Book Review: STOLEN ONES by Angela Marsons

          

STOLEN ONES

by

Angela Marsons

Publication Date: 11 November 2021

Publisher: Bookouture

About the Book

25 years ago he took a girl. Today he takes another.

One August afternoon, eight-year-old Grace Lennard skips into the garden of the childcare centre she attends and vanishes into thin air.

Hours before, Steven Harte walks into Halesowen police station and confesses to having information that will lead Detective Kim Stone to Melody Jones – the little girl who was taken from a playground exactly twenty-five years ago. But something about his confession is off and Kim dismisses his claims.

Arriving at the scene of Grace’s disappearance, Kim finds a chilling piece of evidence: the heart bracelet belonging to Melody. Now Kim must play Steven’s twisted game if she is to find Grace alive. But they’re going to play by Kim’s rules.

With only twenty-four hours to make every second of Steven’s interrogation count, and scan his behaviour for hidden clues, Kim and her team soon link Steven to the abduction of several vulnerable girls – two were kept for a year and then released, unharmed – but where are Melody and the others?

Then small bones are discovered in the grounds of a local park, and Kim fears the worst.

Kim may be close to convicting a killer, but there’s another who wants revenge against her – Dr Alex Thorne – the evil woman Kim did her best to keep behind bars. Alex is about to reveal a shocking secret to Kim that will hit her where it hurts the most. And if Kim lets Alex mess with her head, she might not be able to save Grace and find the other missing girls in time.

An edge-of-your-seat thriller that will leave your heart in your mouth. You will be totally hooked on the utterly addictive, number one, multi-million-copy bestselling Detective Kim Stone series. 

***

My Thoughts

With her characteristic short chapters and fast paced stories, Angela Marsons brings us the latest offering in her DI Kim Stone series, STOLEN ONES.

Kim and her team don’t quite know the cat-and-mouse game that awaits them when intelligent and wealthy philanthropist Stephen Harte coolly enters the police station and confesses to having information about the child abduction of Melody Jones that occurred twenty five years ago. Frustrated at his lack of directness, Kim is ready to disregard his claims until word comes through that another girl has just gone missing, and at her place of abduction is a piece of jewellery that belonged to Melody.

In every book, Marsons strives to bring to light a new facet of investigative work. This time around it’s interview and interrogation techniques. How do you engage with someone, and get them to reveal information you need to solve a case? How do you read and respond to their body language? How do you get Stephen Harte to confess his connections to the crimes and hopefully make it in time to find a frightened little girl still alive? 

This was another engaging and enjoyable read. There were plenty of interesting twists along the way – and that final big twist – yikes! I did not see that coming at all.

Deranged ex-psychiatrist, Alexandra Thorne is also back on the scene. She's been a great character in some of the previous books, but this time around I felt she was an extraneous detour from the primary plot that offered little to the overall story.

One character I would love to see more of is forensic archaeologist, Dr. A. She’s so caring and passionate about her work. Her brusque interactions with colleagues, coupled with her regular butchering of the English language always provides humour.

Well done to Angela. This is book 15 in the series, and it is as fresh as the earlier books. That’s worthy of recognition. This book holds up well as a standalone read, but I think there is a lot value for to readers to start at the beginning. I am already eager to read the next book. 

Review copy courtesy of Bookouture and Netgalley. 

***

About the Author

I discovered my love of writing at Primary School when a short piece on the rocks and the sea gained me the only merit point I ever got. I wrote the stories that burned inside and then stored them safely in a desk drawer.
After much urging from my partner I began to enter short story competitions in Writer’s News resulting in a win and three short listed entries. I self-published two of my earlier works before concentrating on my true passion – Crime.
After many, many submissions I signed an 8 book deal with Bookouture as their first crime author.

I live in the Black Country with my partner, our bouncy Labrador and potty-mouthed parrot.

 

http://angelamarsons-books.com/

Book Review: SHIVER by Allie Reynolds

         

SHIVER

by

Allie Reynolds

Publication Date: 27 January 2021

Publisher: Hachette Australia

About the Book

They don't know what I did. And I intend to keep it that way.

How far would you go to win? Hyper-competitive people, mind games and a dangerous natural environment combine to make the must-read thriller of the year. Fans of Lucy Foley and Lisa Jewell will be gripped by spectacular debut novel Shiver.

