On The Road Again

in July 2018 we took our granddaughters on holiday with us a couple of weeks and 3000 km. Plenty of good times and lots of places to visit.

It is not easy trying to get teenage girls out of bed and packed ready to go. Also takes a bit of time to fit all the luggage in just the right place.

Books I was reading in July:

The Little Italian Bakery by Valentina Cebeni

This book was set in the 1980's. Elettra struggles to keep her mother's bakery open after her mother Edda has a stroke. Elettra dreams of being a journalist working in New York and finding her father.
Clara, a mysterious friend Edda instructs Elettra to make aniseed bread rolls and take them to the Convent of Saint Elizabeth on Titan's Island and leave the rolls at the feet of the statue of Saint Elizabeth at the Convent and pray for Edda. 
Elettra's mother worked at the Convent when she was young, Elettra travels to the small isolated Island in the Mediterranean.where she hopes to find answers to her mother's early life and the name of her father.
This was a novel about tragedy, secrets and everlasting friendship.and an old Convent.

The Love That I Have by James Moloney

his novel was set in Germany during 1944 and 1945. It is about Margot, a girl aged sixteen who has left school and started working in the mailroom at a concentration camp. One of Margot’s jobs is to collect the letters posted by prisoners and burn them. Margot feels bad about burning the letters because she has an older brother who is a prisoner of war and she wonders if someone burns the letters he writes. Margot takes a few letters home to read with the intention of re-posting them. She is overwhelmed with the outpourings of love contained in the letters.
There is a lot of conflict and tension as Margot makes decisions that could put her life in danger as she tries to discover more about one of the prisoners writing letters.
I did have a bit of trouble believing that prisoners would have money to buy writing paper, envelopes and stamps. At times I felt that Margot was very foolish. The descriptions of the characters were good, especially Margot’s older sister Renate who was possibly having an affair with an officer. Margot and her best friend Lili share secrets and their hopes and dreams. Lili tries to give advice to Margot, but Margot ignores Lili’s advice.
This novel is a love story about war, concentration camps, friendship and families. 
I loved the ending.

The Wrong Light by Matt Coyle

This novel is about Private Investigators, it is set in the present time in San Diego. 
Rick Cahill is hired by a radio station to find out who is stalking Naomi, a radio announcer. Naomi does not want the police involved, which makes Rick’s job more difficult. Rick takes on the job but is also trying to solve another crime. Rick hires two investigators to help.
The novel is about stalking, murder and crime. The action mostly takes place at night. Rick is constantly under threat of being killed by some Russian’s who are trying to protect a secret.
There is a lot of action and murders throughout this novel. There is conflict between Rick, Naomi and the police.

The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain

A woman is robbed and her handbag stolen. Laurent finds the handbag in a garbage bin. He tries to find out who owns the handbag by looking at the items in the bag. There is no name or contact information. There are a lot of items and a red notebook containing thoughts and lists that sparks an interest in Laurent.

This novel was set in Paris. It is about relationships. It made me thing about the items I have in my handbag.

My handbag is a backpack. If I carry my bag on one shoulder I get a sore back. So I use a backpack.My Reading Journal would make some interesting reading if I lost my bag.

Our Winter Garden

During June 2018 I was enjoying our winter garden with lots of vegetables and things to look at and some happy birds. I enjoyed some good books and some books a little bit strange.

I spent a lot of time in our garden watching the birds who were very cheeky and trying to take food off us if we were eating outside. I only finished a few books in June The books I was reading in June were:

One Day In December: A Christmas Love Story by Josie Silver

I loved this book. It was full of romance, heartache and what ifs. It starts in 2008 just before Christmas. Laurie is on a bus in London and headed home for Christmas when she sees a guy waiting at a bus shelter – their eyes meet – and the bus moves on, leaving Laurie hopelessly in love with a stranger.

 Laurie and her best friend Sarah spend almost a year searching for the stranger Laurie nicknamed Bus Boy.

This is a romance about friendship, relationships and families. You will love this romance. It will make you wonder what if? Over and over. It reminded me of two of my favourite romance movies, Sleepless in Seattle and Serendipity.

A Superior Spectre  by Angela Meyer

The description of this book enticed me to read it. I was curious in how the two characters would see life through each other’s eyes.

Jeff somewhere in the future and Leonora from the late 1800’s, were able to haunt each other.

