Review: Rosie's Travelling Tea Shop

Title: Rosie’s Travelling Tea Shop

Author: Rebecca Raisin

Publisher: 3rd March 2019 by HQ Digital

Pages: 250 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: romance, contemporary, humour, womens fiction

My Rating: 5 cups

Synopsis:

The trip of a lifetime!

Rosie Lewis has her life together.

A swanky job as a Michelin-Starred Sous Chef, a loving husband and future children scheduled for exactly January 2021.

That’s until she comes home one day to find her husband’s pre-packed bag and a confession that he's had an affair. Heartbroken and devastated, Rosie drowns her sorrows in a glass (or three) of wine, only to discover the following morning that she has spontaneously invested in a bright pink campervan to facilitate her grand plans to travel the country.

Now, Rosie is about to embark on the trip of a lifetime, and the chance to change her life! With Poppy, her new-found travelling tea shop in tow, nothing could go wrong, could it…?

My Thoughts

‘The bookworms are utterly lovely. They cuddle their books like newborn babies, chat for hours over tea and cake about their favourite writers, cliff hangers, preferred chapter length, eBooks versus paperbacks and the like! In a way I wish I could have poured my own pot of tea and sat with them like Aria did. You have to envy her sometimes. It’s a great way to live life.’

Bookworms beware! As soon as I saw this and read the blurb, I knew I needed to read this book! Sometimes you need some light escapism for lifting one’s mood, and this is one of those books that came to me at the right time. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it from start to finish.

There is just so much to love about this story .... with some really compelling life lessons included. I really appreciated Rosie’s story, both the literal and figurative journey she was on. In fact, there were quite an assortment of characters on this wonderful trip across the UK - what a great way to travel! I totally lost myself to van life and felt like I was at one of the festivals where Rosie and Aria have set up. I want a van!

‘A busy day ahead doing this. I grin, imagining him in some rural hamlet, a pot of steaming hot tea at the ready, a new novel to sink into and nothing else to do all day besides enjoy the solitude.’

Rebecca Raisin’s writing has a wonderful warm feel to it, both in terms of people and place. The people are engaging and the places .... well you just wish you were there - pink van included! Then there is the food and tea! Don’t get me started! You will adore Aria’s van, you will love the combination of tea and books, especially Rosie and Aria’s attempt to match a brew to a title! I could really do with a cup of ‘Sense and Sensibility’ right about now!

‘She goes to the first shelf, pulls down a once cobalt blue hardback, its cover now ravaged and faded with time-and she takes a great big sniff, before she turns to me, her eyes bright as though she’s just discovered the meaning of life. “That is the best scent in the world, better than any perfume, any flower. It’s the smell of lives lived.”

Delve a bit deeper and this book is about life, love and friendship and how it can be found in the most unlikely of places. It’s all about finding yourself and daring to break out of the humdrum daily existence to try something new and exciting. Could you reinvent yourself? Live nomadically from venture to venture? Who wouldn’t love to try a summer of festivals in a camper!

‘With a long sigh she says, “I felt like there was no sunshine anymore, you know? Like I was trudging through interminable darkness. Have you ever considered why you’re here, Rosie? Like right here, right now? This moment.”

This wonderful cosy read just resonated with me so much! With copious amounts of tea, books and a trip to the countryside ... what is there not to love?

“Sometimes I feel like I’ve lived a thousand lives already,” he laughs. “And one thing I’ve learned is there is no right way to walk this earth, and we can only learn from those in our lives, take whatever lesson we can from it and keep going.”

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: The Betrayal

Title: The Betrayal

Author: Kate Furnivall

Publisher: 1 November 2017 by Simon & Schuster

Pages: 400 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: historical fiction, war, WWII

My Rating: 5 cups

Synopsis:

Could you kill someone? Someone you love?

Paris, 1938. This is the story of twin sisters divided by fierce loyalties and by a terrible secret. The drums of war are beating and France is poised, ready to fall. One sister is an aviatrix, the other is a socialite and they both have something to prove and something to hide. Discover a brilliant story of love, danger, courage ... and betrayal.

My Thoughts

When I saw a new Kate Furnivall book, the rush was on ... where do I sign up? This author is a certain ‘go to’ as she just never fails to deliver. In this particular story, Kate has created an entertaining, intriguing and gripping story that I enjoyed from beginning to end. Packed full of details about the time preceding World War 2 and the rise of fascism in Europe, made this a gripping and intelligent read.

We begin in 1930, Paris, where a traumatic incident occurs, involving the twins, which has tragic consequences. Fast forward to 1938 just before WWII when Adolf Hitler and his party are on the the road to war.  Here unfolds a time of tumultuous confusion as events from the past keep coming back to haunt the sisters. This book will keep you guessing until the very end - so much intrigue, romance and ,yes betrayal, will see you furiously racing through pages to see how it all unfolds.

Furnivall is a master story teller. This is a book full of action with just enough romantic suspense thrown into the mix. You will love the dual narrative between the sisters, particularly Romy and her attempts to make good over perceived actions from eight years ago that she cannot fully remember. Furnivall’s descriptions of pre war Paris were real and insightful. Her research into aircraft and assistance to Spain, flawless - it reads as if you were on a mission with Romy.