When Milla is invited to a reunion in the French Alps resort that saw the peak of her snowboarding career, she drops everything to go. While she would rather forget the events of that winter, the invitation comes from Curtis, the one person she can't seem to let go.

The five friends haven't seen each other for ten years, since the disappearance of the beautiful and enigmatic Saskia. But when an icebreaker game turns menacing, they realise they don't know who has really gathered them there and how far they will go to find the truth.

In a deserted lodge high up a mountain, the secrets of the past are about to come to light.

***

My Thoughts

Debut author Allie Reynolds brings us SHIVER, a ‘locked room’ thriller that takes place at a ski resort in the French Alps during the desolate off-season. It’s ten years since Saskia Sparks’ disappearance, and the five closest people to her at that time reluctantly gather for a reunion. It quickly becomes clear that unknown persons have brought them together to finally answer the question: Which of them was involved in Saskia’s disappearance?

The story regularly switches between the present day and the time leading up to the day Saskia disappeared and it is told from the viewpoint of Milla Anderson, a fellow competitor on the professional snowboarding circuit.

It won’t take reader long to discover that Saskia is a psychopath. Her remorseless manipulation of people and events often ends with those closest to her being impacted by whatever fallout follows. I thoroughly enjoyed the antagonistic relationship between Saskia and Milla. Being in Saskia’s orbit shows Milla that she isn’t as calculating a person – in fact, Milla is often shocked at Saskia’s actions. Yet Milla’s equally competitive spirit sees her rising (lowering?) to that same level. They both enjoyed this cat-and-mouse game they were playing.

While I enjoyed the characters of Brent, Dale and Heather, it is Curtis’ story that also held my interest a lot. He’s Saskia older brother. He is not unaware of some of his sister’s machinations, and often tries to both protect Saskia and those that cross her path. His attraction to Milla makes for an interesting triangle; Saskia isn’t keen on Curtis having any partner. Milla is also attracted to Curtis but focussing on him means not focussing on snowboarding. Curtis finds himself stuck between the two.

Having said this, the book is not without its issues: There was a lot of snowboarding terminology which I tuned out early on because I just wasn’t interested. I also thought that some of the plot was implausible.

Overall, I did enjoy the story. I thought it was well paced. I enjoyed the isolated setting. I loved the many villains. The twists were clever. I found it engaging. I would recommend it.

Review copy courtesy of Netgalley. 

***

About the Author

I was once a freestyle snowboarder in the UK top ten at halfpipe. I spent five winters in the mountains of France, Switzerland, Austria and Canada.

I taught English for fifteen years. I’ve also been a London primary school teacher, bookshop assistant, barmaid, nanny and French teacher/translator. My short fiction has appeared in women’s magazines in the UK, Australia, Sweden and South Africa. I’ve been a full-time writer since 2018.

Born and raised in Lincoln, England, I moved to Gold Coast Australia in 2003. I have two young children and a cat who thinks he’s a dog.

https://allie-reynolds.com/

Book Review: THE YOUNGER WIFE by Sally Hepworth

        

THE YOUNGER WIFE

by

Sally Hepworth

THE YOUNGER WIFE

Author: Sally Hepworth

Australian Publication Date: October 26, 2021

Publisher: Macmillan Australia

***
About the Book

The moment she laid eyes on Heather Wisher, Tully knew this woman was going to destroy their lives.

Tully and Rachel are murderous when they discover their father has a new girlfriend. The fact that Heather is half his age isn't even the most shocking part. Stephen is still married to their mother, who is in a care facility with end-stage Alzheimer's disease.

Heather knows she has an uphill battle to win Tully and Rachel over, while carrying the burden of the secrets of her past. But, as it turns out, they are all hiding something.

The announcement of Stephen and Heather's engagement threatens to set off a family implosion, with old wounds and dark secrets finally being forced to the surface.

A garage full of stolen goods. An old hot-water bottle, stuffed with cash. A blood-soaked wedding. And that's only the beginning . . .

***

My Thoughts

Gossips, busybodies and scandalmongers ... gather ’round! Have you heard what’s going on with the Astons? Not only is patriarch Stephen Aston engaged to marry a woman who is younger than his daughters, but the rest of the family seem to be falling apart at the seams as well!

