Book Synopsis:

Four lives, entwined forever by decisions made in a time of conflict. But what happens decades later when they unexpectedly converge once more?  

Trang and Quynh: sisters who leave their rural village for the bustling city of Saigon, desperate to find work to help their impoverished parents. When they take jobs as ‘ bar girls’, paid to flirt with American GIs, they must decide whether they are willing to turn their backs on the people they used to be.   

Phong: one of the thousands of mixed-race children abandoned by their American fathers and Vietnamese mothers. Phong grows up surrounded by rejection, insulted as a ‘Black American imperialist’, and a ‘child of the enemy’. But he never gives up hope of finding his parents and proving he is more than a ‘bui doi’: more than the ‘dust of life’.  

Dan: A former American helicopter pilot still plagued by regrets about his actions during the Việt Nam war. Now he has returned in the hope of confronting the demons that refuse to fall silent.  

Set between the Việt Nam war and the present day, Dust Child is a sweeping epic of family secrets and hidden heartache, from an internationally celebrated author. 

My Review:

Dust child is a beautifully written, emotional and harrowing book that has stayed with me long after reading it.

The story is told in two timelines. One, set in 1969, follows two sisters Trang and Quynh as they live through the Vietnam war. While the other set in 2016 follows Phang, a dust child, who is hoping to travel to America to find his father and Dan a Vietnam war veteran visiting the country to try and help his PTSD. The three stories blend together well and there is a real sense of connection between them as all have experienced the same thing. Unusually for me I didn’t have a favourite timeline but instead just enjoyed being taken along in the story and watching everything unfold.

As you can imagine this book really packs an emotional punch as we learn more about how innocent people suffered and how people were treated. It always amazes me how humans can treat each other so cruelly at times and my heart absolutely broke whilst reading some of the characters stories. I liked that the author doesn’t just make this a sad book though as there is a feeling of hope in the book too and I loved to see the strength some of the characters showed.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the publisher for my copy of this book via Netgalley.

About The Author:

Born and raised in Việt Nam, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai is the author of the international bestseller THE MOUNTAINS SING, runner-up for the 2021 Dayton Literary Peace Prize, winner of the 2020 BookBrowse Best Debut Award, the 2021 International Book Awards, the 2021 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award, and the 2020 Lannan Literary Award Fellowship for Fiction. She has published twelve books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction in Vietnamese and English and has received some of the top literary prizes in Việt Nam including the Poetry of the Year 2010 from the Hà Nội Writers Association. Her writing has been translated into twenty languages and has appeared in major publications including the New York Times. She has a PhD in Creative Writing from Lancaster University. Quế Mai is a tireless advocate for the rights of disadvantaged groups in Việt Nam and has founded several scholarship programs. She was named by Forbes Vietnam as one of 20 inspiring women of 2021.

Book Synopsis:

On a cool autumn day in 1948, Victoria Nash delivers late-season peaches from her family’s farm set amid the wild beauty of Colorado. As she heads into her village, a dishevelled stranger stops to ask her the way. How she chooses to answer will unknowingly alter the course of both their young lives.

So begins the mesmerising story of split-second choices and courageous acts that propel Victoria away from the only home she has ever known and towards a reckoning with loss, hope and her own untapped strength.

Gathering all the pieces of her small and extraordinary existence, spinning through the eddies of desire, heartbreak and betrayal, she will arrive at a single rocky decision that will change her life for ever.

GO AS A RIVER is a heart-wrenching coming-of-age story and a drama of enthralling power. Combining unforgettable characters and a breathtaking natural setting, it is a sweeping story of survival and becoming, of the deepest mysteries of love, truth and fate.

My Review:

Go As A River is a beautiful, absorbing and thought provoking read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The reader is quickly drawn into the story and into the world Tori lives in. We are introduced to a small, backwater town where prejudices run deep and nothing much has changed for generations. It’s a way of life few of us have experienced, living off the land and being beholden to the weather for the crops to grow or fail.

Tori’s world is small and she’s busy from morning to night with hardly any rest or time for fun. I really felt for her and wished I could somehow help her and be her friend. The roles she fulfils in the house are ones that the women of the house have fulfilled for generations and as such I really admired her strength to want more for herself. The terrible choices she’s forced to make were very emotional to read about and made me cry as I read. However I loved that she follows her heart and finds her way back to where she’s mean to be.

