Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Forgotten Backlist Titles (Spread love for books that people don’t talk about much anymore!).
I’m not sure that I’d consider these books “forgotten” — but I’ve put together a list of earlier books by authors with more recent books making a big splash. Here are my ten:
1) Green Creek series by TJ Klune: This may be a bit of a cheat, since this series is being reissued this year and next. TJ Klune broke into bestseller stardom with The House in the Cerulean Sea in 2020, but before that, his books included this outstanding werewolf series (of which, I’ve read books 1 & 2 — Wolfsong and Ravensong — and can’t wait to dive into 3 & 4!)
2) Lord John books by Diana Gabaldon: Sure, everyone knows about Outlander, but die-hard fans also read the Lord John books, which fill in critical pieces of LJ’s story and help a lot by the time you get to later books in the Outlander series as well.
3) Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid: This was my TJR gateway book! Before Daisy Jones or Evelyn Hugo, I read this one, then all of her earlier books. These books deserve love too!
4) A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Bakingby T Kingfisher: I loved this magical fantasy! My first introductions to T Kingfisher were horror novels, but going back and reading her fantasy stories is a total kick.
5) River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey: This author has had some big hits since, but I will never get tired of talking about the American Hippo books!
6) The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black: I’ve since read many more Holly Black books, including the Folk of the Air series (my favorite) — but I remember loving this one, and have been thinking I should go back for a reread.
7) The Android’s Dream by John Scalzi: You really can’t go wrong with a Scalzi book. I don’t know many people who’ve read this one, but it’s hilarious (especially if you listen to the audiobook version).
8) The Pact by Jodi Picoult: This author is a huge bestseller, but of all her books, this is the one that’s really stayed with me across the years. It’s the first of her books that I ever read, and maybe because of the combination of subject matter and the particular time in my life that I read it, it’s haunted me ever since.
9) Rosie Hopkins series by Jenny Colgan: I love this author’s books, with their sunny outlook on life, quirky characters, and cakes, cookies, and candies to die for! I feel like this series is very under-the-radar, but I thought it was a stand-out.
10) Newsflesh series by Mira Grant: Mira Grant is one of Seanan McGuire’s pen names, under which she writes terrific horror. This series is outstanding, and I don’t know that I’d consider it forgotten in any way… but I just don’t see it getting mentioned very often. I love these books, and recommend them whenever I get a chance.
Have you read any of my backlist books? What backlist books do you wish more people would read?
If you did a TTT post this week, please share your link!
Title: The Summer Skies Author: Jenny Colgan Narrator: Eilidh Beaton Publisher: Avon Publication date: July 11, 2023 Print length: 352 pages Audio length: 11 hours, 11 minutes Genre: Contemporary fiction Source: Purchased (audiobook); E-book ARC from the publisher/NetGalley Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
New York Times bestselling author Jenny Colgan takes us to the gloriously windswept islands of northern Scotland, where we meet young Morag MacIntyre, who runs the puddle-jumper flights that serve the islands’ tiny but proudly feisty population.
Morag MacIntyre is a Scottish lass from the remote islands that make up the northernmost reaches of the UK. She’s also a third-generation pilot, the heir apparent to an island plane service she runs with her grandfather. The islands–over 500 dots of windswept land that reach almost to Norway–rely on their one hardworking prop plane to deliver mail, packages, tourists, medicine, and the occasional sheep. As the keeper of this vital lifeline, Morag is used to landing on pale golden beaches and tiny grass airstrips, whether during great storms or on bright endless summer nights. Up in the blue sky, Morag feels at one with the elements.
Down on the ground is a different matter, though. Her grandfather is considering retiring and Morag wonders if she truly wants to spend the rest of her life in the islands. Her boyfriend Hayden, from flight school, wants Morag to move to Dubai with him, where they’ll fly A380s and say goodbye to Scotland’s dark winters.
Morag is on the verge of making a huge life change when an unusually bumpy landing during a storm finds her marooned on Inchborn island. Inchborn is gloriously off-grid, home only to an ancient ruined abbey, a bird-watching station, and a population of one: Gregor, a visiting ornithologist from Glasgow who might have just the right perspective to help Morag pilot her course.
Jenny Colgan’s books never fail to delight, and with Eilidh Beaton as narrator, the audiobook of The Summer Skies is a total treat.
In this new release, pilot Morag MacIntyre is the youngest in a chain of several generations of pilots in the MacIntyre family. While her grandfather maintains the single-plane airline that flies in short hops between the island of the Scottish archipelago, Morag flies in and out of Heathrow as co-pilot on airbuses, working toward the day she’ll move into the captain’s seat.
After a near miss in the air, Morag’s confidence is shaken, and while she’s working toward returning to the skies, she tells no one how bad her fears have become. Meanwhile, after the incident, she meets a lovely guy named Hayden, an airline HR consultant, who seems like all she’d want in a long-term partner. They talk of moving to Dubai for the next steps in their careers… if only she can get back in the air.
When she receives a call that her grandfather is ill and unable to fly, and she’s needed back home to fill in for him on the island runs, she returns with caution. She still has time before her final simulator to get cleared to qualify for the Dubai job, and if her grandfather needs her, she goes. Still, Morag insists on sitting in the co-pilot chair, even though she’s been qualified as captain on the family’s 16-seater plane since her late teens.
