Stealing Home by Sherryl Woods

August 23, 2020Book ReviewContemporary, Contemporary romance, Sherryl Woods, The Sweet Magnoliasskyebjenner

Stealing Home (Sweet Magnolias, book 1) by Sherryl Woods

Title: Stealing Home
Author: Sherryl Woods
Series: The Sweet Magnolias #1
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Dates read: 23rd – 26th July 2020
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Mira
Year: 2007
5th sentence, 74th page: Now all of that was at risk.

For the Sweet Magnolias, now a Netflix original series, friendship lasts a lifetime…

Maddie Townsend might live in a town called Serenity and have the best friends a woman could ask for, but her life is overturned when her husband leaves her for a younger woman. With her three children heartbroken from the change, Maddie has a lot to contend with. On top of it all, after years outside the workforce, she must dust off her business skills to take charge of her best friends’ newest project – planning the town’s only fitness spa for women.

When her son’s developing anger issues begin to affect his passion for baseball, Maddie knows she must step in to help. She didn’t expect to develop feelings for her son’s coach, the handsome Cal Maddox, and to learn he has feelings for her, too. But gossip travels quickly in a small town, and Maddie and Cal’s relationship may threaten both their reputations and careers.

Then again, he could be the one man in all of South Carolina who can help her find serenity after all.

I managed to start two Sherryl Woods series pretty close to one another. Mainly because more of the Chesapeake Shores books aren’t yet on my shelves. And although I love the Sweet Magnolias, I did find that I didn’t find it as much of a great beginning to a series as The Inn at Eagle Point. Having said that. This still gets five stars from me. It’s still fun, cute, amazing and a great way to spend an evening.

This novel perfectly encapsulates the way it feels to live in a small town. It highlights the gossip-tree that spreads throughout. And the ways in which gossip can cause havoc in a person’s life. It actually reminded me a little of the ways in which I hate small towns, even as I love them. Poor Cal and Maddie have to deal with such nonsense throughout this novel. Nonsense that makes you want to smack around the silly people who thought that they could be involved in somebody else’s love life.

The gossip, and the difference in the communities’ reactions to Bill and Maddie were great at highlighting the double standards that women face every day. Maddie is actually innocent in the creation of her relationship (where Bill certainly isn’t). Yet, it is Maddie that has a constant threat hanging over her head due to social pressure. I love that Woods not only highlights this in her story – but it is something that is actually discussed amongst the characters in this novel as well. We definitely need more stories which shine a light on this issue.

There is something about the setting of Serenity that is completely beautiful, peaceful and loving. Gossip crazy members aside, I would love to live in such a beautiful and peaceful town. One in which you can open a Corner Spa with your friends and start a new life surrounded by people who love you. It’s everything that you imagine a small town to be, and I loved that Serenity was almost its own character. One that I look forward to meeting again and again throughout this series.

<- More Sherryl Woods

A Slice of Heaven ->

Image source: Fantastic Fiction

The Unwilling by Shiloh Walker

August 22, 2020Book ReviewHot in Handcuffs, Mystery, Paranormal Romance, Romantic Suspense, Shiloh Walker, The FBI Psychics Seriesskyebjenner

Hot in Handcuffs - Bookshelf • Best Selling Books by #1 New York ...

Title: The Unwilling
Author: Shiloh Walker
Series: The FBI Psychics Series #3.25
In: Hot in Handcuffs (Sylvia Day, Shayla Black & Shiloh Walker)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Mystery, Paranormal romance, Romantic suspense
Dates read: 29th July 2020
Pace: Fast
Format: Novella
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Year: 2012
5th sentence, 74th page: Sometimes this is like shooting in the dark.

Mica Greer and her former lover, ex-FBI agent Colby Mathis, once shared an intimate past and a powerful psychic gift. Now, they’ve been reunited by a bizarre series of murders—and an electrifying passion that could put them both in jeopardy.

I absolutely adored this crime novella. Not only was it a great romantic suspense, but it had a fantastic layer of paranormal moments throughout. I’m completely intrigued to see what the rest of this series will be like – psychics who are in the FBI and run around solving crimes? Plus sex? Yes please. This is exactly the kind of series that I love.

One of the things that I loved about this novella was that it was all about love loved and lost. I didn’t like that fifteen years had been and gone for these two characters since they had last “connected”. But at least they finally made their way back to one another. That was a nice little, pleasant surprise. Even if the history still hurt my heart a little bit.

