It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

The It’s Monday! What Are You Reading meme is hosted at BookDate

I’m also linking to The Sunday Post @ Caffeinated Reviewer

And the Sunday Salon @ ReaderBuzz

Life…

My oldest enjoyed her birthday celebrations this past week, and decided to gift herself a tattoo. She’s an adult so it was her choice to make, and It’s reasonably discrete – text on her inner forearm that says:

Always keep fighting* Love yourself first * You are enough

This week I’ll be attending an author event at my local library. I’m looking forward to hearing Victoria Purman talk about The Land Girls which I reviewed last week on the blog.

I was inspired by Kathryn’s midweek post about podcasts to search out some to sample while I cook dinner in the evenings. I’ve tried the book related ones recommended by Kathryn, and discovered another that I am enjoying The Librarian is In. If you have any others to suggest I try, please do.

I’d also like to know what you think about managing memes, please join me here for the discussion.

And I almost forgot, since it’s the last Monday of the month, to check in with my Goodreads Challenge

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What I’ve Read Since I last Posted…

Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane

Messy, Wonderful Us by Catherine Issac

The Lost Letters of William Woolf by Helen Cullen

Hunting Evil by Chris Carter

A Lifetime of Impossible Days by Tabitha Bird

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New Posts…

Review: The Land Girls by Victoria Purman

Review: Running Against the Tide by Amanda Ortlepp

Review: The Passengers by Eleanor Limprecht

Review: The Policewomen’s Bureau by Edward Conlon

Review: Fire Touched {Mercy Thompson #9} by Patricia Briggs

Stuff on Sundays: Managing Memes

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What I’m Reading This Week…

{Click on the cover to add the book to your shelf on Goodreads}

From the author of the international bestseller Our House, a new novel of twisty domestic suspense asks, “Could you hate your neighbor enough to plot to kill him?”

Lowland Way is the suburban dream. The houses are beautiful, the neighbors get along, and the kids play together on weekends.

But when Darren and Jodie move into the house on the corner, they donʼt follow the rules. They blast music at all hours, begin an unsightly renovation, and run a used-car business from their yard. It doesn’t take long for an all-out war to start brewing.

Then, early one Saturday, a horrific death shocks the street. As police search for witnesses, accusations start flying—and everyone has something to hide.

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BERLIN, 1939. The dreams that Amanda Sternberg and her husband, Julius, had for their daughters are shattered when the Nazis descend on Berlin, burning down their beloved family bookshop and sending Julius to a concentration camp. Desperate to save her children, Amanda flees toward the south of France, where the widow of an old friend of her husband’s has agreed to take her in. Along the way, a refugee ship headed for Cuba offers another chance at escape and there, at the dock, Amanda is forced to make an impossible choice that will haunt her for the rest of her life. Once in Haute-Vienne, her brief respite is inter­rupted by the arrival of Nazi forces, and Amanda finds herself in a labor camp where she must once again make a heroic sacrifice.

NEW YORK, 2015. Eighty-year-old Elise Duval receives a call from a woman bearing messages from a time and country that she forced herself to forget. A French Catholic who arrived in New York after World War II, Elise is shocked to discover that the letters were from her mother, written in German during the war. Despite Elise’s best efforts to stave off her past, seven decades of secrets begin to unravel.

Based on true events, The Daughter’s Tale chronicles one of the most harrowing atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis during the war. Heart­breaking and immersive, it is a beautifully crafted family saga of love, survival, and redemption.

++++++

 

North London in the twenty-first century: a place where a son will swiftly adopt an old lady and take her home from hospital to impersonate his dear departed mother, rather than lose the council flat.

A time of golden job opportunities, though you might have to dress up as a coffee bean or work as an intern at an undertaker or put up with champagne and posh French dinners while your boss hits on you.

A place rich in language – whether it’s Romanian, Ukrainian, Russian, Swahili or buxom housing officers talking managementese.

