hello and happy Saturday! the heatwave continues here in Essex and I’m so bored of it now! Can’t remember the last time we had rain, and there seems no relief in sight looking at the forecast! It’s just so exhausting!!
On the book front its been an OK week – managed to finish 4 books this week and just added 1 to my Netgalley shelf! Here’s my look back!
‘The most important stories are told by our hearts. So come and discover your second chance at happiness, at our cozy village bookshop in Bonnie Bay…’
Single mother Jane can’t believe it when an invitation to Bonnie Bay falls from the pages of a book: the Scottish village she was supposed to run away to with her first love. Until he broke her heart, that is. But he’s far away now – and why shouldn’t she spend a summer there, daughter Beth in tow? They’ll snuggle up reading, stroll by the wild sea, and maybe even banish Beth’s teenage grumps.
But arriving in the charming village, Jane’s jaw drops when she sees a familiar pair of green eyes… it’s Rory Callaghan,her first love, and the boy who broke her heart. The problem? Rory is now very much a man. He’s taller, broader. His Irish lilt still makes her weak at the knees. And the sizzling spark between them crackles just like it used to.
Rory might be a long way from his Irish hometown, but he’s made a new home right here. The cozy bookshop is his refuge, and owner Moira his replacement family. So when Jane arrives it’s like an arrow through his heart. She’s still gorgeous, still his Jane. And the fierce look in her eye tells him she’s just as passionate as he remembers.
After promising to help Moira turn the bookshop into a community hub, and with Beth making friends, Jane can’t walk away. Soon, days at the bookshop turn into very late nights with Rory. And with them both spilling secrets, the real reason they broke up soon comes to light… but will this summer adventure turn into a second chance romance? Or will their hearts end up broken all over again?
A totally gorgeous escapist romance with a delicious sprinkling of spice, perfect for fans of Susan Mallery, Phillipa Ashley and Laurie Gilmore. Let million-copy bestselling author Debbie Johnson whisk you away to Bonnie Bay, where the bookshop is welcoming, the sea views are breathtaking, and the nights are steamy!
t’s been wonderful being back in the Bonnie bay series, and I’m still waiting to find my book in the wild with a letter written by Moira inviting me up to stay!
This can be read as a standalone, but it’s easier to connect with if you’ve read the first in the series! And this time the letters of Moira hidden in books, brings new characters to the area to escape what’s going on in their lives! Jane is a single mum to Beth, and dealing with Beths dad cancelling on her last minute again to spend time with his new family. Beth is going through the dreaded teenage years, so anything her mum suggests is boring, so when they discover this letter they are both intrigued – especially as the area has a connection to Jane from the past.
So when they arrive and she ends up being invited to stay at the home of a local artist, Rory, her past is right there in front of her so there’s a lot of soul searching and conversations that need to be had, that weren’t had when they needed to be!
it’s wonderful reconnecting with the area and the characters as you get such a great sense of how much the bookshop means to all those who live nearby and those who visit. What follows is the cosiest of reads and full of wonderful moments for many characters as time proves to be a great healer! Loved it!
For readers of The Nightingale, The Paris Library and All the Light We Cannot See, a page-turning story of love, betrayal and sacrifice, and one woman’s complicated connection to the world’s greatest masterpiece, from the bestselling author of Tuscan Daughter.
1910: Eighteen-year-old Mathilde has escaped her lonely provincial childhood to become a painter in Montmartre. Moving in bohemian circles, she models for Picasso and lives hedonistically amongst the artists, writers and intellectuals of Paris, indulging her passions and her ambitions in art and love. But when the Mona Lisa is stolen from the Louvre, and some of Mathilde’s friends and lovers become suspects, life takes a dramatic turn.