One of my favourite things to do when reading a mystery of any kind is to try and guess who the culprit is. Sometimes I love being able to guess the culprit, sometimes I hate it. In the case of this novella, I was able to guess who the culprit was about halfway through. Yet, that still left me with that unforgettable, spine tingling, uncomfortable moment that I think all good mysteries and suspense stories should have.

<- On Fire

Hot in Handcuffs ->

Image source: Sylvia Day

Stingers and Strangers by Seanan McGuire

August 21, 2020Book ReviewDead Man's Hand, InCryptid, Paranormal Fantasy, Seanan McGuire, Strong Women, Urban Fantasyskyebjenner

Image result for dead man's hand book cover

Title: Stingers and Strangers
Author: Seanan McGuire
Series: InCryptid #0.04
In: Dead Man’s Hand (John Joseph Adams)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Paranormal fantasy, Strong women, Urban fantasy
Dates read: 23rd July 2020
Pace: Fast
Format: Short story
Publisher: Titan Books
Year: 2014
5th sentence, 74th page: Eleanor had just admitted she wasn’t human; he wasn’t going to make her cope with the idea of unmarried couples sharing a bed beneath her roof.

Fran and Johnny are out hunting monsters. But, it’s the wild wild west and just certain things are expected… will they be able to win the day and finally recognize their feelings for one another?

This is yet another great InCryptid short story. It has the action, the humour and the wit that I have come to expect from this series. It deals with Verity’s grandparents (or is it great-grandparents?) and their own hunting journey into the West.

I love that Fran and Johnny are arguing and bickering throughout most of this story. From the very outset you recognise that they have feelings for each other. And although it takes a while for either one of them to actually admit it… that bickering and wit in their interactions helps to keep that feeling alive and well.

This had a beautiful gunslinging, wild west, cowboy feeling to this story. The fact that it also works to introduce Cuckoos to the Cryptid hunters just works even better. Now I need to read the rest of the short stories which make up this mini series within a series…

<- No Place Like Home

Married in Green ->

Image source: Amazon

The Young Warrior by Oliver La Farge

August 20, 2020Book ReviewOliver La Farge, The Mammoth Book of Westerns, Westernsskyebjenner

Image result for the mammoth book of westerns book cover

Title: The Young Warrior
Author: Oliver La Farge
In: The Mammoth Book of Westerns (Jon E. Lewis)
Rating Out of 5: 3 (On the fence about this one)
My Bookshelves: Westerns
Dates read: 23rd July 2020
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2013
5th sentence, 74th page: His power would be destroyed, his eyes dimmed, his medicine would not protect him.

The young warrior of the plains is about to face a battle… wil he win?

This was an easy, light and pleasant read. It was a nice break within my reading of bigger, more complex books. The journey is fun, it’s easy to understand what is happening and just a generally well-written diversion. I didn’t find the story line intense and unforgettable (hence the lower star rating). But I did find the whole adventure very fun.

This is quick, sharp and shiny. Perfectly enjoyable and fantastically written. Something that I love in a good short story. You’re thrown into the action from the very beginning and pulled through the young warriors battle and journey. It’s a little open ended and in conclusive. Which is something that I do enjoy in a good short story.

You can imagine at the end of this story that the warriors continue on to battle yet another fight. Another day on the plains. Another moment in which they have to fight for a better future.

<- When You Carry the Star

The Big Sky ->

Image source: Hachette Australia

Human Acts by Han Kang

August 19, 2020Book ReviewAsia, Han Kang, Historical fiction, Warskyebjenner

Title: Human Acts
Author: Han Kang
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Asia, Historical fiction, War
Dates read: 22nd – 23rd July 2020
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Portobello
Year: 2014
5th sentence, 74th page: How can that be possible?

Gwangju, South Korea, 1980. In the wake of a viciously suppressed student uprising, a boy searches for his friend’s corpse, a consciousness searches for its abandoned body, and a brutalised country searches for a voice. In a sequence of interconnected chapters the victims and the bereaved encounter censorship, denial, forgiveness and the echoing agony of the original trauma.

Human Acts is a universal book, utterly modern and profoundly timeless. Already a controversial bestseller and award-winning book in Korea, it confirms Han Kang as a writer of immense importance.

This was nothing like what I expected. Although, to be fair. I really didn’t know what to expect – after all, this is my first piece of Korean Literature. And my first novel that has been translated from this language. It was a great story. And I loved the ways in which some of the idiosyncrasies of another language worked their way into this story.

Effectively, this story works as six separate tales. That are all interrelated. They tell the stories of people whose lives were interconnected when their world came crashing down in war. I loved the set up – it showed so many different perspectives to the same events. And at different points. Some were in the present day, some in the past.

