This Month I Have Mostly Been Reading~December

I started off on a reading roll this month but as often happens around Christmas time
I was really busy and haven't finished a book since before Christmas Day!
Watching all the festive TV has got in the way! I started Calling Mrs Christmas the other day
but will not get it finished before writing this post, so will review it in January's post!

Every Time A Bell Rings~Carmel Harrington

Last year Twelve Days Of Christmas was my festive book of the year. This year it is this Irish retelling of It's A Wonderful Life.
It took me a while to get into this book, but when I did I didn't want to put it down! It's full of the spirit of Christmas just what you want in a festive book.
Harrington was quite brave to tackle a retelling of a wonderful life, through the story of Belle a mix-raced young woman who has spent her childhood in various foster homes. It sounds like it could be quite downbeat but it's a stunning book, filled with joy, Christmas magic and the love of family.
I'm not ashamed to say I did shed a few tears at the end when Nora finally got her chance.
I would recommend this book for anyone who is looking for a heartwarming Christmas read

Snowed In For Christmas~Claire Sandy
Beautiful Christmas sparky cover, chick-lit set in Ireland, and an author who I love seems to tick all my boxes, but this book fell so flat for me!
I have LOVED Sandy's other novels What Would Mary Berry Do? and A Very Big House In The Country, so I couldn't wait to read this and see what Sandy had in store at Christmas!
It tells us of Asta who got pregnant as a teenager left the small Irish town she called home and relocated to London. She has been living there every since with her now 16 year old daughter, she doesn't visit home....ever! That is until her hunky boss asks her to go back to report on a religious miracle a weeping statue! Asta is very nervous to go home, as she knows some secrets will start to unravel, everyone thinks that a French exchange student is the Father of her daughter, but the truth is much more murky than that!
When Sandy got some elements of the book right it was brilliant, but the stereotyping of an small Irish town was after a while annoying! Tobercree sound like a cross between Ballykissangel and Craggy Island!
I didn't feel any of the Christmas magic or spirit from the previous book, even with all the sparkle of the cover!

The Winter Folly~Lulu Taylor

I haven't read anything from this author before, but when I saw the title I immediately added to my TBR for this month!

It sounded like something I would enjoy history fiction with a mystery thrown in!

Present day Delilah is a young second wife of John Stirling owner of Fort Stiring the house and owner seem, sad and lonely. Delilah had great plans of change but soon learns that nothing is allowed to change in Fort Stiring! Delilah starts to unravel the secret surrounding John's mother Alexandra and her death. 

It took me about 200 pages to get into this book, the story didn't flow as much I hoped. Some of the characters are very hard to like and lacked dept. That all being said I liked it I just didn't love this book, but I will definitely be reading another book from this author soon.

Wish Upon A Star~Trisha Ashley

This was the last book I finished this month, Ashley books can be a bit hit or miss for me

Last month book A Christmas Cracker was a miss but this one was definitely a hit!

This is another one that has a beautiful festive cover the story is heartwarming and full of Christmas spirit. This one pulled at my heart strings and I shed a few tears at the end

Cally is a singe mother who was told to get rid of the baby when she finds out she is pregnant

She give birth to a beautiful baby girl called Stella but she has a heart defective, so Cally must give up everything to help get the money for surgery. Of course there is a hint of romance thrown in, I loved this book.

I took it as the huge mush fest it is, because at Christmas time that is just what I want to read!

What Oisìn has been reading this month

When I Dream of Christmas~Oakley Graham

Oisìn loved this book over Christmas, we done an advent book calendar which he loved

but he always came back to this book. He loved the different words associated with Christmas time such as North Pole, Angels, Elves, Carol Singers, Santa Claus, and Baby Jesus

A beautiful book which I know will be a favourite for years to come

Paul didn't read anything over the Christmas time or this month

Guess he was too busy with work and last minute gift buying!

So that what we read this month how about you?

This Month I Have Mostly Been Reading-September

This month was a strange one reading wise, I just didn't enjoy reading for most of the month

Books that I was so excited for where let downs and I got into a bit of a slump

I found it hard to get into books and therefor didn't enjoy reading but there was thankfully a few gems that I really enjoyed. Maybe I am putting too much pressure on myself to read so much so October I am just going with the flow and see how many books I fancy reading!

On The Other Side~Carrie Hope Fletcher

 I really want to love this one, and while I love Carrie I just couldn't get into or love this book
The plot itself is magical and sweet but it reads one dimensional and quite childish. It tells the story of Evie Snow who has died and to get to the other side she must go back and relive her secrets.
While I enjoyed the whole premise of the plot, the characters are quite flat and I hated the childish names of the characters Evie Snow, Vincent Winters, Colin Autumn, Grayson Pear and Sonny Shine!! I mean really?! That is like something I would of written in primary school! Both lead characters come across as very immature for 27, Evie espically is very childish and comes across physically as a mirror image of the author large eyes, curly blonde hair, with a green coat who likes to drink tea and eat sweets! 