I thought this book has a great pace to it and I found it very hard to put down in places. There were parts of the story I wished would go on forever and others which I felt went on a tad too long but maybe if other parts had been embellished it would have made it a completely different story. It was lovely to see Tori grow up, stand up for herself and get the ending I really wanted for her.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the publisher for my copy of this book. If you’re looking for a beautiful coming of age story, that stays with you I definitely recommend this book.

About The Author:

Shelley Read is a fifth generation Coloradoan who lives with her family in the Elk Mountains of the Western Slope. She was a Senior Lecturer at Western Colorado University for nearly three decades, where she taught writing, literature, environmental studies, and Honors, and was a founder of the Environment & Sustainability major and a support program for first-generation and at-risk students. Shelley holds degrees in writing and literary studies from the University of Denver and Temple University’s Graduate Program in Creative Writing. She is a regular contributor to Crested Butte Magazine and Gunnison Valley Journal, and has written for the Denver Post and a variety of publications.

Book Synopsis:

Gwen is coasting through life. She’s in her mid-thirties, perpetually single, her friends are busy procreating in the countryside and conversations with her parents seem to revolve entirely around the council’s wheelie-bin timetable.
 
And she’s lonely. But then, isn’t everyone?
 
When she’s made redundant from a job she hardly cares about, she takes herself out for a fancy dinner. There she has the best sticky toffee pudding of her life and realises she has no one to tell. She vows to begin living her life fully, reconnect with her friends and family, and finally book that dentist’s appointment. 
 
Gwen decides to start where all things get a second chance: her local charity shop. There, with the help of the weird and wonderful people and donated items bursting with untold stories, Gwen will find a way to move forward with bravery, tenacity, and more regular dental care.
 
Dazzlingly witty, Preloved is a tale about friendship, loss and being true to yourself no matter the expectations. Lovingly celebrating the enduring power and joy of charity shops.

My Review:

Preloved is a beautiful, heartwarming and relatable read that I really enjoyed.

Firstly I absolutely loved the main character Gwen. She was so quirky and relatable that I couldn’t help but warm to her instantly. I loved following her through her new start as she makes new friends, goes on job hunts and gets into some awkward situations. I grew very fond of her as the story progressed and wished I knew her in real life so I could help her with a few thing or just give her the cuddle I felt she needed sometimes.

Gwen’s story is interspersed with stories behind some of the items you might find in a charity shop which I really loved. These stories were very interesting and quite emotional at times. It’s definitely made me think about where some of the items in charity shops come from and has made me look more closely at the items in the shops I walk past on my way to work.

Overall I absolutely loved this book and will be recommending it to everyone. The story had a lovely pace to it and there always seemed to be something happening to keep me glued to the page. Even in the slower moments I was just happy hanging out with Gwen, wondering what would happen next.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the publisher for my copy of this book. If you’re looking for a fun, quirky read I highly recommend this one!

About The Author:

Lauren Bravo is a freelance journalist who writes about fashion, popular culture, food, travel and feminism, for titles including Grazia, Stylist, Cosmopolitan and Sunday Times Style. She volunteers in a charity shop once a week (partly to get dibs on all the best clothes).

Book Synopsis:

Summer, 1943. Daniel Berkåk, who works as a courier for the Press and Military Office in Sweden, is killed on his last cross-border mission to Norway.
 
Demobbed sailor Kai Fredly escapes from occupied Norway into Sweden, but finds that the murder of his Nazi-sympathiser brother is drawing the attention of the authorities on both sides of the border.
 
The Norwegian government, currently exiled in London, wants to know what happened to their courier, and the job goes to writer Jomar Kraby, whose first suspect is a Norwegian refugee living in Sweden … a refugee with a past as horrifying as the events still to come … a refugee named Kai Fredly…
 
Both classic crime and a stunning exposé of Norwegian agents in Stockholm during the Second World War, The Lazarus Solution is a compulsive, complex and dazzling historical thriller from one of the genre’s finest writers.
 
For fans of Sebastian Faulks, Lars Mytting, Mick Herron and Robert Harris.

My Review:

The Lazarus Solution is a tense, atmospheric thriller that I really enjoyed.

Firstly I loved the author’s fabulous descriptions of Wartime Sweden that made me able to visualise it in my mind. It was definitely an interesting country to be in during the war as although it was neutral it still had evidence of the war in its daily life It also had to deal with the constant threat of attack or infiltration of Nazi or communist forces which made for a very intense atmosphere. I’d previously assumed that life had just continued on as normal so found it fascinating to and slightly shocking to see otherwise.

