Review: At the End of the Day

Title: At the End of the Day

Author: Liz Byrski

Publisher: 28th September 2021 by Pan Macmillan Australia

Pages: 336 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: contemporary

My Rating: 4 cups

Synopsis:

When Mim Squires and Mathias Vander are stranded together on a disrupted flight home to Perth, they are surprised to find that they have much in common. Mim owns a bookshop, Mathias is a writer, and both are at turning points in their lives. Mim's childhood polio is taking a toll on her life. Mathias is contemplating a cross-continent move to be nearer his daughter.

But life back in Perth is not smooth sailing, with their respective family members going through their own upheavals. As Mim and Mathias both struggle to adjust to the challenges of being in their late seventies, secrets from the past that neither wishes to face rise to the surface, challenging their long-held beliefs in their independence and singularity.

At the end of the day, can they muster the wisdom and the courage they need to change?

My Thoughts

‘Does love feel different in old age? she wonders. Is this love or just a close friendship?’

At The End of the Day is another fabulous story from Liz - so beautifully written and one to really capture your heart. The characters are real as you become truly invested in their journey. The issues they deal with are universal, human and relatable. 

‘Maybe I need to open up a bit, she concedes, let more people into my life, stop holding them at a distance in case they die and leave me alone. Maybe it is not too late to change.’

This is a story of two Mim and Mathias, having led full lives they are both now in their seventies yet events of the past are casting current day shadows. This is the story of past, present and future and Liz writes of it so very well.

‘Why did I never even take the smallest risk of trying to find some sort of style? Why did I let myself become a dowdy old woman who has never really had the confidence to play to her best side?’

A heartwarming and uplifting story about people at a certain stage of their life, chance meetings between introverts who bond over their love of books. The inclusion of Mim having polio was eye opening with Liz certainly having done her research as a range of other topical issues are included - everything from aging and loneliness, to strength and independence. Enlightening, entertaining and certainly thought provoking. 

‘I have to learn who I want to be here, how I will step across the chasm into a new life, a different life, and make it my own.’

Liz has penned a poignant and practical tale of life for the older members of our society, there us much to consider but ultimately it is an uplifting and hopeful tale.

‘I need to learn to live peacefully, free of the darkness of my own fears and limitations. I must begin again.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: A Bookshop Christmas

Title: A Bookshop Christmas

Author: Rachel Burton

Publisher: 2nd September 2021 by Aria & Aries

Pages: 416 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: romance, Christmas, women’s fiction 

My Rating: 5 cups

Synopsis:

A snowstorm. A stranger. A spark. And it's Christmas!

It should be the perfect start to the perfect love story.

But real life is far messier and more complicated than in the pages of the books in Megan Taylor's family bookshop – the last few years have left this young widow in no doubt of that. Moving back home to York should have been a fresh start, but all it did was allow her to retreat from the world.

When prize-winning author Xander Stone rams his supermarket trolley into her ankles and then trashes her taste in books, Megan is abruptly awoken from her self-imposed hibernation. It's time to start living again, and she's going to start by putting this arrogant, superior – admittedly sexy – stranger in his place.

Just as she is beginning to enjoy life again, the worst happens and Megan begins to wonder if she should have stayed hidden away. Because it turns out that falling in love again is about more than just meeting under the mistletoe...

My Thoughts

“I think the world is divided into people who have held onto their childish excitement about Christmas and people who haven’t.”

What’s not to love when you love books/bookshops and you love Christmas - combine the two! For my annual Christmas reads, I was absolutely delighted with Rachel’s latest offering as it contained all my favourite things in a real feel-good story at this special time of year. I have read and loved her previous book and smiled at the Easter Egg included from that particular read from the famous Tea Shop.

‘My heart lay in the actual words that surrounded me every day. The words on the pages that sat upon the sage green bookshelves all around me. I was passionate about stories, about those stories being told in the best possible way and read by as many people as possible.’

A Bookshop Christmas has everything you would expect for this seasonal read … but then Rachel adds some real depth to it. Christmas in a  bookstore doesn’t get much better for me, however, when the love interest is between two people who have experienced recent traumas, it's wonderful to watch them grow and start to live life once again. There are layers that need peeling back as they both are dealing with grief and I think Rachel handled this really well. 

‘Running the bookshop had been my way of finding some sort of control in my life after the unthinkable had happened, but I knew now that I had no control over anything, not even over the survival of the bookshop.’

