No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay

Cynthia Archer, 14 years old, is discovered in a car with an older boy by her father and she and her father argues and Cynthia screams that she hates her parents. When she woke up the next morning she discovers that she is all alone, her father, mother and brother have all disappeared.

25 years later Cynthia is trying to find the answers to what happened all those years ago and agrees to do a dramatisation for TV, hoping that someone will have the answers and to get her family back. Once aired it becomes clear that someone does not want Cynthia to investigate the disappearance of her family and she, and her own family, comes under threat.

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At first this was a very exciting book and I liked the way it was written and the suspense was built up in a very thrilling way, urging me to read on. Sadly, this was not kept for the second part of the book and it sort of died on its arse becoming very predictable and all the excitement just vanished, very much like Cynthia Arher's family. All in all it wasn't a bad book - it just became one of the others, the ones that are all alike and one that I will have forgotten in a not too distant future. Read it if you fancy something familiar but be warned - bring another book to read as soon as you finish No Time for Goodbye.

Without A Backward Glance by Kate Veitch

The McDonald family were just about to celebrate Christmas when mother of 4, Rosemarie, told her children that she had to go out to buy some lights for the tree - she never came back. The lives of the four children changed forever as they had to adjust with a life without their mother. The family all moved on with their lives without speaking about the pain cased by the abandonment and how it affected them and the choices they made.

40 years later one of the children, James, encounters their mother by chance and everything that was kept under wraps surfaces again. Secrets kept for almost 40 years threatens all their relationships and they all have to face their past whether or not they want to.
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This was a book that I picked up by chance as I'd finished all the books I'd brought with me for our holiday and as I left those books at the "leave one - take one" shelf at the hotel I had a quick glance at Kate Veitch's book and decided to take it.

I had no particular expectations as I'd never heard of it before and it was a decision made within 1 minute. It's an easy book to get in to and the characters are described in a very refreshing, honest way, I can see parts of myself in their traits and those of my own siblings. The characters as real as fictional characters can be and I found myself engrossed in their lives, feelings and decisions. I agreed and disagreed with their behaviour towards their mother and sometimes thinking "that was harsh" or "don't make it easy for her" etc etc.

Without A Backward Glance is Veitch's first novel and it's certainly one of the better "first novel" I've ever read and I'm looking forward to finding other books by her. This is not the type of book I usually read/pick up for a holiday but it was a good choice and I'd like to thank whomever put it on that shelf for allowing me to find Kate Veitch.

Aaaarrrghh!

Am still lazy and the panic continues to rise along with the pile/s of books that I haven't written about. I have started to write about most of them but it gets kind of blah, blah blah...bland and if I can't do a good book justice then I'd rather leave it.

I think I'll get a little notebook to jot down little ideas and things to say [write] about different books. Hopefully that'll help.

Writer's Block or Just Laziness?

The book below completely ruined it for me. I have since finishing that monster read several books but to actually write about them here? Nooooo, it's just not been happening.

But.

I will do better and I feel up for getting stuck in again. The only downside now is that I feel a teeny bit stressed about it being so many.

Oh well. I guess there's always going to be something so I might as well get on with it.

The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by G.W. Dahlquist

I'm not really able to write a synopsis of the book as it's very complicated and I must admit it took me ages to figure it out myself. This is a very, very odd book that I found impossible to put down but I never really understood it. I have got a very vivid imagination but I could not, to save my life, bring any pictures to life and that's a first for me.

The book is written in the way where 1 chapter is dedicated to one of the maincharacters and they alternate which can be a bit annoying as the 3 characters interact and you sometimes read about the same thing 3 times but from different viewpoints. This isn't normally a problem but when each chapter is over 100 pages long and every tiny little atom is detailed then it can be a bit ... long. But. You don't really miss anything if you skip a couple of pages (about 50 or so) when it gets a bit repetetive - and that's good, I guess.

One of the reasons I find it to be such an odd book is that I couldn't put it down despite not really liking it or did I? You see, that's what's really bugging me - I can't work out if it's a good book or not. I'm sort of leaning towards it being so complicated and therefore fantastically good but too complicated for me to get it.

I think this book promised so much but didn't quite deliver or maybe it did and, like I've already said, I just didn't get it.

Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn

Oooooh! The second novel by Deanna Raybourn and the sequel to Silent in the Grave!! I was so excited when I finally received it that I tore the packaging apart and got some nasty cardboard cuts on my fingers but it was all worth it people! It was all worth it.

