Welcome to the first Reading Roundup post for August! I have read two very different books this week and here is the first one:

Yes, the book was Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Relentless Moon, #03 of her Lady Astronaut Universe series. I enjoyed the first two books so much that I couldn’t wait to read the final part.

This is the blurb:

“Two worlds. One humanity.

It’s 1963, and riots and sabotage plague the space program. The climate change caused by the Meteor is becoming more and more clear, but tensions are rising, and the IAC’s goal of getting humanity off Earth is threatened.

Astronaut Nicole Wargin lives two lives; one as a politician’s smiling wife on Earth, and the other as an astronaut on the newly-established Moon Base. But when sabotage strikes, she finds that her two worlds are colliding – with deadly consequences.”

And here is my response on Goodreads:

The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow! How I loved reading this book! In fact I was sad when I reached the end.

First, I was surprised by the change of main character, but could see why. It made a rather nice change too. Nicole was a person with different skills, issues and relationships, which gave the reader a new perspective. I also liked the fact that she was an older woman.

The setting on the Moon was well done and I am in total awe of the author’s ability to write a fiction book with so many scientific, mathematical and engineering concepts without weighting the story down. The pacing was great with steady and exciting momentum being built up towards the ending. The epilogue was very satisfying too and brought about a great conclusion.

All in all, this was a great read and I will certainly hunt out more by this author in the future.

View all my reviews

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This was a truly terrific book and a great series. There are several shorter books associated with the series, so I may also read them in the future.

When I had finished this book I had a look in my Library ebook account and saw that I had three waiting for me that I had reserved some months ago. As a good library user, I always try to read popular books as quickly as I can so that the next person in the queue can get them swiftly. So, this was my next read of the week:

My second book this week was The Only Suspect by Louise Candlish. This is the blurb:

“There’s the obvious story. And then there’s the truth.
 
Alex lives a comfortable life with his wife Beth in the leafy suburb of Silver Vale. Fine, so he’s not the most outgoing guy on the street, he prefers to keep himself to himself, but he’s a good husband and an easy-going neighbour.
 
That’s until Beth announces the creation of a nature trail on a local site that’s been disused for decades and suddenly Alex is a changed man. Now he’s always watching. Questioning. Struggling to hide his dread . . .
 
As the landscapers get to work, a secret threatens to surface from years ago, back in Alex’s twenties when he got entangled with a seductive young woman called Marina, who threw both their lives into turmoil.
 
And who sparked a police hunt for a murder suspect that was never quite what it seemed.
 
And it still isn’t.”

I read this one quite quickly and wrote the following review:

The Only Suspect by Louise Candlish
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A good, but not outstanding thriller. By about half way through I was beginning to lose interest, but the pace picked up with some plot twists and turns. For once, I hadn’t guessed most of them so they came as surprises, which was good.

The writing style was OK and the characters interesting. I am sure I will pick up more ebooks by this author from the library in the future when I want some escapism.

View all my reviews

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Well, at least it was a fast read!

I hope you are all enjoying your books: Happy Reading!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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