Book Review: Wish You Were Here (Memior)

Wish You Were Here

by 

Sheridan Jobbins

Publisher: Affirm Press
Publication date: 1st September 2017
Pages: 345
Format Read: eBook
Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley

Reeling from the devastating collapse of her marriage to the man she thought was the love of her life, after a late night enjoying smashing all her china a little too much, Sheridan Jobbins decides she needs to do something drastic to save her sanity.

Her solution is to buy a hot red car and drive across America. Hopelessly unprepared and heartbroken, she sets out on the road trip of a lifetime determined to find herself – and ironically finds love instead. But not before she has a whole bunch of crazy adventures and wrong turns along the way.

Every woman with a heart and a sense of humour will want jump on board this unforgettable ride – and it’s the best antidote for anyone who’s ever had her heart broken and thought she might not survive.'

‘In this moment I am perfect. I am free to be whoever I want, and all I want to be is a woman in a red spotty dress, speeding into her future in a shiny red car.’

Wish You Were Here is a heart-felt memoir filled with pathos and wry humour.

Feeling utter despair when her husband announces he doesn’t want to be married anymore Jobbins concocts a crazy plan to drive across America Thelma & Louise style.

I’ve never been much of a memoir reader. I tend to find them slow going and I find the first person past tense narration hard to get into.

What I did love about the story is Jobbins’ candour. She opens up to her readers and pours out all her dashed hopes and her fears. The story tells like a travelogue across America with humorous and sometimes life affirming situations occurring across the country as Jobbins travels from LA to Colorado, Nebraska and Pennsylvania via numerous wrong turns dropping in on an eclectic group friends and relatives along the way.

If you’ve ever felt like life has let you down and you just need to break free and find yourself again Wish You Were Here is the read for you.

My Rating  6/10

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

and book #12 in the Australian Women Writers challenge

Photo credit: Affirm Press

Born in Melbourne, Sheridan Jobbins is a third generation Australian film maker. She kickstarted her career as one of the original celebrity chefs on Cooking with Sheri, earning a Guinness World Record as the youngest host of her own show at the age of nine.

She was presenter on numerous TV programs, including Simon Townsend’s Wonder World! and Good Morning Australia. She was a director of the film company Latent Image Productions which produced the award-winning film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Since 2000 she has co-written screenplays with director Stephan Elliott for Disney, Warner Bros, Working Title, Hopscotch and Ealing Studios.
She has published numerous short stories and articles, and mentors other screenwriters on her website www.scriptwhisperer.com.

 

Book Review: Christmas with the Boss by Annie Seaton

Christmas with the Boss

by 

Annie Seaton

Well here I am with my last Christmas read that was due in 2018. I did actually read this over the Easter break (only just reviewing it now) so I will count this toward achieving my goal of finishing my outstanding Christmas reads before Easter.

Publisher: Self published
Publication date: 7th October 2015
Pages: 130
Format Read: eBook
Source: Kindle freebie.

Jilly Henderson was looking forward to a week of bliss at the beach: alone, no work and no one to bother her.
The last thing she expected was to find her hunky boss holidaying in the beach shack next door.He looked mighty different to the uptight executive she was used to. He'd shed the suit and turned into a surf god.

Dominic is horrified that Jilly is living in the old shack. Rumour has it that it's haunted. He wants her to move but she digs in.

Can she ignore his charms...and who is the secret visitor who won't leave her in peace?  

When Jilly unexpectedly runs into her boss during the Christmas holiday break, she finds he’s not the ice-man they all think he is back in the office.

Dominic has met his match with fiery Jilly. This is definitely not the same quiet woman he works with.

All the descriptions of the trip from Sydney to the mid North Coast town of Sandy Heads were so familiar and when it is set in an area you know and love it makes the story so much more connected.

Christmas with the Boss was an absorbing Christmas novella with a cheeky paranormal element. Seaton writes humour, suspense and passion with equal fervour.

