A Place Like Home by Rosamunde Pilcher (Review)

A Place Like Home by Rosamunde Pilcher

Blurb

A Place Like Home is a spellbinding collection of short stories by internationally bestselling author Rosamunde Pilcher, never before published in book form. The collection contains fifteen stories, which range from “Our Holiday”, in which a wife surprises her husband of twenty-five years with a holiday full of Mediterranean sunshine, red rocks and blue seas in an effort to rekindle the romance they had before children; “Through the Eyes of Love”, which takes the reader to a village by the sea where old flames meet again; and “A Place Like Home”, where a lonely young woman goes to recuperate in the Scottish countryside after a brief illness. The fruit orchards and fresh sea air offer much needed respite–but not as much as the handsome, mysterious farmer she meets.

Each unforgettable story is the perfect slice of romance written with warmth and passion featuring wonderfully memorable, smart, and feisty female characters that will transport the reader to another time and place.

Review

People who have been following my blog for some time know that one of my favourite authors is Pilcher. I absolutely adore her full length novels but I do struggle with some of her short stories. I find Pilcher’s strength as an author was in the epic novel where she had the freedom to create such powerful female characters that were strong and in control of their own futures. 

This set of fifteen short stories has been sat on my kindle since last year as it was a holiday read that I never got around to reading. These stories all focus around marriage and courtship and quite a few strong female characters. Each story is beautifully written and has Pilcher’s wonderful charm about it but I did find them all rather similar and could guarantee what the ending would be of each story after finishing the third story. 

Whilst there isn’t anything very remarkable about this book of short stories the stories were all enjoyable and a nice read and of course beautifully written. I did find myself wanting to know more about several of the characters and would have loved a full length novel instead of a short story. This was the case for the stories that had the romantic couple as the main characters of the story. The stories which had the romantic interests as side characters were much better suited to the short story format. 

This was an enjoyable read and one that was perfectly suited for reading when you have a short space of time but it really lacked the special something that I expect from Pilcher. I give this book 3 out of 5 Dragons. 

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Purchase Links

Bookshop.org | Waterstones | WH Smith

(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)

About the author

Rosamunde Pilcher was born on the 22nd September 1924 in Cornwall. She began writing when she was 7 and published her first short story at the age of 15. From 1943 to 1946 she served with the Women’s Royal Naval Service. In 1946 she married her Graham Hope Pilcher and they moved to Dundee, Scotland together. In 1949 Pilcher’s first novel was published under the pseudonym Jane Fraser, she went on to publish a further ten novels under that name. In 1955 she published her first novel under her own name, by 1965 she had dropped the pseudonym entirely. Pilcher retired from writing in 2000, two years later she received her OBE.

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WWW Wednesday: 16/10/2024

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

The rules are answer the questions below and share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam’s blog.

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you will read next?

Hello!

I hope everyone is having a good week so far. I am doing so well with my reading at the moment and I’m not really sure why but I hope it continues.

What I am Currently Reading

I’m not sure what to make of Apple Tree Yard yet but I will keep going and see where it leads. I’m half way through the A Place Like Home and although it isn’t Pilcher’s best work it is still very good. A Crown of Swords is going really well and I’m really enjoying it so far.

What I have Recently Finished Reading

I thoroughly enjoyed this and will be reading more Paula Hawkins soon. Here is my review.

What I Think I will Read Next

I have no idea what I will read next but here are a few contenders.

Please drop me a comment with your WWW Wednesday and I will head over for a visit.

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (Review)


The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Blurb

Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘Jess and Jason’, she calls them. Their life – as she sees it – is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough.

Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar.

Now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train…

Review

I have recently been going through some bookshelves in our house that have basically been neglected since we moved into the house seven years ago. Due to this I have discovered a load of books that I had forgotten about and this is one of them. I can’t believe I waited so long because once I started this book I could not put it down. 

There were so many twists and turns in this book which really kept me on my toes. This book just kept surprising me and I loved it. I had a few suspicions about who the guilty party was. Some of my early thoughts were way out but I slowly started to work out who it was. The first thing that hooked me in was the prologue to the book. It really set the scene and made me want to know what it all meant. So of course I had to keep reading. 

The other element I loved about this book was how it was written. The story is mainly told from Rachel’s point of view but we also have the point of view of other important characters as well and it really added an extra element to the story and threw in a few red herrings. The book is written as diary entries and in Rachel’s case she has a morning and evening entry to go with her train commute. 

