October was a rainy month, which certainly favoured more reading. Although I would love to buy all the books I read, I can’t. Instead, I enjoy getting books through my local library. Libraries have been transformed from those “temples of silence,” I knew as a child. Now, libraries are vital community spaces, as well as knowledge hubs. My local library will request books they haven’t got in stock. I also attended an author talk by New York Times best-selling author Natasha Lester. Additionally, this month I started attending a drawing class.
The Riviera House by Natasha Lester
The New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Secret weaves a lush and engrossing novel of World War II inspired by a true story and perfect for fans of Kate Quinn and Pam Jenoff.
Paris, 1939: The Nazis think Éliane can’t understand German. They’re wrong. They think she’s merely cataloguing art in a Louvre museum and unaware they’re stealing national treasures for their private collections. They have no idea she’s carefully decoding their notes and smuggling information to the Resistance. But Éliane is playing a dangerous game. Does she dare trust the man she once loved with her secrets, or will he only betray her once again? She has no way to know for certain . . . until a trip to a stunning home on the French Riviera brings a whole new level of peril.
Present Day: Wanting to forget the tragedy that has left her life in shambles, Remy Lang heads to a home she’s mysteriously inherited on the Riviera. While working on her vintage fashion business, she discovers a catalogue of the artworks stolen during World War II and is shocked to see a painting that hung on her childhood bedroom wall. Who is her family, really? And does the Riviera house hold more secrets than Remy is ready to face?
Natasha Lester brilliantly explores the impossible choices ordinary people faced every day during extraordinary circumstances, weaving fact with fiction and celebrating women who push the boundaries of their time.
My Review.
A new Natasha Lester book always fills me with anticipation, wondering will I enjoy it as much as her previous book? I needn’t have worried, this book with its compelling mix of intrigue and danger in wartime France was exactly what I had expected. The story concerns the wholesale art thefts perpetrated by the Nazi’s. In exploring this, every sentence is a work of art, arguing the value of art to civilisation. There is also Éliane’s captivating love story, fraught with danger and deception.
In the present day, Remy’s life has lost its meaning and she is far away from Australia in the Riviera House. She can run her vintage fashion business from anywhere and craves solitude. Her gregarious neighbours are determined to involve her in their lives and are impossible to overlook. Allowing herself to experience more, she finds the catalogue of the stolen artworks and is intrigued enough to want to take it further. She is helped by a gorgeous photographer who understands sadness and grief.
Man Drought by Rachael Johns.
Imogen Bates moved to the small rural town of Gibson’s Find to start a new life for herself after the death of her husband. Tired of being haunted by the painful memories of her old life, Imogen set her last remaining hopes on the little town and, in particular, pouring her heart and savings into restoring The Majestic Hotel to its former glory. But while the female-starved town might be glad to see a young woman move in, not everyone is happy about Imogen’s arrival.
Sheep and crop farmer Gibson Black once dreamed of having the kind of family his grandfather reminisces about, but he’s learnt not to dream anymore. Living in the mostly male town suits Gibson down to the ground…and he won’t have anyone — least of all a hot redhead from the city — change a thing.
Imogen has never been one to back down from a challenge, especially when it concerns her last chance at happiness. She’s determined to rebuild the pub and create a future for the little town. But can she create a future for Gibson and herself, too?
My Review.
Intrigued by the title, I picked this up. It’s one of Rachael Johns earlier books and obviously inspired by programs like Farmer Wants a Wife. If you enjoyed that show, you would probably enjoy this book. I did, it’s effortless reading ( which means hard work writing it by the way.)
Imogen is a character who appealed to me, and I was inspired by her gutsy life-changing decisions. What is a woman without her friends? Immy’s friends are horrified by her plans but support her anyway. In a town full of men, one catches her eye, and while everyone else is super friendly he remains remote and distant. Meanwhile, his grandfather Charlie can’t sing his praises high enough and would love to get them together. Maybe the Man Drought weekend that Imogen has organised will provide the spark?
Meet Me In Bendigo by Eva Scott.
Small-town Australia meets You’ve Got Mail in this rural romantic comedy about online dating, second chances, and following your heart.
Small-town sweetheart Annalisa Cappelli has returned to Wongilly to take over her family’s hardware store while she heals from a tragic loss. The business was hit hard by the pandemic, and now a Carpenter’s Warehouse hardware superstore is opening in the district. There’s no way Annalisa is going to let two hundred years of history go down the drain, but she’s going to need to fight to keep her family’s legacy alive.
The one simple thing in her life is her no names, no complications, easy-breezy online relationship with GardenerGuy94. For now, their online flirtation is the only kind of romance Annalisa needs. Until she meets Ed Carpenter. Sexy as hell, he’d be the perfect man … if he wasn’t trying to destroy her business.
Ed Carpenter is in Wongilly to offer the owner of a small hardware store a payout to pave the way for his family’s next superstore. What he doesn’t expect is for the owner to be the woman he’s been talking to online. Annalisa is beautiful and passionate, and he’s sure she’s the one for him. But how can he reveal the truth without losing her?
