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Tag: #FridayBookShare

#FridayBookShare – Star Gazing by Linda Gillard

Posted on 16th December 2016 By Nicola

The Friday Book share is taken from Shelley Wilson’s website. Anyone can have a go – all you need to do is answer the following questions […]

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Articles

#FridayBookShare – The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan

Posted on 24th November 2016 By Nicola

I saw this on Shelley Wilson’s website and thought it was a great idea. Anyone can have a go – all you need to do […]

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7

Articles

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Ad/PR product. New review: A Home from Home by Ros

Ad/PR product. New review: A Home from Home by Rosie Hendry. Published by Sphere and out now.
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A Home from Home is a warm-hearted and cosy story about two Land Girls, Phylly and Gracie. Billeted to Catchetts Farm in Norfolk, they work the land along with the farm’s owners. Then there’s Jimmy, a young evacuee sent to the farm and feeling very worried about it, and Edwin, an American airman who quite literally almost runs into Jimmy and who gets to know the residents of the farm.
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I love a wartime saga and A Home from Home is a moving and well-written example of the genre. It’s my first Rosie Hendry book but I’d definitely be happy to read more. I was wondering what felt different about the style of this one and it made sense when I learned it had originally been serialised in eight parts in The People’s Friend. It means the overall story isn’t that long at 230 pages, but each section is perfectly formed as you might expect.
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I haven’t actually read many Land Girl books and so it made a refreshing change to read Phylly’s and Gracie’s stories. The whole thing is very family-orientated and even though the two women are not strictly part of the farm’s family they are certainly made to feel like they are. Strong friendships, new relationships, a couple of rather exciting escapades and some sad wartime events combine to make this a jam-packed read with a delightful ending. I enjoyed A Home from Home very much indeed.
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@rosiehendryauthor
Thank you to the publishers for the review copy of the book.
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#AHomeFromHome #bookreview #sagafiction #sagabooks #warfiction #landgirls #historicalfiction #booksofinsta #readersofinsta #instabooks #instareads #ilovebooks #lovereading #lovebooks #booklover #booklove #bookishlove #shortbookandscribes

Ad/PR product. New review: The Girls Who Disappear

Ad/PR product. New review: The Girls Who Disappeared by Claire Douglas. Published by Michael Joseph and out now.
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How can three young women have disappeared at the same time, from the same car crash on the spooky-sounding Devil’s Corridor? The driver, Olivia, survived the accident but her three friends were never heard of again. Now, twenty years on, Jenna is in the small village of Stafferbury to interview people for a podcast about what happened. Was it foul play or some kind of paranormal event on a road that seems to be shrouded in mystery?
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I was kept guessing throughout the whole novel and it was only towards the end that it all slotted into place. The story is told from Jenna’s and Olivia’s points of view, with another strand, which seemed unconnected, also forming part of the overall tale. I thought the plot was all pulled together brilliantly by Claire Douglas and in the second half particularly I found myself racing through the pages as the tension rose.
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The three disappearing women felt like an inspired storyline to me. One missing woman could be fairly easily explained but three together seemed truly bizarre and had caused much speculation over the years, hence Jenna coming in to record her podcast. I really enjoyed this engaging psychological thriller. I think there would be scope for a follow-up, with Jenna perhaps investigating another cold case for her podcast and I’d also love to see how things might develop for her with one of the other characters. The Girls Who Disappeared really kept me engrossed.
🎙️
@clairedouglasauthor @michaeljbooks
Thank you to the publishers for the proof copy of the book.
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#TheGirlsWhoDisappeared #bookreview #bookblogger #crimebooks #crimefiction #psychologicalfiction #psychologicalthriller #ilovebooks #lovereading #lovebooks #booklover #booklove #booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #instabooks #instareads #shortbookandscribes

