Good morning everyone and happy Friday! It’s nearly another bank holiday weekend. I thought I’d do a reading update today to show what I’m reading this weekend.
⭐Last – The Last Passenger by Will Dean
⭐Now- The Royal Correspondent by Alexandra Joel
⭐Next – Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
I loved The Last Passenger and shared my review of it on my blog yesterday. I’m currently reading The Royal mail for the blog tour next and thought it was a great book to read over the Coronation weekend. I’m then hoping to read Romantic Comedy which is a book I’ve been hearing lots about.
This weekend I’m actually working Saturday which will be weird as I haven’t worked a weekend in years. It’s also the opening of Rossiter books in Malvern on Monday which I’m excited about as it will be good to see everyone’s reaction to all the amazing things we have on sale there.
Caz Ripley, a cafe owner from a small, ordinary town, boards the RMS Atlantica with her boyfriend Pete and a thousand fellow passengers destined for New York. The next morning, she wakes to discover that everyone else on board has disappeared. And that’s just the beginning. Caz must prepare for a crossing that will be anything but plain sailing …
My Review:
Will Dean is one of my favourite authors so you can imagine how excited I was to be invited onto the blog tour for The Last Passenger, his latest book.
Firstly this is going to be a hard book to review as I really don’t want to give anything away as I feel this is a book that’s best to read blind. The story is told from the point of view of Caz who, after an amazing first night on board the cruise ship, wakes up to find herself alone. Completely alone- with even her partner gone. I think I’d find this utterly terrifying and the author does a great job of describing Caz’s feelings in the situation with her fear almost palpable at times. It was very difficult to put the book down as I was so absorbed in the story and wanting to find out what was happening.
I thought this book has a great pace to it as there always seemed to be something happening to keep me glued to the page. The tension in the book increases until it becomes almost unbearable, with the locked door scenario of the cruise ship making things very interesting. At times the ship seemed almost like a prison and my mind raced with possibilities about what might be going on. I had lots of different theories which kept changing as the story developed, keeping me in suspense which I always love.
The ending was incredibly clever and dramatic but also a bit scary as it seemed quite realistic too.
Huge thanks to Alainna Georgiou for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book. If you’re a thriller fan or loved locked door mysteries I highly recommend this book!
About The Author:
Will Dean grew up in the East Midlands, living in nine different villages before the age of eighteen. After studying law at the LSE, and working many varied jobs in London, he settled in rural Sweden with his wife. He built a wooden house in a boggy forest clearing and it’s from this base that he compulsively reads and writes.
Good morning everyone I hope you’re having a good week so far. Here are some of the books I’m hoping to read this month. I haven’t got many book tours so I’m hoping to catch up on some of the books I’ve been looking forward to.
These are subject to change as I’m a bit of a mood reader, plus I have two books on order from work that I’m also hoping to fit in.
What book are you most looking forward to this month? Do we have any books in common?
The Book Lovers Retreat by Heidi Swain
One long summer. One perfect setting. Can fiction inspire real life…?
Sometimes a book grabs you by the heart and grows to mean everything to you. That’s what Hope Falls is to friends Emily, Rachel and Tori. So, when they get the chance to spend a whole summer at the cottage in Lakeside where the film adaptation was located, they know it is going to be the holiday of a lifetime.
Spending six weeks away will give them a chance to re-evaluate their life choices. For Emily to decide which way her career will go – the safe route, or the more risky creative option? And for Rachel to decide whether to move in with her partner Jeremy. Then Tori has to drop out at the last moment, and her space is offered to another Hope Falls afficionado, Alex.
But when Alex turns out not to be who they expected, the holiday takes an unforeseen turn. And as the summer develops, so does their friendship. Could this be where they uncover their future selves, find love in all its forms and where their lives will change course forever…?
Conviction by Jack Jordan
TO STEAL A MAN’S FREEDOM ALL IT TAKES IS . . . CONVICTION
Wade Darling stands accused of killing his wife and teenage children as they slept before burning the family home to the ground.
When the case lands on barrister Neve Harper’s desk, she knows it could be the career making case she’s been waiting for. But only if she can prove Wade’s innocence.
A matter of days before the case, as Neve is travelling home for the night, she is approached by a man. He tells her she must lose this case or the secret about her own husband’s disappearance will be revealed.
Failing that, he will kill everyone she cares about until she follows orders.
Neve must make a choice – betray every principle she has ever had by putting a potentially innocent man in prison, or risk putting those she loves in mortal danger.
For fans of Steve Cavanagh, Linwood Barclay and Gillian McAllister, introducing the latest novel from the master of the moral dilemma, Jack Jordan.
