all.

The Keeper by Tana French

Published on by Margaret5 Comments

Penguin| 2 April 2026| 524 pages| e-book| Review copy|5*

Description from Amazon

On a cold night in a remote Irish village, a girl goes missing.

Sweet, loving Rachel Holohan was about to be engaged to the son of the local big shot. Instead, she’s dead in the river.

In a place like this, her death isn’t simple. It comes wrapped in generations-old grudges and power struggles, and it splits the townland in two. Retired Chicago detective Cal Hooper has friends here now and he owes them loyalty, but his fiancée Lena wants nothing to do with Ardnakelty’s tangles. As the feud becomes more vicious, their settled peace starts to crack apart. And when they uncover a scheme that casts a new light on Rachel’s death and threatens the whole village, they find themselves in the firing line.

I’ve read the first two in Tana French’s Cal Hooper series, The Searcher and The Hunter, so I was really keen to read her third, The Keeper. They are all excellent books.

This one completes the Cal Hooper trilogy continuing the story of retired Chicago police officer Cal, his fiancée Lena, teenager Trey Reddy, who is now sixteen, and the rest of the people living in Ardnakelty, a fictional, remote village in Western Ireland. Like the first two books The Keeper begins slowly, but I like the slow build up to the mystery, and I love Tana French’s beautiful descriptions of the Irish rural landscape and her characterisation. I really felt that over the course of the trilogy I have got to know the characters – they come over as real people and I felt for all of them as this story developed.

It’s focused on the death of Rachel Holohan, was it murder or suicide, as her fiancé’s father would have us believe? I’m not going to write in any more detail about the plot other than to say that from the slow start the pace picks up, the tension rises and the twists and turns all make this an impressive and convincing murder mystery. I loved it and only hope that Tana French will write more books about Cal and the others as I’d love to know what happens next.

Tana French has won several awards including the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity and Barry Awards, the Los Angeles Times Award for Best Mystery/Thriller, and the Irish Book Award for Crime Fiction.

As well as the Cal Hooper trilogy, she has written a standalone novel, The Wych Elm and six books that form The Dublin Squad series:

In the Woods (2006)
The Likeness (2008)
Faithful Place (2010)
Broken Harbour (2012)
The Secret Place (2014)
The Trespasser (2016

Many thanks to the author and Penguin for a review copy via NetGalley.