Book Review: The Strangers We Know by Pip Drysdale #BRPreview

The Strangers We Know

by

Pip Drysdale

Imagine seeing your loving husband on a dating app. Now imagine that’s the best thing to happen to you all week …

Publisher: Simon and Schuster 
Publication date: 1st December 2019
Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Mystery Suspense
Pages: 336
RRP: $29.99 AU
Format read: Uncorrected trade paperback
Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Better Reading  

When Charlie sees a man who is the spitting image of her husband Oliver on a dating app, her heart stops. Her first desperate instinct is to tell herself she must be mistaken – after all, she only caught a glimpse from a distance as her friends were laughingly swiping through the men on offer. But no matter how much she tries to push her fears aside, she can’t because she took that photo. On their honeymoon. She just can’t let it go.

Suddenly other signs of betrayal begin to add up and so Charlie does the only thing she can think of to defend her position – she signs up to the app to catch Oliver in the act.

But Charlie soon discovers that infidelity is the least of her problems. Nothing is as it seems and nobody is who she thinks they are ...

I just devoured this twisty thriller. Charlie has discovered her husband is cheating when she inadvertently sees his photo on her friends dating app. Her perfect life starts to spiral downhill after her insecurities, old hurts and paranoia set in. Does she really know the man she has married?

Charlie signs up to the dating app, under a false name, and when she gets a message from Oliver she is shocked to the core by what she reads.

When everything seems lost and Charlie doesn’t know who to turn to she seeks out new friend, Brooke, who she met at her yoga class. She hasn’t been that honest with Brooke but Brooke has secrets of her own.

Even though some of the twists were predictable this didn’t take anything away from this tension-filled and well plotted mystery.

Narrated in the first person by Charlie, she is a relatable character and I could understand her trust issues and paranoia. The chapters are told in episodes, like a TV series which is fitting as Charlie is a low grade actress. She views life as if it were a movie script. The good guy should always win in the end. Shouldn’t he?

The Strangers We Know is twisty and tension filled, with a plot that is sure to hold your attention, making this a book that is impossible to put down.

 

                             🌟🌟🌟🌟 

My rating   4/5

Pip Drysdale is a writer, actor and musician who grew up in Africa and Australia. 

At 20 she moved to New York to study acting, worked in indie films and off-off Broadway theatre, started writing songs and made four records. After graduating with a BA in English, Pip moved to London where she dated some interesting men and played shows across Europe. 

Her first novel, The Sunday Girl, was a best seller. The Strangers we Know is her next book and she is working on a third.

  

 

Book Review: Red Can Origami by Madelaine Dickie #BRPreview

Red Can Origami

by

Madelaine Dickie

Publisher: Fremantle Press
Publication date: 1st December 2019
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 224
RRP: $29.99 AU
Format read: Paperback B+
Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Better Reading 

 

Ava has just landed a job as a reporter in Gubinge, a tiny tropical town in Australia's north.

Gubinge has a way of getting under the skin. Ava is hooked on the thrill of going hand-to-hand with barramundi, awed by country, and stunned by pindan sunsets. But a bitter collision between a native title group and a Japanese-owned uranium mining company is ripping the community in half.

From the rodeos and fishing holes of northern Australia, to the dazzling streets of night-time Tokyo, Ava is swept in pursuit of the story. Will Gerro Blue destroy Burrika country? Or will a uranium mine lift its people from poverty? And can Ava hold on to her principles if she gives in to her desire for Noah, the local Burrika boss?

Red Can Origami is a powerful story of country and Australia’s indigenous people.

Dickie shows how big corporations, intent only on their own purpose, destroy the land with no regard to its original owners or their history.

Ava moves to Gubinge, in North Western Australia, to take up a low key journalist position. She is soon poached by the Japanese owned mining company, Gerro Blue, as the go between for the company and the indigenous owners of the land they intend to mine.

Red Can Origami is a beautiful story about the Kimberley region encapsulating the lifestyle and the different people who live and work in the region. Highlighting how big corporations don’t respect the cultural heritage of the area or the original land owners.

The plot was a slow burn and I didn’t see Ava as competent enough to do her job properly. She hadn’t lived in the area long and knew nothing of the local indigenous Burrika tribe’s culture or history which in turn did cause problems.

I recommend you grab a beer and read this story for the pure joy of Dickie’s vivid descriptions bringing to life the fishing, the weather, the heat, the residents of Gubinge and the whole desolation and beauty of the area.

Putting aside the talk of nuclear fallout (because we only get one side of that story) I read this with a heavy heart and deep concern for our country when big money is preferred over cultural heritage and ethical ramifications.