A place where husbands go absent without leave and councillors sacrifice cherry orchards at the altar of new builds.

Marina Lewycka is back in this hilarious, farcical, tender novel of modern issues and manners

++++++

 

Galway 1993: Young Garda Cormac Reilly is called to a scene he will never forget. Two silent, neglected children – fifteen-year-old Maude and five-year-old Jack – are waiting for him at a crumbling country house. Upstairs, their mother lies dead.

Twenty years later, a body surfaces in the icy black waters of the River Corrib. At first it looks like an open-and-shut case, but then doubt is cast on the investigation’s findings – and the integrity of the police. Cormac is thrown back into the cold case that has haunted him his entire career – what links the two deaths, two decades apart? As he navigates his way through police politics and the ghosts of the past, Detective Reilly uncovers shocking secrets and finds himself questioning who among his colleagues he can trust.

What really did happen in that house where he first met Maude and Jack? The Ruin draws us deep into the dark heart of Ireland and asks who will protect you when the authorities can’t – or won’t.

++++++

 

Maria Lindsey has secrets to hide. Living on top of a secluded mountain is a good way to hide from the world… until her past begins to track her down. The surprising and intriguing new novel about the astounding secrets we keep from those we love.

‘Maria knew about guilt. It was a stubborn, pervasive and toxic emotion, and incredibly difficult to shake. Especially if really, deep down, you didn’t think you deserved to let it go.’

Maria Lindsey is content. She spends her solitary days tending her bees and creating delicious honey products to fund orphaned children. A former nun, her life at Honeybee Haven has long been shaped by her self-imposed penance for terrible past events. But the arrival of two letters heralds the shattering of Maria’s peaceful existence.

Pushing aside the misgivings of her family and friends, Tansy Butterfield, on the eve of her marriage, made a serious deal with her adored husband, Dougal. A deal she’d intended to honour. But, seven years on, Tansy is finding her current feelings difficult to ignore. And on top of those not-really-there feelings, Dougal wants to move to Canada!

With captivating characters and an intriguingly tangled mystery, The Beekeeper’s Secret celebrates families in all their joys and complications

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Thanks for stopping by!

Stuff on Sundays: Managing Memes

 

Book blogging memes are a fixture of our community, (though the term ‘meme’ is more popularly applied to the graphic images I’m sure you are all familiar with).

Memes are hosted on a regular weekly or monthly basis, but generally participants can opt in, or out, at anytime. Some memes have specific rules, others are more lax, but they almost all require some level of reciprocity, in that your post should link to the host, and you should visit others who are taking part. There are memes who have a hundred or more regular participants, some who have just a few. Numbers often rise and fall over time.

People tend to participate in memes for any number of reasons. I choose to participate for two main reasons:

#1 – it introduces me to, and helps me maintain connections with, other book bloggers

#2– they provide a loose framework for my blogging schedule

Every Monday I participate in three weekly memes, though I combine them into one post, in part because my Monday is Sunday in the US, and they share a similar theme.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? Hosted By Kathryn @ Book Date

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet up and share what you have been, and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organise yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment and er… add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone.

You can learn more here @ The Book Date

The Sunday Post

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog. This is your news post, so personalize it! Include as much as you want or as little. Be creative, it can be a vlog or just a showcase of your goodies. Link up once a week or once a month, you decide. Book haul can include library books, yard sale finds, arcs and bought books..share them!

You can learn more at Caffeinated Reviewer

The Sunday Salon

The Salon has recently been revived by Nance at The Readerbuzz and is open to anyone who’d like to discuss books on a Sunday (or, frankly, any other day of the week). Bloggers are welcome to discuss what you’re reading here, or link to relevant blog posts, or comment on one another’s posts.

You can learn more here at Nance at the Readerbuzz

I also participate in three memes on a regular basis

On the 1st Sunday of the month I participate in a monthly meme Six Degrees of Separation, hosted by booksaremyfavouriteandbest where, on the first Saturday of every month, a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book.

