An Unlit Candle by Caren J. Werlinger #DualTimeline #LiteraryFiction #TuesdayBookBlog

Posted in Book Review, Contemporary, Dual Time Line, Gay Romance, Historical, Literary Fiction, Romance by Cathy

Author: Caren J. Werlinger

Published: September 2021 by Corgyn Publishing

Category: Contemporary, Historical, Fiction, Religion, Literary

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Patricia Horrigan is the eldest daughter of a family determined to gain entry into the upper echelons of Rochester society as the 1950s give way to the turbulence of the 60s. Born of an Irish father and a French-Canadian mother, Pip inherited the stubborn pride and fierce determination of both.

In present time, Lauren Thackeray has managed to put her life back together—in a manner of speaking. She has her weaving, her home, her chosen family, and she has the monastery and the lasting friendship of the nuns there. The one thing she doesn’t have, she doesn’t want. She won’t open her heart again after she barely survived the last time.

I enjoyed In This Small Spot so much I jumped at the chance to read An Unlit Candle. Told in two alternating timelines, part sequel, part prequel, and woven together beautifully. I think this story would definitely benefit from being read after In This Small Spot.

We first meet Patricia (Pip) Horrigan in the late 1950s as she and brother accompany their parents to a ball at the Wasserman’s, where it pays to be seen. Mr Wasserman would play an ongoing role in Pip’s life.

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29Nov2021

Dark Is The Grave: A DCI Bone Scottish Crime Thriller by TG Reid #BookReview for #RBRT #CrimeThriller

Posted in Book Review, Crime, Fiction, Murder/Mystery, Police Procedural, Thriller by Cathy

Author: TG Reid

Published: July 2021 by Glass Works Press

Category: Police Procedural, Fiction , Crime Thriller

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When the chief suspect in the notorious Peek-a-boo cop killer case blew himself up, almost taking lead investigator DCI Duncan Bone with him, the psychologically damaged detective thought his days on the force were over. But when another PC is abducted and murdered in the same deranged Peek-a-boo fashion, Bone is persuaded to return to lead the new investigation. But as Bone and his team hunt a copycat killer, and with time running out before yet another cop is slain, Bone’s terrifying past returns to tear open old wounds and push him to very edge of the abyss.

Can DCI Bone end the killing before the killing ends him?

Set among the dramatic hills and glens of Scotland’s Campsie Fells, Dark is the Grave is the first in a series of edge-of-your-seat crime thrillers that will keep you guessing right up to the nail-biting, heart-stopping climax.

Dark Is The Grave opens with a horrific prologue. PC Hazel Garvey has been abducted and buried alive, a crime which is reminiscent of the Peek-a-Boo serial killer who was killed in an explosion. Also caught in the explosion and seriously injured was DCI Duncan Bone. He was lucky to be alive. Left to cope with PTSD and a ruined home life, he was physically and mentally damaged, which probably accounts for his general irascibility.

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25Nov2021

#PublicationDayPush ~ Snow-Kissed Proposals by @JenniAuthor and @ElisabethHobbes #FestiveShorts #HistoricalRomance @rararesources

Posted in Book Review, Festive, Historical Fiction, Romance, Short Stories, Victorian by Cathy

Welcome to the publication day push for Snow-Kissed Proposals, courtesy of Rachel’s Random Resources.

My Thoughts

The Christmas Runaway

The Christmas Runaway finds Fiona MacKay lost in the Scottish Highlands, soaked through by the relentless drizzle and wearing uncomfortable new ankle boots. She had acted impulsively, running away from what she considered an unbearable suituation at home, deciding to visit her friend Mhairi in the hopes of making her father see sense. Her maid, Emily, and luggage were waiting at the train station, and now here was this unkempt stranger offering to take her to her destination. She should have listened to Emily and stayed the night in Aberdeen but she’d been too stubborn.

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18Nov2021

#ThrowbackThursday ~ Disappearing in Plain Sight (Crater Lake Series Book 1) by Francis Guenette #Literary #ContemporaryFiction

Posted in Book Review, Coming of Age, Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction, Throwback Thursday by Cathy

I read Disappearing in Plain Sight back in 2014 for Rosie Amber‘s Book Review Team and enjoyed it very much.

My Thoughts

Lisa-Marie is spending the summer on the beautiful shores of Crater Lake, Vancouver Island, with her Aunt Bethany and her aunt’s partner, Beulah. They live by Camp Micah, a refuge for troubled teenagers who have spent years in care, and among a small diverse community who all have their own conflicting personalities, emotions and issues.

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16Nov2021

The Moon Over Kilmore Quay by @HappyMrsH #ContemporaryFiction #Family #TuesdayBookBlog

Posted in Book Review, Contemporary Fiction, Family Drama, Family Saga, Romance by Cathy

Author: Carmel Harrington

Published: May 2021 by HarperCollins

Category: Contemporary Fiction, Romance, Family

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Brooklyn, New York,
Bea has grown up in the heart of the Irish community, always hearing stories of home. When she discovers a letter from her younger self, written years before, it sends her deep into her own family history.

