I gave myself a huge TBR this month I got through most of them
but I might have been pushing my luck to think I would get through them all!
I really enjoyed reading this month and found myself reading every where I could get a few moments in peace (well as much peace you can get with a two and half year old bouncing about) in the bath, on the bus, at hospital appointments and in the garden.
I do think I slightly burned myself out by the end of the month because this week
it took me forever to get through one book! September is a busy month so my TBR will be around seven books!
but I might have been pushing my luck to think I would get through them all!
I really enjoyed reading this month and found myself reading every where I could get a few moments in peace (well as much peace you can get with a two and half year old bouncing about) in the bath, on the bus, at hospital appointments and in the garden.
I do think I slightly burned myself out by the end of the month because this week
it took me forever to get through one book! September is a busy month so my TBR will be around seven books!
Always With Love~Giovanna Fletcher
This is the sequel to Billy and Me which I read last Summer on holidays
I really enjoyed it so was looking forward to reading this follow up.
It follows on from Billy & Me, with Sophie and Billy staying in the quiet little village Rosefont Hill while Billy is taking time out from Hollywood. Billy is the big star and Sophie the stay at home girl next door, their relationship is still very new and fresh. The book deals with when Billy goes back to Hollywood, Sophie meets his parents, can there relationship survive the long distance?
I really wanted to love this book as I had really liked the characters in Billy & Me but
I felt the plot was so drawn out that maybe there was no need for a sequel. It is a nice, sweet read but I felt that it needed more drama, as it felt a little dull in places, for me Billy and Sophie lost something as characters as I just couldn't connect with them in this book. The misunderstanding and conflicts which where meant to give the big drama in the book, felt overblown and are sorted out maybe a little too easily!
I do like Giovanna Fletcher's books but this wasn't my favourite.
After You~Jojo Moyes
I read Me Before You at the start of Summer and loved it. I know it gets alot of flak from readers but I just loved it and thought it was one of the best books I read in years. I was so excited when I heard there was a sequel I couldn't wait to read it, and now that I have I feel meh!
For me I was so disappointed in Lou's storyline, yes I know she was grieving and I know from personally experience how hard that can be but I just didn't believe that she would go back to a dead end job after everything she learned and that happened in Me Before You.
I think for me the problem was this book is so different from the first book that it doesn't really feel like a sequel. If I hadn't read Me Before You I probably would of liked this book more for what it is and that is a fairly good stand alone novel about a group of people trying to find themselves after various heart aches in there lives.
Some of the new characters are just plain boring or unlikable. I just hated spoiled poor rich me storyline and character of Lily, where we meant to feel sorry for this character cause I just wanted to slap her through out the book! While I loved Lou's character in Before You I didn't like her very much in this follow up! She came across as whinny, naive and a bit of a push over! The new love interest is nice but fairly forgettable, and some of the sub plots like Lou's Mother's mid life crisis felt unnecessary and I didn't enjoy the whole near death experience at the end of the book.
Part's of the book did sparkle but I didn't feel anyway like I did while reading Before You
and being honest I think this sequel was not needed, for me Lou and Will's story ended in Me Before You.
Enchanted August~Brenda Bowen
This is basically an updated version of Elizabeth Von Arnmin's Enchanted April which I love
so was expecting to love this novel. I didn't I liked it but didn't fall in love with it!
Four strangers see an ad about a cottage in Maine and rent it for the month of August.
Where they can escape the realities of life, for two full time Mothers it's a chance to escape the gossiping at the school gates, demanding kids and husbands. Another is trying to get over the death of the love of there life, and another is a Hollywood actress trying to escape the latest scandal in LaLa Land! I loved the setting on Hope Island this book transported me to beautiful Maine with, sea food, parties, and beautiful beaches.
I liked the characters but did not love them, sometimes each of them where annoying in there own way! It did take a while for me to get into the book the pacing was slow at the start, for a short book I thought I would get through it quick but I put it down a few times. I am not sure why but I found it hard to fully get into and I'm not sure what I didn't like. While I like the journey the characters where on and the setting was stunning it felt there was alot of waiting for the story to pick up.
