Bonjour!! Happy Saturday!! It’s Rose time in the garden and that makes me happy! The slugs and snail in the garden do NOT make me happy!! Aarrgghh!!
On to books – it’s been a very good reading week with another 5 finished off the pile…. if only I could have as much enthusiasm for writing reviews at the moment!! I’m going to have a mountain of To Be Reviewed books soon!! scary! Another 2 have been added to the Netgalley shelves along with some lovely book post too! Here’s my look back!
BOOKS FINISHED
SOUR GRAPES by DAN RHODES – 5 STARS
SIX DAYS IN ROME by FRANCESCA GIACCO – 4 STARS
THE MAIDS OF BIDDENDEN by G.D. HARPER – 5 STARS
HOPE FOR THE RAILWAY GIRLS by MAISIE THOMAS – 5 STARS
FORESTS by KIERON CONNOLLY – 5 STARS
BOOKHAUL
Starting over at Netgalley…
ISAAC AND THE EGG by BOBBY PALMER
publication date – August 2022
Find hope in the unexpected in this unforgettable debut novel about grief and friendship, for readers of Patrick Ness, Sarah Winman and Max Porter.Isaac stands alone on a bridge and screams into the river below.And then, an answer. A cry of despair perhaps even greater than his own.The sound draws Isaac into the woods. What he finds there changes everything.It’s a tale that might seem familiar. A broken man and an unexpected guest, who can’t stay forever. But real life isn’t a story. It’s full of truths, messy and surprising, that Isaac has been hiding from his new, improbable friend…Powerful, hopeful and utterly extraordinary, this is a truly original tale of love and loss, told with warmth and imaginative humour, from an unforgettable new voice in fiction.
THAT BONESETTER WOMAN by FRANCES QUINN
publicaton date – October 2022
Meet Endurance Proudfoot – England’s strongest woman, boldest adventurer and first female bonesetter.Endurance Proudfoot only wants one thing in life – to follow her father and grandfather into the family business of bonesetting. It’s a physically demanding job, requiring strength, nerves of steel and discretion – and not the job for a woman.But Durie isn’t like other women. She’s strong and stubborn and determined to get her own way. And she finds that she has a talent at bonesetting – her big hands and lack of grace have finally found their natural calling
I was very thankful to be sent a copy of the following for review….
THE OTHER SIDE OF NIGHT by ADAM HANDY
publication date – September 2022
The Other Side of Night begins with a man named David Asha writing about his biggest regret: his sudden separation from his son, Elliot. In his grief, David tells a story.Next, we step into the life of Harriet Kealty, a police officer trying to clear her name after a lapse of judgment. She discovers a curious inscription in a secondhand book—a plea: Help me, he’s trying to kill me. Who wrote this note? Who is “he”?This note leads Harri to David Asha, who was last seen stepping off a cliff. Police suspect he couldn’t cope after his wife’s sudden death. Still, why would this man jump and leave behind his young son? Quickly, Harri’s attention zeroes in on a person she knows all too well.Ben Elmys: once the love of her life. A surrogate father to Elliot Asha and trusted friend to the Ashas.Ben may also be a murderer.
I was also very lucky to win a competition via Historia Magazine and won these two….
REBEL. LEADER. BROTHER. KING.1179. Henry II is King of England, Wales, Ireland, Normandy, Brittany and Aquitaine. The House of Plantagenet reigns supreme.But there is unrest in Henry’s house. Not for the first time, his family talks of rebellion.Ferdia – an Irish nobleman taken captive during the conquest of his homeland – saves the life of Richard, the king’s son. In reward for his bravery, he is made squire to Richard, who is already a renowned warrior.Crossing the English Channel, the two are plunged into a campaign to crush rebels in Aquitaine. The bloody battles and gruelling sieges which followed would earn Richard the legendary name of Lionheart.But Richard’s older brother, Henry, is infuriated by his sibling’s newfound fame. Soon it becomes clear that the biggest threat to Richard’s life may not be rebel or French armies, but his own family…
CRUSADER by BEN KANE
KING. POLITICIAN. WARRIOR. CONQUEROR.
1189. Richard the Lionheart’s long-awaited goal comes true as he is crowned King of England. Setting his own kingdom in order, he prepares to embark on a gruelling crusade to reclaim Jerusalem.
With him on every step of the journey is Ferdia, his loyal Irish follower. Together they travel from southern France to Italy, to the kingdom of Sicily and beyond.
Finally poised to sail to the Holy Land, Richard finds a bitter two-year-long siege awaiting him. And with it, the iconic Saracen leader responsible for the loss of Jerusalem, Saladin.
No one can agree who should fill the empty throne of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and Saladin’s huge army shadows Richard’s every move. Conditions are brutal, the temperatures boiling, and on the dusty field of Arsuf, the Lionheart and his soldiers face their ultimate test…
And the latest book as part of my Peirene Press subscription..
OF SAINTS AND MIRACLES by MANUEL ASTUR
Marcelino lives alone on his parents’ farm, set deep in the beautiful but impoverished countryside of Asturias, northern Spain. It’s the place where he grew up, where he doted on his beloved baby brother, where he protected his mother from his father’s drunken rages. But when Marcelino’s brother tricks him out of his land and home, a moment of uncontrolled anger sparks a chain of events that can’t be reversed. Marcelino flees into the wild peaks, dense woods and abandoned villages that surround his home, becoming a cult hero as he evades the authorities.Into this unconventional thriller, Astur weaves fables about the sun and the moon, tales of death and love, and reveals a community and a way of life that may soon be lost. Of Saints and Miracles is a sensuous and poetic portrayal of an outcast’s struggle to survive in a changing world, and a seamless blend of the tragic and the majestic.
CURRENTLY READING
THE WOMEN WHO SAVED THE ENGLISH COUNTRYSIDE by MATTHEW KELLY
Books and Me! 