                                                        🌟🌟🌟🌟

My rating  4/5 

This review is part of the Book Lover Book Review Aussie author challenge

and book #35 in the Australian Women Writers challenge

 Madelaine's first book Troppo won the City of Fremantle T.A.G Hungerford Award. It was also shortlisted for the 2018 Dobbie Literary Award and the 2018 Barbara Jefferis Award. Madelaine's next book Red Can Origami will be published by Fremantle Press in 2019.

  

 

Giveaway - Win a copy of Six Minutes by Petronella McGovern

I have a few great titles to give away over the coming weeks. I've been so busy with end of year and Christmas organising that I haven't had time to post a giveaway for some time.

My first giveaway is for a paperback proof copy of Six Minutes by Petronella McGovern (The copy the winner will receive has a proof cover).

How can a child disappear from under the care of four playgroup mums? 

Lexie and her husband, Marty, have moved to Merrigang, a small village on the edge of Canberra, with their three year old daughter, Bella, to start a new life.

One Thursday morning, Lexie pops out to the shop for biscuits, leaving Bella with the playgroup mums.

Six Minutes later Bella is gone. 

As police investigate, onl;ne hate messages target Lexie and Marty, relationships fracture, and the community is engulfed by fear. What are the parents hiding? Why does a local teacher keep a photo of Bella in his lounge room? And how are the angry portests at Parliament House connected?

What happened in those six minutes and where is Bella?

Giveaway:
Enter via the form below. (Open to Australian addresses only). Entries close at midnight on 8th December 2019.

This giveaway is now closed and the winner was - Sheree.

Book Review: The Great Divide by L.J.M. Owen

The Great Divide

by

L.J.M. Owen

Twisted secrets, Hidden victims, Monstrous crimes

Publisher: Echo Publishing

Publication date: 4th November 2019

Genre: Crime / Mystery

Pages: 294

RRP: $29.99 AUD

Format read: C-Format Paperback 

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

In the rural Tasmanian town of Dunton, the body of a former headmistress of a children’s home is discovered, revealing a tortured life and death.

Detective Jake Hunter, newly-arrived, searches for her killer among past residents of the home. He unearths pain, secrets and broken adults. Pushing aside memories of his own treacherous past, Jake focuses all his energy on the investigation.

Why are some of the children untraceable? What caused such damage among the survivors?

The identity of the murderer seems hidden from Jake by Dunton’s fog of prejudice and lies, until he is forced to confront not only the town’s history but his own nature…

Detective Jake Hunter has moved from Melbourne to Dunton, a small country town in Tasmania. He wanted an easy country post to sit back and re-evaluate his life. However only a week in and he is on a murder case when an elderly resident is found dead in a vineyard. Ava O’Brien had run a girls home on the property for many years and appeared to be liked by everyone.

As Hunter continues his investigation more questions are raised about the girls home and a pool of potential suspects starts to mount. The more information Hunter gets the more baffling the case becomes. A murder investigation soon escalates to so much more. This small town is harbouring some shocking secrets.

The Great Divide is an atmospheric tale featuring small town mentality where everyone seems to be related in some way and the town has grissly secrets simmering below the surface. With themes of crimes against children, childhood trauma, PTSD, triggers for mental relapse and nepotism the story is hard to read at times.

This is not a thriller; it’s an intricate and cleverly plotted mystery that slowly unfolds, building on the suspense until its chilling ending.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 

My rating  5/5

This review is part of the Book Lover Book Review Aussie author challenge

and book #34 in the Australian Women Writers challenge

Photo credit: Goodreads

  Dr L.J.M. Owen has escaped dark and shadowy days as a public servant to explore the comparatively lighter side of life: murder, mystery and forgotten women's history. An Australian author, archaeologist and librarian with a PhD in palaeogenetics, L.J. speaks five languages and has travelled extensively through Europe and Asia.

L.J. is the Festival Director of the Terror Australis Readers and Writers Festival, a celebration of literature and literacy in southern Tasmania.

In addition to writing and festival directing, L.J. is a panellist, interviewer, workshop provider and public speaker. Rare moments of free time are spent experimenting with ancient recipes…under strict feline supervision.

Book Bingo - Round 24 #BookBingo

Book Bingo is a reading challenge hosted by Theresa Smith Writes , Mrs B’s Book Reviews and The Book Muse. Every second Saturday, book bingo participants reveal which bingo category they have read and what book they chose. 

This week I have chosen the category ''Non-Fiction book about an event"

A Non-Fiction book about an event:

For this category I have chosen "Renia's Diary". This is the true diary of a young girl from the the age of 15 to 18 during the German occupation of Poland. What I loved, but was also extremely sad, about this diary was Renia was writing this in the moment, as opposed to after the event as some diaries are written. She was oblivious to how bad things were going to get.
You can read my full review here  

 #BookBingo2019