Blog Tour Book Review: Another You by Jane Cable

Another You

by

Jane Cable

Publisher: Sapere Books 
Publication date: 27th June 2019
Pages: 287
Format read: Kindle edition
Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 

Sometimes the hardest person to save is yourself…

Marie Johnson fell in love with The Smugglers pub when she first moved to Dorset with her husband, Stephen.

But when Stephen’s wandering eye caused the breakdown of their marriage, and the costs of running the pub started to mount, Marie felt her dreams crashing down around her.

With local celebrations planned for the 60th anniversary of D-Day, Marie is hopeful things will turn around.

But she could never have predicted the ways her life will soon be changed forever.

A charming American soldier walks into Marie’s life, but it becomes clear nothing is really as it seems...

Why is Marie suddenly plagued by headaches? Is her American soldier everything he seems to be?

Or could the D-Day re-enactments be stirring up something from the past…?

I went into this story blind. I didn’t read the blurb or any reviews and I think this is the best way to start this story so you really get a sense of the mystery.

I will try and make my review as vague as possible so as not to spoil the story.

Marie is the chef at The Smugglers, a pub she owns along with her estranged husband Stephen. Stephen is controlling and verbally abusive and even though Marie doesn’t want her husband back she is finding it hard to completely let go, more so now their son, Jude, is getting older and will be leaving home soon.

Studland is a buzz with servicemen as a re-enactment of the D-Day rehearsals, which were performed there 60 years ago, will be taking place along with a memorial service.

Marie encounters a few different men on her path to self discovery and they all play an important roll in her journey. There is the elusive serviceman Corbin, George the WWII veteran, George’s son Mark and American serviceman Paxton who is the new love interest.

Jane Cable has written a richly described, heart-felt and captivating story, mixing the past with the present, as Marie battles to release her unfulfilled dreams and start anew.

Marie’s struggle will have you yearning for a happy ending.

Another You is recommended for readers who enjoy a mystery mixed with history and a little romance.

🌟🌟🌟🌟 .5

My rating   4.5/5

 

Although brought up in Cardiff, Jane Cable now lives in Cornwall and is a full time writer. Another You is a moving saga of family life in the 21st century which draws on the horrors of combat, both in modern times and World War Two as down-trodden Marie fights to reclaim her identity and discover what really matters to her. Jane’s next book, Winter Skies, will be available for pre-order from Sapere Books soon.

Follow Jane Cable on Twitter @JaneCable, on Facebook at Jane Cable, Author 

This review is part of the Another You blog tour. You can follow the other blogs on the tour below:

 

 

 

 

Book Review & Giveaway: Under the Midnight Sky (Mystery)

Under the Midnight Sky

by

Anna Romer

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia
Publication Date: 1st may 2019
Pages: 407
RRP: $29.99 
Format Read:  Paperback - Advanced Reader Copy
Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Better Reading Preview

 

When an injured teenager goes missing at a remote bushland campground, local journalist Abby Bardot is determined to expose the area’s dark history. The girl bears a striking resemblance to the victims of three brutal murders that occurred twenty years ago and Abby fears the killer is still on the loose.

But the newspaper Abby works for wants to suppress the story for fear it will scare off tourists to the struggling township. Haunted by her own turbulent memories, Abby is desperate to learn the truth and enlists the help of Tom Gabriel, a reclusive crime writer. At first resentful of Abby’s intrusion, Tom’s reluctance vanishes when they discover a hidden attic room in his house that shows evidence of imprisonment from half a century before.

As Abby and Tom sift through the attic room and discover its tragic history, they become convinced it holds the key to solving the bushland murders and finding the missing girl alive.
But their quest has drawn out a killer, someone with a shocking secret who will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried.

 

Abby is still plagued by nightmares 20 years after her friend was murdered and found in a shallow grave in the gorge.

When a young girl from the area goes missing no-one is too concerned, runaways are all too common in Gundara. Abby is determined to search for this girl hoping she may also find answers to her friend’s murder.

Tom, internationally acclaimed author, has moved to Ravensong, a rambling and remote home in the bush surrounding Gundara. He wants to escape society after a very public and disastrous divorce. A fall from a ladder and a journalist after the interview of a life-time, bring Abby and Tom together.

I thoroughly enjoyed Under the Midnight Sky and was swept away in the remote countryside and the mysteries held in the gorge.

The apathy toward the low socioeconomic community in Gundara and the lack of action by the police in reference to the runaways was disturbing but understandable.

Little hooks of information are delivered to sink you into the story, making the mystery bigger and more compelling, with each new snippet.

