It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

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

Life…

Chaos reigns here in the midst of school holidays. Between days of rain, sick kids (it’s flu season), dress up disco’s, gymnastic performances, Scout fundraiser activties and a long overdue cull of toys and clothes in preparation for a boot sale next weekend,  I have barely had a minute to draw breath, let alone read uninterrupted for any length of time.

One week down, one week to go!

In other news, thank you to The Book Sage who awarded me a $50 Amazon gift certificate this week in their ‘Avid Reader’ contest – and Heidi from butbooksarebetter from whom I won Run To Me by Diane Hester

What I Read Last Week

Son-In-Law by Charity Norman

Dancing with the Devil by Keri Arthur

The Mouse-Proof Kitchen by Saira Shah

From Alice With Love by Jo Dutton

Close My Eyes by Sophie McKenzie

New Posts

(click the titles to read my reviews)

Review: Ink by Amanda Sun ★★1/2

Review: The Son-In-Law by Charity Norman ★★★★1/2

Review: The Mouse-Proof Kitchen by Saira Shah ★★★★

Review: From Alice With Love by Jo Dutton ★★★

Review: The Shadow Tracer by Meg Gardiner ★★★1/2

Review: Heist by Robert Schofield ★★★★1/2

OFFSITE: AWW June Contemporary Fiction Round Up

 

What I Am Reading Today

What would you do if your son was jailed for life in a hellhole of a bulgarian prison for a crime you believe he didn’t commit? In 2009, young Australian traveller Jock Palfreeman was found guilty of the murder of Andrei Monov, the only son of two people well connected in the Sofia legal fraternity. He claims he went to the defence of Gypsies being attacked by Monov and a bunch of soccer hooligans. The Bulgarians claim it was an act of cold-blooded murder. In a case of many twists and turns, where vital evidence was kept out of court and crucial witnesses never called, Belinda Hawkins brings to life the legal battle that haunted two shattered families on opposite sides of the globe. She also reminds us of the dangers we all confront when travelling to worlds very different from our own. But it is the attempt by Jock’s father, Dr Simon Palfreeman, to obtain justice for his son and the terrifying emotional cost involved that are at the heart of Every Parent’s Nightmare.

What I Plan To Read This Week

(click the covers to view at Goodreads)

They say that big girls don’t cry. But when the chips are down and the dip is gone, what can you do? Pull up your BIG GIRL PANTIES and change your life. Holly Brennan didn’t expect to be a widow at thirty-two. She also didn’t expect to be so big. Through her husband Bruce’s diagnosis and death, food was the one thing she could always count on. Now, those extra pounds make flying coach more than a little mortifying-especially since she’s sitting next to Adonis himself, aka Logan Montgomery, a personal trainer to the country’s most famous pro athletes. Though Holly doesn’t make the grade on his first-impression meter, Logan finds himself intrigued by her sharp wit and keen insight-a welcome change from the beautiful bubble-headed dolls he usually dates-and impulsively offers to get her back in shape. Ready to make at least one positive change in her life, Holly agrees. To Logan’s (and her own) surprise, Holly turns out to be a natural in the gym. Throwing herself into exercise, the red head with the blazing wit and welcoming smile slims down into a bonafide looker with killer curves-and a new kind of hunger. Soon, the easy intimacy and playful banter of their training sessions lead Logan and Holly into the bedroom where they share their most intense and steamy workouts yet. But can a man whose whole life depends on looks commit himself to a woman who doesn’t fit his image? Now that Holly’s turning other men’s heads, does she even need Logan anymore? Are they a couple built to last . . . or is this sizzling affair going to burn out fast?

 

One tragic event connects four lives in this haunting story of loss, love and renewal. Burned is the winner of the National Seniors Literary Prize 2013. Noah Daniels is an innocent young boy who treasures the telescope his father bought him and who daydreams of one day travelling through space … His mother Kate nurses bittersweet memories of her marriage to Richard and deeply regrets moving the family from Sydney to England … Malcolm Martin is still paralysed with grief twenty years after the death of his son. Home for him now is a park bench by the canal … And then there’s Matthew Hooper – a classmate of Noah’s – who has come to suspect his older brother, Tom, has a dangerous obsession with fire… Four people, from opposites sides of the world, are about to be brought together by one horrifying event that will burn them forever

Amid the chaos of sweeping bushfires, Persia gives birth alone at home with tragic consequences. Traumatised and grieving, she travels north, and encounters Ahmed, a refugee fleeing deportation and his past in Pakistan. So begins a road trip to the dead heart of Australia, a journey that transcends the limits of ordinary experience. In Persia and Ahmed’s world, ancient winds wreak havoc across generations, lightning ignites flames that both destroy and rejuvenate, and water drowns then delivers. Lightning is an odyssey that crosses continents and centuries, exploring identity, connection and our yearning to reveal ourselves even when cloaked in crippling grief. A moving meditation on finding hope in the rubble of our lives, Lightning celebrates the way our stories and their telling keep us alive when all else is pulling us under.

She helps people put their demons to rest . . . But she has a few of her own. In the lockdown ward of a psychiatric hospital, Dr Nadine Lavoie is in her element. She has the tools to help people, and she has the desire-healing broken families is what she lives for. But Nadine doesn’t want to look too closely at her own past because there are whole chunks of her life that are black holes. It takes all her willpower to tamp down her recurrent claustrophobia, and her daughter, Lisa, is a runaway who has been on the streets for seven years. When a distraught woman, Heather Simeon, is brought into the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit after a suicide attempt, Nadine gently coaxes her story out of her-and learns of some troubling parallels with her own life. Digging deeper, Nadine is forced to confront her traumatic childhood, and the damage that began when she and her brother were brought by their mother to a remote commune on Vancouver Island. What happened to Nadine? Why was their family destroyed? And why does the name Aaron Quinn, the group’s leader, bring complex feelings of terror to Nadine even today? And then, the unthinkable happens, and Nadine realises that danger is closer to home than she ever imagined. She has no choice but to face what terrifies her the most . . . and fight back. Sometimes you can leave the past, but you can never escape.

What if your past became your future? The rules of time are no match for destiny . . . Cole fears she’s losing her mind. Lately, everywhere she goes, everything she touches, triggers vivid scenes of a time she doesn’t know, in a place she’s never lived. Then she loses her heart too . . . When Griffon first sees Cole, he knows immediately that she is special, like him – that her visions are memories of past lives. And he is sure their paths were meant to cross in this life . . . With Griffon’s help, Cole pieces together clues from many lifetimes and discovers a secret that could ruin her only chance of a future with Griffon. But risking his love may be the only way to save them both.

 

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