Book Review: Kathy gates: Juliet's Journey

Juliet's Journey

Author:  Kathy Gates

Title:  Juliet’s Journey

Genre:  Contemporary, Novella, Humor, Funny, Travel, Romance, Contemporary romance, literature and fiction, contemporary fiction, women’s fiction, woman’s writer,

Synopsis:  Juliet Carlsen is grieving the loss of her mother. Six weeks after the funeral she is about to arrive in a tiny village in northern Italy. The village, Baiardo, is home to an art school where she is to spend a month as a volunteer. Her best friend had convinced her that a change of scene would do her good but, as she nears her destination, she is not so sure: was it really necessary to travel so far out of her comfort zone?
Baiardo turns out to be her haven. The warm welcome and serene beauty work their healing magic. The attentions of a handsome local named Luca don’t hurt either. Then someone from Juliet’s past shows up and turns everything on its head.

Review:  the thing I really admire (and love) about Kathy Gates' work is her ability to transport you to a place. It's not just her knowledge of Baiardo, but also her obvious love for the village,  that infuses the story and leaves you with a desire to know it as well as she does.Ms Gates is also wonderful at creating a beautiful, diverse cast of characters. There were a lot of them, so much so that I was struggling to keep up with them all at times (although, in fairness, it was quite late at night when I decided to read it). But every one of them is wonderfully drawn, with some great idiosyncrasies. Even Stuart was someone I loved to hate - we all know people like him.It's a story about self-discovery, friendship, coming to terms with loss, love (for a place as well as people), and the triumph of small village values over the big capitalist machine. Well, it's open-ended...but in my head it's triumph!  Really good book and it was easy to get in to and l could not put it down once l started reading it and l highly recommended it to anyone and even if you are not in to this type of book it's good to read outside your favorite genre and try something new and improved your reading to different types of books and genre and authors

About the author:  Kathy Gates loves three things: walking, travel and writing. Her novels and shorts stories aim to combine all three. Born and raised in Sydney, Kathy now lives in Hobart - it's like Sydney but smaller and the food and wine is better.Kathy has a background in marketing where she enjoyed making up stories; writing novels seemed an obvious career move.

Edition:  kindle

Star rating:   5 out of 5 stars

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Book Review: Annie Murray: The Narrowboat Girl

The Narrowboat Girl



  

Author: Annie Murray

Title: The Narrowboat Girl

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Romance,

I was given this book.

This book has 457 pages and 48 chapters in it.

I would tell people that you should step outside your comfort zone with books because it is good to add more authors and genres to your reading portfolio. Even if you do not read books like this.

I normally read books of this genre but l also stepped outside my comfort zone with authors and genres l am so glad l did because l have read so many great books and come across some great authors.

I highly recommend this book.

Synopsis: Young Maryann nelson is devastated at the loss of her beloved father.But worse is to come when her mother Flo, sees an opportunity to better herself and her family in a marriage to the local undertaker Norman griffin. Through on the surface a caring family man, Norman is not at all what he seems. As Maryann and her sister Sally soon discovers. Unable to turn to their unsympathetic mother for support, the girls are left alone with their harrowing secret. But for Sally it is too much too bear... The chance of a new life opens up for Maryann when she befriends Joel Bartholomew. Aboard his narrowboat, the Esther Jane, she finds herself falling in love with life on the canal as she is swept away from Birmingham and all her worries. Until Joel's feelings for Maryann begin to change, awakening all the old nightmares that she thought long buried, and in panic and confusion she takes flight... Maryann     runs away and works in a house for a bit until one day she chooses to go down to the boats to see if the Esther Jane is there and she does not see Joel, his Father or Ada she seen Joel's brother Darius and she asked about his father who was also named Darius and Ada but their sister Ada had drowned four years ago and Maryann  started to cry she had to wipe tears away and she says she was a good one your sister and Darius said Joel was in hospital because he was very ill with his lungs and Maryann offered to go see Joel in hospital and seeing Joel made Maryann realize she really did love Joel and Maryann's sister Sally had took her own life after what Norman did to her and she could not take any more. Maryann burnt down Norman's business and Norman left her mother after that. Maryann's mother did not like that her daughter had to say about Norman she called Maryann a dirty liar. Maryann asked her brother Tony to found out where Norman is so she can face him and her brother finds him and he is living with another mother and her two daughters and one reminds Maryann of the way Sally looked and she confronts the woman and told her everything that he did to Maryann and Sally and the woman did not believe Maryann and her daughters said you are not going to be here to stop it.

