November Roundup

You know that feeling when the end is in sight but you just can’t get there. I thought I might be able to reach the 100 I set myself as I did last year in November, but I am still a couple of books to go. I may well have done it, but reading seems to have taken a bit of a slump despite some cracking good books read in the month.

Christmas reading continued apace with Liz Eeles – A Christmas Wish and a Cranberry Kiss at the Cosy Kettle. The final part of this trilogy saw Christmas full of hot coffee and mince pies. Delicious.

Then it was a return to the Doctors with Penny Parkes – Snowed in at The Practice, this series of books is a joy to read and they really go into some interesting depth about the survival of GP practices and what affects the medical profession countrywide.

There is nothing like one of the worst periods of history to bring you back down with a bump and a reality check from all the lovely warm Christmas wishes. There is certainly no warmth in the setting of Lily Graham – The Child of Auschwitz. However the author deals with such a moving piece of history well and with such thoughtfulness that I was immediately drawn into the story, the characters and the outcome.

More history, even further back with Julian Fellowes – Belgravia. On the eve of the Battle of Waterloo events change the shape of two families lives forever. Think Downton Abbey, Upstairs Downstairs and add in the fact that it is to be on the TV in the new year and you have yourself a real Sunday Night Drama. The book was an interesting read of class, of status, money and love.

Another book full of love was Sara Cox – Till the Cows Come Home. I admit to being a bit of a fan girl with Sara Cox. I enjoyed her standing in for the Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2 and I am delighted to catch her on the Drivetime show now. Her book is a love letter to her family and to how she was brought up and the experiences that have clearly shaped her and made her into the chatterbox of delights. I would love to listen to the audio book of this.

And finally a bit of cosy murder mystery, in what has been a mix of reading themes this month. Helena Dixon – Murder at the Dolphin Hotel, set in Devon after the First World War, you could almost Poirot to appear or Miss Marple as the body count rises and the red herrings are aplenty. I look forward to more from this author.

So that was November – and the trouble I am having at the moment is choosing the next book to read. I have some on my shelf waiting to be read and I am waiting until I get the time off work (only 3 weeks left to go) to really get stuck into the god stuff.

In the meantime I end November reading a book that I want to know the secrets behind two of the main characters but I am a bit loathe to be reading the rest of it to get there. I should quit but I am ultimately nosey and so need to know! And now probably you all want to know the book too!

On with December…..

July Roundup

Another hot month and the reading has gone at two speeds  – fast and interminably slow! I blame the heat and nothing else.

Just because it is hot at home doesn’t mean it cannot be hot elsewhere on my reading travels. Which is why I was whisked away with Julie Caplin – The Secret Cove in Croatia – like reading a fictional holiday brochure! Utter bliss.

Of course I could stay at home and so I did with the latest Sarah Bennett – Sunshine over Bluebell Castle, the next in the trilogy and I spent many a happy hour vicariously gardening with Iggy and the gorgeous Will.

With all the heat what a better place to be than in the water – Libby Page – The Lido. The book has been on my radar for a while and it is the most delightful book I have read in a longtime, so touching and so gentle it deserves a second read and I need to get to my local lido!

Of course if you can’t go abroad or in a castle and you have no pool near you what about Emma Davies – The Beekeeper’s Cottage a place to relax and watch the bees do what they do best whilst the flowers of the farm next door, wave their stems in the wind releasing a scent that wafts off the page.

All of these are great summer reads, but actually will warm the coldest of days too!

Summer would not be summer without at wedding or two, and I have only one to experience as I catch up with Rachel Dove‘s work– The Wedding Shop on Wexley Street  another place in the fictional little town of Westfield.

Looking back on the previous six months of reading with my little exclusive meme Six in Six made me realise that I have read very little crime, easily sorted in July it seems.

Trying to work my way through some more Christie means I have picked up Agatha Christie – The Secret Adversary a Tommy and Tuppence novel which was featured in the Read Christie 2019 to be found on the official website. I do enjoy a gentle stroll back to some crime fiction of past ages.