When a medical crisis forces Morag to do an emergency landing on the isolated island of Inchborn during a wild storm, she’s left there for days, with only the island’s caretaker for company. Gregor is a taciturn loner, an ornithologist who really just wants to enjoy his solitude. But forced into one another’s company while they’re cut off from the outside world, the two eventually connect, and the time away from her high-octane life gives Morag the space she needs to think about what truly makes her happy.
The Summer Skies is a quiet book, with at least half of it focused on Morag’s few short days on Inchborn. And yet, it manages to pack in quite a bit of emotion, personal growth, and even humor. Jenny Colgan creates funny, memorable characters and dialogue that can bite, and Morag is such fun to be around. I enjoyed the dynamics between Morag and Gregor (not to mention Morag’s deepening connections to Barbara the chicken and Frances the goat). While there are many thoughtful moments in which Morag contemplates her life and the reasons she flies, there are also some sharp, dramatic action scenes (remind me not to get into a small plane when there’s a storm brewing… or really, ever).
As I mentioned, the narrator is wonderful. I’ve listened to her narration of several other Jenny Colgan audiobooks, and always love her delivery. She makes the characters come alive, and hearing the Scottish accents is lovely.
The Summer Skies is sweet and funny, a terrific choice for upbeat escapist listening and reading. The gentle storyline, flawed but relatable characters, and sweet romance were exactly what I wanted in a summer read this month.
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Books on My Summer 2023 to-Read List.
I’m hoping to get to a LOT of books already on my shelves… but I also have a bunch of new releases coming up that I’m really looking forward to, so the key will be finding the right balance of old and new!
For this list, I’ll just focus on some upcoming (and recent) new releases that I’m excited for:
Hello Stranger by Katherine Center
The Summer Skies by Jenny Colgan
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher
With Love From Cold Word by Alicia Thompson
Infinity Gate by M. R. Carey
Ravensong by TJ Klune
The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner
Sleep No More (October Daye, #17) by Seanan McGuire
All the Dead Shall Weep (Gunnie Rose, #5) by Charlaine Harris
Thief Liar Lady by D. L. Soria
What are you planning to read this summer? Please share your links!
Title: Lessons at the School by the Sea Series: Maggie Adair / Little School by the Sea Author: Jenny Colgan Narrator: Alex Tregear Publisher: Avon Publication date: Originally published 2018; reissued 2023 Print length: 304 pages Audio length: 7 hours, 6 minutes Genre: Contemporary fiction Source: Purchased (audiobook); E-book ARC from the publisher/NetGalley Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
The summer holiday brings new passion and new challenges in the enchanting third book of Jenny Colgan’s utterly delightful School by the Sea series, set at a girls’ boarding school in Cornwall.
School is out, following a bit of saucy scandal at Downey House…
Beloved high school teacher Maggie Adair had been comfortably, if somewhat ambivalently, engaged to her dependable long-distance boyfriend Stan. But in the heat of summer, Maggie’s attraction to her colleague David McDonald has caught fire. Now both are facing an uncertain future as they try to figure out how to stay committed to their careers–and each other.
Meanwhile, the girls of Downey House–mercurial Fliss, glamorous Alice, and shy, hard-working Simone–have had long summers at home, which weren’t quite the respite they had been hoping for. But the new school year is thankfully here, and it will bring new pupils and lots of fresh challenges for students and teachers alike at the school by the sea.
Welcome back to the School by the Sea! This charming series focuses on Maggie Adair, a dedicated teacher from Glasgow who takes a job teaching English at a posh boarding school in Devon. Three books into the series, we’ve seen Maggie grow into her role and truly make a difference in the lives of her students… as well as struggle to reconcile her engagement to her long-term boyfriend with her growing feelings for the sensitive, handsome English teacher over at the boys’ school.
Book #3, Lessons at the School by the Sea, picks up immediately after the ending of the 2nd book, which ended (spoilers for those who haven’t read it!) with a scandalous scene at a train station, as David attempts to make a grand romantic gesture while Maggie’s train is leaving the station, and Maggie (inadvisably) pulls the emergency brake. Oh dear.
As we return to the scene of their fairly mild crime, both Maggie and David are in quite a bit of trouble, facing possible criminal charges and (even worse!) the shame of bringing embarrassment to Downey House. The only solution is separation — David loses his job, and Maggie is allowed to stay on, but with the stipulation that the two must have no contact.
Needless to say, Maggie is somewhat despondent when the new school term starts in the fall, and she’s not the only one. A new year means new worries and drama among the school girls as well, and even the headmistress has her own personal life complications to sort out.
It’s all quite sweet and lovely, entertaining in a gentle sort of ultra-British way. For American readers, the ins and outs of boarding school life may seem somewhat impenetrable (although at least we have some exposure from other pop culture — it’s like Hogwarts minus magic, but with social media).
Speaking of social media — about ten years elapsed between the publishing of the second and third books, even though the books’ timeline is a seamless continuation. So, it’s a little jarring in book #3 to suddenly see the students obsessed with their phones, wifi access, Snapchat, Insta, and social media gossip. The author does a good job of weaving all this into the ongoing story, but as readers, we do sort of have to pretend that they’ve had this stuff all along.
The series as a whole is quite fun, and I love how well we get to know all the characters, adults and teens. This volume seems to spend a bit less time on the girls’ part of the story, but that’s okay — I was more invested in Maggie and David’s story than the rest, although I did enjoy it all.
Another thing I really appreciate about these books is how lovingly the value of education, and especially literature, is portrayed. Maggie and David both enrich their students’ lives through their commitment and compassion, but also because they so carefully and consciously choose literature that both challenges and enriches their students.
