Source: Publishers Group Canada

#BookReview The Playground by Michelle Frances @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #ThePlayground #MichelleFrances #PGCBooks

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#BookReview The Playground by Michelle Frances @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #ThePlayground #MichelleFrances #PGCBooks Title: The Playground

Author: Michelle Frances

Published by: Pan Macmillan on Aug. 15, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Looking to escape her old life, Nancy and her ten-year-old daughter Lara move to Ripton. A quiet, picturesque village in the rolling Derbyshire countryside, it seems like the perfect place to settle down.

But when Nancy reaches the school gates, she learns that beneath the quaint village atmosphere is a minefield. And after her daughter clashes with her school friends, Nancy quickly finds herself outside the whispering circle of parents.

As much as Nancy finds the playground politics absurd, they soon become impossible to ignore when Lara is accused of hurting another girl.

Desperate to clear Lara’s name, Nancy is about to learn just what lengths a parent will go to for their child . . .

Review:

Fast-paced, twisty, and captivating!

The Playground is a brisk, suspenseful thriller that introduces us to Nancy, a young mother who, after losing her husband in a tragic accident, decides to move to the Derbyshire countryside in hopes of a fresh start. But when her ten-year-old daughter is accused of trying to drown her popular classmate and the bullying and toxicity seems to just keep escalating from there, it quickly becomes apparent that life is going to be anything other than safe and peaceful in this village where everyone knows everyone and loyalties are long set.

The prose is sharp and crisp. The characters are manipulative, vulnerable, and cunning. And the plot is a menacing tale full of danger, deception, adultery, jealousy, gossip, obsession, negligence, and small-town drama.

Overall, The Playground is a cleverly plotted, eerie, intricate page-turner by Frances that had just enough twists, turns, and surprises to keep me on the edge of my seat from start to finish.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

  

 

Thank you to Publishers Group Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Michelle Frances

Michelle Frances graduated from Bournemouth Film School and then from the Masters programme at the American Film Institute, Los Angeles. Returning to London, she has worked for several years in film and TV as a script editor and producer for both the independent sector and the BBC.

Her first novel, The Girlfriend, became an international best seller.

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#BookReview Ritual of Fire by D. V. Bishop @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #RitualofFire #DVBishop #CesareAldoSeries #PGCBooks

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#BookReview Ritual of Fire by D. V. Bishop @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #RitualofFire #DVBishop #CesareAldoSeries #PGCBooks Title: Ritual of Fire

Author: D. V. Bishop

Series: Cesare Aldo #3

Published by: Pan Macmillan on Aug. 14, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 416

Format: Hardcover

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

Florence. Summer, 1538.

A night patrol finds a rich merchant hanged and set ablaze in the city’s main piazza. More than mere murder, this killing is intended to put the fear of God into Florence. Forty years earlier on this date, puritanical monk Girolamo Savonarola was executed the same way in the same place. Does this new killing mean Savonarola’s vengeful spirit has risen again?

Or are his fanatical disciples plotting to revive the monk’s regime of holy terror? Cesare Aldo has his suspicions but is hunting thieves and fugitives in the Tuscan countryside, leaving Constable Carlo Strocchi to investigate the ritual killing. When another important merchant is slain even more publicly than the first, those rich enough to escape the summer heat are fleeing to their country estates. But the Tuscan hills can also be dangerous places.

Soon growing religious fervor combines with a scorching heatwave to drive the city ever closer to madness, while someone is stalking powerful men that forged lifelong alliances during the dark days of Savonarola and his brutal followers. Unless Aldo and Strocchi can work together to stop the killer, Florence could become a bonfire of the vanities once more . . .

Review:

Dark, alluring, and suspenseful!

Ritual of Fire, the third novel in the Cesare Aldo series, takes us back to Renaissance Florence in the summer of 1538, where Cesare Aldo and Constable Stocchi find themselves having to finally confront the rift that’s been straining their relationship in order to work to together to catch a ruthless killer who seems to have a very specific target list and a penchant for reenacting a ritualistic killing from the past.