I went even further back with Georgina Clarke – The Corpse Played Dead who has given us another tail of Lizzie Hardwicke, a lady of a certain occupation helping the magistrates and the Bow Street Runners – certainly know doing things ‘by the book’ in this novel.

Three years in the waiting meant I was thrilled to be back with Kate Saunders – Laetitia Rodd and the Case of the Wandering Scholar. Another historical crime novel, featuring a strong female lead and this time I was taken into the depths of missing men, affairs, murders and romance.

I finish July, reading another gothic novel, which I think is supposed to frighten me but as of yet has simply kept me reading with no nasty side effects.

August brings holiday and even more time for reading – I simply cannot wait.

Six in Six 2019 – My Choices

So without further ado here is my Six in Six for 2019.

• Six books with workplaces in their title

Farm

Cafe

Shipyard

Picture House

Lighthouse

School

• Six authors I have read before

1. Lucinda Riley
2. Heidi Swain
3. Nancy Revell
4. Christie Barlow
5. Veronica Henry
6. Sarah Bennett

• Six books from the past that drew me back there

1. Sara Sheridan – Mirabelle Bevan Series (Russian Roulette & Indian Summer)
2. Lorna Cook – The Forgotten Village
3. Hazel Gaynor – The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter
4. Liz Fenwick – The Path to the Sea
5. Georgina Clarke – Death and the Harlot
6. Erica James – The Dandelion Years

• Six new authors to me

1. Lorna Cook – The Forgotten Village
2. Erica James – The Dandelion Years
3. Georgina Clarke – Death and the Harlot
4. Caroline Roberts – Rachel’s Pudding Pantry
5. Laura Purcell – The Silent Companions
6. Kirsty Wark – The House on the Loch

 

• Six Extracts from reviews I have written in 2019

This is a wonderful heartwarming novel, which deals with many issues across a spectrum – from “cradle to grave” and all of the characters in the book are wonderful. Add to that the setting of Scotland and the power of the weather and it felt I was transported right up there and was sharing the community spirit which simply floated off the pages. (Love Heart Lane – Christie Barlow)

*

The story though is ultimately about Greta and how despite being a Goldbaum from one branch and having to marry into another branch is fiercely independent and determined to make her mark and not be overlooked in any way. Her actions and challenges to the norm and what is ‘expected’ were both heartwarming and heartbreaking. She can be found naked under the cherry tree in the early days of marriage, she will breastfeed her son herself. She will understand the power and knowledge that women  can have in a man’s world. She will love and she will grieve, for everything she knows about her Goldbaum history will be torn apart by war and the greed of money. (House of Gold – Natasha Solomons)

*

This is a fantastic read. It has everything you want from a book, humour, tragedy, light and dark moments and covers some difficult subjects with careful consideration. Plus I got to learn a lot about viticulture as well as the word itself! Wonderful characters which are introduced gradually and all play a part in the overall story. They are not all flung in at the beginning of the novel, but woven into the tale as you go so they are full formed and can be remembered quite clearly once you have put the book down.

Vintage Cathy Bramley which absolutely fizzes! (A Vintage Summer – Cathy Bramley)

*

Will Bluebell Castle survive the debts, the intrigued and the new love burgeoning within its walls?

It has everything that I could possibly want from a really good story; romance, mystery, history, a castle and even a Butler! If all or any of these things, fascinate you then read the book, it will bring joy to you in abundance.

It is like the Antiques Roadshow meets Downton Abbey and I am totally in love with it! Sarah Bennett has done it again and I think this is going to be her best series to date. (Spring Skies over Bluebell Castle – Sarah Bennett)

*

This novel is told from all the three main character points of view, to help with your understanding and timeline, chapters are dated so we go between present day and the past.

