This Week in Books is a feature hosted by Lipsy at Lipsyy Lost and Found that allows bloggers to share:
- What they’ve recently finished reading
- What they are currently reading
- What they are planning to read next
A similar meme is run by Taking on a World of Words.
I finished reading Old Soul by Susan Barker which I really enjoyed. Horror doesn’t always land with me, but this was excellent. I also finished The Benefactors which I liked but didn’t love.
The woman never goes by the same name.
She never stays in the same place too long.
She never ages. She never dies.
But those around her do.
When two grieving strangers meet by chance in Osaka airport they uncover a disturbing connection. Jake’s best friend and Mariko’s twin brother each died, 6,000 miles apart, in brutal and unfathomable circumstances.
Each encountered a mesmerising, dark-haired woman in the days before their deaths. A woman who came looking for Mariko – and then disappeared.
Jake, who has carried his loss and guilt for a decade, finds himself compelled to follow the trail set by Mariko’s revelations. It’s a trail that weaves across continents and centuries, leading back to the many who have died – in strange and terrifying and eerily similar ways – and those they left behind: bewildered, disbelieved, yet resolutely sure of what they saw.
And, at the centre of it all, there is the same beguiling woman. Her name may have changed, but her purpose has never wavered, and as Jake races to discover who, or what she is, she has already made her next choice.
But will knowing her secret be enough to stop her?
From the prize-winning author of Dance Move and Sweet Home, this is an astounding novel about intimate histories, class and money – and what being a parent means.
Meet Frankie, Miriam and Bronagh: three very different women from Belfast, but all mothers to 18-year-old boys.
Gorgeous Frankie, now married to a wealthy, older man, grew up in care. Miriam has recently lost her beloved husband Kahlil in ambiguous circumstances. Bronagh, the CEO of a children’s services charity, loves celebrity and prestige. When their sons are accused of sexually assaulting a friend, Misty Johnston, they’ll come together to protect their children, leveraging all the powers they possess. But on her side, Misty has the formidable matriarch, Nan D, and her father, taxi-driver Boogie: an alliance not so easily dismissed.
Brutal, tender and rigorously intelligent, The Benefactors is a daring, polyphonic presentation of modern-day Northern Ireland. It is also very funny.
I’m currently reading The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue.
Paris, 1895. Glamour hides a city on the brink. One morning, a young woman boards the Granville express with a deadly plan.
On the journey lives intertwine in explosive ways. There are the railway crew who have everything to lose, a little boy travelling alone for the first time, an elderly statesman with his fragile wife and a lonely artist far from home.
The train speeds towards the City of Light and into a future that will change everything . . .
My next read might be Notes on Infinity by Austin Taylor.
The moment Zoe notices Jack in their Harvard chemistry class, with his scruffy clothes and casual self-assurance, she knows he’s the one to beat.
When Zoe starts trying to outsmart Jack in chemistry, he knows she’s the person he’s been looking for.
Because Jack has dreams that go far beyond the classroom. And while he and Zoe might be from different worlds, they share the same thirst for knowledge and fierce ambition. When he invites her to partner with him on some research, she puts aside her pride, and joins him.
Apart they are brilliant, but together they are unstoppable, and within two years, they are at the helm of a thriving start-up company, and deep in a relationship that seems a perfect match in every sense.
Until a shocking accusation is levelled against Jack which threatens everything they’ve built – their company, their reputation, and most importantly, their love.
Are some dreams too big to come true? And how far would you go to achieve them anyway?
A captivating, deeply poignant novel about ambition, deceit, the recklessness that comes with early success and the way that love can make us feel invincible.
And that’s my week in books! What are you reading this week? Let me know in the comments! 😎
Jo's Book Blog 
Looking forward to thoughts about The Paris Express, as I’ve been tempted by it a few times.