The prose is descriptive and tight. The characters are driven, fearless, and conscientious. And the plot is a complex, absorbing tale full of danger, deception, corruption, politics, religion, friendship, savagery, terror, and murder.

Overall, Ritual of Fire is an addictive, engrossing, thrilling addition to what has become a must-read series for me with its flawed characters, rich historical setting, and action-packed, gritty storylines.

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to PGC Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About D. V. Bishop

D. V. Bishop is the author of the Cesare Aldo mysteries set in Renaissance Florence, and published by Pan Macmillan.

An award-winning screenwriter and TV dramatist, his love for the city of Florence and the Renaissance period meant there could only be one setting for his crime-fiction debut.

City of Vengeance won the Pitch Perfect competition at the Bloody Scotland crime fiction festival in 2018, and D. V. Bishop was awarded a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship by the Scottish Book Trust while writing the novel.

He is currently finishing the second novel in the Cesare Aldo mysteries.

Photo by Paul Reich.

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#BookReview Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley & Harry Whittaker @lucindariley @HarryTwittaker @PGCBooks #AtlasTheStoryofPaSalt #LucindaRiley #HarryWhittaker #TheSevenSistersSeries #PGCBooks

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#BookReview Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley & Harry Whittaker @lucindariley @HarryTwittaker @PGCBooks #AtlasTheStoryofPaSalt #LucindaRiley #HarryWhittaker #TheSevenSistersSeries #PGCBooks Title: Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt

Author: Lucinda Riley, Harry Whittaker

Series: The Seven Sisters #8

Published by: Pan Macmillan on May 11, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

Pages: 784

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

Spanning a lifetime of love and loss, crossing borders and oceans, Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt, co-authored by her son Harry Whittaker, draws Lucinda Riley’s saga to its stunning, unforgettable conclusion.

1928, Paris. A boy is found, moments from death, and taken in by a kindly family. Gentle, precocious, talented, he flourishes in his new home, and the family show him a life he hadn’t dreamed possible. But he refuses to speak a word about who he really is.

As he grows into a young man, falling in love and taking classes at the prestigious Conservatoire de Paris, he can almost forget the terrors of his past, or the promise he has vowed to keep. But across Europe an evil is rising, and no-one’s safety is certain. In his heart, he knows the time will come when he must flee once more.

2008, the Aegean. The seven sisters are gathered together for the first time, on board the Titan, to say a final goodbye to the enigmatic father they loved so dearly.

To the surprise of everyone, it is the missing sister who Pa Salt has chosen to entrust with the clue to their pasts. But for every truth revealed, another question emerges. The sisters must confront the idea that their adored father was someone they barely knew. And even more shockingly: that these long-buried secrets may still have consequences for them today.

In this epic conclusion to the Seven Sisters series, everything will be revealed.

Review:

Fascinating, heartfelt, and absorbing!

Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt is the eighth instalment in The Seven Sisters series, set from 1928 to 2008, that sweeps you away into the life of Pa Salt, the loving father of seven girls who, after gathering together for the first time in a long time to celebrate his life, finally have the opportunity with the journal he left behind to unravel the secrets of his past and discover how they all came together to become one big family.

The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are considerate, caring, and troubled. And the plot is a beautifully written, heart-wrenching tale of life, loss, familial drama, self-discovery, grief, friendship, forgiveness, unconditional love, courage, hope, selflessness, revenge, and survival.

Overall, Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt is the brilliant conclusion to an extraordinary saga that is a testament to the amazing storytelling abilities of the late Lucinda Riley, as well as what must have been an incredibly difficult yet unbelievable literary achievement by her son Harry Whittaker. It is hard to believe that this fascinating, mysterious, exceptionally absorbing series has come to an end, but what a way to end. It doesn’t get much better than this. And even though it’s a little bittersweet to say goodbye to these characters I’ve come to know and love over these past eight books, it’s been a true pleasure and sheer delight to have been able to immerse myself in the histories, lives, loves and losses of them all.

