Love is Blind – Kathy Lette

How can a quick read give you characters that get right under your skin from about the second or third page in? Well this quick read can.

Jane makes the rather rash decision to move to the other side of the world to speed up her chances of getting a husband – apparently in one town in the Australian outback  there is a shortage of women. Jane’s sister, Anthea, the one that got right under my skin, with her self-righteous attitude and oh so perfect life and boyfriend thinks Jane has lost her mind. 

But Jane goes, and so Anthea follows to make sure that Jane is not going to make the biggest mistake of her life. What she did not realise was that perhaps Andrea is the one making mistakes and that when you are least expecting it, something happens to make you see exactly what love is supposed to be about.

This is the first Kathy Lette I have read and I really enjoyed it as the characters were likable and unlikable in equal measures and there was enough to keep me interested and to keep reading. I was a bit unsure about the Tsunami in the Outback but I just went with it, and assumed that it was the case and these things did happen out there. It just made the romantic story-line that bit more exciting!  I will certainly pick up one of the author’s full length novels in the future.

This book was sent to me from the lovely people at Quick Reads. If you do not know about Quick Reads then please take a look here. 

Love is Blind was one of the choices for 2013. I have also read A Sea Change by Veronica Henry and A Dreadful Murder by Minette Walters. 

I am perhaps not one of the key target people that Quick Reads is aimed at people who read very little and think that reading is boring and not for them. I read a lot and find reading much more pleasurable than watching the goggle box – well most of the time! But it has introduced me to Kathy Lette – I have never read any of her novels before, now I have read this one, I will not be afraid of picking up one of her others, in fact I know there is a review copy sitting on the pile at home so to me Quick Reads has done its job! 

Husband, Missing – Polly Williams

To be honest, I thought this was going to be a very formulaic romance story, of the boy meets girl, they marry, he disappears and then he reappears and everything will be all right with the world. How wrong I was, and how much I had judged the book based on cover, and the blurb on the back. This is far more than a formulaic novel – in fact I would even put it in the thriller genre if I was having to pigeon-hole books, which I dislike doing.

Gina, has a whirlwind romance and marries within a year Rex, after she met him the park. This is “the one” Gina tells everyone, and whilst she thought she would never know when she had found him – she suddenly realises that she has found him and that when you know you know.

However, this bubble that Gina has created with Rex and that has pushed away family and friends to the outskirts of her life is about to burst.

Rex goes missing.

Gina wants to find him. Gina knows he is still alive. She has the utmost belief in their relationship and that Rex will return.

But as the days turn into weeks, turn into months, Rex is still missing and Gina keeps trying, but as she tries to find out where he is, she discovers a completely different man to the one she married.

Did Gina really know the man she married? Was she so wrapped up in finding the one, that she missed the vital clues about his personality?

You have to keep turning the page, as whilst Gina discovers more about Rex as we do as readers, Gina discovers a lot more about herself and her ability to survive in a very different world to the one she dreamed of.

Through all the heartache over Rex, Gina finds the ache of heart is actually for someone else.

This is a really gripping novel, and one that had me engaged from the beginning. I felt for Gina, she had a tough time, and it really was heartbreaking to see hope slip from someone’s eyes not just in losing the physical person but also in the belief you had about someone being completely shattered. A women’s fiction book with a bit more meat and a little less fluff!

Thank you to the publisher for sending this to me for review. Plus second thanks go to Dot from Dot Scribbles who enthused about the book that I had to pick it up and see what all the fuss was about – she was right in her enthusiasm. 

Polly Williams is not an author I have encountered before, but if her work is of a similar vein to what I have just read then I will certainly look out for her other novels. 

A Caribbean Mystery – Agatha Christie

Miss Marple has stepped away St Mary Mead and has branched out with her sleuthing skills abroad. Of course she is meant to be there for a rest at the insistence and expense of her nephew Raymond West. But where Miss Marple goes there is bound to be the odd body or two.  But all she meets are a rather interesting collection of people. A rather highly strung wife and worrying husband who run the hotel, couples who seem to have an interest in tropical birds and walking, a vicar and his rather gossipy sister, a crotchety old man who is confined to a wheelchair with an assistant and a male nurse to attend to his every need and an old Major, still living his early army days with the stories he likes telling to anyone that will listen.

