October, November, December 2021

Boardwalk at Victoria Park near Alstonville, NSW.

Mostly stayed close to home during October, November and December 2021. Visited Victoria Park near Alstonville and had an enjoyable walk through the park. Went on lots of long walks close to home. Did lots of crochet and sorted out cupboards and reviewed items of interest. Found two old money boxes tucked away in some boxes. 

An old money box from Commonwealth Bank of Australia

 Money box from Bank of New South Wales.

Books I was reading were:

Must Love Books by Shawna Robinson

This was about an Editorial Assistant working for Parsons Press publishing business books set in San Francisco.

Nora has been in the same job as Editorial Assistant for five years. After recent restructures Nora struggled to come to terms with the changes in her workplace where she is expected to do more work with less pay. Nora longs to work in a different capacity with fiction books instead of business books. She has lost her zing and is too overwhelmed to be bothered reading.

Nora manages to get part time work as a remote freelance acquisitions editor. The extra income helps Nora pay her bills but makes her life more complicated as she is faced with the moral dilemma of deciding which job she should focus on. Nora juggles her responsibilities between two jobs all the while trying to keep secret about the extra job.

This was about the love of reading, publishing, workplace relationships and friendships. I loved the way the characters interacted.

One Night on the Island by Josie Silver

I loved this book. It is set on a remote Island in Ireland. Cleo is a journalist writing articles on dating, her boss organises for Cleo to go to a remote Island to spend time in isolation and write an article about marrying herself before she turns thirty.

Nothing goes as planned. When Cleo arrives at the cottage booked by her boss Cleo discovers that the cottage is double booked and Mack is established in the cottage and has no intentions of leaving.

I loved the descriptions of the Island characters and how they interacted and included Cleo in their activities. This was a feel good romance about relationships and Island life. 

Whole Notes by Ed Ayres

I was looking forward to reading this book unfortunately only a very short extract was available. I particularly like books featuring music.

The music theme looked interesting, I would have liked to a few more pages to get a better feel of the book. The main theme is music but there are other themes being explored as well. I was inspired to have a go at relearning to play the piano.

A Letter from Nana Rose by Kristen Harper

Set on Dune Island in the present time with flash backs to earlier times. Jill and her two sisters inherit their grandmothers house on Dune Island. Jill’s two sisters want to sell the house but Jill wants to keep it.

Their grandmother requested that the three girls spend a short time in the house for a holiday before making a decision. During the time at the house regular letters written by their grandmother are delivered.

Jill and her sisters eagerly wait for the delivery of each letter. I loved the way their grandmother Rose revealed the secrets of her life. This was about families, grief and secrets.

The Girl In the Maze by Cathy Haywood

Set in 2019 with flash backs to earlier times. This was about relationships between mothers and daughters, and secrets.

When Emma’s mother Margaret dies in 2019 Emma is upset that a painting painted by her mother is to go to a total stranger. Emma loved the painting and felt that it should stay in the family.

While packing up her mother’s belongings Emma discovers an old metal box. The papers and the contents in the box leave Emma asking questions about her mother’s secrets.

I loved the way Emma’s story is told and how Emma tries to unravel her mother’s secrets.

The Fossil Hunter by Tea Cooper

Set mostly in Australia in the 1840’s and 1919. This is a historical novel about the fascination of searching for fossils.

Mellie is a young girl whose parents are dead. She is cared for by the Pearson family at Wollombi in NSW and later goes to live with Anthea Winstanley at Bow Wow Gorge not far from Wollombi. Anthea Winstanley is a palaeontologist who spends her time looking for fossils and shares her love of palaeontology with the Pearson girls and their friends by having them come to stay every Easter so they can experience the thrill of finding and documenting their finds.

In 1919 Penelope Martindale, an ambulance driver during the First World War is in London waiting to return home to Australia. While waiting she visits London’s Natural History Museum where she sees a fossil that reminds her of the fossils her two brother’s we fascinated with.

The pace is fast and switches back and forward between 1840’s and 1919. It is a historical mystery and full of secrets and adventure.

Above the Mistletoe by Juliet Madison

A Christmas romance set in Australia. Angelette has unpleasant memories of Christmas in New York. She travels to outback Australia hoping to have a quiet holiday away from all the Christmas celebrations of New York.

When she arrives the cottage, she had book has been double booked and is unavailable so the only place available is room upstairs in the local Pub called the Mistletoe.

This is a romance bout families, grief and Christmas.

 

Meet Me In the Margins by Melissa Ferguson

A romantic comedy with lots of twists and turns and funny situations. Savannah works for a publisher and dreams of writing a romance novel. She takes her manuscript to work while getting ready to submit it to a rival publisher. To avoid letting anyone see her manuscript she hides it in a secret room. Someone finds it and makes corrections and suggestions.

This was a fun romance full of humour and secrets as Savannah struggles to finish writing her romance novel.

The Secrets of Hawthorn Place by Jenni Kerr

Set in the present time and 1890’s in Dorset and Norfolk.

This is a love story with humour and some fantasy. Featuring the history of two identical houses, Hawthorn Place and Acacia House designed by the architect Percy Gladwell.