Hmmm — many of Jenny Colgan’s other books include recipes. The School by the Sea books should include reading lists!
The author mentions in her introduction that she’s envisioned this as a six-book series. Yes, please! While I don’t see anything on her website yet that says that there will be more, a reader can always hope.
Title: Rules at the School by the Sea Series: Maggie Adair / Little School by the Sea Author: Jenny Colgan Narrator: Jilly Bond Publisher: Avon Publication date: Originally published 2010; reissued 2022 Print length: 288 pages Audio length: 7 hours, 32 minutes Genre: Contemporary fiction Source: Purchased Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
It’s summer, but school is in session in the delightful second book of New York Times bestselling author Jenny Colgan’s utterly charming School by the Sea series, set at a girls’ boarding school in Cornwall.
For the second year at Downey House, it’s getting harder and harder to stick to the rules . . .
Maggie Adair’s first year as a teacher at Downey House was a surprising success. After making the leap from an inner-city school in Glasgow, she’s learned to appreciate the mellower pace of the girls’ boarding school by the sea.
Now engaged to her longtime boyfriend, sweet and steady Stan, Maggie’s just got to stop thinking about David McDonald, her colleague at the boys’ school down the road. Well, hasn’t she? Can Maggie take a leaf out of the Well Behaved Teacher’s exercise book and stick to her plan for a small but elegant wedding and settled life of matrimony?
Even as Maggie tries to stay within the lines, rules are being broken all around her. Maggie’s boss, headmistress Veronica Deveral, has more to lose than anyone. When Daniel Stapleton joins the faculty, Veronica finds herself forced to confront a scandalous secret she thought she’d carefully buried forever. How long will she be able to keep her past under wraps?
What does a new year of classes, rules, and camaraderie hold for the students and faculty at Downey House?
After listening to the first book in the Little School series, Welcome to the School by the Sea, I thought I’d wait a bit and enjoy the anticipation before listening to the second… but in the end, I just had to see what happens next!
In Rules at the School by the Sea, we start a new school year alongside teacher Maggie, headmistress Veronica, and the rambunctious group of girls — Simone, Fliss, and Alice — we got to know in the first book.
Maggie is much more settled into her life at Downey House. She’s more confident in her teaching abilities, and plans to grab her girls’ attention by focusing on romantic poetry from the World War I era during English lessons. Maggie and her long-time boyfriend Stan have recently become engaged, but Maggie seems to be in a bit of denial: She doesn’t really have any interest in wedding plans, and despite Stan’s urging, really doesn’t want to leave Downey House and look for a teaching job in Glasgow.
For Veronica, she’s both thrilled to have her biological son teaching at the nearby boys’ school, but also worried about whether news of her having once given up a baby for adoption will create a scandal among her staff and the parents. Meanwhile, she and Daniel are cautiously beginning to get to know one another, but Veronica is finding it almost impossible to balance her growing love for her son and his family with her deeply ingrained need for privacy.
And the girls — well, what can we say about a bunch of 14 (almost 15) -year-old girls in all their glorious confusion of hormones and growing up and still being so very young in so many ways? A new girl, Zelda — the daughter of a US army officer temporarily stationed in the UK — shakes up the group of friends with her brashness and American approach to school, while Fliss and Alice fall out over a boy and Simone takes Zelda up on her offer of a total image makeover. There are arguments and rule-breaking and hilarity, and it’s quite fun to see the girls’ petty squabbles as well as their friendship and commitment to one another.
Rules is quite a lot of fun, capturing the excitement of the school year from the perspective of the students as well as that of the teachers. Overall, I quite enjoyed this 2nd book, but I did feel particularly frustrated by Maggie’s romance story line.
Maggie has been with Stan for ages and cares for him, but she’s so clearly in love with (and better suited for) David, the English teacher from the boys’ school. Maggie spends the entire book trying to convince herself that her crush on David is just a passing phase, and that she really does want to marry Stan — but it’s entirely obvious that she and Stan have grown apart and want very different things out of their lives. It seemed as though there were plenty of opportunities for Maggie to face the truth and take responsibility for breaking off the engagement with Stan, but each time, she backtracks and recommits, even though she isn’t actually happy.
I know this back-and-forth love triangle stuff is supposed to add drama and tension, but after a while, it just makes it seem as though Maggie is emotionally unaware, and that doesn’t feel true to her character. There’s a bit of a cliffhanger ending in the final chapter, but it does appear that Maggie has finally had an epiphany and is on the verge of taking action… and I hope that’s really the case! (This is why I’ll probably grab the 3rd book the very first second that I can — I need to know what happens next!!)
On a more serious note, the problematic focus on Simone’s weight from book #1 continues here. Again, there’s nothing wrong with Simone making an effort to adopt healthy eating habits if that’s what feels right to her, but the over-emphasis on being slim in order to gain popularity and attract boys leads to an eating disorder for another of the girls in the group. On the one hand, I’m glad that the darker aspects of this focus on dieting are shown, but there’s still something very uncomfortable about how much weight and appearance matter in the girls’ lives. (Perhaps this is an aftereffect of the fact that this book was originally published in 2010 — if it were written today, I’d hope that the fat-shaming and focus on a specific standard for acceptable bodies would be addressed or eliminated altogether).
