In the honor of February "the month of love" I am starting a category of books with "heart" in their titles. Yes this is mostly so I can finally read Outlander #9 but there are a lot of other enticing titles. This category will outlast February for sure as several of the books are of "doorstop" length.
I have held off on reading this 8th book in the Outlander series as so far it is the last published. The author is hard at work on the 9th book and although she had hoped publish sometime in 2019--it is now 2021 with no publication date in sight. I can wait no longer--this is exactly the kind of immersive book reading experience that "my heart" is longing for right now--so I am giving into its solace and escaping once again into this fabulous world. It did not disappoint!
This is the 23rd Kate Scarpetta novel. I generally never read out of order but this sounds good and was already in one of my many TBR stacks. I haven't read any of her books since the 1990's and I can't remember why I stopped-nor can I remember why I bought this copy. While this proved a quick read--reading this far out of order gave me some issues. I had a hard time relating to and/or empathizing with the "good" guys and even though she gave an enormous amount of back story it was still hard to connect with the characters- with many seeming to be simply pasted in-they are in all the books so they need to be in this one as well. Reading this one-- did cause me to remember that her books had a tendency to be repetitive after awhile and maybe that is why I stopped reading them.
This is an author I have never read but after seeing her name mentioned numerous times on Bookish Twitter and after reading JacquiWine's wonderful review I could resist no longer and this title considered one of her best works was a perfect fit. I enjoyed the book although it was a little bleak with few totally sympathetic characters. I will read more of this author.
A long-overdue and dramatic reinterpretation of the life of Mary, Queen of Scots by one of the leading historians at work today and a book I cannot wait to start. I do a lot of Royal reading--most recently the Tudors. I am understandably keen to read more on Elizabeth I's biggest rival. Even though this was a book of door-stopping length it kept me glued to the pages from start to finish. A woman of whom it can be truly said "If it weren't for bad luck I would have no luck at all."
A Maeve Binchy title that I have not read--what a perfect way to round out this category with heart. I did enjoy this book. It followed a bunch of co-workers at a heart clinic and patients with little stories about their interconnected lives.
