Murder at the Royal Botanic Gardens

 

A pending wedding, a healing plant and murder. They are perfect together. This is the first of these books that I have read and now I will be going back to read the others in this series. This book includes old friends and enemies..

In this book Wrexford and Charlotte are facing these good and bad plans together. There is a reuniting of Charlotte with her brother, who happens to have befriended the murdered man.

I love the twists and turns through this book and I was never lost by not reading the previous books. To top the whole book up Wrexford and Charlotte have their wedding at last.

I highly recommend this book to mystery readers as well as others.

I was given this book by Kensington Press in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Book Review: Christmas on the Coast

On the island of Jersey, Libby does not feel the Christmas spirit. Her work with the police and her role as vicar's wife are overwhelming her. Her children also feel this and now Stella, her friend, is holding a family grudge that Libby is unsure about. When she reads her late great-aunt Queenie's diary she discovers a secret held during the Nazi occupation of Jersey in 1941. As she continues she begins to understand why these secrets still affect her family's life and Stella's. Will the Christmas spirit be able to help Libby, her family and Stella?

I became immersed in this book from the beginning. I felt like I understood what Libby, her family and Stella were experiencing. When I placed this book down, I wanted to pick it back up and continue. I enjoyed the writing as it seemed very personable, fun, humorous, at times and gave me a glimpse into these lives.

I was given this book by NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing in exchange for my honest review.

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Book Review: How to Push Through

 How to Push Through is the fourth book in a series. In this book Anna Maria von Doderer has to tell a therapy patient news about a diagnosis she made many years ago.

The patient, Chrissie, is not looking forward to this visit either. She needs to tell her about Egon. Egon was abandoned during the second world war and grew as a wild child who brought many others together in different ways.

This story is told in the individual voices. I found the story to be written in a way that kept me interested, even though I had not read the previous books. The characters and the story line were woven together in a way that I felt I was living the lives of the characters I read about. I loved the descriptions that were in place as it allowed me to imagine scenes deeply.

I would recommend the reader try the other books in the series, but if they do not mind this, it is an excellent book by a talented writer.

I was given this book by the publisher, The Odyssey Press, in exchange for my honest review.

Book Review: Rosalia's Bittersweet Pastry Shop

Claudia Lombardo is a food writer who has traveled the world to try the wares of great chefs. Then she hears about a convent in Santa Lucia del Mela which creates wonderful desserts. She travels there to find out about Sorella Agata who was the originator of these desserts, including a cassata which has never found its like anywhere.

Claudia decides to find out the secret behind these desserts, even though  Sorella Agata says there is not one. Through the tastings, Sorella Agata tells her the history of the shop and Rosalia, her inspiration. Rosalia was the daughter of a tailor. She is kidnapped, raped and beaten by a man she rejected. He then hid her in a cave where nuns found her and nursed her.

The story is rich in traditions, friendships, stories of saints and then the recipes.

The style was one of beauty. I loved this book.

I was given this book by NetGalley and Kensington Books in exchange for my honest review.

Book Review: Shylock is my Name

First of all, I love Shakespeare, so this title attracted my attention. It is based, loosely, on the Merchant of Venice. Jacobson uses this story to address antisemitism, as it is addressed a little in the original play. His wit and eye when addressing this is right up there with Shakespeare, even though the Bard's use of these traits was not touched upon quite as much.

In this story, the main character, Strulovitch is a well-to-do gentleman who is generous. He is also a Jew who tries to stay on the periphery of the goings on in the city. This does not mean that he has no feelings about the goings on around him. He feels the anger, but he deals with it with humor and wisdom.

I cannot say that I enjoyed it as much as I did the original but it was an interesting version of the Merchant of Venice. Readers should be aware of the subjects that are addressed in the book as they may begin to feel uncomfortable. However, this was a well-written book.

I was given this book by Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.  

Book Review: The Truth According to Us

Annie Barrows has a beautiful literary style. Having read The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society, I was looking forward to reading this book. I loved this book as much as I did the other.

It is set in the time of the Depression in West Virginia and the story tellers are Willa, a 12 year-old and Layla, part of Roosevelt's Writer Project. Layla was sent to this town to write the history of it as part of its 150th birthday celebration.

Throughout the book we are taken on a trip through the town where we meet many of the people of Macedonia, including the little details which make them unique.

This book, although over 500 pages in length, is a quick read, or maybe it just seemed that way because I loved reading it so much. The author was able to make me feel as if I was a part of the story from beginning to end. This is the kind of story that I love to read again and again because it is like visiting with old friends.

I was given this book by NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group in exchange for my honest review.  

Book Review: Family Inheritance

In Family Inheritance, three sisters leave behind their lives to travel to Minnesota to be at the bedside of a dying mother. They have not seen each other since leaving home. So there are many issues that have never been faced and resolved. They come to be with their mother and each other, even though there are many hurt emotions, which caused them to move away in the first place. None of them knew the hurt that the others were feeling.

Due to the issues that are uncovered, this is not an easy book to read, but it is still very well-written. Plus it does show how the problems of one sibling can have far-reaching effects on the others.

I was given this book by NetGalley and BQB Publishing in exchange for my honest review. 

Child's Book Review: Maisy Goes to the Hospital

 











While visiting my granddaughter I had the privilege of reading Maisy Goes to the Hospital several times in one day. This is proof enough to me that this book garners the attention of children, both with the stories and the illustrations.

Lucy Cousins is the author and the illustrator of this and other Maisy books. In this book the main character, Maisy, breaks a leg, so she needed to visit the hospital. This book covers many topics which can prove scary to children: being injured, seeing the doctor, going to a hospital, and spending the night away from home.

This book is entertaining for children and the illustrations draw their attention to the details of the story as they follow along.

My granddaughter and I highly recommend this book to everyone with children.

Book Review: The Bronte Plot

Lucy Ailling sells antique books for Sid in Chicago. Generally she keeps inventory and welcomes people to the store but there is more. From as far back as she could remember she thought of books as friends, sometimes more than actual people.

As a lover of history, literature and England I felt like I was totally absorbed into the book. There are sensual descriptions in the book but I still would recommend this book to most of my friends.

I was given this book by NetGalley and Thomas Nelson - fiction in exchange for my honest review.