Added to this is the setting in York which was idyllic for this time of year. I also appreciated how Rachel highlighted the struggles of a local independent bookshop. She then brought light to this shade with a cast of fun characters - the Regency Christmas party preparations and eventual celebrations a real added bonus. There are some real fun moments (I was highlighting like crazy) and tea lovers will appreciate Xander’s purist preferences:

“Is that Lapsang?” I asked, pointing at Xander’s teapot. “No sadly, just Earl Grey,” he replied. “But at least it’s not a teabag.” “I really wouldn’t have had you down as a tea snob.” “What did I tell you about pigeonholes.” He smiled lazily. “Besides, it goes right alongside being a book snob.”

Of course this is an overall light and fluffy read but isn’t that what Christmas books are meant to be about on the whole? To escape our rushing reality and slip into the magic of Christmas to be left feeling lighter and happier? Well, that’s what A Bookshop Christmas did for me and now I feel more filled with festive cheer. 

“But those happy endings are important,” I insisted. “When a reader picks up a romance novel they know that happy ending exists. They don’t have to worry about what will happen and they can just get totally immersed in how it happens. Sometimes when life deals you a few blows that kind of thing is important.”

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: The Vanished Days (Slains #3)

Title: The Vanished Days (Slains #3)

Author: Susanna Kearsley

Publisher: 5th October 2021 by SOURCEBOOKS Landmark

Pages: 464 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: historical fiction, romance

My Rating: 4 cups

Synopsis:

In the autumn of 1707, old enemies from the Highlands to the Borders are finding common ground as they join to protest the new Union with England. At the same time, the French are preparing to launch an invasion to bring the young exiled Jacobite king back to Scotland to reclaim his throne, and in Edinburgh the streets are filled with discontent and danger.

Queen Anne's commissioners, seeking to calm the situation, have begun paying out money sent up from London to settle the losses and wages owed to those Scots who took part in the disastrous Darien expedition eight years earlier--an ill-fated venture that left Scotland all but bankrupt.

When the young widow of a Darien sailor comes forward to collect her husband's wages, her claim is challenged. One of the men assigned to investigate has only days to decide if she's honest, or if his own feelings are blinding him to the truth.

The Vanished Days is a prequel and companion novel to The Winter Sea, with action that overlaps some of the action in that book. The Vanished Days goes back in time to the 1680s and introduces the reader to the Moray and Graeme families.

My Thoughts

What is there not to love about a new Susanna Kearsley book! Her stories are always fabulously written, well researched and captivating. When you open the pages of one of Susanna’s books, you enter into a new world, one that guarantees rich historical detail combined with fabulous drama. Her fans are excited as The Vanished Days is the prequel/companion to The Winter Sea (a book I read many years ago but still a firm favourite of mine). Needless to say, I was quite excited to read Susanna’s latest!

‘There had been so many moments in my life when my survival had depended on my trusting to my instincts that I’d gained a great respect for them’

The Vanished Days is set in Scotland during the late 1600's-early 1700's. Kearsley includes a dual timeline plot, however, this time around it is much closer - only 10-25 years apart. Therefore, it appears more of a companion to Winter Sea as it has a shared character and a similar time period. This can definitely be read as a stand-alone, yet how wonderful would it have been to read all three in this series together (The Winter Sea and its sequel, The Firebird).

“In life, you understand, we always say things that we later would take back - a careless insult, or a sharp word thrown in anger. We are none of us immune.”

As always Susanna has done a fabulous amount of research, and that definitely shows through her in-depth and vivid descriptions that bring history to life in her stories. It is probably for this reason that the book does start off somewhat slow, but persevere, once you get past a certain point it will be a race to the end. Wow! What a twist.

“That comes from Plato. His Symposium, in which he claims that every person has one - that we all were made originally whole, then sliced in half like flatfish, so we now must search the world for the one person who completes us.”

Susanna Kearsley is one of my favorite authors and I will always read anything and everything she writes. If you’ve never read one of her books and you are a fan of historical fiction, you simply must do yourself a favour. I jealousy envy you reading this Slains series sequentially - stories beautifully researched and written with characters that will touch your heart and stay with you long after the last chapter ends. 

“You’re the first man I have loved,” she said, her voice not much above a whisper, and it was as though she knew I needed those words then. “The first man and the last man. You will always be enough for me.”

