Welcome to My Favourite Reads, the blog series where I share the books I’ve loved over the previous month and adore hearing about yours too.

I hadn’t expected to read much in August. August is the Romance Writers of Australia’s annual conference, and with it being held in Hobart this year, we decided to throw the golf clubs in the car and combine it with a road (and ferry) trip holiday.

Holidays and conferences are usually busy with little time for books, but I’d failed to factor in the many hours spent on the Hume Highway, or the few quiet nights in we enjoyed. So books were read!

Only five of them, mind. But all excellent and worthy of today’s My Favourite Reads list.

Check them out below and don’t forget to share your favourite reads in the comments!

The Man by the Sea by Jack Benton

Normally I’d roll my eyes at a disgraced soldier turned alcoholic P.I. character but The Man by the Sea turned out a lot of fun. It helped that the premise was fabulous: every Friday an investment banker sneaks to an isolated cove, where he walks to the shore, opens a book and reads aloud. His wife is convinced he’s having and affair.  Our wobbly P.I. Slim thinks he’s nuts. The truth is something else.

This was easy to read, fast paced, and had plenty of twists. Seriously bad decision making by Slim added to the tension. He’s almost unlikeable, but his innate bravery, (the occasional) spot of cleverness and some unpredictability kept him interesting. And I really wanted to know why out banker read to the sea!

I enjoyed it so much I already have book two.

The Man Who Died by Antti Tuomainen

I read about this book years ago when it was mentioned somewhere in a blog or social media conversation and was intrigued – but not enough to buy it at the time. Then a year or so ago a bunch of Tuomainen ebooks went on sale, and I snapped it up along with The Rabbit Factor because it sounded interesting. I read The Rabbit Factor early last year (my thoughts here), but it’s only now I got around to The Man Who Died.

Silly Cathryn. Yes, The Rabbit Factor was fun, but this was an absolute hoot!

Finnish mushroom entrepreneur Jaakko is understandably upset when his doctor informs him that he’s slowly dying. Of poisoning. Who would want to poison Jaakko? Quite a few people, it turns out. And so Jaakko embarks on a mission to solve his own murder before he dies.

Absolutely nuts and over the top but hugely entertaining, The Man Who Died follows Jaakko in his quest. There are hit-men, eccentric mushroom lovers, traitors, adulterers – basically a cornucopia of weird and wonderful characters.

A darkly humorous and twisty story with a satisfying ending. Highly recommended.

Forget Me Not by Julie Soto

I have no idea how I came to pick up Forget Me Not. I suspect it was an ebook deal of some sort that sounded interesting but I’m glad I did because it was lovely.

Ama Torres is a wedding planner who doesn’t believe in happily ever afters – understandable given the number of times her mother has been married. When Ama scores the wedding of the season, she knows this could be the one that breaks her into the big time. Except it will also mean working with her ex, grumpy florist Elliot Bloom, and sparks and old hurts are bound to fly.

Forget Me Not was a great read. A gorgeous grumpy-sunshine, second chance romance that had compelling characters, interesting scene settings, and plenty of laughs and tears. Just lovely.

Gone To Ground by Bronwyn Hall

I read Hall’s second novel The Chasm last year and enjoyed it a lot (my thoughts here) but I wasn’t sure about her debut Gone To Ground. While it was also a thriller, the setting and premise were quite different and I worried it wouldn’t be my thing.

Turned out that it absolutely was!

Set in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gone To Ground tells the story of UN surgeon Rachel Forester. Working in an isolated camp, with most of her team evacuated, Rachel is tending to an injured child when a small group of Canadian specialist soldiers arrive bearing a badly injured comrade. She works to keep him alive long enough for the next evacuation chopper, only for the camp to come under attack. She manages to get the little girl and soldier airlifted, leaving Rachel behind with the soldiers, and on the run.

This was such a heart-stopping read. Rachel was an excellent character – skilled, brave, clever and compassionate. I loved the way she stood up for what she felt was right and I liked the way the story unfolded, with slow revelations about Rachel’s past and the terrible danger she was in. Not all from the attacking militia. Even better, there was a bit of a romance!

I look forward to seeing what story Hall comes up with next.

The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young

I really don’t know how to describe The Unmaking of June Farrow, except to say that it was time travel (or more like time twisting) and that it was a completely compelling read.

The Farrow women are cursed. At some point in their lives, and it could be any time, they will go mad. June is waiting for fate to run its course, and it will be soon. Already she can feel herself unravelling, hearing voices, the sudden appearance of a mysterious door. When her grandmother – the woman who raised her – passes away, leaving behind a set of cryptic clues to the curse, June grasps at hope, or at least the chance of an answer. Armed with new information, she steps through the door…

The Unmaking of June Farrow is evocotively written, the setting coming alive thanks to Young’s descriptions, and I loved the characters. At times my brain got a bit knotted with the timelines of who did what when, but that was a minor irk. I just read on in expectation of a well-solved puzzle, enjoying the mystery and romance.

An emotional story where more than a few tears were shed at the end.

What did you enjoy reading in August? Share away!