The writing is so subtle that I was immediately drawn into the house party of Boskenna and the mystery that continued to build around the events and the house had me in mind of Rebecca…….I was convinced that Mrs Danvers was going to appear. Whilst of course she doesn’t the secrets that are tied up in the house and the family are going to have to come out.

The Cornish setting added to the atmosphere and the author has an uncanny knack of making it all three dimensional away from the page. I could taste the salt in the sea air and feel the heat of the sun. (A Path to the Sea – Liz Fenwick)

*

This is a great read which took me to the ever changing weather and landscapes of the Highlands of Scotland. Whilst characters first appeared in an earlier novel by Colgan which I had not read, there was enough background to see me through as this book is very much focussed on Zoe and Hari as well as the three children she comes to care for.

Subtly done, some rather difficult situations are encountered, selective mutism, mental health issues in youngsters as well as romance and friendships, the book has so much to give and was one of my favourite reads of 2019 so far. (The Bookshop on the Shore – Jenny Colgan)

 

• Six books I have read but not reviewed

1. Sarah Sheridan – Russian Roulette
2. Agatha Christie – Dumb Witness
3. Lucinda Riley – The Angel Tree
4. Erica James – The Dandelion Years
5. Judy Finnigan – Eloise
6. Laura Purcell – The Silent Companions

That is my choices, I am really enjoying reading yours and there is still time to join in and tell everyone what you have enjoyed in the first six months of 2019.

 

Four Weddings and a Festival – Annie Robertson

If you immediately misread this title as Four Weddings and a Funeral then you are going to enjoy the book immensely. In fact if you are a Richard Curtis fan and have enjoyed Four Weddings, Notting Hill and Bridget Jones then this is definitely the book for you. It is littered with references which whilst I got some only a true fan would have got them all.

Friends; Bea, Kat, Lizzie and Hannah joked for many years about all getting married in the same summer and when one engagement leads to another, it looks like this might well be the case.

However, Bea starts to have doubts. She turns down her engagement because she does not think that Simon is the man for her. She thinks she might have found that makes her go weak at the knees when he takes her photo at the first wedding of the season, but it seems he has a promise to fulfil.

Lizzie the first to get married, in the fields with a very countryside themed wedding is marrying the man she is clearly in love with, doting and besotted with. Except that he is about to go back on tour and that will mean leaving her behind.

Hannah is beyond excited about being a wife but has failed to point out to her grandparents who are paying for the wedding, that Remy her partner is in fact female. They might notice at some point all her friends keep telling her.

Kat is practical and certainly doesn’t want any of the fuss and trimmings of other weddings. But does that mean she is not committed? And is Henry feeling the same?

But when events at a festival take life on a different turn and a wedding you never saw coming happens then will these four women find their happy ever after just like in the Richard Curtis film.

This is a lighthearted book very much in line with the films that it liberally refers to throughout, great as a beach read but not if you want something with a bit more depth which I generally do.

Thank you to the publisher via netgalley for the opportunity to read this book. 

Four Weddings and a Festival is out now. 

 

 

 

The Secret Cove in Croatia – Julie Caplin

Books can take you on holidays and experiences vicariously and whilst there are some books I read I have no want or desire to become involved – reassuringly for my readers anything to do with murders is at the top of this list! However ones that require no passport or vaccinations then I am there being transported to blue seas, warm sun and the sense of pure relaxation. Utter bliss.

In this the fifth of the Romantic Escapes series by Julie Caplin, I am transported by yacht to Croatia.

Maddie is offered a job as chief cook and bottlewasher onboard a luxury yacht for the summer. One of the yachts that are chartered with those who have so much money they have no sense as to what to do with it.

Despite the hard work, Maddie thinks it might give her time to make sense of what she wants to do with her life.

Nick is a sheep farmer and when a chance encounter with supermodel Tara, sees him forming a relationship with her. What better place to consolidate that than on holiday. Lazing onboard a luxurious yacht seems the perfect place for a supermodel and her eye candy boyfriend.