My rating 10/10

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

and book #11 in the Australian Women Writers challenge

Photo credit: Goodreads

 Annie Seaton lives near the beach on the mid-north coast of New South Wales. She is fulfilling her lifelong dream of writing and has been delighted to discover that readers love reading her stories as much as she loves writing them. Her career and studies spanned the education sector for most of her working life until she took up a full-time writing career. She is now published internationally in e-books across the romance genre, and in 2014 was voted Australian Author of the Year by romance readers in the AusRomToday.com Readers' Choice Awards. In 2015 she was voted Best Established Author.Her first traditionally published print book, Kakadu Sunset, was shortlisted from Romantic Book of the Year in 2016. Each winter, Annie and her husband leave the beach to roam the remote areas of Australia for story ideas and research.

Book Review: In a Great Southern Land (Historical Fiction)

In a Great Southern Land

by 

Mary-Anne O'Connor

Publisher: Harper Collins Australia 
Imprint: HQ Fiction
Publication Date: 18th March 2019
Pages: 416
RRP: $32.99
Format Read: Paperback
Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 

From the emerald hills of Ireland to a wild colonial land comes an epic story of love, brotherhood and the fight for liberty....

1851: After the death of her father, young Eve Richards is destitute. Her struggle to survive sees her deported in chains to the colony of New South Wales, penniless and alone. But here in this strange new world fortune smiles on the spirited, clever Eve in the shape of a respectable job offer that will lead to a quiet, secure life. Then the fiery and charismatic Irishman Kieran Clancy crosses her path...

For Kieran Clancy, the kindest man on earth, and his brother Liam, the promise of free passage and land in this brave new world is a chance to leave the grief and starvation of County Clare behind. But while Liam works to farm their land, Kieran has the fire of gold-fever upon him and is drawn to the goldfields of Ballarat. As tensions grow on the goldfields, and with the blood of an Irish rebel still beating through his heart, Kieran finds himself caught up in the cataclysmic events at the Eureka Stockade and faces the decision of a lifetime: whether or not, when it comes to love, blood will remain thicker than water...

 

O’Connor has excelled with this emotional and heart-wrenching saga of a family striving for a new beginning in a foreign untamed land.

I love reading books on early Australian setters, both convicts and free settlers. I quite often find reading about the early days of Australia raw and confronting. In a Great Southern Land is no exception, although not as harsh as some I’ve read that delve into the atrocities against convicts and the aboriginals. O’Connor steers more towards the difficulties of living in a harsh, barren and isolated area and the budding romance between Kieran and Eve.

Irishman Kieran Clancy and his extended family have been granted free passage to New South Wales and a parcel of land on arrival. Kieran had a burning desire for vengeance against oppression. Their leaving doesn’t happen without much controversy and heartache.

Eve Richards finds herself without a job and back on the streets of Vauxhall, Liverpool. A misadventure with police ends with her in prison and sentenced to a life of servitude in Australia.

Kieran was a cocky Irishman very sure of himself but also sure of what was right and what was wrong. He would always put someone else’s safety and rights before his own. He lived his life passionately and impetuously. Always doing what was right.

The story follows Kieran working at the shipyard, in 1800’s Sydney, where he teams up with Dave spending their spare time drinking and fighting then moves on to the goldfields where, like so many others, they hoped to make their fortune.

Kieran’s brother Liam, sister Eileen her husband and three children settle on their property in Orange waiting for Kieran to join them.

A chance encounter with Kieran ends with Eve working as a servant and companion to the mistress of an isolated country property.

In a Great Southern Land encompasses what it means to be free incorporating the free settlers, convicts, the gold rush, Eureka Stockade, prejudice and the general hardships of a harsh landscape.

In a Great Southern Land is an incredibly moving tale and the author’s notes at the end are equally as moving. Set aside some time, this is one book you won’t be able to put down.

My rating  5 / 5  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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

and book #10 in the Australian Women Writers challenge

Letter 'I' in the 2019 A-Z challenge

Photo credit: Goodreads

Mary-Anne O'Connor has a combined arts education degree with specialties in environment, music and literature. She works in marketing and co-wrote/edited A Brush with Light and Secrets of the Brush with Kevin Best.                                                                          Mary-Anne lives in a house overlooking her beloved bushland in Northern Sydney with her husband Anthony, their two sons Jimmy and Jack, and their very spoilt dog Saxon. This is her fourth major novel. Her previous novels, Galipoli Street (2015), Worth Fighting For (2016) and War Flower (2017), have all been bestsellers.