Ad/PR product. New review: All the Broken Places b

Ad/PR product. New review: All the Broken Places by John Boyne. Published by Doubleday on 15th September.
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All the Broken Places is a sequel to John Boyne’s classic book, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. However, where that book was aimed primarily at children, All the Broken Places is an adult book focusing on Gretel, the older sister of Bruno, the boy who nobody who has read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas can forget. This is a book that John Boyne had been thinking of writing since The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas was published and it truly is a triumph.
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Gretel is 91 and living in a flat in London when a family, including a 9 year old boy named Henry, move into the flat below her. She’s kept herself to herself over the years, not wanting to draw attention to herself or her shocking past, but the arrival of Henry leads her to make decisions that threaten to shake her life to its very core.
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Gretel’s story is told in the present day but also with sections going back to Paris just after the war, Sydney a little later, and then London in the 1950s, giving a real sense of the direction Gretel’s long life has taken. Whilst not always the most sympathetic character, I absolutely loved Gretel, a quite feisty yet secretive woman whose bold voice stands out. My favourite sections were set in the present day as she meets with her neighbour and her son, and gets to know Henry. But there’s such darkness to the story too, with Henry having an unsettled home life which impacts on Gretel’s hard-won privacy, and of course there is the legacy of the evil she encountered in her childhood in Berlin and ‘that other place’.
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This is another wonderful book from Boyne who never fails to delight me with his extremely varied yet consistently brilliant stories. All the Broken Places most notably asks the questions: are we responsible for the sins of our fathers and are we culpable if we know of atrocities but choose self-preservation? Incredibly thought-provoking and moving, I thought this was a sweeping and magnificent read.
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Thank you to the publishers for the proof copy of the book.
@johnboyneauthor @doubledayukbooks
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#AllTheBrokenPlaces #bookreview

New review: The Lighthouse Bookshop by Sharon Gosl

New review: The Lighthouse Bookshop by Sharon Gosling. Published by Simon and Schuster and out now.
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A lighthouse and a bookshop? In the same book? What a perfect combination. Somewhat strangely, the lighthouse in this story does not serve to provide help to those at sea as it stands inland. The mystery of why it’s there is a huge part of the story and I thought it was a rather wonderful tale that I could never have guessed at and which unfolds throughout the whole book.
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Rachel runs the bookshop in the lighthouse. An incomer to the village of Newton Dunbar, she’s made her home there and some excellent friends too. The characters in this book are all beautifully drawn and make up a delightful (with one notable exception), and somewhat eclectic, community. However, the sudden death of the owner of the bookshop means that Rachel might have to find herself a new job and a new home. But before that, she has to unravel the secrets of the tower.
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Having loved Sharon Gosling’s first book, The House Beneath the Cliffs, The Lighthouse Bookshop was high on my list of books I was looking forward to. I wasn’t disappointed and found myself enjoying another gorgeous story of a tight-knit community, a small and remote location, and a challenge to be overcome. I was also pleased to read a nod to that first book in this one, with the Crovie Inn making a cameo appearance.
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Gosling is a fantastic writer, creating characters and locations that I really cared about, and weaving them into a story that I enjoyed very much. Whilst a fairly easy read, The Lighthouse Bookshop refers to some difficult subjects and a historical thread that is very moving. I thought it was a perceptive book full of warmth, friendship and discoveries.
@sharongoslingauthor
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#TheLighthouseBookshop
#bookreview #booksaboutbooks #lighthouse #booksofinsta #readersofinsta #instabooks #instareads #ilovebooks #lovereading #lovebooks #booklover #booklove #bookish #scottishbooks #scottishfiction #shortbookandscribes

