It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #SundayPost #SundaySalon

 

Linking to: It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? at BookDate; Sunday Post @ Caffeinated Reviewer; and the Sunday Salon @ ReaderBuzz

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Life…

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As expected it’s been a little busier than usual around here.

My daughter went back to uni last weekend, and the boys are back at school now too.

On Thursday/Friday we checked out the University my son hopes to attend next year, it was also his 18th birthday on Saturday, and we went to the movies for the first time since 2019 to watch Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.

Today for Mother’s Day, my parents visited and we enjoyed fish and chips in beautiful Autumn weather by the river (but we forgot to take a photo again!).

I’ve completed the training for the temporary job I start today. Wish me luck!

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What I’ve Read Since I last Posted…

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Remember Me by Charity Norman

Wake by Shelley Burr

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan

One Foot in the Fade by Luke Arnold

Rising Dust by Fleur McDonald

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New Posts…

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Review: The Nurses War by Victoria Purman

Review: Till Death,or a little light maiming, Do Us Part by Kathy Lette

Review: The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan

Review: Wildfire by Monique Mulligan

2022 Nonfiction Reader Challenge Monthly Spotlight #4

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What I’m Reading This Week…

 

The revealing, compelling memoir of one of Australia’s foremost cardiothoracic surgeons, Dr Nikki Stamp.

Scrubbed is a raw, honest account of a life lived at the very edge of modern medicine, where heart surgeons tread the thinnest of lines between life and death, and yet where the greatest challenge can be the medical system itself.

From the drama of the operating theatre, filled with both triumph and tragedy, to the brutal realities of surgical training, and the sacrifices needed to reach the pinnacle of Nikki’s vocation, to the grinding nature of hospital bureaucracy and politics, Scrubbed is one of the most revealing books yet to be published about the real life and experiences of a surgeon

xxxxxxx

 

In every person’s story, there is something to hide…

The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet, until the tranquility is shattered by a woman’s terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers sitting at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning—it just happens that one is a murderer.

Award-winning author Sulari Gentill delivers a sharply thrilling read with THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY, an unexpectedly twisty literary adventure that examines the complicated nature of friendship and shows us that words can be the most treacherous weapons of all.

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Big Little Lies meets The Witches of Eastwick–a gloriously entertaining and knife-sharp feminist revenge fantasy about three women whose midlife crisis brings unexpected new powers–putting them on a collision course with the evil that lurks in their wealthy beach town.

In the Long Island oceanfront community of Mattauk, three different women discover that midlife changes bring a whole new type of empowerment…

After Nessa James’s husband dies and her twin daughters leave for college, she’s left all alone in a trim white house not far from the ocean. In the quiet of her late forties, the former nurse begins to hear voices. It doesn’t take long for Nessa to realize that the voices calling out to her belong to the dead–a gift she’s inherited from her grandmother, which comes with special responsibilities.

On the cusp of 50, suave advertising director Harriett Osborne has just witnessed the implosion of her lucrative career and her marriage. She hasn’t left her house in months, and from the outside, it appears as if she and her garden have both gone to seed. But Harriet’s life is far from over–in fact, she’s undergone a stunning and very welcome metamorphosis.

Ambitious former executive Jo Levison has spent thirty long years at war with her body. The free-floating rage and hot flashes that arrive with the beginning of menopause feel like the very last straw–until she realizes she has the ability to channel them, and finally comes into her power.

Guided by voices only Nessa can hear, the trio of women discover a teenage girl whose body was abandoned beside a remote beach. The police have written the victim off as a drug-addicted sex worker, but the women refuse to buy into the official narrative. Their investigation into the girl’s murder leads to more bodies, and to the town’s most exclusive and isolated enclave, a world of stupendous wealth where the rules don’t apply. With their newfound powers, Jo, Nessa, and Harriet will take matters into their own hands…

xxxxxxxxx

 

Behind the tall hedges of the affluent, gated community of Apple Tree Creek, not all is as it seems …

Out of the blue, Gertie’s husband decides they need a break and he’s leaving her with their three children. Two streets east and three gardens down, successful businesswoman Rachael discovers her husband has cheated on her – again – even though she’s pregnant with his third child. Thrown together by a chance encounter, the two women bond over the shared disaster that is their marriages.

But did one husband push his wife too far?

When the ambulance sirens cut through the serenity of Apple Tree Creek, the small community is shocked at the violence that’s played out in their midst. CCTV reveals no outsiders visited the estate that night, confirming that the assailant must have been one of their own. Is the culprit still living among them? And why didn’t any of the cameras, designed to keep them all safe, catch anything?

As the web of neighbourly relationships unravels and the workings of their inner lives are exposed, questions will be asked, but not everyone wants to learn the answers.

You can only push people so far.

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Thanks for stopping by!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR @thebookdate #SundayPost @Kimbacaffeinate #SundaySalon @debnance #Scrubbed #TheWomanIntheLibrary#TheChange #OddOneOut

Its Monday! What Are You Reading? #SundayPost #SundaySalon

 

Linking to: It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? at BookDate; Sunday Post @ Caffeinated Reviewer; and the Sunday Salon @ ReaderBuzz

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Life…

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Between Easter, my birthday, school holidays, my son isolating with CoVid (he has recovered and by some miracle none of us contracted it), my youngest daughter returning home for her mid semester break, and the ANZAC Day long weekend it’s been a long fortnight in which I accomplished very little.

This is my eldest son bearing the school flag for the Anzac Day March this morning wearing his late Great Grandfathers WWII medals  (he is the only one that was masked).

 

Term two of school starts on Wednesday, and my daughter will return to uni next weekend, but the next month or so promises to be busy with a family reunion, my eldest son’s 18th birthday, Mother’s Day, my eldest daughter’s 26th birthday, and a college tour necessitating an overnight trip, plus I’ll be working full time for most of May as a prepoll federal election official, as well as the 16 hour shift on Election Day itself.

Somewhere in there I’ll be reading and blogging, I promise.

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What I’ve Read Since I last Posted…

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Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

Mad About You by Mhairi McFarlane

Til Death, or a little light maiming, Do Us Part by Kathy Lette

Wildflower by Monique Mulligan

The Nurses War by Victoria Purman

Remember Me by Charity Norman

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New Posts…

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Review: Dinner with the Schnabels by Toni Jordan

Review: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Review: Mad About You by Mhairi McFarlane

Review: The Tricky Art of Forgiveness by Meredith Jaffe

Review: Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

Bookshelf Bounty

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What I’m Reading This Week…

{Click on the cover to view at Goodreads}

 

Welcome back to the streets of Sunder City, a darkly imagined world perfect for readers of Ben Aaronovitch and Jim Butcher.