Something that really bothered me when reading this, was there was no time period setting. Evie's family situation was like something from 1900's, Evie's work setting felt like it was the 1950's but then people had mobile phones, and wore the latest trends from today! I think the story would of had much more dept if the author picked a time period and stuck to it, because to be honest the plot didn't make much sense out of context of a time line.
There was a few nice moments but over all this read like bad fan fiction and I think I will stick to listening to Carrie sing and watch her vlogs rather than read her books!

The Second Love Of My Life~Victoria Walters
I am not sure what is going on with me but I have been reading alot of books that are leaving me disappointed lately! This was another that left me feeling meh! While every else is raving on about it, I just thought it was okay! The cover is stunning and really stood out to me it was the main reason I picked it up. Rose is a widow at the tender age of 24, after losing Lucas her childhood sweetheart her whole life has changed. All the plans they had together are gone and she is getting to grips with being alone and starting again. Rose is a painter and in the four years since Lucas has died she hasn't took up a brush and is selling off the last of her paintings. Robert comes to the small town of Talting to buy the paintings but ends up finding much more!
This is typical chick lit but I found the characters slightly annoying! I didn't feel any sadness or pity for Rose she came across as selfish and a bit of a crap friend. Robert seemed moody and a bit weird!
Some of the minor characters where funnier and I would of liked to know more about them. Talting itself sounds stunning and more like an extra character than a setting.
It's an okay read but I wouldn't read it again in a hurry!

The Lilac Girls~Martha Hall Kelly
This my first five star read in a while. Once every few years or so I read a book that I know will stay with my for life this was definitely one of these books.
This book is inspired by real events which makes it all the more heart breaking. This book tells the stories of three very different strong women and how there lives intertwine. Caroline in New York seems a world away from the war in Europe, but she is a kind hearted strong woman with a keen interest in humanity. Her care packages make the New York elite feel like they are helping the orphans of Europe, but as the war drags on Caroline gets more and more involved. She falls for a French actor and must travel to Nazi occupied France
Herta is a German with a great admiration for her Fuhrer she believes everything that he stands for and agrees with all the Nazi propaganda. She is eager to become a doctor and surgeon after passing her medical exams with great results. She applies for one of the only jobs she has seen looking for a female doctor at Ravensbruck. When she gets there it is nothing like she imagined and she is horrified, yet she stays and becomes one of the most horrific things at Ravensbruck The Rabbit Surgeon.
Kasia is a young women from Lublin Poland after her town is bombed and took over by Nazis she gets involved in Underground/Resistance activities. She is caught and along with her Mother, sisters and friends is sent to Ravensbruck to be taught in the ways of The Fuhrer. She suffers such hardship at the hands of some of the most evil female Nazis and then became one of the infamous Rabbits who was experimented on at the hands of Herta.
This book is beautifully written I liked how each chapter is written in the different women's perspective so after a very harrowing chapter we might get some light relief when moved on to a different point of view. Most of the story is set around the time of the first view years of the war when Hitler was invading countries and Germany was winning the war. The setting of Ravensbruck the only women camp of WW11 is a haunting and forgotten place. I had never heard of it before reading this book. This isn't an easy read the horrors of the camp, the evil that one human can enjoy watching another suffer is what makes WW11 a evil dark time in history.
I also applaud the author for writing a character from the other point of view, the character of Herta wasn't easy to read and being honest sometimes I had to put the book down after reading her chapters. I read her chapters wondering how she could be so hard and cruel she really did see these women as numbers with no feelings. I got annoyed at how she could be so blind to the Nazi propaganda. Yet I know this was how most Nazi felt the never questioning of there leader, his believes and values.  

I liked how the book didn't end at the end of the war as these women's stories were not over yet. In Poland after Nazi rule the Poles still felt imprisoned as Stalin's communist rule took over and banned most things. There lives would never be as care free as before the war.
The Nazi's are forced to take responsibility for there horrific actions in the war as stories about concentration camps and gas chambers come to light.
In New York life has moved on but Caroline has heard about these so called "Rabbits" and she will not stop until she gets these women the help and justice they deserve.
It's hard to believe that these crimes happened and The Rabbits were real. I think that this is a book that should be read in history classes. I learned so much from this book not just the crimes of war, but how much people will help each other in times of need.