My Review
Understandably we are drawn to the story of an underdog and in this case, two hundred years of history is going to be lost. Reinforces a message that when we are online, do we know who we are talking to? Confiding online with GardenerGuy94 Annalisa feels a connection. Yet meeting her nemesis, Ed Carpenter surprises her with a sense of attraction. Although enjoyable, I felt the idea the book was based on hadn’t enough legs to be the whole plot
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves
A female cop with her first big case
A brutal murder
Welcome to…
The Thursday Murder Club
In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves The Thursday Murder Club. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty, but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.
When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case. As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it’s too late?
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it refreshing that retirees were portrayed as vibrant and intelligent individuals. The murder itself has enough intrigue to make its unravelling pleasantly complicated. Great characters and nice plotting. I obviously must have been living under a rock, but I had no idea that Richard Osman was a celebrity.
When You Are Mine by Michael Robotham
A heart-pounding psychological thriller about friendship and obsession
Philomena ‘Phil’ McCarthy is a promising young officer in the London Metropolitan police.
But everything changes when she is called to the scene of a domestic assault. Unbeknownst to her, the abuser is a decorated detective and Phil’s efforts to protect his girlfriend – Tempe Brown – from violence result in Phil being unjustly struck from the force.
In the fallout, Phil begins to teach Tempe self-defence and they strike up a tentative friendship. Tempe is thoughtful and sweet, and within a matter of weeks the two women are inseparable – talking, socialising and confiding their deepest secrets in one another. But something isn’t right. Sinister things keep happening and, when a body is discovered, Phil realises that Tempe is hiding deadly secrets of her own. Secrets she is willing to kill for . . .
This pulse-racing standalone psychological thriller from the internationally bestselling author of The Secrets She Keeps is Michael Robotham’s finest yet, and confirms his reputation as the Mastermind of Crime.
My Review
Tautly plotted and tension-filled, this book had me reading just a bit more each time. Michael Robotham ‘gets’ women and writes well in the female voice. I couldn’t find a false note. The premise of the daughter of a crime family joining the police is intriguing and Phil( short for Philomena) is a feisty and likeable character. How her life escalates after attending a reported domestic violence incident is well-paced and believable. I couldn’t put it down.
Flying The Nest by Rachael Johns
They say a change is as good as a holiday…but what if you don’t want either?
Is her family’s happiness more important than her own?
The first time Ashling Wood realises her marriage is on the rocks is when her husband, Adrian, suggests they try nest parenting. Heartbroken, Ash suddenly finds herself living a double life – one week with her children, the next cohabiting with her happily single sister-in-law. Her friends think the modern custody solution is an exciting opportunity for her to spread her wings, but all Ash wants is her family back together.
An offer to renovate a seaside cottage seems like the perfect distraction for Ash while waiting for Adrian to come to his senses. She’s determined to fix her marriage as well as the cottage, but life gets even more complicated when she meets local fisherman Dan Emerson.
Soon, each home-stay becomes more dysfunctional, while for the other week Ash enjoys the peaceful life of the beachside community. The more time Ash spends in Ragged Point, the more she questions what she really wants. Is a sea-change the fresh start she needs to move on?
When tragedy calls Ash back to the city, she’s torn between the needs of her family and her future. Can her family life fit in with a permanent move to the beach or could Ash’s newfound independence attract Adrian back to the nest?
From the get-go, you feel for Ashling, who is blindsided by her husband Adrian’s suggestion of Nest Parenting. A term I hadn’t heard before. She is not just heartbroken. but emotionally broken, that her ‘perfect life’ has come crashing down. She tries to put a brave face on it for the children, but inwardly she feels like howling. A chance to get away to Ragged Bay offers an escape, although the derelict cottage isn’t exactly welcoming. Slowly, she begins to sort out an alternative life for herself. Her life takes on a rhythm of weeks with the children. and weeks at Ragged Bay. These lives are quite different and begin to allow her to reflect on who she is, and what she wants.
Grief Works: Stories of Life, Death and Surviving by Julia Samuel
Death affects us all. Yet it is still the last taboo in our society, and grief is still profoundly misunderstood…
In Grief Works, we hear stories from those who have experienced great love and great loss – and survived. Stories that explain how grief unmasks our greatest fears, strips away our layers of protection and reveals our innermost selves.
Julia Samuel, a grief psychotherapist, has spent twenty-five years working with the bereaved and understanding the full repercussions of loss. This deeply affecting book is full of psychological insights on how grief if approached correctly, can heal us. Through elegant, moving stories, we learn how we can stop feeling awkward and uncertain about death, and not shy away from talking honestly with family and friends.
This extraordinary book shows us how to live and learn from great loss.
My Review
After a family bereavement, I picked up this book. Grief is a silent companion, one that you often do not wish to burden others with. I had hoped for a compassionate guidebook to help me through the process. While others say they have found it helpful, it just didn’t feel that way to me. I read the relevant chapters and some of the end of the book but found it was depressing me even more.
