Saturday, June 25, 2016

Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier


This is the story or a young woman who goes to live with her aunt after the death of her beloved mother. When the young woman arrives at the inn where her aunt and uncle live she quickly learns that her life will not be easy here under the domineering glare of Joss Merlyn. This bullish man strikes fear into everyone that comes across him , and with good reason , he is a drunk and a violent man capable of much violence and irrational thought and behaviour.  Mary's aunt is a meek and terrified wife that should be pitied if her life was not so infuriating . I was just relieved that they had no kids.
Very soon after her arrival Mary was given warnings by her Uncle and if she followed the rules exactly as he asked then they would get on fine which kind of showed me early on that this character needed to be in control and in charge at all times at whatever cost necessary . He was going to be trouble !There was a lot more going on at this inn then meets the eye and only the brave of foolish came near this place in the middle of nowhere . 
The story was brutal at times , the setting bleak , but Mary's gumption was to be applauded , and it saved her.
The story had twists and turns, but none prepared me for the biggest twist ever at the end!

I listened to the audio version of this book. Highly recommend ! You won't forget Joss Meryln in a hurry!

Reading This Weekend

Hi guys . I am late with this post but there were too many good books to share with you to leave this weeks " Reading This Weekend" out completely. So, on with the show! 

The Witch's Kiss by Katherine @ Elizabeth Corr
The Light Of Paris by Eleanor Brown
 
The View From The Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman is a joy to the ears. This is a nonfiction book where Neil covers a huge amount of interesting things like his friendship with Stephen King ( great impressions Neil) :0) , books , his life, etc .
Read this immediately!

This book , South Riding by Winifred Holtby is an epic , daunting story that has been mocking me from its shelf . If the introduction and cast of character list don't make you feel a little intimidated then I say be bold! Go venture between its pages armed with a very large cup of tea and biscuits for sustenance , I have a feeling we will need it .

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

I Found You by Lisa Jewell . Review .

This story is about two women and one man called Carl . There is Alice , an eclectic mum with a trusting nature and  the new wife of Carl called Lily who is young and a little too trusting . 
The story gets you from the beginning , with an unknown man who is proving very intriguing to himself ( yes himself) and Alice who happens to come across him. 
Carl's wife is desperate to find her husband who has not come home and the authorities are no help at all so she decides to investigate herself !
This was a great story and mystery and I read it all in one sitting. The story does not give up all its secrets easily , but gives us hints as we read along making it hard to resist. I was trying to guess how it would all tie together by the end so there was no way I was putting this book down until I knew , and I was glad of it.Who  needs sleep anyway haha. This book will make you question just how well you really know those closest to you .

I received this book for review from the lovely people over at lovereading.co.uk
This book is being published July 2016 and will be available from Lovereading.co.uk and all other good bookstores then. 
Below please find a link to this book on the Lovereading website:

Friday, June 10, 2016

Reading This Weekend

I had a rough day today , feeling really ill. I could just about stomach water. This evening I felt a lot better and hubs brought my tea and a cupcake .

 I am missing my books and so I am really looking forward to reading and listening to some books this weekend . Stay tuned for "My Sunday" on Sunday where I can catch you up on my week and there will also be a late May Favourites blog post too. 
Here are the books I have already started :
The Unseeing by Anna Mazzola
The View From The Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman. I would listen to this man read the telephone book,  but as he happens to be an excellent author and narrator who reads his own books is a huge bonus. 
Agatha Raisin And The Deadly Dance by M.C . Beaton . Love this author and narrator ! Penelope Keith is a terrific narrator , I can't imagine a more perfect Agatha! 

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

The Moonlight Dreamers by Siobhan Curham . Review


The moonlight Dreamers is the book I had waited to be written for years , female empowerment ,realistic , creative female characters , ordinary girls with extraordinary ways of looking at the world . I completely loved the idea of a group of girls finding each other by chance , all with a similar need for a real honest to god freindship with no fakeness , each supporting and encouraging each other . We need more of this in the world . This was a completely magical story . I loved it. If you like books about being different yet still fitting in this is the book for you. P.s Oscar Rocks! 