That is until he meets Maddie, down to earth, comfortable in her skin and also friends with Nick’s sister as well!

Add into the mix another supermodel, a stylist, people famous for being rich and arrogant and you get some rather over inflated egos and precious personalities which in interaction with the down to earth Maddie and to some extent Nick made for humorous reading.

Of course there are some underlying issues when you lead such a high profile life in public when every action has to have a reaction on social media and perhaps some of them were glossed over and not given any closure.

But the real plot was the sparks that fly between Nick and Maddie and when the boat is moored in the secret cove it seems that perhaps, the sheep farmer and the deck hand have more in common than they think. That is until the boat starts to move again.

Croatia and the harbours and towns that they stopped at are painted in something more than a holiday brochure but were brought to life. I am not sure about the yacht as I am not sure my sea legs would survive, however it is always great to see how the ‘other half live’.

A perfect read for a perfect holiday escape. I wonder where Julie Caplin is going to take me next?

Thank you to the publisher via netgalley for the opportunity to read this book. 

The Secret Cove in Croatia is out today. 

 

A Postcard from Italy – Alex Brown

Grace loves her job at the storage company, even more so when she discovers long lost treasures and items of interest.

When opening one unit, belonging to a Connie Levine. Grace discovers a whole life inside and one with a very interesting story. Grace is determined to discover the truth and reunite these items with their rightful owner.

To do this though, Grace is going to have to step right out of her comfort zone and embark on a journey leaving behind all that she knows and is familiar.

One person not happy about this is, Grace’s mother Cora who has come to rely on her daughter to do everything for her as she is now unable to do anything for herself and is housebound. Encouraged by her work colleagues and friends, Grace makes the decision to go to Italy on this journey and leave her mother behind with some interesting consequences.

As we are transported to Italy with Grace she starts to embrace what might have been Connie’s life and what brought to her Italy, what happened to her during the war and why she has left in storage,  expensive paintings and items of jewellery.

This is a different novel from Alex Brown, if you have read any previously. There is a dual time aspect to it and whilst it is not defined through separate chapters like some books using the same narrative but from the items that are found, jewellery, paintings of the Italian powder pink villa and the letters and diaries that were kept. It is through these that you get a sense of a story, a sense of a person and whilst for some it may not have worked, it has here for this author.

If anything this book combined my love of fiction and history nicely into one and all of the characters brought something to the book whether they were from the past or the present. I was that irritated with Grace’s mother, Cora from the outset, I would have quite happily put a pillow over her head if it meant Grace could escape. I was in team Grace all the way even when she was in Italy, kindly finding out about someone else’s life and without realising it making a new life of her own.

This is a great holiday read and if you are new to the author this would be a great place to start. Avid fans will simply just lap it up and hope for more soon.

Thank you to the publisher via netgalley for the opportunity to read this novel. 

A Postcard from Italy is out now.

June Roundup

Of course now we are into July you can start posting your Six in Six posts. If you don’t know what I am on about please check out the link here and share what has been good and not so good in the last 6 months.

I packed a lot into the month of June, mainly because we have had some awful rainy days where there is nothing better than curling up with a book but also some blistering hot days when it is too hot to do anything apart from read and cool down with a gin and tonic.

Of course when you read it can be summer all the time and this month was certainly in terms of reading.

I caught up with Liz Eeles – A Summer Escape and Strawberry Cake at the Cosy Kettle, nothing better than a browse in a bookshop and a strawberry cake for a treat as well. I hope all is still well at the Cosy Kettle.

Not everyone has access to bookshops so the bookshop can come to them it turns out in Jenny Colgan – The Bookshop on the Shore revisiting characters I had not met but a wonderful story which means I need to catch up in what goes on in Scotland.

Scotland happened to be a frequent place for me this month. I was beyond excited to catch up with the villagers of Heartcross in Christie Barlow – Foxglove Farm and even more excited that there will be another book. I don’t get out much!