Leonora is a young girl living in the highlands of Scotland with her father. She has an affinity with nature and developing an interest in caring for animals. At night she has strange dreams and sees things that she can’t fathom. Meanwhile somewhere in the future Jeff travels from Australia to lose himself in Scotland. Jeff is dying and wants to spend his last days in isolation from his family and friends.

To amuse himself he takes a tab that lets him inhabit Leonora’s body in the past. He experiences life in Scotland life through Leonora and sees and feels her experiences. Jeff is also haunted by his past and early memories of sexual experiments as a homosexual. These memories also haunt Leonora.

Some sections were very explicit and confronting.

The Trouble With Choices

This novel was set in South Australia. It is a romance about families, relationships and secrets. Three sisters each have a secret but find they can't fall in love and move on until they share their secret. I loved the characters and the way they interacted with each other and their grandparents and other family members.

High Teas and Get Togethers

Wow in May 2018 I did lots of reading and had lots of celebrations. Started the month with a High tea to farewell a staff member then a Mother's Day High Tea with family members then a 40th birthday celebration for a family member. Lots of fun times with family and friends and lots of birthday for family members. Finished the month with a few days at my favorite resort.

The books I was reading at the time were:

 Grandghost by Nancy Springer

I loved this ghost story. It was about an artist who writes children’s books. Beverley is getting old she lives on her own and her agent will only consider her work if it can be delivered in a digital format. Beverley has an old phone and a very slow modem. She is starting to get forgetful and is afraid of getting Alzheimer’s like her mother. Her two daughters live too far away to regularly visit and she does not get along with her next door neighbour.

Beverley longs for a grandchild and to console herself she starts painting a young girl.

When things get to much for Beverley she goes out to her back yard and digs up old bricks that had been buried long before she bought the house. One day while she is digging up bricks Beverley finds a small child’s skeleton. After the discovery, Beverley’s life changes. Beverley starts to believe she is being haunted by the child and she needs to convince the police and her daughter’s that she fit and able to look after herself.

This was a ghost story about family relationships and child abuse. I loved the way this was written and how Beverley interacted with her neighbour, the police and her family members and new friends.

The Year That Changed Everything by Cathy Kelly

This was a book about families and relationships. As usual Cathy Kelly wrote a good story. I always like the way Cathy writes. The Year That Changed Everything was set in Ireland in the present time. Three woman celebrate special birthdays. Callie turns 50, Sam turns 40 and Ginger turns 30.
Callie has a perfect life and lives in a mansion with a spoild daughter and a controlling husband. Things change on her birthday and Callie needs her friends and family to get her life back.
Sam turns 40 and has a baby on her birthday - but being a parent is not easy and she needs her family to help.
Ginger is betrayed by her friends on her 30th birthday.
I love the ending in this book.

A Place For Us by Harriet Evans

A book about families, relationships and secrets. Set in 2012 and 2013 mostly with some flashbacks between the 1940's to 2012. 

Book of Colours Robyn Cadwallader

This was a historical novel set mostly in London in 1320 to 1322.

John Dancaster has been commissioned to illustrate a book of hours for Lady Mathilda. John is assisted by his wife Gemma, apprentice son and two Journeymen who have finished their apprenticeship. Throughout the book is a description of how a book is illustrated with details of how colours are sourced and mixed. There were lots of descriptions about people involved in illustrating books and their life.

I loved the way life in London in 1321 was described, also the descriptions about how people lived and worked.

John and Gemma struggle to complete the book of hours and they employ Will to help. Will is haunted by his past but helps Gemma keep her secret safe.

Home, Family and Friends

Spent some time with our family over Easter. Spent some fun days walking along the beach at Lennox Head, having picnics and having fun with granddaughters.

Finished reading a mystery thriller Our House by Louise Candish This novel was set in London in 2017. Fiona Lawson arrives home early after a weekend away and finds strangers moving into her house. The contents and personal items have vanished. Her husband Bram is not answering his phone and she does not know where her children are. What a nightmare.

The story switches between Fiona and Bram telling their versions of events during 2016 leading up to the nightmare. Fiona’s neighbor, Merle arrives and helps Fiona work through the issues of identity theft and reporting Bram a missing person. Full of twists and turns and an unexpected ending.