It is in this somewhat light-hearted vein that I took a drink and my copy of THE YOUNGER WIFE and sat outside in the wonderful sunshine (at least in my neighbourhood) to read from cover to cover this highly entertaining story.

It was a pleasure to read this book. Reading about each character’s idiosyncrasies and their reactions as personal and family secrets are revealed kept me engaged from start to finish. The chapters, told from various characters’ points of view, allowed us to gain insight into things that happen and also see how they might look differently to others.

This book does tackle serious issues including domestic violence, sexual assault, food addiction and, dementia just to name a few. If I had picked this book up on a day I was in a more serious frame of mind, I might have struggled with the way in which some of these issues were handled. Having said that, I think the book well encapsulates the helplessness and loss of control by characters; I was easily able to empathise with them.

Hepworth’s breezy writing style, a good number of twists and interesting characters makes THE YOUNGER WIFE a diverting read.

Review copy courtesy of the publisher, Macmillan Australia.

***

About the Author

Sally Hepworth is the New York Times bestselling author of six novels, most recently The Good Sister (2020), which was an instant bestseller. Her novel, The Mother-In-Law (2019) has been optioned for a TV series by Hollywood actress and producer, Amy Poehler.

Drawing on the good, the bad and the downright odd of human behaviour, Sally writes incisively about family, relationships and identity. Her domestic thriller novels are laced with quirky humour, sass and a darkly charming tone.
Sally's novels are available worldwide in English and have been translated into 20 languages.

Sally lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband, three children and one adorable dog.

https://www.sallyhepworthauthor.com/ 

Book Review: THE RABBIT FACTOR by Antti Tuomainen

       

THE RABBIT FACTOR

by

Antti Tuomainen

THE RABBIT FACTOR

Author: Anti Tuomainen

Finnish to English Translation: David Hackston

Ebook & Hardback Publication Date: October 28, 2021

Publisher: Orenda Books

***
About the Book

Just one spreadsheet away from chaos…

What makes life perfect? Insurance mathematician Henri Koskinen knows the answer because he calculates everything down to the very last decimal.

And then, for the first time, Henri is faced with the incalculable. After suddenly losing his job, Henri inherits an adventure park from his brother – its peculiar employees and troubling financial problems included. The worst of the financial issues appear to originate from big loans taken from criminal quarters … and some dangerous men are very keen to get their money back.

But what Henri really can’t compute is love. In the adventure park, Henri crosses paths with Laura, an artist with a chequered past, and a joie de vivre and erratic lifestyle that bewilders him. As the criminals go to extreme lengths to collect their debts and as Henri’s relationship with Laura deepens, he finds himself faced with situations and emotions that simply cannot be pinned down on his spreadsheets…

Warmly funny, rich with quirky characters and absurd situations, The Rabbit Factor is a triumph of a dark thriller, its tension matched only by its ability to make us rejoice in the beauty and random nature of life.

***

My Thoughts

THE RABBIT FACTOR by Antti Tuomainen is a darkly comedic book that is also charming, absurb and heartwarming. This was such a pleasure to read. Who knew an actuary turned reluctant adventure park owner could become both hero and anti-hero? Henri Koskinen himself didn’t, until circumstances challenge him to think and act outside his orderly, mathematics oriented life.

Not only does Henri inherit a financially crippled adventure park and its motley crew of employees, there’s also the local loan sharks who insist he repay his brother’s significant debts . . . or else.   

I thoroughly enjoyed Henri’s journey as he applies his ever-present pragmatism and logic to the challenges he faces. Not only do his methods meet with some success, but Henri finds himself growing and changing in ways he never imagined or calculated as being of value.

I was not surprised to read that this book is being turned into a movie. I hope the production company does it justice.

We can’t have books without authors, and we certainly can’t have translated-to-English novels without a talented translator, so thank you, David Hackston.  

A highly recommended read.  

***

About the Author

Finnish Antti Tuomainen was an award-winning copywriter when he made his literary debut in 2007 as a suspense author. The critically acclaimed My Brother’s Keeper was published two years later. 

In 2011, Tuomainen’s third novel, The Healer, was awarded the Clue Award for ‘Best Finnish Crime Novel of 2011’ and was shortlisted for the Glass Key Award. The Finnish press labelled The Healer – the story of a writer desperately searching for his missing wife in a post-apocalyptic Helsinki – ‘unputdownable’. Two years later, in 2013, they crowned Tuomainen ‘The King of Helsinki Noir’ when Dark as My Heart was published. 