In a city that lost its magic, an angel falls in a downtown street. His wings are feathered, whole—undeniably magical—the man clearly flew, because he left one hell of a mess when he plummeted into the sidewalk.

But what sent him up? What brought him down? And will the answers help Fetch bring the magic back for good?

Working alongside necromancers, genies, and shadowy secret societies, through the wildest forests and dingiest dive bars, this case will leave its mark on Fetch’s body, his soul, and the fate of the world.

+++++++

 

EVERYBODY THINKS THEY KNOW MINA McCREERY.

EVERYONE HAS A THEORY ON WHAT HAPPENED TO HER SISTER.

NOW IT’S TIME TO FIND OUT THE TRUTH…

Mina McCreery’s sister Evelyn disappeared nineteen years ago. Her life has been defined by the intense public interest in the case. Now an anxious and reclusive adult, she lives alone on her family’s destocked sheep farm.

When Lane, a private investigator, approaches her with an offer to reinvestigate the case, she rejects him. The attention has had nothing but negative consequences for her and her family, and never brought them closer to an answer.

Lane wins her trust when his unconventional methods show promise, but he has his own motivations for wanting to solve the case, and his obsession with the answer will ultimately risk both their lives.

Superbly written, taut and compassionate, Wake looks at what can happen when people’s private tragedies become public property, and the ripples of trauma that follow violent crimes. Wake won the CWA Debut Dagger in 2019.

+++++++++

 

Detective Dave Burrows returns in another breathtaking tale of rural suspense from the bestselling Voice of the Outback.

Dave Burrows is fighting to see his children and suffering from the guilt and trauma of his mother-in-law being shot by his nemesis, Bulldust. He’s being told by Mel’s lawyer that his job puts his children at risk and therefore he shouldn’t see them.

After a phone call suggesting to his partner, Bob Holden, there could have been some sheep stolen north of Carnarvon, they head north and Dave tries to put his children out of his mind. Especially when Shannon, a forensic pathologist, turns up to investigate the first body on the beach. Shannon and Dave have always had a close friendship and, on the beautiful beaches of the north, that friendship grows into something more.

A ferocious storm comes, uncovering another body, buried deep in the sand, and a truckload of drugs is discovered nearby as they recover the second body.

+++++++++

 

One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn’t see coming…

Nora is a cut-throat literary agent at the top of her game. Her whole life is books.

Charlie is an editor with a gift for creating bestsellers. And he’s Nora’s work nemesis.

Nora has been through enough break-ups to know she’s the woman men date before they find their happy-ever-after. That’s why Nora’s sister has persuaded her to swap her desk in the city for a month’s holiday in Sunshine Falls, North Carolina. It’s a small town straight out of a romance novel, but instead of meeting sexy lumberjacks, handsome doctors or cute bartenders, Nora keeps bumping into…Charlie.

She’s no heroine. He’s no hero. So can they take a page out of an entirely different book?

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Thanks for stopping by!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR @thebookdate #SundayPost @Kimbacaffeinate #SundaySalon @debnance #OneFootintheFade #RisingDust #BookLovers #Wake

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #SundayPost #SundaySalon

 

Linking to: It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? at BookDate; Sunday Post @ Caffeinated Reviewer; and the Sunday Salon @ ReaderBuzz

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Life…

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It was inevitable I guess. My youngest son tested positive for CoVid on Sunday night.

The timing is absolutely lousy though. Not only is it the first week of school holidays, and Easter is this coming weekend, but it’s my birthday on Thursday!

The rest of us have tested negative, and while we will do our best to stay that way, it’s a small house so I’m a little pessimistic about our chances. We are all triple vaxxed, so hopefully any infection will just be mild.

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What I’ve Read Since I last Posted…

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Dinner With the Schnabels by Toni Jordan

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

The Tricky Art of Forgiveness by Meredith Jaffe

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

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New Posts…

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Review: Daughters of Eve by Nina D Campbell

Review: The Recovery Agent by Janet Evanovich

Review: Her Fierce Creatures by Maria Lewis

Review: The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

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What I’m Reading This Week…

 

Two reluctant housemates.

Two broken promises.

One crazy plan…

Harriet Hatley may be one of the most in-demand wedding photographers in Leeds, but she hates the idea of marriage.

Cal Clarke is used to the world falling in line with his plans – apart from his own love-life, which has gone hopelessly wrong.

When they become unlikely housemates, it’s clear they’re both running away from something bigger.

Can they take a crazy risk to face the past and change everything?

xxxxxxxxx

 

When Jason Riley goes missing, feared killed by a shark, his family – make that families – have many questions.

Hearing a news report that a man on his morning swim has been taken by a Great White, teacher Gwen races to the beach, and finds all that remains of Jason Riley, her husband, is his swimming cap and a piece of torn, blood-stained wetsuit.

Her shock and heartbreak are soon interrupted by a woman screeching to a halt on a motorbike. Tish screams for information, convinced it’s her husband who’s been taken by the man-eater. Gwen reassures her that Jason Riley is the man who’s perished. ‘I know! Jason Riley’s my husband!’ Tish sobs.

Needless to say, their grief is somewhat blighted by the realisation they’ve both been married to a bigamist. And their mutual animosity is not assuaged when they learn that Jason recently sent all his – make that their – money to a mysterious ‘business partner’ in Egypt, Skye.

They fly to Cairo, confront Skye, and discover that not only did Jason marry her last year, but he’s stolen her life savings too.

Till Death, or a Little Light Maiming, Do Us Part is a revenge caper that propels our double-crossed threesome through continents on the trail of truth and retribution. As they embark on a chase for their money, they build new friendships, discover much about themselves, and when closure is had they are bursting with energy for the next phase of their life.

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They never found Leah Parata. Not a boot, not a backpack, not a turquoise beanie. After she left me that day, she vanished off the face of the earth.

A close-knit community is ripped apart by disturbing revelations that cast new light on a young woman’s disappearance twenty-five years ago.

