Book Review: A Life of Her Own by Fiona McCallum

A Life of Her Own

by

Fiona McCallum

Publisher: Harlequin Australia 
Imprint: HQ Fiction
Publication date: 18th March 2019
Pages: 405
RRP: $32.99 
Format read: Trade paperback
Source: copy courtesy of the publisher 

 

Alice Hamilton loved being a mature-age student, but now she's finished her university degree she needs to find herself a career. But the job market is tough and it doesn't help that her partner David keeps reminding her about their sizeable mortgage. When she's offered a role in a major real estate agency, she jumps at the opportunity. David is excited by her prospects in the thriving Melbourne housing market, and Alice is pleased that she'll be utilising her exceptional people skills.
But Alice quickly realises all is not as it seems. What is she doing wrong to be so out of sync with her energetic boss, Carmel Gold, agent extraordinaire? Alice is determined to make it work, but how much will it affect her values?
As everything starts to fall apart, a sudden visit home to the country town Alice escaped years ago provides an unexpected opportunity to get some perspective. Surrounded by people who aren't what they seem, or have their own agendas, can Alice learn to ask for what she really wants ... on her own terms?

‘It’s hard when it feels like the whole world is against you.’

A Life of Her Own is a heart-felt story of a woman with low self esteem, from years of mental abuse, and how she gets her life back on track.

I didn’t like Alice at all and then I felt bad for not liking her. She’d had a bad upbringing, always put down by her mother, always being told she was not good enough and her dreams were a stupid waste of time. Alice seemed to attract bullies and I feel that may be the way with people with low self esteem; they are an easy target.

McCallum did an excellent job of portraying how a narcissist works. There were a lot of relevant issues explored in the book. Narcissism and gas lighting are real and I think those involved need to be called out on their behaviour.

I don’t think the development of Alice’s character was well executed. We never did get to see the happy Alice she says she was before the bullying by her new boss. All we got was a confused person that didn’t like anyone. She didn’t like her mother or sister, she didn’t like her first husband, she didn’t like her present partner, she didn’t want the well paying job offered to her, she had no respect for her brother-in-law, she liked her step-father but couldn’t understand why he was so stupid to stay with her mother, she didn’t like Helen (even though she never took the time to get to know here) and the list goes on. If you always focus on the negative, life will be negative.

Lauren was the shining light in this story. She was a true and loyal friend to Alice. Always calling her and checking if she was ok. Dropping in to lend a shoulder to cry on and listen to Alice’s problems. Lauren is the one to eventually encouraged Alice to follow her dreams and supported her in ways only a true friend would.

It took a while for Alice to find herself and work out exactly what she wanted in life and to be responsible for her own happiness. Alice’s final chosen career was a surprise. I think she will need to toughen up to get through it though.

As much as I didn’t connect with Alice the story still grabbed me. I couldn’t stop reading. I picked the book up whenever I had a spare minute. And isn’t that what a great story is all about?

 🌟🌟🌟

My rating  3/5

*This review is: 
Part of the Book Lover Book Review Aussie author challenge
& Book #14 in the Australian Women Writers Challenge

 

 

Photo credit: Goodreads

Fiona McCallum spent her childhood years on the family cereal and wool farm in rural South Australia and then moved to inner-city Melbourne to study at university as a mature-age student. accidentally starting a writing and editing consultancy saw her mixing in corporate circles in Melbourne and then Sydney.
She returned to Adelaide for a slower paced life and to chase her dream of becoming a author - which took nearly a decade full of rejections from agents and publishers to achieve. Fiona now works as a full-time novelist and really is proof dreams can come true. Fiona writes heart-warming stories of self-discovery that draw on her life experiences, love of animals and fascination with the human condition. 

She is the author of ten Australian bestsellers: 'Paycheque', 'Nowhere Else', 'Wattle Creek', 'Saving Grace', 'Time Will Tell',  'Meant To Be', 'Leap of Faith', 'Standing Strong', 'Finding Hannah' and 'Making Peace'. A Life of Her Own is Fiona's eleventh novel.   



 

Mailbox Monday - April 29th

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. 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. Head over and check out other books received during the last week. 


This week I didn't receive any books for review. I didn't win any books and I didn't buy any books. (I've been very restrained with my ARC requests). 
But the lack of new additions to my 'to be read' pile gives me a good chance to catch up on some of my outstanding Netgalley reads. I've recently seen some excellent books on Netgalley that I would love to request but I feel I need to get my outstanding books read first.

During the last week I've read 

A Life of Her Own by Fiona McCallum
A story about a 30 year old woman who has low self esteem, due to her harsh upbringing, working out what she wants from life.

The Border by Steve Schafer
Follows four teenagers who escape from Mexico with a band of Narcos after them and a bounty on their heads.








I enjoyed a lovely lunch out with my daughters on Saturday and had the grandchildren over for Sunday night dinner.
Our pre-lunch coffees. 

 

What Books did your postman deliver this week?

Post a link to your Mailbox Monday or simply list your books in the comments below.