I received this book for review from the lovely people over at Lovereading4kids.co.uk. 
This book is being published July 2016
And will be available from Lovereading4kids.co.uk and all other good bookstores then.
Below please find a link to this book on the Lovereading4kids website:

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Reading This Weekend

Hi guys! We are still having gorgeous weather here on the west coast of Ireland. All evening I have spent pottering in the garden and getting clothes washed and dried while it's still nice. I never thought I would see the day I would be glad of having nice weather because I had clothes to get dry!
Anyway this weekend if the weather stays nice I intend to keep the gardening up and get some reading done during the hottest parts of the day when it feels like you are going to melt into a puddle .
The books I am finishing up and starting are these ones :
The Other Alice by Michelle Harrison

In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri
   Abbey Clancy
The Unseeing by Anna Mazzola

And I Darken by Kiersten White

Friday, June 3, 2016

The Unseeing by Anna Mazzola. Review


If you liked Sherlock Holmes I think you will really like this awesome book set in London in the 1800's about a woman convicted of helping a murderer . Now she is likely to be sentenced to death . When  a man is urged to look into her case he quickly is not convinced she did it , all he needs for her to do is open up to him and talk but this woman does not trust easy and time is running out.
The setting of the story was wonderful and the build up to finding out why this woman( Sarah)  just would not talk was nail biting if not more then a little frustrating . She is a strong female so you get the impression that what really must have happened had to be really bad. 
The character of Edmund is a likeable and driven man , but he does it in a subtle way , he comes across as someone you could bare your soul to over a cup of tea and I liked that about him but Sarah was a hard nut to crack. 
The story contained a few twists and turns keeping the reader on its toes to the very surprising end. 

I received this book for review from the lovely people over at Lovereading.co.uk
This book is being published July 2016 and will be available from Lovereading and all other good bookstores then. 

Below please find a link to this book on the lovereading website:


The Other Alice by Michelle Harrison . Review

This magical story is about one family , particularly Alice and her younger sibling Midge. Alice likes to write stories and Midge loves to hear them. When one day Alice goes missing it does not take long before Midge realises that Alice's stories and real life have collided and there is more to the stories his sister told him then meets the eye.
This was an awesome story combining the fictional and real world, and giving us a really good mystery and adventure , two of my favourite things!
This is a perfect read for those who enjoyed Inkheart or love books about books and bookish things . 

I received this book from the lovely people over at Lovereading4kids.co.uk.
This book is being published in July 2016 and will be available from Lovereading4kids and all other good bookstores then:

And I Darken by Kiersten White. Review


When Lada and her brother are taken from away from their homeland against their will Lada vows she will be back. Lada is no meek young woman and anyone that comes up against her knows that to be true , she does not suffer fools gladly. 
In this new place she finds it increasing hard to know who to trust and there is plenty of people who would wish her harm thus making her all the more aware of who she is surrounded by. 
Assassinations , war, heartbreak , loyalty and power are some of the topics that kept me glued to the page . 
Lada is up there with all the strong female characters in stories , not afraid to get her hands dirty , and not opposed to kicking ass when she is threatened .
I recommend this to anyone who likes a strong female lead character.

I received this book for review from the lovely people over at Lovereading4kids.co.uk
This book is being published July 2016 and will be available from Lovereading4kids and all other good bookstores then . 
Below please find the link:

Nina Is Not Ok by Shappi Khorsandi. Review

This is a really special book that evokes huge amounts of emotions while reading it . Nina is a 17 year old girl who's alcoholic father is dead , she lives with her mother and stepfather and half sister Katie. Nina is going through a very hard time coping with her emotions and is doing everything wrong when it comes to taking care of her own well being. It was so sad to read about this girl struggling with self esteem , alcoholism, sexuality , abuse and mental health issues. If I could have hugged Nina I would have . This was a book that kept surprising me , the story kept upping it's game and I could not put it down and I read it in one sitting as I needed to find out what was going to happen to this girl. I recommend this for all teens who are struggling with issues .


I received this book for review from the lovely people over at Lovereading.co.uk
This book is being published July 2016 and will be available from Lovereading.co.uk and all other good bookstores then.
Below please find a link to this book on their website :