Hi and welcome to my reading blog, I'm glad you've come to visit.
This is just my informal reviews to keep track of what I've read lately. You may find some that interest you. Enjoy!
By Liane Moriarty [Burb: At the heart of The Husband’s Secret is a letter that’s not meant to be read.
My darling Cecilia, if you’re reading this, then I’ve died...Imagine that your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret—something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive. . . . Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all—she’s an incredibly successful businesswoman, a pillar of her small community, and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia—or each other—but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband’s secret.] I loved this book. It had be hooked once I read about the secret letter. This is a story of several families and characters, who bit by bit become entwined as one. It's well written and intriguing and although at first I wondered what the connection was going to be, the story was like an onion being peeled, layer by layer. I must admit I guessed the ending, well almost, there was a slight twist to what I had predicted, but it was a page turner for sure.
By Sarbjit Kaur Athwal [Burb: In 1998, Sarbjit Athwal was called by her husband to attend a family meeting. It looked like just another family gathering. An attractive house in west London, a large dining room, two brothers, their mother, one wife. But the subject they were discussing was anything but ordinary. At the head of the group sat the elderly mother. She stared proudly around, smiling at her children, then raised her hand for silence. 'It's decided then,' the old lady announced. 'We have to get rid of her.' 'Her' was Surjit Athwal, Sarbjit's sister-in-law. Within three weeks of that meeting, Surjit was dead: lured from London to India, drugged, strangled, and her body dumped in the Ravi River, never to be seen again. After the killing, risking her own life, Sarbjit fought secretly for justice for nine long, scared years. Eventually, with immense bravery, she became the first person within a murderer's family ever to go into open court in an honour killing trial as the Prosecution's key witness, and the first to waive her anonymity in such a trial. As a result of her testimony, the trial led to the first successful prosecution of an honour killing without the body ever being found. But her story doesn't end there. Since the trial, her life has been threatened; her own husband arrested after an allegation of intimidation. Shamed is a story of fear and of horror - but also of immense courage, and a woman who risked everything to see that justice was done.] A hard but powerful book to read. When you think of the power of Religion and customs and what some women must go through to to keep their family from 'shame'. I felt for Sarbjit, who was caught in a very difficult situation, and was in fear of her life for so many years. Even when she was brave enough to reach out for help from authorities she was ignored. A fascinating story, which is probably not isolated to this family, but which made me thankful for my free choice.
by Laura Jarrett This new YA fiction was a great read and something a little different. The story opens with Louisa trying to pick a new name for herself. Bit by bit the author releases titbits of information about why this teenage girl and her family are now in witness protection and must take on new identities and relocate. Like peeling an onion, we gradually here the story from 'Holly' and the trauma she and her family are going through. She must start a new school and try to make friends, without ever letting slip her real past and the truth about their move. She struggles at first and longs for her former girlfriends support during this difficult time but she knows if she lets out any information she will be putting herself and her family in danger. It's a great story about new identities and learning who you really are and what really matters. Her sister Katie is autistic and that brings it's own problems but also new understanding. Holly's relationship with a boy, who she thought at first meeting was an Emo, turns out to be just the person to set her on the road to recovery. It gets very exciting at the end so I wont give too much away. I'm sure the teenage girls will love it!
I love reading Kate's books. Ever since I read her new release 'The Secret Keeper' I was hooked and needed to read the rest of her novels. She researches the historical content well and usually tells a story of family secrets which takes you on a journey through decades. The Shifting Fog (The House at Riverton) Summer 1924 - On the eve of a glittering society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life. The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again. Winter 1999 - Grace Bradley, ninety-eight, one-time housemaid of Riverton Manor, is visited by a young director making a film about the poet's suicide. Ghosts awaken and old memories - long consigned to the dark reaches of Grace's mind - begin to sneak back through the cracks. A shocking secret threatens to emerge, something history has forgotten but Grace never could.
Set as the war-shattered Edwardian summer surrenders to the decadent twenties, The House at Riverton is a thrilling mystery and a compelling love story.
