Category Archives: Books

CARIADS’ CHOICE: MAY BOOK REVIEWS

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Jan Baynham’s Her Mother’s Secret, reviewed by Judith Barrow

Her Mother’s Secret is set against the background of the Greek island of Péfka during different eras; 1969 and 2011. Two time frames linked by the two main characters, Alexandra and her mother, Elin; connected through time, by the diary that Alexandra finds after her mother’s death.

Elin and Alexandra are complex, well-rounded characters; very much of their time. Although never together in any scenes, the love they have for each other is threaded throughout the story. And the author has ensured that the reader becomes engrossed in these characters by intertwining their stories with a cast of believable minor characters.

The portrayals of the settings give an evocative sense of place.

There are many themes: of love, relationships, mystery, crime, secrets and friendships, woven to give a good balance of romance with a believable darker side of life.

Her Mother’s Secret is a novel I recommend to readers who enjoys a story grounded in the Romance genre but reveals itself to be so much more.

 

Angela Petch’s The Tuscan House, reviewed by Jessie Cahalin

A story about the extraordinary lives of ordinary people during World War Two. The colours and culture of Italy are scarred with the horrors of war, and I was transported to war torn Italy by this clever, sensory writer.

Fosca’s resilience and resourcefulness impressed me.  She recounts the bravery of women resistance fighters (partigiani) who took unthinkable risks, but never boasts about her own wonderful courage. Petch creates wonderfully real characters who involve you in their emotional journeys and you witness them change.  Fosca shares the wisdom she had learned throughout.

Tuscan House is also crammed with action sequences and a wonderful secret. This complex world is presented effortlessly and explores love, motherhood, friendship and courage.

Another gripping novel from this writer. This novel is so much more than another story of a Tuscan house and I highly recommend it. I can’t wait to read the next book.

 

Kate Field’s Finding Home, reviewed by Morton Gray

Loved this book and the concept that a chance encounter can lead to a whole new way of life. I related to Mim and her wounded soul. The story made me long to be at the seaside again and to find out more about fossil hunting. The characters are well drawn and the hero, Corin very attractive on the page. I even worried about the dog! I’ve loved all of Kate Field’s books and this was no exception. More please …

 

Suzanne Fortin’s The Forgotten Life of Arthur Pettinger, reviewed by Carol Thomas

When I saw this book’s gorgeous front cover I knew I wanted to read it. From the very start, I was drawn into Arthur Pettinger’s life, a man in his nineties struggling with his memory as dementia is increasingly taking hold.

I adored Arthur, who has led an incredible life, including his SOE role in the war. His granddaughter, Maddy, and great-granddaughter, Esther, were lovely, supportive characters. Their warmth towards Arthur, compassion and understanding was touching.

The dual timeline that runs through the book, revealing snippets of Arthur’s life and love in WWII occupied France, had me turning the pages, as did the present-day search for Maryse (his past love).

The story is one of emotional highs and lows, love and loss. The ending is beautifully written, albeit that it had me sobbing. I loved this emotional, heartfelt read as much as I did Arthur, but I would advise having tissues at the ready.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CARIADS’ CHOICE: BANK HOLIDAY SPECIAL BOOK REVIEWS

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Lizzie Lamb’s Harper’s Highland Fling, reviewed by Jessie Cahalin

Harper expected to travel to Tibet on her holiday adventure, but her niece decided to run away to Scotland with the son of the local car mechanic. Witty, feisty headmistress, Harper, meets her match and is forced to squeeze into biker’s leathers to travel with Rocco to Scotland.

‘At least she hadn’t fallen off the motorbike…or clung to him like a medieval maiden slung across a knight’s errant saddle.’

Forget Nepal, Harper must save Ariel, or does Harper really need to save herself? The novel is packed with expectation, and stereotypes of a headmistress and car mechanic are challenged as we get to know and love the characters – perfect.

Rocco is not about to save the feisty maiden but ‘without meaning to she’d got under his skin and he couldn’t resist winding her up.’ On the other hand, Harper thinks Rocco is ‘an enigma wrapped in a conundrum.’

 

Maggie Mason’s The Halfpenny Girls, reviewed by Susanna Bavin

What I loved about this book, and what made it, for me, a stand-out saga, was the concentration on family life. Sagas often revolve around the work-place, but this pre-war story is firmly rooted in the hardships faced by three close friends because of their family circumstances. Violence, alcoholism, betrayal and dementia are all woven into the tale – alongside love, loyalty and the determination of the three young heroines to do their very best for their nearest and dearest, despite every hardship. There are no easy answers to the problems each family faces – just a wealth of warmth and understanding from an accomplished author. This is a complex story with strong, cleverly interwoven plots; well-drawn, multi-layered characters; and, above all, a powerful sense of the importance of family.