My frustration with the romance and the weight/dieting storylines aside, I did find Rules a sweet, entertaining, engaging read. I love how the storyline bounces between the adults and students, and how we get to see each sides’ attitudes and perceptions about the other. The characters are all quite endearing — even the obnoxious spoiled girls have something going for them — and the story as a whole is just such a yummy treat in the way it presents a somewhat idealized yet still modern-day version of life at a lovely boarding school.
This is the 2nd book in a series that was originally published over 10 years ago under a pseudonym, now being reissued with spiffed-up covers, titles, and the actual author’s name! The third reissue, Lessons at the School by the Sea, will be released in March 2023 — although since I have a paperback of the original version, I may have to read it much sooner. (Apparently, I am terrible at waiting.)
The audiobook is very enjoyable — I really liked the narrator’s approach to voicing the different characters. She does a very good job of capturing their personalities, although I found her version of an American/Texan accent for Zelda incredibly grating and overdone. Otherwise, though, it’s a charming listening experience.
And finally, one lovely bit is that the audiobook ends with a collection of Maggie’s poems — the poetry she teaches her class over the course of the school year. It was a sweet treat to get to hear all of these after the main story had concluded, and even though pieces of some of these are included earlier in the story, it was lovely to get to listen to them in their entirety. (My favorite of these is Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou — see the full text here).
Another nice little bit at the end — after finishing the audiobook, I picked up my paperback edition and discovered that the final piece included is step-by-step instructions for some of the dances that the girls learn, including The Dashing White Sergeant, Strip the Willow, and Eightsome Reel. (I can’t actually visualize the dances from reading the instructions, but seeing these pages is motivating me to go look for dance videos online.)
Wrapping it all up…
I love when a first book’s promise is delivered on in the second book, and that’s definitely the case with Rules at the School by the Sea. There’s much still unresolved plot-wise, but it’s wonderful to see these likable characters continue to learn and grow, and I can’t wait to see what’s next for all of them!
Title: Welcome to the School by the Sea Series: Maggie Adair / Little School by the Sea Author: Jenny Colgan Narrator: Jilly Bond Publisher: Avon Publication date: January 1, 2008 (reissued March 29, 2022) Print length: 304 pages Audio length: 7 hours, 54 minutes Genre: Contemporary fiction Source: Library (audiobook) Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
The first book of Jenny Colgan’s delightful new four-part series, set at a charming English boarding school on the sea.
Maggie went to the window and opened it wide, inhaling the lovely salt air off the sea. Why had she never lived by the sea before? Why had she always looked out on housing estates and not the little white hulls of trawlers bobbing off in the distance?
It’s gloriously sunny in Cornwall as the school year starts at the little boarding school by the sea. Maggie, the newest teacher at Downey House, is determined to make her mark. She’s delighted by her new teaching job, but will it come at the expense of her relationship with her safe, dependable boyfriend Stan?
Simone is excited and nervous: she’s won a scholarship to the prestigious boarding school and wants to make her parents proud. Forced to share a room with the glossy, posh girls of Downey House, she needs to find a friend, fast.
Flissis furious. She’s never wanted to go to boarding school and hates being sent away from her home. As Simone tries desperately to fit in, Fliss tries desperately to get out.
Over the course of one year, friendships will bloom and lives will be changed forever. Life at the Little School by the Sea is never dull…
Jenny Colgan books are always a treat, and this one was an especially nice surprise! Originally published under the pseudonym Jane Beaton starting in 2008, the three books in this series were hard to find in the US, and I finally landed copies of the UK editions (titled Class, Rules, and Lessons) by ordering via EBay.
The series is now being reissued by Avon, with books 1 and 2 available, and #3 coming in early 2023. Although I’ve had my paperbacks for several years, seeing the new editions made me realize that it was finally time to give this series a try!
The books are set at an English boarding school, Downey House, located in a beautiful old manor house on the shores of Cornwall. While there are several point-of-view characters, our lead character is Maggie Adair, a young teacher from Glasgow who applies to Downey House on a whim. Maggie cares deeply about education and providing opportunities for youth, but she’s frustrated by her early years of teaching in an underfunded school where the headmaster doesn’t even bother learning new teachers’ names, since he’s sure they won’t last. Maggie spends her days on discipline and making sure her students are safe and have food, rather than being able to actually teach her beloved literature.
The job offer at Downey is a surprise to Maggie, as well as to her long-term boyfriend Stan, a good-natured guy who just wants life to continue as it’s been, with pub quizzes and a non-changing status quo. But Maggie sees Downey as an opportunity to truly stretch herself and grow as a teacher, and hopes to one day bring what she’s learned there back to Glasgow and its lackluster schools.
Downey House is run by the stern but impressive headmistress Veronica Deveral, who has secrets of her own. It’s an all-girls school, with a partner boys’ school just down the road. Students enter at age 13 and continue on for six years. Most are from hyper-privileged families, with money (oodles of it), fancy homes and vacations, and the clear impression that the world is theirs. Not all, though — there are the occasional scholarship students, and one of these is Simone (originally with the last name Kardashian, but changed for the new editions to Pribetich).
Simone is from a working-class Armenian-British family, a brilliant girl who’s shy and insecure after years of bullying in her local school. Downey is a chance for her to shine, but even there, she’s ostracized by her classmates from day one because of her looks, her background, and her embarassing family.
Then there’s Fliss, the younger daughter of a very popular older student (she’s a prefect!), who absolutely doesn’t want to leave her friends back home and go to a stupid posh school. Fliss is determined to get kicked out, so she breaks rules, has a nasty attitude, and teams up with one of the worst girls there to cause trouble and act up.