The characters here - both primary and secondary - are brilliant! The twin sisters demonstrate such strength and resilience. The array of secondary characters exhibit a real depth of realism from those you cheer for, to those you are afraid of. This is a book about secrets and their impact in the form of lies and treachery. Yet through it all, there is this sense of strength and love - for sibling, for partners, for cause.

“The strong black lines of truth stand out. The lines are the scaffolding of life. They are made up of love. And hate. Love of someone. Of a cause. Of justice. Of self. Hate of someone. Of a cause. Of justice. Of self.”

From the very beginning, Furnivall will hit you with the impact of a certain event, and until the very end you will be engaged. Unusual for the heart of the story to be revealed in a prologue, but oh so clever, as the story then gradually unfolds of how this event affects the sister’s - love, guilt, intrigue, loyalty, murder.....

“I am afraid. Afraid of myself. Afraid of what is inside me. I am alone in a closed room with my dead father and I know I have murdered him.”

I cannot praise this book highly enough - a brilliant read, detailing the uncertainty of what lay ahead with the onset of WWII. ‘The Betrayal’  had me turning the pages so eager to find out what lay in store, especially for these sisters who shared such secrets and such love. Here is escapism at it’s finest - riveting storyline with plenty of punch in the plots. Please do yourself a favour and spend some time in pre-war France with these unforgettable characters.

‘I know you are a pain in the arse, hell bent on destroying yourself. The best damn flier I know, with enough courage for a whole squadron of fliers. With a generous heart and a frantic determination to drown yourself in a bottle. I don’t know what the hell happened to you in the past, Romaine, or what makes you push people away to stop anyone getting close.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release

Review: Leopard at the Door

Title: Leopard at the Door

Author: Jennifer McVeigh

Publisher: 13 July  2017 Penguin Books (UK) 

Viking

Pages: 400 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre:  historical fiction, cultural Africa

My Rating: 5 cups

Synopsis:

Stepping off the boat in Mombasa, eighteen-year-old Rachel Fullsmith stands on Kenyan soil for the first time in six years. She has come home.

But when Rachel reaches the family farm at the end of the dusty Rift Valley Road, she finds so much has changed. Her beloved father has moved his new partner and her son into the family home. She hears menacing rumours of Mau Mau violence, and witnesses cruel reprisals by British soldiers. Even Michael, the handsome Kikuyu boy from her childhood, has started to look at her differently.

Isolated and conflicted, Rachel fears for her future. But when home is no longer a place of safety and belonging, where do you go, and who do you turn to?

My Thoughts

Having spent time living in Africa, I am always on the lookout for any books that capture the real essence of this amazing continent. Jennifer McVeighs first book, ‘The Fever Tree’ was very good, so I was open to trying her new novel. WOW! What an amazing read, she has really lifted the bar on this one. So much happens (and I don’t want to spoil a thing for those of you going to read it) that you will be left speechless. This is a truly riveting read through a complex time in Kenyan history. There will be love and loss, hero’s and villains to capture even the most determined reader. 

I was captivated from the moment I opened ‘Leopard at the Door’ with McVeigh’s lyrical prose detailing the harsh yet beautiful reality of this story and landscape. It clearly played out in my mind’s eye. The amount of research undertaken here is truly commendable - 1950s British Mau Mau Rebellion - and McVeigh leaves no stone unturned in her, at times graphic portrayal, of this period in history. In fact, you cannot help but commend her for the enlightening and thought provoking story that I felt was handled in a truly realistic and mature fashion. 

‘there are still men who look at the fight against injustice and call it savagery.’

Yes, the book includes violence but you cannot sugarcoat what went on here - it was indeed horrific and a truly ugly period in British Africa. But it was real and seen through the eyes of a vast array of characters and sides that leave the reader seriously contemplating many of the actions undertaken. Isn’t that what good historical fiction is all about? Complex characterisation that truly capture and reflect both time and place - some you will love and some you will hate. So in many ways, it is not an easy read, but expertly handled to give the reader a realistic snapshot of what it might have been like for those who witnessed so much. 

‘I have been hoping all this time that the farm would be the same, but no gentle fairy has built a forest of thorns around my home; or made sure that those I love would be waiting for me, unchanged, just as they were when I left them. I have come home to find the farm ransacked by a future I don’t yet understand.’

Seen through the eyes of Rachel, she discovers that nothing is ever simple, whether it be politics of a country seeking to free itself from colonial shackles, to confronting a home that will never return to the days of her childhood. It’s a tense situation for her, from dealing with her father and his new lover, to Kikuyu friends of times past and present - she will be tested and her loyalties called into question. I think McVeigh did a fabulous job at presenting both sides of this conflict, especially the stereotypical ‘evil’ stepmother. She was the necessary epitome of all the ‘old rule’ stood for and believed. She was truly horrible but there for a purpose. 

‘the things which were so important to me as a child, the memories which are seared into my mind, out of which I am assembled, might be meaningless to him. The platform on which my childhood was built has dissolved over time.’

‘Leopard at the Door’ is an extraordinary read for history buffs and I highly recommend this absorbing tale. It will shed light on a dark time and shock you. But for those in any way familiar with this continent, you will understand and appreciate a truthful and realistic portrayal during a momentous time in Kenyan history. 

‘I have forgotten this other side of Kenya: a raw physicality that has no shame in the inevitability of pain.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release