Welcome to My Favourite Reads, a regular blog series where I share recent reads that have tickled my fancy and love hearing what you’ve been enjoying too.

January proved to be a bit of a slow month book wise, despite the summer holiday vibe. A few DNFs (did not finish) didn’t help. Then there was another book that slowed matters, because although it wasn’t really hitting the right note, I didn’t want to not finish it either.

Here are the ones I did like. No overall favourite this month because they were all beauties.

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The Guncle by Stephen Rowley

Oh, this was a lovely read. Such a gorgeous story. Very moving, very funny at times, The Guncle gave me a lot of smiles and even a few tears.

When Gay Uncle Patrick (GUP) is forced to care for his young niece and nephew, it’s a learning curve for all of them. The children have only recently lost their mother and their father has issues that need addressing. Patrick must not only change his lifestyle, but learn how to parent, all while helping the children deal with their grief. And finally deal with his own.

Patrick was so nice. He was a joy to spend time with, and the children, especially little Grant, were cute. I loved the other characters too – the throuples over the back fence, even Patrick’s feisty sister. Every one of them was wonderfully drawn and interesting.

The Guncle was loaded with heart and joy and I loved it. I want to read Lily and the Octopus now.

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Beach Read by Emily Henry

Hooly-dooly, this was a cracking read! It’s taken me a while to get on the Emily Henry bandwagon but after Beach Read I am well on for the ride.

I loved that the heroine and hero were both writers. There were some fun insights into process and deadlines and other authorly matters that I really enjoyed. I loved Gus and January’s challenge, with January attempting to write a literary novel and Gus a romance (Gus’s idea of romance was a hoot).

The romance in Beach Read was gorgeous. Slow developing, full of tension and satisfying, but I also very much liked that there were other conflicts as well. Both January’s and Gus’s backstories were particularly moving. I got teary more than once. I also laughed a few times.

A beautiful, deeply romantic book. I will definitely be reading more from Emily Henry.

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Murder in Maastricht by Graham Brack

This is such a fun series!

Murder in Maastricht sees our intrepid Master Mercurius roped into a debate between the University of Leiden and the University of Leuven about witchcraft. It’s the 1600s and witches are still a hot topic. Mercurius is, of course, on the side that witches don’t exist and is appalled at the injustices that so-called witches have suffered. His rector is confident of victory, but the debate will be fierce.

When an opposition witness (a notorious and loathed witchfinder) is discovered murdered, Mercurius is called upon to investigate. It’s a tricky case, and with pretty much everyone a suspect Mercurius begins to doubt he’ll discover the villain.

Another clever story from Brack, loaded with interesting history and humour.

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His Last-Minute Desert Queen by Annie West

Oooh, this was good!

His Last-Minute Desert Queen has such a great premise: to prevent her cousin from being forced into a marriage she doesn’t want, our heroine Miranda kidnaps the groom-to-be, only to be forced into marriage herself.

Miranda was a brilliant character. She was incredibly brave yet also deeply vulnerable and a delight to be with. So was Zamir. The chemistry between the two was evident from first meeting and sizzled all the way through the book. I especially enjoyed how Zamir supported Miranda in her new role and did all he could to make her happy.

Wonderful, wonderful read. One of Annie’s best.

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The Rabbit Factor by Antti Tuomainen

I’m not sure how I discovered Finnish author Antti Tuomainen, but I’m very glad I did because The Rabbit Factor was a hoot!

Henri is an actuary and numbers, order and logic are his thing. When he first loses his job then inherits an adventure park from his brother, complete with a large and dodgy debt, it’s a bit of a shock. Despite his awkwardness with people, Henri is a knuckle-down sort and is determined to sort the problems out.

Except the criminals who’d loaned the original money are determined to get their payment, and not only must Henri evade their murderous intents, he’s discovering new feelings toward one of the park’s employees that he has no idea how to handle.

Heartwarming, funny, sometimes dark, completely charming and with a romance (yay!), it’s no wonder The Rabbit Factor is being made into a movie.

There are two more books in this series and I’ll probably read both, but seeing as I’ve already bought The Man Who Died, I’ll get onto that first.

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What have you read lately that you can recommend?

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