The It’s Monday! What Are You Reading meme is hosted at BookDate
Life…
Time seems to have got away from me a bit this week. It’s strange how even the smallest interruption to your routine can throw everything off for days.
Until my glasses arrive I’m also finding I can only read printed books in short bursts, so that’s slowing my down some. I really want to make a concerted effort to get through the books I received during my hiatus.
I’m also making an effort to rejoin some of the challenges and memes I used to take part in. Obviously I’m taking part in It’s Monday! and The Sunday Post. I’m also rejoining BethFishReads Weekend Cooking linkup on a monthly basis, and the Six Degrees of Separation meme hosted by Kate at Books are my favourite and Best. I’ve signed up for the 2019 Australian Women Writers Challenge. Got any other recommendations for me?
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What I’ve Read Since I last Posted…
The Lost Girls by Jennifer Spence
Book of Dreams by Nina George
The Year of the Farmer by Rosalie Ham
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New Posts
Review: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeymoon ★★★★
Review: Force of Nature {Aaron Falk #2} by Jane Harper ★★★1/2
Review: The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang ★★★★
Review: Accidental Death? By Robin Bowles ★★★1/2
Review: Smoke and Iron {The Great Library #4} by Rachel Caine ★★★★
Stuff on Sunday: 2019 Hugo Award Finalists
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What I’m Reading This Week
An unexpected gift left at her daughter’s fifth birthday party in the form of a little girl pitches Sydney mum Lisa Wheeldon into events both hilarious and life-changing.
Liane Moriarty meets Marian Keyes with a touch of Christos Tsiolkas’s The Slap in this hilarious, touching and clever novel that asks what wouldn’t you do to save a child?
Be careful what you wish for…
Lisa Wheeldon has a lovely life. Wife to a gorgeous husband, Scott, and a devoted mother to two small daughters, the former accountant has everything she wants – except a third child. But the universe has a strange way of providing.
On the surface, Ava’s fifth birthday party seems the ideal opportunity for Lisa to meet her daughter’s new kindergarten friends – all 32 of them! But from beginning to end, the day is a complete nightmare, capped off by the discovery of a little girl hiding in the Wheeldon’s backyard. At first, Lisa reasons that Ellie’s mum is running late. But when they open a gift from the mysterious little girl, it becomes clear her mother has no intention of returning at all…
What sort of mother abandons her child? And why has she chosen the Wheeldons?
Together, Lisa and her sister Jamie launch their own efforts to find the missing mum, a journey that will force Lisa to face her past, Jamie to confront her future and see both embroiled with angry exes, pragmatic fortune-tellers, Russian mobsters and a hyena pack of yummy mummies.
A journey that will force Lisa to rethink all she knows about being a good mother.
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Whatever happens, don’t tell anyone what you did to Bee Larkham…
Jasper is not ordinary. In fact, he would say he is extraordinary…
Synaesthesia paints the sounds of his world in a kaleidoscope of colours that no one else can see. But on Friday, he discovered a new colour – the colour of murder.
He’s sure something has happened to his neighbour, Bee Larkham, but no-one else seems to be taking it as seriously as they should be. The knife and the screams are all mixed up in his head and he’s scared that he can’t quite remember anything clearly.
But where is Bee? Why hasn’t she come home yet? Jasper must uncover the truth about that night – including his own role in what happened…
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Heads you win. Tails you die …
Can one man’s revenge become his redemption?
Young Luke Tyler has everything going for him: brains, looks and a larrikin charm that turns heads. The future appears bright, until he defends his sister from the powerful Sir Henry Abbott. His reward is fifteen years hard labour on a prison farm in Tasmania’s remote highlands.
Luke escapes, finding sanctuary with a local philanthropist, Daniel Campbell, and starting a forbidden love affair with Daniel’s daughter, Belle. But when Luke is betrayed, he must flee or be hanged.
With all seeming lost, Luke sails to South Africa to start afresh. Yet he remains haunted by the past, and by Belle, the woman he can’t forget. When he returns to seek revenge and reclaim his life, his actions will have shattering consequences – for the innocent as well as the guilty.
Set against a backdrop of wild Tasmania, Australian Gold and African diamonds, Fortune’s Son is an epic saga of betrayal, undying love and one man’s struggle to triumph over adversity and find his way home.
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In The Weight of Him Billy Brennan undergoes an unforgettable journey in a startling attempt to resurrect his family and reignite hearts, his own most of all.
At four hundred pounds, Billy can always count on food. From his earliest memories, he has loved food’s colors, textures and tastes. The way flavors go off in his mouth. How food keeps his mind still and his bad feelings quiet. Food has always made everything better, until the day Billy’s beloved son Michael takes his own life.
Billy determines to make a difference in Michael’s memory and undertakes a public weight-loss campaign, to raise money for suicide prevention–his first step in an ambitious plan to save himself, and to save others. However, Billy’s dramatic crusade appalls his family, who want to simply try to go on, quietly, privately.
