Saturday, 6 January 2024

Book Review: Christmas by Candlelight by Karen Swan

 Christmas by Candlelight

by

Karen Swan

Snowed in for the holidays ....

Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Publication date: 17th October 2023
Genre:Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 416
Source: Own purchase
 

Review: Christmas by Candlelight  

I'm a great fan of Karen Swan and I especially look forward to her Christmas themed book each year.
Christmas by Candlelight is a dual timeline narration, alternating between 2014 and 2023.
 
2014 - features a group of six, 21 year-old, house-share uni students. There is lots of drinking, partying and hooking up. There is unrequited love within the group and a tragic event for one of the girls. The main character Libby is not so much a party girl. She is more into studying and takes her degree seriously.
 
2023 - Libby finally agrees to a Christmas dinner party with the group after avoiding them for the previous nine years and old frictions within the group resurface.
 
I found it very hard to connect with the characters for the first half of the book. They all felt a bit bland and the story was very slow going. By the second half I had more of a feel for the dynamics and the tension ramped up as the group were snowed in, cut off from the outside world, with no power.
 
There were a couple of twists toward the end that I didn't see coming but overall this was just an okay read for me. I found the story was geared toward a younger 'than me' age group with influencers, drunken parties and hook-ups. Even though I was a little disappointed I am still eagerly looking forward to Karen Swan's next Christmas novel.
 
my rating 3 / 5  ⭐⭐⭐ 
 
Other Karen Swan Christmas novels I've reviewed:
 
 

Wednesday, 3 January 2024

Book Review: The Diemen Alexander by Marie Heitz

 The Diemen Alexander

by

Marie Heitz

Publisher: Clan Destine Press
Publication date: 16th October 2023
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 316
RRP: $32.95AU (paperback)
Source: Courtesy of the publisher
 

Review: The Diemen Alexander

The Diemen Alexander is a science fiction / fantasy genre mash-up.
 
After a fire rips through Kunanyi (Mount Wellington) Luke is gripped with guilt as it was exactly what he had wished for as his final school photography 'ecological nightmare' project.  
Taking a trip up the ravaged mountain Luke finds a small lizard amongst the devastation. Not wanting to leave it there to die he takes it home to feed and water it. The lizard now named Alexander, eats everything Luke offers. He is surprised he can eat so much and seems to be growing just as fast.
After lots of research Luke suspects that Alexander may be a modern-day Tasmaniosaurus Triassicus. Now he must find out more and also protect Alexander from ruthless profiteers.
 
I loved the concept of the story. Alexander was so little and cute it was easy to fall in love with him and I could see why Luke would do anything to protect him. As Alexander grew the story became darker - themes of dominance, anorexia, murder and child abuse emerge.
Heitz raises moral questions about who gets to judge whether people are fit to live and whether humans are protecting animals or dominating them.
 
I read a few reviews that stated they found the book humorous. Maybe it's just my sense of humour but I didn't see any humour. I actually found the story quite dark. I would classify it as a science fiction thriller with moral undertones.
 
Science fiction fans will enjoy!
 
my rating 3.5 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐½


Monday, 1 January 2024

Book Giveaway: Summer 2024 giveaway

 I have two fabulous book packs to giveaway. The books are all Advance Reader Copies that I haven't had the time to read. Some have been on my shelf for years.
 
The books are listed below. Enter for the pack that interests you or both packs if you wish.
 
Entry is via the form below.
 
Pack 1:
Mussolini's Island by Sarah Day
 Francesco has a memory of his father from early childhood, a night when life for his family changed: their name, their story, their living place. From that night, he has vowed to protect his mother and to follow the words of his father: Non mollare. Never give up.

When Francesco is rounded up with a group of young men and herded into a camp on the island of San Domino, he realises that someone has handed a list of names to the fascist police; everyone is suspicious of one another. His former lover Emilio is constantly agitating for revolution. His old friend Gio jealously watches their relationship rekindle. Locked in spartan dormitories, resentment and bitterness between the men grows each day.

Elena, a young and illiterate island girl on the cusp of womanhood, is drawn to the handsome Francesco yet fails to understand why her family try to keep her away from him. By day, she makes and floats her paper birds, willing them to fly from the island, just as she wants to herself. Sometimes, she is given a message to pass on. She's not sure who they are from; she knows simply that Francesco is hiding something. When Elena discovers the truth about the group of prisoners, the fine line between love and hate pulls her towards an act that can only have terrible consequences for all.
 