 

Faith Hogan’s The Ladies’ Midnight Swimming Club, reviewed by Morton Gray

Loved this book on so many different levels – the characters and the challenges they face. I didn’t think I would like the book being written from so many different points of view, but it was seamless and added to the story. He doesn’t even feature in the novel, but I wanted to bop Elizabeth’s late husband on the nose, especially towards the end of the book. I was praying for Lucy’s son, Niall to make the right choices, shed tears over Jo and Dan. I want to go and stay in Dan’s rented house on the hill and take part in the Ladies’ Midnight Swimming Club. Great book and I’m off to find the author’s other stories.

 

Helga Jensen’s Twice in a Lifetime, reviewed by Natalie Normann

This book is pure enjoyment from start to finish.

Amelia is the mother of twin boys, recently divorced and mostly a sensible woman. She struggles  with how her life has turned out. When Amelia finds the phone number of a gorgeous man she met in New York years earlier, her best friend Sian starts looking for him. And despite all of Amelia’s attempts to hold back, she soon finds herself in a huge mess. It’s hilarious!

This book got me through tax season, by providing a wonderful distraction and lots of laughs. Amelia is such a lovely person who tries so hard, you can’t help falling in love with her. There are twists that I didn’t see coming, and I loved the surprises. All I wanted was for it not to end! Helga Jensen knows how to tell a good story that stands out in the crowd. It’s right there on my top romcoms list now. That’s a five stars from me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ERIC CARLE, 1929 – 2021

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Eric Clarke, author, hungry caterpillar.
‘In the light of the moon,
holding on to a good star,
a painter of rainbows
is now traveling across the night sky’
The Carle family announces with great sadness that Eric Carle, beloved artist, illustrator, and writer, passed away peacefully and surrounded by family members on May 23, 2021  at his summer studio in Northampton, Massachusetts. Eric was 91.

A true creator, Eric Carle is renowned for his multi-dimensional practice, spanning a large body of fine art works in collage, painting, works on paper and fabric, and sculpture; theater and furniture design; and the stories he envisioned in over 70 brilliantly illustrated and designed children’s picture books. The books Eric created across more than 60 decades have sold over 170 million copies and include timeless classics such as Do You Want to Be My Friend? (1971), The Grouchy Ladybug (1977), Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me(1986), “Slowly, Slowly, Slowly,” said the Sloth (2002), The Very Clumsy Cricket (2017), and so many more. His best-known work, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, has been translated into over 70 languages (including Mongolian) and shared around the world since its publication in 1969.

Drawing on his formal training and ongoing practice as an artist (which Eric fondly referred to as his “art art”), Eric quickly developed a distinctive, personal style that he continued to explore and refine in his books, illustrations, and fine art. Numerous artistic influences came together in Eric’s creative output. His art took root in the long tradition of collage, an artistic technique tracing back to the 1900s Dadaist movement, combined with his hand-painted, colorful, and textured tissue papers, which recall the work of abstract artists associated with the Academy of Fine Art Stuttgart (the so-called Stuttgart avantgardists), from where he earned his fine art degree.


Eric Carle. Photo: Motoko Inoue
Eric’s prolific career as a picture book illustrator began by chance in 1967 when author Bill Martin Jr, while in a doctor’s office waiting room, saw a medical advertisement in a medical journal for antihistamines with an illustration Eric had done of a big red lobster. Soon after, Martin invited him to illustrate Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and the experience sparked his interest in creating his own stories, combining his artistic abilities with his experience in the field of printing.

His first original, 1,2,3 to the Zoo, was published the very same year. The book was published by Philomel Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers, and edited by the late Ann Beneduce, who Eric has always credited the success of his early works. They would go on to work together for the next fifty years.

Bright collage images, imaginative stories, and little details – die cut pages, a firefly’s twinkling lights, a quiet cricket’s song – made Eric’s illustrations uniquely playful. Eric was the recipient of the 2003 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award (now called Children’s Literature Legacy Award) and held eight honorary degrees, including from Williams College and Amherst College. He remains an important influence on artists and illustrators at work today.

In 2018, Penguin Young Readers established The World of Eric Carle, an imprint dedicated to Eric’s work. Eric is also published by Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins Children’s Books, and Macmillan. In 2020, the World of Eric Carle was the #1 bestselling literary preschool brand, led by The Very Hungry Caterpillar,which was 2020’s 16th bestselling book of the year, and the #1 best-selling board book. Penguin Young Readers continues to publish new books featuring Eric’s iconic and beloved characters and artwork under The World of Eric Carle imprint.