The Forgotten Garden by Sharon Gosling
A novel of second chances and blossoming communities from the author of The Lighthouse Bookshop.
Budding landscape architect Luisa MacGregor is stuck in a rut – she hates her boss, she lives with her sister, and she is still mourning the loss of her husband many years ago. So when she is given the opportunity to take on a parcel of land in a deprived area, she sees the chance to build a garden that can make the area bloom.
Arriving in the rundown seaside town of Collaton on the north-west coast of Cumbria, she realises that her work is going to be cut out for her. But, along with Cas, a local PE teacher, and Harper, a teen whose life has taken a wrong turn, she is determined to get the garden up and running.
So when the community comes together and the garden starts to grow, she feels her luck might have changed. Can she grow good things on this rocky ground? And might love blossom along the way…?
The Memory Of Animals by Clare Fuller
But she isn’t here, no one is here. And I have a terror of being alone, in this building, in London, in the world.
Neffy is a young woman running away from grief and guilt, and the one big mistake that has derailed her career. When a debilitating new virus sweeps across the globe, volunteering in a vaccine trial offers her a way to make up for her past. But then, the virus mutates, and the future she had dreamed for herself is gone.
As the London streets outside the medical unit fall silent, and food begins to run out, Neffy must decide where safety lies. Might she find solace by revisiting her own heady memories of the past? Can she trust the strangers trapped inside with her – despite her growing suspicions? Or is her best chance of a future to be found in the terrifyingly unknown world outside?
Haunting and compelling, The Memory of Animals is a novel about freedom and captivity, survival and sacrifice, and what we cling to when everything else has been taken away, from the Costa Award-winning, Women’s Prize-shortlisted author of Unsettled Ground.
In Memoriam by Alice Winn
In 1914, war feels far away to Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood. They’re too young to enlist, and anyway, Gaunt is fighting his own private battle – an all-consuming infatuation with the dreamy, poetic Ellwood – not having a clue that his best friend is in love with him, always has been.
When Gaunt’s mother asks him to enlist in the British army to protect the family from anti-German attacks, he signs up immediately, relieved to escape his overwhelming feelings. But Ellwood and their classmates soon follow him into the horrors of trenches. Though Ellwood and Gaunt find fleeting moments of solace in one another, their friends are dying in front of them, and at any moment they could be next.
An epic tale of the devastating tragedies of war and the forbidden romance that blooms in its grip, InMemoriam is a breathtaking debut.
Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow
This is the story of Sam and Sadie. It’s not a romance, but it is about love.
When Sam catches sight of Sadie at a crowded train station one winter morning he is catapulted back to the brief time they spent playing together as children. Their unique spark is instantly reignited.
What comes next is a story of friendship and rivalry, fame and creativity, betrayal and tragedy, perfect worlds and imperfect ones. And, ultimately, our need to connect: to be loved and to love.
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
Life is (not)* a Romantic Comedy…
With a series of heartbreaks under her belt, Sally Milz – successful script writer for a legendary late-night TV comedy show – has long abandoned the search for love.
But when her friend and fellow writer begins to date a glamorous actress, he joins the growing club of interesting but average-looking men who get romantically involved with accomplished, beautiful women. Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch, poking fun at this ‘social rule’. The reverse never happens for a woman.
Then Sally meets Noah, a pop idol with a reputation for dating models. But this isn’t a romantic comedy – it’s real life. Would someone like him ever date someone like her?
Skewering all our certainties about why we fall in love, ROMANTIC COMEDY is a witty and probing tale of how the heart will follow itself, no matter what anyone says. It is Curtis Sittenfeld at her most sharp, daring and compassionate best.
The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff
For Geeta, life as a widow is more peaceful than life as a wife…
Until the other women in her village decide they want to be widows, too.
Geeta is believed to have killed her vanished husband – a rumour she hasn’t bothered trying to correct, because a reputation like that can keep a single woman safe in rural India. But when she’s approached for help in ridding another wife of her abusive drunk of a husband, her reluctant agreement sets in motion a chain of events that will change the lives of all the women in the village….
A darkly irreverent and fresh take on a feminist revenge thriller, perfect for readers of My Sister the Serial Killer, How To Kidnap The Rich and the Sharon Horgan series Bad Sisters.
Dublin. The 1920s. As war tears Ireland apart, two young people are caught up in events that will bring love, tragedy – and the hardest of choices.
In a country fighting for freedom, it’s hard to live a normal life. Winnie O’Leary supports the cause, but she doesn’t go looking for trouble. Then rebel Joseph Burke steps into her workplace. Winnie is furious with him about a broken window. She’s not interested in romance. But love comes when you least expect it.