With a piercing and evocative style, Tuomainen was one of the first to challenge the Scandinavian crime genre formula, and his poignant, dark and hilarious The Man Who Died became an international bestseller, shortlisting for the Petrona and Last Laugh Awards. Palm Beach Finland (2018) was an immense success, with The Times calling Tuomainen ‘the funniest writer in Europe’, and Little Siberia (2019) was shortlisted for the Capital Crime/Amazon Publishing Readers Awards, the Last Laugh Award and the CWA International Dagger, and won the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel. 

The Rabbit Factor is the first book in Antti’s first-ever series.

Twitter @antti_tuomainen

Facebook: facebook.com/AnttiTuomainen 

***

About the Translator

David Hackston is a British translator of Finnish and Swedish literature and drama. Notable publications include The Dedalus Book of Finnish Fantasy, Maria Peura’s coming-of-age novel At the Edge of Light, Johanna Sinisalo’s eco-thriller Birdbrain, two crime novels by Matti Joensuu and Kati Hiekkapelto’s Anna Fekete series (which currently includes The Hummingbird, The Defenceless and The Exiled, all published by Orenda Books). He also translates Antti Tuomainen’s stories. In 2007 he was awarded the Finnish State Prize for Translation. David is also a professional countertenor and a founding member of the English Vocal Consort of Helsinki.

Twitter: @Countertenorist

Book Review: WILD PLACE by Christian White

      

WILD PLACE

by

Christian White

WILD PLACE

Author: Christian White

ISBN: 9781922626103

Publication Date: October 26, 2021

Publisher: Affirm Press

About the Book

In the summer of 1989, a local teen goes missing from the idyllic suburb of Camp Hill in Australia. As rumours of Satanic rituals swirl, schoolteacher Tom Witter becomes convinced he holds the key to the disappearance. When the police won't listen, he takes matters into his own hands with the help of the missing girl's father and a local neighbourhood watch group.

But as dark secrets are revealed and consequences to past actions are faced, Tom learns that the only way out of the darkness is to walk deeper into it. Wild Place peels back the layers of suburbia, exposing what s hidden underneath guilt, desperation, violence and attempts to answer the question: Why do good people do bad things?

From the international bestseller Christian White, Wild Place is a white-knuckle descent into a street near you.

***

My Thoughts

Whatever the setting, one thing Christian White consistently brings to his plots are well thought-out twists; some you might guess at, others you don’t see coming. He lulls you into thinking you have a good understanding of a character and their motivations, and then *whoosh*, out goes the rug from under your feet.

Set in 1989, the story is rich in references of the time. For those of us that were old enough, it’s a trip down memory lane. This is the fun part. Yet scratch the surface of this suburb and its inhabitants, and all is not as it seems. Tom Witter, local resident and high school teacher, discovers this when he takes an active interest in helping find the missing teen, Tracie Reed. Is she really the attention-seeking runaway some say she is? Or are other malevolent forces at play?

White nicely juxtaposes a seemingly ordinary suburb with the Wild Place – a small forest that backs onto residential properties. Seen in a positive light, the forest view affords residents privacy, as well as a wilderness they can enjoy. Conversely, it’s dense, it’s dark and an ideal place for nefarious activities. White continues this theme with the neighbours; we see what we want to see, or we see the façade presented to us. Throw in the disappearance of a local teenager and a community that starts looking much closer at themselves, and you soon discover that ordinary people are anything but when pushed to extremes.

THE WILD PLACE is a really entertaining read. I highly recommend it. 

***

About the Author

Christian White is an Australian author, screenwriter and producer.

His debut novel, The Nowhere Child, won the 2017 Wheeler Centre Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript. Since publication The Nowhere Child has been shortlisted for major awards including the Australian Book Industry Awards’ General Fiction Book of the Year and Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year, and the Indie Book Awards’ Debut Fiction Book of the Year. Rights to The Nowhere Child have been sold in 17 international territories, and acquired for a major screen deal.

His second and most recent novel, The Wife and the Widow, was released in September 2019 in Australia and January 2020 in the US. It became an instant bestseller and has been shortlisted for the 2020 Indie Book Awards for best fiction.