Maggie has a hard time fitting in at first, and the girls are obnoxious as hell about her Scottish accent. Still, she’s clearly a gifted teacher, if a bit headstrong, and begins to make a difference, and she finds a friend in the glamorous French teacher (who smokes contraband cigarettes out the window) and the dashing English teacher from the boys’ school.
Jenny Colgan writes in her author’s note that she grew up loving boarding school books, but not being able to find any for grown-ups, she decided to write some! Reading this book, it occurs to me that everything I know about English boarding schools basically comes from Harry Potter! I mean, prior to HP, I’d never heard of school houses or prefects or any of the other terms and concepts of this type of school — but reading Welcome to the School by the Sea, I had fun seeing how pieces I assumed were Hogwarts-specific are actually just elements of a boarding school (sans magic).
At Downey, the girls are divided into four houses (Wessex, Plantagenet, York, and Tudor), and live in house dorms with their classmates. There are school uniforms, mandatory sports sessions, classes and exams, and annoying teachers to gossip about. There are also pranks, holidays, performances, and competitions, as you’d expect in this kind of story.
I really enjoyed the interplay between the characters, and appreciated that the characters we spend the most time with (Maggie, Veronica, Fliss, and Simone) are each given well-developed backstories and their own sets of challenges and adventures.
Maggie’s romantic life quickly develops into a love triangle. Stan is not supportive of her new position and gives her a very hard time about it for most of the book. He’s a lovable doofus, and Maggie has been with him since they were teens — but clearly, he’s not the right guy for her. Underneath his mocking and lack of support, he does truly care for Maggie, but even though they stay together, we know this won’t last. Meanwhile, David from the boys’ school is surprising, fun, and very much in tune with Maggie in terms of dedication to education, and they seem to work. The triangle is left hanging by the end of the book, but it seems pretty obvious that the Maggie/David pairing is end-game for this series.
A few bits seem dated, or perhaps don’t quite fit with current sensitivities. For me, the most annoying was the emphasis on Simone’s weight. When she arrives at Downey, she’s quite heavy. It’s clear that she’s been overindulged with sweets by her doting mother, and due to the bullying she grew up with, has found refuge in food and has always tried to avoid further ridicule by shying away from physical activity. That’s all fine, as far as backstory goes, but she continues to be referred to as chubby or fat throughout the book, and after a while, it starts to feel like too much. The fact is, at Downey, she discovers that she’s a gifted field hockey goalie and starts to eat a healthier diet away from her mother’s influence, so whether or not she’s still plus-sized, she’s definitely getting healthy, and that should be applauded.
Other than that, there’s some mean girl business that’s a bit too obvious, but I was happy to see unexpected friendships formed by the end of the first year, and assume we’ll see these characters and their relationships continue to grow in the next books.
The audiobook is quite fun to listen to (although the audiobook uses Simone’s original last name, so it’s a little inconsistent when compared to print editions). At the start, I found the audiobook hard to follow, as we’re introduced to so many characters right away, each with their own POV sections. After a while, it becomes clearer, and I appreciated the narrator’s ability to give the various characters their own distinct voices.
Overall, this is a fun, engaging listen, and I can’t wait for more! Book #2 (Rules at the School by the Sea) is now available, so I’m already in the queue for it at the library, and I hope to listen to the 3rd as soon as it’s released. As for additional books, the synopsis (above) refers to this as a four-book series, although in the author’s notes, she mentions intending to write six books… but as of this moment, I don’t see anything specific online about books beyond the current three.
If you’ve visited my blog over the past few years, you may have noticed that I’m a Jenny Colgan fan. It’s true!! Her books are sweet, good-humored, and full of engaging, funny characters, and she excels at building a fictional community around key lovable, memorable characters. I can’t get enough, and I’m always excited for her new releases. Bring on Rules… and keep ’em coming!
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Completed Series I Wish Had More Books.
So… last week, my topic was first books in favorite series that were published over 10 years ago, and I definitely did not look ahead to see what this week’s topic would be. As a result, there’s going to be a lot of books/series in common between last week’s and this week’s lists, but that’s okay!
These are all books and series that I love, and I never mind featuring them in a post.
Ten series that are already done, but which I wish had more books:
The Glamourist Histories by Mary Robinette Kowal
This five-book series has been described as “Jane Austen but magic”, which is okay at a basic level, but just doesn’t convey how absolutely wonderful the characters and world are.
The Expanse by James S. A. Corey
My heart hurt by the time I read the (amazing) conclusion to this 9-book series. Yes, the story is done… but really, I’d happily read more about any of the characters or the worlds of this series.
Newsflesh by Mira Grant
The Newsflesh trilogy blew me away! Who knew zombie books could make me cry? There’s a 4th book that retells certain events from other characters’ perspectives, plus a bunch of spin-off stories, but really and truly, I just want to read more novels about the main characters!
The Parasol Protectorate (and the Parasol-verse at large) by Gail Carriger
I don’t know if it’s really true to say that this series is complete, because the lovely author continues to publish related stories and novellas… but after the five books of the original series, the four books of the Finishing School series, and the four Custard Protocol books, I am highly attached to these characters and would LOVE to see more full-length novels (or another series??) set in this world.
Codex Alera by Jim Butcher
This was such a good series! Six books, great world-building, great story progression — I’d definitely read more!