Of course the characters grew and I loved the ending of the book but for me the book just lacked something.
Time To Say Goodbye~SD Robertson
I am feeling a slight theme to the books I read this month liked but didn't love!
This next book is the same I can't really review this book without spoilers so SPOILERS AHEAD!
In basic terms this book is about a Father Will who is bringing up this daughter alone as his wife has died in childbirth but when he is killed in an car accident he doesn't accept his death and wants to stay with his daughter.
So far I liked it and found it tear jerking. He is then given a guide who is meant to help him pass over without much fuss, Will is then giving a dead line date in which he has to make a choice to pass over or stay and there is no going back for either choice. If he decides to stay it's for all eternity he will not be able to pass over again, and when his love ones pass away he will have to watch them pass over unable to go with them.
I am not sure if Will had his daughter's best interests at heart or his own but he finally finds a way for her to see him and talk to him, but only she can see him and he makes her not tell anyone. Not a very nice thing to do to a six year old who is struggling with losing her Father.
The first part of the book I really enjoyed and found it hard to put down, but then a quarter way through the book a big secret comes to light about Will's Dad and then it lost it creditable with me. I really didn't like where it went then, and found that storyline quite pointless. It did pick up again towards the end of the book. I really enjoyed Roberston's style of writing and the book is very easy to get into straight from the very first page. I think personally I would of enjoyed it more if the story kept it's focus on the father/daughter relationship instead of adding a unnecessary storyline about Will's Father which ends up with his death. The whole we can turn back time twist at the end of the book, lessened the whole feel of the story for me. That all been said I read this book in two days as I couldn't put it down! It pulled me in from the first page and while I didn't like how it ended it is a good piece of story telling.
Bitter Sweet~Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
This is a book that was recommended to me so I found it in my library I wasn't sure if it was my thing when I read the blurb, but it turned out to be one of my favourites this month and of the Summer!
It tells the story of two college room-mates Mabel and Ev, Mabel the narrator is on a scholarship, loves college, learning and literature, unlike Ev she isn't blonde or thin, although she does have one thing in common with Ev she hates her home life especially her Mother. She is ready to do anything not to have to go home for the Summer even if that is sell her soul to privileged, self centred, snobby, glamours Ev.
Ev invites Mabel to spend the Summer in Winloch the Winslow Summer Residence. Each of the Winslow family live here from the big house to the little cabins, from the head of the family to the distant cousins. Mabel is just happy to be some what popular and feels like her and Ev are actually becoming friends. This book was definitely armchair transport as I felt like I was there in forest and beaches of Vermont. Mabel thinks that this wonderful family can do no wrong and the Summer will be a hazy time of relaxing, exploring, eating, drinking and having fun. It is all that but somehow Mabel gets roped into keeping secerts, while babysitting Ev and uncovering dark secrets about the family. The more she learns about the family the more she is horrified, but she has fallen for one of the family and being honest she liked the high life and she loves Winloch. As she wrestles with her morals a huge a price is paid before she could do anything about it.
I really enjoyed this novel with it's many twists, turns and shocks. I loved the ending. It's not everyones cup of tea and it does have it's flaws but I could look pass them and enjoy the story. I would recommends this for book clubs as it seems to divide opinion!
Goodnight Lady~Martina Cole
This a very different type of Martina Cole one of her early books and like Faces it spans decades.
I much perter Cole's earlier works to some of her later books which have lost some of the spark.
This is based around Briony Cavanagh at the turn of the twentieth century, when she is sold by her family to essentially keep a roof over there heads to a sick perverted rich man. He uses an abuses Briony and then gets her pregnant when she is only 12 years old. Briony isn't give a choice what to do with her baby son she has to give him up to the rich man's wife who although kind had used Briony to get what she wants a child. This changes Briony and she knows she will stop at nothing to get what she wants in life, with the help of her partner tough Tommy Lane she fast comes a well know madame, with Tommy they become the Faces of the East End. Briony isn't a gangster she is a well loved but feared member of the East End. The story moves into the Jazz heights of the 1920's and we get to know Briony sister's each of which is different but I enjoyed reading about them all. The story moves to the 30's and 40's and that could be the finish of the novel, but Martina Cole's earlier books are epics and this one was no different at more than 800 pages it sweeps into the 50's with The Twins Briony's nephews. This two become the most feared and violent Faces of the East End. They do sound very like the Kray twins the last part of the book is classic Cole and more like her other books but I really enjoyed Briony's story.