Christian co-created the television series Clickbait, with Tony Ayres (The Slap), which went straight to number 1 on Netflix in 41 countries, including Australia, the US and the UK

Christian also co-wrote the feature film Relic, a horror/drama starring Emily Mortimer, Bella Heathcote and Robyn Nevin, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an AWGIE award for Best Feature Film at the 2019 Australian Writer’s Guild Awards.

Christian writes from his home in Melbourne, where he lives with his wife, filmmaker Summer DeRoche, and their adopted greyhound, Issy.

 

https://www.christian-white.com/ 

Blog Tour (Review & Excerpt): SISTERS OF THE GREAT WAR by Suzanne Feldman

     

SISTERS OF THE GREAT WAR

by

Suzanne Feldman

SISTERS OF THE GREAT WAR

Author: Suzanne Feldman

ISBN: 9780778311225

Publication Date: October 26, 2021

Publisher: MIRA Books

About the Book

Two sisters. The Great War looming. A chance to shape their future.

Sisters Ruth and Elise Duncan could never have anticipated volunteering for the war effort. But in 1914, the two women decide to make the harrowing journey from Baltimore to Ypres, Belgium in order to escape the suffocating restrictions placed on them by their father and carve a path for their own future.

Smart and practical Ruth is training as a nurse but dreams of becoming a doctor. In a time when women are restricted to assisting men in the field, she knows it will take great determination to prove herself, and sets out to find the one person who always believed in her: a handsome army doctor from England. For quiet Elise, joining the all female Ambulance Corps means a chance to explore her identity, and come to terms with the growing attraction she feels towards women. Especially the charming young ambulance driver who has captured her heart.

In the twilight of the Old World and the dawn of the new, both young women come of age in the face bombs, bullets and the deadly futility of trench warfare. Together they must challenge the rules society has placed on them in order to save lives: both the soldiers and the people they love.

Buy Links

Harlequin 

Amazon

***

My Thoughts

SISTERS OF THE GREAT WAR by Suzanne Feldman is set during the harrowing times of World War One. It’s the story of Americans, Ruth and Elise Duncan, and their time spent as war volunteers - Ruth, as a nurse, and Elise, as an ambulance driver.

Feldman tackles several key themes in the book. There’s the struggle for female autonomy. This is something that greatly affects Ruth as a woman trying to make her way in the male dominated field of medicine. There’s Ruth and Elise’s relationship with their staunchly patriarchal yet often hypocritical father - he’s a firm believer in traditional roles for women and yet he exploits both daughter’s skills in ‘male’ vocations for his own benefit. And then there is the war. Feldman doesn’t shy away from the horrors that soldiers and support staff faced. I liked that Feldman showed that for every person there a different motivation for being part of the war effort, and the story also raises the question of whether too high a price can be paid to win a war.

The ceaseless work of caring for the soldiers takes up a significant part of the story, and while I can imagine this is an accurate depiction, from a reader’s perspective I felt at times I was missing out on the opportunity to better connect with the characters.

If you’re interested in reading further about some of the themes found in this book, the author has kindly provided a list of sources. 

***

Excerpt

1

Baltimore, Maryland

August 1914

Ruth Duncan fanned herself with the newspaper in the summer heat as Grandpa Gerald put up a British flag outside the house. If he’d had a uniform—of any kind—he would have worn it. People on the sidewalk paused and pointed, but Grandpa, still a proper English gent even after almost twenty years in the U.S., smoothed his white beard and straightened his waistcoat, ignoring the onlookers.

“That’s done,” he said.

Ruth’s own interest in the war was limited to what she read in the paper from across the dining table. Grandpa would snap the paper open before he ate breakfast. She could see the headlines and the back side of the last page, but not much more. Grandpa would grunt his appreciation of whatever was in-side, snort at what displeased him, and sometimes laugh. On the 12th of August, the headline in the Baltimore Sun read; France And Great Britain Declare War On Austria-Hungary, and Grandpa wasn’t laughing.

Cook brought in the morning mail and put it on the table next to Grandpa. She was a round, grey-haired woman who left a puff of flour behind her wherever she went.

“Letter from England, sir,” Cook said, leaving the envelope and a dusting of flour on the dark mahogany. She smiled at Ruth and left for the kitchen.

Grandpa tore the letter open.