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: Osprey Reef

Title: Osprey Reef

Author: Annie Seaton

Publisher: 27th October 2021 by Harlequin Australia, HQ & MIRA

Pages: 464 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: women’s fiction, mystery

My Rating: 5 cups

Synopsis:

Love. Greed. Revenge. And a desperate search for answers ... Against the stunning backdrop of the Great Barrier Reef, two women in different eras discover how their hearts and fortunes are swayed by the secrets of the sea.

2019: Bethany Kristensen faces her toughest challenge to date, skippering the family charter business. With rivals doing their utmost to undercut her prices and reputation, the Kristensens' operation hangs by a thread. Winning the tender for a new scientific research program headed out to the farthest edge of the reef is her last chance to keep the business going. But when rumour and vandalism turn to outright sabotage, things take a drastic turn...

1934: Stella Booth flees a future of domestic drudgery in small-town outback Queensland, heading for employment and an independent life in Mackay. But fate has other plans and an accident en route sends her life spinning in a most unexpected direction...

Linked by a family mystery, decades apart, Bethany and Stella will both need to dig deeper than ever before they forge their place among the turbulent seas of the reef.

My Thoughts

Annie's previous books have all been fabulous five stars for me - I just love her tales incorporating environmental issues, a mystery with romance in two timelines - what a winning combination. Once again in her latest offering, Osprey Reef, Annie ticks all those boxes with an inter-generational tale of a family and their relationship with the sea - none other than the magnificent Great Barrier Reef off Australia’s coastline.

‘…out on the reef …. you’re well aware of coral bleaching on our reefs? Greenhouse gas emissions have seen unprecedented bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef and it’s been worse than ever in the past three years.’

Osprey Reef is a clever dual timeline story filled with suspense, regarding the mystery surrounding a supposed disappearance at sea in 193os to the current time of 2019. It was everything I have come to expect from Annie’s books as she certainly knows how to deliver a captivating tale. She draws in the reader who becomes fully engaged and invested in the characters of both timelines and the events unfolding in their lives. 

Beautifully written, well researched with Annie’s knowledge of the environment shining through. It truly adds to the layering of this story with depth and understanding. Both timelines contain intriguing drama filled plots and an engaging cast of characters. All of this is tied together with family secrets and fall outs. This book truly has a little bit for everybody whether it be history, conservation, exotic locations, romance and worthy drama with an unexpected twist at the end. 

‘ I’m looking forward to Osprey … I’ve taken a few trips out there and it's the most awesome diving. The coral is still untouched by the issues that impact it closer to the coast.’

Set time aside to curl up with this book and be transported to the stunning Australian coastline. I loved both timelines, so two stories for the price of one really as you wait for answers to unfold and hope for connections to be made. Osprey Reef is one book I certainly have no hesitation in recommending.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: The Buchanan Girls

 

Title: The Buchanan Girls

Author: Emily Madden

Publisher: 1st September 2021 by Harlequin Australia, HQ & MIRA

Pages: 400 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: historical fiction, romance

My Rating: 5 cups

Synopsis:

A sweeping family saga about betrayal, forgiveness and the cost of love.

Sydney, 1941: Olive and Ivy may be identical twins, but they couldn't be more different. While Olive is focused on marrying a man appropriate to her station, Ivy wants to do more, to be more. Joining the Australian Women's Service Army is the perfect chance for her to escape her family obligations and make a real difference in the world. She doesn't expect serving her country to lead to romance ... or devastating betrayal and unthinkable grief.

As the war progresses, both Olive and Ivy find themselves wanting the same thing: for their loves to return safely. But neither of the Buchanan girls is ready for what the future has in store for them.

Sydney, 2008: Escaping her husband's betrayal and an impossible personal loss, Madeline returns home to Sydney to nurse her broken heart. As she settles into her new routine, it's too easy to consider never returning to New York and her old life. But her husband won't give up on what they have so easily, and Madeline can't ignore his messages reminding her of why they fell in love in the first place. With her grandmother's support, Madeline has to decide if forgiveness means reconciliation. But is the biggest betrayal yet to come?

My Thoughts

‘Will the truth destroy her, or set her free?’

Emily Madden has done it again! I raved about her previous books and once again she has produced an absolutely stunning story. The Buchanan Sisters is a tale of epic proportions, a family saga detailing the story of twin sisters with the themes of war and sacrifice, betrayal and forgiveness.

‘Australia may have entered the war with her sons, but it was becoming clear that it was up to her daughters to help her pull through.’