1940: As the enemy marches into Paris, Mathilde, now an archivist at the Louvre working quietly under a new identity, is tasked with the evacuation of hundreds of priceless masterpieces to the sprawling Château de Chambord in the Loire Valley. With her she carries a secret—the Mona Lisa is under her sole protection and she vows to hide it from the Nazi occupiers. Nobody must discover its whereabouts. It isn’t until a lover from her past arrives at the château, dressed in a Nazi uniform, that Mathilde finds herself agonizingly torn between her sworn duty to France and a love that still endures.
The Paris Thief brilliantly celebrates the resilience of the human spirit in times of immense upheaval and draws readers into a story of hard-fought love and the reasons why enemy armies are driven to plunder and possess beauty.
This was a fascinating historical read, with huge connections to the art world and it has introduced me to parts of history that I didn’t know about! The main character of Mathilde is a really fascinating one, although I did find the constant timeline changing a little challenging to keep up with which did spoil my enjoyment of the story.
this is the story of mathilde over some very monumental times in her life, and also world history. It’s fair to say she lived a fascinating life, and it was wonderful to get the glimpses of her timeline. We see her as a younger woman, moving from the country to the city of Paris where she becomes central to the life and work of Picasso and the people around him. She’s his muse and their relationship is a sensual one. And during this time the Mona Lisa goes missing from the Louvre, and her circle of acquaintances find themselves central to the action.
And we also meet her during the war where she works at the Louvre and she is put in charge of keeping the artwork safe from the invading Nazi’s. It’s all shipped to a Chateau in the country and once again the Mona Lisa plays a big part in her life.
there’s a little bit of everything in this story as you have the war aspect and the impact that it has on families, alongside that of the artworld and the exuberant characters within it, as well as her personal relationships and the dilemmas she has to face as she does come across a little naïve at times.
Hello! Happy Saturday!! The heatwave continues…. I never knew i’d be so bored of blue sky days lol!! Ok, maybe it’s the 30 degrees heat that I’m more bored of, but I’m actually missing grey and rainy days! honest!!
On to books, and it’s been another good one! 4 Books finished, 3 new additions to my netgalley shelf and 1 new physical book! here’s my look back!
Ghost Mountain is a simple fable-like novel about a mountain that appears suddenly and the way in which its manifestation ripples through the lives of characters in the surrounding community.
It looks at the uncertain fragile sense of self we hold inside ourselves, and our human compulsion to project it into the uncertain word around us, whether we’re ready or not. It is also about the presence of absence, and how it shadows us in our lives. Mountains are at once unmistakably present yet never truly fathomable.
There’s a real sadness to this book but don’t let that put you off! Just be prepared for a not so cheery read! I’d call it ‘reflective’!
There is humour though throughout, and that makes the characters and situation sparkle. When a mountain appears out of nowhere, this story shows the impact it has on the locals and the community at large and how it leaves them questioning everything they ever knew!
The chapters are short and choppy but packed with emotion and the most exquisite details as we look at a number of different characters going through different stages of life and issues. Some see the mountain as a spiritual thing, others as a hindrance and it’s fascinating to see the nuances of humans and how they react to something out of the ordinary, and how they live with it.
it is a quick read as you find yourself fully immersed in the lives of these weird and wonderful characters so I’d highly recommend it if you like something a little different and quirky!
If the truth could destroy you, would you choose to know it? DC Vinny Robson has spent his career seeking justice for others, but when an elderly couple are violently murdered in his hometown of Beachbrook, the investigation takes a devastating turn – one that cuts straight through his own family.
With the help of DS Sue Wilmott, Vinny discovers his ailing mother’s forgotten diaries, and with them the secrets she fought to keep hidden her entire life.
As Vinny dives deeper, the case becomes more than a pursuit of a killer – it’s a fight against the undertow of his own past. But in chasing the truth, will he finally find justice, or will he drown in the wreckage of everything he thought he knew?
Some truths should stay submerged. But once the tide turns, there’s no stopping what comes to light.
An emotional crime drama novel set on the south coast of England, perfect for for fans of Karin Slaughter, Gillian McAllister and Ann Cleeves.