The story picks up where the first one left off and it's written in the same engaging way as SitG. Lady Julia and her brothers have been summoned home from Italy to spend Christmas at their family home in England. She has not heard from Nicholas Brisbane in several months but is determined not to let it dampen her spirits. But as she finally arrives home she realises that Brisbane has also been invited to spend Christmas at the March's mansion and he is not alone, he has brought his fiancée! This is not something Lady Julia can spend a lot of time thinking about as a murder takes place and the two have to work together to find the culprit!

It's now time for my second "Oooooh!" and oh my what an "Oooooh!" it is. It may not be quite as good as the first book but I also had such high expectations that I doubt it could have but it is as close as a good follow-up novel has ever been. It's fantastic! I love the way Raybourne describes the milieu and the characters and I really, really wish the next Lady Julia Grey Mystery could come out....NOW!

Going Dutch by Katie Fforde

Two women are living on a barge. The younger woman, Dora, has just called off her wedding and her best friend's mom, Jo, who was dumped by her husband for a younger model lets Jo stay at the barge she's living on. The two women... yada yada yada

Sorry about that but I couldn't be bothered to summarise any more of Going Dutch. I have read several of Katie Fforde's novels and I am sad to say that this one had me yawning from beginning to end and I'm quite annoyed over the fact that I spent £6.99 on it. I actually kept on reading hoping it'd get better but towards the end I read a few sentences that made me gag as it would have been too cheesy and corny for the slimiest kind of novels*. It's so bad it doesn't even work as a joke, that's how bad it is.

If you think I'm lying you can check it out for yourself the next time you enter a book store. It's sort of halfway through the last chapter. But. If you can't be bothered, and I suggest that you stay away from this book anyway, then here you go - the most vile thing I've ever read;

"You can go anywhere you like. The world is your oyster. You are the pearl."

Eeeurgh!

C'mon Katie Fforde - you can do so much better than this. I should also try to say something nice and I can - the cover is nice, I particularly like the wellies...

*I have yet to read such a novel but now I've read 3 sentences of one...

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Rayburn

Lady Julia's husband dies during a dinner party which is not only very inconvenient for the guests but Lady Julia had no idea she would be wearing black so soon. Shortly after her husband's demise Lady Julia is called upon by a private investigator claiming that her husband's death was not due to natural causes. The idea of her husband being murdered brings Lady Julia out of her comfortable environment and into the less aristocratic parts of London but she must find out if it 's true or not.

I decided to buy this book after having read the first 3 lines:
"To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband's dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching on the floor."

Well, what can I say? There was no way I would not buy a book with such an introduction and it kept on delivering more and more and better and better. At times it's funny and at other times a bit sad but the quality is high throughout.

It's a difficult book to write about because I know I couldn't do it justice. So there's really only a few things to say;
1) I've ordered the second novel "Silent in the Sanctuary" from Amazon.co.uk and I can't wait until it gets here
2) It's one of the best books I've ever read!

The Shakespeare Secret by J.L. Carrell

Kate is the director of Hamlet at Shakespeare's Globe when she has a visit from an old friend, Roz, with whom she fell out with some years back. Roz asks for Kate's help with something important but it must be kept a secret. Before they have a chance to talk Roz is murdered. Kate decides to try and find out what it was Roz was searching for. When people around Kate starts to die in ways copied from Shakespeare's plays she realises that she has to follow it through to the end or she too will die without having found the truth.

Ok, how many have read the Da Vinci Code? Did you enjoy it? Despite it being poorly written? I agree that The Da Vinci Code was entertaining as far as the idea of it but that's as far as it got, at least with me...

Why am I writing about a book that's not the one I've just read? Well, it's just to explain that the idea behind i is the same. Ancient secrets (although not as ancient as The Da Vinci Code - that was about Jesus) that can be tracked down and brought to light. Some people want it discovered, others are ready to kill for it to remain a secret. So far there's little difference between The Da Vinci Code and The Shakespeare Secret.

But! and that is a very big "but" - where The Da Vinci Code was poorly written, The Shakespeare Secret is the complete opposite. It's well written with a flow that was non existent in Dan Brown's book. Not to mention how nicely Carrell has managed to fit in various quotes and anecdotes from Shakespeare's plays and life. It's not only entertaining, it also told me a bit about the plays that I have no knowledge of.

