Some Noteworthy Books Released Today!
categories: General Blog Posts
How Lucky Am I…
categories: General Blog Posts
So one of my favourite things happened to me yesterday…
I had a return to drop off at my local public library, and like a truly avid reader I couldn’t just drop off without popping in to see what might be out on the shelves.
That is when it occurred. First, the door from the back opened, then I saw the cart full of brand new, just received books.
Really, what could I do? I couldn’t resist.
Needless to say, even though I have piles and piles of books around my house just waiting to be read, I had to pick up a few. (Reviews to follow soon!)
I mean who wouldn’t. Brand new books. The pages crisp. The covers pristine and that new book smell. There’s only one word to describe it.
AWESOME!
Eat your heart out Neil Pastiche. Maybe you should put that in your next Book of Awesome!
#BookReview The Marble Collector by Cecelia Ahern
categories: 8/10, General Fiction
Title: The Marble CollectorAuthor: Cecelia Ahern
Published by: HarperCollins UK on Oct. 29, 2015
Genres: General Fiction
Pages: 304
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased
Book Rating: 8/10
A forgotten childhood. A discovered life.
What if you only had one day to find out who you really were?
When Sabrina Boggs stumbles upon a mysterious collection of her father’s possessions, she discovers a truth where she never knew there was a lie. The familiar man she grew up with is suddenly a stranger to her.
An unexpected break in her monotonous daily routine leaves her just one day to unlock the secrets of the man she thought she knew. A day that unearths memories, stories and people she never knew existed. A day that changes her and those around her forever.
The Marble Collector is a thought-provoking novel about how the most ordinary decisions we make can have the most extraordinary consequences for how we live our lives. And how sometimes it’s only by shining on a light on someone else, that you can truly understand yourself.
Review:
I really liked this book.
It was a heartwarming story that engrossed you from the get-go. And like most Cecilia Ahern’s books, it made you laugh, made you cry, and also made you cheer.
It has a wonderful cast of characters. Uses a past/present, back and forth, style to give depth into the father/daughter relationship between Sabrina and Fergus. And ultimately, it showcases the long-lasting effects secrets can have on those we love, and the importance of finding one’s true identity for happiness.
I’m certainly glad I picked it up. It’s definitely worth reading.
This book is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following links.
About Cecelia Ahern
Cecelia Ahern is the author of the international bestsellers PS, I Love You; Love, Rosie; If You Could See Me Now; There’s No Place Like Here; and The Gift. Her novels have been translated into thirty-five languages and have sold more than twenty-five million copies in over fifty countries. Two of her books have been adapted as major films and she has created several TV series in the US and Germany. She lives in Dublin with her family.
Photograph by Matthew Thompson.
#BookReview Compulsion by Allison Brennan @Allison_Brennan
Title: CompulsionAuthor: Allison Brennan
Series: Max Revere #2
Published by: Minotaur Books on Feb. 2, 2016
Genres: Mystery/Thriller
Pages: 480
Format: Paperback
Source: Borrowed
Book Rating: 8/10
Investigative reporter Maxine Revere has a theory: that the five New York City murders for which Adam Bachman is being tried are just part of his killing spree. In probing the disappearance of a retired couple who vanished the prior summer, Max uncovers striking similarities to Bachman’s MO and develops a theory that Bachman wasn’t working alone.
Max wins a coveted pre-trial interview with the killer, whose disarming composure in the face of her questions is combined with uncomfortable knowledge of Max’s own past. She leaves the room convinced, but unable to prove, that Bachman knows exactly what happened to the missing couple. The D.A. wants nothing to jeopardize his case against Bachman and refuses to consider Max’s theory. With no physical evidence, Max has to rely on her own wits and investigative prowess to dig deep into Bachman’s past. The picture that Max puts together is far darker and more deadly than she ever imagined.
As Max gets closer to the truth, she doesn’t realize that she’s walking down a road that has been paved just for her. That every step she takes brings her one step closer to a brilliant, methodical sociopath who has been waiting for her to make just one small mistake.
And when she does, he’ll be there waiting.
Max Revere returns in another gripping, pulse-pounding thriller from New York Times bestseller Allison Brennan.
“Compulsion is a gripping, pulse-pounding thriller that readers will not want to put down.”-Crimespree magazine
Review:
Allison Brennan has written numerous books and once again has produced a great mystery that’s full of suspense and intrigue. This story is the second book in the Max Revere series.