The story is narrated in multiple perspectives often changing within a chapter. I usually find this type of narration confusing however Romer pulls it off by changing the scene as well as the narration.

The story holds mysteries within a mystery all layered on top of each other and centred around the murdered girls.

An underlying theme of love runs deep through the novel. The love of a sibling; shows Ennis not being able to let go of his sister, long after her death. With sisters Lilly and Frankie, Romer explores how far a person will go to protect someone they love. We can see Abby’s love for her alcoholic father, even though she denies it. Lil and Joe, an elderly couple nearing the end of their life, epitomise enduring love, not being able to imagine a time when they will not be together. And we also follow the burgeoning love between Abby and Tom.

Under the Midnight Sky is atmospheric and moving. Anna Romer is one of the great story tellers of our time.

#BRPreview

My rating  4.5 / 5  ⭐⭐⭐⭐½

*this review is part of the Book Lover Book Review Aussie author challenge

and book #8 in the Australian Women Writers challenge

Letter 'U' in the 2019 A-Z challenge 

I have an advanced reader copy of Under the Midnight Sky to giveaway to one lucky reader.

Enter via the Giveaway form below.

 

Photo credit: Goodreads

Anna Romer was born in Australia to a family of book-lovers. She led a nomadic life for many years, travelling around Europe and Britain in an ancient Kombi van where she discovered a passion for history.

These days she lives in a little old cottage surrounded by bushland, writing stories about dark family secrets, rambling houses, characters haunted by the past, and settings that feature the uniquely beautiful Australian landscape. Anna's debut best-selling novel was Thornwood House followed by Lyrebird Hill and Beyond the Orchard.

 

This giveaway is now closed.

Book Review: Home Fires (Contemporary Fiction)

Home Fires

by

Fiona Lowe

Publisher: Harlequin Australia

Imprint: HQ Fiction

Publication Date: 18th February 2019

Pages: 487

RRP:$32.99

Format Read: Paperback

Source: courtesy of the publisher via AM Publicity 

 

From the bestselling Australian author of Daughter of Mine and Birthright. When a lethal bushfire tore through Myrtle, nestled in Victoria's breathtaking Otway Ranges, the town's buildings - and the lives of its residents - were left as smouldering ash. For three women in particular, the fire fractured their lives and their relationships.

Eighteen months later, with the flurry of national attention long past, Myrtle stands restored, shiny and new. But is the outside polish just a veneer? Community stalwart Julie thinks tourism could bring back some financial stability to their little corner of the world and soon prods Claire, Bec and Sophie into joining her group. But the scar tissue of trauma runs deep, and as each woman exposes her secrets and faces the damage that day wrought, a shocking truth will emerge that will shake the town to its newly rebuilt foundations...

With her sharp eye for human foibles, bestselling author Fiona Lowe writes an evocative tale of everyday people fighting for themselves, their families and their town - as only this distinctively Australian storyteller can

The residents of Myrtle, a small country town cocooned by the forest of Victoria’s Otway Ranges, are still feeling the effects of a fire that destroyed the town almost two years earlier.

A group of women that had formed a craft group decide to take action to put Myrtle back on the map and attract tourists to the town.

Claire is back home after living in large cities and has been with Matt for 3 years.

Sophie, married to Josh, moved to the country for a better lifestyle.

Rebecca is married to Adam through an arrangement instigated by her mother they have two children and a third on the way. They appear to be the perfect couple.

The story follows the three women before and after the fire. How their lives had changed, their dreams shattered. The hardships not only financially but mentally and physically when the rest of the world has moved on but the town is still struggling to rise above the ashes and forge a new life.

Over the months of meetings and planning they had changed from a random group of women to become friends, working through their differences and supporting each other. Even minor characters in the group, Julie, the stalwart of the town, Layla and Erica, play integral roles in the bringing together of the community.

This small town weathers it all; a deadly bushfire, a cancer scare, domestic abuse, PTSD, teenagers using alcohol and drugs, but through sweat, determination and hard work they come through it all.

Lowe highlights how the impact of a fire goes far beyond the buildings that were destroyed. It affects different people in different ways and quite often this effect is not clearly visible on the surface.

Home Fires is a timely tale with a quintessential Australian feel. Lowe brings the country town of Myrtle, and its residents, into our homes and opens our eyes to the hardships and heartbreaking aftermath of a devastating bushfire.

Recommended reading.