At the end of this novel. My heart just. Hurt. Seriously. Hurt. It was such a tragic tale. And. Just. Wow. So much heart pain. I sat there, staring at all of the happy books on my shelves that had far happier stories in it…

Some of the war stories that I’ve read have a bit of a positive light and spin. This is not one of those stories. There is such a feeling of tragedy. This is just all about the atrocities of humanity. And the horrible things that we do to one another. It is completely obvious why this is an award-winning novel. Definitely one that I would like to return to in the future…

<- More Asia reviews

More War reviews ->

Image source: Bookdepository

Blood on the Wall by Heather Graham

August 18, 2020Book ReviewHeather Graham, Home Improvement, Paranormal Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Vampires, Werewolvesskyebjenner

Image result for home improvement undead edition book cover

Title: Blood on the Wall
Author: Heather Graham
In: Home Improvement (Charlaine Harris & Toni L.P. Kelner)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Paranormal fantasy, Urban fantasy, Vampires, Werewolves
Dates read: 23rd July 2020
Pace: Fast
Format: Short story
Publisher: Jo Fletcher Books
Year: 2011
5th sentence, 74th page: And, of course, because DeFeo’s ancestor, Antoine Montville, had been suspected of Satanism, but something like it.

A young man just wants to build up his own cult and reputation. But when a werewolf comes to town, things are turned on their head and he finally realises that maybe he’s not been making the best decisions…

I really didn’t expect all of the twists and turns that reared their ugly heads throughout this short story. Every time I thought that I could predict what was going on, something else reared its head and surprised me. It was incredibly fun and welcome. I love when a story like this completely takes me by surprise.

One of the things that I love about this story is that the cultist in this story isn’t paranormal. And the one that you think is kind of normal? Not so much. It literally turns everything on its head throughout this story. In the best way possible.

This is a fantastic short story – it involves vampires, werewolves, crimes and cults. It kind of has everything that I love in a short story. Even if it is slightly, unexpectedly off-kilter to what I am used to. And all of those surprises… I’ll definitely be reading this one again!

<- Squatter’s Rights

The Mansion of Imperatives ->

Image source: Hachette Australia

Artemis by Andy Weir

August 17, 2020Book ReviewScience Fiction, Spaceskyebjenner

Artemis by Andy Weir - Penguin Books Australia

Title: Artemis
Author: Andy Weir
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Science fiction, Space
Dates read: 9th – 22nd July 2020
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Del Rey
Year: 2017
5th sentence, 74th page: Combined with a hijab (head cloth) to cover my hair, only my eyes were visible.

Welcome to Artemis. The first city on the moon. Population 2,000. Mostly tourists. Some criminals.

Jazz Bashara is one of the criminals. She lives in a poor area of Artemis and subsidises her work as a porter with smuggling contraband onto the moon. But it’s not enough.

So when she’s offered the chance to make a lot of money she jumps at it. Now all she needs to do is plan the perfect crime in one of the most dangerous places in the universe – and survive it.

Alright. I’ve heard the name Andy Weir multiple times over the years. And now I completely understand why I’ve heard such positive things! And why he’s so popular. Just because… wow. This book was amazing. It was phenomenal. It was funny. It was witty. And I absolutely adored reading this book… I plan to do so again and again and again.

One of the things I loved about this story was that it felt seriously realistic. It felt like there was a complete chance of Artemis being built on the moon. With all of the seedy complications and secrets which such a world entails. Somehow, Weir manages to mix science fiction and imagination with known science to bring about a great story that feels completely, totally and happily realistic.

There is something ridiculously fun about Jazz throughout this… no matter what she does. She seems to just get into more and more trouble. It creates this giant rollercoaster ride. Every time you think that she’s getting herself safe and the problem might be solved… she manages to get into a whole other kind of trouble. The only reason that fact didn’t take me completely by surprise… I could see how many pages of the book were left.

There are so many brilliant and witty one-liners in this novel. I spent a lot of time reading this out loud to my partner. Sharing those great lines and moments with someone who had no idea what I was reading. But, probably appreciated the humour that such simple moments throughout the story bought to our nightly rituals. Not only is this a fantastic adventure story set on the moon, but there’s also a slow unravelling of Jazz’s past that coincides with everything. Upping the stakes and pulling you even further into the beautiful story.

<- The Martian

Cheshire Crossing ->

Image source: Penguin Books Australia

Truganini by Cassandra Pybus

August 16, 2020Book ReviewAustralian Authors, Biographies, Cassandra Pybus, History, Indigenous Australiansskyebjenner

Truganini - Cassandra Pybus - 9781760529222 - Allen & Unwin ...

