Month: September 2025

by

Summer reviews and recs, 2025

I have no idea where I found this image but I like it.

So this is about a month late. Two reasons – 1. I’ve been out of action (see previous post) and 2. I’ve been waiting for my FB problems to resolve themselves but have just about given up and will create a new account. Meanwhile I’ll just crosspost to Dreamwidth and LiveJournal as usual.  

Viewing

The excellent:

The One that got away***** BBC Welsh crime drama starring Richard Harrington who was also the lead detective in Hinterland. This was better.

Panda Season 1 ***** Ch4 Entertaining French comic cop drama. Looking forward to the sequel.

Dept Q ***** Netflix Quirky and exciting. Brilliantly filmed.

Arctic Circle***** Ch 4 Excellent Finnish noir

The very good:

The Black Forest Murders**** BBC German police procedural that is very realistic in the use of a huge team and a lot of detailed work over a long period. Original title in German is Spuren (Traces).

Why Cities Flood**** BBC Chilling… mostly centred on the Spanish disaster earlier this year.

Glastonbury BBC and YouTube.**** Mixed, of course, because it all depends on your tastes. I liked Lewis Capaldi and Olivia Rodrigo. I enjoyed Rod Stewart’s songs but felt faintly embarrassed watching him and Ronny Wood cavorting like teenagers even though Rod’s voice has deserted him.

I Robot**** Again.

Memento Mori.****  Ch4 Spanish noir. Grisly but gripping. Confusing end.  

Freezing Embrace**** Ch 4 Good Finnish noir

Reading

The excellent:

This is not a love story by Suki Fleet***** Amazing writing. Reader catapulted into the head of someone ‘other’ – mute Russian immigrant street boy. Not sure about reading the sequel/prequel ones. I enjoyed Wild Summer***** but was not so keen on This is not the beginning of a love story**** which I felt would have been better as the first book in the trilogy.

Anywhere but here by Nicola Kelly***** A journalist follows various migrants. Chilling and gripping although I didn’t actually learn much. However, I don’t think I was the target audience.

The Ward Witch by Sarah Painter***** Excellent paranormal set on Unholy Island which is a mirror for Holy Island off the coast of Northumberland. I shall get the sequel because I need to know whether Luke and Esme get together.

Mr Collins in Love by Lee Welch ***** (ARC for Scott) Fanfic style novella based on characters from Pride and Prejudice. Delightful.

To Defend a Damaged Duke by Fearne Hill***** (ARC for Scott) Action packed mm Regency romance. I must look for the rest of the Rossingley series.

The Past in the Present by KM Avery***** In the Beyond the Veil series. (Bk9)Seth’s mother has died. Was it murder?

The very good:

KC Wells, RJ Scott and KJ Charles are FB friends who get honourable mentions but I can’t tag them on FB so if anyone knows them, tell them!

The Cold Calling by Phil Rickman**** Intriguing plot but it lacked a main character for reader identification.

In his sights by KC Wells**** Good competent mm detective story with a profiler brought in to help. Will definitely read next in series. In plain sight **** Another case for the detective/psychic duo (mm). A body is found in a tunnel collapse and the local mafia may be involved. Dan and Gary are now a cold case team, and Dan is making progress re the murder of Gary’s brother so long ago.

Beach Hut 512 by Dorothy Koomson**** Surprisingly good short story with a crime at the centre. An Amazon first read – I didn’t expect so much of it!

Fire on the Island by Timothy Jay Smith**** (ARC for Scott )Not as good as Istanbul Crossing but deals with current affairs in the eastern Mediterranean competently in an intriguing arson mystery.

The First Death by Kendra Elliot**** Columbia River 4. Kidnappers like to exert control. Rowan, a search and rescue dog handler, still seeks her brother who did not escape.

Dragon School by Sarah KL Wilson Vols 11-15 **** More terror and flight for the lightbringers and purple dragons. Amel attracts trouble as usual. Should be irritating but the characters are interesting and the writing is good.  Must get the final box set.

Murder in Shades of Wood and Stone by Ripley Hayes**** Nice sequel with DC Rees still with Tom and investigating murders in a hotel car park.

Vengeance on a slow boil by Chloe Garner**** Another good spinoff from the main Stasia books. Someone is threatening the Rat King’s wife.

The Dark Hiss of Magic by Helen Harper**** Good second book about the cat shifting ex assassin.

Wizard of most wicked ways by Charlie N Holmberg**** Eagerly awaited fourth in series set on an island off NE USA.