I embraced Kirsty Wark – The House on the Loch which was a story of a family where tragedy creates a place to stay and the past is clearly affecting the present. Fascinating and well written, I need to read Wark’s debut novel this being the ‘difficult’ second novel.

Then within a page or two I can be transported down to Somerset in Veronica Henry – A Home from Home more family differences and secrets to be discovered.

Somerset is the perfect stop on the way to Cornwall which is where I ended up with Holly Martin – The Little Village of Happiness the premise an intriguing one – come and stay in the village of Happiness for a year with your own house and shop for free. Some people need to work at their happiness.

Of course you can go abroad for the summer to find out the answers to some questions and find your own happiness as well, Italy seems a popular place. Alex Brown – A Postcard from Italy a mix of modern and historical fiction in a change from what you would expect from Alex Brown. Though the glorious village of Tindledale is mentioned as it is in the little short story as well Alex Brown – The Great Summer Sewing Bee.

Some people see festivals as their holiday time and interspersed with weddings they can also make a summer. Annie Robertson – Four Weddings and a Festival takes you there in what I can only describe as a love letter of a book to Richard Curtis films and Hugh Grant!

But even if it is not all romance and weddings, festivals and farms it can still be very much families as it was in Agatha Christie – Dumb Witness. Another one to tick off my list and realise the brilliance of the writing and the plot.

What has you start to summer been like?

A Summer Escape and Strawberry Cake at the Cosy Kettle – Liz Eeles

I am back in the Cosy Kettle for another cup of tea and a piece of cake and to catch up with the villagers of Honeyford.

In this second in the series, the main storyline features Flora, the owner of the Cosy Kettle and Bookshop in Honeyford who we met in the first book and was a characters who I thought was very reserved and quiet but I wasn’t sure why.

Now having met more of her husband, Malcolm and realised what you thought about him in book one is true and when Flora discovers his infidelity she suddenly realises that perhaps something is missing in her life. She has always been under someone else’s shadow and it is time for her to step into the light.

As she does, Flora becomes even more involved in village life, but after years of knowns the unknown seems very frightening and it be easier if she slipped back into her old life.

However, Honeyford, the book ship and the cosy kettle have other ideas for Flora.

Taken in by Luna, who runs the mystical shop, Flora embraces a different way of living and also has to share the house with Luna’s widowed son Daniel and his son, Caleb.

Getting involved in summer celebrations, Flora throws herself into hosting a famous author, a baking competition as well as trying to make a decisions about her husband means that Flora has a lot goign on.

But when she returns to Luna’s home, she can see the simplicity of nature and that all around her and she perhaps needs to make a change in her life to be able to move on.

Is Flora going to make the right change?

Another satisfying read and with the right amount of well developed secondary characters, Becca the manager of the Cosy Kettle, Knackered Mary, unlikely friends Millicent and Marigold, Callie (prominent in the first book), her eccentric grandfather Stanley still making his hilarious mark as well as some sumptuous descriptions of cakes and you have all you could want from a book.

Great for a light summer read!

Thank you to the publisher via netgalley for the  opportunity to read this book. 

A Summer Escape and Strawberry Cake at the Cosy Kettle is published on 1 July. 

A Walk in Wildflower Park – Bella Osborne

Originally published in four individual parts, this is the novel in full and in my opinion the best way to read it.

Anna’s life takes a massive turn when she is dumped by her fiance and then moves to a house on the edge of Wildflower Park. A private park for residents and one only accessible by key and location of house.

Determined to concentrate on her career, Anna wants to put all thoughts about men out of her head. That is until she literally bumps into her new colleague and then starts getting mysterious flirty texts from a random stranger.

It seems that Anna is not going to be able to avoid men, but it also means she is going to have to face the past that she has also been avoiding.

Sophie, Anna’s neighbour, colleague and closest friend is frustrated with being a mum and a wife and no one is treating her as Sophie. Pregnant with her third and dealing with all sorts of problems, Sophie makes some radical choices and tries to show how much she does.