The Good Children by Roopa Farooki
 Leaving home is one thing. Surviving is another.

1940s Lahore, the Punjab. Two brothers and their two younger sisters are brought up to be 'good children', who do what they're told. Beaten and browbeaten by their manipulative mother, to study, honour and obey. Sully, damaged and brilliant, Jakie, irreverent and passionate. Cynical Mae and soft-hearted Lana, outshone and too easily dismissed.

The boys escape their repressive home to study medicine abroad, abandoning their sisters to their mother and marriages. Sully falls in love with an unsuitable Indian girl in the States; Jakie with an unsuitable white man in London. Their sisters in Pakistan refuse to remain trophy wives, and disgrace the family while they strike out to build their own lives.

As they raise their own families, and return to bury the dead, Sully and Jakie, Mae and Lana, face the consequences of their decisions, and learn that leaving home doesn't mean it will ever leave them.
 
The Flower Arrangement by Ella Griffin
 Golden peonies bowing their heads beneath blue delphinium bells. Delicate pink anemones threaded between freckled green orchids. Soft apricot roses woven together with velvety purple irises. Every bouquet tells a story. And every story begins at Blossom & Grow, a tiny jewel-like flower shop in the heart of Dublin. Here, among the buckets of fragrant blooms, beneath the flickering candles and lanterns, Lara works her magic. Translating feelings into flower arrangements that change hearts and lives. But what about her own heart? Has she really healed since she lost her chance to be a mother? What will happen when her own story takes a sudden turn? Can the flowers that heal the customers work their magic on the florist? Drawing together a delightful cast of characters, Ella Griffin brings her warmth, wit and wisdom to a captivating tale woven around a Dublin florist.
 
Arctic Zoo by Robert Muchamore
 From London . . .
Georgia gets straight As at school, writes essays for fun, has been placed first in twenty-six drone races and has a serious addiction to buying Japanese stationery. She plans to follow her older sister Sophie and become a doctor, but her worldview is shattered when Sophie commits suicide.

To Lagos . . .
Julius lives in Ondo, a Nigerian state where half the population lives on less than a dollar a day. But he isn't one of them. His uncle has been governor of Ondo for more than a decade and his mother is the power behind that throne. He finds refuge in a derelict zoo with best friend Duke, but as the two of them grow close, the world outside becomes more and more hostile.
 
Jane in Love by Rachel Givney
At age twenty-eight, Jane Austen should be seeking a suitable husband, but all she wants to do is write. She is forced to take extreme measures in her quest to find true love - which lands her in the most extraordinary of circumstances.

Magically, she finds herself in modern-day England, where horseless steel carriages line the streets and people wear very little clothing. She forms a new best friend in fading film star Sofia Wentworth, and a genuine love interest in Sofia's brother Fred, who has the audacity to be handsome, clever and kind-hearted.

She is also delighted to discover that she is now a famous writer, a published author of six novels and beloved around the globe. But as Jane's romance with Fred blossoms, her presence in the literary world starts to waver. She must find a way to stop herself disappearing from history before it's too late.

A modern-day reimagining of the life of one of the world's most celebrated writers, this wonderfully witty romantic comedy offers a new side to Jane's story, which sees her having to choose between true love in the present and her career as a writer in the past.
 
Inappropriation by Lexi Freiman
A search for belonging in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs turns into a riotous satire of identity politics in this wildly irreverent coming-of-age story.

Starting at a prestigious private Australian girls' school, fifteen-year-old Ziggy Klein is confronted with an alienating social hierarchy that hurls her into the arms of her grade's most radical feminists. Tormented by a burgeoning collection of dark, sexual fantasies, and a biological essentialist mother, Ziggy sets off on a journey of self-discovery that moves from the Sydney drag scene to the extremist underbelly of the Internet.

As PC culture collides with her friends' morphing ideology and her parents' kinky sex life, Ziggy's understanding of gender, race, and class begins to warp. Ostracized at school, she seeks refuge in Donna Haraway's seminal feminist text, A Cyborg Manifesto, and discovers an indisputable alternative identity. Or so she thinks. A controversial Indian guru, a transgender drag queen, and her own Holocaust-surviving grandmother propel Ziggy through a series of misidentifications, culminating in a date-rape revenge plot so confused, it just might work.