My rating  5 / 5  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Content: domestic violence

                 drugs

                 post traumatic stress

*This review is: 
Part of the Book Lover Book Review Aussie author challenge
& Book #6 in the Australian Women Writers Challenge

Letter H in the 2019 AtoZ Challenge  
 

Fiona Lowe has been a midwife, a sexual health counsellor and a family support worker; an ideal career for an author who writes novels about family and relationships. She spent her early years in Papua New Guinea where, without television, reading was the entertainment and it set up a lifelong love of books. Although she often re-wrote the endings of books in her head, it was the birth of her  first child that prompted her to write her first novel. A recipient of the prestigious USA RITA award and the Australian RuBY award. Fiona writes books that are set in small country towns. They feature real people facing difficult choices and explore how family ties and relationships impact on their decisions.

When she is not writing stories, she's a distracted wife, mother of two 'ginger' sons, a volunteer in her community, guardian of eighty rose bushes, a slave to a cat, and is often found collapsed on the couch with wine. 

 

Book Club Book Review: The Wrong Callahan (Rural Romance)

Book Bingo 2019 'A book written by an Australian Woman' 

      The Wrong Callahan

by

Karly Lane 

 

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Publication Date: 28th November 2018

Pages: 326

Format Read: Trade paperback

Source: Publisher via Beauty & Lace book club.

It had been two long years since Lincoln Callahan had found himself in front of the gates to Stringybark Creek. He was in the army then - a lifetime ago. Linc had always been the unsettled Callahan, looking for danger, the one who couldn't wait to leave the family farm.

This time he was back for his little sister, Hadley's, wedding. From far and wide, the Callahan relatives were streaming toward Stringybark Creek.

Linc's little brother, Griffin, was the steady son, the one who stayed at home, the one who did the right things. And now, the one who had feelings for city-girl, Cash Sullivan.

For Cash, the offer to manage her best friend's luxury beauty spa tucked away in the country had come at the right time. She knew she needed to make smarter choices in her life, starting with the men she dated, and an enforced break in the country seemed the right way to consider her options.

When Linc sets eyes on Cash at a family dinner, their swift attraction floors him. But Cash is his brother's girlfriend...what was he thinking?

As Linc, Griff and Cash form an uneasy triangle, each of them have personal demons to face before they can open their hearts.

The Wrong Callahan’s setting is Stringybark Creek, a family farm in Rankins Springs, in the heartland of the NSW Riverina. A small rural town where everyone knows everyone’s business and you can’t make a move without everyone knowing about it. This comes as a bit of a shock to city girl Cash Sullivan who is in town to help out at best friend Savannah’s Day Spa. Cash has always kept to herself but the friendly and welcoming neighbours, the Callahans, soon have her wondering what it would be like as part of a real family.

Cash has always been attracted to ‘bad boys’ and it has always left her heartbroken. Maybe the reserved Griffin Callahan is just who she needs in her life and it’s hard not to spend time with him when the matchmaking Callahan women keep pushing them together.

Linc hadn’t been home to Stringybark Creek since he left the army, two years ago. He was the son that couldn’t get away from the farm fast enough but has returned a hero in everyone’s eyes.

As soon as Linc sets eyes on cash he feels a strong attraction. An attraction that he is finding difficult to resist.

Lane has delivered exactly what the genre promises; a rural romance with all the feels and characters to fall in love with (a whole family of them) but not all squeaky clean.  Cash has a past she would rather keep hidden but she has turned her life around and is determined not to follow in the footsteps of her parents.

Lane raises the question; do you have a type when it comes to relationships and can this be changed?

The whole Callahan family is back home for Christmas and one of the siblings, Hadley’s New Years Eve wedding. I love the Callahan family but they aren’t as perfect as they seem when you dig a little below the surface.

Behind the romance the story has themes of sibling rivalry, close knit families, the silent but catastrophic PTSD and the all consuming trauma of a war zone.

All the way through this story I was thinking how much I wanted to read Griff’s story and yes!! I find out it is book 2 ‘Mr Right Now’. And what’s with Harmony? Will Hadley’s marriage last? So many questions I can’t wait for the rest of this series.

The story pulled me in from the start and wouldn’t let go until the very last page.

Content:  Some steamy scenes but the sex is behind closed doors.

My rating    5/5      🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 

*This review is part of the Beauty and Lace book club.

The Wrong Callahan is book #1 in the Australian Women Writers challenge 

and part of the Booklover Book review Aussie author challenge 

Book 'W' in the AtoZ challenge 

#BookBingo2019

 

Karly Lane lives on the beautiful Mid North Coast of NSW in Australia. A certified small town girl, she is most happy in a little town where everyone knows who your grand parents were. She writes women’s fiction – everything from romantic suspense to family sagas and life in rural Australia.