Review: I found this book really easy to get in to and hard to put down once l started reading it and l have the follow on to this book it is called the water gypsies and l would say to have both so you can carry on the story. I really liked reading about MaryAnn and siblings being with their father and getting a kitten and how they use to go meet their father from work until he got hit by a car and sadly passed away. Their mother married Norman Griffin and l found it hard to read what he did to Sally and MaryAnn and to them other innocent girl it was horrible and it was upsetting to read that Sally and Maryann's mother did not believe them. I was sad to read that Norman waited until Flo's niece was dying to rape MaryAnn. It was sad to read that Maryann's baby cousin passed away and so did her beloved Nan and Norman killed all the animals that her Nan had by breaking their necks and he killed Maryann's precious kitten tiger that her father got her before he passed away. I was sad to read that Sally took her own life after the what Norman did to her and l was glad MaryAnn burnt his business down. I was sad that Norman moved on to another woman with her two daughters. I was sad that Joel's mother Esther had died and Ada drowned. I was glad MaryAnn was helping Margaret and Amy tell their mother who did not believe them at first and then Margaret set him on fire after he raped her in front of Amy it is a very sad book but there is some good parts. I was glad Margaret and Amy's mother believed them and Amy Made her way to Nancy's house where Maryann was staying. I can not believe Maryann's mother did not believe what he was doing to them. Maryann's mother hates MaryAnn because Norman left her because she had no daughters at home. I was happy to read that Maryann married Joel and Joel did not die. I was glad to read that Nancy got out of her abuses marriage and gets with Darius wish she could of married Darius though. She goes to live with him on a boat and l was sad to read that Joel and Darius's father had to stay on dry land with his sister because he was getting to poorly to be on the boat. Maryann had a son with Joel and names him after his father and she finds out she is pregnant again. Maryann said if the baby was a girl they would name her Sally or Ada because they had both sadly passed away. Maryann was angry that when Sally died her mother buried her as a griffin not nelson that was their father's surname. Maryann's mother sounds like she did not care about her children she only cares about the money and trying to better herself no matter the cost. Maryann's mother hates Nancy's mother.

About The Author: Annie Murray was born in 1960 in Berkshire, and studied English at oxford university. Her first job took her to Birmingham where she met her husband, John. They have four children. In 1992 she began writing her first Birmingham novel, Birmingham rose, which made the times bestseller list when it was published in 1995. She has written six subsequent novels including, most recently, the highly successful chocolate girls.

About The Book: l love this cover and this book has two different covers and l love the front.

Stars Rating: Five Out Of Five Stars.

Book review : Giselle Green Little Miracles

Little Miracles

Author: Giselle Green

Title: Little Miracles

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Fiction, Chick Lit, Women's Fiction,

Where I Got The Book From: I bought this book out of money l got for my birthday and it come from a book shop called the works.

Book Dedication: To Eliott, Because we both believe in miracles...

I would tell people that you should step outside your comfort zone with books because it is good to add more authors and genres to your reading portfolio even if you do not read books like this.

I normally do not read books of this genre but l stepped outside my comfort zone with authors and genres l am so glad l did because l have read some many great books and come across some great authors.

This book has 416 pages and 58 chapters in it.

I highly recommend this book but l would tell people to have the follow on book finding you so you can read both straight away.

Book Review from other people:

Praise For Little Miracles:

Utterly heart-wrenching... Have a box of tissues handy – News Of The World.

