I started reading – and really enjoying – Zoë Folbigg’s new book The Postcard, quickly realised it was a sequel and went out and downloaded her first book. I’m not quite sure how it managed to pass me by when it came out in 2017 as it is exactly the kind of fun romantic read…
Tag: relationships
Book Review: The Strawberry Thief – Joanne Harris ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Meeting up with an old friend like Vianne Rocher is always a pleasure and if, like me, you are a fan of Harris’s Chocolat series this book is unmissable – even if you do find yourself hunting through the cupboard for some chocolate goodness while you are reading it. Not a great choice for a…
Book Review: Three Days in Florence – Chrissie Manby ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Picking up a new Chrissie Manby book is like meeting up with a really good friend that you haven’t seen for ages. You know pretty much all of their best stories but its still an absolute pleasure. Kathy Courage is in Italy for her boyfriend’s brother’s wedding. Neil is being his usual ebullient and rather…
Book Review: The Reckoning – Yrsa Sigurdardottir ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Book two in the Children’s House series sees Icelandic author Yrsa Sigurardottir at her chilling best. Not for the faint hearted, this is Scandi Noir at its finest. When a time capsule is dug up at a local school after ten years it contains a very creepy note written by a 13 year old predicting…
Book Review: The Editor – Steven Rowley ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Modern American literature isn’t always a favourite of mine. There is such a difference in tone between a European author writing on a subject and that of their American counterpart. I’m very pleased to say that Rowley has crafted a modern American novel of significance with a pathos and circumspection that is so often missing…
Book Review: Watching You – Lisa Jewell ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A small community in Bristol, Melville Heights, is the very epitome of British village life. Although it is part of a larger metropolitan area it feels like a small enclave where everyone knows everyone else. It’s a well to do neighborhood with lawyers and doctors and more recently the elite head teacher who has come…
Book Review: Bloody Brilliant Women: The Pioneers, Revolutionaries and Geniuses Your History Teacher Forgot to Mention – Cathy Newman *****
UK readers may be familiar with Cathy Newman from her role as journalist and presenter on Channel Four’s nightly news programme. She has a very direct but completely amicable style that often disarms the people that she interviews. This easygoing style translates into her written prose and what could be a dull and dry subject…
Book Reviews: One Thousand Stars And You – Isabelle Broom *****
I love a good book cover and shamelessly I will admit that it is often the difference between picking up a book in the store or not. This latest book from Isabelle Broom has the most gorgeous cover art and it captured me right from the start. Alice lives with Richard. She has a job…
Book Review: The Futures – Anna Pitoniak ***
The Futures is described as a New York Love Story but for most of the book the main characters Julia and Evan seem to be almost the antithesis of love. Their relationship is a convenience, a habit. Julia and Evan get together at college where Evan is a Canadian ice hockey player on a sports…
Book Review: The Plus One – Sophia Money-Coutts ***
The debut novel from a London journalist, The Plus One is a bit like eating candy floss when you know that you should be eating salad. It is a romp very much in the style of an early Jilly Cooper novel updated for the noughties. Polly works for a society magazine called Posh. (Think Heat…
Book Review: One In a Million – Lindsey Kelk *****
Way back in the distant mists of 2009 I picked up a book by an unknown author and took it on holiday with me. “I Heart New York” was the first of many books by Lindsey Kelk and I’ve been sharing my summers with her ever since. Kelk has always had a rare ability to…
Book Review: Future Popes of Ireland – Darragh Martin ****
I do have a fondness for stories set in Eighties Ireland. A reminder of a pretty idyllic childhood. This story opens with the visit of Pope John Paul II to Ireland in 1979. A vast gathering of Mammies and their various offspring in Phoenix Park looking for that Papal blessing. Now that there has been…