As in the first novel in the series, Notorious, the characters are complex and interesting and are further evolved throughout this story.
The plot is action-packed, well written, with numerous twists and turns and sub-plots that intermingle to leave you guessing till the end.
This was another great read and I highly recommend it.
This novel is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following Amazon links.
Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada
For more information on Allison Brennan, visit her website at: allisonbrennan.com
or follow her on Twitter at: @Allison_Brennan
About Allison Brennan
Allison Brennan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of twenty novels and many short stories. A former consultant in the California State Legislature, she lives in Northern California with her husband Dan and their five children.
#BookReview The Seafront Tearoom by Vanessa Greene @VanessaGBooks
Title: The Seafront Tea RoomAuthor: Vanessa Greene
Published by: Berkley Publishing on Dec. 1, 2015
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction
Pages: 353
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
Book Rating: 7.5/10
The first rule of afternoon tea: never rush. Take time to savor it. Just like friendship…
The Seafront Tearoom is an insider secret in small-town Scarborough – a beach-front haven with the best tea and cakes in town – and journalist Charlie Harrison would love to put it on the map with a feature in her magazine. But single mom Kat Murray doesn’t want to see her favorite sanctuary overrun by tourists, and begs Charlie to seek out other options. She offers her help, as a “tea obsessive,” and so does French au pair Séraphine Moreau, whose upbringing makes her a connoisseur of everything sweet and indulgent.
Together the three women will scour the countryside for quaint hideaways and hidden gems, sharing along the way their secrets, disappointments, and dreams – and discovering that friendship, like tea, takes time to steep. But learning too that once you open your heart, the possibilities are endless.
Review:
This is a warm, sweet story about family, friendship, heartbreak, and love.
It has lovable characters, exquisite description, a wonderful seaside setting, and lots of tea and cakes.
It is a light, easy read. Perfect for a day at the beach or a cool day snuggled up on the couch.
This book is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following Amazon links.
Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada
About Vanessa Greene
Vanessa Greene is a writer of romantic fiction, and lover of tea, cake and car boot sales. She grew up in north London, the youngest of three children, and always wanted to be a writer. Back then she wrote whenever it was quiet, in her room at dawn before school, in the shed full of spiders and in the cellar.
She studied English at university in Brighton then went into publishing – She was a book editor through her twenties, before picking up a pen again at thirty-one and writing The Vintage Teacup Club. Along the way she's also taught English as a foreign language in Mexico and Ecuador, and learned to tango in Buenos Aires.
She lives in London (in a pink house) with her husband and toddler son.
#BookReview The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant
Title: The Boston GirlAuthor: Anita Diamant
Published by: Scribner on Dec. 9, 2014
Genres: Historical Fiction
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
Book Rating: 8.5/10
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Red Tent and Day After Night, comes an unforgettable coming-of-age novel about family ties and values, friendship and feminism told through the eyes of a young Jewish woman growing up in Boston in the early twentieth century.
Addie Baum is The Boston Girl, born in 1900 to immigrant parents who were unprepared for and suspicious of America and its effect on their three daughters. Growing up in the North End, then a teeming multicultural neighborhood, Addie’s intelligence and curiosity take her to a world her parents can’t imagine – a world of short skirts, movies, celebrity culture and new opportunities for women. Addie wants to finish high school and dreams of going to college. She wants a career and to find true love.
Eighty-five-year-old Addie tells the story of her life to her twenty-two-year-old granddaughter, who has asked her “How did you get to be the woman you are today?” She begins in 1915, the year she found her voice and made friends who would help shape the course of her life. From the one-room tenement apartment she shared with her parents and two sisters, to the library group for girls she joins at a neighborhood settlement house, to her first, disastrous love affair, Addie recalls her adventures with compassion for the naïve girl she was and a wicked sense of humor.
Written with the same attention to historical detail and emotional resonance that made Anita Diamant’s previous novels bestsellers, The Boston Girl is a moving portrait of one woman’s complicated life in twentieth-century America, and a fascinating look at a generation of women finding their places in a changing world.
Review:
I really enjoyed this book.
This is the life story of Addie, an eighty-five-year-old woman, who was born and raised in Boston in the early 1900s to Jewish immigrants. It is a sentimental story that touches on the importance of friendship, family relationships, the fight for women to be educated and employed outside the home, love, loss, disappointment, frustration, and success.
I thought this story was extremely interesting and captivating, and I really liked the way it was narrated.
I would definitely recommend this for book clubs.