 Pack 2:
The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld
Surging out of the sea, the Bass Rock has for centuries watched over the lives that pass under its shadow on the Scottish mainland. And across the centuries the fates of three women are linked: to this place, to each other.

In the early 1700s, Sarah, accused of being a witch, flees for her life.

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Ruth navigates a new house, a new husband and the strange waters of the local community.

Six decades later, the house stands empty. Viv, mourning the death of her father, catalogues Ruth’s belongings and discovers her place in the past – and perhaps a way forward.

Each woman’s choices are circumscribed, in ways big and small, by the men in their lives. But in sisterhood there is the hope of survival and new life. Intricately crafted and compulsively readable, The Bass Rock burns bright with anger and love.
 
Vendetta by Sarah Barrie
 Ace hacker, former sex worker and vigilante Lexi Winter is now a cop and not keen to revisit her criminal past. But when old friends invoke the wrath of a local motorcycle club - the same club Lexi herself used to work for - she races to help them the only way she undercover.

If Lexi is to save a child's life, she is going to have to go back - back to a life she thought she had outrun. Back to the person she used to be. But her timing isn't great. Former club president Arthur Cronin has finished his long prison sentence and is out for revenge for the death of his wife and child. As he launches a series of bomb attacks on the club members who set him up and the cops who took him down, Lexi is caught in the middle.

Torn between old loyalties and new responsibilities, she must decide once and for all which side she's on, but even if she does decide to break free, are her old criminal friends ready to let her go?
 
The Bone Labyrinth by James Rollins
 A war is coming, a battle that will stretch from the prehistoric forests of the ancient past to the cutting-edge research labs of today, all to reveal a true mystery buried deep within our DNA, a mystery that will leave readers changed forever . . .

In this groundbreaking masterpiece of ingenuity and intrigue that spans 50,000 years in human history, New York Times bestselling author James Rollins takes us to mankind’s next great leap.

But will it mark a new chapter in our development . . . or our extinction?
 
Watch Over Me by Claire Corbett
The foggy northern city of Port Angelsund, gateway to an immense energy reserve under the Arctic Sea, has been subdued and is occupied by soldiers of Garrison.
 
Sylvie, a young woman just trying to survive, is working in a dockside cafe with her mother and little brother. Unknown to them, she has been contacted by her older brother, whose planned act of terrorism will throw the city in chaos.
 
When Sylvie is singled out for punishment at a checpoint, she is rescued from torture by a Garrison Lieutenant. She begins to fall in love.
Watched by Garrison's vast machinery of surveillance, Sylvie discovers she is also now under the protective and suspicious gaze of her lover. 
 
Stay With Me by Maureen McCarthy
 Tess is in trouble. Stuck on a farm outside Byron Bay, cut off from family and friends, Tess knows she must find a way to escape her violent partner to save her life and the life of her child ...

A chance meeting offers a way out - but can she ever trust again? Tess embarks on a desperate road trip back to the heart of her past. But what will be waiting for her at home? Will her family forgive her - and can she forgive them?


 


 

This giveaway is now closed and the winners were announced here: 

Friday, 29 December 2023

Book Review: Fat, Fifty & Fu*ked by Geoffrey McGeachin

 Fat, Fifty & Fu*ked

by

Geoffrey McGeachin

20th Anniversary Edition

Publisher: Clan Destine Press
Publication date: Rereleased on 13th November 2023 
Genre: Crime / Humour
Pages: 232
RRP: $32.95 (paperback)
Source: Courtesy of the publisher
 

Review: Fat, Fifty & Fu*ked

Set in the fictitious small country town of Burrinjuruk, Fat, Fifty and Fu*ked is the quintessential Australian novel. The small town is dying since the main road was diverted and the local bank is the latest business to be closed down. Get ready for the ride of your life with an armed hold-up, murder,  mayhem, benevolent bikies, Government cover-ups and a madcap journey in a sidecar.
 
Martin Carter's life couldn't get any lower. His wife is playing the field, his step-children hate him and the bank he manages is closing today; his fiftieth birthday.
With a mid-life crisis looming Martin decides to hold up the armoured car delivering the payouts for the local miners. He steals a police car and goes on the run. Along the way he meets up with Faith, an ex-librarian ready to have some fun.