 

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

       

 

 

Thank you to PGC Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Harry Whittaker

Harry Whittaker grew up in the 1990s and spent the first few years of his life on the rural west coast of Ireland. The son of the author Lucinda Riley, Harry became a storyteller himself, as an award-winning radio presenter for the BBC and a member of one of the UK’s most renowned improv troupes. In 2019, Harry and Lucinda co-authored the Guardian Angels series for children – four reassuring, timeless stories addressing worries that a small child may have.

After Lucinda’s death in 2021, it was announced that Harry would complete the Seven Sisters series on behalf of his late mother. Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt publishes globally in May 2023.

Harry lives in Yorkshire, England.

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About Lucinda Riley

Lucinda Riley was born in Ireland and, after an early career as an actress in film, theatre and television, wrote her first book aged twenty-four.

Her books have been translated into thirty-seven languages and sold thirty million copies worldwide. She is a New York Times and Sunday Times number one bestseller.Lucinda's Seven Sisters series, which tells the story of adopted sisters and is inspired by the mythology of the famous star cluster, has become a global phenomenon. The series is a number one bestseller across the world and is currently in development with a major TV production company.

Though she brought up her four children mostly in Norfolk in England, in 2015 Lucinda fulfilled her dream of buying a remote farmhouse in West Cork, Ireland, which she always felt was her spiritual home, and indeed this was where her last five books were written. Lucinda was diagnosed with cancer in 2017 and died in June 2021

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#BookReview The Finish Line by Kate Stewart @authorklstewart @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #TheFinishLine #TheRavenhoodSeries #KateStewart #PGCBooks

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#BookReview The Finish Line by Kate Stewart @authorklstewart @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #TheFinishLine #TheRavenhoodSeries #KateStewart #PGCBooks Title: The Finish Line

Author: Kate Stewart

Series: The Ravenhood #3

Published by: Pan Macmillan on May 2, 2023

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Erotica, New Adult

Pages: 384

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

The third and final steamy novel in #BookTok sensation Kate Stewart’s bestselling Ravenhood Trilogy, following Flock and Exodus.

The only love I’ve ever known or craved is the kind that keeps me sick, sick with longing, sick with lust, sick with need, sick with grief. The distorted kind that leaves scars and jaded hearts.

Tobias King has lived most of his life in the shadows. A loner, and ruthless thief, he would never deny that he’s a villain. As the enigmatic leader of the band of vigilantes known as The Ravenhood, his life’s ambition has always led in one direction: revenge.

But his path is disrupted when he falls for the one woman who could destroy what he has spent two decades plotting. His all-consuming passion for Cecelia Horner comes at a great cost, including the loss of all he holds dear.

But Tobias is nothing, if not a fighter, and he’s determined to have it all: to settle old scores and win back the woman he loves.

Review:

Romantic, emotional, and charged!

The Finish Line is a dramatic, suspenseful tale that picks up right where Exodus left off, taking us back into the lives of Cecelia and Tobias as they continue to struggle with all the death, heartache, and destruction that has affected their journey over the past several years and finally grasp that happy-ever-after they so desperately deserve.

The writing is gritty and intense. The characters are wary, hurt, and committed. And the plot is an enticing mix of friendship, family, danger, drama, heartbreak, desire, reconciliation, and love.

Overall, The Finish Line is the third and final story in The Ravenhood Trilogy by Stewart, and even though it’s a little bittersweet to say goodbye to the characters I’ve come to know and love over these past three novels, it is nevertheless a satisfying ending to an alluring, entertaining series that I will undoubtedly always remember and sorely miss.