New review: The Hermit by Louise Walters. Publishe

New review: The Hermit by Louise Walters. Published by Louise Walters Books and out now.
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fiction, this one being a novella at 146 pages. Despite its brevity, it is not lacking in content or depth, far from it. The hermit of the title is Theo, an old man living in a hut by the side of a row of three cottages, two of which are used as holiday lets. Sylvia and her daughter, Antonia, come to stay in one of them, with Sylvia’s estranged mother living in one of the others and managing the lets. Set over the course of seven days, it is Sylvia’s attempt to see if the relationship is worth rescuing, and her daughter’s first meeting with her grandmother.
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I thought the setting of the holiday cottages was inspired, the impermanence of it for Sylvia against the constancy of it for her mother immediately puts her on a back foot. Dealing with a teenage daughter’s moods and the other slightly peculiar guests in the cottages doesn’t help an already fraught situation. I didn’t really take to the characters but some of the reasons for their behaviour unfolded as the week went on and it highlighted the complexity of family relationships and the generational impact they can have.
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The writing put me very much in mind of the writing of Sarah Moss: an observational manner, damaged and unlikeable characters, and set over the course of a few days, giving an intensity to the story which doesn’t let up. It kept my attention, and had I not had to sleep I could have read it easily in one session. The threads of this story that go back years are pulled taut in The Hermit which showcases Walters’ unique style and writing ability. This work of accessible literary fiction comes recommended by me.
@louisewalterswriter
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#TheHermit #bookreview #bookblogger #booksofinstagram #novellas #novella #literaryfiction #novellasofinstagram #novellas2022 #readersofinstagram #instabooks #instareads #ilovebooks #lovereading #lovebooks #booklover #booklove #bookworm #shortbookandscribes

Ad/PR product. New review: The Skeleton Key by Eri

Ad/PR product. New review: The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly. Published by Hodder and out now.
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Where to begin to describe The Skeleton Key….a multi-faceted trip through the lives of two families and a book that seems always to threaten to tear them apart seems about right and yet there is so much more to discover between the pages of this book.
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The Churcher family and the Lally family: inextricably linked, Frank Churcher and Gerald ‘Lal’ Lally being the head of each. Best friends, but somehow always that edge of rivalry. Fifty years ago Frank wrote The Golden Bones, a book with a mystery and a search for a missing golden bone at its heart. Now, the anniversary is being celebrated and Nell has returned home, but events are about to come to a head.
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The Skeleton Key is absolutely brilliant and most definitely my kind of read. It’s been described as a slow burner and the gradual unfolding of events past and present fits that description. However, don’t mistake that for a slow read. This is a book that had me completely and utterly gripped, held in its thrall from first page to last.
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Whilst primarily told by Nell in the present day, the story does go back into the past to drip-feed key moments. It’s so intricately and expertly plotted and I found myself frantically turning back through the pages to see where the latest plot twist originated, knowing that it was there and that the detail that seemed so benign at first is in fact so very important. The hand over the mouth moments just kept coming right up until the end. There are many tangled family relationships and friendships tied up with a treasure hunt over the years and this leads to numerous revelations and shocking twists and turns which completely delighted me.
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A book about a book – bliss! A book about a dysfunctional family dealing with the skeletons in their closet – perfection! A dark and intense story that had my eyes glued to the page – magnificent! The Skeleton Key is outstanding and glorious in every way.
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Thank you to the publishers for the proof copy of the book.
@erinjelly @hodderbooks
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#TheSkeletonKey #bookreview #gothicfiction #booksaboutbooks #shortbookandscribes