Eric’s career as a creator extended far beyond his beloved children’s books—his independent artwork (or “art art”) is the root of his deeply individual style, reflecting a sense of whimsy, unfettered creativity, and calculated spontaneity. Utilizing materials such as aluminum, silk, glass, including scraps, and objects found in his studio, Eric amassed an extensive body of visual artworks throughout his lifetime including abstract collages, glass sculptures, and works on paper. Part of Eric’s early training as an artist was to treat all the arts, commercial or otherwise, with the same dedication, the same passion, and the same respect.

Eric was a true artist until the end—creating drawings as recently as this spring. Eric’s last drawing series, created in his final years, include several with “50 cents” written onto the image. When asked about this choice, he said that “children should know they too can sell their artwork.” A child at heart, the secret to Eric’s incredible legacy as a creator of picture books lay in his intuitive understanding of young minds—their feelings and their inquisitiveness, their creativity, and their intellectual growth. Besides being beautiful and entertaining, his books always offer children the opportunity to learn something about the world around them and encourage them to engage as artists themselves.

It was in this spirit that Eric and his wife Bobbie Carle (1938­-2015) co-founded The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts in 2002. The Carles envisioned the museum as “a place for young visitors’ very first visit to a museum”, preparing them to develop the habits of museum going and discovery. The first major museum in the country dedicated to picture book art, it is a champion for illustrated children’s literature, collecting and exhibiting original illustration, and encouraging guests of all ages to read and create art. In summer 2020, The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art presented Eric Carle’s Angels: An Homage to Paul Klee, an exhibition of 20 abstract assemblages dedicated to artist Paul Klee (1879-1940), who created over 70 drawings and paintings of angels during his lifetime. Eric’s singular, bold, three-dimensional “Angels”, created from painted cardboard and found objects, are a testament to the expressive power of collage in the hands of a master. His wishes for this series were that they never be conserved. Instead, he asked they be allowed to naturally disintegrate. The series represents a small but notable period of Eric’s extensive work in visual art.

Eric was born is Syracuse, New York on June 25th, 1929, and at the age of six moved with his parents Johanna and Erich Carle, both German immigrants, back to their hometown of Stuttgart, Germany. After graduating in 1950 from the prestigious Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart (Akademie der bildenden Künste), he fulfilled his dream to return to America—the place of his happiest childhood memories. In 1952, with a portfolio in hand and $40 in his pocket, he arrived in New York City. With the help of the illustrator and art director Leo Lionni, who would go on to become a mentor, Eric landed a job as a graphic designer at The New York Times. He was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War; after discharge he returned to his job with The New York Times and later he became an art director of a medical advertising agency, L.W. Frolich. Eventually, he was promoted to oversee International Hiring, recruiting art directors for the agency’s international offices (London, Mexico City, and Frankfurt), a job that took him away from designing himself. He soon left and began a career as a freelancer designing book jackets, album covers, and eventually children’s books.

Eric is survived by his two children from his first marriage to Dorothea Carle (née Dorothea Wohlenberg), Rolf Carle and Cirsten Carle, and Rolf’s wife Teresa Toro; his sister Christa Bareis, and his sister-in-law Rita Wiseman. Eric was preceded in death by his wife of 42 years Barbara ‘Bobbie’ Carle (1938 – 2015). Eric was a resident of Key Largo, Florida, where he and Bobbie lived since 2004.

An artist till the end, Eric continued to create art until early May 2021. Some of his latest works on paper can be seen here.

Online condolences, memories, and photos may be shared with the Carle family at:

Website: www.ericcarle.art/
Facebook: @ericcarleartist
Instagram: @ericcarleartist
#RememberingEricCarle

The Pact by Sharon Bolton | Book Review

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I love getting my teeth into a good thriller and The Pact by Sharon Bolton is like a big, juicy steak. The characters are so vivid and the writing is so insightful that I loved every page. This clever book about six talented friends and the consequences of a very stupid thing they do. The daredevil game goes wrong and a woman and her two children die. It is heart-rendering stuff and someone must pay the price.
One of the friends, Meghan, takes the blame and pays a huge price. When she is released from prison the real fun begins. This is a clever and entertaining book that leaves you gripped all the way to the end.

A golden summer, and six talented friends are looking forward to the brightest of futures – until a daredevil game goes horribly wrong, and a woman and two children are killed.

18-year-old Megan takes the blame, leaving the others free to get on with their lives. In return, they each agree to a ‘favour’, payable on her release from prison.

Twenty years later Megan is free.
Let the games begin . . .

The Pact is available here.