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to PGC Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Kate Stewart

Bestselling author and Texas native, Kate Stewart, lives in North Carolina with her husband, Nick. Kate is a lover of all things '80s and '90s, especially John Hughes films and rap. She dabbles a little in photography, can knit a simple stitch scarf for necessity, and on occasion, does very well at whiskey.
Her series, The Ravenhood Trilogy, consisting of Flock, Exodus, and The Finish Line, has become an international bestseller, TikTok phenomenon, and reader favourite.

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#BookReview Cast a Cold Eye by Robbie Morrison @robbiegmorrison @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #CastaColdEye #RobbieMorrison #PGCBooks

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#BookReview Cast a Cold Eye by Robbie Morrison @robbiegmorrison @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #CastaColdEye #RobbieMorrison #PGCBooks Title: Cast a Cold Eye

Author: Robbie Morrison

Series: Jimmy Dreghorn #2

Published by: Pan Macmillan on Jun. 20, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 449

Format: Hardcover

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

Glasgow, 1933

Murder is nothing new in the Depression-era city, especially to war veterans Inspector Jimmy Dreghorn and his partner ‘Bonnie’ Archie McDaid. But the dead man found in a narrowboat on the Forth and Clyde Canal, executed with a single shot to the back of the head, is no ordinary killing.

Violence usually erupts in the heat of the moment – the razor-gangs that stalk the streets settle scores with knives and fists. Firearms suggest something more sinister, especially when the killer strikes again. Meanwhile, other forces are stirring within the city. A suspected IRA cell is at large, embedded within the criminal gangs and attracting the ruthless attention of Special Branch agents from London.

With political and sectarian tensions rising, and the body count mounting, Dreghorn and McDaid pursue an investigation into the dark heart of humanity – where one person’s freedom fighter is another’s terrorist, and noble ideals are swept away by bloody vengeance.

Cast a Cold Eye by Robbie Morrison is a dark historical crime novel and the sequel to Edge of the Grave , winner of Bloody Scotland’s Scottish Crime Debut of the Year.

Review:

Gritty, raw, and thrilling!

In this second instalment in the Jimmy Dreghorn series, Cast a Cold Eye, we head back to 1933 Glasgow, where Inspector Jimmy Dreghorn and his burly sidekick Sergeant Archie McDaid now find themselves immersed in a tricky investigation involving an execution-style killing of a man on a boat that may or may not have connections to the simmering political tensions, escalating gang violence, and increasing IRA presence that seems to be plaguing the city.

The writing is meticulous and tight. The characters are intuitive, relentless, and committed. And the plot unravels briskly into a sinister tale full of mischief, mayhem, deception, corruption, coercion, politics, criminal behaviour, dangerous situations, suspicious motivations, red herrings, deduction, vengeance, violence, and murder.

Overall, Cast a Cold Eye is another atmospheric, gripping, highly entertaining thriller by Morrison that is a fabulous addition to a series, with its unique historical setting, action-packed storyline, and gritty, complex characters, that’s quickly becoming one of my favourites.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

      

 

 

Thank you to PGC Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Robbie Morrison

Robbie Morrison was born in Helensburgh, Scotland, and grew up in the Renton, Coatbridge, Linwood and Houston. On both sides, his family connection to shipbuilding in Glasgow and the surrounding areas stretches back four generations and is a source of inspiration for the Jimmy Dreghorn series. He sold his first script to publishers DC Thomson in Dundee at the age of twenty-three. One of the most respected writers in the UK comics industry, Edge of the Grave is his first novel.