After years of living overseas, Emily Kirkland returns to New Zealand to care for her father, Felix, who suffers from dementia. As his memory fades and his guard slips, she begins to understand him for the first time – and to glimpse shattering truths about his past. Truths she’d rather were kept buried.

From the author shortlisted for Best Crime Novel in the Ngaio Marsh Awards for Crime Fiction, and for Best International Crime Fiction in the Ned Kelly Awards

A heartfelt, page-turning suspense novel from the bestselling author of The Secrets of Strangers – ideal reading-group fiction, perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult and Liane Moriarty.

 

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In 1915, as World War 1 rages in Europe and the numbers of dead and injured continue to grow, Australian nurse, Sister Cora Barker, leaves her home in Australia for England, determined to use her skills for King and country. When she arrives at Harefield House – donated to the Australian Army by its expatriate Australian owners – she helps transform it into a hospital that is also a little piece of home for recuperating Australian soldiers.

As the months pass, her mission to save diggers lives becomes more urgent as the darkest months of the war see injured soldiers from the battlefields of France and Belgium flood into Harefield in the thousands. When the hospital sends out a desperate call for help, a quiet young seamstress from the village, Jessie Chester, steps up as a volunteer. At the hospital she meets Private Bert Mott, a recovering Australian soldier, but the looming threat of his return to the Front hangs over them. Could her first love be her first heartbreak?

Cora’s and Jessie’s futures, their hearts and their lives hang in the balance as the never-ending wave of injured and dying soldiers threatens to overwhelm the hospital and the hopes of a nation rest on a knife edge. The nurses war is a war against despair and death, fought with science and love rather than mustard gas and fear – but can they possibly win it? And what will be the cost?

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Thanks for stopping by!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR @thebookdate #SundayPost @Kimbacaffeinate #SundaySalon @debnance #MadAboutYou #TilDeathoraLittleLightMaimingDoUsPart #RememberMe #TheNursesWar

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #SundayPost #SundaySalon

 

Linking to: It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? at BookDate; Sunday Post @ Caffeinated Reviewer; and the Sunday Salon @ ReaderBuzz

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Life…

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There were so many distractions throughout March for me, so I’m hoping April will allow me to be much more productive.

You may have noticed the links to Booktopia I’ve been adding to my posts. I’m now an affiliate and will gain a small commission if you buy using the purchase link. Like everybody else, the rising costs of petrol and groceries is really putting pressure on the budget, so every little thing helps, I appreciate any support.

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What I’ve Read Since I last Posted…

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Her Fierce Creatures by Maria Lewis

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

Dinner With the Schnabels by Toni Jordan

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New Posts…

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Review: A Family of Strangers by Fiona Lowe

Review: Those Who Perish by Emma Viskic

Review: The Language of Food Annabel Abbs

2022 Nonfiction Reader Challenge Monthly Spotlight #3

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What I’m Reading This Week…

 

Diana Forsyth is in the midst of planning the Big Party, a combined celebration of her husband Will’s 60th and their 30th wedding anniversary. The whole family is flying in and unbeknownst to Will, Diana is planning a Big Surprise.

But then she finds a torn scrap of paper hidden inside the folds of one of his cashmere sweaters, with the words, I forgive you. And all of a sudden, Diana realises she’s not the only one keeping Big Secrets.

As empty nesters who have just downsized from the family home, she and Will are supposed to be embracing a new promise of glorious freedom – not revisiting a past that Diana has worked very hard to leave behind.

A witty, poignant and insightful exploration of marriage: the choices we make – or don’t make, the resentments we hold, the lies we tell and what forgiveness really means.

+++++++

 

In 1915, as World War 1 rages in Europe and the numbers of dead and injured continue to grow, Australian nurse, Sister Cora Barker, leaves her home in Australia for England, determined to use her skills for King and country. When she arrives at Harefield House – donated to the Australian Army by its expatriate Australian owners – she helps transform it into a hospital that is also a little piece of home for recuperating Australian soldiers.

As the months pass, her mission to save diggers lives becomes more urgent as the darkest months of the war see injured soldiers from the battlefields of France and Belgium flood into Harefield in the thousands. When the hospital sends out a desperate call for help, a quiet young seamstress from the village, Jessie Chester, steps up as a volunteer. At the hospital she meets Private Bert Mott, a recovering Australian soldier, but the looming threat of his return to the Front hangs over them. Could her first love be her first heartbreak?

Cora’s and Jessie’s futures, their hearts and their lives hang in the balance as the never-ending wave of injured and dying soldiers threatens to overwhelm the hospital and the hopes of a nation rest on a knife edge. The nurses war is a war against despair and death, fought with science and love rather than mustard gas and fear – but can they possibly win it? And what will be the cost?

++++++

 

1979

After being bullied at school, Jane Kelly dreads spending the summer holidays alone, friendless. So, when Acacia Miller moves in next door, Jane imagines carefree days of trading secrets and pinky promises with a new best friend. But as their friendship grows, Acacia remains stubbornly guarded about her home life, and Jane becomes caught up in a sinister situation she doesn’t understand. When Acacia’s secret becomes one too many for Jane to carry, she must choose whether to challenge the status quo and risk losing her only friend. Or stay silent, knowing the danger it hides.

1999

An abused woman flees to a refuge and bumps into someone from her childhood. Haunted by her past but grappling with a desire to reconnect and rebuild her life, she realises there are wounds that time alone cannot heal. Can she find the courage to confront the darkest secrets of all: her own?

++++++

 

Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing.

But it’s the 1960s, and despite the fact that she is a scientist, her male peers are very unscientific when it comes to equality. The only good thing to happen on her road to professional fulfilment is a run-in with famous colleague Calvin Evans, legend and Nobel nominee. He’s also awkward, kind and tenacious. Theirs is true chemistry.

But life is never predictable and three years later Elizabeth Zott is an unwed, single mother and star of America’s best loved cooking show Supper at Six. Her singular approach to cooking – ‘take one pint of H2O and add a pinch of sodium chloride’ – and empowering message prove revolutionary. Because Elizabeth isn’t just teaching housewives how to cook, but how to change their lives.

Meet the unconventional, uncompromising Elizabeth Zott

+++++++

 

Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle meet Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club in this fiendishly clever blend of classic and modern murder mystery.

I was dreading the Cunningham family reunion even before the first murder.

Before the storm stranded us at the mountain resort, snow and bodies piling up.