Ruth waited while he read. It was from Richard and Diane Doweling, his friends in London who still wrote to him after all these years. They’d sent their son, John, to Harvard in Massachusetts for his medical degree. Ruth had never met John Doweling, but she was jealous of him, his opportunities, his apparent successes. The Dowelings sent letters whenever John won some award or other. No doubt this was more of the same. Ruth drummed her fingers on the table and eyed the dining room clock. In ten minutes, she would need to catch the trolley that would take her up to the Loyola College of Nursing, where she would be taught more of the things she had already learned from her father. The nuns at Loyola were dedicated nurses, and they knew what they were doing. Some were out-standing teachers, but others were simply mired in the medicine of the last century. Ruth was frustrated and bored, but Father paid her tuition, and what Father wanted, Father got. 

Ruth tugged at her school uniform—a white apron over a long white dress, which would never see a spot of blood. “What do they say, Grandpa?”

He was frowning. “John is enlisting. They’ve rushed his graduation at Harvard so he can go home and join the Royal Army Medical Corps.”

“How can they rush graduation?” Ruth asked. “That seems silly. What if he misses a class in, say, diseases of the liver?”

Grandpa folded the letter and looked up. “I don’t think he’ll be treating diseases of the liver on the battlefield. Anyway, he’s coming to Baltimore before he ships out.”

“Here?” said Ruth in surprise. “But why?”

“For one thing,” said Grandpa, “I haven’t seen him since he was three years old. For another, you two have a common interest.”

“You mean medicine?” Ruth asked. “Oh, Grandpa. What could I possibly talk about with him? I’m not even a nurse yet, and he’s—he’s a doctor.” She spread her hands. “Should we discuss how to wrap a bandage?”

“As long as you discuss something.” He pushed the letter across the table to her and got up. “You’ll be showing him around town.”

“Me?” said Ruth. “Why me?”

“Because your sister—” Grandpa nodded at Elise, just clumping down the stairs in her nightgown and bathrobe “—has dirty fingernails.” He started up the stairs. “Good morning, my dear,” he said. “Do you know what time it is?” “Uh huh,” Elise mumbled as she slumped into her seat at the table.

As Grandpa continued up the stairs Ruth called after him. “But when is he coming?”

“His train arrives Saturday at noon,” Grandpa shouted back. “Find something nice to wear. You too, Elise.”

Elise rubbed her eyes. “What’s going on?”

Ruth pushed the letter at her and got up to go. “Read it,” she said. “You’ll see.”

Ruth made her way down Thirty-Third Street with her heavy bookbag slung over one shoulder, heading for the trolley stop, four blocks away, on Charles. Summer classes were almost over, and as usual, the August air in Baltimore was impenetrably hot and almost unbreathable. It irritated Ruth to think that she would arrive at Loyola sweaty under her arms, her hair frizzed around her nurse’s cap from the humidity. The nuns liked neatness, modest decorum. Not perspiring young women who wished they were somewhere else.

Elise, Ruth thought, as she waited for a break in the noisy traffic on Charles Street, could’ve driven her in the motor-car, but no, she’d slept late. Her younger sister could do pretty much anything, it seemed, except behave like a girl. Elise, who had been able to take apart Grandpa’s pocket watch and put it back together when she was six years old, was a use-ful mystery to both Father and Grandpa. She could fix the car—cheaper than the expensive mechanics. , For some rea-son, Elise wasn’t obliged to submit to the same expectations as Ruth—she could keep her nails short and dirty. Ruth wondered, as she had since she was a girl, if it was her younger sister’s looks. She was a mirror image of their mother, who had died in childbirth with Elise. Did that make her special in Father’s eyes?

An iceman drove a sweating horse past her. The horse raised its tail, grunted, and dropped a pile of manure, rank in the heat, right in front of her, as though to auger the rest of her day. The iceman twisted in the cart to tip his hat. “Sorry Sister!”

Ruth let her breath out through her teeth. Maybe the truth of the matter was that she was the ‘sorry sister.’ It was at this exact corner that her dreams of becoming a doctor, to follow in her father’s footsteps, had been shot down. When she was ten, and the governess said she’d done well on her writing and math, she was allowed to start going along on Father’s house calls and help in his office downstairs. Father had let her do simple things at first; mix plaster while he positioned a broken ankle, give medicine to children with the grippe, but she watched everything he did and listened carefully. By the time she was twelve, she could give him a diagnosis, and she remembered her first one vividly, identifying a man’s abdominal pain as appendicitis.