One of those people happens to be Miss Marple and when, Major Palgrave confides in her that he has a photograph of a murderer and that perhaps that person is on the same island as them – her interest is piqued. But then Major Palgrave can say no more to help her as the following day he is found dead, natural causes and no-one seems very perturbed at his death. Apart from two people, Miss Marple and the crotchety old man; Mr Rafiel. Although not always is Mr Rafiel as right as he may think “In this assumption, as Miss Marple could have told him, he was wrong. But she forbore to contest his statement. Gentlemen, she knew, did not like to be put right in their facts.” Between the two of them they dissect and put back together what they think is the right version of events. But will they be able to  get to the bottom of it before anyone else seemingly dies of natural causes?

I think this is not one of Christie’s stronger Miss Marple stories, it has the red herrings and the twists of plot but actually somehow if you take Miss Marple out of her normal setting – traditional English villages or seaside towns it rendered it slightly less believable for me.

I fancied some Christie and I know this is being remade (I think actually already filmed) for the ITV series of Marple with Julia McKenzie so I wanted it fresh in my memory for when it is eventually broadcast. I remember the Joan Hickson one and had a vague recollection of whodunnit but was not 100%. 

Not one of the better books for me but I think this was to do with reading it on my kindle – an American version where they had changed the name of Mr Rafiel to Mr Rafter and that some of the text was missing. I had a quick late night call to my mum to dig her book out so I could check and make sure I had not missed anything – it was a rather vital bit in explaining the relationship between some of the characters. What also struck me was some of the descriptions of the natives – I don’t think you could get away with writing this nowadays?

“They’ve both worked like blacks, though that’s an odd term to use out here, for blacks don’t work themselves to death at all, so far as I can see. Was looking at a fellow shinning up a coconut tree to get his breakfast, then he goes to sleep for the rest of the day. Nice life.”

Dead in the Water – Carola Dunn

Daisy Dalrymple is still trying to make her own way in the world through her writing – her latest assignment is to report for an American Magazine at the Henley regatta. She gets the chance not just to experience the rowing but also to spend time with her fiance Alec Fletcher and Inspector at Scotland Yard and not your average choice of man for an honourable lady such as Daisy and her set.

But this is the 1920s and everything is changing in the world. Those from the lower classes are suddenly on a par as those who have had a privileged background and where money, positions and who you know gets you to where  you want to be even if you are particularly no good – certainly this is the case for the members of the Oxford Rowing Team who also happen to be staying in the same house as Daisy.

The class war is alive and well in this story and it is with some obvious prediction that one of the warring rowing team is going to end up dead – and the other is going to be the main suspect. So Daisy and Alec’s quiet weekend away turns into an average few days for them as they investigate and try to find the culprit.

This particular story is heavy on the number of characters within it and it was rather confusing  especially as we were introduced to them in a rather random way. Their full names given and then all of a sudden hit with nicknames we were meant to grasp immediately as well as there relevance to the story line - too many for such a short book and some with little purpose.  Some were related to Daisy which I could not get my head round at all even after rereading the relevant passages. If you can accept this then the book is simply a jolly cosy mystery and goes along fairly well but for me not one of the better Daisy Dalrymple’s I have read.

The Doctor & the Diva – Adrienne McDonnell

It is the early 1900s and this book opens in Boston, America. Erika is an opera singer, beautiful in looks with a voice to match. She seems to have two ambitions to sing in Italy and to become a mother. Both are evading her. For many years she has been unsuccessful in getting pregnant, visits to numerous doctors have all been unsuccessful. That is until Dr Ravell enters her and Peter her husband’s life.

The ramifications of Dr Ravell becoming part of this couples life reverberate out over many pages and through many years and across many seas and lands. Where others have failed Dr Ravell succeeds in what Erika and Peter want. Sadly though, it is not meant to be and so Erika turns her life back to escaping to Italy to pursue her other long held dream.