The thing is, us Cunninghams don’t really get along. We’ve only got one thing in common- we’ve all killed someone.

My brother.

My step-sister

My wife

My father

My mother

My sister-in-law

My uncle

My stepfather

My aunt

Me

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Thanks for stopping by!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR @thebookdate #SundayPost @Kimbacaffeinate #SundaySalon @debnance I’m still reading #TheTrickyArtofForgiveness #Wildflower #TheNursesWar plus #LessonsInChemistry #EveryoneinMyFamilyHasKilledSomeone

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #SundayPost #SundaySalon

 

Linking to: It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? at BookDate; Sunday Post @ Caffeinated Reviewer; and the Sunday Salon @ ReaderBuzz

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Life…

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What I’ve Read Since I last Posted…

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The Language of Food by Annabel Abbs

Daughters of Eve by Nina D. Campbell

The Recovery Agent by Janet Evanovich

Her Fierce Creatures by Maria Lewis

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New Posts…

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None – writers block 😦

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What I’m Reading This Week…

 

In 1937 in the snowbound city of Kiev (now known as Kyiv), wry and bookish history student Mila Pavlichenko organizes her life around her library job and her young son–but Hitler’s invasion of Ukraine and Russia sends her on a different path. Given a rifle and sent to join the fight, Mila must forge herself from studious girl to deadly sniper–a lethal hunter of Nazis known as Lady Death. When news of her three hundredth kill makes her a national heroine, Mila finds herself torn from the bloody battlefields of the eastern front and sent to America on a goodwill tour.

Still reeling from war wounds and devastated by loss, Mila finds herself isolated and lonely in the glittering world of Washington, DC–until an unexpected friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and an even more unexpected connection with a silent fellow sniper offer the possibility of happiness. But when an old enemy from Mila’s past joins forces with a deadly new foe lurking in the shadows, Lady Death finds herself battling her own demons and enemy bullets in the deadliest duel of her life.

Based on a true story, The Diamond Eye is a haunting novel of heroism born of desperation, of a mother who became a soldier, of a woman who found her place in the world and changed the course of history forever.

+++++++++

 

Diana Forsyth is in the midst of planning the Big Party, a combined celebration of her husband Will’s 60th and their 30th wedding anniversary. The whole family is flying in and unbeknownst to Will, Diana is planning a Big Surprise.

But then she finds a torn scrap of paper hidden inside the folds of one of his cashmere sweaters, with the words, I forgive you. And all of a sudden, Diana realises she’s not the only one keeping Big Secrets.

As empty nesters who have just downsized from the family home, she and Will are supposed to be embracing a new promise of glorious freedom – not revisiting a past that Diana has worked very hard to leave behind.

A witty, poignant and insightful exploration of marriage: the choices we make – or don’t make, the resentments we hold, the lies we tell and what forgiveness really means.

+++++++++

 

In 1915, as World War 1 rages in Europe and the numbers of dead and injured continue to grow, Australian nurse, Sister Cora Barker, leaves her home in Australia for England, determined to use her skills for King and country. When she arrives at Harefield House – donated to the Australian Army by its expatriate Australian owners – she helps transform it into a hospital that is also a little piece of home for recuperating Australian soldiers.

As the months pass, her mission to save diggers lives becomes more urgent as the darkest months of the war see injured soldiers from the battlefields of France and Belgium flood into Harefield in the thousands. When the hospital sends out a desperate call for help, a quiet young seamstress from the village, Jessie Chester, steps up as a volunteer. At the hospital she meets Private Bert Mott, a recovering Australian soldier, but the looming threat of his return to the Front hangs over them. Could her first love be her first heartbreak?

Cora’s and Jessie’s futures, their hearts and their lives hang in the balance as the never-ending wave of injured and dying soldiers threatens to overwhelm the hospital and the hopes of a nation rest on a knife edge. The nurses war is a war against despair and death, fought with science and love rather than mustard gas and fear – but can they possibly win it? And what will be the cost?

+++++++++

 

1979

After being bullied at school, Jane Kelly dreads spending the summer holidays alone, friendless. So, when Acacia Miller moves in next door, Jane imagines carefree days of trading secrets and pinky promises with a new best friend. But as their friendship grows, Acacia remains stubbornly guarded about her home life, and Jane becomes caught up in a sinister situation she doesn’t understand. When Acacia’s secret becomes one too many for Jane to carry, she must choose whether to challenge the status quo and risk losing her only friend. Or stay silent, knowing the danger it hides.

1999

An abused woman flees to a refuge and bumps into someone from her childhood. Haunted by her past but grappling with a desire to reconnect and rebuild her life, she realises there are wounds that time alone cannot heal. Can she find the courage to confront the darkest secrets of all: her own?

———————————————

Thanks for stopping by!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR @thebookdate #SundayPost @Kimbacaffeinate #SundaySalon @debnance I’m reading #TheDiamondEye #TheTrickyArtofForgiveness #TheNursesWar #Wildflower

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #SundayPost #SundaySalon

Linking to: It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? at BookDate; Sunday Post @ Caffeinated Reviewer; and the Sunday Salon @ ReaderBuzz

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Life…

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If it’s not one thing, it’s another. Not something I can share specifics of, but my hope of a less stressful week vanished abruptly with a phone call, and it’s a matter yet to be resolved.

*Sigh*

Anyway, has anyone else found the March publishing calendar to be incredibly crowded? I started with about 20 books on my schedule for the month, now I have almost double that amount. Books just keep arriving! Luckily I have almost nothing scheduled for April, which means I have a chance of being caught up by May. LOL

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What I’ve Read Since I last Posted…

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A Family of Strangers by Fiona Lowe

Impossible by Sarah Lotz

Those Who Perish by Emma Viskic

The Language of Food by Annabel Abbs

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New Posts…

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Review: Brunswick Street Blues by Sally Bothroyd

Review: Impossible by Sarah Lotz

Review: When We Fall by Aoife Clifford

Review: A Family of Strangers by Fiona Lowe

Bookshelf Bounty

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What I’m Reading This Week…

When a high-profile murder lands literally at her feet, Detective Emilia Hart sees a chance to expand her caseload beyond the endless succession of domestic violence matters she is forced to investigate. But this is no simple investigation.