The Distant Hours A long lost letter arrives in the post and Edie Burchill finds herself on a journey to Milderhurst Castle, a great but moldering old house, where the Blythe spinsters live and where her mother was billeted 50 years before as a 13 year old child during WWII. The elder Blythe sisters are twins and have spent most of their lives looking after the third and youngest sister, Juniper, who hasn’t been the same since her fiance jilted her in 1941. Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother’s past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Milderhurst, and Edie is about to learn more than she expected. The truth of what happened in ‘the distant hours’ of the past has been waiting a long time for someone to find it.
Morton once again enthralls readers with an atmospheric story featuring unforgettable characters beset by love and circumstance and haunted by memory, that reminds us of the rich power of storytelling The Forgotten Garden A foundling, an old book of dark fairy tales, a secret garden, an aristocratic family, a love denied, and a mystery. The Forgotten Garden is a captivating, atmospheric and compulsively readable story of the past, secrets, family and memory from the international best-selling author Kate Morton. Cassandra is lost, alone and grieving. Her much loved grandmother, Nell, has just died and Cassandra, her life already shaken by a tragic accident ten years ago, feels like she has lost everything dear to her. But an unexpected and mysterious bequest from Nell turns Cassandra's life upside down and ends up challenging everything she thought she knew about herself and her family. Inheriting a book of dark and intriguing fairytales written by Eliza Makepeace - the Victorian authoress who disappeared mysteriously in the early twentieth century - Cassandra takes her courage in both hands to follow in the footsteps of Nell on a quest to find out the truth about their history, their family and their past; little knowing that in the process, she will also discover a new life for herself.
Following on from the fantastic 'Pearl in a Cage' is... Book 2 'Thorn on the rose', Book 3 'Moth to a flame', Book 4 'Wind in the wires' and Book 5 'Ripples on a pond'
THORN ON THE ROSE Blurb:It is 1939 and Jenny Morrison, distraught and just fifteen years of age, has fled the tiny logging community of Woody Creek for a new life in the big smoke. But four months later she is back – wiser, with an expensive new wardrobe, and bearijng another dark secret...She takes refuge with Gertrude, her dependable granny and Woody Creek's indomitable midwife, and settles into a routine in the ever-expanding and chaotic household. But can she ever put the trauma of her past behind her and realise her dream of becoming a famous singer? Or is she doomed to follow in the footsteps of her tragic and mysterious mother? MOTH TO THE FLAME Blurb:The year is 1946. The war ended five months ago. Jim Hooper, Jenny Morrison's only love, was lost to that war. And if not for Jenny, he would never have gone."An eye for an eye," Vern Hooper says. An unforgiving man, Vern wants custody of Jenny's son, his only grandson, and is quietly planning his day in court. Then Jenny's father Archie Foote swoops back into town. Archie offers Jenny a tantalising chance at fame and fortune; one way or another he is determined to play a part in her life. Is Jenny's luck about to change, or is she drawn to trouble like a moth is drawn to the flame?
WIND IN THE WIRES Blurb:The wind is whispering in Woody Creek... Change is in the air It's 1958 and Woody Creek is being dragged – kicking and screaming – into the swinging sixties. Jenny's daughters, Cara and Georgie, are now young women. They have inherited their mother's hands, but that is where their similarity ends. Raised separately, they have never met. A mistake from Cara's teenage years looms over her future, but she believes emphatically in the white wedding and happily ever after myth. Georgie has seen enough of marriage and motherhood. She plans to live her life as her grandmother did, independent of a man. But life for the Morrison girls has never been easy, and once the sisters are in each other's lives, long-buried secrets are bound to be unearthed, the dramatic consequences of which no-one could have predicted...
