Reading Round-Up: November/December 2023

It's the end of another year and time to say goodbye to 2023. However, that also means it's time for my last reading round-up of the year! 

In this post, I'll share the details of all the books that I've been reading, acquiring, and wishing for during November and December. Be warned though - not only has Christmas fallen in this month's post, but also the delayed YALC (Young Adult Literature Convention) was in November this year, so there's been plenty of bookish activity going on over these last few months.

Read on to find out more!

Book Review: The Fortunes of Olivia Richmond by Louise Davidson

Last Updated: 01 August 2024

AD* | After a terrible tragedy, governess Julia Pearlie finds herself with no job, home, or references. When she’s offered a position as companion to Miss Olivia Richmond, her luck appears to be turning. But Mistcoate House is full of secrets.

Olivia has a sinister reputation. The locals call her the Mistcoate Witch, thanks to her tarot readings, and her insistence that she can speak to the dead. Her father, Dr Richmond, believes this to be girlish fantasy and is looking to Julia to put a stop to it.

Determined to prove herself and shake off her own murky history, Julia sets to work trying to help Olivia become a proper young lady. However, as she becomes a fixture at Mistcoate, it is soon clear that there may be more to Olivia’s stories than Dr Richmond would have Julia believe – not least because somehow, Olivia seems to know something of the darkness that Julia desperately hoped she had left behind.

As the danger grows, and the winter chill wraps around the dark woods surrounding Mistcoate, Julia will have to fight to uncover the truth, escape her past – and save herself.

Book Review: A Body in the Library by Jan Jones

AD* | An ordinary Monday morning in an ordinary Cambridgeshire village. What isn’t ordinary is the dead body in Calli Nelson’s village library. It is no one she knows, but her friend Gideon Frost has lived in Fencross Parva all his life and views any unpleasant goings-on within its boundaries as a personal challenge. Perhaps together they can solve the mystery of who killed the man, and why?