You can learn more here Booksaremyfavouriteandbest

 

On the 2nd Sunday of the month I participate in Weekend Cooking, a weekly meme hosted by BethFishReads. Weekend Cooking is a chance to share the food love. Beth posts every Saturday morning , and you are welcome to share any post related to the theme of food, this might be a cookbook review, or a novel in which food plays a part, or even just some favorite food-related quotes.

You can learn more at BethFishReads

 

I’ve posted Bookshelf Bounty every 3rd Sunday of the month for several years, but now I link it with Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga’s Reviews & Reading Reality. Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

You can learn more at Tyngas Reviews

 

There is one other meme I participate in only sporadically. NonFiction Friday is hosted by DoingDeweyDecimal and is specifically for linking reviews of nonfiction books. They can be posted any time during the week, but when I have a nonfiction book review, I deliberately schedule the post on a Friday. Unfortunately participation seems to have dropped quite a lot, but I have always appreciated it because I enjoy nonfiction and this meme has allowed me to explore what’s out there, and I do check in weekly and browse those links that have been posted. Perhaps you’ll consider linking up your next nonfiction review.

You can learn more at doingdeweydecimal.com

 

Though not everyone has the inclination, or time to take part, I think participation in memes is mostly beneficial to the book bloggers as it encourages connection and community. even among bloggers who have disparate tastes in books. It has other benefits too, in that memes can help boost blog stats, and fill gaps in your blog schedule when you are stuck, or under pressure.

There are several book bloggers who host meme directory’s. Some are more up to date or comprehensive than others. Here are links to a few:

Bookshelf Fantasies

The Reading Life

Perspective of a Writer

What do you think about memes?

What do you like about those that you participate in regularly?

Are there any memes you would recommend?

Review: Fire Touched {Mercy Thompson #9} by Patricia Briggs

 

Title: Fire Touched {Mercy Thompson #9}

Author: Patricia Briggs

Published: March 8th 2016, Ace Books

Status: Read February 2016 courtesy Berkley/Netgalley

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My Thoughts:

Fire Touched, the ninth instalment of Patricia Briggs urban fantasy series featuring Mercy Thompson, begins with a naked troll released by the Fae Gray Lords, creating havoc on a Tri-Cities bridge. Leaping to the defence of the city, Mercy, Adam and the pack engage in a fierce battle to end the rampage, and wind up indebted to a boy seeking refuge from the fae.

Providing sanctuary to Aiden, a once human boy who is now something Other after having spent years in Underhill, puts the pack in direct conflict with not only the Gray Lords who want him back, but also the humans who fear a supernatural war, and the most powerful werewolf pack in the country.

In addition Adam and Mercy must finally take a stand against the members of the pack who have been unhappy about the influence Mercy wields as Adam’s mate. It’s imperative the pack is united if they are going to survive.

Action packed and fast paced, Fire Touched is another entertaining and creative story. Though some fans have expressed discontent with the focus on the fae of late, It seems as if the author is bringing this thread to a close. As always, I’m already impatient for the next adventure for Mercy, and her friends.

++++++

 

Available to purchase via PenguinRandomHouse or your preferred retailer via Indiebound

Available to purchase from Hachette AU or your preferred retailer via Booko

 

Click the image to view the Mercy Thompson series on Goodreads

Review: The Policewomen’s Bureau by Edward Conlon

 

Title: The Policewomen’s Bureau

Author: Edward Conlon

Published: March 28th 2019, Arcade

Status: Read May 2019 courtesy Skyhorse Publishing/Netgalley

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My Thoughts:

In his Author’s Note, Edward Conlon explains that The Policewomen’s Bureau is a lightly fictionalised account of the life of Marie Cirile-Spagnuolo, who began her career with the NYPD in 1957. A former officer himself, Conlon was fascinated by Marie’s experience as a married Italian woman in a male-dominated, predominantly Irish police department, and worked with her on this novel before her death in 2011.

