Book Review: The Girl in the Painting by Tea Cooper #BRPreview

The Girl in the Painting

by

Téa Cooper

Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers Australia
Publication date: 16th December 2019
Genre: Historical Fiction 
Pages: 352
RRP: $32.99 AUD
Format read: Trade paperback
Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Better Reading

Maitland 1913. Miss Elizabeth Quinn is something of an institution in Maitland Town. For longer than anyone could remember she and her brother, businessman Michael, have lived in the impressive two-storey stone house next to the church. When she is discovered cowering in the corner of the exhibition gallery at the Technical College the entire town knows something strange has come to pass.

Was it the prehistoric remains or perhaps the taxidermy exhibition that had reduced the whale-boned encased pillar of society to a quivering mess? Or is there something odd about a striking painting on loan from the National Gallery?

Mathematical savant Jane Piper is determined to find out. Deposited on the doorstep of the local orphanage as a baby, she owes her life and education to the Quinn's philanthropic ventures and Elizabeth has no one else to turn to.

As the past and the present converge, Elizabeth's grip on reality loosens. Can Jane, with her logical brain and penchant for puzzles, unravel Elizabeth's story before it is too late?

Ranging from the gritty reality of the Australian goldfields to the grand institutions of Sydney, the bucolic English countryside to the charm of Maitland Town, this compelling historical mystery in the company of an eccentric and original heroine is rich with atmosphere and detail. 

As soon as I heard of The Girl in the Painting I was expecting to love it. Dual time line Historical Fiction set in colonial Australia; it already featured a few of my favourite themes. And I’m happy to say Tea Cooper didn’t disappoint. The Girl in the Painting is totally immersive. I was hooked right from the beginning. William and Elizabeth Quinn are immediately likeable and young Jane Piper’s character is quirky and endearing.

The Girl in the Painting is set in the New South Wales towns of Maitland in the early 1900’s and Hill End during the gold rush years of 1860’s.

Cooper uses true historical events to set the story solidly in its time and place. I do enjoy a strong female character and both Elizabeth and Jane are characters that are independent and intelligent. Elizabeth instills in Jane independence and the knowledge that women should and can look after their own business affairs.

The Girl in the Painting is an engrossing story featuring a compelling mystery that will keep you turning the pages.

                           🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 

My rating  5/5

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

and book #36 in the Australian Women Writers challenge

 

Tea Cooper is an established Australian author of contemporary and historical fiction. In a past life she was a teacher, a journalist and a farmer. These days she haunts museums and indulges her passion for storytelling. She is the bestselling author of several novels, including The Horse Thief, The Cedar Cutter, The Currency Lass, The Naturalist's Daughter and The Woman in the Green Dress.

 

 

Book Review: I Will Miss You Tomorrow by Heine Bakkeid #BRPreview

I Will Miss You Tomorrow

by

Heine Bakkeid

Translated from Norwegian by  Anne Bruce

Publisher: Bloomsbury Australia 
Imprint: Raven Books 
Publication date: 14th November 2019
Series: Thorkild Aske #1
Genre: Crime / Thriller
Pages: 416
RRP: $29.99
Format read: Uncorrected proof paperback 
Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Better Reading

The first in a new Norwegian crime series featuring disgraced ex-Chief Inspector Thorkild Aske, a damaged man with a complicated past

Fresh out of prison and a stint in a psychiatric hospital, disgraced ex-policeman Thorkild Aske only wants to lose himself in drugged dreams of his beloved Frei. Wild, unknowable Frei. The woman he loved. The woman he has lost forever.
 
Yet when Frei's young cousin goes missing off the Norwegian coast and Thorkild is called in by the family to help find him, dead or alive, Thorkild cannot refuse. He owes them this.
 
Tormented by his past, Thorkild soon finds himself deep in treacherous waters. He's lost his reputation – will he now lose his life? 

Thorkild Aske, former police interrogator, has recently been released from prison when he is asked by an acquaintance to look into the disappearance of his son. Thorkild is not keen but decides to take the job hoping it will take his mind off his own pain following the death of a young woman he was dating. His search takes him to an abandoned lighthouse where his mind starts to spiral into depression.

Told in the first person by Thorkild the reader is left questioning what is real and what is in his head. It is hard work following Thorkild’s mind as he is sporadic and a little unstable living on a cocktail of drugs. I Will Miss You Tomorrow has a complex plot and with a few red herrings thrown in, the perpetrator and the reason came as a complete surprise.

There are parts of the story where you will need to suspend believe. Thorkild manages to get into, and out of, many life and death situations.

Thorkild was hard to connect with although I did enjoy his dry sense of humour and I am looking forward to the next book in the series hoping that our protagonist has gotten over his drug dependency and his suicidal tendencies.

I Will Miss You Tomorrow is eerie, tense and atmospheric with a little paranormal element. Nordic Noir with a good dose of disquiet. 

                           🌟🌟🌟🌟 

My rating 3.5 upped to 4/5 because it's a debut and I like to cut debut authors a bit of slack.

