Book Review: Come Home Ella by Chelsea Davies

Come Home Ella

by

Chelsea Davies

Illustrated by Lisa Coutts

 

Publisher: Empowering Resources 

Publication date: July 2020

Genre: Children's / Picture Book

Pages: 36

RRP: $17.00 AUD

Format read: Soft cover

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 

About the book

 

Come Home Ella is a children's picture book which light-heartedly follows the emotional journey of a family after their baby's early arrival. Told through the eyes of baby Ella's older sibling, it aims to educate children about premature babies and help families experiencing similar situations deal with the emotions involved.

 

My review

 

Come Home Ella is a heartfelt story from the point of view of a young child waiting to see their newborn sister Ella. Ella was born premmie and needs to stay in hospital.

 

Come home Ella goes through the different emotions that may be felt by a young child in this situation. Sadness at not being able to see the much anticipated new arrival, wariness after seeing a photo with all the tubes attached to the baby, anger as their mother leaves to go to the hospital everyday and then joy as they  are finally able to see and hold their baby sister.

 

Coping ideas are put into place with hug charts and calendar countdown.

 

Written through the eyes of a child Come Home Ella is simple and hopeful, giving just enough information for a young child to understand but not so much as to overwhelm.

 

I think this would be a valuable resource for any family undergoing the same situation.

 

Age: 2+years

  

5/5  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

About the author

 

Chelsea is an emerging author and mother of three living in the picturesque Margaret River Region of Western Australia.  Forever gaining inspiration from her surroundings, Chelsea writes poetry and picture books to engage, empower and intrigue young minds. She aims to encourage children to understand and deal with emotions, and mental well-being, in a compelling, yet nurturing way.

When it’s time to put down the pen, Chelsea might be found practicing yoga, engrossed in a novel, trying her hand at arts and crafts, or enjoying sun, sand and surf with family and friends.

Chelsea describes creative writing as her ‘bliss’ and is excited to create a little magic of her own. Author facebook

About the illustrator

Lisa is a Melbourne based illustrator who has illustrated many books and items mostly in the children’s market thanks to her charming character based style, and because she is a bit of a kid at heart.

 She studied graphic design at Swinburne and has been a freelance illustrator since graduation.

 Lisa enjoys working in dry pastel for it’s light, soft texture and the colourful mess she can make. She also uses pencils and acrylic paints. With these she loves to create and draw characters and their worlds, whether real or imagined.

 Her favourite things in life inspire her illustrations. She is cat crazy and has two cheeky Devon Rexes called Coco and Elsa. She loves riding her bike especially long distances and up mountains. She also has a thing for striped clothing and often her characters are wearing something stripey just as she does. Oh, and she loves making and eating pancakes. Lisa's facebook

 

Challenges entered: Aussie author challenge  #AussieAuthor20

                                 Australian Women Writers Challenge #AWW2020

  

Book Review: The Shearer's Wife by Fleur McDonald

The Shearer's Wife

by

Fleur McDonald

 

 

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Publication date: 3rd November 2020

Genre: Rural Fiction / Crime

Series: Detective Dave Burrows

Pages: 384

Format read: Paperback

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 

About the book

 

1980: Rose and Ian Kelly arrive in Barker for supplies before they begin shearing at Jacksonville Station, a couple of hundred kilometres out of town. Rose, heavily pregnant with their first babies, worries that despite Ian's impending fatherhood he remains a drifter who dreams of the open road.

 

2020: When the Australian Federal Police swoop unheralded into Barker and make a shocking arrest for possession of narcotics, Detective Dave Burrows is certain there is more to the story than meets the eye. 

 

2020: After many months of grief over her brother's illness and death, journalist Zara Ellison is finally ready to begin a new chapter of her life and make a commitment to her boyfriend, Senior Constable Jack Higgins. But when she's assigned to investigating the Barker arrest, Jack begins to believe that Zara is working against him.

It takes a series of unconnected incidents in Zara's digging to reveal an almost forgotten thread of mystery as to how these two events, forty years apart, could be connected

 

My review

 

The Shearer's Wife is a dual time line narration. The first is in 1980 when a heavily pregnant Rose Kelly arrives in Barker with her husband, Ian. They lead a nomadic life moving from one shearing job to the next.

In 2020 the AFP arrive in Barker and arrest a local. Dave is warned off the case but when it's one of his own town's people he knows he must help.

 

Through this story Fleur McDonald brings country South Australia straight into my home. I loved how welcoming, helpful and accepting the country people are, willing to help out perfect strangers. This is a feel good story.   