The two main characters were very intriguing and I enjoyed getting to know them throughout the book. Kraby was my favourite character as I liked that he initially seemed like a stereotypical character down on his luck with a drinking problem and a slightly dodgy past but was actually a very competent guy. I felt very sorry him as he obviously felt regret for some of his past actions. Fredly on the other hand seemed a very suspicious character who I wasn’t sure I could trust. As the book continues it becomes apparent that he’s not telling the truth about something which got me very intrigued about what might be revealed.

This book did start of slowly but soon became very gripping indeed. I loved discovering more about the background of the characters and how it was influencing current events. The ending was very exciting and unexpected which I always love. I’m very excited to read more from this author soon.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Orenda for my digital copy of this book.

About The Author:

Kjell Ola Dahl was born in the city Gjovik, in Norway in 1958, but grew up in Oslo. Dahl was a teacher and social adviser in High school when he started to write the Oslo Detectives series. Two times Dahl has won the Riverton-prize, the Norwegian National prize for the best novel of crime fiction (in 2000 and in 2015). He won the prestigious Brage-prize for the Courier, a standalone novel of crime fiction set in Norway and Sweden during World War II and in 1967. The first book in the series of the Oslo Detectives – Lethal investments – was published in in Norway 1993. Dahl lives on the farm Torgunrud in Feiring, by the lake Mjosa.

 

Book Synopsis:

When a daughter is born to the King of Arcadia, she brings only disappointment.

Left exposed on a mountainside, the defenceless infant Atalanta is left to the mercy of a passing mother bear and raised alongside the cubs under the protective eye of the goddess Artemis.

Swearing that she will prove her worth alongside the famed heroes of Greece, Atalanta leaves her forest to join Jason’s band of Argonauts. But can she carve out her own place in the legends in a world made for men?

My Review:

Atlanta is another beautifully written, compelling and gripping read from this fantastic author.

Firstly the author is clearly very knowledgeable about Greek mythology and I loved how her enthusiasm for it shines through in her writing. I didn’t know there was a female Argonaut before reading this book so I found it fascinating to learn more about Atlanta and that the author had chosen to highlight her absence from the traditional re -telling.

Atlanta was an inspiring main character who I loved following throughout the book. I loved how strong she was and how she challenged typical female stereotypes with her brave adventures. It was great fun watching her stand up with the men and prove her skills alongside them. I liked how the author shows that she is still vulnerable at times though as it made her seem more realistic and more human.

I thought this book was fairly fast paced and there always seemed to be something happening to keep me gripped. I loved the fabulous descriptions of the ancient world that the author has created which made it seem so real and really helped me to imagine it in my mind. It’s a world that I would have loved to be able to explore myself as I think it would be so interesting.

The ending was brilliant with the final sentence, “I am Wild, I am Free, I am Atlanta”, sending shivers down my spine. I can’t wait to read more from this talented author soon.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Headline for my copy of this book via Netgalley though, as you can see, I did treat myself to the Waterstones Special Edition too.

About The Author:

Jennifer Saint grew up reading Greek mythology and was always drawn to the untold stories hidden within the myths. After thirteen years as a high school English teacher, she wrote ARIADNE which tells the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur from the perspective of Ariadne – the woman who made it happen. Her second novel, ELEKTRA, explores the curse upon the House of Atreus, giving voice to three women who are caught up in its shadows: Clytemnestra, Cassandra and Elektra whose lives are shattered by the Trojan War and who seek to find justice at any cost. Jennifer Saint is now a full-time author, living in Yorkshire, England, with her husband and two children.

Good evening everyone I was excited to receive this book today for the Tandem Collective read-along starting soon! I’ve heard lots about this book so I’m very intrigued to start reading. I especially love the wild seas and bee hive candle that came with it as I absolutely love wild flowers. I look forward to seeing how they fit in with the book.

Huge thanks to Tandem for the invitation and to the publisher for my copy of this book.

Have you read this book?

Book Synopsis:

America, 2049: Summer temperatures are intolerably high, the fossil fuel industry has shut down, and humans are implanted with a ‘Flick’ at birth, which allows them to remain perpetually online. The wealthy live in the newly created Floating City off the coast, while people on the mainland struggle to get by. For Rose, a job as a hostess in the city’s elite club feels like her best hope for a better future.