Another body turns up, then another. Then more – a lot more. All men, all shot, with a similar MO. It’s not until a manifesto taking credit for the crimes is published by a group calling themselves Daughters of Eve that Hart confirms a link between the victims: all of them had been perpetrators themselves. All had offended against women or children. Few had been charged with those crimes – and none convicted.

As panic sets in and chaos rules the streets, the police draw ever closer to the Daughters of Eve, but the serial killer continues to elude them. Again, Hart sees something that everyone else has missed. And what that is, she cannot believe.

A stunning debut that will take you to the edge and dare you to look down.

Xxxxxxxx

Four women. One world changed forever. It has all come down to this.

Werewolf Tommi Grayson always knew she was a weapon, she just needed the right target. Never in a million years did she expect that target to be the current leaders of the supernatural world.

Sprite Dreckly Jones has spent the entirety of her 140-years hiding in one form or another. Until now. Having seen enough wars, she should be fleeing from the action. Yet some battles are unavoidable. Some are destined.

Corvossier ‘Casper’ von Klitzing knew this day was coming. Or rather, the ghost of her dead brother Creeper kept telling her so. Repeatedly. The supernatural world is in outright revolt against their government, the Treize, and Casper’s gift to rally the living and the dead is more vital than ever.

Banshee Sadie Burke’s bravery was the catalyst for this chaos – and for the unique chance the supernatural world now has to change the balance of power forever. Witches and werewolves working together. Sprites teaming up with shifters. Demons and goblins in cahoots. The human world on the precipice of learning they’re not alone. Yet Sadie’s power came at a cost, three of them in fact, with the future hinging on the birth of her unborn triplets.

The four women and their collective of monsters, misanthropes and misfits have no choice but to risk everything to save everything, with their personal prejudices paling in comparison to a possibility … the possibility of a better world for themselves and every being that comes after.

This is the thrilling conclusion to Maria Lewis’ award-winning, best-selling Supernatural Sisters.

Xxxxxxxxx

Lost something? Gabriela Rose knows how to get it back. As a recovery agent, she’s hired by individuals and companies seeking lost treasures, stolen heirlooms, or missing assets of any kind. She’s reliable, cool under pressure, and well trained in weapons of all types. But Gabriela’s latest job isn’t for some bamboozled billionaire, it’s for her own family, whose home is going to be wiped off the map if they can’t come up with a lot of money fast.

Inspired by an old family legend, Gabriela sets off for the jungles of Peru in pursuit of the Ring of Solomon and the lost treasure of Cortez. But this particular job comes with a huge problem attached to it—Gabriela’s ex-husband, Rafer. It’s Rafer who has the map that possibly points the way to the treasure, and he’s not about to let Gabriela find it without him.

Rafer is as relaxed as Gabriela is driven, and he has a lifetime’s experience getting under his ex-wife’s skin. But when they aren’t bickering about old times the two make a formidable team, and it’s going to take a team to defeat the vicious drug lord who has also been searching for the fabled ring. A drug lord who doesn’t mind leaving a large body count behind him to get it.

The Recovery Agent marks the start of an irresistible new series that will have you clamoring for more and cheering for the unstoppable Gabriela Rose on every page.

Xxxxxxxxx

The world’s best young magicians accept the opportunity of a lifetime.

Six are chosen. Only five will walk away.

The Alexandrian Society is a secret society of magical academicians, the best in the world. Their members are caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity. And those who earn a place among their number will secure a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams. Each decade, the world’s six most uniquely talented magicians are selected for initiation – and here are the chosen few . . .

– Libby Rhodes and Nicolás Ferrer de Varona: inseparable enemies, cosmologists who can control matter with their minds.

– Reina Mori: a naturalist who can speak the language of life itself.

– Parisa Kamali: a mind reader whose powers of seduction are unmatched.

– Tristan Caine: the son of a crime kingpin who can see the secrets of the universe.

– Callum Nova: an insanely rich pretty boy who could bring about the end of the world. He need only ask.

When the candidates are recruited by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they are told they must spend one year together to qualify for initiation. During this time, they will be permitted access to the Society’s archives and judged on their contributions to arcane areas of knowledge. Five, they are told, will be initiated. One will be eliminated. If they can prove themselves to be the best, they will survive. Most of them.

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Thanks for stopping by!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR @thebookdate #SundayPost @Kimbacaffeinate #SundaySalon @debnance I’m reading #DaughtersofEve #HerFierceCreatures #TheRecoveryAgent #TheAtlasSix

Its Monday! What Are You Reading? #SundaySalon #SundayPost

 

Linking to: It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? at BookDate; Sunday Post @ Caffeinated Reviewer; and the Sunday Salon @ ReaderBuzz

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Life…

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I’m relieved to report that my town escaped the flooding that caused devastation along the eastern coast of Australia. You may have seen that after the destruction caused in northern New South Wales, that the rain bomb my region was expecting earlier this past week skirted us and instead hit most of metropolitan Sydney, causing higher flood levels in the area my daughter is living for uni, and near drowning complete suburbs, the problem worsened by the reservoirs around the city spilling from overfill. Until the threat of further storms had passed and the waters started falling again midweek, I was pretty stressed. Now I’m just angry at our current government’s penny-pinching response.

There are a ton of fundraising efforts, one of which I thought I’d bring to your attention because you get something when you give. Hosted by BAD Sydney, authors Candice Fox, Chris Hammer and Michael Robotham will be talking books with ABC broadcaster, Kate Evans in person and online on the 1st April, raising funds for the Lismore Library. If you can attend in person, you can join them at the State Library of NSW at 6.00pm. You can also join the Zoom livestream online from anywhere in the world. Tickets are AUD$20 (about US$14 or UK£11 or 12EUR). CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Now I can go back to just worrying about catching CoVid as cases rise, especially as medical studies have just confirmed that not only your risk of a heart attack almost doubles in the 12 months after an even a mild infection, your brain literally shrinks too, and of course Putin with his finger on the big red nuclear button.

How are all you doing?

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What I’ve Read Since I last Posted…

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The Mother by Jane Caro

Brunswick Street Blues by Sally Bothroyd

When We Fall by Aoife Clifford

A Family of Strangers by Fiona Lowe

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New Posts…

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Review: Sheilas: Badass Women of Australian History by Eliza Reilly

Review: The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan

Review: Nine Lives by Peter Swanson

Review: The Mother by Jane Caro

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What I’m Reading This Week…

The thrilling finale of the groundbreaking Caleb Zelic series, from the award-winning author of Resurrection Bay

Caleb Zelic can’t hear you. But he can see everything.