Asked what is true, Conlon answers “Most of it, and the worst of it.”

In The Policewomen’s Bureau, Marie Carrara is a new recruit in the 44th Precinct. It’s 1957, and the majority of the NYPD believe the force is no place for a woman. Most serving female officers are tasked with matron duty, used to guard female prisoners, console victims, search dead female bodies, and, more often than not, fetch and carry for their male colleagues, never leaving the precinct. But there are a handful of women who are reluctantly called upon to assist in cases that require a woman’s touch. These women are under the command of Inspector Melchionne of the Policewomen’s Bureau, and Marie is excited to join them after six months on the job.

Despite her startling naivety, not unexpected for a young Catholic woman in the 1950’s, Marie quickly finds she enjoys, and has a talent for, the undercover work she is tasked with. I enjoyed Conlon’s descriptions of her activities which are interesting, and often amusing. Her first case requires her to apply for a job with a man who is sexually assaulting many of the young female applicants. While she is successful, it takes a few hits with her blackjack to cool his ardour, and while waiting for patrol officers to arrive she decides to tidy up, throwing out a canister of ‘spoiled’ sugar (which is later found to be cocaine), and incinerating a stack of dirty pictures.

I was disappointed to learn in an author interview that the only purely fictional part of Conlon’s novel is Marie’s later work with the detective squads. I don’t begrudge Conlon taking fictional licence, and these sections were well written and entertaining, however I can’t help but feel as if it somewhat negates the real Marie’s accomplishments as a pioneering policewoman.

Conlon also weaves the professional and personal together in The Policewomen’s Bureau to illustrate a woman who is intelligent, brave, and resourceful, yet still a product of her time and background.

In 1957, Marie is also one of four daughters of Italian Catholic parents, married unhappily to Sid, and mother of four year old Cindy. Sid, himself a police officer, is generally considered to be good looking and charming, but he is also emotionally and physically abusive, a serial cheater, and venal. It was many years before divorce would be an option for Marie, and while she slowly gained some measure of respect in her workplace, she never gained the respect of her husband.

The Policewomen’s Bureau is an interesting and engaging read, both as a work of fiction, and for the truth it shares about women’s early experiences as serving police officers in the NYPD.

++++++

Available to purchase from Arcade Publishing

or your preferred retailer via Indiebound or Booko

Review: The Passengers by Eleanor Limprecht

 

Title: The Passengers

Author: Eleanor Limprecht

Published: March 1st 2018, Allen & Unwin

Status: Read May 2019- courtesy Allen & Unwin

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My Thoughts:

In Eleanor Limprecht’s captivating novel, The Passengers, a young woman is accompanying her grandmother from America to Australia after an absence of 68 years.

The narrative shifts smoothly between the present day, as the women journey on the cruise ship, and the past, as Sarah reminisces about her life.

“But Sydney isn’t home, love. Never was. Home is the farm we lost when I was sixteen.”

Hannah is fascinated by Sarah’s candid stories of her childhood on a dairy farm, her move to Sydney, her whirlwind romance with an American soldier during World War II, her journey in 1945 as a nineteen year old war bride on the USS Mariposa, and then her life in the US. Sarah shares her experiences both good and bad, of love and loss, and long held secrets. I was very invested in Sarah’s story which is beautifully told by Limprecht, and I was particularly interested in her experiences as a war bride, which I haven’t read a lot about.

“I wanted you close. I guess I hoped you’d want to talk about it, one day. I suppose it’s why I wanted to tell you about Roy. About the secrets I kept.”

While Hannah is ostensibly accompanying her 87 year old grandmother as a helpmate, Sarah hopes that by revealing her secrets on the journey that Hannah might do the same. I thought some of Hannah’s issues contrasted well with Sarah’s experiences, though her primary affliction was not one I found particularly effective in the context of this story.