Joseph’s family shelter fugitives and smuggle weapons. Joseph would never ask Winnie to join the fight; but his mother and sisters demand commitment. Will Winnie choose Joseph, and put her own loved ones in deadly danger? Or wait for a time of peace that may never come?
Ireland’s tumultuous independence struggle is the backdrop for an unforgettable story of courage and heartbreak, in which heroes are made of ordinary people. Inspired by the story of Sheila O’Flanagan’s grandmother, The Woman on the Bridge is the unmissable, compulsive new novel from a bestselling author.
My Review:
The Woman On The Bridge is a beautiful written, compelling and emotional read that will stay with me.
Firstly the author does a great job setting the scene in this book so the reader feels completely transported to Ireland in the 1920’s. I liked learning a little bit more about Ireland’s struggle for Independence as it was fascinating to see how it affected ordinary people’s families and friendships. I liked that the story didn’t just focus on this though as the author highlights other things that were happening in Ireland at the time too, especially women’s fight for independence. It was quite emotional to see families fighting for independence and to keep their families alive at the same time.
The characters were all brilliant creations that I grew fond of throughout the book. I did enjoy the love story that develops between Winnie and Joseph, though knowing a little bit about this period I felt a sense of trepidation too as I didn’t think it would have a happy ending. For me the love story was secondary to the historical events that were happening in Ireland at the time and I felt more caught up in those stories instead.
I thought this book had a great pace to it and there always seemed to be something happening to keep my interest. I soon became really invested in the characters and their individual struggles which made the book hard to put down at times as I really wanted to find out what happens. I felt there were a few unfinished threads in the story and I’m really hoping that there will be a sequel to this book as I’d love to learn more about them and see what happens next for the characters.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Headline for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
I’ve always loved reading and when I was a child I used to write stories for my younger sisters as a bribe to make them do my share of the housework. It usually worked!
Ireland is famed for its writers, but for me growing up most of the novels were rural in both their settings and their points of view. I wanted to read books about people like me, who lived in the city and struggled with the chaotic bus timetable and had dreams and ambitions that had nothing to do with the farm.
I also wanted to read novels in which the women were the heroes of their own stories. Too many women in the novels I read were there as a wife, mother or daughter and their role was to develop the storyline for the male character. I wanted to hear those women’s stories and tell them myself.
Although I was constantly writing, the idea of being a novelist was a bit of a pipe dream. I had to earn a living and so I got a job in finance. It was the complete opposite of anything I’d ever expected to do but – at least for a time – I enjoyed it and I did well.
Nevertheless the dream wouldn’t go away and in my thirties I decided that I would make a real effort to write my novel. Eventually, after a couple of false starts, Dreaming of A Stranger was written and published and became an Irish bestseller.
Since then I’ve written more than 25 novels as well as 3 collections of short stories and 2 novels for children all of which have been bestsellers both in Ireland and overseas. They include The Hideaway, What Happened That Night, Isobel’s Wedding and Suddenly Single and my sales have topped 9 million copies around the world.
In most of my books, I put women in situations where they have to dig deep inside themselves to find their inner strength even though sometimes they struggle to realise it’s there. Readers often ask who my favourite characters are, but every one of the women in my books is as close to me as a member of my family. (For the time when I’m writing a book they’re even closer because they’re in my head 24/7. At least with the family I can walk out of the room or put the phone down!)
Regardless of who my readers are, I always try to do three things when I’m writing:
Tell a good story
Make the reader feel like they know the characters
Make each book better than the last
I’ve been very lucky in having so many books published and hearing from readers all around the world. And I’m glad that, when times were tough, I remembered the quote that ‘a professional writer is an amateur who wouldn’t quit”
I’m a passionate avocate for increasing literacy and helping people who have come to reading late in life so that they can find the same pleasure in reading as I’ve had. I’ve taken part in a number of different televised projects to help people who’ve struggled with reading and writing and I’ve contributed to both the Quick Reads and Open Doors series of novellas for new readers. I’m also a board member of Fighting Words, the creative writing centre set up by Booker prize-winner Roddy Doyle where I’ve worked with teenagers to write their own published stories and retired people who are working on their memoirs.
Good morning everyone I treated myself to this beautiful book a few weeks ago but haven’t managed to share it yet.
I’ve only recently discovered this author but absolutely loved Under The Whispering Door when I read it. I knew I had read more of his book so when I saw this special edition of his newest book I knew I had to get it! As I might have mentioned a few times I love books with beautiful sprayed edges and I think these spredges are stunning!
Have you read anything by this author? Which book is your favourite?