Rachel is such a tragic character who just needs someone to love her again and care for her. She desperately needs to find meaning and purpose in her life again but she can’t find the way so when she sees something from the train she finds a way to be part of something again and starts to find meaning in life again but the process is not pretty. I felt desperately sorry for Rachel but at times she really did frustrate me. I just really wanted her to succeed and become a better version of herself. Due to Rachel’s problems she doesn’t always remember things very well which adds to the story because the reader is left wondering what actually happened in those blank moments. 

I can’t quite believe this is Hawkins’ first thriller novel because it is so accomplished and beautifully written that I would have thought she was a well established thriller writer. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and give it 5 out of 5 Dragons and I can’t wait to read another book by Hawkins. 

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Purchase Links

Bookshop.org | Waterstones | WH Smith

(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)

About the author

Paula Hawkins (1972) is a British author best known for her book The Girl on the Train

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If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

The Weekly Brief

Hello!

I hope everyone has had a nice weekend so far. I’ve had a really good week reading and blogging this week which has been lovely.

Blog Posts

Currently Reading

I can’t put The Girl on the Train down and I really don’t know why it has taken me so long to read. A Crown of Swords is going really well at the moment.

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Stacking the Shelves: 12/10/2024

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Marlene of Reading Reality. It is all about sharing the books that you have recently added to your bookshelves. These books can be physical books, ebooks and of course audiobooks.

Hello!

I have only bought one book this week and it was a book that I had preordered so it was a nice surprise when it arrived.

I started the Joubert Family Chronicles whilst on holiday last year and really enjoyed the books so I am looking forward to continuing with the series.

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Crimson Lake by Candice Fox (Review)

Crimson Lake by Candice Fox

Blurb

How do you move on when the world won’t let you?

12:46: Claire Bingley stands alone at a bus stop

12:47: Ted Conkaffey parks his car beside her

12:52: The girl is missing . . .

Six minutes in the wrong place at the wrong time—that’s all it took to ruin Sydney detective Ted Conkaffey’s life. Accused but not convicted of a brutal abduction,Ted is now a free man—and public enemy number one. Maintaining his innocence, he flees north to keep a low profile amidst the steamy, croc-infested wetlands of Crimson Lake.

There, Ted’s lawyer introduces him to eccentric private investigator Amanda Pharrell, herself a convicted murderer. Not entirely convinced Amanda is a cold-blooded killer, Ted agrees to help with her investigation, a case full of deception and obsession, while secretly digging into her troubled past. The residents of Crimson Lake are watching the pair’s every move… and the town offers no place to hide.

Review

I came across this book because my husband and myself really enjoy the TV series Troppo and when I found out it is based on a series of books I knew I needed to read them. 

It took me a little while to get into this book and at first I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy it but I am glad that I persevered because I soon really started to enjoy it and started to really like the characters. 

Ted and Amanda were quite different in the book to the TV series but I think I actually liked them more in the book once I got used to the differences and their quirks. I really liked how you got to see Ted and Amanda’s vulnerabilities as the story goes on and how much they really do need each other. Ted’s lawyer really knew what he was doing when he threw Ted and Amanda together. 

Ted and Amanda are working on a case together and their every move is being watched by the people of Crimson Lake. However, as they work on the case Ted begins to realise that something is also not quite right with the murder that Amanda was convicted for when she was a teenager. 

I really liked how this book was written with the different threads of the story weaving together. We see flashbacks of Ted’s trial, and the events leading up to Claire Bingley going missing. We see flashbacks of Amanda’s crime and events leading up to it. I really liked how it all worked together and started to give the reader an idea of the bigger picture. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I’m really looking forward to reading the next book in the series as I want to see what Amanda and Ted get up to next. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons. 

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Purchase Links

Bookshop.org | Waterstones | WH Smith

(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)

About the author

Candice Fox is the middle child of a large, eccentric family from Sydney’s western suburbs composed of half-, adopted and pseudo siblings. The daughter of a parole officer and an enthusiastic foster-carer, Candice spent her childhood listening around corners to tales of violence, madness and evil as her father relayed his work stories to her mother and older brothers.

As a cynical and trouble-making teenager, her crime and gothic fiction writing was an escape from the calamity of her home life. She was constantly in trouble for reading Anne Rice in church and scaring her friends with tales from Australia’s wealth of true crime writers.

Bankstown born and bred, she failed to conform to military life in a brief stint as an officer in the Royal Australian Navy at age eighteen. At twenty, she turned her hand to academia, and taught high school through two undergraduate and two postgraduate degrees. Candice lectures in writing at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney, while undertaking a PhD in literary censorship and terrorism.

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If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

WWW Wednesday: 9/10/2024

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

The rules are answer the questions below and share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam’s blog.

