It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

The Its Monday! What Are You Reading meme is hosted at Book Journey.

Life…

Really my life is uneventful. I care for my family, clean, cook, shop, sleep, read, rinse, repeat. This week I am breaking the routine to see Breaking Dawn Part 2 at the movies with my BFF, I’ll be heading to my parents on the weekend for my mother’s birthday and if I can find the willpower, I will clean out my office which is the room you can see at the front of the house. (Hmm that vine needs a trim too!)

What I Read Last Week

Shine Light {Night Creatures #3} by Marianne de Pierres

Cage Life by Karin Cox

Kiss River by Diane Chamberlain

Sydney Blue by Bruce A Wallace

Hannah and Emil by Belinda Castles

Reflected in You {Crossfire #2} by Sylvia Day

Chaos Born by Rebekah Turner

Reviews Posted

(click the titles to read  my reviews) 

Feral Bells by Peta Jo ★★★1/2

**AWW Feature & Giveaway: Peta Jo, Feral Bells and an Apology**

After Moonrise by Gena Showalter and PC Cast ★★★

Cage Life by Karin Cox ★★★

Shine Light by Marianne de Pierres ★★★★

Kiss River by Diane Chamberlain ★★

What I Am Reading Today

For years, Elza has managed to get by. She has her own little restaurant in the Hungarian city of Delibab cooking quality versions of her country’s classics and serving them with a smile. But lately her smile has become tired. She is weary of serving the same customers the same dishes, and the loveless affair with her sous-chef is now an irritation. With her country in a state of transition from communism to capitalism, Elza embarks upon her own change. She decides to woo The Critic, one of the harshest, most powerful restaurant columnists in Europe, in the hope of landing a glowing review that will push her above the competition. But as relationships in the kitchen sour, the food threatens to turn with them, and not even Elza’s strained composure can prevent the chaos that seems fated to engulf her. Filled with charm and humour, Elza’s Kitchen is a wonderful celebration of culture and cuisine, serving up all the heat, sensual delights and rich atmosphere of the restaurant itself. Resisting the comfortable pattern of her old life, Elza finds that true joy – and love – can be hidden in the most surprising of places.

What I Plan To Read This Week

(click the covers to view at Goodreads)

The sound of horses’ hooves turns hollow on the farms west of Wirri. If a man can still ride, if he hasn’t totally lost the use of his legs, if he hasn’t died to the part of his heart that understands such things, then he should go for a gallop. At the very least he should stand at the road by the river imagining that he’s pushing a horse up the steep hill that leads to the house on the farm once known as One Tree. Set in hardscrabble farming country and around the country show high-jumping circuit that prevailed in rural New South Wales prior to the Second World War, Foal’s Bread tells the story of two generations of the Nancarrow family and their fortunes as dictated by the vicissitudes of the land. It is a love story of impossible beauty and sadness, a chronicle of dreams ‘turned inside out’, and miracles that never last, framed against a world both tender and unspeakably hard.

In 1923 nineteen-year-old Jack Manning watches the construction of the mighty Harbour Bridge and dreams of being more than just a grocer’s son. So when he’s offered the chance to manage Absolution Creek, a sheep property 800 miles from Sydney, he seizes the opportunity. But outback life is tough, particularly if you’re young, inexperienced and have only a few textbooks to guide you. Then a thirteen-year-old girl, Squib Hamilton, quite literally washes up on his doorstep – setting in motion a devastating chain of events… Forty years later and Cora Hamilton is waging a constant battle to keep Absolution Creek in business. She’s ostracized by the local community and hindered by her inability to move on from the terrible events of her past, which haunt her both physically and emotionally. Only one man knows what really happened in 1923. A dying man who is riding towards Absolution Creek, seeking his own salvation…

Mace Evans is single at thirty-eight. When her much unloved older sister, Shannon, declares that Mace is anti-social, she embarks on a journey to understand her condition; whether she was born that way or if it is the accumulation of thirty-eight years of unfortunate encounters with other humans and dogs. For reasons unbeknown to Mace, she has an affair with a work colleague, which brings an unexpected end to her perfect marriage. And as if the self-imposed torture and regret is not enough, Mace endures ongoing judgment from her older sister and mother, which further exacerbates already tenuous relationships. With support from her four best friends, merlot and pizza, and with guidance from her life coach and mentor, Oscar Wilde, Mace recovers to a degree, but in her quest to understand her anti-social ways, she finds herself wondering about the quality of the fabric that keeps her network of friends intact. When Mace’s mother is diagnosed with cancer, Mace searches for common ground on which to connect before it is too late.

Dateline: March 3, 2011, Woodinville, Washington. “Built green? Nope black! ELF.” The mocking sign was left at the sight of an eco-terrorist attack on ‘green’ multi-million dollar homes which were burnt to the ground. While the incident drew headlines from local papers, it barely made the national news. No arrests have been made. Dateline: Same day, Fairfax, Virginia. Samantha Sherman, a former Coast Guard helicopter pilot turned stay at home Mom, tries to decide between Tide 2X Ultra with Dawn Stain Scrubbers and her old standby, Tide with Bleach Alternative. She finally determines that it truly makes no difference and sighs. Little does she know that in a few short weeks her happy, but not wildly exciting life will be turned upside down by the threat of eco-terrorism, the Weather Underground, and murder.

While you are here…

Enter my current Giveaways

Win 1 copy of Feral Bells by Peta Jo

Win 1 of 15 copies of Cage Life

Congratulations to

Amanda and Brenda who have won Run to Me by Erin Golding

Jen and  Anne who have won Lost At Sea by Jon Ronson

Don’t Miss…

Escape into romance and pick up a free novella

Useful WordPress features for book bloggers

Thanks for stopping by, I’ll be along to visit you shortly!