RIPPLES ON A POND Blurb: Woody Creek is gearing up for its centenary celebrations – but for many of its townspeople, it's just another reminder of the old days, when life was more simple, before so-called progress, technology and a growing population roared through the town, altering everything in its wake. Not for Georgie though. Long encumbered by responsibility for her half-sister Margot, she's looking towards the future and more changes. Not having managed to move on from running Charlie's grocery store yet, as the clock ticks over to 1970, she's determined that the time has come. She's not the only one of Jenny's children who's grown up and is moving on. As a six year old, little Jimmy Morrison was stolen from Woody Creek by his grandfather, and is now further away than ever from his estranged birth mother and sisters. Having inherited an estate in the United Kingdom, he's determined to make a new life for himself. If only he could shake off his one terrible attachment to Australia... For Cara, Woody Creek has been the source of the most devastating news of her life, and a terrible mistake that cannot be undone. She's vowed never to step foot into the place again. But the old timber town has a way of getting under people's skins. And as it draws the much loved cast of Woody Creek characters back into its grip, confessions, discoveries and truths seem set to explode in the most dramatic of showdowns... Wow, I really loved each of these books and each one left you hanging on for the next. After book 4 I just had to find out what happened and the book had only been published in March, so I download the next one to my kindle as quickly as possible. (Gotta love a kindle) Very addictive! Not quite finished yet....
By Joy Dettman Blurb: On a balmy midsummer's evening in 1923, a young woman foreign, dishevelled and heavily pregnant is found unconscious just off the railway tracks in the tiny logging community of Woody Creek. The town midwife, Gertrude Foote, is roused from her bed when the woman is brought to her door. Try as she might, Gertrude is unable to save her, but the baby lives. Gertrude's daughter Amber who has recently lost a son in childbirth and her husband Norman take the child in. I've been wanting to read on of Joy's books for a while as I keep seeing them, but they look so big and my reading time is limited, however I decided to give it a go. I wasn't disappointed. I loved it so much that when I had finished, and realised it was the first book in a series 'The Woody Creek' series I just had to download the next book immediately to my kindle. The writing was so good, I just felt like I was living in the town and knew all the characters so well. I really felt for Jenny having to live with such a cruel mother and sister and kept wanting her Granny, Gertrude, to tell her the truth, but no, that wasn't to be...well not yet anyway, who knows what is in store in the next few books, I believe there are 5 or 6 in the series. I can't wait!
by Kate Morton Fabulous, fabulous book. Very intriguing, couldn't put it down. A story with many layers of mystery, secrets and deception. Laurel witnesses a crime when she is a teenager. While hiding up a tree she sees her mother stab and kill a stranger, who comes to their home during a birthday party. Fifty years on, Laurel discovers some of the mystery of why this has happened and who this man was. Now her mother is close to death, and time is running out to get the answers to the many questions that has haunted her all her life. There are secrets and more secrets. All is not what it seems. The story shifts between 1940's during the war, 1961 and 2011 and is woven around three characters whose lives will be fatefully entwined forever. There are twists and turns throughout which makes the story spellbinding. It touches on childhood memories, family tragedies and living during the London Blitz. A fantastic new release novel by an Australian author who has also written The Forgotten Garden and The Distant Hours.
By Dawn French What an interesting read and an unusual setting. Silvia Shute has fallen from a balcony and is in hospital in a coma. She has led, what seems to be, a selfish life... or has she? After many years of marriage she has left her husband, cut herself off from her children and only grand child and has taken up a relationship with another women. Now in a coma, just lying there, she is unable to spit venomous words to her family and friends that have come to rally around her in her time of need. Each one has their individual time with her and although at first they speak words of encouragement and try to bring her out of her coma, little by little, true feelings come out and they can't resist telling her what they really think of her, particularly while she is 'out of action'. But maybe there is more to Sylvia than everyone thinks. Each chapter is describing what is going on behind the closed door while each character has their time with Sylvia. At times it is quite funny, particularly what bizarre antics her sister gets up to to bring her back to reality. As you read further in this book it unravels more mysteries and everything will fall into place in a very unexpected way. Well worth a read. Thanks Dani for the Chrissy gift!
By Liane Moriarty