Storms~Carol Ann Harris
After The Lilac Girls I wanted a lighter read and went for this bio of Lindsey Buckingham's ex girlfriend Carol Ann.  Now Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nick's are my favourite artists of all time so I will read ANYTHING about them! Carol Ann states this is her story but to be honest it isn't the reader doesn't get to know her very much. I know she was only 22 when she met Lindsey the amazing singer and guitarist in Fleetwood Mac, but by that time she had already had an abusive failed marriage behind her, put her daughter up for adoption and traveled all around Europe so to say she might be a bit of a character is an understatement but she doesn't tell us much of that. In fact there is only about one page about her daughter and two of her marriage and we never find out how, why or when she has been to all these wonderful countries before Fleetwood Mac!
She focuses on the first few years with Lindsey from 1976-1979 and to be honest I think by the time it got to 1982 and recording Fleetwood Mac's Mirage she and Lindsey where pretty much over. She didn't go to the recording of that album or on the tour.
She paints her time with the band as drug/drink crazy time which all Mac fans know is the truth but Carol Ann forgets that she had a well known drug problem herself! The little things she remembers she really couldn't because she was wasted for most of the time too!
I do think she adored Lindsey and for a part I think he loved her too, but she was much more into him than he was to her. She admitted for another book that he was still in love with Stevie for most of the time they where together. Yet in this book she says that he didn't care about breaking up with Stevie well sorry Carol but 'Go Your Own Way' 'Never Going Back Again' 'Not That Funny' 'The Ledge' and 'Can't Go Back' state other wise!
She does tread dangerous waters when she stated that Lindsey was physically abusive to her! While she states it is her story there aren't very many pictures of her in the book and the cover is a Fleetwood Mac picture! Why not a picture of herself and Lindsey on the cover?! Also all the titles of the chapters are either lyrics from Stevie Nick songs or Fleetwood Mac songs and the actual title of the book is a Stevie Nick's song from Tusk!
She paints Lindsey as hard to live with, a loner with abusive tendencies, Mick Fleetwood as womaniser, money loving, coke fiend (maybe she got him right) John McVie was her only true friend who thanked her for changing Lindsey's image (really I think John of all people wouldn't give a toss about what Lindsey wore) Christine is a hard drinking tom boy who blamed Carol Ann for sleeping with her man and Stevie Nicks is a  jealous, air head, hippy dippy, who hates the ground Carol walks on! While Carol herself is the sweet girl next door, who doesn't drink or do drugs. Yet she doesn't tell the reader that some how after eight years in the inner circle of Fleetwood Mac, that she wrecked her car while driving on drugs, ended up on heroin (making a point here that none of the band members ever had a problem with heroin, coke was there drug of choice) and in the end Lindsey evicted her from his LA house due to her drug problem.
There is nothing new in this book none of the pictures are new or even a good quality!
All that being said I enjoyed reading this trashy tell all but read it all with large grain of salt!

What Oisìn has been reading this month

Supertato~Sue Hendra
Oisìn has been enjoying this funny book about a Supertato who has to save the day
when a frozen pea gets out of the freezer to cause trouble!

What have you been reading this month

This Month I Have Mostly Been Reading~August

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!

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 Month I Have Mostly Been Reading~July

This month my book slump was well and truly over!
I read so much historial fiction!! Might need some light heart chic lit next month!!

I read SEVEN books! I am really chuffed with that as Voyager is over 1000 pages alone!

It was a mixed bag some I loved, some I disliked and some I didn't connect with,

but I did enjoyed reading them all!

So here is what I have been reading this month:

Voyager (Outlander Series Book 3)~Diana Gabaldon
First let me state that this book in written in Claire's voice and that is one from the 1940/60s
and also from the perspective of the 1700's so that kind of language is used. If you are sensitive to bad language, racist views, and the way women are thought of in the 18th century than you will not like this book at all. When reading the Outlander series you first off have to remember that this is hundreds of years ago, society has moved on alot since then, and even Claire's 1940s thoughts seem somewhat dated. Things where different then, the world smaller, different was scary and not trustworthy, things that where okay in society then aren't now, women where owned in marriage, and slaves where bought, remember these things before you read and review this book.
I loved the ending of Dragonfly In Amber but it also left me heartbroken! With the show also ending I knew I had to read on in the series and see what happens next.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
It's 20 years later and Claire is back in Scotland after Frank's death with her daughter
They find out that Jamie didn't die at Culloden, so with the help of Roger Wakefield the adoptive son of the Claire's friend from the 1940's Renverad Wakefield, they set about trying to find out what happened to Jamie. They find out history books can be wrong as they try to tell fact from fiction.
The book is told in different POV and I was really glad that Diana gave Jamie a voice in this book and the chapters where we found out what had happened to him after Culloden where some of my favourites. I found myself reading through these chapters at speed, turning the pages quickly to see what happens next.
Jamie was of course changed and as the book went on I found myself not liking Jamie as much as in the other books. He is still Jamie but much rougher around the edges I missed his humor from the previous books but what made me dislike him was when was he more or less left his flesh and blood in England without a backwards glance! I know he had to go but he didn't seem very upset when leaving young Will!!
I really enjoyed the first half of the book finding out what happened to Jamie, while in the 1960's Claire, Brianna and Rodger digging for clues. I liked the then time jump to the 1760's and meeting the original characters again. Fergus, Ian and Jenny where a delighted to rediscover 20 years later but there was so many new characters that it was so hard trying to remember them all, yet not many of them stood out, bedsides John Grey who I loved!
The second part of the book was action packed but I had a little bit of a slump reading the second half of the book. I had really enjoyed everything up till then, finding out what happened to Jamie, MacDubh, Claire's life in Boston, Claire time jumping, the print shop, the photographs of Brianna, the brothel, 30 year old Fergus, meeting Jamie's nieces and nephews, going back to Lallybroch, and the whole Laoghaire mess. Then they then board a ship into the unknown to try safe Jamie's nephew Ian and from then on it one thing after another it was too much!  Smugglers, black magic, pirates, voodoo, treasure, and a jack the ripper style murder it was overkill in a book that already had so much else going on in it! I felt a little bored at the throw everything at them and see what happens kind of thing that went on in the second half of the book.
I found myself want to know what was happening back in 1960's Scotland between Roger and Brianna who I hope Gabaldon goes back to in the next novel in the series
At the start of the book I felt like I never wanted it to end, but by the second half of the book I was ready for it to end! This is the first book in the the three I have read that I thought was a little too long maybe 200 pages too long.
That being said I really enjoyed this book the Outlander books for me a like a reading rollercoaster, with ups and downs, twists and turns. I would give it a four star rating for the first part of the book alone. It doesn't have the major cliffhanger like Dragonfly did, but it did leave me wanting more, more of Jamie and Claire but also for me I really want to know more about Roger and Brianna. I need a little break to process everything that happened in this book and the TV show but will be reading Drums of Autumn in the Autumn time!