Despite his crushing detractors, Billy gains welcome allies: his community-at-large; a co-worker who lost his father to suicide; a filmmaker with his own dubious agenda; and a secret, miniature kingdom that Billy populates with the sub-quality dolls and soldiers he saves from disposal at the toy factory where he works. But it is only if Billy can confront the truth of the suffering and brokenness within and around him that he and others will be able to realize the recovery they need.
Told against the picturesque yet haunting backdrop of rural, contemporary Ireland, The Weight of Him is a big-hearted novel about loss and reliance that moves from tragedy to recrimination to what can be achieved when we take the stand of our lives.
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Thanks for stopping by!
Im also linking to The Sunday Post @ Caffeinated Reviewer
After the Party looks good. I am a fan of both Liane Moriarty and Marian Keyes, so it does seem like my kind of read.
Enjoy your week!
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What a nice mix if reads. Enjoy them all.
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When I get out of my routine, it throws everything off too! I bet you can’t wait to get your glasses, so you can read all of your goodies! I want to join more memes too. Right now I’m just doing Waiting on Wednesday and Sunday Post 🙂 Have a great week!
Lindy@ A Bookish Escape
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After the Party sounds interesting. Hope you enjoy it. I’ll have to check out the Six Degrees of Separation post. Never heard of it.
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Hope your glasses arrive soon. Sounds like you are getting back into the groove of blogging. I did have a peek at your review for The Kiss Quotient as heard so much good about it. Interesting to see Nina George has another book out.
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I’m eager to see what you think of The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder — that was one of the more unusual plots I’ve read — and very creative! And, i hope the new glasses arrive soon! It’s sucks how much havoc it plays with your reading!
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Your books look good and I am putting After The Party on my list.
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I love the wide range of books you read, Shelley:). I haven’t read the Rachel Caine Great Library series – I hope you’re enjoying it.
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After the Party sounds fascinating. I will look for it.
I hope you will join in when you can at Sunday Salon. I’m trying to revitalize it by posting a linky each Saturday and encouraging others to share and visit blogs.
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The Bree Larkham book looks really good! I will have to add it to my list!
Fingers crossed you get your glasses soon.
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Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine was one of my favorites last year. I should see if that author has any new books coming out. Enjoy your week.
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These all look really good! Looking forward to your reviews. 🙂
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The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder is one I’d love to read!
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I have a hard time keeping up with the weekly wrap-ups so I’ve started doing it once a month instead. I hope you are able to get into a routine soon. It’s so rough trying to get back into a set schedule.
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Oh wow After the Party sounds great! I love a little Liane Moriarty so that reference caught my eye, plus it just sounds hilarious too??
Have a great week 🙂
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I just finished it, and it had its moments 🙂
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Nice looking variety of books. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
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Good luck with the challenges and memes! Maybe I should rejoin too! It’s been a while!
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Ow boy.. I hope your glasses will come in fast. I can’t imagine not having my glasses. I wouldn’t be able to do much.
Have a great week and happy reading!
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Looks like you have some great books coming up this week. Happy Reading!
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The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder sounds good. My weekly updates
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These books sound great.
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After the Party looks really good. Hope you have a great week!
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Good luck with the memes and challenges. I hope your new glasses get to you quickly. Have a great week!
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I hope you get your glasses soon! It must be tough to be without them! Have a great week!
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I know what you mean. I had several weeks where I didn’t have any time to read and I’ve been finding it harder to get back into a reading routine.
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Oh boy, I first thought the cover of “after the party” got some pink roses on it before I realized that it is a cupcake with a pink frosting *laughs tears* That cover just made my day! Thank you for sharing it with us. Hope your glasses will arrive soon. I know how it is when you are slowed down because something is not the way it is supposed to be. I will check out all those memes and challenges you mentioned and wish you fun and luck with them. Have a great week.
Best wishes
Vi
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Interesting titles you’ve been reading. Have a good day.
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Goodness isn’t that the truth? Hope your glasses arrive soon! I’d be in so much trouble without mine. About all I could do *is* read since I don’t need them then. lol
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It’s fun you are getting back into things. I enjoyed the Kiss Quotient and pretty much everything by Rachel Caine. I hope your glasses are there by now and you are having a wonderful reading week!
Here is my Sunday Post
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I have heard good things about The Lost Girls. Glad you liked it!
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I am glad you are getting back into things! I feel like I am falling out of so much of my usual routine with everything going on. For the time being, I am going with the flow. I hope you have your glasses by now. I really need to schedule an appointment with my optometrist and see about getting a new prescription. I am glad to see you enjoyed The Kiss Quotient. That is one I am interested in reading. I hope you are enjoying your current reads!
Enjoy your weekend and this coming week!
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Aww, After the Party sounds like a promising novel! Hope you’re liking it!
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