Rose and Ian are happy together living the nomadic life of a shearer but we learn how difficult this life would be with a family. McDonald also includes topical subjects of the time, such as the wide-comb dispute that had shearers  up in arms.

 

Through Dave and Kim Burrows we see the problems faced by country police and the fine line between policing an area and being friends with the locals. This also puts a strain on a marriage.   

 

McDonald includes the trauma of PTSD and how it's a difficult diagnosis, usually picked up by friends rather than the person suffering. PTSD can affect the sufferers relationships and everyday life if not treated. 

Both stories were interesting and I was equally invested, wondering how the two stories would tie in.

As the story evolved the tension ramped up. The plot was realistic with heart-stopping suspense and just when you think it's all over the tension mounts again.

The Shearer's Wife is a rivetting rural crime story, easy to read yet full of heart, mystery and suspense. Although part of a series it reads as a stand-alone!

Fleur McDonald writes two series featuring Det Dave Burrows. One is set in 1999-2000 with a younger Dave Burrows and the other is present day.

 

5/5   ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

About the author

 

Photo: Goodreads

Fleur McDonald has lived and worked on farms for much of her life. After growing up in the small town of Orroroo in South Australia, she went jillarooing, eventually co-owning an 8000-acre property in regional Western Australia.

Fleur likes to write about strong women overcoming adversity, drawing inspiration from her own experiences in rural Australia. She has two children, an energetic kelpie and a Jack Russell terrier.

 

 

 

Want to know more about Dave? This 32 page eBook available on Amazon is a great little introduction to this character!

 

The Farmer's Choice by Fleur McDonald

 

This short story features some background on a young Dave Burrows fresh out of Ag college and explains the situation behind him leaving his family and the farming life he loved so much.
We get to know Dave’s personality and what motivates him.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Challenges entered: Aussie author challenge  #AussieAuthor20

                                 Australian Women Writers Challenge #AWW2020

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Soldiers by Tom Remiger

Soldiers

by

Tom Remiger 

 

 

Publisher: Text Publishing 

Publication date: 1st September 2020

Genre: Historical Fiction / War

Pages: 240

Format read: Paperback

Source: Won

 

About the book

 

Breen sometimes thought sourly that Tiger Jackson would have made a good fascist. He told unreliable stories, he liked power and admiration, and he had all three military virtues- self-belief, luck, and an eye for the main chance. Despite all this, Breen liked him. Somehow it was impossible not to.

After the death of Corporal Daniel Cousins in what is apparently a training accident, a young officer, Lieutenant Breen, becomes obsessed by the case. Was Cousins murdered by one of his own?
Breen's investigation, as well as his unanticipated love affair with a superior officer, threatens the unity of his comrades as they wait for the suffering to come in the Battle of Crete-one of the defining encounters of World War II.

My review

 

Opening in 1940, Soldiers follows a group of New Zealand soldiers as they are sent to England for training then to Egypt and Crete defending these areas against the ever advancing German army.

 

In this compassionate, yet fierce, story Tom Remiger puts emphasis on the different personalities of the soldiers and how they cope with the conditions and each other's company.

 

At the start of the book I was a little lost as the characters were at times called by their first name or last name or even a nickname. It seemed like their were more characters to keep track of than there actually were. However, as the story moves on the names all slot in and the story became easier to follow.

 

Remiger deftly describes the long tedious days of waiting and the terrible conditions the soldiers endured. His characters are real! They are at times not as brave as they would like to be. They get along and they fight. Sometimes they are best friends and at others they hate each other, begging for space.

We follow these characters as they change from men to soldiers.

 

Underlying this story of man and war  is a compassionate story of devotion as Lt Patrick Breen becomes aware of his feelings for Captain  Sinclair. Breen is a gentle soul although many of his fellow soldiers thought he had a wildness about him. He becomes obsessed with the accidental death of one of the soldiers in their company. This obsession soon leads to paranoia and he sees motive in many of his fellow soldiers.

Soldiers is a moving story and not like the usual WWII stories I read full of killing and bravado. Remiger has dug into the soul of his soldiers to reveal their true feelings and fears. When the fighting comes, some will rise to the occasion whilst others will fall.