At a Cold War-era research station, a group of highly trained women with the code name White Alice are engaged in climate surveillance. But the terms of their employment become increasingly uncertain.

And in a former oil town in northern Canada called Dominion Lake, a camp is being built-Camp Zero. A rare source of fresh, clean air and cooler temperatures, it will be the beginning of a new community and a new way of life. Grant believes it will be the perfect place to atone for his family’s dark legacy.

About The Author:

Michelle Min Sterling was born in British Columbia, Canada, and now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she teaches literature and writing at Berklee College of Music. Camp Zero is her first novel.

Good morning everyone. Today for Two For Tuesday I thought I’d show you the final two books I got for my birthday. These we bought from vouchers given to me by my lovely friend and fellow book lover Fleur. The Bandit Queens is a book I’ve been hearing lots of great things to about so I’m very excited to read it. I hadn’t heard much about POD but it sounds so intriguing I knew I had to read it.

I’m super tired today after my first shift as a Bookseller. It was really fun getting the shop ready to open and see all the books that we’re going to be selling – including some great special editions which I’ll be posting about later. However it’s been a long time since I’ve been on my feet all day and I’m a bit achy today.

What book are you most looking forward to?

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.

POD by Laline Paull

Bestselling author Laline Paull returns with an immersive and transformative new novel of an ocean world – its extraordinary creatures, mysteries, and mythologies – that is increasingly haunted by the cruelty and ignorance of the human race.

Ea has always felt like an outsider. She suffers from a type of deafness that means she cannot master the spinning rituals that unite her pod of spinner dolphins. When tragedy strikes her family and Ea feels she is partly to blame, she decides to make the ultimate sacrifice and leave.

As Ea ventures into the vast, she discovers dangers everywhere, from lurking predators to strange objects floating in the water. But just as she is coming to terms with her solitude, a chance encounter with a group of arrogant bottlenoses will irrevocably alter the course of her life.

In her terrifying, propulsive novel, Laline Paull explores the true meaning of family, belonging, sacrifice – the harmony and tragedy of the pod – within an ocean that is no longer the sanctuary it once was, and which reflects a world all too recognisable to our own.

Eek I’m so excited to get a proof of this fabulous sounding book. I’m a huge fan of this author so I can’t wait to read this book. Black Eyed Susans is one of my all time favourite thrillers and one that I always recommend to everyone.

Huge thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book!

What’s your favourite thriller?

Out 22nd June 2023.

Book Synopsis:

Vivvy Bouchet, respected scientist and reluctant psychic, saved a boy’s life after a premonition when she was a child.
That boy is now a Texas police officer.

He convinces Vivvy to help him solve a high-profile cold case, working alongside detective Jesse Sharp, a sceptic of anything but fact.
Three-year-old Lizzie Solomon disappeared in broad daylight from her home. A body was never found, but the child’s mother, Nicolette,
is in prison for the disappearance, loudly proclaiming her innocence.

When a popular podcaster hears of Vivvy’s involvement in the case, his conspiracy theories about the missing child, and Vivvy’s background,
have an army of fans hanging on every dangerous word.

But when it becomes clear there may be a kidnapper or killer – still on the loose,
Vivvy knows there’s more to lose than her reputation.

Because the difference between the truth and a lie can mean life or death . . .

A sharply observed psychological thriller, Night Will Find You explores the dangerous meeting of conspiracy theories and our need to believe – and the line between fact and what we can’t explain.

About The Author:

Julia Heaberlin is the internationally bestselling writer of six thrillers, including WE ARE ALL THE SAME IN THE DARK, a #1 Audible bestseller and the winner of Best Novel by the Writers’ League of Texas. In her latest thriller, NIGHT WILL FIND YOU, an astrophysicist and reluctant psychic explores the controversial, conspiracy-laden case of a lost girl. Heaberlin first broke out with the psychologically dark BLACK-EYED SUSANS, which examines the Texas death penalty and the use of high-tech DNA to identify old bones. SUSANS was published in more than fifteen countries and a top five Times of London bestseller. Heaberlin followed that with the creepy Texas road trip, PAPER GHOSTS, a finalist for Best Hardcover Novel by the International Thriller Writers Awards that has also been optioned for television. Earlier in her career, Heaberlin was an award-winning editor at newspapers that include the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Detroit News, and The Dallas Morning News. She is currently at work on her seventh thriller and lives in Texas, where all her novels are set. She is published by Flatiron Books and represented by Kim Witherspoon at Inkwell Management.

