Category: love
The Bookstore Sisters by Alice Hoffman Once Upon a Time Bookshop Stories #1
Isabel Gibson has all but perfected the art of forgetting. She’s a New Yorker now, with nothing left to tie her to Brinkley’s Island, Maine. Her parents are gone, the family bookstore is all but bankrupt, and her sister, Sophie, will probably never speak to her again. But when a mysterious letter arrives in her mailbox, Isabel feels herself drawn to the past. After … Read More The Bookstore Sisters by Alice Hoffman Once Upon a Time Bookshop Stories #1
+ brothers, family, fiction, Ghost story, gothic horror, Gothic mystery, grief, haunting, loss, love, paranormal, review, supernatural, superstition, USA
The Haunting of Noyo Bay by L.B. Stimson narrated by Jennifer March
When sixteen-year-old Charlotte Goolsby first encounters the mysterious little boy playing in the cemetery, she assumes he belongs to the minister’s family. However, as sightings of the little boy continue and seemingly go unnoticed by the rest of Keesbury’s residents, Charlotte is forced to confront everything she once believed about life and death. Charlotte finds herself confiding her fears to her father’s shipwright apprentice, … Read More The Haunting of Noyo Bay by L.B. Stimson narrated by Jennifer March
+ abuse, alcoholism, child abuse, childhood, domestic noir, eighties, family, female friendship, fiction, grief, loss, love, mental health, mental illness, obsession, relationships, review
Surviving Her by Jo Johnson
Nicky is the child with the hurting eyes and desperate ways. Rescue him.Claus is the man with the empty eyes and controlling ways. Rescue her. Broken by the death of her sister, Keziah can’t believe her luck when Claus, a beautiful psychologist saves her from a disciplinary disaster. Desperate to heal herself and restore her parents, she marries in haste. But her husband’s idiosyncrasies … Read More Surviving Her by Jo Johnson
+ childhood, family, fiction, friendship, humour fiction, love, motherhood, office drama, relationships, review, secrets, sisters, World War Two
The M Word by Eileen Wharton
Roberta Gallbreath is middle aged and menopausal. She dislikes her children, detests her ex-husband and despises her colleagues. When her mother dies, Roberta is left with a pile of letters and a mystery surrounding her son. The letters reveal Roberta’s heritage is not what it seems and she is soon on a mission to become a better person. #TheMWord @WhartonEileen @SpellBoundBks @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour … Read More The M Word by Eileen Wharton
+ adventure, audio drama, Cat on a Piano, fiction, friendship, humour fiction, love, podcast, radio play, review, Theatrephonic
Around The World In 80 Days by Cat On A Piano / Theatrephonic
Theatrephonic has joined forces with Rain or Shine Theatre Company to present a radio adaptation of their 2021 Christmas tour: Around the World in 80 Days As I was on holiday in Gran Canaria (she says showing off) I listened to this in one go on the beach. People around me probably wondered why I kept bursting out laughing. Mad dogs and Englishman and … Read More Around The World In 80 Days by Cat On A Piano / Theatrephonic
+ adventure, childhood, coming-of-age, crime fiction, family, fashion, female friendship, fiction, forgiveness, friendship, haunting, humour fiction, List, literature, love, metafiction, murder, mystery, police drama, review, supernatural, witchcraft, witches
My Top 8 Books of 2022 – Part Three
Here are my favourite eight books of the third quarter of 2022. I should have published this at the beginning of the month but I am in Gran Canaria and to be honest, what with the sunshine, the sea and the vino, I totally forgot. Apologies all round and here goes. Still Water by Rebecca Pert What a stunning book. Beautifully written and so … Read More My Top 8 Books of 2022 – Part Three
+ childhood, crime fiction, fiction, Gothic mystery, grief, lies, loss, love, mental health, mental illness, murder, review, Scotland, Scottish Highlands, secrets, superstition, thriller
The Blackhouse by Carole Johnstone
From the author of the “dark and devious…beautifully written” (Stephen King) Mirrorland comes a richly atmospheric thriller set on an isolated Scottish island where nothing is as it seems and shocking twists lie around every corner. A remote village. A deadly secret. An outsider who knows the truth. Robert Reid moved his family to Scotland’s Outer Hebrides in the 1990s, driven by hope, craving safety and … Read More The Blackhouse by Carole Johnstone
+ childhood, coming-of-age, family, feminism, fiction, girl's school, Historical fiction, literature, London, love, music, piano, relationships, review, sisters, twins, World War Two
The Crooked Little Pieces: Volume 1 by Sophia Lambton
Lost are the creatures destined never to be understood. 1926. Professor Josef van der Holt obtains a post at an all women’s college overseas. Stuffy London suddenly becomes the site for the unseemly exploits of his half-Dutch and half-German daughters Anneliese and Isabel. When tragedy carves out a hollow in their lives, an ailing soul sends the sororal twins along a jagged path: while … Read More The Crooked Little Pieces: Volume 1 by Sophia Lambton
+ coming-of-age, family, fiction, history, literature, love, memoir, motherhood, piano, relationships, review, World War Two
Lessons by Ian McEwan
When the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has descended, young Roland Baines’s life is turned upside down. 2,000 miles from his mother’s protective love, stranded at an unusual boarding school, his vulnerability attracts his pianoteacher Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade. Twenty-five years later Roland’s … Read More Lessons by Ian McEwan
+ brothers, crime fiction, Detective novel, family, fiction, friendship, haunting, Historical fiction, kidnapping, literature, London, love, murder, police corruption, prostitution, revenge, review, secrets, sisters
Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson
1926, and in a country still recovering from the Great War, London has become the focus for a delirious new nightlife. In the clubs of Soho, peers of the realm rub shoulders with starlets, foreign dignitaries with gangsters, and girls sell dances for a shilling a time. The notorious queen of this glittering world is Nellie Coker, ruthless but also ambitious to advance her … Read More Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson
+ childhood, family, fantasy, female friendship, feminism, fiction, forgiveness, friendship, grief, haunting, loss, love, magic, review, sisterhood, supernatural, witchcraft, witches
The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais
The House in the Cerulean Sea meets The Golden Girls in this funny, tender, and uplifting feminist tale of sisterhood featuring a coven of aging witches who must unite their powers to fight the men determined to drive them out of their home and town. A coven of modern-day witches. A magical heist-gone-wrong. A looming threat. Summoned by an alarm, five octogenarian witches gather … Read More The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais
The Other Side Of Night by Adam Hamdy
The Other Side of Night begins with a man named David Asha writing about his biggest regret: his sudden separation from his son, Elliot. In his grief, David tells a story. Next, we step into the life of Harriet Kealty, a police officer trying to clear her name after a lapse of judgment. She discovers a curious inscription in a secondhand book—a plea: Help me, he’s … Read More The Other Side Of Night by Adam Hamdy
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