The Girl He Used to Know. Tracey Garvis Graves

Published: St Martin’s Press
Date: 2nd April 2019
Genre: Romance
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Right from the beginning I was hooked into this book and the story. I just totally loved Annika and her background story.  In college she was not very socially adept, missed cues, spoke her mind, hated loud noise and wasn’t keen on being touched. But… what a heart and gorgeous person. I also fell for her room mate Janine who was kind enough to reach out in genuine friendship and help Annika to find her way through the world that mystified her.

In college she meets Jonathan and he is everything you’d like in a male. We find out that something separated them and now as they meet ten years later and begin to find their way with each other, we are led on, wondering what on earth went wrong between this wonderful pair.

The story is told in two time lines, college days and 2001. They fit together seamlessly and as I read, the question I held about what went wrong was answered. And no more about the plot – its best discovered as you read.

This book was a fast read, I picked it up every moment possible. It was emotional – heart warming and heart breaking. If you love unforgettable characters, a little mystery, and an emotional read with an intense ending – pick this one up. I hated it had to finish!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? Mid April

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet up and share what you have been, and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organise yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment and er… add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn here at The Book Date.

Jen Vincent, Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee of Unleashing Readers decided to give It’s Monday! a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels or anything in those genres – join them.

On Saturday I went to a 6 year old party for my grand niece. And what do you take for a gift when you are a booklover and so is she!!   Well books of course and not just one. I had a great time picking them off  the shelf at the bookstore.

What I read last week:

I read The Little Teashop on Main – a review book, Love Letters is a continuing series and I have to say this one wrapped me round its little finger, and I finished listening to the delightful Mariah Stewart The Goodbye Cafe – so well narrated it put it into the 5 star category for me.

What I am reading now:

I have just started listening to this. I read it when it published in 2017 and now doing a reread via audio. I love Cathy Lamb books – thanks to Shellyrae who shared a review of one of her books on Book’d Out, and totally hooked me into her books.  Bloggers are influencers!

I am reading this from the backlist of Kristin Hannah, it won’t be as heavy as her more recent ones and that’s totally okay. Another author I read anything she writes.

Up next:

I need a funny good feel book for my next read as that is a challenge book for this month. When I saw a review for this from Trish at Between My Lines , it sealed the choice. She says “It is loaded with laugh out loud moments that had my stomach in a knot.” Has to qualify don’t you think!

 

Last Week’s Posts

Come From Away Genevieve Graham

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Come From Away. Genevieve Graham

Published: Audible Studios
Date: 5th March 2015
Narrator: Michelle Ferguson
Length: 8 hrs 2 min
Source: Author

Earlier in the year I enjoyed the audiobook Tides of Honour – a story about Danny and Audrey and WW1. When I started listening to this book Come From Away, I was delighted to find out that this one picks up the lives of their children and especially that of their daughter Grace. It’s a complete stand alone, however, seeing how life has moved on pleased this reader!

Grace works in a local store in Nova Scotia, while her three brothers are away at war – world war 2. Her parents Danny and Audrey are there with her and also other various family members live by.  One evening at a local dance some strangers come by, and Grace is attracted to one man who dances with her – then they are gone. Now off Nova Scotia there are German u-boats, so could these men have come from there?

Some weeks later this stranger wanders into Grace’s store – Rudi is his name. Supposedly a trapper but is he?  And so the story takes off. There is challenge and adventure, distrust and trust, and an evolving relationship with Rudi and the family and of course Grace.

I loved the story of the family in Nova Scotia, and what happened to them as the war progressed.  Depicted was the toll that war places on ordinary men, the demands made on them, and that underneath so many of them  are men of honour and care.

The story moves along at a good pace, the characters are ones that I could take into my heart and care about. The narrator was very good and brought this book alive.

 

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet up and share what you have been, and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organise yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment and er… add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn here at The Book Date.

Jen Vincent, Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee of Unleashing Readers decided to give It’s Monday! a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels or anything in those genres – join them.

It’s been a little cooler here! I even put on some woollen socks on Saturday because I was feeling cold! And then on Saturday it was so cold I lit a fire, and I wasn’t the only one! Autumn has arrived for us. And we ended daylight saving, which as you know sort of knocks you around for a little while.

This week I watched three movies – which I hardly ever do – all old ones but I enjoyed them nevertheless. The Enchanted April. The Descendants and Moana.

What I read last week:

What I am reading now:

Still listening to this – well into it now…

And picked up from TBR from books bought at book fair year few years ago. From the Rose Harbor series.

Up next:

 

Last Week’s Posts

Month in Review March Reading

The Library of Lost and Found

 

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The Library of Lost and Found

Published: Park Row
Date:  March 26th 2019
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 352
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss

I am always drawn to a book with the words library or book or bookshop in its title. Books on the cover also help. So even though I’d never come across a Phaedra Patrick book before, The Library of Lost and Found was a book that I knew had my name on it!

The main character is Martha Storm, and she is rather quirky. It took me awhile to work her out. She keeps lists, only has a part time job at the library, lives in a house that at first sight could belong to a hoarder. She is a people pleaser and allows others to walk all over her, with their requests. She doesn’t let others close.  So my question was “Who is she?” “Will I like her?”

When Martha finds a book on the doorstep of the library, it leads her to question the belief she has that her grandmother is dead. The book appears to be stories that her grandmother Zelda and Martha told when Martha was a child. But she died when Martha was thirteen – or did she?

As we track down the mystery with Martha we learn about her life at home as a youngster, the little stories she told, interspersed with the main text give us insight into what kind of home life she had. No wonder Martha is like she is.  But her inner spirit is quite different and slowly it emerges and the real Martha steps out.