Ad/PR product. New review: Maureen Fry and the Ang

Ad/PR product. New review: Maureen Fry and the Angel of the North by Rachel Joyce. Published on 20th October by Doubleday.
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When I heard that Rachel Joyce had a new book coming out and it was a book that would turn the Harold Fry and Queenie Hennessey books into a trilogy, I knew it was a must-read for me. You could read it as a standalone but honestly, why would you? The back story is so important and the stories are superb. Maureen Fry and the Angel of the North is a slim volume, a novella rather than a full-length novel, but it’s absolutely perfect and is just enough to round off the journeys, both physical and emotional, that the characters have been on.
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It’s ten years since Harold did his pilgrimage and now his wife Maureen hears something that compels her to make her own journey, but this time it’s a road trip to the north of England. A determined woman, Maureen sets off on a long drive across the country.
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Although Maureen is often prickly and awkward with people, Rachel Joyce manages to make the reader like her and empathise with her, showing Maureen’s personality through her actions and illustrating the complexities of the human psyche, especially in the way Maureen deals with other people. She writes her with warmth and understanding, particularly when considering the reason behind her journey (you’ll have to read the book to find that out!). I thought it was wonderful to be reunited with Harold and Maureen and to read again about Queenie. The stories of the previous two books are intertwined perfectly with this one to bring the whole thing full circle. It’s a moving and poignant story, beautifully observed, charmingly written and a true delight.
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Thank you @alison_is_reading for sending me a proof copy for review.
@rachelcjoyce
@doubledayukbooks
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#MaureenFry #MaureenFryAndTheAngelOfTheNorth #bookreview #booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #novella #instabooks #instareads #ilovebooks #lovereading #lovebooks #booklover #booklove #bookishlove #bookish #bookworm #shortbookandscribes

Thin Books...... Do you like a thin book? It can

Thin Books......

Do you like a thin book? It can be so nice to read something which has depth but which doesn't require the time commitment of a full- length novel.

Of these I've read #TheHauntingOfStrawberryWater and #MaureenFryAndTheAngelOfTheNorth and liked both very much. The others are awaiting their turn in the spotlight but these are books that can easily be slotted into the reading month.

Swipe 👈 to see the covers.

#ASaintInSwindon
#Magda
#TheHermit
#Foster

#novella #novellas #shortreads #shortbooks #smallbooksseptember #shortbookandscribes

August Reads 📚 Oh my! I've had the best month f

August Reads
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Oh my! I've had the best month for reading that I've had in a while. I know it will all go to pot now September is here but for now I will just revel in having read 12 full-length books and a novella!
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Not only that but I enjoyed them all. I can't ask for better than that. Reviews for all except Maureen Fry and the Angel of the North are on my grid. Review to follow very soon for lovely Maureen.
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How was your August Reading? What was your favourite August read?
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#booksread #AugustReads #August2022Reads #AugustReads2022

Ad/PR product. New review: Your Word or Mine by Li

Ad/PR product. New review: Your Word or Mine by Lia Middleton. Published by Michael Joseph today! Congratulations Lia 🍾🎉🥳
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Your Word or Mine drew me to it initially because of the courtroom aspects. I love a courtroom drama. Ava Knight is a prosecuting barrister who, in the course of her work, is required to defend a young girl accused of stabbing a man. It all seems quite cut and dried until Ava realises the victim is the man who attacked her 18 years previously. This is what leads Ava to risk everything, to act out of character, to pursue the truth.
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This is a book that I found gripping from beginning to end. Lia Middleton’s plotting is impeccable and I particularly liked the fact that the twists in the story were totally plausible and it never felt as though the story was being manipulated just to create shock value. However, I have to say that shock value was very much created. The end of the first half drew a gasp from me and there were at least two other moments when I said “oh no” to myself out loud and had to turn away from the book for a moment. It’s such a tense ride; indeed all emotions came into play: anger, sympathy, nail-biting anxiety and even a tear in my eye.
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This is one fast-paced and gripping ‘edge of the seat’ kind of story. As Ava looks for answers, both to what happened to her all those years ago, and what is happening now, she puts herself in some rather stressful situations and it makes for an extremely taut and exciting experience. An intelligent crime thriller that comes highly recommended by me. I couldn’t put it down.
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Thank you to the publishers for the proof copy of the book.
@liamiddletonauthor @michaeljbooks
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#YourWordOrMine #bookreview #crimebooks #crimefiction #crimethriller #thrillerbooks #legalfiction #instathrillers #instabooks #booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #instareads #grippingreads #ilovebooks #lovereading #lovebooks #booklover #booklove #bookish #shortbookandscribes