This book takes the reader on a epic journey, from the slums of London at the turn of the twentieth century, to the Jazz filled clubs of the 1920's, to the glamour of a singer on the rise in the 1930's, to the bombed out streets of London in the 1940's and the hazy Summers of swinging 60's
Cole's has brilliant layered characters in this book, some chapters I disliked Briony but mostly I love her! I have read alot of Martina Cole and this one is definitely one of my favourites.
Finding Fraser~KC Dyer
I am now three books into the Outlander series and a bit obsessed with the TV show
so when I found out there was a novel about a woman on her a quest to find her own Jamie Fraser I knew I just had to read it!
Emma is turning 30 after a failed marriage she is having a bit of a mid life crisis and decides to sell up and go to Scotland to repeat Claire's journey in the book Outlander. Emma is a funny yet slightly annoying main character! She seems to be more like 19 than 29 in the way she is so trusting and falls for Scottish men very quickly.....well normally the douche bags anyway! The one she should really be looking at is in front of her eyes. For a huge Outlander fan she seems caught up in what her Jamie should look like and not that bothered about the personalty or quality's that make Jamie a dream man!
Some of the things that happen in the book are very funny like the Outlander Convention, Emma getting robbed, and The Outlander tour.
I did had a few issues with it for an Outlander inspired book there isn't much Outlander in it, I actually know more about William Wallace after reading this than Jamie! Emma's sister I wanted to punch in the face for most of the book! She was so annoying and degrading to Emma, but now looking back at how immature Emma was, maybe her sister was sick of picking her crap! I loved the character of Jack but there wasn't enough of him in the book, he actually reminded me of Roger from the Outlander books. I would of liked to find out much more about him, besides the few things we actually know about him. The ending was done really well and I really enjoyed the scenes at the stones.
If your a chick lit fan and a fan of Outlander you might like this just don't expect to love it!
What Oisìn has been reading this month:
Mutt Dog~Stephen Michael King
My little boy has been loving this sweet story of a stray dog who finally finds a family and a home.
Such a lovely book which pulls on the heart strings. Oisìn loves it so much I have found it in bed with him during the night!
What have you been reading this month?
This is the sequel to Billy and Me which I read last Summer on holidays
I really enjoyed it so was looking forward to reading this follow up.
It follows on from Billy & Me, with Sophie and Billy staying in the quiet little village Rosefont Hill while Billy is taking time out from Hollywood. Billy is the big star and Sophie the stay at home girl next door, their relationship is still very new and fresh. The book deals with when Billy goes back to Hollywood, Sophie meets his parents, can there relationship survive the long distance?
I really wanted to love this book as I had really liked the characters in Billy & Me but
I felt the plot was so drawn out that maybe there was no need for a sequel. It is a nice, sweet read but I felt that it needed more drama, as it felt a little dull in places, for me Billy and Sophie lost something as characters as I just couldn't connect with them in this book. The misunderstanding and conflicts which where meant to give the big drama in the book, felt overblown and are sorted out maybe a little too easily!
I do like Giovanna Fletcher's books but this wasn't my favourite.
I read Me Before You at the start of Summer and loved it. I know it gets alot of flak from readers but I just loved it and thought it was one of the best books I read in years. I was so excited when I heard there was a sequel I couldn't wait to read it, and now that I have I feel meh!
For me I was so disappointed in Lou's storyline, yes I know she was grieving and I know from personally experience how hard that can be but I just didn't believe that she would go back to a dead end job after everything she learned and that happened in Me Before You.