Though it has its flaws, I thought The Passengers was a moving tale of joy, heartbreak, loss and adventure. I read it without pausing, and I will be looking for more by Eleanor Limprecht.

++++++

 

Available from Allen & Unwin

or from your preferred retailer via Booko

Also by Eleanor Limprecht reviewed at Book’d Out

Review: Running Against the Tide by Amanda Ortlepp

 

Title: Running Against the Tide

Author: Amanda Ortlepp

Published: March 1st 2016, Simon & Schuster

Status: Read March 2016 courtesy Simon & Schuster

++++++

My Thoughts:

Running Against the Tides is a story of suspense in which Amana Ortlepp explores themes such as displacement, addiction, bias, obsession, and betrayal.

Needing to make a fresh start after the breakdown of her marriage, Erin Travers is drawn to Mallee Bay on the Eyre Peninsula. She has fond childhood memories of the small coastal town, and hopes it will be a place that she and her two teenage sons, Mike and Ryan, can make a home.

It’s not the most auspicious of starts, their rental home is poky and unloved, but while Erin and nineteen year old Mike are determined to make the best of the situation, and soon begin to find their feet, fifteen year old Ryan refuses to make any effort, becoming increasingly antisocial.

Told from the perspectives of Erin, Ryan and Jono, the family’s new neighbour, Ortlepp builds the tension as things at home, and in the town begin to go awry. Erin is annoyed when a cheque goes missing, disturbed when her home is vandalised, and increasingly frightened as she receives a series of anonymous threatening notes. Meanwhile, a spate of thefts from the local oyster farms, including that which belongs to neighbour, and Mike’s new employer, has the locals frustrated and on edge.

Though I found the pace a little slow, I did appreciate the way in which Ortlepp crafted the story to build suspicion around several characters, and eventually both situations come to head with a dramatic, and somewhat surprising, conclusion.

++++++

Available to purchase from Simon & Schuster

Or your preferred retailer via Booko

Also by Amanda Ortlepp reviewed at Book’d Out

 

Review: The Land Girls by Victoria Purman

Title: The Land Girls

Author Victoria Purman

Published: April 23rd 2019, HQ Fiction Au

Status: Read May 2019

++++++

My Thoughts:

In Victoria Purman’s historical fiction novel, The Land Girls, It’s 1942 and World War II has spread from Europe across the Pacific. As fathers, brothers, husbands and sons fight on the frontlines against the Germans, Italians and Japanese, the women left behind are asked to do more than just tend their victory gardens, knit socks, and roll bandages. While some women heed the call and join auxiliary services like the WRANS or the WAAF, or take up positions in factories and shipyards, workers are also desperately needed to ensure Australia’s agricultural industry doesn’t collapse and thus, The Australian Women’s Land Army was founded.

Flora, a 30 year old under-appreciated secretary, volunteers because while one of her brothers is serving overseas, the other cannot, and she is determined that no one will be able to accuse their family of not doing enough.

Betty, not quite 18, leaves her job as a Woolworth’s counter girl when her best friend, Michael, enlists, wanting to prove that she too can make a difference beyond selling cosmetics.

Lily chooses to join the Land Girls when her new husband must report for duty to the Airforce the day after their wedding, despite the displeasure of her ‘society’ parents who would prefer their daughter assist the war effort in a more seemly manner.

With warmth, humour and honesty, The Land Girls follows the journey of these three women from when, for meals, board, a brand new uniform, and thirty shillings a week, they are given their first assignments. It explores not only the challenges the women are faced with as they work long hours, largely unaccustomed to such intense physical labour, in unfamiliar surroundings with strangers, but also the emotional challenges of being separated from family, and their fears for their loved ones serving overseas. There are gains and losses, joy and heartbreak. All three of these women will be changed by their experiences as Land Girls, and the vagaries of war.

Well researched, The Land Girls is a wonderful tribute to the 6000 women who participated in the war effort as a member of The Australian Women’s Land Army between 1942 and 1945. It shamefully took more than fifty years for the Australian government to recognise the value of their contribution. I’m thankful Victoria Purman has shone a light on this admirable facet of history.