“You did a good job,” Father had said to her, as he’d reined old Bess around this very corner. “You’ll make an excellent nurse one day.”

Ruth remembered laughing because she’d thought he was joking. Her father’s praise was like gold. “A nurse?” she’d said. “One day I’ll be a doctor, just like you!”

“Yes, a nurse,” he’d said firmly, without a hint of a smile. It was the tone he used for patients who wouldn’t take their medicine.

“But I want to be a doctor.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. He hadn’t sounded sorry at all. “Girls don’t become doctors. They become nurses and wives. Tomorrow, if there’s time, we’ll visit a nursing college. When you’re eighteen, that’s where you’ll go.”

“But—”

He’d shaken his head sharply, cutting her off. “It isn’t done, and I don’t want to hear another word about it.”

A decade later, Ruth could still feel the shock in her heart. It had never occurred to her that she couldn’t be a doctor because she was a girl. And now, John Doweling was coming to town to cement her future as a doctor’s wife. That was what everyone had in mind. She knew it. Maybe John didn’t know yet, but he was the only one.

Ruth frowned and lifted her skirts with one hand, balancing the bookbag with the other, and stepped around the manure as the trolley came clanging up Charles.

*

Excerpted from Sisters of the Great War by Suzanne Feldman, Copyright © 2021 by Suzanne Feldman. Published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

 

***

About the Author

Suzanne Feldman, a recipient of the Missouri Review Editors' Prize and a finalist for the Bakeless Prize in fiction, holds an MA in fiction from Johns Hopkins University and a BFA in art from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Her short fiction has appeared in Narrative, The Missouri Review, Gargoyle, and other literary journals. She lives in Frederick, Maryland.

Social Links:

Author Website

Twitter: @suzanne21702

Facebook: @SuzanneFeldman

Instagram: @suzannefeldmanauthor

Goodreads

Book Review: Dial A For Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto

    

DIAL A FOR AUNTIES

by

Jesse Q. Sutanto

About the Book

What happens when you mix 1 (accidental) murder with 2 thousand wedding guests, and then toss in a possible curse on 3 generations of an immigrant Chinese-Indonesian family?

You get 4 meddling Asian aunties coming to the rescue!

When Meddelin Chan ends up accidentally killing her blind date, her meddlesome mother calls for her even more meddlesome aunties to help get rid of the body. Unfortunately, a dead body proves to be a lot more challenging to dispose of than one might anticipate, especially when it is inadvertently shipped in a cake cooler to the over-the-top billionaire wedding Meddy, her Ma, and aunties are working at an island resort on the California coastline. It's the biggest job yet for the family wedding business—"Don't leave your big day to chance, leave it to the Chans!"—and nothing, not even an unsavory corpse, will get in the way of her auntie's perfect buttercream flowers.

But things go from inconvenient to downright torturous when Meddy's great college love—and biggest heartbreak—makes a surprise appearance amid the wedding chaos. Is it possible to escape murder charges, charm her ex back into her life, and pull off a stunning wedding all in one weekend?

***

My Thoughts

DIAL A FOR AUNTIES by Jesse Q. Sutanto is hard to categorise. I came for the murder and the romance but it’s the family relationships and comedy that really shine through.

Meddy Chan’s life is starting to chafe. She’s 26. She lives with her mother. Her three Aunts live within 10 minutes of her house, but they all spend a lot of time together – a lot. And she works as a photographer in the family business. Close doesn’t really describe how close this family is.

Life is further complicated when Meddy accidentally kills her blind date.  For “reasons”, calling the police is out, so who else to call but her Aunties? Sure, they are interfering and their guilt game is first class, but they immediately drop everything to help Meddy.

So ensues a lot of mayhem as Meddy and her Aunts attempt to get rid of a body while juggling work on the day of the high profile wedding day of a very wealthy couple. And to top it all off, Meddy crosses paths with Nathan - her great college love and manager of the island resort where the wedding is taking place.

Yes, you have to suspend some, okay, a lot belief when it comes to the crime element of this story, but just go with it. The reward is a wonderful and funny story about the ups and downs of a loving yet equally meddlesome family. 

 

I love libraries! I borrowed this book from my local library. 