Spectacles A Memoir~Sue Perkins
I don't read alot of biographies but I really love Sue Perkins and knew this would be a funny read
Not alot of books have me laughing at 9am in a hospital room waiting on a CT scan but this book did! Looking back at the hospital appointment I should of been feeling, nervous and annoyed at the waiting time, but because of this book I didn't care and was laughing while getting strange looks from other patients the whole time!
This was a pleasure to read, the Sue on paper is the same Sue you get on TV. She doesn't have a front and I love the what you see is what you get. She doesn't go into too much detail in certain parts of her private life this isn't going to be a tell all memoir with deep shocking secrets, but what you do get is a very funny book with a huge heart at the center of it.
I laughed my arse off in the hospital waiting room while reading the stories of herself and Mel's early comedy duo days and then almost cried coming home on the bus while I read the letter Sue wrote to her beloved deceased dog. I loved the written conversations she had with various people, the doodles and pictures she had from her childhood.
If you are looking a funny read and like Sue Perkins (all you Top Gear fans can pi** off)
 I encourage you to give this a go, it will have you laughing before you can say BAKE!

The Marriage of Opposites~Alice Hoffman
I have read a number of Hoffmans books so when this popped up on my Goodreads recommendations I decided to give it a go. I had also see alot of good things about this on Goodreads and Booktube.
I have to admit I was slightly disappointed, it didn't capture my imagination at all in the way other Hoffman books have, and I found it a struggle to finish it.
It tells the story of Rachel who has grown up on the island of St Thomas, she dreams of the day she can leave the island and live in Paris. She is a dreamer and very headstrong which is frowned about in her small tight knit Jewish community. Her Father arranges a marriage for her to a man twice her age while she doesn't love him at all, she deeply loves his three small children and agrees to marry him for that reason alone. Time passes and she soon has four children of her own before the age of 30! Her husband dies suddenly and she is left with alone and frighten. Enter the love of her life her husband's younger nephew because of Jewish laws there love is frowned upon and they are treated like outcasts. Still there love grows stronger and they have children together there youngest being the famous painter Camille Pissarro. There are the other subplots of Rachel's best friend Jestine and her daughter Lyddie and later Camille. While I found the story beautifully written and the plot interesting, the pacing was quite slow at times and I just couldn't connect with this book at all.
I found the characters all quite unlikable, the main character Rachel is self centered, rude and a know it all. Her friend Jestine is underdeveloped and comes across as naive and silly, most of the other characters are dull and underdeveloped. I did enjoy the first half of the book better, while I didn't like Rachel as a main character her story was much more interesting to tell and the descriptions of St Thomas are just stunning and a joy to read. When the book shifts POV to Camille the plot slows down to an almost stop. While I kept reading I didn't feel any connection to the characters or plot and for me it was a bit of a disappointing book.

Delicious~Ruth Reichl
The cover was the thing that really drew me to this book, plus it's a book about good food so I thought I was on to a winner! Sadly I didn't like this book at all, couldn't get into the style of writing and the characters are a bit of a cliche.
Billie is a food writer with amazing baking skills but doesn't bake anymore due to her tragic past. She is a fish out of water in the big city, but she is beautiful behind her glasses and baggy clothes. Every who meets her loves her, everyone wants to be her friend, her new boss is in awe of her, her gay best friend gives her a makeover, suddenly men are falling at her feet and it was just a bit much!!
  While the food parts where well written there where also very boring, and actually felt like there where took from a food critic instead of the beautiful descriptive writing of a fictional writer.
In the offices of Delicious magazine Billie finds a secret library and old letters from WW11
but I stopped reading after that, not even the promise of a WW11 romance could save this novel for me!
I done what I don't normally do and put the book down! I didn't connect with any of the characters, the story was full of cliches and after last month I didn't want a book to cause me another reading slump!