About the author

Photo: Text Publishing

Tom Remiger is the name under which Tom McLean writes fiction. He is originally from Rotorua, New Zealand, but now lives in the UK, where he is completing a DPhil in literature at Oxford. His non-fiction and academic writing have been published in a number of journals and magazines. Soldiers won the 2019 Michael Gifkins Prize.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Lucky's by Andrew Pippos

Lucky's 

by

Andrew Pippos 

 

 

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia

Imprint: Picador

Publication date: 27th October 2020

Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Family Saga 

Pages: 368

RRP: $32.99 AUD

Format read: Uncorrected paperback 

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 

About the book 

 

Lucky's is a story of family.

It is also about a man called Lucky.
His restaurant chain.
A fire that changed everything.
A New Yorker article which might save a career.
The mystery of a missing father.
An impostor who got the girl.
An unthinkable tragedy.
A roll of the dice.
And a story of love, lost, sought and won again, (at last).

 

My review

 

Lucky's is an ode to the old Greek cafe style restaurants with Andrew Pippos drawing inspiration from his own upbringing.

 

Jumping back and forward in time Pippos shows us a post war Sydney when many migrants came to Australia to start a new life, opening cafes and expecting their children to work in the cafe.  Here the story follows Achilles Asproyerakas who played an important role in Lucky's restaurants as his cafe Achillion was the prototype for the Lucky's chain.

 

Then in 2002 we meet Emily on the cusp of a trip from England to Sydney, Australia, to boost her career in journalism, her husband tells her he is in love with another woman. Emily is drawn to Lucky by a painting her father gave her of a Lucky's franchise cafe. Emily hopes to write a career saving story on the Lucky's franchise rise and demise.

 

Emily and Lucky have many parallels in their lives. Tragedy has had a major involvement in both their lives. Lucky's name was ironic, and this wasn't lost on him, as tragedy after tragedy befell him. His character was well drawn and it was easy to connect and sympathise with him. I eagerly followed Emily's and Lucky's stories looking forward to Emily's big scoop and the outcome of Lucky's appearance on Wheel of Fortune with the hope of opening a new cafe. However the story fell short with too many time changes. Would it have been more engaging if it was in chronological order? I'm not sure.

 

Lucky's is a tragic tale, tragicomedy without the laughs. If they were there I missed them.

 

Pippos' writing is exceptional; nostalgic, tragic and palpable. 

 

3/5 ⭐⭐⭐

 

About the author

 

Andrew Pippos spent part of his childhood getting underfoot in his family's Greek-Australian café. When he grew up, he worked in newspapers and taught in universities. This is his first novel, and it packs in everything he knows about growing up in a noisy, complicated, loving family. He lives in Sydney. 

 

 

 

Challenges entered: Aussie author challenge  #AussieAuthor20

 

 

  

Mailbox Monday & Life This Week - October 26th

 

 

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Life This Week is a meme created by Denyse Whelan Blogs where bloggers share snaps of what is currently happening in their lives.

Happy Monday!

My daughter passed her final Uni assessment which was the last assessment of her Uni degree for Primary School Teaching. She placed her name with three local schools as a casual and immediately received calls from all three schools. She has been working at two different schools now over the past two weeks and enjoying it and has been booked up for the rest of the school year. Her graduation ceremony will be some time next year.

I've almost finished the throw for my granddaughter. It is hard to see in the photo but every square has an embossed picture. Two more to knit then I need to sew it all together.

Another birthday celebration. Everyone gets six candles, that's my limit 😀.

Who loved Bubble-O Bills as a child? I saw these gorgeous, nostalgic pyjamas at Peter Alexandra. 

Books received over the last two weeks:

 From the publisher:

The Bro Code by Elizabeth A. Seibert

A humorous Young Adult novel about a boy who breaks the Bro Code by dating his best friends sister.

You can read my review HERE

 

 

 

Daylight by David Baldacci

This is the third book in the Atlee Pine series. I'm really enjoying this series as Atlee , in between working on current cases, searches for the truth behind her sister's disappearance.

FBI Agent Atlee Pine's search for her sister Mercy clashes with military investigator John Puller's high-stakes case, leading them both deep into a global conspiracy -- from which neither of them will escape unscathed.
 

Together by Christmas by Karen Swan

Karen Swan writes two books a year and they are both must reads for me. I especially love her Christmas book. She combines romance and suspense in just the right amounts

Lee and her son Jasper have a tight circle of friends and she is looking forward to Christmas. When she finds a book, with a desperate message inside, left in her bicycle basket she can't help but track down its author. This an instant connection it seems they might have a future together - but will Lee's secret means she ends up alone.

