It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This weekly meme is hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.

Monday comes around very quickly and I can't believe Christmas is only 25 days away. I'm having a quiet Christmas this year. Preparations are low key so thankfully the stress levels aren't rising.

On the reading front, I only finished one book last week and what a great read it was. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein is a cleverly constructed novel with several plot twists and an emotional ending. I understand now why reviewers mentioned they couldn't divulge much of the story without spoiling the reading experience for others. This is one of the best YA fiction novels I've read this year. The sequel, Rose Under Fire, is all ready in my TBR pile.

I'm still reading The Flight of the Heron and started two more, The Royalist by S.J. Deas and A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer. The latter is a re-read. I've read all the Heyer novels, admittedly a long time ago, but a review I came across on Goodreads hinted that Heyer was trying to deviate from her normal style when she wrote this one. I don't remember anything about this novel other than the basic plot, so I was intrigued enough to read it once again.

I have several books to collect from the library today which may overturn my reading plans, but I'm determined to read Rose Under Fire next followed by Alison Stuart's Gather the Bones.

What I Read Last Week

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

I have two weeks. You'll shoot me at the end no matter what I do.
That's what you do to enemy agents. It's what we do to enemy agents. But I look at all the dark and twisted roads ahead and cooperation is the easy way out. Possibly the only way out for a girl caught red-handed doing dirty work like mine - and I will do anything, anything to avoid SS-Hauptsturmführer von Linden interrogating me again. He has said that I can have as much paper as I need. All I have to do is cough up everything I can remember about the British War Effort. And I'm going to. But the story of how I came to be here starts with my friend Maddie. She is the pilot who flew me into France - an Allied Invasion of Two. We are a sensational team.

What I'm Reading Today

The Flight of the Heron by D.K. Broster

1745. When Bonnie Prince Charlie lands in Scotland, the mountains and glens of the Highlands ring to the pipes and drums of the clans who flock to his banner. Charged with excitement, heroism and romance, this stirring tragic adventure that is the unforgettable story of the 'King Over the Water', has never been better told.

The Royalist by S.J. Deas

William Falkland is a dead man. A Royalist dragoon who fought against Parliament, he is currently awaiting execution at Newgate prison. Yet when he is led away from Newgate with a sack over his head, it is not the gallows to which they take him, but to Oliver Cromwell himself. Cromwell has heard of Falkland's reputation as an investigator and now more than ever he needs a man of conscience. His New Model Army are wintering in Devon but mysterious deaths are sweeping the camp and, in return for his freedom, Falkland is despatched to uncover the truth. With few friends and a slew of enemies, Falkland soon learns there is a dark demon at work, one who won't go down without a fight. But how can he protect the troops from such a monster and, more importantly, will he be able to protect himself?

A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer

Adam Deveril, the new Viscount Lynton and a hero at Salamanca, returns from the Peninsula War to find his family on the brink of ruin and the broad acres of his ancestral home mortgaged to the hilt. It is Lord Oversley, father of Adam's first love, who tactfully introduces him to Mr Jonathan Chaleigh, a City man of apparently unlimited wealth with no social ambitions for himself, but with his eyes firmly fixed on a suitable match for his one and only daughter.

What I Hope to Read Next

Gather the Bones by Alison Stuart

In the shadow of the Great War, grieving widow, Helen Morrow and her husband's cousin, the wounded and reclusive Paul, are haunted not only by the horrors of the trenches but ghosts from another time and another conflict. As the desperate voice of the young woman reaches out to them from the pages of a coded diary, Paul and Helen are bound together in their search for answers, not only to the old mystery but also the circumstances surrounding the death of Helen's husband at Passchandaele in 1917. As the two stories become entwined, Paul and Helen will not find peace until the mysteries are solved.

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

The thrilling story of one young ATA pilot's unforgettable journey through World War Two. This is Rose Under Fire. Rose Justice is a young American ATA pilot, delivering planes and taxiing pilots for the RAF in the UK during the summer of 1944. A budding poet who feels most alive while flying, she discovers that not all battles are fought in the air. An unforgettable journey from innocence to experience from the author of the best-selling, multi-award-nominated Code Name Verity. From the exhilaration of being the youngest pilot in the British air transport auxiliary, to the aftermath of surviving the notorious Ravensbruck women's concentration camp, Rose's story is one of courage in the face of adversity.