I was really busy all of April 2018 the weeks went fast no time to write about what I was reading. Another book about families I enjoyed reading Miss Mary's Book of Dreams by Sohi Nicholls - 

this was a story about a young woman, Ella who runs a book shop and also writes novels. The story is set in New York. Bryony visits Ella’s shop and buys a special book. Ella and Bryony help each other with encouragement and stories from Ella’s mother and grandmother.

This book is about magic, dreams, families and relationships.

Also finished reading The House at Sunset Lake by Tasmina Perry - 

two young people meet one summer. They fall in love but go their separate ways. Twenty years later they meet again. Old memories and secrets will be revealed.

This was a story about an old plantation mansion, and the family who lived in it and their secrets. It is about writers, musicians and property developers. It is set in the present time and also twenty years earlier, Jim and Jennifer meet one summer but are destined to live different lives, twenty years later they are drawn together again at Jennifer’s families summer house where the ghosts of the past are revealed.

More Holidays and Travels

March was a very busy month, lots reading, three books at the same time. I was reading books about travel, history and murder. A book that I enjoyed about travel and using a journal to follow a grandfather's footsteps was The Map that Leads to You by J.P.Monninger. Mostly set in Europe and New York in the present time. Heather and two best friends Amy and Constance are travelling around Europe after graduating and before she starts a job in finance at New York.

Heather meets Jack on a train. Jack is following the footsteps of his grandfather from a journal his grandfather wrote after the 2^nd World War. Jack and Heather spend some time together doing some of the things Jack’s grandfather did. Gradually heather falls in love with Jack and is torn between Jack and her new job in New York,

I loved the characters in this book and how they resolved their issues.

We had a few more days camping and I was able to relax and do lots of reading, we were in Queensland, went to Fraser Island and then headed towards Toowoomba staying at Lake Barambah and also Storm King Dam, enjoyed looking at an old cottage in Warwick - Pringle Cottage.

Pringle Cottage 

A book that was about fashion design, families, travel and history was The Paris Seamstress by Natasha Lester. This romance was set in the 1940’s and the present time. It switches back and forward from Estella’s life in Paris and New York in the 1940’s and to Fabienne’s life in New York and Australia in 2015.

It is about fashion and designers. World War 2, spies, grief, romance and family relationships.

Estella lives with her mother in Paris at the beginning of World War 2. She has a passion for designing and making clothes. Estella leaves Paris on a ship bound for New York and works in various fashion jobs.

Fabienne travels from Australia to New York to curate an exhibition of Estella’s fashion designs in 2015 and tries to unravel the secrets of her father’s birth and Estella’s life.

I loved the way Fabienne gradually discovered her grandmother’s history and the descriptions of places in Paris that she visits.

This was a quick easy read, lots of action and romance.

To finish of my reading for March I enjoyed The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan. I thought I would enjoy it because it started out in an old derelict house in Ireland an I love books about secrets and old houses. The novel starts in 1993 in a derelict old house in Mayo, Ireland. Cormac arrives to investigate a domestic but instead Cormac finds 2 children on their own and in a room upstairs Cormac find their dead mother.

The image of the two neglected children haunt Cormac. Twenty years later Cormac is in Galaway investigating cold cases and trying to work out the pecking order at the Mill Street Garda Station and who he can trust. Other detectives are investigating a murder and the Garda are dealing with the death of a young man.

While Cormac is trying to find out what is going on at the Garda Station Aisling, is striving to gain a training position as a paediatric surgeon and trying to prove she is available and focused on her career path.

This novel grabbed my attention from the beginning. I liked the way the old derelict house was described, and the description of the two children Cormac found.

I also liked the way Cormac and Aisling deal with their issues while trying to prove they are reliable and capable.

Summer Holidays

It has been really busy at work and to make things annoying the ferry has been off so I have had to drive the long way around to go to work so I was listening to an audio book while driving. Pastures Noaveaux by Wendy Holden set in the present time in the UK in a small village near London. Lots of humor about life in a small village, journalists, artists, musicians, relationships and romance. 

Took a few days off work and went camping it was really hot, too hot to read but we did lots of swimming. Finished reading a book about summer holidays The Summer of Serendipity by Ali McNamara. Ren and Kiki travel to the West Coast of Ireland looking for a house for a client. They stay at the Stag Hotel in the small town of Ballykiltara. Ren and Kiki visit some houses for sale and also look at some of the local tourist attractions and scenery. They find the perfect house and called “The Welcome House” but can’t find out who owns it. While searching for the owner Ren also researchers the history of “The Welcome House”. This novel is set in the present time on the West Coast of Ireland. It is about friendships, relationships and the history of “The Welcome House”.