Book Synopsis:
From New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune, In the Lives of Puppets is a queer retelling of the Pinocchio tale, inviting you deep into the heart of a peculiar forest and on the extraordinary journey of a family assembled from spare parts.
In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees live three robots – fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They’re a family, hidden and safe.
The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled ‘HAP’, he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio – a past spent hunting humans.
When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio’s former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic’s assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.
Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: can he accept love with strings attached?
Inspired by Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio, In the Lives of Puppets is a masterful standalone fantasy adventure from the author who brought you The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door.
About The Author:
TJ KLUNE is a Lambda Literary Award-winning author (Into This River I Drown) and an ex-claims examiner for an insurance company. His novels include the Green Creek series, The House on the Cerulean Sea and The Exraordinaries. Being queer himself, TJ believes it’s important—now more than ever—to have accurate, positive, queer representation in stories.
Inspired by a real-life case and winner of the Bloody Scotland Pitch Perfect Award, Kate Foster’s The Maiden is a remarkable story with a feminist revisionist twist, giving a voice to women otherwise silenced by history.
“In the end, it did not matter what I said at my trial. No one believed me.”
Edinburgh, October 1679. Lady Christian is arrested and charged with the murder of her lover, James Forrester. News of her imprisonment and subsequent trial is splashed across the broadsides, with headlines that leave little room for doubt: Adulteress. Whore. Murderess.
Only a year before, Lady Christian was newly married, leading a life of privilege and respectability. So, what led her to risk everything for an affair? And does that make her guilty of murder? She wasn’t the only woman in Forrester’s life, and certainly not the only one who might have had cause to wish him dead . . .
My Review:
The Maiden is a gripping, absorbing book which I really loved and is one of the best pieces of historical fiction I’ve read.
The story is told from the point of view of two very different women. Lady Christian who has lived a comfortable life of privilege and Violet an orphan who works at the local whore house. The two women have the rather dubious honour of knowing James Forrester and through the book we learn more about their experiences with him as well as the events leading up to James’s murder.
The author does a great job of setting the scene so I often felt I was actually there observing everything alongside the characters. I felt that I could almost smell the stench of Edinburgh and see the grime of Violets world. The different between the rich and poor are starkly highlighted with it being quite difficult at times to read about Violets often horrific experiences at the whore house.
Overall I really enjoyed this book and will be recommending it to everyone. I was immediately drawn into the story and quickly found the book hard to put down as I wanted to find out what happens next. This book is based on a real life case and characters which I always love as it’s always great to learn about a new period in history. At the end of the chapters there are newspaper articles from the case which gives the reader an insight into what happened. It made my blood boil to see how women were treated by the court, with James’s behaviour being excused because he was a rich man while the women were shamed for their actions.
Huge thanks to Chloe from Pan Macmillan for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book, though as you can see from the pictures I did buy my own copy too as I couldn’t resist those gorgeous spredges. If you’re a fan of historical fiction I highly recommend this book!
About The Author:
Kate Foster has been a national newspaper journalist for over twenty years and is the Health Editor for the Scottish Daily Mail.
She won the Bloody Scotland Pitch Perfect 2020 prize for new writers for her debut novel The Maiden, which she wrote on a Curtis Brown Creative six-month novel writing course. The Maiden will be published in April 2023.
Good morning everyone and happy Bank Holiday Monday!
One of the kids and my favourite activities is going on a picnic so when I was tagged by @might_read_until_i_feel_better on Instagram to share a picnic stack I knew I had to join in. One thing this challenge has highlighted is that I really don’t have any books with food in the titles 🤣.
Where? – The Forgotten Garden
When? – One Enchanted Evening
What’s in the Sandwiches? Little Wings
What’s the weather like? Peach Blossom Spring
What can you hear? The Nightingale
Who’s joining you? The Bandit Queens!
I’ve still can’t figure out how to tag people on here but Claire knight, Nicki Mags and the lovely Joanne Portobello Book Blog who loves a book challenge might want to take part but as always no pressure! Here’s hoping the sun comes out so we can go on lots of picnics soon.
Good morning everyone I hope you’re all having a great weekend? I’ve been lucky enough to get some fantastic book post this week:
⭐The Murder Of Anton Livius by Hansjörg Schneider ⭐The Führer’s Prophecy by Brian Klein ⭐The Royal Correspondent by Alexandra Joel ⭐Bad Men by Julie Mae Cohen ⭐More Confessions Of A Forty Something f##k Up by Alexander Potter ⭐The Last Passenger by Will Dean
The first three are new authors for me but sound very intriguing! The last three are all authors I’ve loved before so I’m very excited to read these.