Holding Hans by Tara Lain**** Another twisted modern fairy tale, this time based on Hansel and Gretel.

Magic Collapse by TJ Nichols**** Another in the mytho series. Pan ends up on earth without his usual magic.

Dark Horse by Kate Sherwood.**** Exciting horse training mm romance. I might even follow the sequels.

Team Orders by RJ Scott**** Well written mm romance in the F1 world of motor racing.

CopperScript by KJ Charles**** Edwardian policing meets graphology in an mm romance with hints of the fantastic. Exciting and well written.

by

MIA or AWOL – summer 2025

I apologise for my recent absence from most social media.

The first reason is that I have been incapacitated – first in hospital then at home. I’m now gradually recovering. This is the short version. Anyone who happens to be interested can read the long version below but you can just ignore it!

The second reason is that I have not been able to post to FB. Still can’t. I can read other people’s posts, leave emojis, comments, etc. and in theory I can post photos to my timeline. I shall try doing a photo of this post and we shall see. I did manage one post to my ‘story’ which of course disappears after 24 hours, but when I tried again FB had got wise to my trick and would not oblige… I did seek help. FB ignored me. I tried a so-called FB help group but they wanted $85 to rescue my account and I just refused on principle. I think I’ve DM’ed most of the people who might be actually concerned but if you aren’t among them, well, now you know!! The only way round the situation is, I think, to scrap my account and start again. So if you read this and find yourself getting a friend request from me, it really is me, not a hacker. I think I’ll use the ‘Author Jay Mountney’ name and leave the present account with (hopefully) this link, and then just cross my fingers.  I should have posted to e.g. here or Dreamwidth but till this week didn’t have the energy, either physical or mental.

Watch out for my summer reviews which I hope to post soon, and to news about my writing.

Long version of my tale of woe (stop reading at this point if you like!!)

I was already feeling fragile. 2025 started with a severe cold snap which coincided with our boiler breaking down and our immersion heater thermostat also dying. Result – ten day of being mostly frozen apart from time spent beside the wood fire, and occasionally boiled when we forgot to add cold water to the bathroom and kitchen sinks.

February arrived and that began the cataract saga involving visits to the optometrist, pre-op investigation, first op, a month of eye drops and no stooping, then an optometrist’s assessment followed by the second op and following drops etc. then the final signing off and the prescription of new glasses. All very successful but it seemed to take for ever, and meanwhile a close friend had a less successful experience and still can’t drive. So I have to be thankful.

A month later… I have had a ‘bad back’ for years, ever since helping to nurse my mother. One day in July I stood up and had to sit again and let husband apply ice packs, massage and painkillers. Eventually I was able to stand and I staggered through the next week or so, with a visit to my usual physiotherapist. All seemed to be well then one morning I woke up totally unable to stand… Also, apparently I screamed if anyone touched me. An ambulance was duly dispatched and after some time in A&E being assessed I ended up in a ward. They did a lot of investigations but ended up with my own diagnosis – muscular spasm in my lower back. Imagine a ball of fire behind your right hip and the pain radiating from there. No fractures, no slipped discs, nothing wrong with e.g. bladder, kidneys, etc. So I spent a fortnight on a cocktail of painkillers including morphine until they were able to get me standing and walking a few steps, after which they said there was nothing more they could do medically and they needed the bed… I came home with a new cocktail which only really left out the morphine. At this point the side effects from the various meds were almost as bad as the pain. Husband rose to the occasion and one of a team of carers arrived in the mornings to help me wash and dress. A bed was moved down to the lounge where I am still confined though I do walk up and down with a walking frame and sit in a chair. There are steps to the rest of the house and I have managed to negotiate them with a rail but going upstairs is beyond me. I’m improving – I can walk with the frame and can wash and dress provided everything is put close to hand. We do have a downstairs loo accessed via the lounge, but the basin only has cold water so someone needs to bring me the heated kind. I have also abandoned the drug cocktail and just take ibuprofen from time to time. The pain has died down but lurks as a kind of ghost of itself.

The carers stopped coming – they were only really handing me things. Husband said he could cope.

Then this week has been a nightmare. Husband is suffering a severe allergic reaction – investigations are still ongoing – and is really quite poorly himself. Daughter has been a rock but has fibromyalgia and asthma herself so I can see her collapsing next. Then her husband was rushed into hospital with a badly infected abscess and high blood pressure. He has had an operation and a diagnosis of diabetes.

I am taking heart from the fact that every day I can do a little more. I am able to use the laptop though at first I could only concentrate for a short while.

Cautiously saying I think I’m back!! Hi!