In the meantime Dr Ravell’s reputation suddenly becomes tarnished and he takes himself off to the Caribbean to run a plantation for a friend. He is now away from anything to do with helping couples conceive and he can find solace in the rich landscape of Trinidad, beautifully described by the author. Peter is determined to be a father and follows Dr Ravell out there, bringing his wife with him – if at first you don’t succeed, try again seems to be Peter’s motto.

All the time though Erika is still yearning to be in Italy. Her chance does come in this novel, suddenly the desperation to achieve one of the two ambitions Erika wanted is at the cost and detriment to the other. Erika goes to Italy. Peter is left behind and Dr Ravell, is no longer part of their lives.

As the book goes on, as the years move forward it is to be inevitable that all three shall meet again in some way. Their character’s have developed and moved on, they have tragedies and battles to fight and they have to all decide if the decisions they make are the right ones. Each one has their reason for their action and it is this which will either join or divide the reader ultimately in what they think of the book. For me it left me rather undecided. This is a wonderfully descriptive book of the landscapes, the journeys, the sights, the locals of the area but the three main characters did not stand out enough for me. I am sure there was more to be learn about Dr Ravell, I did not think his infatuation with Erika was obvious, I felt I had missed it. Peter’s arrogance whilst driving me mad, suddenly lost impetus at times. Erika’s ultimate decision was rather cowardly and then her actions after she returns from Italy are somewhat unbelievable and she yet again lets go of something precious. Would she really have lost everything for a second time?

I acknowledge that this is a début novel, and such it is good. I enjoyed the historical setting, the research and information about obstetrics was interesting and as I have mentioned the descriptions were clear and it took you away to these places, the snow of Boston, the heat of Trinidad, the ruins of Italy but for me the characters are where it let it down.  Still worth a read, but the drama will not keep you gripped enough.

April Roundup

You can tell when it is holiday time from work for me – the reading rate increases rather quickly. Then I went back to work and all of a sudden I am a few days late in doing my April roundup – I have been so tired as work is increased due to contract changes (that I won’t bore you with) that I was mainly arriving home,eating, reading and then sleeping. Time was simply running away with me. However, with restorative cup of tea and a few hours in the sunshine I am able to catch up! Hello all followers, do feel free to comment.  I have been reading blogs, but apologies if I have not commented for a while.

So what did I read in April, well whilst I read a lot, the variety has been vast but some of the subjects of a similar theme and even title!

Cosy and familiar were the way forward and I spent some time with Katie Fforde – Love Letters and Trisha Ashley – Good Husband Material. I find these books such a tonic and am completely captivated and absorbed by the stories, thank you to both authors.

Cosy remained with crime as I read another Daisy Dalrymple story, this time book 6 of the series with Carola Dunn – Dead in the Water*. I suppose you could say they are cosy historical crime, as they are set in the 1920s but the remind me so much of Jeeves and Wooster that they are good escapism. I am not sure whether you would put Agatha Christie – A Caribbean Mystery* as cosy crime, as I think of these books as more traditional classic crime from the golden age. I was slightly disappointed with this book I have to confess, it was just not right taking Miss Marple out of the country village setting for me. However, it was a passable read and ticked another book of the list of challenges for 2013 as did the Daisy Dalrymple one. Sticking with crime, but certainly not the cosy sort was Cath Staincliffe- Bleed Like Me. The second in her Scott and Bailey prequel novels, based on the television series of the same name on ITV. A book with three strong female characters, who you would think would be jostling to take centre stage, but not one of these women ever seems to dominate more than the other, no doubt down to Cath Staincliffe’s excellent writing.

Ironically enough Strong female characters can be covered in the next two reads of April but rather in a tongue in cheek manner! First up we have the third (and maybe final?) part of Paul O’Grady’s autobiography – Still Standing: The Savage Years. Not as laugh out loud funny, as it covers some rather dark issues which are generally glossed over by some. What it did do was tell a few home truths and what it was really like at the time of developing the character Lily Savage, who I only knew from television. Another character that I have only just picked up on, from the television is that of Agnes Brown, from the TV series Mrs Brown’s Boys. Actually The Mammy by Brendan O’Carroll is the inspiration for the programme and well if you know who Brendan O’Carroll plays it all begins to make perfect Irish sense.