This is a cracking read that will emotionally involve any parent... Exploring the power and strength of love the ending provides more surprises revelations than an episode of Trisha. A must read – Chopsybaby.com.

A Complex emotional Tale that is both heartbreaking and uplifting – Closer.

Morally complex and heart-rending novel – Closer.

A bitter sweet tear-jerker – OK.

A Compelling, tragic read, Though full of surprises and love – The Sun.

Synopsis: When Julia Fearon's Arrives in Spain With Fiancee Charlie And Their Toddler Haydn, She is excited at the prospect of meeting his family. But Julia Happiness is Short-lived as she becomes increasingly isolated from the deeply religious clan, And lies from her past threaten to destroy her future. Tragedy strikes when Julia takes Haydn to the beach. Haydn goes missing presumed he had drowned the search for Haydn gets stopped but Julia does not give up. Hope of seeing her precious little boy again and she will not give up hope of finding Haydn alive. Charlie keeps busy with work when Haydn goes missing. Everybody who knows Julia and Charlie thinks Haydn drowned but Julia does not believe it. Julia is tortured by the thought her child is still alive. Consumed by the fact that they may never know what happened that day. This novel is a heart-warming and emotional.

Review: I found this book really easy to get in to and hard to put down once l started reading it. I am so glad l bought this book now because it is a really good book and l can not put in to words how great this book is l would tell people to read it for themselves to know how great this book is. I am glad this book is in my library and so is the follow on finding you. I was nearly crying at this book because l thought nobody believed Julia about Haydn and l was sad that everybody stopped looking for Haydn and told Julia and Charlie that he had drowned. I was nearly crying when I finished this book because it was so good and l found out there was a follow on and l wanted to know what happened to Haydn and if Julia and Charlie stayed together and got married like they planned before Haydn went missing. I wish l could rate this book more then 5 stars because it is worth more then the 5 stars l rated it.

About the author:  I was born in Chiswick in 1960. When I was 7, the family moved to Gibraltar where in the summer it got so hot we had ‘half-days’ at school. I was one of those rare creatures who loved school but there were beaches to go to. I wasn’t complaining.  Gibraltar is near the tip of North Africa. In the winter it still gets cold though, so like everyone else we watched telly.As a kid, I loved Star Trek and Kung Fu (valiant-but-arrogant Kirk vs Valiant-but-humble Kwai Chang Caine). I wrote fan fiction, putting the crew of The Enterprise through such humorous exploits it made me fall right off my chair. I wrote time slip tales about kids who traveled back to Ancient Egypt. I wrote about a dragon whose best friend was a toad called Groadhop. I wrote and wrote and sent manuscripts off to publishers and – even at 11 – got encouraging feedback and wrote some more.I read voraciously. The best gift I ever got as a kid was my camera. Those days, you had to wait to the end of the roll to develop the photos. You had to be patient and trust. You had to learn the art of delayed gratification. All good qualities for a some-day novelist to develop.At fourteen, I met my soul-mate who I married at eighteen and we’re still together. I appreciate the good people in my life. I am loyal to those who matter. I am a Scorpio. I am interested in astrology and how everything we say and do, says something about what we are, and what we might become. If you ask me what I love (family aside): I love being out in the sunshine, listening to birds singing; I love being by the sea and places where there is a big sky – especially the Med.; I love atmospheric places like castles or walks that lead to old forgotten meadows. I love it when seeds I plant, come up; when birds in the garden visit my bird-feeder. I love being around young people and kids and I am lucky enough to have had six of my own. I love books and films and people that make me feel/think/laugh. I love that I don’t have to commute anywhere to do my job and I can set out my own work-space and I have the freedom to come and go as I like. I am also very happy getting feedback from readers who’ve stayed up till the  wee, small hours to finish one of my books – so if you are one of those, please stop by here some time.Now, that’s enough about me, I have some fictional characters calling!

About the book: the book cover is really nice and beautiful. This book is a tear-jerker with a bit of friendship, Romance, Drama And love.

Star Rating: 5 Out Of 5 Stars.