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#BookReview And Then He Sang a Lullaby by Ani Kayode Somtochukwu @PGCBooks @groveatlantic @roxanegaybooks #AndThenHeSangaLullaby #AniKayodeSomtochukwu #PGCBooks

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#BookReview And Then He Sang a Lullaby by Ani Kayode Somtochukwu @PGCBooks @groveatlantic @roxanegaybooks #AndThenHeSangaLullaby #AniKayodeSomtochukwu #PGCBooks Title: And Then He Sang a Lullaby

Author: Ani Kayode Somtochukwu

Published by: Grove Press, Roxane Gay Books on Jun. 6, 2023

Genres: General Fiction, LGBTQIA

Pages: 304

Format: Hardcover

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

The inaugural title from Roxane Gay Books, And Then He Sang a Lullaby is a searingly honest and resonant debut from a 23-year-old Nigerian writer and queer liberation activist, exploring what love and freedom cost in a society steeped in homophobia.

August is a God-fearing track star who leaves Enugu City to attend university and escape his overbearing sisters. He carries the weight of their lofty expectations, the shame of facing himself, and the haunting memory of a mother he never knew. It’s his first semester and pressures aside, August is making friends, doing well in his classes. He even almost has a girlfriend. There’s only one problem: he can’t stop thinking about Segun, an openly gay student who works at a local cybercafé. Segun carries his own burdens and has been wounded in too many ways. When he meets August, their connection is undeniable, but Segun is reluctant to open himself up to August. He wants to love and be loved by a man who is comfortable in his own skin, who will see and hold and love Segun, exactly as he is.

Despite their differences, August and Segun forge a tender intimacy that defies the violence around them. But there is only so long Segun can stand being loved behind closed doors, while August lives a life beyond the world they’ve created together. And when a new, sweeping anti-gay law is passed, August and Segun must find a way for their love to survive in a Nigeria that was always determined to eradicate them. A tale of rare bravery and profound beauty, And Then He Sang a Lullaby is an extraordinary debut that marks Ani as a voice to watch.

Review:

Pensive, absorbing, and exceptionally heart-wrenching!

And Then He Sang a Lullaby is a tragic, beautiful tale that sweeps you away to Nigeria and into the lives of two boys, Segun and August, one who is confident in his sexuality and not ashamed to be a gay man while bearing all the hatred and violence faced by that decision, and the other who is torn, ashamed and struggling to come to grips with his sexuality but who ultimately can’t resist what his heart truly wants.

The prose is evocative and expressive. The characters are layered, tormented, and vulnerable. And the plot is an exceptionally impactful coming-of-age tale of life, loss, family, friendship, grief, guilt, denial, secrets, heartache, culture, prejudice, homophobia, violence, and love.

Overall, And Then He Sang a Lullaby is one of those books you never forget. It’s raw, timely, powerful, and heartbreaking. It’s an incredible debut by Ani Kayode Somtochukwu that everyone should have to read, and which ultimately reminds us that to love and be loved is one of humanity’s most fundamental needs and to quote Mahatma Gandhi’s iconic words that perhaps we should all remember a little more often, “Where there is love there is life.”

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to PGC Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Ani Kayode Somtochukwu

Ani Kayode Somtochukwu is an award-winning Nigerian writer and queer liberation activist. His work interrogates themes of queer identity, resistance, and liberation. His writings have appeared in literary magazines across Africa, Europe, Asia, and North America.

A note on naming: Following Nigerian naming conventions, family names come first in the name order, followed by the given first and “middle” names. This author’s family name, corresponding to a “last name” in most European and American names, is Ani.

Photo by Ileleji Prince.

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#BookReview The Postcard by Anne Berest (translated by Tina Kover) @EuropaEditions @PGCBooks #ThePostcard #AnneBerest #PGCBooks #EuropaEditions

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#BookReview The Postcard by Anne Berest (translated by Tina Kover) @EuropaEditions @PGCBooks #ThePostcard #AnneBerest #PGCBooks #EuropaEditions Title: The Postcard

Author: Anne Berest

Published by: Europa Editions on May 16, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction, Nonfiction

Pages: 464

Format: Hardcover

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

Anne Berest’s luminous, moving, and unforgettable new novel The Postcard is the most acclaimed and beloved French book in recent years.