Caleb’s addict brother, Anton, has been missing for months, still angry about Caleb’s part in his downfall.

After almost giving up hope of finding him, Caleb receives an anonymous message alerting him to Ant’s whereabouts and warning him that Ant is in danger. A man has been shot and Ant might be next.

Caleb reluctantly leaves his pregnant wife’s side and tracks his brother to an isolated island where Ant has been seeking treatment. There, he finds a secretive community under threat from a sniper, and a cult-like doctor with a troubling background.

Caleb must hunt for the sniper to save Ant, but any misstep may ruin their faltering reconciliation, and end in death. When body parts begin to wash up on shore, it looks like the sniper is growing more desperate…

+++++++++

 

Before Mrs. Beeton and well before Julia Child, there was Eliza Acton, who changed the course of cookery writing forever.

England 1837. Victorian London is awash with exciting new ingredients from spices to exotic fruits, but Eliza Acton has no desire to spend her days in the kitchen. Determined to be a poet and shamed by the suggestion she write a cookery book instead, she at first refuses to even consider the task. But then her father is forced to flee the country for bankruptcy, shaming the family while leaving them in genteel poverty. As a woman, Eliza has few options, so she methodically collects recipes while teaching herself the mysteries of the kitchen. And to her surprise, she discovers she is not only talented at cooking—she loves it.

To assist her, she hires seventeen-year-old Ann Kirby, the impoverished daughter of a war-injured father and a mother losing her grip on reality. Under Eliza’s tutelage, Ann learns about poetry, cookery, and love, while unravelling a mystery in her mistress’s past. Through the art of food, Eliza and Ann develop an unusual friendship and break the mold of traditional cookbooks by adding elegant descriptions and ingredient lists, that are still used today.

Told in alternate voices, this is an amazing novel of female friendship, the ensuring struggle for freedom, the quiet joy of cookery, and the place of food in creativity all while bringing Eliza Acton out of the archives and back into the public eye. 

+++++++++

 

This isn’t a love story. This is Impossible.

Nick: Failed writer. Failed husband. Dog owner.

Bee: Serial dater. Dress maker. Pringles enthusiast.

One day, their paths cross over a misdirected email. The connection is instant, electric. They feel like they’ve known each other all their lives.

Nick buys a new suit, gets on a train. Bee steps away from her desk, sets off to meet him under the clock at Euston station.

Think you know how the rest of the story goes? They did too . . .

But this is a story with more twists than most. This is Impossible.

+++++++++

 

How a nation still in grief from the Great War found the courage and resilience to face a new tragedy, the Great Depression.

Some generations are born unlucky. Australians who survived the horrors of the Great War and the Spanish flu epidemic that followed were soon faced with the shock of the Great Depression. Today we remember long dole queues, shanty towns and destitute men roaming the country in search of work. With over a third of the workforce unemployed in 1932, Australia was one of the hardest hit countries in the world. Yet this is not the complete story.

In this wide-ranging account of the Great Depression in Australia, Joan Beaumont shows how high levels of debt and the collapse of wool and wheat prices left Australia particularly exposed in the world’s worst depression. Threatened with national insolvency, and with little room for policy innovation, governments resorted to austerity and deflation. Violent protests erupted in the streets and paramilitary movements threatened the political order.

It might have ended very differently, but Australia’s democratic institutions survived the ordeal. Australia’s people, too, survived. While many endured great hardship, anger, anxiety and despair, most ‘made do’ and helped each other. Some even found something positive in the memory of this personal and communal struggle. Australia’s Great Depression details this most impressive narrative of resilience in the nation’s history

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Thanks for stopping by!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR @thebookdate #SundayPost @Kimbacaffeinate #SundaySalon @debnance I’m reading #TheLanguageofFood #ThoseWhoPerish #Impossible #Australia’sGreatDepression

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #SundayPost #SundaySalon

 

Linking to: It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? at BookDate; Sunday Post @ Caffeinated Reviewer; and the Sunday Salon @ ReaderBuzz

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Life…

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So things went sideways during the week in Australia with major flooding affecting much of the eastern seaboard. While my town has so far escaped the worst of it so far (unlike last year), the flood warning remains high as the rain continues and water makes it way down the river system.

South Queensland was the first to cop the ‘rain bomb’ flooding Brisbane, and then on Monday it moved down the coast devastating several towns in Northern NSW, like Lismore where almost the entire town was inundated with a flood peak nearly twice the height of any previously recorded. A week later, people in the region are still isolated due to flood waters or roads destroyed by landslides. Now the streets of the towns are lined with mountains of flood ruined belongings, it’s a true catastrophe.

On Wednesday I got a phone call from my daughter, who you may remember returned to campus last weekend to start her second year of Uni, to tell me the campus was being evacuated as the rain bomb had reformed and caused major, widespread flooding in the Hawkesbury. Luckily my nephew and his wife were able to reach her and took her in so she didn’t have to be billeted with strangers or bussed to another campus.

She was able to return to campus today in time for classes to start tomorrow, but it’s been a tense few days, hence the lack of posting from me. So I’ll be playing catch up again.

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What I’ve Read Since I last Posted…

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The Trivia Night by Ali Lowe

The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan

Nine Lives by Peter Swanson

The Mother by Jane Caro

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New Posts…

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Review: Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

Review: The Trivia Night by Ali Lowe

Review: The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan

2022 Nonfiction Reader Challenge Monthly Spotlight #2

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What I’m Reading This Week…

 

‘It isn’t strangers you need to worry about here. Blood lines run deep and in unexpected places. Every victim, every accused, we’ll know. The past runs alongside us all the time. Some days it spills into the open.’

In the wild, coastal town of Merritt, Alex Tillerson and her mother make a shocking find on the beach. The police claim it’s an accidental death but there are whispers of murder and that it is not the first.

Bella Greggs was found dead at the bottom of a ravine but drowned in salt water. Maxine McFarlane was pulled from the ocean but with no water in her lungs. Black feathers were found with both bodies but what do they mean?

As Alex fights for answers to honour the dead, and to discover why her mother fled town as a teenager, good people keep looking the other way, memories become unreliable and secrets threaten to reveal the past.