Bleed for Me by Michael Robotham
She’s standing at the front door. Covered in blood. Is she the victim of a crime? Or the perpetrator?
A teenage girl — Sienna, a troubled friend of his daughter — comes to Joe O’Loughlin’s door one night. She is terrorized, incoherent, and covered in blood.
The police find Sienna’s father, a celebrated former cop, murdered in the home he shared with Sienna. Tests confirm that it’s his blood on Sienna. She says she remembers nothing.
Joe O’Loughlin is a psychologist with troubles of his own. His marriage is coming to an end and his daughter will barely speak to him. He tries to help Sienna, hoping that if he succeeds it will win back his daughter’s affection. But Sienna is unreachable, unable to mourn her father’s death or to explain it.
Investigators take aim at Sienna. O’Loughlin senses something different is happening, something subterranean and terrifying to Sienna. It may be something in her mind. Or it may be something real. Someone real. Someone capable of the most grim and gruesome murder, and willing to kill again if anyone gets too close.
His newest thriller is further evidence that Michael Robotham is, as David Baldacci has said, “the real deal — we only hope he will write faster
My Review.
I hadn’t planned on reading another Michael Robotham so quickly, but a friend lent me this book. Of course, reading the blurb, I was intrigued. I’ve ‘met’ Joe O’Loughlin before, and like the character. This is book four in the series, but I was able to read this as a standalone. It was easy to be drawn into the story while continually questioning what was, or wasn’t the truth. The story flowed well and had believability, but two things didn’t sit right with me. One was a scene I wish hadn’t been included and the other was the final explanation.
A Bad Day for Sunshine by Dyranda Jones
Sheriff Sunshine Vicram finds her cup o’ joe more than half full when the small village of Del Sol, New Mexico, becomes the center of national attention for a kidnapper on the loose.
Del Sol, New Mexico is known for three things: its fry-an-egg-on-the-cement summers, strong cups of coffee – and, now, a nationwide manhunt? Del Sol native Sunshine Vicram has returned to town as the elected sheriff – thanks to her adorably meddlesome parents who nominated her–and she expects her biggest crime wave to involve an elderly flasher named Doug. But a teenage girl is missing, a kidnapper is on the loose, and all of this is reminding Sunshine why she left Del Sol in the first place. Add to that the trouble at her daughter’s new school, plus and a kidnapped prized rooster named Puff Daddy, and, well, the forecast looks anything but sunny.
But even clouds have their silver linings. This one’s got Levi, Sunshine’s sexy, almost-old-flame, and a fiery-hot US Marshall. With temperatures rising everywhere she turns, Del Sol’s normally cool-minded sheriff is finding herself knee-deep in drama and danger. Can Sunshine face the call of duty – and find the kidnapper who’s terrorizing her beloved hometown – without falling head over high heels in love . . . or worse?
My Review.
I picked this book based on the title. Initially, I found the style a little confusing, but then I got into the story. It reminded me of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series in some ways. There is a mysterious disappearance, that had been predicted, and an off-limits love interest and storyline that is set to continue both into the past and the future.
A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz
The New York Times bestselling author of the brilliantly inventive The Word Is Murder and The Sentence Is Death returns with his third literary whodunit featuring intrepid detectives Hawthorne and Horowitz.
When Ex-Detective Inspector Daniel Hawthorne and his sidekick, author Anthony Horowitz, are invited to an exclusive literary festival on Alderney, an idyllic island off the south coast of England, they don’t expect to find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation—or to be trapped with a cold-blooded killer in a remote place with a murky, haunted past.
Arriving on Alderney, Hawthorne and Horowitz soon meet the festival’s other guests—an eccentric gathering that includes a bestselling children’s author, a French poet, a TV chef turned cookbook author, a blind psychic, and a war historian—along with a group of ornery locals embroiled in an escalating feud over a disruptive power line.
When a local grandee is found dead under mysterious circumstances, Hawthorne and Horowitz become embroiled in the case. The island is locked down, no one is allowed on or off, and it soon becomes horribly clear that a murderer lurks in their midst. But who?
Both a brilliant satire on the world of books and writers and an immensely enjoyable locked-room mystery, A Line to Kill is a triumph—a riddle of a story full of brilliant misdirection, beautifully set-out clues, and diabolically clever denouements.
My Review. Alderney, a remote location, among the Channel Isles is not the sort of place to hold a literary festival. Horowitz’s publishers are enthusiastic about testing out the duo of Hawthorne and Horowitz in such an out of the way spot. Despite misgivings, Horowitz is forced to agree and finds himself once again observing Hawthorne at work. This time though there isn’t a murder in sight. Confounding Horowitz, the usually taciturn Hawthorne charms at the literary festival. Then, the festival’s sponsor is murdered and everyone on the island, including the guest authors, is suspected. Horowitz plays Watson to an increasingly confident Hawthorne, who knows more than he is telling. One solution is arrived at, but is that the end? Then there is a hint of where the next book will be set.
Sonia Bellhouse- Author. 