At Night's End by Nir Baram

Yonatan staying in Mexico City is reluctant to return to his wife and infant son back home in Tel Aviv. Convinced that his closest friend, Yoel, is going to die, he struggles to preserve his sanity. But why is he so convinced? Does the answer lie in their childhood in Jerusalem, when it was them against the world?

 

 

Received for book club:

The Book Collectors of Daraya by Delphine Minoui

Day in, day out, bombs fall on Daraya, a town outside Damascus, the very spot where the Syrian Civil War began. In the midst of chaos and bloodshed, a group searching for survivors stumbles on a cache of books. They collect the books, then look for more. In a week they have six thousand volumes. In a month, fifteen thousand. A sanctuary is born: a library where the people of Daraya can explore beyond the blockade.

Long a site of peaceful resistance to the Assad regimes, Daraya was under siege for four years. No one entered or left, and international aid was blocked.

In 2015, French-Iranian journalist Delphine Minoui saw a post on Facebook about this secret library and tracked down one of its founders, twenty-three-year-old Ahmad, an aspiring photojournalist himself. Over WhatsApp and Facebook, Minoui learned about the young men who gathered in the library.

My Purchase:

Return to Stringybark Creek by Karly Lane

This is the third book in the Callahans of Stringybark Creek trilogy.

I fell in love with the Callahan family in book 1 and I'm excited to find out what's in store for Hadley. I know I'm going to be sad to see the end of this trilogy.

  

 

  I would love to hear what books you received in the mail recently! 

 

 

Author Interview: Fiona Higgins

 

 

Today I would like to welcome author Fiona Higgins to The Burgeoning Bookshelf.

Hello Fiona, thank you for joining us. Can you tell us a little about yourself and how many books you have had published?

Thanks for having me, Veronica!

 
Well, let's see... I work in the Australian not-for-profit sector and live in Sydney with my stoic husband, three rambunctious children and two aloof goldfish. I’m also the author of a memoir (Love in the Age of Drought, Pan Macmillan) and four fiction titles: The Mothers’ Group, Wife on the Run, Fearless – published by Allen & Unwin – and my latest, An Unusual Boy, published by Boldwood Books.

 

What is a typical writing day for you?

 

I wish I could say, ‘Oh, I rise at 4.30am and meditate for ten minutes before consuming a perfect macchiato, which helps me deliver a thousand words on the page by noon.’ Sadly, as a mother of three tweens-and-teens, and with an almost full-time job in philanthropy, I’m rather more consumed with daily lunchboxes, school sport and work deadlines!

In short, there’s no such thing as a ‘typical’ writing day for me. I tend to squeeze the words out around my other activities, whenever and wherever that’s possible (sometimes in the Woollies car park – true story!)

Your books are primarily about relationships, parenting and motherhood; What inspired you to write about these topics?

 

(See above: tweens, teens, lunchboxes.) In all seriousness, relationships, parenting and motherhood are topics which are sometimes dismissed as ‘domestic’ or peripheral to the unfolding of human history – but they’re fundamental to our existence. Everyone has a mother and a father. Most of us define ourselves predominantly in terms of our key relationships (or estrangements). Parenting is a human experience which can deliver unmatched moments of beauty, joy and sadness. All of these topics are endlessly fascinating to me - and ripe for writerly attention.

 

Your latest book An Unusual Boy was released on 20^th October; How did you come up with the idea for An Unusual Boy?

 

I have a habit of drawing inspiration from real life and weaving it into my fiction (I wrote The Mother's Group, for example, when I was caring for my very sleepless second child) so An Unusual Boy is inspired partly from lived experience. Over the years, I've encountered many children - and adults, for that matter - who are 'different' in some way (some with diagnosis, others without). It's been simultaneously painful and inspiring to witness their joys and struggles as they navigate the often-unforgiving world around them, and that experience is very much reflected in the novel.

 

 What would you like your readers to get out of An Unusual Boy and how do you think it will resonate with them?

In terms of resonance, I think most parents – especially mothers – will relate to the character of Julia, who is bearing a significant ‘mental load’. She’s running a household of five, juggling a career as a music therapist, attempting to be available and supportive for her three children – one of whom is very ‘different’ – all the while trying to keep her marriage intact with Andy, who travels a lot for his work.

While Julia does a terrific job generally, she’s weary – and she’s deeply worried about Jackson. But she just keeps going, despite being under-resourced – and when things gets tough and slightly out-of-control, she calls on inner strengths she didn’t even know she had. The character of Julia bears witness to the incredible resilience of parents under pressure; and not just parents - but carers, grandparents and teachers who exhibit incredible levels of patience and love.