About the Author

Jesse Q Sutanto is the author of Dial A for Aunties, The Obsession, and Theo Tan and the Fox Spirit. She has a master’s degree in creative writing from Oxford University, though she hasn't found a way of saying that without sounding obnoxious. The film rights to her women’s fiction, Dial A for Aunties, was bought by Netflix in a competitive bidding war. The novel will be out in April 2021. Jesse lives in Indonesia with her husband, her two daughters, and her ridiculously large extended family, many of whom live just down the road.

https://www.jesseqsutanto.com/

Book Review & Blog Tour: FIND ME AT WHISPER FALLS by Ellyn Oaksmith

   

Blog Tour

for

FIND ME AT WHISPER FALLS

by

Ellyn Oaksmith

Author: Ellyn Oaksmith

Book: Find Me At Whisper Falls

Publication Day: 30 September 2021 

Two old rivals. One dream job. And a summer they’ll never forget.

Freya Johanssen needs a fresh start. A recently heartbroken and newly-qualified veterinarian, she will take any job that gets her away from Seattle—for now. Her plan is to spend two years in the small town of Whisper Falls, and then head back to the city and civilisation.

And then Trent Crossley shows up, and her carefully laid plans are blown to pieces. He’s the last person she expected—or wanted—ever to see again. This is the guy who thinks he’s God’s gift to women; who breezed through vet school without studying and who betrayed her in a way she’ll never forgive. She thinks he’s an arrogant party boy; he thinks she’s an uptight perfectionist. Now he’s in her clinic, and the fluttering in her stomach must mean she’s still mad at him.

It seems they have both been hired for the same job—and now neither is backing down. But as Freya works to outdo Trent at every turn, she starts to see a different side to the man she thought she knew. Falling in love was never part of her plan. And if she wants the new beginning she’s worked so hard for, can she afford to give away her heart?

A totally unputdownable feel-good read about finding yourself, and love, in the most unexpected places. Fans of Virgin River, Debbie Macomber, Jill Shalvis and Carolyn Brown will love Find Me at Whisper Falls.

Purchase

Amazon: https://bit.ly/3EJZkaE

Apple: https://apple.co/3rhNMoO

Kobo: https://bit.ly/2UXSMCZ

Google: https://bit.ly/3evdi4Q

***

My Thoughts

Small town seeks veterinarian for two-year contract. Student loan payment or bonus upon signing.  

FIND ME AT WHISPER FALLS by Ellyn Oaksmith is the engaging coming-of-age story of Freya Johannsen and Trent Crossley, recent veterinary school graduates and adversaries who find themselves in competition to win the same job – a job that is the answer to each of their predicaments.

Oaksmith has written a thoughtful and moving story about two people trying to find themselves and their place in the world. Freya and Trent are both dedicated to animals, but personality-wise, they are opposites. Freya is not a natural people-person and often rubs people up the wrong way. Trent is much smoother in social situations, but even at school, he always found Freya intimidating. Their interactions are a mixture of fun, frustration and fights.  

The story is set against the background of a small town that is as much a character as its residents. We get to meet a variety of them, but they never overshadow Freya and Trent’s story. There are the regular ups and downs of living in a small town and working in agriculture. A theme that is new to me is the purchase of land by cashed-up technology firms for the purpose of creating data farms.

Finally a special shout-out to the characters of Joan and Violet. They are both forceful personalities in their own way and their interactions with Freya and Trent often provide a good laugh.

I hope we get to visit Whisper Falls in future books.   

 

Review copy courtesy of Netgalley and Bookouture

About the Author

Ellyn Oaksmith is the USA Today and Kindle bestselling author of addictively fun love stories. She has never run a winery, been attacked by drones or nearly drowned someone but she loves putting her characters in challenging situations. She also enjoys chatting with readers on social media. Especially when she should be writing.

Ellyn began her writing life as a screenwriter in Los Angeles which, outside of writing hours, is exactly as crazy as it seems in the movies. After hightailing it back to her native Seattle, she began writing comedic romances and never looked back.

Ellyn lives in Seattle with her husband. She’s part of a competitive rowing team. You can often find her on Lake Sammamish rowing in the dark.

http://www.ellynoaksmith.com/

https://www.facebook.com/EllynOaksmith

https://www.instagram.com/ellynoaksmith/

https://twitter.com/ellynoaksmith

Check out the Blog Tour