Back in Beachbrook for another pulsating installment of crime solving and it’s another page turner that I couldn’t put down!
The story starts with the brutal murder of an elderly couple for DC Vinny and DS Wilmott to investigate and when the digging starts there’s some rather unpleasant and uncomfortable links to face, especially for DC Vinny.
The action is fast paced and the flashes to the past through the diary entries from his mum really add to the tension and leaves Vinny with some harsh realities to face. The author has really shown the human side of policing once again, showing how involved they get with each case and how unexpected links to their own families can show up changing their focus.
There are multiple POV’s that really add depth to the story, showing you the drama from all sides of the action and it’s definitely one of those books that shock with the reveals as the truth is uncovered. And the story doesn’t lose its’ spark or energy at any point which just added to the tension for me as a reader!! highly recommended!
It is the year 1710, and Thomas True has arrived on old London Bridge with a dangerous secret. One night, lost amongst the squalor of London’s hidden back streets, he finds himself drawn into the outrageous underworld of the molly houses.
Meanwhile, carpenter Gabriel Griffin struggles to hide his double life as Lotty, the molly’s silent guard. When the queen of all ‘he-harlots’, Mother Clap, confides in him about a deadly threat, he realises his friends are facing imminent execution.
To the horror of all mollies, there is a rat amongst them, betraying their secrets to a pair of murderous Justices, hell-bent on punishing sinners with the noose.
Can Gabriel unmask the traitor before it’s too late? Can he save hapless Thomas from peril, and their own impossible love?
Set amidst the hidden world of Georgian London’s gay scene, The Betrayal of Thomas True is a brutal and devastating thriller, where love must overcome evil, and the only true sin is betrayal…
This was an immensely enjoyable historical thriller and the author has done an amazing job of bringing the streets of Georgian London to life, warts and all!
Thomas True has arrived in London in a hurry to escape his brutal father, and soon finds himself lost in the hustle and bustle! Jack soon takes him under his wing and soon a different side of London is shown to TT and a whole host of wonderful characters come into his life!
The world of molly houses are explored, and the scandal they caused and how they are being infiltrated to shut them down and prosecute those using them. When a body is found, they soon realise that someone visiting the house is selling them out to those who want them dead, so the race is on to find out who before more are murdered.
it really shows the darkness to London at the time, where homosexuality is punished by hanging, and you really feel the tension of those trying to protect their friends and finding out the identity of the ‘rat’. A historical thriller a little different to the norm, and I’m all here for it!
In the gripping new novel by the author of The Fourteenth Letter, a lawyer in Victorian London must find a man he got off a murder charge – and who seems to have killed again . . .
Victorian London, 1882. Five years ago, crusading lawyer Cage Lackmann successfully defended Moses Pickering against a charge of murder. Now, a body is found bearing all the disturbing hallmarks of that victim – and Pickering is missing. Did Cage free a brutal murderer?
Cage’s reputation is in tatters, and worse, he is implicated in this new murder by the bitter detective who led the first failed case. Left with no other alternative, Cage must find Pickering to prove his innocence.
His increasingly desperate search takes him back to the past, to a woman he never thought to see again, and down into a warren of lies and betrayals concealed beneath Holland Park mansions and the mean streets of Whitechapel – where a murderer, heartbreak and revenge lie in wait.
This is a gripping thriller, set in the darkness of Victorian London and the author brings the squalid streets to life with her writing style!
Cage is a lawyer who uses any means necessary to get the right results for his clients. And it’s successful for him, but he begins to have some doubts about his past wins when a victim shows up killed by the same MO as a client he helped find not guilty 5 years earlier. Did he let a murderer get away?! It plays on his mind so he wants to prove that he did the right thing – not easy to do when the freed man has gone missing!
The Police aren’t best pleased with his meddling in matters as he tries to track down Moses, and his methods aren’t always entirely legal! And then there’s a big twist when Moses is tracked down, that draws Cage further into the middle of a very dark plot so I was gripped by the drama as it played out!
