nice all read

Ever since The Incident, James DeWitt has stayed on the safe side. He likes to know what happens next. Danny Allen is not on the safe side. He is more past the point of no return. The past is about to catch up with both of them in a way that which will change their lives forever, unexpectedly. But redemption can come in the most unlikely ways . I have read many of Mike Gayle’s novels but having just finished reading his latest release The Man I Think I Know it is easy for me to say that this book is by far his best book yet and will be a book that everyone will be talking about. The storyline is told by James and Danny who both used to go to the same school but were more in competition with each other than friends. Being at such a thought after school the lads were destined for big things but for them both life has thrown life changing events their way which has changed their paths. After an accident leaves James with a brain injury he has lived back home with his parents but when ...

Millie Vanilla’s Cupcake Café is struggling as a multi-national chain of cafés moves in on its territory. Despite baking up a storm in a bid to save it, Millie’s distracted by falling head over heels for the gorgeous, mysterious Jed. As the seasons change in Berecombe, the loveable, quirky locals rally round Millie, and in return find their own happy ever afters. Millie’s delighted for her friends, but when she discovers Jed’s been keeping secrets, she faces a new dilemma – is it finally time to hang up her apron and start an exciting life somewhere new? Or is everything she’s ever wanted right under her nose, just waiting for her to reach out and take it? I cannot begin to tell you how many books I have read set around a welcoming café and flowing with delicious cakes but do you know what I cannot get enough of them! I had seen Millie Vanilla’s Cupcake Café released as parts last year but those of you who follow my reviews will know I am not a fan of novella’s so I resisted the tempta...

She thought he’d come to save her. She was wrong. Deborah Jenkins pulls her coat around her as she sets out on her short walk home in the pouring rain. But she never makes it home that night. And she is never seen again … Four years later, an abandoned baby girl is found wrapped in dirty rags on a doorstep. An anonymous phone call urges the police to run a DNA test on the baby. But nobody is prepared for the results. The newborn belongs to Deborah. She’s still alive. I am not a big crime thriller reader but every now and again after reading a lot of women’s fiction I like to read something completely different. I loved the Angela Marsons books which kept me guessing and had a strong female protagonist so I was looking for a book that offers another strong heroine but that will keep me guessing so when I saw the appealing cover of The Next Girl by Carla Kovach I read the synopsis and couldn’t wait to see what this author had in store for me. When a new born baby is left outside in th...

Nonfiction Tragedy, privation and death ISLAND OF THE BLUE FOXES: Disaster and Triumph on the World’s Greatest Scientific Expedition By Stephen R. Bown 346 pp. Da Capo Reviewed by David E. Hoekenga, M. D. Russian Tsar Peter the Great conceived the Great Northern Expedition that place from 1733 to 1743 and consumed amazing 18 percent of the total income of the entire Russian state.   Bown writes that the decade-long expedition spanned three continents, (and) in its geographic, cartographic and natural history accomplishments are on a par with (the combination of) James Cook’s famous voyages, the circumnavigations of Malaspina and Bougainville and Lewis and Clark’s cross-continental trek. Expedition leader and renowned Danish mariner Vitus Bering had offered a modest proposal that Empress Anna’s final instructions raised it to “grandiose proportions.”   Bering would lead “a huge troop of nearly three thousand scientists, secretaries, students, interpreters, artists, surveyors, n...

Welcome to Littlewood, a small town community with a big heart.   Abbie and her boyfriend Jack are about to start their own PR company in London, but there are so many unanswered questions about their past and Abbie begins to question her decision to leave Littlewood... Will Thomas manage to hold onto Huntley Manor without her, or has her departure ruined his chances...? After a shaky start,  Eszter  is determined to show her daughter  Zoe  that it doesn't matter where you are from, that we are all the same. With a little help from Brew cafe, they decide to run a cake baking class for the local children to help her make some friends. But as the summer goes on, their return to Hungary looms over them... Will they go back and leave Zoe's granny, Anne, all on her own? Or is life in Littlewood the perfect fit for their newly formed family...? Having pushed Alex away,  Louise finds herself battling with jealousy when she sees him with her colleague. But ...

Today it is my stop on the blog tour for The Sapphire Widow by Dinah Jefferies. I will be sharing my review of this breath-taking novel and I urge you to grab a copy as this is a stunning read. Ceylon, 1935. Louisa Reeve, the daughter of a successful British gem trader, and her husband Elliot, a charming, thrill-seeking businessman, seem like the couple who have it all. Except what they long for more than anything: a child. While Louisa struggles with miscarriages, Elliot is increasingly absent, spending much of his time at a nearby cinnamon plantation, overlooking the Indian ocean. After his sudden death, Louisa is left alone to solve the mystery he left behind. Revisiting the plantation at Cinnamon Hills, she finds herself unexpectedly drawn towards the owner Leo, a rugged outdoors man with a chequered past. The plantation casts a spell, but all is not as it seems. And when Elliot's shocking betrayal is revealed, Louisa has only Leo to turn to... MY REVIEW  The Sapphire Widow is ...

Fiction I was born dead THE WHITE CRUCIFIXION By Michael Dean 256 pp. Holland Park Press Reviewed by Marty Carlock “On a highly auspicious day, the seventh day of the seventh month, I was born dead.” What an opening sentence! How can we not read on?   The narrator born dead is Moyshe Shagal, known to us now as Marc Chagall, painter of dreamlike fabulist scenes. The White Crucifixion is a fictional autobiography. The opening paragraph continues: “I was brought back to life by the midwife holding me in a tub of cold water, then lifting me out again. I went from black to blue to pink. Then a fire broke out.” According to this author, Chagall’s paintings refer to actual events in his life, and the figures painted, whether flying (some are) or grounded, are pictures of actual people. My painting of the scene, Birth , shows a claustrophobic single-room izba pressed down by a low crooked ceiling. By a red-canopied bed, a midwife is holding a baby. There is a proud father present, and a co...