I was unsure of where this story could go and whether it would take the all too  familiar path and whilst you could say on the surface it does. Bella Osborne makes her characters face their fears. She handles the sensitive issues with tact and confidence and you feel time and thought has gone into the portrayal and how the characters and ultimately the readers will react.

This is a really strong book with characters who are relatable, humourous and who you can not just sympathises but also empathise with.

A story of the strength of friendship and how no matter how wild life gets – your friend will be the flower you always rely on to keep blooming.

Thank you to the publisher via netgalley for the opportunity to read this book. 

A Walk in Wildflower Park is published on 27 Jun

May Roundup

Here we go then May done and dusted. How did that happen?

I am trying my best to read my shelves as well as all the wonderful (and not so wonderful) books I am lucky enough to get through netgalley.

I aim to do more of the shelf reading as we go into June. But for May I took off Laura Purcell – The Silent Companions which had been hanging around for a while and I don’t know why because I was fascinated with this novel and whilst I have not reviewed I would certainly recommend it to readers who like the gothic and the ghostly.

Another book which has to have been on the shelf even longer was Judy Finnigan – Eloise. This was her first novel and very readable, it kept me hooked and whilst I was intrigued by the characters, despite some of the weakness they had in being fully formed by the author there was something about the writing which felt very simplistic. I have her second to read so I want to see if anything has improved. That said if you want a simple readable novel you cannot go far with this one.

Then you get readable novels which are wonderfully written and cleverly plotted and tell stories of the past and present and this was very much so with Liz Fenwick – The Path to the Sea. The latest novel is for of secret and mystery and the setting is in almost three dimensions it is so wonderfully described. I really must get round to reading the other Liz Fenwick books I have.

I have read some Tilly Tennant books and loved them and I have read some and thought they were missing something and had become a bit pedestrian. But I dived into Tilly Tennant – Hattie’s Home for Broken Hearts and was suitably surprised. Sometimes you have to stick with authors, they can suddenly surprise you!

No more so when I picked up Ali McNamara – Secrets and Seashells at Rainbow Bay another author whose books I was not keen on from the early part of her oeuvre but who has suddenly developed and become someone whos books I really love to read. Her latest is no different and the added bonus of some mystery and some ghosts made it a book to enjoy and probably read again.

Another bonus is a free book and that was the case with Cathy Bramley – We’ll Meet Again whose free short story via Amazon gives some background to the new serialised novel she has coming out soon. I am going to be patient and wait until the whole thing is out and I was really good and did not read the preview which was also included in the short story.

Of course I go back to authors again and again, which is why I visited Emma Davies – The House at Hope Corner having devoured her books last year and was thrilled to be immersed once again and in a wonderful plot and with delightful characters and the expectation of more novels towards the end of the year.

Catching up with a series is always a blessing and I am slightly jealous of people who have yet to start the Mirabelle Bevan series but I thoroughly enjoyed Sara Sheridan – Indian Summer. If you want strong female characters, history and mystery then this is the series for you.

I am a bit behind with Rachel Dove’s series of novels which have been set in Westfield. So with the opportunity to read her latest, I thought I better get on and catch up with the residents which is why I was with Rachel Dove – The Flower Shop on Foxley Street. 

It might seem I read nothing but authors that I know and love and of course I do, but at one time they had to be authors who were new to me and this is the case with Emma Rous – The Au Pair. A debut novel and one that will keep you on the edge of your seat despite its initial flaws, the writing, the plot and the author is one to be intrigued by.

Quite a good month of reading and I also made the decision to let loose a book that I wasn’t getting on with too. Such a relief to not trawl through something that is bringing you no joy whatsoever.

So on with June, I am up to speed with my yearly Goodreads Challenge and of course look out for Six in Six which will make a return for the select few who join in. I would love for you to spread the word when I put the post up.

Happy Reading in June.