Tag: music
+ alcoholism, childhood, dark humour, family, fiction, motherhood, music, relationships, review, thriller
Mother’s Day by Abigail Burdess
SHE GAVE YOU LIFE. WHAT IF SHE WANTS IT BACK? The last thing Anna needs is a baby. Abandoned, adopted and living hand to mouth, she never dreamt of having a real family. But when she meets her birth mother, everything changes – because the same day, she learns she’s going to be a mother too. #MothersDay @AbigailBurdess @headlinepg @Wildfirebks #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour Marlene is eccentric, … Read More Mother’s Day by Abigail Burdess
+ abuse, alcoholism, brothers, childhood, domestic noir, family, fantasy, feel-good, female friendship, fiction, folklore, forgiveness, friendship, Ghost story, gothic horror, Gothic mystery, grief, haunting, List, literature, loss, love, music, paranormal, piano, relationships, review, secrets, sisterhood, sisters, slavery, suffragette movement, supernatural, superstition, tradition, whimsical
My Top 4 Books of 2022
It’s approaching the very end of 2022 and it’s time to reflect on my absolute favourite books of the year. Last year it was hard but this year is even harder. There were instant standouts again – about 10 of them but I had to cut it down to four. I have tried to include a mix of genres but failed yet again. I read … Read More My Top 4 Books of 2022
+ family, feminism, fiction, girl's school, grief, Historical fiction, literature, London, loss, love, mental health, motherhood, music, psychiatrist, relationships, review, sisters, twins
The Crooked Little Pieces: Volume 2 by Sophia Lambton
Mind the gap between youth’s pedestal and looming adulthood. Two years have passed since Anneliese and Isabel braved the bombardment of the Blitz. Risks are resumed and revelations rattle as the past begins to rear its ugly head. Suffering sends Isabel on downward spirals; Anneliese falls victim to society’s expectations. Skeletons come tumbling from Susanna’s closet and for some the sex-and-death divide grows thinner. … Read More The Crooked Little Pieces: Volume 2 by Sophia Lambton
+ 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
+ crime fiction, dark humour, female friendship, fiction, friendship, jealousy, kidnapping, lies, marriage, murder, murder mystery, Psychological fiction, revenge, review, Scotland, Scottish Highlands, secrets, thriller
The Cliff House by Chris Brookmyre
One hen weekend, seven secrets… but only one worth killing for. Jen’s hen party is going to be out of control… She’s rented a luxury getaway on its own private island. The helicopter won’t be back for seventy-two hours. They are alone. They think. As well as Jen, there’s the pop diva and the estranged ex-bandmate, the tennis pro and the fashion guru, the … Read More The Cliff House by Chris Brookmyre
+ abuse, child abuse, childhood, coming-of-age, community, cult, family, feel-good, female friendship, fiction, friendship, germany, grief, Historical fiction, holocaust, jewish history, jews, lies, List, literature, loss, love, motherhood, murder, music, nazi germany, piano, rape, relationships, religion, review, secrets, sisterhood, suffragette movement, whimsical
My Top 8 Books of 2022 – Part Two
Here are my favourite eight books of the second quarter of 2022. You will notice that it doesn’t include any crime dramas, detective novels or serial killer thrillers. While I love those genres, they rarely bring something totally new to the table and my favourites tend to be feel-good, whimsical or magical realism. Or totally original or make me cry. There are a couple of … Read More My Top 8 Books of 2022 – Part Two
+ abuse, childhood, domestic noir, family, fiction, grief, literature, loss, love, music, piano, review, secrets, sisters
Nothing Else by Louise Beech
Heather Harris is a piano teacher and professional musician, whose quiet life revolves around music, whose memories centre on a single song that haunts her. A song she longs to perform again. A song she wrote as a child, to drown out the violence in their home. A song she played with her little sister, Harriet. But Harriet is gone … she disappeared when … Read More Nothing Else by Louise Beech
+ community, Devon, fiction, folklore, friendship, literature, music, review, seventies, sixties
Villager by Tom Cox
Tom Cox’s masterful debut novel synthesises his passion for music, nature and folklore into a psychedelic and enthralling exploration of village life and the countryside that sustains it. There’s so much to know. It will never end, I suspect, even when it does. So much in all these lives, so many stories, even in this small place. Villages are full of tales: some are … Read More Villager by Tom Cox
+ female friendship, fiction, friends, friendship, haunting, literature, love, relationships, review, romance, sixties, supernatural, writing
When the Music Stops by Joe Heap
This is the story of Ella. And Robert. And of all the things they should have said, but never did.‘What have you been up to?’I shrug, ‘Just existing, I guess.’‘Looks like more than just existing.’Robert gestures at the baby, the lifeboat, the ocean.‘All right, not existing. Surviving.’He laughs, not unkindly. ‘Sounds grim.’‘It wasn’t so bad, really. But I wish you’d been there.’ #WhentheMusicStops @Joe_Heap_ … Read More When the Music Stops by Joe Heap
Bookchatter@Cookiebiscuit 