The Land Girls is a charming, edifying and poignant novel of Australian women in wartime and the important role they played on the home front, a story of resilience, tragedy and hope.

Read an Excerpt

++++++

Available to Purchase from HarperCollins AU

Or from your preferred retailer via Booko

 

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

The It’s Monday! What Are You Reading meme is hosted at BookDate

I’m also linking to The Sunday Post @ Caffeinated Reviewer

And the Sunday Salon @ ReaderBuzz

 

Life…

It’s been a quiet week on the home front. I finished binge watching Grace & Frankie, and Lucifer, caught up with a few other shows and have started Dead to Me.

Our federal elections were this weekend, and the results were disappointing.

I’ve knocked a few more books off that Netgalley backlog I accrued during my hiatus, I’m down to five, but I’ve added more (of course). However Netgalley seems to think close enough is good enough, my feedback rating is at 100%

This week my oldest daughter will turn 23, the same age I was when she was born! She still lives at home and has requested pizza and a funfetti cake to celebrate on Tuesday night, and invited a bunch of her friends over for pre drinks on Saturday night, as a precursor to heading out to a club.

Here she is, aged 1

 

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What I’ve Read Since I last Posted…

 

The Land Girls by Victoria Purman

The Police Women’s Bureau by Edward Conlon

Thirty Thousand Bottles of Wine and a Pig Named Helga by Todd Alexander

The Passengers by Eleanor Limprecht

Cake at Midnight by Jessie L Star

Why Mummy Doesn’t Give a **** by Gill Sims

 

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New Posts

 

Review: When It All Went to Custard by Danielle Hawkins

Review: The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson

Review: The Accusation by Wendy James

Review: Thirty Thousand Bottles of Wine and a Pig Named Helga by Todd Alexander

Review: Four Respectable Ladies Seek the Meaning of Wife by Barbara Toner

Stuff on Sundays: Bookshelf Bounty

 

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What I’m Reading This Week

{Click on the cover to add the book to your shelf on Goodreads}

 

A profoundly moving novel about two neighboring families in a suburban town, the friendship between their children, a tragedy that reverberates over four decades, and the power of forgiveness.

Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope are two NYPD rookies assigned to the same Bronx precinct in 1973. They aren’t close friends on the job, but end up living next door to each other outside the city. What goes on behind closed doors in both houses—the loneliness of Francis’s wife, Lena, and the instability of Brian’s wife, Anne, sets the stage for the stunning events to come.

Ask Again, Yes by award-winning author Mary Beth Keane, is a beautifully moving exploration of the friendship and love that blossoms between Francis’s youngest daughter, Kate, and Brian’s son, Peter, who are born six months apart. In the spring of Kate and Peter’s eighth grade year a violent event divides the neighbors, the Stanhopes are forced to move away, and the children are forbidden to have any further contact.

But Kate and Peter find a way back to each other, and their relationship is tested by the echoes from their past. Ask Again, Yes reveals how the events of childhood look different when reexamined from the distance of adulthood—villains lose their menace, and those who appeared innocent seem less so. Kate and Peter’s love story is marked by tenderness, generosity, and grace.

++++++

You never know what life will throw at you. You just need to know who to turn to for help.

One morning in early summer, a man and woman wait to board a flight to Italy. 

Allie has lived a careful, focused existence. But now she has unexpectedly taken leave from her job as an academic research scientist to fly to a place she only recently heard about in a letter. Her father, Joe, doesn’t know the reason for her trip, and Allie can’t bring herself to tell him that she’s flying to Italy to unpick the truth about what her mother did all those years ago.

Beside her is her best friend since schooldays, Ed. He has just shocked everyone with a sudden separation from his wife, Julia. Allie hopes that a break will help him open up.

