Cool Books for Hot Days

The dog days of summer have arrived here in Texas. Temperatures at 100 degrees or above every day, and a bad knee have kept me indoors under the AC when I’d love to be outside playing with Jake or walking through the neighborhood. I’ve spent the long hot evenings with some new books worth sharing with you.

the-fortune-hunter-114-usaI loved Daisy Goodwin’s novel, American Heiress, so I was excited to get her latest, The Fortune Hunter. It’s based on actual people including Queen Victoria, Earl Spencer (Princess Diana’s ancestor) and Bay Middleton ( a distant ancestor of Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge). Bay is the so-called fortune hunter, an expert horseman assigned to be the “pilot” for visiting royalty. ( A pilot is a person who guides riders to the hounds on fox hunts.)  Bay has “an understanding” with a young woman who is a budding photographer, but he finds himself drawn to the visiting queen.  I loved the historical details about riding, photography, and the strict social rules of the time. This book was not quite as compelling as Heiress, but I did love it quite a lot and read it in a couple of days.

thumbI had never heard of author JoJo Moyes, but I’m so glad a friend introduced me to JoJo’s The Girl You Left Behind. It’s set partly in France during the first World War and partly in modern day London. It involves a lost portrait and two heroines, one in 1917 and one in the modern day navigating the waters of love, loss and redemption. I’m in the middle of it now, and really enjoying it.

What are you reading these days?