While I was on holiday we had time to visit with family and friends and had some good laughs.

 A book I was reading late in February was about a woman who finds a way to travel through time. The Phantom Tree by Nicola Cormick. This is an historical novel about time travel and was set in the present time and in the mid sixteenth century in the Tudor times in the Wiltshire locality.

Mary and Alison were Royal orphans living at Wolf Hall in the late 1550’s. Alison has a son, Arthur in 1560 and her son is taken away and she is sent to Middlecote Hall with Mary.

Alison had discovered a way to travel through time and with Mary’s help she escapes on the way to Middlecote Hall at Marlborough, before she escapes she asks Mary to help her find Arthur, so that when she is able she will come back for Him.

Alison gets trapped in the present time and Mary gathers clues to help Alison find her son. After ten years Alison finds a painting of Mary in an art gallery. There are objects in the painting that Alison is convinced are clues to where she can find Arthur if she can only find her way back to 1560.

Catching Up 
It has been a while since I have written anything about the books I have been reading.
I did a lot of reading in 2018 also had lots of holidays and time with family and friends. In January we met some old friends and went to a New Years Eve Show. Lots of good old music and a fun night out with friends.
In January I was reading books about families, friendships, crime and murder.
I got my authors mixed up and chose to read a book by Anthony Horowitz but it was Greg Hurwitz that I prefer but i still enjoyed the book and finished reading it.
The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz. This was about secrets, murder and an author writing about a freelance detective investigating a murder.

Another book I finished reading was a young adult fantasy fiction about families. It was an E-Book from NetGalley. The Keeper by Natalie Star. Billie turns 16 and is given a charm with a gemstone that has been in the family for years. It is meant to be given to the oldest daughter to wear on her 16th birthday.
The charm has power and turns hot or cold depending who is nearby. This was a fantasy novel with lots of action, good and evil forces a bit like virtual Pokemon.

Early in January I finished reading Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak. I loved this book. A good Christmas book it was an E-Book from NetGalley. Olivia is going home for Christmas, she has been working as a doctor in Liberia and has been looking after patients with a communicable disease. She will need to be in quarantine for seven days and will spend her time with her parents and sister in their family holiday home in Norfolk over Christmas.
Olivia has a secret but so does her mother and father. Anyone who has contact with them will have to stay in quarantine with them.
I loved the way each of the family members interacted. This was a good feel good story about families, secrets and identity. Set in Norfolk and the present time.

The Light of Paris by Eleanor Brown was set in Chicago in 1999 and Paris in 1925. Madeleine is unhappy in her marriage and escapes to her hometown and helps her mother prepare to move to a smaller house. Madeleine finds her grandmother Margie's notebook and diary revealing Margie's trip to Paris in 1925. This novel is about families, relationships, artists and writers.

Early in January we had lunch with some old friends. We had lots of laughs remembering days gone by.

I spent a lot of time early in January trying to update my mobile data and upgrading windows 10 on my laptop.  Computers, access to data and social media can be a headache sometimes. I read a book about a person using skype  sees something disturbing.The book was Without a Word by Kate McQuaile. It was set in Ireland and was about friendships, relationships, families, missing persons and murder. Orla is talking on skype with her best friend Lillian. Lillian goes to answer a knocking at the door and never comes back, suddenly the house is on fire and figure looms on the computer screen. Ned Moynihan is investigating Lillian's disappearance.

Another book about murders I finished was False Pride by Veronica Heley. This was an Abbot Agency Mystery about families, relationships and hidden jewels with a few murders to add a bit of interest and confusion.

Bea Abbot and her ex-husband accidentally get involved in a robbery and murder plot. Magda is given precious jewels to keep safe from would be thieves. She hides them but someone else hides them in a better place. People are murdered and injured during the hunt for the jewels.

This novel kept me guessing to the last pages. Everyone was confused and did not know who they could trust. Lots of humor. 

We spent Australia Day camping with family and friends.Jamie cooked roast lamb, roast pork and vegetables in camp ovens, delicious.