Title: Truganini: Journey Through the Apocalypse
Author: Cassandra Pybus
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Australian authors, Biographies, History, Indigenous Australians
Dates read: 2nd – 20th July 2020
Pace: Slow
Format: Novel
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Year: 2020
5th sentence, 74th page: She was grieving the loss of their youngest son nine months earlier, and it was also time to reconnect with his five surviving children.

Cassandra Pybus’ ancestors told a story of an old Aboriginal woman who would wander across their farm on Bruny Island, just off the coast of south-east Tasmania, throughout the 1850s and 1860s. As a child, Cassandra didn’t know this woman was Truganini, and that she was walking over the country of her clan, the Nuenonne, of whom she was the last.

The name of Truganini is vaguely familiar to most Australians as ‘the last of her race’. She has become an international icon for a monumental tragedy: the extinction of the original people of Tasmania within her lifetime. For nearly seven decades she lived through a psychological and cultural shift more extreme than most human imaginations could conjure. She is a hugely significant figure in Australian history and we should know about how she lived, not simply that she died. Her life was much more than a regrettable tragedy. Now Cassandra has examined the original eyewitness accounts to write Truganini’s extraordinary story.

A lively, intelligent, sensual woman, Truganini managed to survive the devastating decade of the 1820s when the clans of south-eastern Tasmania were all but extinguished. Taken away from Bruny Island in 1830, she spent five years on a journey around Tasmania, across rugged highland and through barely penetrable forests, with the self-styled missionary George Augustus Robinson, who was collecting all the surviving people to send them into exile on Flinders Island. She managed to avoid a long incarceration on Flinders Island when Robinson took her to Victoria where she was implicated in the murder of two white men. Acquitted of murder, she was returned to Tasmania where she lived for another thirty-five years. Her story is both inspiring and herat-wrenching, and it is told in full in this book for the first time.

This was an amazing, must-read for all Aussies. It was one though that I would read a chapter and then pick up another, happier book. There is this tragic feeling that runs all the way through. There aren’t happy moments. This doesn’t give you hope for the future. Instead, it reminds you of the many atrocities which we really should be condemned for… but it’s well-worth the read. And impossible to forget.

The whole journey in this book is somewhat heartbreaking. But the very end of it… that was just a whole other level. Particularly considering Truganini feared her body being taken for science and begged someone to bury it in the deepest water she knew… only to find out that when she passed… her body was taken and mounted in a museum. I just couldn’t believe the horror of that and the cruelty. There was just something so incomprehensible and… just… no… about the whole situation.

I’m always trying to find out as much as I can about Australian history. And for me, this was a fantastic piece of that. I knew next to nothing about the plight of Indigenous Australians in Tasmania when the settlers came. Although I still feel like I know next to nothing… I felt like there was so much more that was revealed in this novel. Alright, it probably wasn’t’ my favourite biography, Pybus has a slightly drier writing style than what I prefer. But overall, it was somewhat amazing and a great way to highlight the plight and true journey of one well-known Indigenous Australian.

I received this book at the beginning of the year. And my biggest regret? That I didn’t read it sooner. This is a book that I think all Australians should read. One that is amazing and impossible to forget. Definitely at the top of my suggestions pile…

<- More Indigenous Australians reviews

More Australian author reviews ->

Image source: Allen & Unwin

Angel’s Peak by Robyn Carr

August 16, 2020Book ReviewContemporary, Contemporary romance, Robyn Carr, Virgin Riverskyebjenner

Angel's Peak (Virgin River, #9) by Robyn Carr

Title: Angel’s Peak
Author: Robyn Carr
Series: Virgin River #9
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Dates read: 21st – 29th July 2020
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Mira
Year: 2010
5th sentence, 74th page: It hadn’t been that long since Franci had been a college coed.

FOUR YEARS AGO, AIR FORCE SWEETHEARTS FRANCI DUNCAN AND SEAN RIORDAN REACHED AN IMPASSE. SHE WANTED MARRIAGE AND A FAMILY. HE DIDN’T. BUT A CHANCE MEETING PROVES THAT THE BITTER BREAKUP HASN’T COOLED THEIR SIZZLING CHEMISTRY.

Sean has settled down in spite of himself – he’s not the cocky young fighter pilot he was when Franci left, and he wants them to try again. After all, they have a history… but that’s not all they share.

Franci’s secret reason for walking away when Sean refused to commit is now three and a half: a redheaded cherub named Rosie who shares her daddy’s emerald-green eyes. Sean is stunned – and furious with Franci for the deception.

