February 2013 new releases – hot picks

February is another month full of great new releases and I’ve had a hard time narrowing it down but here are the eight at the top of my wish list:

The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Harman (Corvus – 1st February)

Billed as a cross between The Help and Call the Midwife, this debut is already on my bookshelf and will be my first historical read of 2013!

As a midwife working in rural poverty during the Depression, Patience Murphy’s only solace is her gift: the chance to escort mothers through the challenges of childbirth. Just beginning, she takes on the jobs no one else wants: those most in need-and least likely to pay. Patience is willing to do what it takes to fulfil her mentor’s wishes, but starting a midwife practice means gaining trust, and Patience’s secrets won’t allow her to let anyone in.

The Midwife of Hope River beats with authenticity as Patience faces seemingly insurmountable conditions: disease, poverty, and prejudices threaten at every turn. From the dangerous mines of West Virginia to the terrifying attentions of the Ku Klux Klan, Patience must strive to bring new light, and life, into an otherwise cruel world.

The Case of the Missing Boyfriend by Nick Alexander (Corvus – 1st February)

This sounds like a fun read and something a little different and I’m looking forward to discovering a new author as I’ve heard a lot of good things about Nick Alexander.

CC is nearly forty, and apart from her real name (which she hates with a passion usually reserved for men with beards), everything in her life seems wonderful. She’s got a high-powered job in advertising, a beautiful flat in Primrose Hill and a wild bunch of gay friends to spend the weekends with. And yet she feels like the Titanic – slowly, inexorably, and against all expectation, sinking. The truth is, CC would rather be digging turnips on a remote farm than convincing the masses to buy a life-changing pair of double-zippered jeans – rather be snuggling at home with the Missing Boyfriend than playing star fag-hag in London’s latest coke-spots. But sightings of straight men that don’t have weird fetishes or secret wives are rarer than an original metaphor, and CC fears that pursuing the Good Life alone will just leave her feeling even more isolated. Could her best friend’s pop-psychology be right? Are the horrors of CC’s past preventing her from moving on? And if CC finally does confront her demons, will she find the Missing Boyfriend? Or is it already too late?

The Gilded Fan by Christina Courtenay (Choc Lit – 7th February)

I’m a big fan of Christina’s historical romance novels and can’t wait to read her latest. Another gorgeous cover from Choc Lit too!

How do you start a new life, leaving behind all you love?

It’s 1641, and when Midori Kumashiro, the orphaned daughter of a warlord, is told she has to leave Japan or die, she has no choice but to flee to England. Midori is trained in the arts of war, but is that enough to help her survive a journey, with a lecherous crew and an attractive captain she doesn’t trust?

Having come to Nagasaki to trade, the last thing Captain Nico Noordholt wants is a female passenger, especially a beautiful one. How can he protect her from his crew when he can’t keep his own eyes off her?

During their journey, Nico and Midori form a tentative bond, but they both have secrets that can change everything. When they arrive in England, a civil war is brewing, and only by standing together can they hope to survive …

Could it be I’m Falling in Love? by Eleanor Prescott (Quercus – 14th February)

I really enjoyed Eleanor Prescott’s debut and this sounds like another great read for Valentine’s day!

This Valentine’s Day, Roxy Squires is waiting for the phone to ring …

Roxy is famous. At least, she used to be. She’s a good-time TV presenter and, OK, so things haven’t been going so well recently, but she knows her big break is just around the corner. What she’s really looking for is someone to propel her back to the big time. 

Enter Woody, one-time pop star and Roxy’s ultimate dream date, now working as her window cleaner. He’s the answer to her prayers – but for some reason, he doesn’t want to be famous any more. 

And it turns out that they’re not the only celebs in the village. Roxy’s living amongst a motley crew of former stars and fame survivors, who meet weekly to discuss their new lives. Is this the reality check Roxy needs? Or maybe it’s a chance to do the unthinkable and fall in love …?

The Map of Lost Memories by Kim Fay (Hodder – 14th February)

History, archaeology, treasure hunting and exotic locations – what more could you want from a book?!

The one thing to remember about an adventure is that if it turns out the way you expect it to, it has not been an adventure at all . . .

Shanghai, 1925.
Irene, a museum curator (and, unofficially, a treasure hunter) is searching for a set of legendary copper scrolls which describe the forgotten history of Cambodia’s ancient Khmer civilisation. 

Her mentor has sent her to China to enlist the help of Simone, a mercurial Frenchwoman who – along with her notoriously violent husband, ‘the most dangerous man in the Orient’ – has a reputation for both stealing artefacts and starting revolutions. 

Irene and Simone set off through the Cambodian jungle to search for the scrolls, but it soon becomes clear that each is determined to acquire them for her own reasons, and that once they have located them it will be every woman for herself . . .

The Memory of Lost Senses by Judith Kinghorn (Headline – 28th February)

Judith’s debut, The Last Summer was my favourite book of 2013 so I can’t wait for her next novel – the hardback is out this month!

When a mysterious countess arrives late in life to live at a large, deserted house on the edge of a sleepy Hampshire village, the local tongues start wagging. No one is more intrigued than Cecily Chadwick, idling away the long, hot summer of 1911 with nothing much to do. Cecily is fascinated by the exotic elderly lady and, as she gets to know her, is riveted by her tales of expatriate life on the continent, and of whom she once knew. But the countess is troubled: by her memories, her name, and by anonymous threats to reveal a ruinous secret… It is, she has decided, up to her close friend, a successful novelist who has come to stay for the summer, to put the record straight. For aspiring writer Cecily, the novelist’s presence only adds to the intrigue and pull of the house. But it is the countess’s grandson, Jack, his unanswered questions about his grandmother’s past and his desire to know the truth, that draw Cecily further into the tangled web of the countess’s life, and the place known as Temple Hill.

A French Affair by Katie Fforde (Century – 28th February)

I’m  a huge fan of Katie’s books so this is a must read for me and doesn’t this cover make you feel summery?!

Gina and Sally Makepiece have inherited a stall in the French House – an antiques centre nestled in the heart of the English countryside.

Gina is determined to drag the French House and its grumpy owner into the twenty-first century. Bearing all the attributes of a modern-day Mr Rochester, Matthew Ballinger is less than happy with the whirlwind that has arrived on his doorstep.

The last thing either of them want is to fall in love.

But will a trip to France change their minds?

Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O’Farrell (Tinder – 28th February)

I’ve read all of Maggie’s books and this is sure to be a big hit – one of my ‘most anticipated’ books of 2013.

It’s July 1976.  In London, it hasn’t rained for months, gardens are filled with aphids, water comes from a standpipe, and Robert Riordan tells his wife Gretta that he’s going round the corner to buy a newspaper.  He doesn’t come back.  The search for Robert brings Gretta’s children – two estranged sisters and a brother on the brink of divorce – back home, each wih different ideas as to where their father might have gone.  None of them suspects that their mother might have an explanation that even now she cannot share.

Also out this month and on my wish list: Fuse by Juliana Baggot, Forgive Me by Lesley Pearce, Mums Like Us by Laura Kemp, Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger, Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood and The Mummyfesto by Linda Green.

What are you looking forward to reading in February?