This book is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following Amazon links.
Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada
About Anita Diamant
Anita Diamant is the author of twelve books -- the newest novel being THE BOSTON GIRL.
Anita is best-known for her first novel, THE RED TENT, which was published in 1997 and won the 2001 Booksense Book of the Year Award. Based on the biblical story of Dinah, THE RED TENT became a word-of-mouth bestseller in the US and overseas, where it has been published in more than 25 countries.
Three other novels followed: GOOD HARBOR, THE LAST DAYS OF DOGTOWN and, DAY AFTER NIGHT.
Anita has also written six non-fiction guides to contemporary Jewish life, which have become classic reference books: THE NEW JEWISH WEDDING, THE JEWISH BABY BOOK, LIVING A JEWISH LIFE, CHOOSING A JEWISH LIFE, HOW TO RAISE A JEWISH CHILD, and SAYING KADDISH..
An award-winning journalist, Diamant's articles have appeared in the Boston Globe Magazine, Real Simple, Parenting Magazine, Hadassah, Reform Judaism, Boston Magazine and Yankee Magazine.PITCHING MY TENT, a collection personal essays, is drawn from twenty years worth of newspaper and magazine columns.
#BookReview One Plus One by Jojo Moyes
Title: One Plus OneAuthor: Jojo Moyes
Published by: Penguin Books on Mar. 31, 2015
Genres: General Fiction, Women's Fiction
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
Book Rating: 8/10
One single mom. One chaotic family. One quirky stranger. One irresistible love story from the New York Times bestselling author of Me Before You.
Suppose your life sucks. A lot. Your husband has done a vanishing act, your teenage stepson is being bullied and your math whiz daughter has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you can’t afford to pay for. That’s Jess’s life in a nutshell—until an unexpected knight-in-shining-armor offers to rescue them. Only Jess’s knight turns out to be Geeky Ed, the obnoxious tech millionaire whose vacation home she happens to clean. But Ed has big problems of his own, and driving the dysfunctional family to the Math Olympiad feels like his first unselfish act in ages… maybe ever.
Review:
This book captured my attention from the very start and kept it.
It is a charming story with flawed, quirky, lovable characters you can’t help but root for.
The story is rich in humour, hardship, heartbreak, and romance. The writing is poetic and flows effortlessly.
This is a great way to spend an afternoon. I highly recommend it.
This novel is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following Amazon links.
Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada
About Jojo Moyes
Jojo Moyes is a British novelist.
Moyes studied at Royal Holloway, University of London. She won a bursary financed by The Independent newspaper to study journalism at City University and subsequently worked for The Independent for 10 years. In 2001 she became a full time novelist.
Moyes' novel Foreign Fruit won the Romantic Novelists' Association (RNA) Romantic Novel of the Year in 2004.
She is married to journalist Charles Arthur and has three children.
#BookReview Doing Harm by Kelly Parsons @drkellyparsons
categories: 8/10, Mystery/Thriller
Title: Doing HarmAuthor: Kelly Parsons
Published by: St. Martin's Press on Feb. 4, 2014
Genres: Mystery/Thriller
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
Book Rating: 8/10
“It’s amazing that there are so many different ways to die in a hospital that have nothing to do with being sick…”
Steve Mitchell, happily married with a wife and two kids, is in line for a coveted position at Boston’s University Hospital when his world goes awry. His over-reaching ambition causes him to botch a major surgery, and another of his patients mysteriously dies. Steve’s nightmare goes from bad to worse when he learns that the mysterious death was no accident but the act of a sociopath. A sociopath he knows and who has information that could destroy Steve’s career and marriage. A sociopath for whom killing is more than a means to an end: it’s a game. Because he is under a cloud of suspicion and has no evidence, he knows that any accusations he makes won’t be believed. So he must struggle to turn the tables, even as the killer skillfully blocks his every move. Detailing the politics of hospitals, the hierarchy among doctors and the life and death decisions that are made by flawed human beings, Doing Harm marks the debut of a major fiction career.
Review:
I thought this was a great medical thriller.
The writing was incredibly detailed and descriptive.
The characters are intelligent, chilling, and egotistical. And the plot is intense, action-packed and suspenseful with twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.
I really enjoyed this book and definitely look forward to picking up the next Kelly Parsons book.
This novel is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following Amazon links.
Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada
About Kelly Parsons
KELLY PARSONS is a surgeon and professor at the University of California, San Diego. He lives with his family in Southern California.