But the secrets that emerge as the sun beats down on Lake Garda and Liguria don’t merely concern her family’s tangled past. And the two friends are forced to confront questions about their own life-long relationship that are impossible to resolve.

++++++

A thoughtful, uplifting and magical story of childhood, family and finding ways to change the inevitable . . .
Meet Willa Waters, aged 8 . . . 33 . . . and 93.
On one impossible day in.
1965, eight-year-old Willa Waters receives a mysterious box containing a jar of water and the instruction: ‘One ocean: plant in the backyard.’ So she does – and somehow creates an extraordinary time-slip that allows her to visit her future selves.
On one impossible day in .
1990, Willa is 33 and a mother-of-two when her childhood self magically appears in her backyard. But she’s also a woman haunted by memories of her dark past – and is on the brink of a decision that will have tragic repercussions . . .
On one impossible day in .
2050 Willa is a silver-haired, gumboot-loving 93-year-old whose memory is fading fast. Yet she knows there’s something she has to remember, a warning she must give her past selves about a terrible event in 1990 . . . If only she could recall what it was.
Can the three Willas come together, to heal their past and save their future . . . before it’s too late?

++++++

Every story one day comes to an end.

As roommates, they met for the first time in college. Two of the brightest minds ever to graduate from Stamford Psychology University.

As adversaries, they met again in Quantico, Virginia. Robert Hunter had become the head of the LAPD’s Ultra Violent Crimes Unit. Lucien Folter had become the most prolific and dangerous serial killer the FBI had ever encountered.

Now, after spending three and a half years locked in solitary confinement, Lucien has finally managed to break free. And he’s angry.

For the past three and a half years, Lucien has thought of nothing else but vengeance.

The person responsible for locking him away has to pay, he has to suffer.

That person … is Robert Hunter.

And now it is finally time to execute the plan.

++++++

Lost letters have only one hope for survival…The Dead Letters Depot.

Inside the walls of a former tea factory, letter detectives work to solve mysteries: missing zip codes, illegible handwriting, rain-smudged ink, lost address labels, torn packages, forgotten street names—these are the twists of fate behind missed birthdays, broken hearts, unheard confessions, pointless accusations, unpaid bills and unanswered prayers.

But when letters arrive addressed simply to “My Great Love,” one longtime letter detective with face his greatest mystery yet, as his quest to follow the clues becomes a life-changing journey of love, hope and courage.

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Thanks for stopping by!

Bookshelf Bounty

Every third Sunday of the month I share my Bookshelf Bounty – what’s been added to my TBR tile recently for review from publishers, purchases or gifts.

i’m linking up with Stacking the Shelves, a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews

Click on the cover images to view at Goodreads

For Review (print)
(My thanks to the respective publishers)

For Review (Electronic)
(My thanks to the respective publishers)

 

Acquired by other means

 

 

Review: Four Respectable Ladies Seek the Meaning of Wife by Barbara Toner

 

Title: Four Respectable Ladies Seek the Meaning of Wife

Author: Barbara Toner

Published: April 2nd 2019, Bantam Australia

Status: Read May 2019 courtesy PenguinRandomHouse AU

++++++

My Thoughts:

Four Respectable Ladies Seek the Meaning of Wife is the sequel to Barbara Toner’s novel, Four Respectable Ladies Seek Part Time Husband.

In the intervening decade, Pearl McLeary has become a married mother of four, Adelaide Nightingale has been widowed, Maggie O’Connell is unhappily married, and not one of them is happy about the return of Louisa Worthington to Prospect.

Perhaps if I had read Four Respectable Ladies Seek Part Time Husband previously, I would have been more invested in the characters, and hence the story. But unfortunately I have to admit I mostly found this quite hard going, though I did read to the end as I wanted to know how the four women resolved their issues.

I expect that those readers who enjoyed Four Respectable Ladies Seek Part Time Husband, will also enjoy this.

Read an Extract

++++++

Purchase from Penguin Australia or your preferred retailer via Booko