I think for me the problem was this book is so different from the first book that it doesn't really feel like a sequel. If I hadn't read Me Before You I probably would of liked this book more for what it is and that is a fairly good stand alone novel about a group of people trying to find themselves after various heart aches in there lives.
Some of the new characters are just plain boring or unlikable. I just hated spoiled poor rich me storyline and character of Lily, where we meant to feel sorry for this character cause I just wanted to slap her through out the book! While I loved Lou's character in Before You I didn't like her very much in this follow up! She came across as whinny, naive and a bit of a push over! The new love interest is nice but fairly forgettable, and some of the sub plots like Lou's Mother's mid life crisis felt unnecessary and I didn't enjoy the whole near death experience at the end of the book.
Part's of the book did sparkle but I didn't feel anyway like I did while reading Before You
and being honest I think this sequel was not needed, for me Lou and Will's story ended in Me Before You.
This is basically an updated version of Elizabeth Von Arnmin's Enchanted April which I love
so was expecting to love this novel. I didn't I liked it but didn't fall in love with it!
Four strangers see an ad about a cottage in Maine and rent it for the month of August.
Where they can escape the realities of life, for two full time Mothers it's a chance to escape the gossiping at the school gates, demanding kids and husbands. Another is trying to get over the death of the love of there life, and another is a Hollywood actress trying to escape the latest scandal in LaLa Land! I loved the setting on Hope Island this book transported me to beautiful Maine with, sea food, parties, and beautiful beaches.
I liked the characters but did not love them, sometimes each of them where annoying in there own way! It did take a while for me to get into the book the pacing was slow at the start, for a short book I thought I would get through it quick but I put it down a few times. I am not sure why but I found it hard to fully get into and I'm not sure what I didn't like. While I like the journey the characters where on and the setting was stunning it felt there was alot of waiting for the story to pick up.
Of course the characters grew and I loved the ending of the book but for me the book just lacked something.
I am feeling a slight theme to the books I read this month liked but didn't love!
This next book is the same I can't really review this book without spoilers so SPOILERS AHEAD!
In basic terms this book is about a Father Will who is bringing up this daughter alone as his wife has died in childbirth but when he is killed in an car accident he doesn't accept his death and wants to stay with his daughter.
So far I liked it and found it tear jerking. He is then given a guide who is meant to help him pass over without much fuss, Will is then giving a dead line date in which he has to make a choice to pass over or stay and there is no going back for either choice. If he decides to stay it's for all eternity he will not be able to pass over again, and when his love ones pass away he will have to watch them pass over unable to go with them.
I am not sure if Will had his daughter's best interests at heart or his own but he finally finds a way for her to see him and talk to him, but only she can see him and he makes her not tell anyone. Not a very nice thing to do to a six year old who is struggling with losing her Father.
The first part of the book I really enjoyed and found it hard to put down, but then a quarter way through the book a big secret comes to light about Will's Dad and then it lost it creditable with me. I really didn't like where it went then, and found that storyline quite pointless. It did pick up again towards the end of the book. I really enjoyed Roberston's style of writing and the book is very easy to get into straight from the very first page. I think personally I would of enjoyed it more if the story kept it's focus on the father/daughter relationship instead of adding a unnecessary storyline about Will's Father which ends up with his death. The whole we can turn back time twist at the end of the book, lessened the whole feel of the story for me. That all been said I read this book in two days as I couldn't put it down! It pulled me in from the first page and while I didn't like how it ended it is a good piece of story telling.
This is a book that was recommended to me so I found it in my library I wasn't sure if it was my thing when I read the blurb, but it turned out to be one of my favourites this month and of the Summer!
It tells the story of two college room-mates Mabel and Ev, Mabel the narrator is on a scholarship, loves college, learning and literature, unlike Ev she isn't blonde or thin, although she does have one thing in common with Ev she hates her home life especially her Mother. She is ready to do anything not to have to go home for the Summer even if that is sell her soul to privileged, self centred, snobby, glamours Ev.