While everyone will have their own experience of the book, ideally I’d like to see readers emerge from this story with a renewed commitment to inclusion. One early reviewer of the work sums it up nicely, I think:
 

If this is a cautionary tale about the dangers to children of unsupervised internet access, then it is equally an admonition to avoid xenophobia of any sort: race, colour, creed or simply a different way of thinking, an alternate perception of the world. The common compulsion to “label” is countered by Julia: “Sometimes labels just put special kids in boxes. Sometimes they just give adults an excuse to stop thinking.” - Marianne (Goodreads)

What were the key challenges you faced when writing An Unusual Boy?

Time. Like Julia, in this hyper-busy time of life, I find myself very time-poor. Consequently it took me almost three years to write this book – yet readers tell me it takes them less than a day to read it. (I almost need therapy when they say that!)

Just for fun…..either or?

Tea or Coffee - Coffee (and bucketloads of it) 

Summer or Winter – Winter (blankies, open fires, blocks of chocolate, good books) 

Dog or Cat – both (seriously, I want one of each… but my husband is unconvinced) 

City or Country – Country (I miss the farm on which we lived a long time ago) 

Morning person or Night owl – morning person (it’s deeply irritating, my teenager tells me) 

Paperback or eBook – paperback (very 1970s, I know) 

Ninjas or Pirates – Ninjas (flexibility, agility and cool weaponry)

Thank you for stopping by and spending some time with us on The Burgeoning Bookshelf.

 

An Unusual Boy is out now and should be hitting bookshop shelves all over the country. 

Click on the cover to read my review

 About the book

Julia Curtis is a busy mother of three, with a husband often away for work, an ever-present mother-in-law, a career, and a house that needs doing up. Her fourteen-year-old daughter, Milla, has fallen in love for the first time, and her youngest, Ruby, is a nine-year-old fashionista who can out-negotiate anyone.

But Julia’s eleven-year-old son, Jackson, is different. Different to his sisters. Different to his classmates. In fact, Jackson is different from everyone. And bringing up a child who is different isn’t always easy.

Then, one Monday morning, Jackson follows his new friend Digby into the school toilets. What happens inside changes everything; not only for Jackson, but for every member of his family. Julia faces the fight of her life to save her unusual boy from a world set up for ‘normal’.

An extraordinary boy. The mother who loves him. The fight of their lives.

 

Book Review: Real Tigers by Mick Herron

Real Tigers

by

Mick Herron

 

 

 

Publisher: John Murray

Publication date: 11th February 2016

Series: Slough House #3 

Genre: Crime / Spy Thriller

Pages: 369

Format read: Kindle eBook

Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley

About the book

London's Slough House is where disgraced MI5 operatives are reassigned to spend the rest of their careers pushing paper. But when one of these fallen spies is kidnapped by a former soldier bent on revenge, the agents must breach the defenses of Regent's Park to steal valuable intel in exchange for their comrade's safety.

The kidnapping is only the tip of the iceberg, however, as the agents uncover a larger web of intrigue that involves not only a group of private mercenaries, but also the highest authorities in the Security Service.

After years spent as the lowest on the totem pole, the spies suddenly find themselves caught in the midst of a conspiracy that threatens not only the future of Slough House, but of MI5 itself . . .

My review

I really enjoy Mick Herron's writing! It is witty, sharp and full of snark.

Real Tigers has the "slow horses" team back again in another amusing, tension filled episode in the Slough House series. They are a bunch of MI5 failures who spend their days scanning data looking for anomalies and dreaming of the break that will see them back at Regent's Park.

Those at the top, pulling the strings at Regent's Park, are constantly trying to back-stab each other, continually worried about their place in the hierarchy.

River once again acts before thinking, as he goes out on his own to solve a case. And Regent's Park are at the centre of a botched operation, calling in the slow horses to be the fall guys.

Sometimes I feel Herron doesn't like his characters. He puts them through trying situations and they never seem to get anything right. They constantly bicker and don't even like each other. However, all this suffering only makes them more endearing but don't get too attached as Herron doesn't baulk at killing them off.

Prepare for a wild ride with this story of corruption, double crossing, secrets and murder.

5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

About the author

Photo: Goodreads

Mick Herron was born in Newcastle and has a degree in English from Balliol College, Oxford. He is the author of six books in the Slough House series as well as a mystery series set in Oxford featuring Sarah Tucker and/or P.I. Zoë Boehm. He now lives in Oxford and works in London.