Just A Second: August 2025

Thursday, August 28

Recent Reads - No Safe Harbor

No Safe Harbor by Elizabeth Ludwig - Cara Hamilton leaves Ireland and arrives in New York hoping to find the twin brother she'd thought dead. Eoghan's only communication with her was a few lines of a letter and he warned her not to trust anyone, so she is very guarded with what she shares. A kind stranger points her to a boarding house and she meets a fellow Irishman named Rourke who seems trustworthy and like a good friend to her. But she heeds her brother's warning and lets everyone believe she has no living relations. For now.

Rourke and his family have been looking for Eoghan Hamilton in order to take revenge, and Rourke senses that Cara must be a sister to the man he seeks. If he can get information from her, he can get to Eoghan, but he is finding it difficult to stomach seeing Cara come to any harm and his loyalties and instincts are torn.

Cara discovers that she may have an enemy within the boarding house, and realizes that whoever is hunting Eoghan probably wishes her harm as well. Her questions may be leading her to her brother, but is she also leading an enemy closer to him at the same time? She wrestles with whether to trust and believe Rourke, just as he is wrestling with his growing feelings for Cara and growing discomfort with the path of revenge he's on.

I really enjoyed this story and the suspense throughout. Cara's desperation to find her brother made her over-cautious to share information at times, and led her to make some reckless choices in her search, but both made sense in context. She and Rourke are both very likeable characters, even as Rourke's motives fluctuate and he seems to waffle between wanting vengeance for his father's death and wanting to live in an honorable way that would have made his father proud. Even Eoghan's character is in question at times, which adds to Cara's tension. The ending isn't quite what I expected, and did set up a sequel (it is Book One of a series, after all), but I was satisfied that it didn't leave too many loose ends that it shouldn't have.

From the publisher:

Lured by a handful of scribbled words across a faded letter, Cara Hamilton sets off from 1896 Ireland on a quest to find the brother she'd thought dead. Her search lands her in America, amidst a houseful of strangers and one man who claims to be a friend―Rourke Walsh.

Despite her brother's warning, Cara decides to trust Rourke and reveals the truth about her purpose in America. But he is not who he claims to be, and as rumors begin to circulate about an underground group of dangerous revolutionaries, Cara's desperation grows. Her questions lead her ever closer to her brother, but they also bring her closer to destruction as Rourke's true intentions come to light.

This is a book featuring a found family trope (#22) for The 52 Book Club's 2025 Reading Challenge.

#the52bookclub #the52bookclub2025

This is fourth in The 52 Book Club's Connections Challenge. It was published in the same year as the previous book, 2012.

This post will be linked at the current BookWorms Monthly link-up hosted by At Home A Lot, and at the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2025 hosted by The Intrepid Reader and Baker.

#histficreadingchallenge

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Friday, August 15

What I'm Reading - August 15, 2025

Here's a quick update on what I've been reading and watching lately.

I'm currently reading . . .

No Safe Harbor by Elizabeth Ludwig - At long last I've moved on to my next book in the Connections challenge and it's this historical novel about a young Irish woman who comes to America to find the twin brother she thought was dead. He's in some trouble though, and hiding from someone who wants him dead, and will use Cara to get to him.

Murder Most Fair by Anna Lee Huber - Verity's elderly aunt from Germany seeks refuge with Verity and Sidney after being in some danger in her homeland, and Verity investigates who put her aunt at risk.

Before Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast by Brittany Fichter - This is a retelling of the classic fairy tale, and so far I've watched Prince Everard grow up and learn about leadership and serving his people from his father, and he has just become king. I'm pretty sure we met "Beauty" in an early chapter and I'm waiting to see how she will be reintroduced into his life.

Up Next . . . On the TBR stack . . .

I have a book waiting for me at the library, so obviously that has to be the next one I start. Other than that, I've got a long list to choose from and I don't know what I'll pick up next.

The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year - Margaret Renkl

I finished reading . . .

10 Marchfield Square by Nicola Whyte - In a quiet block of flats in London, there's a murder, and the eccentric owner and landlady hires two of her tenants to investigate. I loved the Only Murders In the Building vibe of the delightful mystery as all the tenants get to know each other better throughout the investigation. (Read my review HERE)

Village Books by Craig McLay - The bookstore's assistant manager is the narrator of this novel, which feels a little like a memoir. The staff at the bookstore is quite the ragtag group of misfits. The narrator and newly hired assitant manager are navigating their relationship amid the goings-on at work, and eventually they find out that the shop is about to be sold to a large conglomerate. Okay, but not great, and not what I expected or would have chosen if I'd known. (Read my review HERE)

I've been watching . . .

I really haven't been watching much of anything during the past several weeks. I try to watch the video of my kids' church service each week, which is on YouTube, and technically the podcasts I have on while at work are on Rumble, so they are also videos.

I've been listening to . . .

My usual podcast playlist - The Bible Book Club, political commentary, interviews, and The Grammar Girl - and a little more music recently. I have a fun road trip mix and a 'church music mix' and those playlists get airtime while we travel. As always, RadioU is my listening choice for weekday mornings.

On my blogs recently . . .

Besides the reviews, here on Just A Second you'll find:

July Bookshelf Review

On my main coffee break project, A Fresh Cup of Coffee:

Scripture and a Snapshot posts

Five Minute Friday posts

Everyday Images posts

Hodgepodge and other Q&A Link-up posts

Currently . . . August 7, 2025

WQ - Spiritual Life

WOTY and Goals - A Journey Through July

Share Four Somethings - July 2025

WQ - Choosing Adventure

An on my "first cup blog", Homeschool Coffee Break:

A Fallingwater PhotoJournal

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What are you reading?