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you will read next?

Hello!

I hope everyone is having a good week so far. I’ve been doing really well with my reading this week and it feels really good to actually have time to sit and read for a while.

What I am Currently Reading

I have dug out my old Kindle and have been reading some of the books I have on there between teaching which is why I’m reading the book of short stories by Rosamunde Pilcher. I have about 30 pages of Crimson Lake left and I’ve really enjoyed it so far. A Crown of Swords is going really well and I’m making excellent progress.

What I have Recently Finished Reading

Thoroughly enjoyed this and can’t wait to read the next book in the series. Here is my review.

What I Think I will Read Next

As usual I have no idea what I will read next but these are some of the contenders.

Please drop me a comment with your WWW Wednesday and I will head over for a visit.

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (Review)

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Blurb

Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders…

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die

Review

I am very late to the party with Fourth Wing but I won’t be making that mistake with the Iron Flame and and the rest of the books from the series. This is definitely one of my favourite reads of 2024. I’m always wary about books that get a lot of social media attention as I’m usually very disappointed in them but thankfully this was not the case with Fourth Wing

There was never a dull moment with this book and it was full of twists and turns. I also loved the pacing of the book. However, the best thing about this book has got to be that it has dragons in it! 

The story resolves around Violet who is the daughter of a formidable general and a scribe. Violet was meant to be a scribe, it was what she had spent years of her life preparing for but then her mother has other ideas and makes her daughter join the Riders Quadrant. Even though it could mean the death of Violet. 

During the book we see Violet take on each challenge that a rider faces and the challenges are brutal. It is possibly the scariest school imaginable! The challenges Violet faces aren’t just ones set by the Riders Quadrant, she also faces challenges of fellow cadets trying to kill her and to top it all her body is fragile and can easily be hurt. 

I loved how strong Violet was, she never looked too far ahead but faced every challenge or danger head on. She was also a fierce friend to those loyal to her and I loved to see her friendships develop and people to see that she wasn’t weak or a liability but strong and clever. I also loved the humour that came through and the joking around between friends. 

Obviously my favourite characters were the dragons and Tairn was just brilliant. I also have a soft spot for Andarna and can’t wait to see what happens with Andarna in the next book. I absolutely loved this book and give it 5 out of 5 Dragons. 

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Purchase Links

Bookshop.org | Waterstones | WH Smith

(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)

About the author

Rebecca Yarros is a hopeless romantic and coffee addict. She is the New York Times bestselling author of over twenty novels, including Fourth Wing, The Last Letter and The Things We Leave Unfinished. She’s also the recipient of the Colorado Romance Writer’s Award of Excellence for Eyes Turned Skyward. Rebecca loves military heroes and has been blissfully married to hers for over twenty years. A mother of six, she is currently surviving the teenage years with all four of her hockey-playing sons.

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If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Goodreads Monday: 7/10/2024

Goodreads Monday is now hosted by Budget Tales Book Club.  All you have to do is show off a book from your TBR that you’re looking forward to reading.

Hello!

I hope everyone has had a good start to the week. I have had a busy day teaching but I have also managed a bit of reading.

My chosen book to feature this week is one by my favourite author and historian Alison Weir.

Mary I Queen of Sorrows by Alison Weir

Adored only child of King Henry VIII and his first wife Katherine of Aragon, young Princess Mary grows up as the sole heiress to the English throne. But her father wants a son, and soon Mary’s world begins to fall apart.

With her parents’ marriage – and England – in crisis, Mary is banished from the court and kept apart from the mother she adores. The King promises to restore his daughter to favour, but first Mary must do something for which she will never forgive herself.

She seeks solace in her faith. But when her brother Edward VI dies, she finds herself fighting for the crown – and for her life. Emerging triumphant, all seems fair for the reign of Queen Mary. And then, very quickly, things began to go badly wrong…

MARY I. HER STORY.

Alison Weir’s new Tudor novel, a tale full of drama and tragedy, tells the story of how a princess with such promise, loved by all who knew her, becomes the infamous Bloody Mary.

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

The Weekly Brief

Hello!

I hope everyone has had a nice weekend so far. Blogging and reading have gone well this week which is good. However, I am really annoyed as for some reason my scheduled post for Friday did not post and I never noticed until the Saturday morning. This is really annoying as I am taking part in Blogtober! I’m planning on continuing with my Blogtober plan for the rest of the month though and checking that any scheduled posts actually post!

Blog Posts

Currently Reading

Crimson Lake isn’t exactly what I expected but I’m half way through and enjoying it to an extent. I’m really enjoying A Crown of Swords so far.

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you