The Kopp Sisters by Amy Stewart
The seven volumes of this terrific historical fiction series showcase the real-life Kopp sisters as they solve crimes and go off to war in the early 1900s. The author has said that she’s not writing any more Kopp Sisters books any time soon… which could mean never, but since she doesn’t actually say never, I’ll continue to hope for more!
The Mure series by Jenny Colgan
The 5th book in this charming series just came out in June, and comments by the author seem to suggest that the series is now done… but wait! I still have questions! Yes, most characters got a beautifully happy ending, but there are still some loose threads and (I’m sure) plenty more stories to tell. Please, Jenny Colgan????
The Rajes by Sonali Dev
This series of interconnected stories about a large Indian-American family consists of four books retelling Jane Austen classics… But – there are six Jane Austen novels! I’ve read that the Rajes series is now done, but I think I’ll feel incomplete until there are Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey volumes too!
The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune
This sweet, huggable YA superheroes love story trilogy has everything, and it had a very definitive ending — but can I help it if I love these characters so much that I want to see the rest of their lives too?
Bridgertons by Julia Quinn
I mean, yes, the Netflix version will keep me busy for years to come (I hope), and there are always other Julia Quinn books to read — but I felt a bit misty when I finished the books in the series and had to say good-bye to this incredibly entertaining family!
What series do you wish had more books? Do we have any in common?
If you wrote a TTT post this week, please share your link!
Title: An Island Wedding Series: Mure Author: Jenny Colgan Narrator: Eilidh Beaton Publisher: Avon Publication date: June 21, 2022 Print length: 400 pages Audio length: 12 hours, 26 minutes Genre: Contemporary fiction Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
New York Times bestselling author Jenny Colgan brings us a delightful summer novel that will sweep you away to the remote Scottish island of Mure, where two very different weddings are about to take place…
On the little Scottish island of Mure–halfway between Scotland and Norway–Flora MacKenzie and her fiancé Joel are planning the smallest of “sweetheart weddings,” a high summer celebration surrounded only by those very dearest to them.
Not everyone on the island is happy about being excluded, though. The temperature rises even further when beautiful Olivia MacDonald–who left Mure ten years ago for bigger and brighter things–returns with a wedding planner in tow. Her fiancé has oodles of family money, and Olivia is determined to throw the biggest, most extravagant, most Instagrammable wedding possible. And she wants to do it at Flora’s hotel, the same weekend as Flora’s carefully planned micro-wedding.
As the summer solstice approaches, can Flora handle everyone else’s Happy Every Afters–and still get her own?
The 5th installment in Jenny Colgan’s wonderful Mure series brings us back to this beautiful, remote Scottish island. It’s like a reunion with old friends, as we see what our beloved characters are up to now, and for at least some, get to witness the happy event they’ve been building toward over the four previous books.
(For the story so far, see my wrap-up post, here.)
In An Island Wedding, Flora Mackenzie is finally set to marry the man of her dreams. But there’s a problem — Flora, born and bred on Mure, wants to celebrate with everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE. The entire island expects to be at their wedding, from Mrs. Kennedy’s dance school students to the old fishermen who drink away their evenings down at the Harbor’s Rest. But Joel, a product of a lonely childhood in the foster care system, wants only those who truly love them to be with them on their big day — just immediate family, an intimate occasion, and donate all the money that would have gone to a big wedding to the local couple who take troubled youth on outdoor adventures.
What’s Flora to do? She loves Joel, and wants to do what makes him happy… but she can’t help but feeling just a wee bit sad and guilty every time an island neighbor comes up to tell her how much they’re looking forward to her wedding.
Meanwhile, Olivia MacDonald, the beautiful island native who’s now an international Instagram star, has decided to hold her own lavish wedding back home on Mure, in a most likely misguided move to impress her fabulously wealthy, fabulously snooty future in-laws with her connection to an authentic Scottish community. Olivia arrives with an upscale wedding planner in tow, and proceeds to transform The Rock (the hotel Flora manages) and the entire island into the fantasy wedding setting of her dreams.
Most of the book is devoted to the wedding plans, as well as to the ongoing tension between Flora and Joel over their divergent visions for how they’ll get married. I was never truly worried about Flora and Joel — they love each other, and they’ve been through enough so far that I was sure it would all work out — but it was sad to see them at what appeared at times to be an impasse.
The most moving and gripping parts of An Island Wedding have to do with the love story between Lorna, the island’s schoolmistress, and Saif, the Syrian refugee doctor who’s found a new home for himself and his two sons on Mure. Saif’s wife’s fate has been a question mark since the start of the series, and when new information is uncovered, it forces Saif to make an impossible choice. I won’t say too much, but it’s heartbreaking. The terrible sadness of the situation is written so beautifully, and my heart just ached for Lorna, Saif, and for the boys too.
The stakes for the Flora and Olivia storylines never feel terribly high or risky — after all, it’s really mostly to do with wedding plans! Still, it’s fun to follow along and laugh at all the mishaps, miscommunications, and over-the-top wedding arrangements, and the ending left me with a few little tears of happiness. After spending so much time with Flora and Joel over the course of this series, I was ready for them to get all the joy they deserve!
My initial understanding had been that this would be the final Mure book… but actually, I don’t see that stated anywhere, and given that there’s a MAJOR story thread left hanging, I’m hopeful for more! So please, if you happen to meet Jenny Colgan someday, tell her we want MORE MURE. I’m not ready to say good-bye to these wonderful characters and the beautiful island just yet!
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Books On My Summer 2022 To-Read List.