Ev invites Mabel to spend the Summer in Winloch the Winslow Summer Residence. Each of the Winslow family live here from the big house to the little cabins, from the head of the family to the distant cousins. Mabel is just happy to be some what popular and feels like her and Ev are actually becoming friends. This book was definitely armchair transport as I felt like I was there in forest and beaches of Vermont. Mabel thinks that this wonderful family can do no wrong and the Summer will be a hazy time of relaxing, exploring, eating, drinking and having fun. It is all that but somehow Mabel gets roped into keeping secerts, while babysitting Ev and uncovering dark secrets about the family. The more she learns about the family the more she is horrified, but she has fallen for one of the family and being honest she liked the high life and she loves Winloch. As she wrestles with her morals a huge a price is paid before she could do anything about it.
I really enjoyed this novel with it's many twists, turns and shocks. I loved the ending. It's not everyones cup of tea and it does have it's flaws but I could look pass them and enjoy the story. I would recommends this for book clubs as it seems to divide opinion!
This a very different type of Martina Cole one of her early books and like Faces it spans decades.
I much perter Cole's earlier works to some of her later books which have lost some of the spark.
This is based around Briony Cavanagh at the turn of the twentieth century, when she is sold by her family to essentially keep a roof over there heads to a sick perverted rich man. He uses an abuses Briony and then gets her pregnant when she is only 12 years old. Briony isn't give a choice what to do with her baby son she has to give him up to the rich man's wife who although kind had used Briony to get what she wants a child. This changes Briony and she knows she will stop at nothing to get what she wants in life, with the help of her partner tough Tommy Lane she fast comes a well know madame, with Tommy they become the Faces of the East End. Briony isn't a gangster she is a well loved but feared member of the East End. The story moves into the Jazz heights of the 1920's and we get to know Briony sister's each of which is different but I enjoyed reading about them all. The story moves to the 30's and 40's and that could be the finish of the novel, but Martina Cole's earlier books are epics and this one was no different at more than 800 pages it sweeps into the 50's with The Twins Briony's nephews. This two become the most feared and violent Faces of the East End. They do sound very like the Kray twins the last part of the book is classic Cole and more like her other books but I really enjoyed Briony's story.
This book takes the reader on a epic journey, from the slums of London at the turn of the twentieth century, to the Jazz filled clubs of the 1920's, to the glamour of a singer on the rise in the 1930's, to the bombed out streets of London in the 1940's and the hazy Summers of swinging 60's
Cole's has brilliant layered characters in this book, some chapters I disliked Briony but mostly I love her! I have read alot of Martina Cole and this one is definitely one of my favourites.
I am now three books into the Outlander series and a bit obsessed with the TV show
so when I found out there was a novel about a woman on her a quest to find her own Jamie Fraser I knew I just had to read it!
Emma is turning 30 after a failed marriage she is having a bit of a mid life crisis and decides to sell up and go to Scotland to repeat Claire's journey in the book Outlander. Emma is a funny yet slightly annoying main character! She seems to be more like 19 than 29 in the way she is so trusting and falls for Scottish men very quickly.....well normally the douche bags anyway! The one she should really be looking at is in front of her eyes. For a huge Outlander fan she seems caught up in what her Jamie should look like and not that bothered about the personalty or quality's that make Jamie a dream man!
Some of the things that happen in the book are very funny like the Outlander Convention, Emma getting robbed, and The Outlander tour.
I did had a few issues with it for an Outlander inspired book there isn't much Outlander in it, I actually know more about William Wallace after reading this than Jamie! Emma's sister I wanted to punch in the face for most of the book! She was so annoying and degrading to Emma, but now looking back at how immature Emma was, maybe her sister was sick of picking her crap! I loved the character of Jack but there wasn't enough of him in the book, he actually reminded me of Roger from the Outlander books. I would of liked to find out much more about him, besides the few things we actually know about him. The ending was done really well and I really enjoyed the scenes at the stones.
If your a chick lit fan and a fan of Outlander you might like this just don't expect to love it!
What Oisìn has been reading this month:
My little boy has been loving this sweet story of a stray dog who finally finds a family and a home.
Such a lovely book which pulls on the heart strings. Oisìn loves it so much I have found it in bed with him during the night!
What have you been reading this month?