And now for something completely different, when I went to Wales to meet Wendy Jones – The Thoughts & Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals.Wilfred’s tale was a quiet, gentle one with some rather sobering consequences.Deception and love can make rather odd bedfellows. A debut novel from this author, that I think will gather more momentum, it is certainly a word of mouth book. Another word of mouth book or in this case – drawn in by the cover was Adrienne McDonnell – The Doctor & the Diva* is also a debut novel. It is set in places that were described beautifully, the heat of the Caribbean,  the snow of the American winter, the ruins of an European city but it lacked something int he characters. It did pique my interest of reading more historical fiction again, which I think has been rather lacking these last few months.

The beauty of book blogging, besides getting to share my love of books,and make lots of friends is also picking up on new books and authors from the review copies that are luckily enough to be sent to me. This was where Polly Williams – Husband, Missing* comes in. It arrived, it looked promising, but it got on the pile to read at some point, not on the pile that I know I will never read. However, when I saw the review of the book by a fellow blogger and tweeter Dot (@Dot_Scribbles) and the fact that she had devoured it in almost a day I knew it must be worth a look – so it got to the pile by my bed. She was right, and I devoured it in a couple of days and was hooked by a rather sad case of as the title says – a husband going missing, suddenly and unexpectedly. You could say it was romance, you could say it was a thriller, but it was just a jolly good read!

So April ended with me reading Sara Sheridan and Brighton Belle – I am back on the cosy historical crime train as I chug my way into May.

* Book review yet to appear on this blog

The Thoughts & Happenings of Wilfred Price Purveyor of Superior Funerals – Wendy Jones

In the midst of life there is death. In Wilfred Price’s life there only seems to be death and he is struggling with the personal quest to find a life to be alive in.  He knows amongst all the death he encounters we are all alive.

When an invitation to a picnic with Grace, a girl in a yellow dress, on a sunny day prompts a rather rash and impulsive question by Wilfred, all of a sudden he finds that he is alive. However, he soon begins to regret his rash question and has to find the courage to tell Grace the truth.

Grace is keeping secrets of her own and little does Wilfred know that actually his impulsive question has led him to solve a problem for Grace but incur the wrath of Grace’s father. Putting in jeopardy his own position within the local community. Gossip would be able to ruin his growing business of Funeral Director and he strives to be the best, as the title of the novel suggests. Ever present in his thoughts are the teachings of his master and Wilfred uses these to keep himself in check throughout the book.

And so this rather slow and thoughtful story meanders on as Grace and Wilfred exist together but so far apart. Wilfred seeks solace in his work and with conversations with his father, realises that you cannot live a whole life of unhappiness. Wilfred discovers the confidence he needs through the love of someone else, but he must remain true, and he is utterly confused as to the right thing to do and the right way to go about it. Dealing with death seems easier.

Grace has to deal with her family, her father the local doctor and her mother are rather pious and despite the happy outcome they desire, they seem to be grieving the loss a daughter her being ever present whilst rejoicing in their son, who has gone off to fight in the Army. Grace needs to do something to gain their attention.

The turning point of the novel, is somewhat of a surprise, although I did have my suspicions and the ending leaves open many unanswered questions and possibly there could be more to come. I wanted to know how well Wilfred Price gets on as being the purveyor of superior funerals. I cared about Grace and was rather angry with her parent’s attitude. I enjoyed hearing Wilfred’s father speak and the advice he gave as well as learning about life in a small community reeling still from the aftermath of the First World War and the influenza outbreak and trying to restart many stopped lives, whilst in the midst of this life there is still death. A short story which actually could be so much longer, but it did not need to be.  Captured just right.

I have to confess my morbid curiosity was the reason I chose this book to read. Not expecting something gruesome just how funerals and death is dealt with. However, I got more, it is a slow story as I mention in my review, but I don’t mean that it was not going fast enough, it was going at the pace it should have done – slow and gentle. All reflective of the blossoming relationships in the novel that develop. 

I look forward to seeing what else this author writes.