The Sacred River~Wendy Wallace
This book wasn't what I expected at all! I thought it would be some sort of historical fiction
between Victorian London and Ancient Egypt but it takes a different turn.
I really enjoyed this book and it stayed in my head a while after reading it
In Victorian London Harriet Heron a 22 year old, is lying on her sick bed, she is what her Mother calls an invalid and has been most of her life due to asthma. Her doctor hints that there is nothing much more he can do for her now and death is near. Harriet wants to live before she dies and pleas with the doctor to convince her Mother that warmer climates will help her. The place Harriet wants to go above all others is Egypt she has been fascinated with the history of the place since a child.
Harriet's mother Louisa will do anything for her beloved daughter but leaving the safety of London is not something she really wants to do, especially since there is a big chance her past will catch up with her. A past she has kept hidden and has been hiding for almost her whole life.
Lastly Harriet's aunt and Louisa's sister in-law Yael is asked to join the women on there trip. Yael is a spinster, a devout christian and carer to her Father. The last thing Yael wants to do is go on a trip up the Nile!
This is a very character driven book with a lot of dialogue, the three women are all a personal journey through out the book. I really liked the three female lead characters, although very different I could relate and understand each of them. While I was expecting a big adventure story and more about ancient Egypt, what I got was a journey of self discovery from three very different women.
I really enjoyed that this was a different slower paced novel. I read it quickly wanting to know if Louisa's secrets and past would come to light, if Yael could break the safety barriers and help the poor of Alexandria, and lastly if Harriet would find the peace, love and health she is looking for.
It was well written with beautiful descriptions of  Egypt but I wanted more the novel is quite short and when it ended I found myself wanting to know what happened next!
I guess that's a good compliant! I will definitely be reading more of Wendy Wallace in the future!

Rare Objects~Kathleen Tessaro
This book started off really good and I found myself wanting more
but the more I read about the main character Maeve the more I began to dislike her
This is another historical fiction novel set on the 1930's Boston and New York
when we meet Maeve she has been to the big city lost her chance at making it there
and spent time in a Mental Hospital. All of which her Mother doesn't know about, she needs a job and to get it she needs to make herself less Irish looking! The job is working at an antiques shop, while working there she meets Diana a beautiful woman from a very blue blood Boston family who she had originally briefly meet in the mental hospital in New York.
One of the things I disliked about Maeve is she doesn't learn from her lessons. After everything that happened to her in New York she quickly falls back into bad habits. She lead a double life in New York and she does it in Boston, attending lavish parties and events with Diana.
This really annoyed me about the character of Maeve and I found her unlikable, Diana wasn't much better but I could tolerate her character. There was a few things that I thought wouldn't happen at all, like Maeve actually getting the job in the antiques shop, and also the fact that her Mother seems to be a strict Catholic yet helps her daughter with her double life and puts up with her staying out all hours of the morning.
It is a long book and it did seem to drag a little for me. I kept waiting for the story to pick up and the story arcs to move along. I did enjoy reading about this time period and the great depression in Boston, but when I finish the book I just felt meh! The characters and the story didn't leave much of an impression on me.

Letters To The Lost~Iona Grey
The past weekend was bad for my chronic illness so I spent most of it
reading this book and getting swept up in this beautiful WW11 love story
I think this was one of my favourites books of the month
It's a very well written historical novel set in 2011 and WW11
I don't read much historical fiction set in WW11 anymore I went through a phase of just reading that time era when I was a teenager. I think I turned myself off reading about it because of the amount that I did read it in my teenage years! This novel reunited me with love for reading about this era and I get wait to read more!
This book tells two intertwining stories in 2011 Jess is running away from her past and squatting in an old run town abandoned house. While she is there she discovers a shoe box of old letters from WW11 meanwhile Will is trying to discover any living relatives of the owners of the house that Jess is squatting in. A letter arrives from Dan the author of the letters in the shoe box, Jess reads it and it strikes something in her, she wants to find Stella the woman Dan had to leave behind after the war.
In 1943 Dan met beautiful but married Vicar's wife Stella. Stella's marriage looks picture perfect but there is alot more going on behind closed doors. She doesn't want to fall for Dan but she does and he shows her what love truly feels like. This is war time and Dan is an American bomber pilot and of course life and love in war time never goes smoothly.
This book was a joy to read, the book is quite long with over 500 pages but I got through it so quickly as the story and characters are so engaging. I did guess some of the storylines at the start of the book, like the truth behind Charles Stella's picture perfect Vicar husband and who the owner of the house really was, but that didn't take away from me reading the plot. It's so well written that Grey really got across the sense of how bad war time rationing was which can be missing in other war time books, like when a tin of peaches, a bit of butter and a square of chocolate seemed like heaven.
It's a wonderful book and for some reason it reminded me of when I read The Notebook
it has that sort of beautiful love story but at the seem time totally different.
This is the author Iona Grey's first novel and I can't wait to read more from her.