You don't have to be a Shakespeare fan to read this book - or maybe you shouldn't be - I know for one, that the only play by Shakespeare I've thoroughly enjoyed is Macbeth. I did, however, really like reading this book and I enjoyed Carrell's style of writing so I'll most definitely read more books by her.

Heaven Sent by Christina Jones

Clemmie is a girl who haven't been able to settle down with a job that she likes and/or a boyfriend. Not for lack of trying but she knows what she wants to do and who she wants to be with (and do). Clemmie has always been crazy about fireworks and it just so happens that the local fireworks company is run and owned by a total hottie...

Enter various misunderstandings that are the essence of books like this one and that's also exactly why we like them.

It's quite a fun book to read even though, as mentioned above, it's fairly predictable but it doesn't matter that it is. I like it anyway and I enjoyed reading it and to be honest, I haven't read a book that focus on fireworks and the chemistry behind it and it works. It works quite well in a book like Heaven Sent.

Run For Home by Sheila Quigley

A girl is being kidnapped and it becomes clear to her older sister, Kerry, that it all has something to do with what happened 16 years ago. Something that has had a big impact on her family's life. Kerry's mother refuses to talk about it so Kerry has to search on her own as she fears that the police aren't to be trusted.

It's a thriller/crime novel. It's not bad at all, it made me want to finish it (in a good way) but it was also fairly predictable albeit with a few twists and turns.

It's a safe book to read but what i really like about it is that it's written in a new "fresh" kind of way. If I were you I'd read it if I came across it and you were in the mood for a simple but enjoyable read.

Call The Midwife by Jennifer Worth

- A true story of the East End in the 1950s -

Jennifer is training to be a midwife by an order of nuns that worked in the slums since 1870s and she experiences poverty and the hard life lived by the people in the London docklands in the 50s but she also discovers something that goes beyond the surface. A sense of community where families are everything and the ability to enjoy life despite all their hardships.

This is not the kind of book I'd normally pick up and I am very glad that I did. Jennifer describes her work in a way that makes you feel as if you were her assistant during all those labours. There's the Spanish lady who's pregnant with her 25th child and all the other people that somehow have etched their way into Jennifer Worth's heart and memories.

It's sometimes difficult to envisage what it was like to live in the East End during the 50s as it was quite severely damaged by the bombs during the war and even though plenty have tried to describe it, it's just passed me by. Jennifer Worth has the ability to write and describe her life and experiences in a way that makes you embrace and cherish the insight she's given you, without ever going "over the top".

The book is brilliantly written and you can really feel the love Jennifer Worth had for her work, the people she worked with and the area that so many people shunned. I, as a non English person, found it very educational (again without noticing it) and I think it's a book to be appreciated by everyone, not to mention how much easier it is to give birth these days. Jennifer Worth describes a book she used during her studies where the women were advised to contact a doctor if the labour contractions 12 days...

I encourage everyone to read it, you really won't regret it.

The Queen and I By Sue Townsend

The Republican Government has won the British election and the first thing on their agenda is to get rid of the Royal Family. It doesn't take long until they all have been sent off to live on Hell Close Estate where they have to live off benefit and whatever they can. This is not necessarily an easy thing for anyone and even less so if you are the Family.

And for the people already on the estate the question is: "How do you talk to someone whose head you are used to licking and sticking on envelopes?"

I must admit that I was never one for the Adrian Mole series but I wanted to read this book by Sue Townsend as 1) I'm a sucker for the British Royal family - but no I don't buy any kind of paraphernalia with their pictures on and 2) I think The Queen seems to be really witty and she is very fond of dogs and horses... and that's got to count for something!

This book is fantastically funny. I don't know the Royal Family very well (at all) but doesn't seem to be an all together inaccurate description of their characters*. Some will have read it to make fun of and laugh at the Royal family but that is not how I read or perceived it to be. The Queen and her family may be a very privileged group of people but they're still a family and families need a strong matriarch, The Queen, and matriarchs can deal with a lot of things. So when I say that it's a fun book, then that is what I mean, they may be put in funny circumstances but you're not laughing at them. well, that's not what I did - we'll have to wait and see what Boyfriend thinks after he's done with it as we're not exactly of the same opinion when it comes to the Royal family but I think he's softening up a bit...


* an argument based on what I know, which has come from various reports and interviews - some which are not very favourable and some that are.