 

 Heine Bakkeid grew up in the rugged landscape of northern Norway. I Will Miss You Tomorrow is Bakkeid's first venture into crime fiction, and has earned him in his home country the critics' recognition as a virtuoso of darkly atmospheric suspense.

                               About the translator 

Anne Bruce has degrees in Norwegian and English from Glasgow University. She lives in Scotland.

Winner of a copy of Six Minutes announced

A big thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway for a copy of Six Minutes . The giveaway closed on 8th December and the winner was randomly selected (using Random org) from all correct entries. 

Congratulations to.....     Sheree

    

You will receive an email soon concerning your win.

Please see my Giveaway tab for more chances to win great books.

 

 

Win Books Books and more Books in my Mega Summer - 2019

I had planned to post my giveaways over a few days but time has gotten away from me again. So I've listed the books for giveaway in one mega form. Enter as many as you like. All books are in paperback form. There are books for all ages and tastes.

The rains come to Brisbane just as Elise and Dan descend into grief. Elise, a scientist, believes that isolation and punishing fieldwork will heal her pain. Her husband Dan, a writer, questions the truths of his life, and looks to art for answers. Worlds apart, Elise and Dan must find a way to forgive themselves and each other before it's too late.

An astounding debut novel that forensically and poetically explores the intersections of art and science, sex and death, and the heartbreaking complexity of love. The Breeding Season marks the arrival of a thrilling new talent in Australian literature.

 Nemesis is a Diabolic. Created to protect a galactic Senator's daughter, Sidonia. There's no one Nemesis wouldn't kill to keep her safe. But when the power-mad Emperor summons Sidonia to the galactic court as a hostage, there is only one way for Nemesis to protect Sidonia.

She must become her.

Now one of the galaxy's most dangerous weapons is masquerading in a world of corruption and Nemesis has to hide her true abilities or risk everything. As the Empire begins to fracture and rebellion looms closer, Nemesis learns that there is something stronger than her deadly force: the one thing she's been told she doesn't have - humanity. And, amidst all the danger, action and intrigue, her humanity might be the only thing that can save her, Sidonia and the entire Empire...

It’s a new day in the Empire. Tyrus has ascended to the throne with Nemesis by his side and now they can find a new way forward—one where they don’t have to hide or scheme or kill. One where creatures like Nemesis will be given worth and recognition, where science and information can be shared with everyone and not just the elite.

But having power isn’t the same thing as keeping it, and change isn’t always welcome. The ruling class, the Grandiloquy, has held control over planets and systems for centuries—and they are plotting to stop this teenage Emperor and Nemesis, who is considered nothing more than a creature and certainly not worthy of being Empress.

Nemesis will protect Tyrus at any cost. He is the love of her life, and they are partners in this new beginning. But she cannot protect him by being the killing machine she once was. She will have to prove the humanity that she’s found inside herself to the whole Empire—or she and Tyrus may lose more than just the throne. But if proving her humanity means that she and Tyrus must do inhuman things, is the fight worth the cost of winning it?

Noah Selvaggio is a retired chemistry professor and widower living on the Upper West Side, but born in the South of France. He is days away from his first visit back to Nice since he was a child, bringing with him a handful of puzzling photos he's discovered from his mother's wartime years. But he receives a call from social services: Noah is the closest available relative of an eleven-year-old great-nephew he's never met, who urgently needs someone to look after him. Out of a feeling of obligation, Noah agrees to take Michael along on his trip.

Much has changed in this famously charming seaside mecca, still haunted by memories of the Nazi occupation. The unlikely duo, suffering from jet lag and culture shock, bicker about everything from steak frites to screen time. But Noah gradually comes to appreciate the boy's truculent wit, and Michael's ease with tech and sharp eye help Noah unearth troubling details about their family's past. Both come to grasp the risks people in all eras have run for their loved ones, and find they are more akin than they knew.

My final giveaway is for the full set of children's first chapter books which were available for free through Big W stores.

All giveaways close at Midnight on Sunday 15th December 2019.

This giveaway is now closed and the winners were - (DonnaRae, Sharah McConville, Renee Hermansen & Bronze Toes.

Book Bingo - Round 25 #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 ''Comedy"

A Comedy

For this category I have chosen "Our Stop". This is a light easy to read Romantic Comedy or RomCom. Daniel see a cute girl on his train every morning and instead of talking to her (because that would be weird) puts an add in the love connections column in the paper. Nadia reads it and answers. The story goes back and forward with a few times their paths actually crossing and almost crossing and they don't realise. Laura Jane Williams has included a few relevant dating topics without sounding preachy. Lots of fun and laugh out loud moments.

You can read my full review here 

 

#BookBingo2019

We have come to the end of Book Bingo for 2019 as the last category has now been filled. Next fortnight we will all have a wrap up of the books we have picked over the year.

Thank you to Theresa, Amanda, Ashleigh, Claire, Jenny who have all made this such a fun challenge to participate in. I'm looking forward to next year's challenge.

 

 

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.