I enjoyed the cameo minor characters, the unravelling of the mystery, the book references of course, and of the main characters finally returning “home”. And yes I ended up really liking Martha and being very hopeful for her future.

Month in Review – March Reading

Total books read this month:  11

New to me authors:

Elizabeth Von Arnim
Phaedra Patrick
Tracey Garvis Graves

Authors From

Australia  2
USA  5
Canada 1
Ireland 1
England 2

Reading Challenge Update:

I think I am doing quite well, 8 out of 30 audiobooks is a good place to be. I have the Modern Mrs Darcy challenge well in hand, I was good with library books but slipped up on a few because they needed to be returned before I made space to read them.

Reading Club Update:

The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer was the book for Books With Heart

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim was the MMD book club read

Top Books for March…

This ended up more difficult to choose than I thought as I most of the books  really spoke to me this month.  By a small margin these are my top loves!

Looking forward to reading in April …

A Look Back at Goals for March

Well I didn’t complete all my goals for March. I had 7 books to read for review – I read 4. I’ll read the other 3 sometime later.

I did read the online book club books I was going to read.

I was going to start an ongoing long book ( I have two to choose from) but didn’t do that.

Main Reading Goal for April…

So one main goal – choose which long book I am going to read and put in some time each week reading it!

Incoming Books for March….

Purchased

Library Books

I did get a few but they went back unread!

From NetGalley or Edelweiss

 

Audio Books

Purchased from Audible

Linking up with Nicole at Feed Your Fiction Addiction

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet up and share what you have been, and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organise yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment and er… add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn here at The Book Date.

Jen Vincent, Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee of Unleashing Readers decided to give It’s Monday! a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels or anything in those genres – join them.

Well we head into April. As I write this there is still a distinct feel of summer, sunshine and heat but not really complaining!  Next weekend we finally finish daylight saving. Here we almost have it for half the year and on the whole it is popular among us. Love those long evenings.

What I read last week:

I finished these. I hope to watch the movie of Enchanted April, I was able to get the DVD of it from the library.  I absolutely loved The Girl He Used to Know. I finished and did enjoy Come From Away – my audiobook.  And Fatal Reckoning – well that published this week and it is an auto buy and auto read for me. Its a fave romantic suspense series for me.

What I am reading now:

I am listening to this one which just published in the last week

And I finally settled on reading this one after a few discards for now, I just wasn’t in the mood so put them on the TBR for later – I needed an author I love!

Up next:

I am not terribly sure but maybe this one if the reading mood allows.

 

Last Week’s Posts

The Cliff House   RaeAnne Thayne

The Things We Cannot Say  Kelly Rimmer

 

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The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer

Publisher: Graydon House – Harlequin
Date: 19th March 2019
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

 

In The Things I Cannot Say Kelly Rimmer as penned a very powerful dual time line story.

In one time space we are taken to Poland in the early times of Nazi occupation during WW2 and to the story of Alina and Tomasz and their families. Those times were horrific and yet the bravery of these people stand out as they dealt with the terror.

In the present we have Alice and Wade and their two children – one very intelligent and one who is on the autism spectrum. The stresses in the family are well depicted and felt very real. When Alice is asked by her grandmother to return to Poland to seek information about what happened back then and who is there now, it is a huge challenge for her.

The dual time lines worked well. While I am not a huge fan of dual time lines, I have to admit the way the details were spread throughout the story was very effective.  I was sucked into both stories – one shocking and so hard to read, one “easier” but with its own difficulties.  And always such love.

Its very emotional and tissues were needed! I came to love and admire all the characters and to be in awe of the story telling power of Kelly Rimmer.

The Cliff House RaeAnne Thayne

Published: Harlequin
Date: 26th March 2019
Genre:  Contemporary Romance
Source:  Litte Bird Publicity via NetGalley

The Cliff House is a really wonderful read – I think my favorite from this author. It abounds with love and family and care for the wider community.

Stella is a middle school teacher, a “mother” to her two nieces and a beloved foster mother to many another child. But… she is only forty and she hankers for her own child.

Her two nieces are now grown women, a credit to her and themselves – yet some things are not yet sorted. Bea is a great mother to Mari, born of a marriage to a rock star, that has long since ended and she is so ready to move on.   Daisy is a talented financial advisor and accountant, but a little tight and buttoned up. She carries some secrets and surprises though.

The story explores the issues of the importance of foster care, and for each of the women a second chance at becoming firstly more themselves  and secondly a relationship for each of them that promises to be very fulfilling.

It was a story I just kept reading, there is an adorable dog or two, women who care about each other and men who each have their strengths and abilities to be there for the women they have come to love. A secret here and there, past mistake, some tension and loss, and some big hearted giving.

This stand alone book is RaeAnne Thayne’s first ever book in hardcover and it is certainly worthy of it.

 

 

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet up and share what you have been, and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organise yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment and er… add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn here at The Book Date.

Jen Vincent, Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee of Unleashing Readers decided to give It’s Monday! a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels or anything in those genres – join them.

I didn’t get a lot of reading done this week as I wasn’t feeling well. However I am coming right and that is something I really appreciate! Also I wasn’t feeling like visiting blogs but now up and active again!

The weather has been glorious although I think due to break. I walked on the beach the last two days and it felt like paradise.

What I read last week:

I finished The Sound of Glass – one that I really liked, definitely one for my keeper shelf. I know this one was well received when it published but I waited for the paperback to arrive as the hardback was too expensive!

What I am reading now:

Still listening to Come from Away by Genevieve Graham. I was happy to hear that it continued on with the next generation from the previous book of hers that I had listened to.

I am still reading this one but should finish it today or tomorrow. It’s one that was written in the 1920’s and is rather fascinating.  Four women on holiday in Italy for a month, all quite different.

Up next:

 

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