At once a gripping investigation into family secrets, a poignant tale of mothers and daughters, and an enthralling portrait of 20th-century Parisian intellectual and artistic life, The Postcard tells the story of a family devastated by the Holocaust and yet somehow restored by love and the power of storytelling. Heartbreaking, funny, atmospheric, and a sheer joy to read, The Postcard is certain to find fans among readers of Irène Némirovsky’s Suite Française, Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life, and Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See.

January 2003. Together with the usual holiday cards, an anonymous postcard is delivered to the Berest family home. On the front, a photo of the Opéra Garnier in Paris; on the back, the four names of Anne Berest’s maternal great-grandparents, Ephraïm and Emma, and their children, Noémie and Jacques—all of whom died at Auschwitz in 1942.

Almost twenty years after the postcard is delivered, Anne is moved to discover who sent it, and why. Aided by her chain-smoking mother, countless family, friends, and associates, a private detective, a graphologist, and many others, she embarks on a journey to uncover the fate of the Rabinovitch family: their flight from Russia following the revolution, their journey to Latvia, Palestine, and Paris, the war and its aftermath. What emerges is a thrilling and sweeping tale that shatters her certainties about her family, her country, and herself.

Review:

Memorable, candid, and touching!

The Postcard is a poignant, absorbing, fictional autobiography that takes you into the life of Anne, a young woman who, after her daughter is the victim of antisemitism in the schoolyard, decides with the help of her mother to delve into her family’s past to finally discover what truly happened to her grandmother’s parents and siblings who were all arrested, imprisoned, and slaughtered in Auschwitz in 1942, and to once and for all uncover the identity of the person who in 2003 mailed a postcard to the family home that only contained a list of their names.

The prose is insightful and authentic. The characters are strong, intelligent, and determined. And the plot is an illuminating tale of life, loss, love, family, sacrifice, courage, survival, selflessness, determination, history, culture, the inconceivable horrors of war, and the special bonds that exist between mothers and daughters.

Overall, The Postcard is ultimately a heart-wrenching, affecting, personal family tale by Berest that highlights the importance and empowerment of self-identity and is a sobering reminder of all the millions of lives that were senselessly violated and lost in this heinous time in history.

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

          

 

 

Thank you to PGC Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Anne Berest

Anne Berest is the bestselling co-author of How to Be Parisian Wherever You Are (Doubleday, 2014) and the author of a novel based on the life of French writer Françoise Sagan. With her sister Claire, she is also the author of Gabriële, a critically acclaimed biography of her great-grandmother, Gabriële Buffet-Picabia, Marcel Duchamp’s lover and muse. She is the great-granddaughter of the painter Francis Picabia. For her work as a writer and prize-winning showrunner, she has been profiled in publications such as French Vogue and Haaretz newspaper. The recipient of numerous literary awards, The Postcard was a finalist for the Goncourt Prize and has been a long-selling bestseller in France.

Photograph © DR

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#BookReview The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese @PGCBooks @groveatlantic #TheCovenantofWater #AbrahamVerghese #PGCBooks

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#BookReview The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese @PGCBooks @groveatlantic #TheCovenantofWater #AbrahamVerghese #PGCBooks Title: The Covenant of Water

Author: Abraham Verghese

Published by: Grove Press on May 2, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 736

Format: Hardcover

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

From the New York Times–bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial new epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in Kerala and following three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret.

The Covenant of Water is the long-awaited new novel by Abraham Verghese, the author of Cutting for Stone. Published in 2009, Cutting for Stone became a literary phenomenon, selling over 1.5 million copies in the United States alone and remaining on the New York Times bestseller list for over two years.

Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. The family is part of a Christian community that traces itself to the time of the apostles, but times are shifting, and the matriarch of this family, known as Big Ammachi—literally “Big Mother”—will witness unthinkable changes at home and at large over the span of her extraordinary life. All of Verghese’s great gifts are on display in this new work: there are astonishing scenes of medical ingenuity, fantastic moments of humor, a surprising and deeply moving story, and characters imbued with the essence of life.