Originally published in 2003, and re-released this year by Clan Destine Press, McGeachin decided to stick with the year 2000 setting. It was a simpler time before smartphones, limited social media and the search for the perfect cup of coffee.

It is very easy to like Martin, the underdog, and barrack for him along the way. Faith is also a fabulous character, putting her librarian smarts to use throughout the journey.

Fat, Fifty & Fu*ked is fast-paced, witty, wild and outrageously funny, served with a side dish of romance.
It's a book I found hard to put down wanting to know how Martin and Faith would get out of this mess.

Fat, Fifty & Fu*ked is the funniest book I have read in a while.

My rating 5 / 5  🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣



Sunday, 24 December 2023

Wishing you a Merry Christmas from The Burgeoning Bookshelf - 2023

 A big thank you to all my followers for all your support. I will be back soon with my 2023 challenge update (let's see how I went). Until then have a wonderful Christmas and I hope you find a favourite book, or two, under the Christmas tree.
 
I know, on my last review, I promised that a giveaway would be coming soon and I haven't forgotten. Last week I was struck down by the dreaded Covid and spent a few days in hospital so all my reading and reviewing has been sidelined while I rest and recover. 

Not having read anything for well over a week I started on Jo Dixon's latest offering A Shadow at the Door (which will be released on 3rd January 2024) and I can assure you it's going to be another massive hit for Jo. Jo's debut was The House of Now and Then which I rated 5 stars.



Tuesday, 12 December 2023

Book Review: For Once in My Life by Karly Lane

 For Once in My Life

by

Karly Lane

Sometimes love can show up in the most unexpected places
 
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Publication date: 28th November 2023
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 363
RRP: $32.99AU (paperback)
Source: Courtesy of the publisher
 

 Review: For Once in My Life

For Once in My Life is another huge success from author Karly Lane.
I absolutely enjoyed everything about this story!

The main character, Jenny, is easy to warm to. Jenny is turning fifty and after a very hectic two years, post divorce, getting her life back on track she is ready to relax a little. However her three grown daughters, who have all returned home after differing life events, decide mum needs to have some fun, maybe even find love again. The girls secretly set up a dating profile for their mum and start chatting and setting up dates with potential love interests.
We follow Jenny on her dates, all at the local pub, most are a disaster and she is a little embarrassed and a little annoyed that the cute barman seems to be taking it all in.

Jenny is such a lovely person and wonderful mum and grandmother. She was so patient with her daughters' antics. There are lots of laugh-out-loud moments throughout the story and most are at Jenny's expense but she comes across as the sort of person who would be mortified one minute and laughing along the next.

As with all Karly's books, between the humour and flirting, there are many pertinent themes explored, such as; reviving small country towns, restaurants sourcing local food, small-town gossip, age gap relationships and life after divorce.

For Once in My Life (honestly, I can't get that Stevie Wonder song out of my head) is engaging and fun, a feel good story not to be missed.

My rating 5 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


I have giveaways coming soon - stay tuned!
 

Thursday, 30 November 2023

Book Review: Deep in the Forest by Erina Reddan

Deep in the Forest

by

Erina Reddan

What lies behind the walls of the Sanctuary? 
 
Publisher: Pantera Press
Publication date: 28th November 2023
Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Mystery/Thriller
Pages: 296
RRP: $32.99AU (trade paperback)
Source: Courtesy of the publisher via DMCPRMedia
 

Review: Deep in the Forest

Deep in the Forest by Erina Reddan is a fascinating story rich in secrets, lies and betrayal. Filled  with simmering menace it has me hooked from start to finish.

Town pariah Charli Trethan is fed up with being blamed for a crime she didn't commit and plans to leave Stone Lake for a new life overseas.
A gruesome discovery just a few weeks before she is due to leave sees her under police scrutiny again. Then Charli finds a hidden message, a cry for help, from someone within the nearby closed community called The Sanctuary. 

Narrated in first person by Charli who has bouts of depression, I found myself questioning her actions and reasoning. Erina Reddan had me reeling back and forward with who could be trusted and what the truth was.

Reddan digs deep into communal living and exactly how voluntary joining a cult is when they prey on the vulnerable.

Deep in the Forest starts out at a slow pace as the scene is set but as the story twists and turns and the suspense ramps up it had me questioning what I thought was true right up to the adrenaline fuelled ending.

My rating 4 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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