New review: Beach Read by Emily Henry. Published b

New review: Beach Read by Emily Henry. Published by @vikingbooksuk and out now.
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I’ve been meaning to read Beach Read since it was first published. A sizzling hot book about two authors sounded right up my street.
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January is the author of romantic novels with happy ever after endings. Gus writes literary novels. They have history when they meet again after January finds herself in a beach house due to some sad events in her life. She’s unable to write and he’s struggling too and despite initially being a bit scathing of the other’s writing style, they decide to try and write books in the other’s genre and see who can sell their book first.
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I was expecting something really light and funny and although this book did make me laugh on a few occasions, it’s got unexpected sadness in it. There’s a lot going on individually with January and Gus and I wasn’t sure if they could get over that. My favourite parts were when they verbally sparred with each other, leading to some seriously smoking hot chemistry between the two of them.
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I liked this book and found it a quick and enjoyable read. January tells the story in the first person and I found her hard to truly get to know and very introspective. Gus on the other hand comes out of it extremely well indeed (just excuse me while I get a fan please). I loved the set up of how they were living and the little notes they used to communicate. Definitely lots of rom and some com, but Beach Read is more than that: a love story, a story of family secrets and friendship. There’s a warmth to it, a sense of healing and coming out the other side ready to move on and try to love again.
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#BeachRead #bookreview #romcombooks #bookaboutbooks #bookblogger #booksofinsta #readersofinsta #instabooks #instareads #ilovebooks #lovereading #lovebooks #booklover #booklove #bookishlove #lovestory #shortbookandscribes

Ad/PR product. New review: The Last Girl to Die by

Ad/PR product. New review: The Last Girl to Die by @helenfields_author. Published on 1st September by @avonbooksuk.
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With The Last Girl to Die, Helen Fields takes a small town setting, legends and folklore to craft a story about the tragic death of a young outsider and the PI who is tasked with finding out what happened to her.
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Sadie Levesque is a Canadian, brought to Mull by the missing girl’s family to try and find her. Find her she does, but she’s dead in a cave and there are some things with her body that are disturbing. From there it’s a question of who to trust and as Sadie finds out more about the island’s past, simply a question of why?
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Sadie, telling the story in the first person, was not the easiest character to take to and her role as a private investigator basically meant sniffing around in other people’s business and being extremely reckless which felt a little hard to get behind at times. She did grow on me as the story progressed though and it got to the point where I didn’t want to put this book down, so engrossed was I in the investigation that Sadie was conducting, and the situations she was putting herself in which almost had me wanting to read through my fingers. There are plenty of red herrings in this story and I didn’t see the outcome until it was right in front of me. Fields is an immaculate plotter and always manages to keep me guessing. The overall ending was definitely unexpected!
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I loved the fact that a few characters from Fields’ other books featured in this one. It gave it a kind of authenticity, in a way almost like it was a real-life scenario. I’m always glad to come across such great characters. I also really liked the Scottish island setting, one of my favourite settings to read about in fiction. The whole suspicious community feel was so strong, coupled that with the superstition that abounded there, that I could easily imagine eyes following Sadie everywhere she went.
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Whilst The Last Girl to Die felt slightly different to this author’s other books, I found it a riveting and gruesome (trademark Fields) read, full of twists and turns and excitement galore.
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Thank you to the publishers for the proof copy.

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ShortBookandScribes #BookReview - The Last Girl to Die by Helen Fields
ShortBookandScribes #BookReview - The Hermit by Louise Walters
ShortBookandScribes #BookReview - The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page
ShortBookandScribes #BookReview - The Girls Who Disappeared by Claire Douglas
ShortBookandScribes #BookReview - All the Broken Places by John Boyne

ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – A Home from Home by Rosie Hendry
ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – The Girls Who Disappeared by Claire Douglas
ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – All the Broken Places by John Boyne
ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – The Lighthouse Bookshop by Sharon Gosling
ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – The Hermit by Louise Walters

Today Week Month All

ShortBookandScribes #BookReview - All the Broken Places by John Boyne
ShortBookandScribes #BookReview - The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly
ShortBookandScribes #BookReview - Maureen Fry and the Angel of the North by Rachel Joyce

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