A dual time narrative set in both 1941 and 2008 I loved and lost myself in the historical aspect of the story, yet at the same time, enjoyed and sympathised with the contemporary tale. It takes a great author to cleverly meld two timelines and Emily’s finesse as a writer is evident to all as she deftly weaves and brings them together resulting in both tears and smiles. 

‘She inhaled deeply and gathered the strength to slip into the past, just one last time.’

This is a truly heart-wrenching tale, one that I will definitely revisit. My heart was full of the characters, their friendships and relationships. The story of Ivy and Olive, twins so very different and with dreams that would never go to plan. This is such quality historical fiction as Emily draws the reader into her characters with the events and the attitudes of the era combining for dramatic effect. One cannot help but become a part  of their story and, whether you see it coming or not, an ending that will leave you breathless. 

‘He held his breath then. He had meant every word. And now there was nothing more to do, nothing more to say, except wait and hope.’

The Buchanan Girls is an exceptional novel, there is just so much to love here that I cannot recommend it highly enough to people who love a story rich in drama, history and romance. So do yourself a favour and read some of Emily’s books, you won’t be disappointed. 

‘She didn’t know what their future held, what it looked like, or if she was making a big mistake. But what she did know was that not taking a risk … may yield greater regret.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: Vespertine

Title: Vespertine #1

Author: Margaret Rogerson

Publisher: 5th October 2021 by Simon & Schuster Australia

Pages: 368 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: teens, young adult, fantasy, paranormal

My Rating: 3.5 cups

Synopsis:

The dead of Loraille do not rest.

Artemisia is training to be a Gray Sister, a nun who cleanses the bodies of the deceased so that their souls can pass on; otherwise, they will rise as spirits with a ravenous hunger for the living. She would rather deal with the dead than the living, who trade whispers about her scarred hands and troubled past.

When her convent is attacked by possessed soldiers, Artemisia defends it by awakening an ancient spirit bound to a saint’s relic. It is a revenant, a malevolent being that threatens to possess her the moment she drops her guard. Wielding its extraordinary power almost consumes her—but death has come to Loraille, and only a vespertine, a priestess trained to wield a high relic, has any chance of stopping it. With all knowledge of vespertines lost to time, Artemisia turns to the last remaining expert for help: the revenant itself.

As she unravels a sinister mystery of saints, secrets, and dark magic, her bond with the revenant grows. And when a hidden evil begins to surface, she discovers that facing this enemy might require her to betray everything she has been taught to believe—if the revenant doesn’t betray her first.

My Thoughts

‘I imagined that if I listened closely enough to the stillness that yawned beneath the convent’s mundane everyday bustle, past the muffling hush of shadowed corridors and ancient stone, I would be able to sense it festering in the darkness of its prison.’

Vespertine is the story of Artemisia, raised by the Gray sisters who tend to the dead to prevent them turning into harmful spirits and waging war on the population.This is a solid start to a new fantasy series. Artemisia is a young introverted nun who finds her comfort zone challenged in order to fight these harmful spirits. 

“We have guarded Saint Eugenia’s relic for three hundred years. It cannot fall into the grasp of the unliving. They know that the revenant cannot be freed, only destroyed. Thus they seek to destroy it. It is our greatest weapon, and without it we have no defense.”

Vespertine is not ‘typical’ of Margaret Rogerson’s writing, having a far more somber tone and no romance as the driving force. Yet dig a little deeper and it becomes clear that that is a tale of a young girl who, after a difficult upbringing, is alone in the world and must push past her fears in order to grow and fully become her true self. The reader sees Artemisia evolve over the course of the book in a journey of self discovery and finding her true purpose in life. Her relationship with the revenant is a definite highlight and beautifully told. It is a most revealing friendship with a good balance between banter and growth.

‘How far would I go, if I had no other choice? I could no longer condemn those who had turned to heresy as a last resort - not now that I knew how it felt to see so many lives hanging in the balance, unable to help, the hopelessness and guilt closing in like the walls of a tomb. If there was any force that could save them . . .’

I did find this to be somewhat slow and heavy in dialogue but if you enjoy that aspect of a story, then the conversations between Artemisia and the Revenant are sure to please. There is a lot going on so be prepared as this is only the first installment and therefore you will be left with unanswered questions. One could say that this is more of a dark fantasy story about saints and the understanding of the many secrets history holds. It will be interesting to see where Margaret takes this world - a world of the restless dead with clerics, saints, relics and ghosts. 

‘Perhaps the decisions that shaped the course of history weren't made in scenes worthy of stories and tapestries, but in ordinary places like these, driven by desperation and doubt’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.