#BookReview One Hundred Proposals by Holly Martin @hollymartin00
Title: One Hundred ProposalsAuthor: Holly Martin
Series: 100 Proposals #1
Published by: Carina UK on Jun. 25, 2014
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 320
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Book Rating: 8/10
‘Is there really such a thing as a perfect proposal?
Over the next hundred days I intend to find out. I will find one hundred ways to propose to our Chief Proposer Suzie McKenzie and post the results here for your enjoyment. One thing’s for sure, not one of my proposals will be on top of the Eiffel Tower with a dozen red roses.’
Best friends Suzie and Harry are partners in romance. That is, they run the.PerfectProposal.com, coming to the aid of would-be grooms to create the ultimate marriage proposal.
But when Harry decides to catapult the business into the big leagues with a PR stunt all Suzie can see is a hundred days of heartbreak stretching ahead of her. But however exotic the location, or breath-takingly romantic the setting, Suzie has to keep remembering that ‘Marry Me?’ is the one question she can’t say yes to.
This business proposal should come with one hundred broken heart warnings…
One hundred proposals, one hundred chances to say yes.
Review:
This is my first Holly Martin book and it definitely won’t be my last. I love “English” contemporary romance and this one didn’t disappoint.
This story is very sweet and funny. The characters are real, lovable and quirky, and you can’t help but root for them. I mean who wouldn’t say yes to Harry?
This is a delightful, easy read that you don’t want to miss.
This novel is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following Amazon links.
Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada
About Holly Martin
Holly lives in a little white cottage by the sea. She studied media at university which led to a very glitzy career as a hotel receptionist followed by a even more glamorous two years working in a bank. The moment that one of her colleagues received the much coveted carriage clock for fifteen years’ service was the moment when she knew she had to escape. She quit her job and returned to university to train to be a teacher. Three years later, she emerged wide eyed and terrified that she now had responsibility for the development of thirty young minds. She taught for four years and then escaped the classroom to teach history workshops, dressing up as a Viking one day and an Egyptian High Priestess the next. But the long journeys around the UK and many hours sat on the M25 gave her a lot of time to plan out her stories and she now writes full time, doing what she loves.
Holly has been writing for 8 years. She was shortlisted for the New Talent Award at the Festival of Romance. Her short story won the Sunlounger competition and was published in the Sunlounger anthology. She won the Carina Valentine’s competition at the Festival of Romance 2013 with her novel The Guestbook. She was shortlisted for Best Romantic Read, Best eBook and Innovation in Romantic Fiction at the Festival of Romance 2014. She is the bestselling author of 18 books
#BookReview Coming Up for Air by Patti Callahan Henry @pcalhenry
Title: Coming Up for AirAuthor: Patti Callahan Henry
Published by: St. Martin's Griffin on May 22, 2012
Genres: General Fiction, Women's Fiction
Pages: 272
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
Book Rating: 7.5/10
Ellie Calvin is caught in a dying marriage, and she knows this. With her beloved daughter away at college and a growing gap between her and her husband, she doesn’t quite seem to fit into her own life. But everything changes when her controlling mother, Lillian, passes away. Ellie sees her ex-boyfriend, Hutch, at the funeral, and learns that he is in charge of a documentary that involved Lillian before her death – and he wants answers to questions that Ellie’s not sure she can face.
As Ellie and Hutch start digging into Lillian’s history and speaking for the first time in years, Ellie’s closed heart slowly begins to open. Using both a hidden diary that Ellie found in her mother’s things and a trip to the Summer House, a mysterious and seductive bayside home, they gamble that they can work together and not fall in love again. But in piecing together a decades-old unrequited-love story, they just might uncover the secrets in their own hearts…
Review:
I enjoyed this book.
It was an interesting story that delved into mother/daughter relationships, secrets, heartbreak, love lost, love found and ultimately finding one’s self.
It was well written, easy to read, thought-provoking, and a generally nice story.
It’s definitely worth a read.
This novel is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following Amazon links.
Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada
About Patti Callahan Henry
Patti Callahan Henry is a New York Times bestselling author of thirteen novels, including the upcoming BECOMING MRS. LEWIS – The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis. A finalist in the Townsend Prize for Fiction, an Indie Next Pick, an OKRA pick, and a multiple nominee for the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) Novel of the Year, Patti is a frequent speaker at luncheons, book clubs and women’s groups. The mother of three children, she now lives in both Mountain Brook, Alabama and Bluffton, South Carolina with her husband.