I have SO MANY books to get to this summer! Some are new releases I’ve already bought, and some are ARCs for upcoming releases (July and August publication dates) — and half of these are books in series I’m invested in. I’m excited for all of these!
A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow
The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison
An Island Wedding by Jenny Colgan
Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey
Flash Fire by TJ Klune
Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
Upgrade by Blake Crouch
Thank You For Listening by Julie Whelan
Soul Taken by Patricia Briggs
What are you planning to read this summer? Please share your links!
Jenny Colgan is an absolute favorite go-to author. Her books have heart and depth, but even at their saddest, never leave you feeling down for long. Her best, in my opinion, are the stories set in small communities, where an outsider can make a big difference, or where someone returning home realizes all over again where they truly belong.
Which brings me to the Mure series — books set on the fictional island of Mure, located off the mainland of northern Scotland. Mure is a small, close-knit farming community, where everyone knows everyone else, and their parent and grandparents and all the preceding generations…
I originally read the first book in the series, The Cafe by the Sea, back in 2017. This year, I’ve picked the series back up, revisiting book #1 via audio, then continuing onward through the series. With the 5th book due for release in mid-June 2022, I thought I’d share my thoughts and reactions to the story so far:
Title:The Cafe by the Sea Published: 2017 Length: 416 pages Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Years ago, Flora fled the quiet Scottish island where she grew up — and she hasn’t looked back. What would she have done on Mure? It’s a place where everyone has known her all her life, where no one will let her forget the past. In bright, bustling London, she can be anonymous, ambitious… and hopelessly in love with her boss.
But when fate brings Flora back to the island, she’s suddenly swept once more into life with her brothers — all strapping, loud, and seemingly incapable of basic housework — and her father. Yet even amid the chaos of their reunion, Flora discovers a passion for cooking — and find herself restoring dusty little pink-fronted shop on the harbour: a café by the sea.
But with the seasons changing, Flora must come to terms with past mistakes — and work out exactly where her future lies…
The Cafe by the Sea introduces us to Flora McKenzie, a hard-working but not particularly happy young woman slaving away in a London office, with a hopeless mad crush on her gorgeous boss and too much sadness associated with her home back in Mure to even consider returning there… until a business deal her firm is engaged to handle forces her back to Mure anyway, in company with her unattainable boss Joel. There, Flora must confront the family she fled years earlier in the wake of shared sorrow that she just couldn’t bear.
The more time she spends on Mure, the more she starts to realize how much she lost by leaving, and that perhaps the only way for her family to heal is to be together.
I love the depiction of life on this Scottish island, the big, loud family Flora reconnects with, and the million small details the author uses to show the personalities and quirks of this tight-knit community. It’s all lovely, and although I had some doubts about the central romance, I still got completely caught up in the sunshine and joy of this sweet story. (Plus! So much good food. And there are even recipes — in this book and each one in the series).
When Flora MacKenzie traded her glum career in London for the remote Scottish island of Mure, she never dreamed that Joel—her difficult, adorable boss—would follow. Yet now, not only has Flora been reunited with her family and opened a charming café by the sea, but she and Joel are taking their first faltering steps into romance.
With Joel away on business in New York, Flora is preparing for the next stage in her life. And that would be…? Love? She’s feeling it. Security? In Joel’s arms, sure. Marriage? Not open to discussion.
In the meanwhile, Flora is finding pleasure in a magnificent sight: whales breaking waves off the beaches of Mure. But it also signals something less joyful. According to local superstition, it’s an omen—and a warning that Flora’s future could be as fleeting as the sea-spray…
Here in book #2, the storytelling and perspectives open up beyond just Flora’s story, and that’s a very, very good thing. Not that Flora’s piece of the tale isn’t interesting or enjoyable! But now, in The Endless Beach, we get to spend more time with the people who’d only existed as background or secondary characters in The Cafe by the Sea, and this helps the overall story feel more encompassing and lived in.
Beyond seeing Flora and Joel’s story progress, as they deal with his emotional fallout from childhood trauma and try to find a way forward together, we also have Flora’s brother Fintan’s romance with the billionaire who’s bought key property on the island and wants to make it his forever home; Saif, the Syrian refugee doctor who’s granted asylum by the UK in exchange for his placement at the clinic in Mure, who yearns for news of his missing boys and wife, yet is also drawn to the island’s kind schoolteacher Lorna; and one of the most adorable characters ever, Flora’s 4-year-old niece Agot (who might, in other author’s hands, come across as annoying, but here is just utterly delightful).
The Endless Beach has an interwoven plot that includes plenty of joy, but also true moments of tragedy and sorrow. We go deeper into the characters’ lives, and Saif’s family’s struggles are particularly sad and emotional.
I won’t say why, but the ending absolutely knocked me sideways with an emotional blow that I did not see coming. While many of the storylines are left with hopeful loose ends by the close of The Endless Beach, there’s one main storyline that can only end with tragedy, and it really upset me (which just shows how invested I’ve become in these characters).
I should add a note there that the audiobooks are a treat to listen to — so highly recommended!
Title:Christmas on the Island Published: 2018 Length: 352 pages Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Christmas on the remote Scottish island of Mure is bleak, stark — and incredibly beautiful.
It’s a time for hunkering down, getting cosy in front of whisky barrel wood fires, and enjoying a dram with the people you love — unless, of course, you’re accidentally pregnant to your ex-boss, and don’t know how to tell him. In what should be the season of peace and goodwill on earth, will Joel think Flora is a bearer of glad tidings?