Alex discovers the truth never dies but it can kill…

+++++++

 

Before Mrs. Beeton and well before Julia Child, there was Eliza Acton, who changed the course of cookery writing forever.

England 1837. Victorian London is awash with exciting new ingredients from spices to exotic fruits, but Eliza Acton has no desire to spend her days in the kitchen. Determined to be a poet and shamed by the suggestion she write a cookery book instead, she at first refuses to even consider the task. But then her father is forced to flee the country for bankruptcy, shaming the family while leaving them in genteel poverty. As a woman, Eliza has few options, so she methodically collects recipes while teaching herself the mysteries of the kitchen. And to her surprise, she discovers she is not only talented at cooking—she loves it.

To assist her, she hires seventeen-year-old Ann Kirby, the impoverished daughter of a war-injured father and a mother losing her grip on reality. Under Eliza’s tutelage, Ann learns about poetry, cookery, and love, while unravelling a mystery in her mistress’s past. Through the art of food, Eliza and Ann develop an unusual friendship and break the mold of traditional cookbooks by adding elegant descriptions and ingredient lists, that are still used today.

Told in alternate voices, this is an amazing novel of female friendship, the ensuring struggle for freedom, the quiet joy of cookery, and the place of food in creativity all while bringing Eliza Acton out of the archives and back into the public eye. 

+++++++

 

How can you know so little about those you love?

With a coveted promotion dangling within reach, the last thing Addy Topic needs to do is waste precious time singing in Rookery Cove’s choir. But when she’s reminded how much music meant to her late mother, she can’t say no. The building pressure raises the ghosts that sent her running from Rookery Cove years earlier – memories she’s spent decades keeping hidden, silencing them with work, alcohol and sex.

For Stephanie Gallagher, Rookery Cove was meant to be a new beginning in the slow lane. A place where she and her husband can embrace community, parenthood and evenly share the load. But the sea-change is changing everything. How much longer can they survive as a family?

Brenda Lambeck is finding her feet after the death of her husband when her best friend, convinces her to join the choir. Beloved as a grandmother, Brenda is determined to mend the fraught relationship she has with her daughter, Courtney. But is that even possible when she continues to lie?

In the wake of a spectacular betrayal, three women are forced to face the uncompromising truths about the choices that have shaped their relationships with those they love most. The consequences will shatter their lives and all they hold dear. After such a disaster is rebuilding even possible?

+++++++

 

The thrilling finale of the groundbreaking Caleb Zelic series, from the award-winning author of Resurrection Bay

Caleb Zelic can’t hear you. But he can see everything.

Caleb’s addict brother, Anton, has been missing for months, still angry about Caleb’s part in his downfall.

After almost giving up hope of finding him, Caleb receives an anonymous message alerting him to Ant’s whereabouts and warning him that Ant is in danger. A man has been shot and Ant might be next.

Caleb reluctantly leaves his pregnant wife’s side and tracks his brother to an isolated island where Ant has been seeking treatment. There, he finds a secretive community under threat from a sniper, and a cult-like doctor with a troubling background.

Caleb must hunt for the sniper to save Ant, but any misstep may ruin their faltering reconciliation, and end in death. When body parts begin to wash up on shore, it looks like the sniper is growing more desperate…

———————————————

Thanks for stopping by!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR @thebookdate #SundayPost @Kimbacaffeinate #SundaySalon @debnance I’m reading #WhenWeFall #AFamilyofStrangers #TheLanguageofFood #ThoseWhoPerish

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #SundayPost #SundaySalon

 

Linking to: It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? at BookDate; Sunday Post @ Caffeinated Reviewer; and the Sunday Salon @ ReaderBuzz

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Life…

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It’s been a terrible week on a global scale, from the wholly unnecessary attack on Ukraine, to the severe storms in the UK, a deadly earthquake in Sumatra, extreme flooding on the north east coast of Australia, and of course the never ending toll of the pandemic (plus the disruptions caused by the Freedumb protesters).

I’m grateful that my family and I are relatively unaffected, but I’m feeling generally stressed and on edge, as I imagine many of us are. It certainly made it more difficult to say goodbye to my daughter who returned to campus for her second year of uni on the weekend.

Stay safe x

It’s the last Monday of the month, so here’s my challenge update

Nonfiction Reader Challenge: 1/12

Aussie Author Challenge: 8/24

Historical Fiction Challenge: 4/25

Cloak and Dagger Challenge: 10/36

Pick Your Poison: 10/26

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What I’ve Read Since I last Posted…

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The Iron Sword by Julie Kagawa

Sheila’s: BadAss Women of Australian History by Eliza Reilly

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree

The Triva Night by Ali Lowe

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New Posts…

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Review: Wild Dogs by Michael Trant

Review: The Islands by Emily Brugman

Review: The Very Last List of Vivian Walker by Megan Albany

Review: The Iron Sword by Julie Kagawa

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What I’m Reading This Week…

 

In a new World War II-set story from the bestselling author of The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir, four women compete for a spot hosting a wartime cookery program called The Kitchen Front – based on the actual BBC program of the same name – as well as a chance to better their lives.

Two years into WW2, Britain is feeling her losses; the Nazis have won battles, the Blitz has destroyed cities, and U-boats have cut off the supply of food. In an effort to help housewives with food rationing, a BBC radio program called The Kitchen Front is putting on a cooking contest–and the grand prize is a job as the program’s first-ever female co-host. For four very different women, winning the contest presents a crucial chance to change their lives.

For a young widow, it’s a chance to pay off her husband’s debts and keep a roof over her children’s heads. For a kitchen maid, it’s a chance to leave servitude and find freedom. For the lady of the manor, it’s a chance to escape her wealthy husband’s increasingly hostile behavior. And for a trained chef, it’s a chance to challenge the men at the top of her profession.

These four women are giving the competition their all–evebn if that sometimes means bending the rules. But with so much at stake, will the contest that aims to bring the community together serve only to break it apart?

+++++++

 

If you’re on the list you’re marked for death.

The envelope is unremarkable. There is no return address. It contains a single, folded, sheet of white paper.

The envelope drops through the mail slot like any other piece of post. But for the nine complete strangers who receive it – each of them recognising just one name, their own, on the enclosed list – it will be the most life altering letter they ever receive. It could also be the last, as one by one, they start to meet their end.

But why?

+++++++++

 

Just like the garden, the fuse box, the bills, bin night and blown light bulbs, this was just something else she’d now have to take care of herself.