I’m hoping for a quiet day today. My other half is taking the boys out so I’m looking forward to reading more of the fantastic The Maiden today which I’m really enjoying. My daughter is coming back from a two day brownie camp later and, while it looks like she’s had fun, I’ve missed her so I’m excited to see her later. Then… It’s our 13 year wedding anniversary tomorrow so we’re off out tonight to celebrate with a curry and a few drinks.
Good morning everyone and happy weekend! It’s been a while since I’ve done a reading update so here’s what I’m currently reading:
⭐Last – Preloved by Lauren Bravo
⭐Now – Camp Zero by Michelle Min Sterling &
The Maiden by Kate Foster
⭐Next – Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
I really enjoyed Preloved which I reviewed on my blog Wednesday. I’m currently reading Camp Zero as part of the Tandem Collective read-along and I’m really enjoying it so far. It’s actually quite hard to stop myself at the end of the reading schedule for each day. I’m also starting The Maiden today which I’ve heard great things about. I’m then hoping to read Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld which is another book I’ve been hearing lots about so I’m very excited to start it.
In other news, I’ve finished my first full week at the bookshop and …..I’m absolutely loving it! It’s so much fun to see it all come together and to see all the books we have on stock. I have a feeling most of my wages will be spent there. We’re hoping to open the Monday after the Coronation so if you’re local do come and say hi!
Do you have any plans for the bank holiday weekend?
Robin Hood, Dick Turpin, Ronnie Biggs, the Krays … All have become folk heroes, glamorised and romanticised, even when they killed. But where are their female equivalents? Where are the street robbers, gang leaders, diamond thieves, gold smugglers and bank robbers?
Queens of the Underworld reveals the incredible story of female crooks from the seventeenth century to the present. From Moll Cutpurse to the Black Boy Alley Ladies, from jewel thief Emily Lawrence to bandit leader Elsie Carey and burglar Zoe Progl, these were charismatic women at the top of their game. But female criminals have long been dismissed as either not ‘real women’ or not ‘real criminals’, and in the process their stories have been lost.
Caitlin Davies unravels the myths, confronts the lies and tracks down modern-day descendants in order to tell the truth about their lives for the first time.
My Review:
Queens Of The Underworld is a fascinating, informative read that I really enjoyed.
Firstly I hadn’t heard of many of the people in this book so found it very interesting to learn more about them. The author has written this book to shine a light on their lives which have previously been overlooked or altered. These are strong women who chose to live outside of what society expected of them and as such experienced some discrimination as people couldn’t believe that women were capable of such crimes. This meant their stories were often altered or adjusted to fit into societal norms, meaning the truth had been lost.
The author dedicates a chapter to each of the female criminals and I enjoyed learning more about their lives. Most of the woman came from poor, abusive backgrounds which was sad to read about and was often their reason for turning to crime. The author does a great job of highlighting their lives while not glorifying their crimes or forgetting about their victims which I thought was very clever.
Overall I thought this was a brilliant read that I will be recommending to all true crime fans. I found the book easy to read as the author had a great writing style and I found the book surprisingly gripping. I’ll definitely be reading more from this author and researching more into the women featured in this book.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the publisher for my copy of this book. If you like true crime or non fiction books I highly recommend this book.
About The Author:
Caitlin Davies was born in London in 1964. She spent 12 years in Botswana as a teacher, human rights reporter and newspaper editor, during which she was twice arrested and put on trial. Many of her early books are set in the Okavango Delta, including a critically acclaimed memoir Place of Reeds, described by Hilary Mantel as ‘candid and unsentimental’.
She is fascinated by the buried stories of women from the past, which feature in several of her books – The Ghost of Lily Painter is based on the arrest and execution of two Edwardian baby farmers, while Daisy Belle: Swimming Champion of the World is inspired by the lives of forgotten Victorian aquatic stars.
Her non-fiction books include Taking the Waters: A Swim Around Hampstead Heath, Downstream: a history and celebration of swimming the River Thames, and Bad Girls: The Rebels and Renegades of Holloway Prison, which was longlisted for the 2019 Orwell Prize for Political Writing.
Caitlin’s latest book is Queens of the Underworld, a journey into the lives of female crooks from the 17th century to today, to be published by The History Press in October 2021.
She is a teacher, social historian, and freelance journalist, and was a regular feature writer for The Independent’s education and careers supplement. As a Royal Literary Fund Fellow she has worked at the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Science Museum and the University of Westminster. She is a mentor with StoryBoard, https://www.storyboardwriter.com/, which offers writing help for both fiction and non-fiction.
Over The Rainbow Blog 