Kilmore Quay, Ireland.
Years earlier, Lucy Mernagh leaves her much-loved home and family in search of the New York dream. The Big Apple is a world away from the quiet village she grew up in, and the longing for home aches within her.

Bea O’Connor, one of the second generation of Irish immigrants born in Brooklyn, always felt that Ireland was a large part of her heritage and who she was. She’d grown up listening to the nostalgic stories told by her grandparents and dreamed of Ireland and visiting there one day. She’s torn between her love of New York and the call of Ireland, not knowing quite where she belongs.

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10Nov2021

A Line To Kill (Hawthorne and Horowitz Book 3) by @AnthonyHorowitz #MurderMystery #CrimeFiction

Posted in Book Review, Crime, Fiction, Murder/Mystery, Suspense by Cathy

Author: Anthony Horowitz

Published: August 2021 by Century

Category: Murder/Mystery, Crime Fiction, Suspense

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When Ex-Detective Inspector Daniel Hawthorne and his sidekick, author Anthony Horowitz, are invited to an exclusive literary festival on Alderney, an idyllic island off the south coast of England, they don’t expect to find themselves in the middle of murder investigation—or to be trapped with a cold-blooded killer in a remote place with a murky, haunted past.

Author Anthony Horowitz has been invited to a meeting at his publishers. Ex Detective Daniel Hawthorne is also invited, although Horowitz doesn’t see the necessity. After all, he’s the writer. Just for once he felt in charge. This was the world of books. His world. Surely it would be Hawthorne that was out of place this time…if he managed to actually turn up. He does, of course, and Horowitz gets the blame for his late arrival.

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2Nov2021

In This Small Spot by Caren J. Werlinger #LiteraryFiction #BookReview for #RBRT #TuesdayBookBlog

Posted in Book Review, Lesbian, Literary Fiction, Romance by Cathy

Author: Caren J. Werlinger

Published: May 2013 by Corgyn Publishing

Category: Literary Fiction, Lesbian Romance, Book Review

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In a world increasingly connected to computers and machines but disconnected to self and others, Dr. Michele Stewart finds herself drowning in a life that no longer holds meaning. Searching for a deeper connection after losing her partner, Alice, she enters a contemplative monastery, living a life dedicated to prayer, to faith in things unseen. Though most of her family and friends are convinced that she has become a nun to run away from her life, she finds herself more attuned to life than she has been in years.

In This Small Spot is a beautifully written and emotional story following the life choices, ups and downs, and introspections of Dr Michele Stewart, a renowned oncology surgeon. Several years after losing her much loved partner, Alice, to cancer, she questions her role as a doctor and her place in the medical profession.

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28Oct2021

#ThrowbackThursday ~ Snowflakes On Christmas Street by Ivy Pembroke #ContemporaryFiction #Romance

Posted in Book Review, Contemporary Fiction, Feel Good Fiction, Festive, Romance, Throwback Thursday by Cathy

‘Take a trip to the most charming street in town.’

This is a lovely story published 4 years ago.

My Thoughts

Bill Hammersley has lived on Christmas Street for ever. Bill remembers fondly when it was a friendly street and people knew and understood each other and he doesn’t like the way things have changed. But things have changed and now there’s little to no interaction or sense of community between the neighbours. Bill has become more and more stubborn and solitary, with no visitors apart from Jack.

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26Oct2021

The Bird that Sang in Color by @grace_mattioli #LiteraryFiction #FamilySaga #TuesdayBookBlog

Posted in Book Review, Contemporary, Drama, Family Saga, Literary Fiction by Cathy

Author: Grace Mattioli

Kindle Edition

Category: Family Saga, Drama, Literary Fiction, Book Review

Part family drama and part self-actualization story, this is about Donna Greco, who in her teens, subscribes to a conventional view of success in life—and pushes her freewheeling, artistic brother, Vincent to do the same. However, he remains single, childless, and subsists in cramped apartments. She harbors guilt for her supposed failure until she discovers a sketch-book he’d made of his life, which prompts her own journey to live authentically.

The Bird that Sang in Color is a generational family saga told from the first person perspective, beginning with teenage Donna, one of six siblings, and ranging from 1970 up to 2012.

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22Oct2021

Making Waves at Penvennan Cove (The Penvennan Cove series Book 2) by @LinnBHalton #BookReview #NetGalley #ContemporaryRomanticFiction @Aria_Fiction

Posted in Book Review, Contemporary Fiction, Family, Romance by Cathy

.Author: Linn B. Halton

Published: October 2021 by Aria

Category: Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Book Review

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For once, things are going well for thirty-year-old Kerra Shaw. She has a fulfilling job helping small businesses in the local community, she is within a few minutes’ walk of all the people she loves best, and most importantly, she has finally got together with her childhood sweetheart, Ross.