This post may be linked at What's On Your Bookshelf? #whatsonyourbookshelfchallenge hosted by Deb's World, and/or at the weekly reading list meme hosted at Book Date.

Monday, August 11

Recent Reads - Village Books

Village Books by Craig McLay - Told from the point of view of the book store's assistant manager, this reads almost like a memoir, and to me the plot seemed secondary to the characterizations. We never find out the name of the narrator, but he is a young man who had hopes of being a writer but is instead toiling at a retail job in a non-chain bookshop and dealing with all the strange personalities of the other employees. The manager, Dante, is obsessed with avoiding the dates his controlling mother sets up for him because his preferences go the other way. Sebastian, the narrator's best friend, is obsessed with hooking up with as many women as possible and living a generally debauched life. Other employees include the wannabe philosopher Aldous, who doesn't quite understand personal hygiene and presentation; Ebenezer, the crusty yet gentlemanly former English teacher; Mina, who has been cheating on her crazy husband and may not be mentally stable herself; and other strange characters.

Leah is hired as a new assistant manager, and very shortly she and the narrator are involved in a passionate relationship that challenges the narrator's insecurities. Various small subplots involving this relationship and the relationships and activities of the bookshop employees dominate the narrative until well into the book, making me wonder if there was going to be an actual plot point of an overarching problem or crisis that drove the entire story, or whether it would be a collection of little events as the main relationship developed. The crisis finally did present when the narrator learns that the heiress to the bookshop is almost ready to close the deal selling it to a large corporation, and she does this while her mother is in a coma. At that point all the characters must look at their future if the sale goes through and they are no longer employed, and whether they can fight the sale or stop it.

I didn't really love any of the characters, and while I was somewhat sympathetic to the narrator by virtue of the fact that he is the storyteller, I didn't find him very relatable. I liked Aldous and Ebenezer better than the narrator, I think. The lack of a clear plot for the first half of the book was off-putting, and although the interactions between all these strange characters were humorous, they were also just unpleasant and immature characters overall. A fair amount of the dialogue and narration relied on sexual jokes and references that I found crass and distasteful. Again - immature. The narrator and Leah did grow up in their relationship and show some character arc, but it was too little too late for me. I don't imagine I'd be in the target audience for the novel, and I admit part of my disappointment lies in the fact that my expectations based on the title and cover were rather different than what the author delivered. Not bad writing, not a bad book, but not what I expected and not my cup of tea.

From the publisher:

Village Books is a local institution . . . which is good, because most of the staff probably belong in one.

There's the manager, Dante Andolini, who's hiding more than just his hypochondria from his overbearing mother . . . Sebastian Donleavy, whose hedonistic lifestyle is two rails short of being on the rails . . . Aldous Swinghammer, whose philosophical eccentricities have not been the biggest hit with the ladies . . . Ebenezer Chipping, whose crotchety exterior hides a burning passion for the Spanish émigré next door . . . Mina Bovary, whose crazy husband may have just gone AWOL with an arsenal of fragmentary explosive devices . . . and the store's long-suffering assistant manager, who is spinning his wheels in retail while he waits for something better to come along.

That something better may be new assistant manager Leah Dashwood, an aspiring actress with an ambitious plan to transform the store and its staff in a way that will turn their carefully disordered worlds on its head. Will the store survive? Will it be bought over by its evil corporate competition? All questions will be answered (but not necessarily in that order) in this hilarious debut novel.

This is a stream of consciousness narrative (#40) for The 52 Book Club's 2025 Reading Challenge.

#the52bookclub #the52bookclub2025

This is third in The 52 Book Club's Connections Challenge. It is set in the country where the previous author was born, Canada.

Saturday, August 2

July Bookshelf Review

Before you sleep, read something that is exquisite, and worth remembering. ~Desiderius Erasmus

An excellent argument for reading good books in bed, and yet I don't always read before turning out the light. I'd say the books I finished in July were good reads though and certainly entertaining.

July's Books Completed and Reviewed

The Highland Heist by Pepper Basham - Freddie and Grace visit her family in America and find the estate sold and her sister suspected of murdering her husband. And at the same time words arrives that Grace and her sister have an inheritance in Scotland that they must claim together. (Read my review HERE)

The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer by Ragnar Jónasson - With very few clues to start with, detective Helgi is tasked with finding out what happened to a popular crime author who has vanished, while also navigating challenges in his personal life. (Read my review HERE)

10 Marchfield Square by Nicola Whyte - The wealthy eccentric landlady hires two of her tennants to investigate the murder of a smalltime criminal in their small residential square. An excellent read if you're eagerly looking forward to the next season of Only Murders in the Building. (Read my review HERE)

During July I started reading:

Village Books by Craig McLay - This reads sort of like a memoir, narrated by the assistant manager of a bookstore and commenting on all the quirky (to be charitable) employees of the business. I had looked forward to reading this at long last, but it's not what I'd expected, and not really my style.

Before Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast by Brittany Fichter - Just got started reading and have been introduced to the young prince Ever trying to live up to his father's strict expectations.

During July I continued reading:

Murder Most Fair by Anna Lee Huber - Verity and Sidney are hosting a house party when Verity's elderly aunt arrives from Germany, having fled her home because of threats after the war. The mystery for Verity to solve is still developing, because I haven't read much further this month but am still working on it.

Where My Books Took Me in July . . . Here's where I've traveled through the pages during the month, along with One Word to sum up the ones I finished.

The Highland Heist began in the USA, then moved to Scotland.

One Word: Maturity

The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer is set in Iceland.

One Word: Ill-fated

10 Marchfield Square takes place in London.

One Word: Discovery

Murder Most Fair starts off in Great Britain.

Village Books is set in Toronto, Canada.

Before Beauty is set in a fictional fairytale kingdom.

Coming Up in August!

No Safe Harbor - Elizabeth Ludwig