What Oisín has been reading this month

Shouty Arthur~Angie Morgan
Oisín has been loving this book this month
About a little boy who is very loud (quite like Oisín at the moment)
and his big sister who tries to teach him about wildlife and being quiet!
It's a lovely little book which Oisín picked out from the library!

So that what we have been reading how about you?

This Month I Have Been Mostly Reading - April

Thankfully April has been a slower paced month than March
but my illness took a turn for the worse
so I had lots of hospital appointments and I read lots!

The Lake House-Kate Morton
While I love Morton this wasn't my favourite of her novels. I love her style of writing, the way she can change her writing to different era's in time and start the reader guessing from the very first page! Set in the 1930's when a small child goes missing, from a rambling country estate on a midsummer night party and not one person of the hundred guests at the party notices anything. It's a case that goes unsolved for years until now when a shamed DC is taking some down time in Cornwall this cold case strikes something in Sadie and she will not stop till she solves it.
Morton is still the Queen of secrets and there are lots of them in this novel! She also is excellent at changing from past to present she does it so effortlessly, but I think she tried a little too hard with The Lake House. It felt a little too crammed, maybe 100 pages too long, and a little too many characters. It took me about the 200 page mark to finally start to warm to the characters and get into the story. After that I found it hard to put down, maybe a few too many theories but I did enjoy thinking I had the plot twists figured out only for Morton to throw a curve ball and for the reader to be back at square one again!! In a lesser book any one of these theories would of been the conclusion and I would of guessed it from then start, but not Morton and it's one of the things I love about her novels.
That said I did feel that there might have been one to many mysteries and Sadie's back ground police case was misplaced or not developed as much as it could of been.
When I did get to the bottom of the missing child conclusion I did enjoy it but the ending was a little too happy ever after for me. While I enjoyed The Lake House it wouldn't been for first choice when reading a Kate Morton book

The Biography Kate Bush-Rob Jovanovic
I bought this book around ten years ago and read it cover to cover in one sitting!
I found it in my parents on Easter Sunday and thought to give it a re-read!
I don't read allot of biography's only of people/artist I admire, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Crawford, Fleetwood Mac, Audrey Hepburn, being a few I have read but I adore Kate Bush. So my 20 year old self rushed out and bought this even though as a big fan I knew allot about Ms Bush already.
This book isn't a riveting read but it does give us an insight of young Kate's life before
she got her record deal. You can tell that Jovanovic is a fan of Kate's work that comes across in the writing. I like the interviews with different musicians and artists that worked with Kate. I also really liked the quotes at the start of each chapter. But there is nothing new here not even the pictures which all Kate Bush fans has seen before. I am trying to get my hands on a copy of the book Waiting On Kate Bush which I am looking forward to reading.

The Red Lily Crown-Elizabeth Loupas
I devoured this book and read it in two days I couldn't put it down. It is a very well written historical fiction novel. It is set in 16th century Florence at the very powerful royal Medici court where family don't trust each other, lies, whispers and greed reigns over the court.
Francesco has become the next Grand Duke but he is very unsuited to the role, he loves women and alchemy he pursues both with a fiery passion. He is cruel, sadist, selfish and needs a male heir soon!
He takes in Chiara as his alchemy assistant when she agrees to sale him some of her late Father's alchemy equipment. She must take a series of tests to confirm she is still a virgin as he believes that will help compete their alchemy work. She also must take a vow to remain a virgin while she at his court and working for him. While at court she meets the mysterious Englishman Ruan and the three work on various alchemy experiments together.
While I enjoy historical fiction I sometimes get bored of the political facts of the story lines
not in this book the political and alchemy story lines where very interesting. No one is safe in the Medici court not even the Duke himself! Loupas is great at explaining how powerful the Medici family are and are not to be messed with!
I liked each of the characters the horrible sadist Franco was a character I loved to hate and is poor wife who really did seem to love him! Chiara was a little hard to like she was well rounded but sometimes a little to selfish, or single minded. My favourite character was Ruan with his dark secrets and his own reason for hating the Grand Duke although he hides it well!
I really enjoyed this book and cant wait to read some more of Loupas books!

A Weekend With Mr Darcy-Victoria Connelly
I wanted a light book to read in between doctors appointments and knew I had found it when I picked this up in a local charity shop!
I had the plot sewn up on page 27 but I enjoyed this book for the light relaxing read it is!
What made me pick this book up was the reference to Jane Austen and of course Mr Darcy
It did get slightly annoying all the referencing to Austen sometime less is more!
The plot is predictable, there are no plot twists or turns but that's what I needed
when my head was spinning from another day spent at doctor surgery's
It's not going to set the world on fire with it's two romances but who wouldn't love
to find there Mr Right at a weekend convention about Austen novels!
It's a nice read but maybe one I will not remember reading next month!