A shimmering evocation of a lost India and of the passage of time itself, The Covenant of Water is a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding, and a humbling testament to the hardships undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today. It is one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years.

Review:

Sensuous, poignant, and elaborately plotted!

The Covenant of Water is a powerful, riveting, emotionally-charged multi-generational story that sweeps you away to Southern India between 1900 and 1977 and into the lives of the Parambil family, especially the women, and all the secrets, smiles, tears, misery, curses, grief, compassion, strength, powerful emotions, and unimaginable tragedy that has tied them together through the years.

The prose is lyrical and expressive. The characters are multi-layered, tormented, resilient, and vulnerable. And the plot is a heart-tugging, incredibly immersive tale of life, love, loss, grief, family, friendship, ambitions, courage, desperation, self-preservation, motherhood, infectious diseases, medical interventions, and devastating genetic afflictions.

Overall, The Covenant of Water is the perfect blend of historical facts and compelling fiction. It’s a hefty book at just over 700 pages, but it’s a book that needs to be read and a book that needs to be savoured, and just like Verghese’s previous novel Cutting for Stone, it is so beautifully written, unique, impactful and memorable that I am sure to be recommending it for many years to come.

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to PGC Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Abraham Verghese

Abraham Verghese is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the author of books including the NBCC Award finalist My Own Country and the New York Times Notable Book The Tennis Partner. His most recent book, Cutting for Stone, spent 107 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and sold more than 1.5 million copies in the U.S. alone. It was translated into more than twenty languages and is being adapted for film by Anonymous Content. Verghese was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2016, has received five honorary degrees, and is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He lives and practices medicine in Stanford, California where he is the Linda R. Meier and Joan F. Lane Provostial Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine. A decade in the making, The Covenant of Water is his first book since Cutting for Stone.

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#BookReview Exodus by Kate Stewart @authorklstewart @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #Exodus #TheRavenhoodSeries #KateStewart #PGCBooks

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#BookReview Exodus by Kate Stewart @authorklstewart @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #Exodus #TheRavenhoodSeries #KateStewart #PGCBooks Title: Exodus

Author: Kate Stewart

Series: The Ravenhood #2

Published by: Pan Macmillan on May 2, 2023

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Erotica, New Adult

Pages: 384

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

The second steamy book in the Ravenhood Trilogy by #BookTok sensation and bestseller Kate Stewart.

I did what thieves do. I stole you…

What Cecilia Horner had expected to be a dull year has already been the most exciting summer of her life after she met local bad boys Sean and Dominic and their relationship developed into something altogether more dangerous.

But she is left reeling from the discovery that they are members of The Ravenhood, a secret group of vigilantes. At the head of the society is a man known as the Frenchman and he doesn’t want Cecilia anywhere near his men or his mission.

She has every reason to hate him but there’s a fine line between love and hate. And if her time in Triple Falls has taught her anything, it’s one she’s more than willing to cross.

Review:

Provocative, edgy, and sinful!

Exodus is a dramatic, sultry tale that picks up right where Flock left off, taking us back into the life of nineteen-year-old Cecilia Horner as she juggles her feelings for Sean and Dominic, two members of the Ravenhood gang who are determined to right the wrongs of the past and take her father down, and the enigmatic leader of the group, The Frenchman, Tobias King who she wants to hate with everything she has but who she’s unconsciously drawn to like a moth to a flame.

The prose is tight and steamy. The characters are impulsive, multilayered, and consumed. And the plot is a deliciously salacious tale filled with temptation, desire, danger, deception, mystique, familial drama, palpable attraction, sizzling romance, violence, and malicious intentions.

