It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

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

Life…

The kids have gone back to school! My time is, at least for a few hours a day, my own again.

Of course the new school term also means the resumption of the various activities they are involved in – gymnastics, Scouts, Cubs, football and somehow I have become my daughter’s basketball team coach – first game is this Saturday!

And, it is the first Monday of the month (already!) so here are my challenge updates:

The Eclectic Reader Challenge 2/12

Australian Women Writer’s Challenge 9/50

Aussie Author Challenge 0/12

Around the World in 12 Books Challenge 3/12

What I Read Last Week

Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham

When Mr Dog Bites by Brian Conaghan

The Grass Castle by Karen Viggers

Big Bad Wolf by Nele Neuhaus

Someone Like You by Victoria Purman

New Posts

(click the titles to read my reviews)

Review: In the Blood by Lisa Unger ★★★★

AWW Feature: Q&A with Kate Forster

Review: Close Up by Kate Forster ★★★1/2

Review: Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham ★★1/2

Review: Doomed by Tracy Deebs ★★★

Review: When Mr Dog Bites by Brian Conaghan ★★★

We are all winners!

What I Am Reading Today

Esteemed human rights lawyer Su-Lin Tan barely recognises Professor Paris Thumboo when he delivers a history lecture in London. For the last time she saw him was in a crowded Malayan courtroom more than half a century ago, during the trial that would change her life…It’s 1951 and Malaya is in the grip of ‘The Emergency’ between the government forces and communist rebels. Yet eight-year-old Su-Lin lives in relative ignorance of the chaos raging around her. That is until she shadows her beloved father, esteemed defence barrister K. C. Tan, as he embarks on a controversial new case – and into Su-Lin’s life walks war hero Dr Anna Thumboo, her son Paris and her lover, Toh Kei, the enigmatic leader of the jungle rebels. For Anna and Toh Kei, the trial is a matter of life and death. For Su-Lin it’s the start of a journey of discovery – about love and sacrifice, about truth and lies, and about fighting for what you believe in, whatever the cost.

 What I Plan To Read This Week

(click the covers to view at Goodreads)

‘Now we make you ugly,’ my mother said. ‘The best thing you can be in Mexico is an ugly girl.’ The Narcos only had to hear there was a pretty girl around and they’d sweep onto our lands in black SUVs and carry the girl off. Not one of the stolen girls had ever come back, except for Paula. She came back a year after she’d been kidnapped. She held a baby bottle in one hand. She wore seven earrings that climbed the cupped edge of her left ear in a line of blue, yellow and green studs and a tattoo that snaked around her wrist. ‘Did you see that? Did you see Paula’s tattoo? my mother said. You know what that means, right? Jesus, Mary’s son and Son of God, and the angels in heaven protect us all.’ At the time, I didn’t know what that meant. But I was going to find out. Guaranteed.

George Foss never thought he’d see her again, but on a late-August night in Boston, there she is, in his local bar, Jack’s Tavern.  When George first met her, she was an eighteen-year-old college freshman from Sweetgum, Florida. She and George became inseparable in their first fall semester, so George was devastated when he got the news that she had committed suicide over Christmas break. But, as he stood in the living room of the girl’s grieving parents, he realized the girl in the photo on their mantelpiece – the one who had committed suicide – was not his girlfriend. Later, he discovered the true identity of the girl he had loved – and of the things she may have done to escape her past. Now, twenty years later, she’s back, and she’s telling George that he’s the only one who can help her…

After thirty-five riveting, internationally acclaimed novels of psychological suspense, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman returns with his most stunning thriller to date. Killer is a mesmerizing L.A. noir portrayal of the darkest impulses of human nature carried to shocking extremes. The City of Angels has more than its share of psychopaths, and no one recognizes that more acutely than the brilliant psychologist and police consultant Dr. Alex Delaware. Despite that, Constance Sykes, a sophisticated, successful physician, hardly seems like someone Alex needs to fear. Then, at the behest of the court, he becomes embroiled in a bizarre child custody dispute initiated by Connie against her sister and begins to realize that there is much about the siblings he has failed to comprehend. And when the court battle between the Sykes sisters erupts into cold, calculating murder and a rapidly growing number of victims, Alex knows he’s been snared in a toxic web of pathology. Nothing would please Alex more than to be free of the ugly spectacle known as Sykes v. Sykes. But then the little girl at the center of the vicious dispute disappears and Alex knows he must work with longtime friend Detective Milo Sturgis, braving an obstacle course of  Hollywood washouts, gangbangers, and self-serving jurists in order to save an innocent life.

Until the moment he received a frantic call from his father, Daniel believed his parents were headed into a peaceful, well-deserved retirement. They had sold their home and business in London, and said “farewell to England” with a cheerful party where all their friends had gathered to wish them well on their great adventure: setting off to begin life anew on a remote, bucolic farm in rural Sweden. But with that phone call, everything changes. Your mother’s not well, his father tells him. She’s been imagining things–terrible, terrible things. She’s had a psychotic breakdown, and has been committed to a mental hospital. Daniel prepares to rush to Sweden, on the first available flight the next day. Before he can board the plane, his father contacts him again with even more frightening news: his mother has been released from the hospital, and he doesn’t know where she is. Then, he hears from his mother: I’m sure your father has spoken to you. Everything that man has told you is a lie. I’m not mad. I don’t need a doctor. I need the police. I’m about to board a flight to London. Meet me at Heathrow. Caught between his parents, and unsure of who to believe or trust, Daniel becomes his mother’s unwilling judge and jury as she tells him an urgent tale of secrets, of lies, of a horrible crime and a conspiracy that implicates his own father.

Callum Hann is back with a collection of recipes and sound advice that will give novice foodies the skills and the enthusiasm to become better, more knowledgeable, happier cooks. In addition to over 90 fast, fresh and simple recipes there is a wealth of information on cooking fundamentals, ranging from a guide to flavour combinations and advice on choosing the right restaurant –as well as tips for entertaining at home– through to techniques for preparing perfect seafood and buying and preparing seasonal ingredients. Recipes cover delicious breakfasts and brunches (maple bacon, asparagus, smashed avocado & feta on toast), things you can eat with your hands (spicy chicken tacos with apple & cabbage salsa), super quick meals (baked mac ‘n’ cheese with rosemary breadcrumbs), weeknight dinners, salads, food to impress a date (spice-crusted pork loin with apple cider glaze & figs; cherry fool) and essential rubs, dips, sauces and dressings

While you are here…

Winners of the Australia Day Book Giveaway Blog Hop have been announced

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