Nefertiti-Michelle Moran
I found this book hard to get into, right from the first pages Nefertiti is not a very likable character.
This should really be called Nefertiti's Sister as it's all her point of view. It's about how she feels being the younger sister of the great Queen Nefertiti. How she has had enough of being her sister's spy, maid, healer and she decides to take her chance at love and a quiet live instead.
Nefertiti and her husband Amunhotep are like the Anne Boleyn and Henry Tutor of there time. They change the religion of there people, ban the old Gods and raise huge temples to there new sun God. But unlike the latter we never found out why. What caused these drastic change in religion was it only because the Amun priests had so much gold in there temples? What made them to up and move there court to a new palace in the dessert?
The reader never once gets these questions answered as Moran never gives Nefertiti a voice. We never get inside the mind of the strong powerful Queen who co ruled with her King. Instead she sees Nefertiti as a spoiled, cruel, jealous little girl, who cares more about who her husband is sleeping with rather than the ruling of her country.
There was no descriptions of how beautiful Egypt was at this time. I don't like pages of description but I do like to know what I am meant to be imaging! The beautiful palace in the desert deserved more than a few lines. I find all ancient Egypt fascinating but this novel really lacked for me and as I have read Moran's novels before I was disappointed with Nefertiti.

The Secrets Of Midwives-Sally Hepworth
I really enjoyed this book funny that I was reading about a family of midwives and babies
while I was going to doctor and hospital appointments about my on going fertility struggles!
It's about three generations of midwives Floss the English Grandmother, Grace the hippy American Mother and Neva the brilliant pregnant daughter
I found this book easy to read. The chapters done in each woman's point of view where short
and engrossing to the point where I kept thinking just one more chapter till before I knew it I was at the end of the book!
Neva is pregnant and will not tell who the father of her child is she wants to go it alone, but her Mother Grace is less than happy about this. Her Grandmother Floss is quite about the subject but that is because she knows a long kept secret of her own is about to come to the surface!
At the heart of this book is about family, and new life coming into the world
We learn that family not just something you are born into, sometimes it is chosen.

What Oisìn has been reading this month

Thomas The Tank Engine 

Oisìn has become more and more interested in Thomas & Friends 

He plays with his Thomas Trains and now really likes watching Thomas on TV He now points out trains on the TV and when he has play dates with his friends he asks for choo choo trains!
When we where at the library a couple of weeks ago he found a whole section of Thomas books
Which we took some home and it has been all he has wanted to read lately!
He has even started asking to bring one of the books down stairs in the morning
he carries it around and even wanted to bring it to daycare!
I will have to buy him a Thomas book of his own as he will not be happy when these books
have to go back to the library!

What have you been reading this month?

This Month I Have Mostly Been Reading - March

This month was a busy one so I didn't

do as much reading as I would of liked 

Still managed to read a few books

Here is my March book review

The Rose Garden -Susanna Kearsley
This sounded like a book I would really enjoy
I even bought this book in my local book shop
but I was disappoint with this book
The story is of Eva who goes back to England from LA
to scatter her sisters aches while there she
travels back through time to 1715 where she meets Daniel a smuggler
For me this plot was too much like the Outlander books there is even a
Jacobite war with a nasty outcome. The book lacked and I found myself
skipping large chunks of dialogue just to get to the end.
Which also disappointed me hopefully I will read another of this authors books
and enjoy it, but The Rose Garden wasn't for me 

The Dovekeepers-Alice Hoffman
Ever read a book and even tho you are enjoying reading it, it takes forever to get through?!
This was that kind of book for me! I really enjoyed reading this and the story-lines
are really interesting but it felt like I was reading it for months!
I didn't know much of the history surrounding the plot
it's set around a historical event, some things from the Masada event can be found in
museums. It seems like it is a man's tale to tell as only Jewish men can be warriors
But Hoffman takes four women the dovekeepers and tells their story
They have come to Masada with there own families and have there own secerts and stories
to tell. Hoffman gives them there own books within a book
and through The Assassin's Daughter, The Baker's Wife, The Warrior's Beloved
and The Witch of Moab we learn about the Jewish way of life in 73CE
and how Masada came to be and how it ran red with Jewish blood by there own hands
I really enjoyed this book it did get a little bogged down in the middle
but I kept reading and am glad I did the ending was beautiful
With lines like this one “Let my burden be your burden, and yours be mine.”
It's hard not to see the beauty in Hoffman's writing I will be reading more from her soon

Another Heartbeat In The House -Kate Beaufoy
This book looked promising with comparisons to Rachel Hore and Kate Morton
but I was very disappointed I am a huge fan of historical fiction, this fell short for me
It tells the story of British editor Edie in the 1930's who travels to Cork to help
pack up and sell her parents friends old country estate. It is a happy distraction for her
as she is grieving for her best friend who has died suddenly in car accident
While she is there she discovers a diary of sorts from a woman called Eliza Drury from the
1840's soon Edie is drawn into Eliza's life and the secrets she kept
Sounds great but it wasn't the writing isn't great and the name dropping got a bit too much.
Dylan Thomas, Daphne du Maurier and Ian Flemming to name a few
It painted Ireland to be land of leprechaun loving and potato picking people using words like
bog land and paddy land! Some of the history about the Great Irish Famine was wrong
and that really annoyed me!
Eliza is a strong and feisty character but Edie just comes across as bland. I found myself
skipping through chapters just to finish the book.