 

 

 

Storybook Corner Book Review: I Love My Mum Because (Children's Picture Activity Book)

I Love My Mum Because

by 

Petra James

Illustrated by Alissa Dinallo 

Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Publication date: 26th March 2019
Pages: 32
RRP: $14.99
Format Read: Hardback
Source: Courtesy of the publisher

This book is for you and your mum.

Draw, decorate, colour in, count, spot the mum, make a butterfly (or two) and then present the book to your mum for any special occasion: birthday, Xmas, Mother's Day ... or just because.

An interactive picture book to personalise for your mum.

Out in bookstores in time for Mother’s Day giving, what could be more cherished than a book completed by your own child. There are activities to share; colour the flowers, write a wish inside the bubbles, play hide & seek, go on an ice-cream hunt, help the tooth fairy find the tooth. Thirty two pages of fun colouring and activities for you to share and keep as a lasting reminder of your little ones thoughts and dreams.

Dot loved this book! The only thing she loves more than craft and colouring-in is drawing pictures of her mum and the first pages of the book have gorgeous frames to draw pictures of Me and my mum. Jay didn’t get a look in with this book so I was delighted to see that I Love My Dad Because will be out in August 2019, just in time for Father’s Day.

Dot's drawing of her mum.

                             

The book, designed and illustrated by Alissa Dinallo, features bright engaging colours and the illustrations have a childlike whimsy about them that is sure to appeal to young children.

I Love My Mum Because is an interactive picture book perfect for ages 3 – 7

Dot & Jay's rating 5/5  🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 

About the author 

Petra James is the author of ten books for middle-grade readers. She has worked in publishing for more than twenty years, and has been a children's publisher for thirteen years.

About the  illustrator

Alissa Dinallo has been a book designer for eight years. In  2015, she started her own company and won the Australian Book Design Association Award for Young Designer of the Year. She has designed more than 200 titles and was featured on the Forbes 30 under 30 Arts list 2018.

 

Book Club Book Review: The Chocolate Maker's Wife (Historical Fiction)

The Chocolate Maker's Wife

by

Karen Brooks

Publisher: Harper Collins 
Imprint: HQ Fiction
Publication Date: 18th February 2019
Pages: 608
Format Read: Paperback
Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Beauty & Lace book club 

Growing up in an impoverished household with a brutal family, Rosamund Tomkins is both relieved and terrified when her parents all but sell her in a marriage of convenience to a wealthy nobleman, Sir Everard Blithman. Though Rosamund will finally be free of the torment she’d become accustomed to in her childhood home, she doesn’t know if she’s traded one evil for another. But much to her surprise, Rosamund soon discovers that her arranged marriage is more of a blessing than curse. For her new husband recognizes not only Rosamund’s unusual beauty, but also her charm and vibrancy, which seem to enchant almost everyone who crosses her path.

Sir Everard presides over a luxurious London chocolate house where wealthy and well-connected men go to be seen, exchange news, and indulge in the sweet and heady drink to which they have become addicted. It is a life of luxury and power that Rosamund had never imagined for herself, and she thrives in it, quickly becoming the most talked-about woman in society, desired and respected in equal measure. But when disaster strikes, Rosamund stands on the brink of losing all she possesses. Determined not to return to poverty, Rosamund makes a deal with the devil that could preserve her place in society—or bring her the greatest downfall.

The story follows 17 year old Rosamund Ballister in a Cinderella style tale when she is married to Sir Everard Blithman and taken away from her home where she is treated like a servant and abused by her step-father and step-brothers. However Sir Everard has plans for Rosamund and those plans are mainly as a source of revenge. 

Sir Everard is kind and courteous. He encourages Rosamund to take an interest in his new chocolate house. Drinking chocolate was new to England and was professed to cure ailments. Rosamond had a flair for chocolate making and her beauty and easy manner drew many customers.


As time went on cracks began to show and doubts set in as to Sir Everard’s benevolence.
Set in 1660’s London The Chocolate Maker’s Wife is a fascinating portrayal of that era. Brooks’ descriptions of the chocolate making and the different additives used to enhance it were enthralling. With this period in time going through some shocking upheavals such as political and religious unrest, suppression of the press, the great plague and the fires of London it makes for a compelling tale.

The Chocolate Maker’s Wife is a story filled with treason, deceit and lies all centred around a delicious chocolaty heart.

This review is part of the Beauty & Lace book club.

My rating  8/10

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

and book #13 in the Australian Women Writers challenge

 

Photo credit: Goodreads

Karen Brooks is the author of twelve books, an academic of more than twenty years experience a newspaper columnist and a social commentator, and has appeared regularly on national TV and radio. Before turning to academia, she was an army officer for five yaers, and prior to that dabbled in acting.                                                         

She lives in Hobart, Tasmania, in a beautiful stone house with its own marvellous history. When she's not writing, she's helping her husband Stephen in his brewery. Captain Bligh's Ale and Cider, or cooking for family and friends, travelling, cuddling and walking her dogs, stroking her cats, or curled up with a great book and dreaming of stories.