A rollicking work of lyricism and humor, about one family’s tumble into the unknown, from the Pulitzer Prize finalist and bestselling author of North Woods
Miles Krzelewski is a devoted husband, a doting father beloved for his outlandish bedtime stories, and the proud owner of a truffle-hunting dog in a land with no truffles. He is also a bit lost, twelve years late with his PhD on Russian folktales, and increasingly haunted by a sense that he’s become a disappointment to his family. So when his wife Kate accepts a visiting professorship at a prestigious college in the far away forests of Vermont, he decides that this will be his year to finally move forward with his life.
But Miles is a man of many enthusiasms, one who possesses, in Kate’s words, “a great capacity to fall in with anyone, anywhere.” And no sooner does he arrive than he finds himself entangled with a cast of characters as colorful as any of his folktales, from a ghostly tree surgeon to a scythe-mad biochemist, a Shakespearean temptress and a photographer of snowflakes obsessed with chronicling, on thousands of index cards, the world’s delusions in a “Inventory of Wrong Ideas.”
The new friends, the enchanted woods, the sure, no PhD, but all good fun. Until Miles stumbles upon a bizarre—perhaps ridiculous—local legend, which, he soon suspects, might not be just a legend after all.
Joyous, absurd, and life-affirming, Country People is a luminous exploration of marriage and parenthood, the nature of belief and the power of stories, and the ways in which we find connection in an increasingly fragmented world.
having adored North Woods, I was eager to read this one, and it’s been another lovely read, if not as absorbing as NW!
it’s quite a simple storyline – family move from the city to the country and find things very different from the sheltered life they were living in California! It takes us along for the ride from their old home to the new home, travelling by car because of their dog!, and the sights and sounds they experience on the roadtrip.
And the new home they find themselves ‘housesitting’ and throwing themselves into their country lives with great aplomb from the get go as it all seems so alien and cosy to them! and then real life gets in the way, so while the wife is working in her new job, the husband is setting out to discover what it is that makes him tick and maybe finish the dissertation he’s been working on for so many years with no end in sight.
I did lose my way a bit during the second half of the book. with the various characters and threads of storyline being introduced where it became a little disjointed as a ‘family’ story. you get the idea with Wesley that he doesn’t really know who he is, so he’s very quick to embrace any new hobby or idea he’s introduced to so that makes some of the characters he encounters so captivating to him, as he seems to enjoy the escapism from reality!
Still an enjoyable read and the fun moments do lift it out of the ordinary!
Every day, just before sunrise and straight after sunset, magic happens. Dawn and dusk – those fleeting, half-lit hours – are when the ordinary becomes extraordinary. Skies flare with colour, landscapes shift in mood and an unseen cast of creatures emerges from the shadows. Welcome to twilight.
In THE SECRET WORLD OF TWILIGHT, author and smallholder Sally Coulthard invites us into this magical in-between realm, where seductive night-blooming flowers open, secretive mammals stir, giant moths reign and fantastical sea creatures ride the tide. Twilight profoundly affects human life too – but in our age of electric light and closed doors, we’ve almost forgotten how to see it.
Blending natural history, folklore and memoir, Coulthard reveals twilight as a vital, liminal one that has inspired awe for millennia and still has the power to illuminate our daily lives.
Dawn and Dusk – my favourite times of the day! So this book from Sally Coulthard has been a delight to read and she has a wonderful way of educating while entertaining! I’ve learnt so much from this book but it hasn’t felt like learning!
She has a wonderful way with words, so she explores how the twilight times are seen now and have been through history, along with the impact on literature, scholars and also the impact on nature and wildlife, both on land and in the oceans!
She has a farm/smallholding, so these times are always so crucial to her and her style of writing makes the information she shares so easy to absorb as she explores the behaviour of animals, humans and plants! She also looks at the way modern life interacts now with dusk and dawn, and the impact of light pollution which really hits home. A beautifully illuminating read!
Books and Me! 