A Very Big House In The Country-Claire Sandy
This is the type of chic lit I love, I have read Sandy's What Would Mary Berry Do and love it
So when I saw this book I knew I had to read it after a month of mediocre books
I was delighted with this funny read. Evie decides it's time for a family holiday so with help
of her best friend Shen they book a huge house for their families but when the third family drop
out last minute the new slightly weird family from school are thrown into the mix!
A huge house with a pool, three couples, several children, three moody teens, and two dogs
this is never going to be the relaxing holiday the Dad's are hoping for and every one of the adults and some of the teens are keeping secrets from each other. It's a very funny read and I was laughing out loud at some of the mix ups and cross wires that happened! I have to admit I did see some of the twists coming but not all of them and some issues are a little darker then normal chic lit, which I think gives extra depth to the book.
Claire Sandy really know how to write a good funny book and I am hoping she has a new book out soon. I will be adding her Christmas book to my reading list this year!

What Oisìn has been reading this month

Not On A School Night-Rebecca Patterson
We got this book from the library and the three of us enjoyed reading it
Hubby and I can relate to it and Oisìn enjoys the pictures and the funny story that goes with it!
We will be looking for more books from this author

What have you been reading recently?

My All Time Favourite Books - World Book Day

Its no secret that I am a huge book worm

and I have even got my husband reading more

Oisìn seems to have my love of reading too

I think reading is a wonderful thing 

So for world book day here is my top five favourite books

I read this when I around 13/14 

soon afterwards I discover Kate Bush and her song but that is a whole other story!

I had been learning about the classics in school, Dickens, Austen, and Charlotte Brontë

but nothing much about Emily

When I saw it in the library I liked the cover so decided to give it a read

Wow it was hard for a 13 year old to get into! I read it and didn't understand most of it

Until a few years later my brother was studying it for school exams. I came back to it with

older eyes I was still only 17 but I loved the style of reading, the dark eerier moors,

the obsessive romance that Emily Brontè creates.

First off the narrative is quite different told by a stranger to the Yorkshire Moors

as Nelly the housekeeper tells her tales of the overbearing family she worked for

Of course there is Heathcliff the broody, dark, unstable and unsocial man

who deep love for Cathy has consumed him. 

Its a romance that has been copied for books that came after

but it's the original that holds so much power

This is the book I come back to every Autumn 

to rediscover what secrets lie in Wuthering Heights

 

This is the book that brought me from a child reader into the world of adult books

This book reminds me of my Summer holiday off school sitting
in my parents back garden under a tree reading. I read this on school holidays and loved it!
The story of four sisters while there Father is off fighting in the America Civil war.
The four sisters Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy find ways to keep themselves busy and to help as there Mother doesn't have much money. The book follows the sisters from little women into wives.
I have watched the two movies my favourite is the one with Clare Daines as Beth my favourite character of the book. I have also read the sequels Little Men and Jo's Boys
but it was Little Women that brought me from childhood reading into young adult reading and
ensured that I would be reading all my adult life.

I love Dickens but this is the book I keep going back to

Such a frighting start to book

It tells the story of Pip an orphan and his journey to life and the strange characters he meets

Of  course one these characters is the strange, eccentric Miss Havisham who

lives in a huge mansion, which is crumbling around her. She is dressed in a wedding gown with a wedding feast on her dining table that has rotten away.

She is one of my favourite fictional characters ever!

 She is not very likable, she is cold and hard but I am still drawn to her

When I am unsure what to read I come back to this book

This is the only book on my list that is fairly recent it was publish it 1991

but I only read it last year after watching the new TV show

I have read this twice and have started reading the other books in the series

but I know it will be this book that I will come back to over and over again

It tells the story of time travelling Claire how on holiday with her husband after WW2

she is transported back to 18th century Scotland where she meets the Mackenzie clan

who take her in as a healer. She meets her husband ancienter Captain Black Jack Randall

who is a cruel, sadistic man she tries her best to stay out of his way but things start to get 

complicated for Claire when she begins to fall for the red haired Scottish Jamie Fraser

I adore this book and it love the style of writing

dark, twists and very eerier. It gets me from the first line

I love how the reader never knows the name of the second Mrs de Winter

she is just know as the second younger wife! 

There is parallels between both Brontë works Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre

but this story just caught my teenager mind

Unraveling secrets and stripping away layers

it is the style of writing and type of book I still enjoy reading now