Recently widowed, Miriam Duffy is a respectable North Shore real estate agent and devoted mother and grandmother. She was thrilled when her younger daughter Ally married her true love, but as time goes by Miriam wonders whether all is well with Ally, as she moves to the country and gradually withdraws, finding excuses every time Miriam offers to visit. Their relationship has always had its ups and downs, and Miriam tries to give her daughter the distance she so clearly wants. But is all as it seems?

When the truth of her daughter’s situation is revealed, Miriam watches in disbelief as Ally and her children find themselves increasingly vulnerable and cut off from the world. As the situation escalates and the law proves incapable of protecting them, Miriam is faced with an unthinkable decision. But she will do anything for the people she loves most in the world. Wouldn’t you?

A stunning, gripping novel that goes to the heart of a mother’s love and asks what any of us might do when faced with a threat to the people we hold most dear.

+++++++++

 

 

Brick Brown has a problem: she hates her day job, and her beloved Uncle Baz has gone missing.

Although a bartender by trade, Brick Brown has finagled herself a job on the city council to investigate a complaint that threatens to close her uncle’s well-loved blues club in the heart of Melbourne.

Brick suspects something strange is going on, but when her amateur sleuthing uncovers the mayor’s dead body in a locked room, she’s dragged into the dangerous world of dodgy developers with the reluctant help of Mitch Mitchell, a prickly war correspondent turned investigative journalist.

Relying on her street smarts and an unlikely band of allies, Brick and Mitchell unearth corruption that runs deeper than just local government, and the stakes are higher than they banked on. And when Brick also discovers some terrifying information about her past, the stakes turn deadly.

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Thanks for stopping by!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR @thebookdate #SundayPost @Kimbacaffeinate #SundaySalon @debnance I’m reading #NineLives #TheKitchenFront #TheMother #BrunswickStreetBlues

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #SundayPost #SundaySalon

 

Linking to: It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? at BookDate; Sunday Post @ Caffeinated Reviewer; and the Sunday Salon @ ReaderBuzz

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Life…

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Sigh. I had the worst writer’s block this past week, so I’m several reviews behind, and I’ve had to back date a few (you’ll notice one still isn’t linked because it’s not quite finished but it’s 3am and my brain is tired). I have to be stricter with myself and just get them done.

I have a question this week, I’d appreciate your opinion by answering this simple poll.

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What I’ve Read Since I last Posted…

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Dead Horse Gap by Lee Christine

Wild Dogs by Michael Trant

The Islands by Emily Brugman

The Very Last List of Vivian Walker by Megan Albany

The Iron Sword by Julia Kagawa

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New Posts…

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Review: The Gosling Girl by Jacqueline Roy

Review: Dead Horse Gap by Lee Christine

Review: Wild Dogs by Michael Trant

Bookshelf Bounty

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What I’m Reading This Week…

 

Question: How long does it take to tear someone’s life apart?

Answer: Sometimes just one night.

From the outside the parents of the kindergarten class at Darley Heights primary school seem to have it all. Living in the wealthy Sydney suburbs, it’s a community where everyone knows each other – and secrets don’t stay secret for long.

The big date in the calendar is the school’s annual fundraising trivia night, but when the evening gets raucously out of hand, talk turns to partner-swapping. Initially scandalised, it’s not long before a group of parents make a reckless one-night-only pact.

But in the harsh light of day, those involved must face the fallout of their behaviour. As they begin to navigate the shady aftermath of their wild night, the truth threatens to rip their perfect lives apart – and revenge turns fatal.

++++++++

 

An entertaining romp through Australian history that celebrates the badass sheroes we were never taught about in school and who deserve to be printed on our money, goddamn it!

It’s been said that ‘well-behaved women seldom make history’, but the handful of white boys who wrote our history books conveniently left most of them out. Whoops! To rectify this situation, Eliza Reilly is setting out to revive the forgotten stories of the badass Sheilas of Australian history.

Chain yourself to pub counters with the determined Merle Thornton, fight for Indigenous rights alongside Faith Bandler, and lure forlorn sailors with swimmer-slash-mermaid Annette Kellerman. Deceive cranky soldiers with bushranger Mary Ann Bugg, infiltrate Nazi strongholds on the back of Nancy Wake’s bike – and much, much more.

Cracking with satirical wit and whole-hearted admiration, Sheilas is a cheeky, funny, inspirational celebration of the tough-titted ladies who hiked up their petticoats and fly-kicked down the doors of opportunity for modern Australia.

+++++++++

 

A vivid, romantic story of Sydney in the 1930s Depression – the heartbreak, the glamour, the dark underbelly, the struggle towards a better day – and one young woman’s dream of designing her way from rags to riches. For readers of Natasha Lester and Victoria Purman.

1930: Seventeen-year-old Iris Mitchell dreams of designing clothes, but there’s little spare cash for fashion in their shanty-town home. The gift of a single purple ribbon from would-be boyfriend John Tucker, however, creates an unexpected opportunity … and when Iris’s brother Jim joins the Sydney Harbour Bridge construction, the large, dirt-poor but loving Mitchell family can move to the city. Iris will be torn away from John, but he’s Protestant and she’s Catholic, taboo in their world, so perhaps it wasn’t meant to be …

1932: By day, Iris scrubs the floors at Caron’s, an upmarket department store. By night, she designs and sews in her family’s tiny, crowded house. Friendship with gorgeous, livewire Natasha, one of Caron’s models, allows Iris to show her skills, but will her talent be acknowledged … or exploited?

When John reappears, passions are reignited, and Iris must face not only their religious divide, but the apparent impossibility of having both marriage and a career. Meanwhile, the Mitchells must navigate life in a city riven by corruption, dirty politics and gambling. Will their faith, determination and deep family bond save them when tragedy and adversity strike? In 1930s Sydney, the stakes have never been higher .

++++++++

 

High Fantasy with a double-shot of self-reinvention

Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv the orc barbarian cashes out of the warrior’s life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen.

However, her dreams of a fresh start pulling shots instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune’s shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners and a different kind of resolve.

A hot cup of fantasy slice-of-life with a dollop of romantic froth.

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Thanks for stopping by!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR @thebookdate #SundayPost @Kimbacaffeinate #SundaySalon @debnance I’m reading #Sheilas #TheTriviaNight #LegendsandLattes #DressedbyIris