News travels fast in Virgin River, and soon the whole town is taking sides. Rebuilding their trust could take a small miracle – and the kind of love that can move mountains.

I had to pause in my reading of this about a quarter of the way in. I loved the premise. I loved the beginning. And then you find out about T.J…. the guy that Franci had been dating. And wow. WHAT. A. DOUCHE. I was just so disgusted and frustrated by him that I put the book aside for a while and moved onto something with a less douche-baggish obstacle to overcome.

Luckily, following this moment of heck no feelings. The story seriously picks up. It fairly quickly becomes apparent that Franci has more of a brain than you had anticipated – and didn’t succumb to the wiles of such a deplorable man. And that he really wasn’t as much of an obstacle. In actual fact, that giant hurdle that the main couple need to overcome… well, it was overcome a lot quicker than anticipated. Which, allowed for room for something that I love in Robyn Carr’s writing and Virgin River series – that the romance wasn’t really just about one couple. The other couples from past books and the potential future couples are all living their lives too.

The Virgin River series, as it develops is becoming more and more about family. In this story, not only is the obstacle about children, but whole families are drawn in. Firstly, there are the two grandmothers / mothers who are constantly renegotiating their relationships. Then, there’s the friendships, in-laws and all sorts of ties that we all have. It’s beautiful that this series is able to tie in all of the characters and give them each of their own happily ever afters.

Not only did I absolutely adore this story. Partly because although it is about Luke’s brother, but it also helps to set up the next little mini-trilogy. Primarily, it’s helping to set up Erin and Aiden, siblings of characters that I’ve already kind of fallen in love with…now I need to hunt out Moonlight Road and get my happy on all over again.

<- Forbidden Falls

Moonlight Road ->

Image source: Goodreads

Forbidden Falls by Robyn Carr

August 15, 2020Book ReviewContemporary, Contemporary romance, Robyn Carr, Virgin Riverskyebjenner

Forbidden Falls (Virgin River, #8) by Robyn Carr

Title: Forbidden Falls
Author: Robyn Carr
Series: Virgin River #8
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Dates read: 7th – 20th July 2020
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Mira
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: Besides, there wasn’t a bubble or streak on those baseboards.

Welcome back to VIRGIN RIVER with the books that started it all…

Reverend Noah Kincaid moved to Virgin River to reopen an abandoned church he bought on eBay. Like Noah, the place is a little empty inside, but all it may need is some loving care…

The young widower arrives ready to roll up his sleeves and build a place of worship and welcome, but he needs some help. And the Lord works in mysterious ways.

With her tight shirts and short skirts, pastor’s assistant is not a phrase that springs to mind when Noah meets brassy, beautiful Alicia Baldwin. the former exotic dancer needs a respectable job so she can regain custody of her children. And Noah can’t help but admire her spunk and motherly determination. Noah and Alicia are an unlikely team to revitalize a church, much less build a future. The couple has so many differences, but in Virgin River anything is possible, and happiness is never out of the question.

It did take me a little longer to get into this Virgin River book than I most of the others. As much as I loved the idea of the story and enjoyed both Ellie and Noah. I just didn’t bond with them quite as quickly. Yet, once I hit that halfway point, I was completely hooked. And somehow that made that moment of attachment all the more sweet…

I love that the big complication in Ellie and Noah’s relationship was all based on the custody of her children. Again, Carr finds ways to create a story in which the issues are so much more adult. And the older I get, the more I feel like these are some seriously intense and realistic complications. Instead of there being another man, or a complication which involves one or the other being seriously stupid (like in many romances) it is the idea of family and children which cause potential bumps in the road. Bumps which are completely adorable and just jump off the page.

I’ve been reading a lot of romances lately. It seems to be my latest fad. I have never read a book that features a man of the cloth as the lead male though. Actually, I don’t think I’ve read any book which features a priest or any kind of man of the cloth as any kind of main character. It was an interesting departure from what I’m used to. And, considering I have a few hang ups with the Church, it was something that I surprisingly seriously enjoyed. Add to that that he is partnered with a woman who seems to be the absolute opposite to him in every manner, shape and form… it was a great, humorous and very, very cute romance.

Not only is Forbidden Falls a great romance between Noah and Ellie. Vanni and Paul also have a number of challenges that they have to overcome again. And Shelby and Luke get married. I love that although their happily ever afters have kind of occurred… there are still so many challenges that they have to overcome. So many moments that make them stand back and realise that even after you find your happily ever after person, you will still continuously battle to have the life that you’ve always wanted. And the way that Vanni and Paul face their latest battle… wow. My heart goes out to them.

<- Under the Christmas Tree

Angel’s Peak ->