In the present time Molly finds herself homeless, without a job and no money. She travels to Hawthorn Place on the coast of Dorset to spend time with her grandfather who needs some company to help him get over the grief of the death of his wife.

Hawthorn Place is very large and has many quirky features and a few spooky stories of unusual hauntings.

Molly struggles to come to grips to life without money or phone and no internet.

She learns to cook and tries to find a job. There are a lot of humorous incidents.

I loved the way the story switches back to the 1890’s and the life and loves of Percy Gladwell, the architect who designed Hawthorn Place and its quirky features, especially the Latin phrases scattered throughout the house declaring loss and love.

The pace was fast switching back and forwards between two time periods and different houses leaving you waiting for more information. Its about love, grief and families and the history of two houses.

 The Murder Dance by Sarah Rayne

A Phineas Fox Mystery full of creepiness and evil. Set in Norfolk in the present time with flashbacks to earlier times.

Quentin Rivers inherits an old house called The Tabor. His cousin Zillah has grown up expecting that the old house will be hers when Osbert dies. I love the way evilness creeps into the relationship between Quentin and Zillah and how it is reflected in the history of the old house.

The Tabor is very old and in need of repairs. There is a lot of old stories about The Tabor and the people who had connections with its history and the people who used to live in the old house.

Phineas Fox and his two friends Arabella and Toby help with researching historical connections of the old house.

I loved the way the history of the old house is revealed. There are lots of secrets and evil intentions.

The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare by Kimberley Brook

After her father’s death Alice inherits Evertell her family home located in Savannah. Alice thought the house had been sold many years ago after her mother died. Alice and her daughter travel back to the home Alice lived in as a child. Alice hopes to sell the house but first she wants to find a book that should have been given to her when she turned thirteen. The commonplace Book had been handed down through many generations of her family.

Alice hopes the book will give her answers to her family history. Alice’s daughter Penn is thirteen and is excited about seeing her families abandoned home and is curious about the secrets that have long been hidden.

This is about the history of Alice’s family over fifteen generations back to Eleanor Dare. Set mostly in Savannah in 1945 and earlier times. The family stories are told through clippings and notes and people living near Evertell and Alice’s memories.

I loved the way the family history was told and the way the character’s interacted. This is about families, history, buildings and secrets.

The Girl in the Window by 

Since We Last Met by Bronwyn Sell

A romantic comedy full of secrets, mistakes and interfering family members.

Set in the present time on a small tropical Island in the Whitsundays off the coast of Queensland Australia. Carmen Lowery is a single mother working at her families Resort on Curiosity Island. Carmen’s family members are single also and Carmen’s grandmother is desperate to find partners for all her grandchildren.

Bruno Michael is a US Airforce pilot and arrives at Curiosity Island on emergency deployment at the Air Base on the Island. Bruno and Carmen meet and realise they had previously met five years ago but had both used different names.

This was a fun romance about family relationships and secrets.

The Beautiful Words by Vanessa McCausland

Set in the present time and the 1990’s and 1960’s. Mostly on an Island near Tasmania.

This was about best friends torn apart by tragedy.

Sylvie enjoys her life. She works on her own cleaning houses of people who have died. Packing up and removing unwanted possessions deemed as junk. Sylvie is fascinated by the hidden stories she finds and writes her discoveries in her notebook. I loved the line on page 4 – “What does anyone know about their grandmother’s mother?” It made me think about my family history.

In one house Sylvie discovers notes in a journal where the owner had regretted spending her lifetime without her best friend. The notes in the journal remind Sylvie of her loss and regrets of her lost friendship with Kase and the tragedy that separated them. A letter inviting Sylvie to Kase’s 40^th birthday celebration could help if only Sylvie can respond. Sylvie and Kase had not seen each other for 23 years. As teenagers they had been best friends, sharing a love of literature and writing.

Sylvie is hesitant about attending the party after so many years without contact but decides to travel to a private Island off the Tasmanian coast.

Sylvie and Kase resume their friendship but there are other friends at the birthday celebration that make things difficult for Sylvie.

This was about friendships, grief, and secrets.

Dressed By Iris by Mary-Anne O'Connor

Set in Newcastle and Sydney in the early 1930’s during the Great Depression.

Iris Mitchell is Catholic and lives with her large family in a makeshift dwelling in a shanty town near Newcastle. Iris loves to sew and has a flair for design.

The Mitchell family move to Sydney when Iris’s father and brother Jim start working on the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Iris starts working as a cleaner and in her spare time she designs and makes dresses. Life is slightly better for Iris and her family, but times are hard, money is scarce and the family struggle to make a living.

This is a romance about friendships and fashion design.

Mrs England by Stacey Halls

Daughters of Magpie Cove by Kennedy Kerr

Set on the coast of Cornwall in the small village of Magpie Cove. Connie returns home after the theatre she worked as a stage manager closed. Connie is not happy to be home, she has unhappy memories of being watched as a teenager. Not long after her return she finds she is being watched again and threats made against her. Who can she trust?

Connie helps her Grand Father by taking over and running his museum but struggles with the stalking and harassment and her mother’s pressure to settle down to married life in the village.

Lots of twists and turns. I loved the descriptions of the coast and the stories of smuggling history.

The Foundling by Stacey halls