Overall, Exodus is another dark, intriguing, titillating tale by Stewart that has certainly left me more than eager to now get my hands on the last book in this Ravenhood trilogy series, The Finish Line, to see just how dramatic and sexy this could possibly get before it comes to an end.

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

           

 

 

Thank you to PGC Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Kate Stewart

Bestselling author and Texas native, Kate Stewart, lives in North Carolina with her husband, Nick. Kate is a lover of all things '80s and '90s, especially John Hughes films and rap. She dabbles a little in photography, can knit a simple stitch scarf for necessity, and on occasion, does very well at whiskey.
Her series, The Ravenhood Trilogy, consisting of Flock, Exodus, and The Finish Line, has become an international bestseller, TikTok phenomenon, and reader favourite.

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#BookReview The Stolen Hours by Karen Swan @KarenSwan1 @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #TheStolenHours #TheWildIsleSeries #KarenSwan #PGCBooks

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#BookReview The Stolen Hours by Karen Swan @KarenSwan1 @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #TheStolenHours #TheWildIsleSeries #KarenSwan #PGCBooks Title: The Stolen Hours

Author: Karen Swan

Series: The Wild Isle #2

Published by: Pan Macmillan on May 2, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 432

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

A reluctant bride. A forbidden romance. An island full of secrets . . .

It’s the summer of 1929 and Mhairi MacKinnon is in need of a husband. As the eldest girl among nine children, her father has made it clear he can’t support her past the coming winter. On the small, Scottish island of St Kilda, her options are limited. But the MacKinnons’ neighbour, Donald, has a business acquaintance on distant Harris also in need of a spouse. A plan is hatched for Donald to chaperone Mhairi and make the introduction on his final crossing of the year, before the autumn seas close them off to the outside world.

Mhairi returns as an engaged woman who has lost her heart – but not to her fiancé. In love with the wrong man yet knowing he can never be hers, she awaits the spring with growing dread, for the onset of calm waters will see her sent from home to become a stranger’s wife.

When word comes that St Kilda is to be evacuated, the lovers are granted a few months’ reprieve, enjoying a summer of stolen hours together. Only, those last days on St Kilda will also bring trauma and heartache for Mhairi and her friends, Effie and Flora. And when a dead body is later found on the abandoned isle, all three have reason enough to find themselves under the shadow of suspicion . . .

Review:

Absorbing, passionate, and thrilling!

The Stolen Hours is a compelling tale that sweeps you away to 1929 and into the life of Mhairi MacKinnon, one of Effie’s best friends and another one of the thirty-six inhabitants of the small island of St. Kilda, who, on her brief travels to Harris to meet the man she will likely become engaged to, realizes the one she truly loves but who is already sworn to another has always been living right beside her, and when the government decides to evacuate the island villagers and move them permanently to the mainland, time is running out, her new married life is about to begin, and with a heart shattered to pieces and the life she always wanted merely now but a dream she may also have more than one reason to want the de facto ruler of the island, Frank Mathieson, dead.

The writing is expressive and rich. The characters are hardworking, fierce, and loyal. And the plot is an enchanting tale of life, loss, family, friendship, community, drama, mystery, intrigue, responsibilities, expectations, heartbreak, and forbidden love.

Overall, The Stolen Hours is another mysterious, captivating, highly immersive tale by Swan that kept me engaged from start to finish with its rugged depictions of island living and layered, complex, romantic entanglements and even though it’s only the second book in The Wild Isle trilogy, I can already tell this is definitely going to be one of my favourite historical fiction series of all time.

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to PGC Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Karen Swan

Karen Swan began her career in fashion journalism before giving it all up to raise her three children and a puppy, and to pursue her ambition of becoming a writer. She lives in the forest outside Sussex, England, writing her books in a treehouse overlooking the Downs.

An internationally bestselling author, her numerous books include The Rome Affair, The Paris Secret, Christmas Under the Stars, and The Christmas Secret. 

Photograph by Alexander James

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