Book Synopsis:

Born into a basket of clean sheets—ruining a perfectly good load of laundry—Emmeline never quite fit in on her family’s rural Nova Scotian farm. After suffering multiple losses in the First World War, her family became so heavy with grief, toxicity, and mental illness that Emmeline felt their weight smothering her. And so, she fled across the Atlantic and built her life in England. Now she is retired and living in a small coastal town with her best friend, Vera, an excellent conversationalist. Vera is also a small white dog, and so Emmeline is making an effort to talk to more humans. When she joins a memoir-writing course at the library, her classmates don’t know what to make of her. Funny, loud, and with a riveting memoir, she charms the lot. As her past unfolds for her audience, friendships form, a bonus in a rather lonely life. She even shares with them her third-biggest secret: she has liberated hundreds of spoons over her lifetime—from the local library, Cary Grant, Winston Churchill. She is a compulsive spoon stealer.

When Emmeline unexpectedly inherits the farm she grew up on, she knows she needs to leave her new friends and go see the farm and what remains of her family one last time. She arrives like a tornado in their lives, an off-kilter Mary Poppins bossing everyone around and getting quite a lot wrong. But with her generosity and hard-earned wisdom, she gets an awful lot right too. A pinball ricocheting between people, offending and inspiring in equal measure, Emmeline, in her final years, believes that a spoonful—perhaps several spoonfuls—of kindness can set to rights the family so broken by loss and secrecy.

The Spoon Stealer is a classic Crewe book: full of humour, family secrets, women’s friendship, lovable animals, and immense heart.

My Review:

The Spoon Stealer is an addictive, absorbing read that will stay with me for a long time.

I absolutely loved Emmeline and Vera who were great fun to follow throughout the book. Emmeline is a truly wonderful lady who has a big heart and it was lovely to see how she liked to help people. Her growing friendship with her memoir group was so nice to see and I enjoyed feeling part of their group, following their often hilarious antics. Her relationship with Vera was great to read about and I loved how the two supported each other.

The book is told in two timelines one following Emmeline in the present and the other flashing back to past events in her life. She’s definitely lead an interesting life and I found it fascinating to follow her on all her amazing experiences. These events spam most of the last century, taking in both world wars so it reminded me in places of Any Human Heart which is one of my favourite books ever.

The story has a great pace to it and there always seemed to be something happening to keep my interest. I often found it hard to put the book down as I really wanted to find out what happens next in Emmeline’s interesting life. It was lovely to follow her as she goes from being isolated and lonely to having lots of friends and rediscovering family. The ending made me cry but was so beautiful. This is one of the best books I’d read and I’ll be recommending this to everyone.

Huge thanks to Tandem Collective for inviting me onto the read-along and to the publisher for my copy of this book.

About The Author:

I love the ordinary moments.
I celebrate everyday things.

They are too often lost in the race for something grand. I hold dear our humdrum routines. These accumulating hours make up our lifetimes and when we remember, it is always the simplest of pleasures that make us happy. These are the memories I create in my books.

Hubby and I were raised in Montreal, but have lived in the same house in rural Cape Breton for forty-five years. It remains a sanctuary for our children and pets, both living and remembered. My writing began as an exercise in trying to understand my world and quickly became something that brought me joy. I dearly love my family, baby blueberry Gia, all creatures great and small, children’s books, and breathing in the wild ocean air. 

Also, raisin tea biscuits.

Good morning everyone. I was tagged by @nic_thebookworm to take part in the title challenge and, you know me, I do love a book Challenge 🤣

🔢 A Book With A Number In The Title:
Eleven Liars by Robert Gold

📖 A Book With A Name In The Title:
Amazing Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood

🇫🇷 A Book With A Setting In The Title:
Thirty Days In Paris by Veronica Henry

🐔A Book With An Animal In The Title:
Chicken Wars by Adam Leigh

🌈A Book With A Colour In The Title:
Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu

🖊️A Book With One Word In The Title:
Exiles by Jane Harper

I loved doing this challenge and I have tagged a few people on Instagram who might want to join in but no pressure. I’d love to include Nicki Mags too as I know she loves a book challenge too.

How do you choose your next read?