Meanwhile Saif, the doctor and refugee from war-torn Syria is trying to enjoy his first western Christmas with his sons — but without his missing wife. Can the little family possibly find comfort and joy?
Travel to the beautiful northern edge of the world and join the welcoming community of Mure for an unforgettable Christmas
The 3rd book in the series picks up just a few months after book #2, with Christmas on its way, but not everyone particularly up for the celebration.
As the synopsis reveals, Flora is pregnant and isn’t sure how the news will go over. Joel isn’t just any man about to hear about an unexpected baby — he’s a damaged soul who grew up in foster care and has a very hard time with emotions and with the concept of family. He loves Flora, but the idea of parenthood is terrifying, and Flora knows there’s a good chance he’ll bolt rather than face the reality of their new lives.
Flora’s brother Fintan married the man of his dreams in the 2nd book, but now faces a huge, devastating loss. To make matters worse, his husband’s long-estranged (and pretty awful) American brother shows up on Mure to make sure the family gets their hands on Colton’s money.
And as Saif settles more into island life with his two boys, the ongoing question of whether his wife survived the terrors of war haunts him deeply. His loyalties are torn, and while the boys seem to finally be adapting to their new home, he wonders if they might not be better off moving to Glasgow and starting over yet again.
The conflicts and crises in Christmas on the Island continue to be deeply emotional, and there are tragedies in store for at least some of the characters. Fortunately, Jenny Colgan’s light touch with her characters means that there are joyful moments as well, and she sprinkles in humor and silliness just often enough to keep the overall tone from becoming completely morose.
I don’t typically read Christmas-themed books, but when it comes to this series, I simply couldn’t not continue. Christmas on the Island is a lovely, engaging read, and at this point, I’m so invested in these characters’ lives that there was zero chance I wouldn’t pick this one up. Given the Christmas title, it’s clear from the start that the holiday spirit will prevail. Not everyone gets a completely happy ending, but they do all get peace and some measure of hope.
Title:Christmas at the IslandHotel Published: 2020 Length: 352 pages Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Another heartfelt and delightful Christmas tale from the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Bookshopon the Corner and Christmas on the Island.
New York Times bestselling author Jenny Colgan returns to the setting of Christmas on the Island and Endless Beach for a heartwarming new novel celebrating the season, and Scotland.
On the tiny, beautiful, and remote island of Mure, halfway between Scotland and Norway, a new hotel opening is a big event. New mother Flora MacKenzie and her brother Fintan are working themselves half to death to get it ready in time for Christmas.
The new hotel’s impressive kitchens throw together two unlikely new friends: Isla Gregor is the hardworking young girl who has been a waitress in the island’s cafe, dreaming of a bigger, better life now that she’s at a proper fancy hotel. Konstantin Pederson is working his way up in the hotel’s kitchens too…but he is also, secretly, the only son of the Duke of Utsire. Konstantin has been sent to learn what it is to work hard for a living, before receiving his inheritance. Although he’s initially resentful, the place grows on him; he has never met anyone quite like Isla and her fellow Murians before.
As the island’s residents and special VIP guests gather for the hotel’s grand opening gala, Christmas is in the air. But so are more than a few small-town secrets…
Well… by the 4th book of this series, it’s clear that the reason to read it is to spend more time with beloved characters in this cozy, lovely setting.
Not all that much actually happens in Christmas at the Island Hotel. A year has past since the sad events that ended book #3. Flora now has a baby and is supposedly on maternity leave, but she’s actually itching for work and a project. Meanwhile, her boyfriend Joel, initially so reluctant to become a father, is totally besotted by their infant son, and it’s quite adorable.
Other stories progress, and new characters are introduced. As the synopsis indicates, a spoiled Norwegian aristocrat is being punished by this father by being sent off to Mure to learn what it means to actually work and not rely on servants. Konstantin is a petulant brat as the story opens, but of course, his experiences on Mure transform him, especially once he falls for a shy island girl and starts to see the beauty of this strange place he’s landed.
Additionally, the brash French chef who takes on the hotel’s restaurant is arrogant, demanding, and absolutely does not fit in on the island, and yet he ends up being just what they need. Meanwhile, the slow burn love story of Saif and Lorna continues to simmer, with some new developments adding tension and confusion to their already shaky relationship.
I enjoyed the book, but it did feel a little diluted — too much time spent on the new characters and the kitchen shenanigans, not enough on the characters we already know and love. Still, it’s always wonderful to spend time on Mure!
An audiobook note: After loving the narrator of the first three audiobooks (Sarah Barron), it was a little disconcerting to switch to a new narrator for book #4 (Eilidh Beaton). I did get used to her after a while, and ended up liking her narration too — but at the start, it was quite a jolt!
Wrapping it all up…
Jenny Colgan’s books are always a delight. What I love about this series is how completely immersed we become in the life of the island. While Flora is the center of the series, over the course of these books we become involved with her big family as well as her various neighbors, friends, and sometime-rivals.
The island is filled with quirky people whose seemingly simple lives offer entertainment as well as complications. While the 4th book feels more light-weight than the others, with fewer deep emotional moments, it’s still lovely.
Book #5, An Island Wedding, will be released next month (publication date June 21, 2022. And while I have an ARC already, I think I may hold off until the release date so I can listen to the audiobook!
I highly recommend this wonderful, feel-good series. There are laughs and tears… and even recipes!
Bookshelf Fantasies 