Animal by Lisa Taddeo Book Review

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Lisa Taddeo, Animal, book, book review,

Animal is a searingly dark book. Lisa Taddeo takes you into the dark heart of what trauma does to a woman. All of those ‘tiny little rapes’ and things that happen that build up to the pure rage of a woman. It is so refreshing to have a writer who writes about women to unapologetically, and who writes about their anger and rage. Even if the character is one who makes bad life decisions. Yet Taddeo writes the story so perfectly that she unwraps the psychology of her character and how she came to be who she is with precision. You don’t need to like female characters.

Taddeo is so brave and writes with no filter. It is how all writing should be done, of course. That makes the writer no less brave for putting a story out there. There was never any doubt that Animal was going to be one of the books of 2021. But beware, before you read it: brace yourself. You will not be able to forget it.

This is the first novel from the author of Three Women which was a global phenomenon.

I drove myself out of New York City where a man shot himself in front of me. He was a gluttonous man and when his blood came out it looked like the blood of a pig.

That’s a cruel thing to think, I know. He did it in a restaurant where I was having dinner with another man, another married man.

Do you see how this is going? But I wasn’t always that way.

I am depraved. I hope you like me.

MEET JOAN: 24th June 2021.

Animal is available here.

 

Three Weddings and a Proposal By Sheila O’Flanagan Book Review

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Three Weddings and a Proposal - bestseller Sheila O'FlanaganI have read quite a few of Sheila O’Flanagan’s books now and I am always impressed by the depth of her female characters. They are not your silly carbon-copy women. Delphine is no exception. The main character of Three Weddings and a Proposal will have you cheering her on at every point. She is such a great character and grows so much throughout the novel, it is impossible to not love her.

Three Weddings and a Proposal is a doorstopper of a book and it is such a joy to lose yourself in it. I also loved the fact some of the book is set in Mallorca as it felt like I was on holiday. With all of its twists and turns and fantastic characters, it is impossible not to love Three Weddings and a Proposal. It is an entertaining book full of depth, warmth and happiness. Loved it.

Three Weddings and a Proposal (HB, £20, Headline Review) will become a much-loved staple for readers of Sheila’s books. In her classic style, it’s set between Ireland and Spain, continually transporting the reader straight to the sparkling seas and sun-baked streets of Mallorca. Sheila grapples with the complexities of dilemma and change, gets to the heart of empowerment for women and champions finding your feet. Her books always feature a strong female protagonist, are always fun with characters you really care about and have a big dollop of warmth throughout.

Delphine has worked hard for her success, but her opinionated family aren’t convinced that her lifestyle could truly make her happy. While at a wedding, Delphine hears some shocking news that will make her revaluate all that matters to her – will love, family and compromise come before her career, security and independence?

Out on 20th May.

THE BOOKS THAT CHANGED ME BY HÉLENE FERMONT 


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Ever since I was very young my parents instilled in me a love for literature. We had a big library room at the back of the house, with books by all kinds of authors, Swedish and international, filling the shelves. I distinctly recall my mother’s delight each time someone gave her a new book – she’d read and share it with the members of her book club. She went to great lengths preparing lovely delicious lunches and dressed up for the occasion. Back then, in the 80s, books were special and quite expensive. Some even impossible to get hold of. My parents queued up outside the biggest bookseller for hours on end one night in February every year to browse and buy new books by their favourite authors. They always bought new books for me and my brother and gave them to us on our birthdays. I still remember the excitement of reading a new book.
There are too many authors whose books I loved then, and regularly return to, to list here. My favourite books are the kind of books that linger in my heart and mind long after I’ve finished reading them. As the author of character driven Psychological Thrillers, and a huge fan of character focused books, the following books changed me and inspired me to write.

Loves Music Loves To Dance by Mary Higgins Clark
This book centres around personal ads, and was published before the Internet.
It highlights the dangers of meeting strangers and is a gripping story with great characters. I’ve read all her books and learn something new each time I return to them.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larson
After reading this intriguing and very graphic book, I became hooked on the sequels and, of course, the wonderful complex main character and storyline.

Small Town Girl by LaVyrle Spencer
The storyline centres around a famous singer who returns home to look after her mother. The characters are so vivid, complex and human I instantly felt and feel as if they could be part of my life. I always return to this author’s books to inspire me.

Hamilton Beach by Linda Olsson
This is a very sad book about grief and the grieving process, and how loss affects us when we least expect it. The book is written from the main character’s point of view and perspective of what happened years ago and the place they used to love. The characters and emotional journeys are wonderful as is the beautiful scenery. This is a hard book to read but very relatable for people in a similar situation. The author’s books centre around universal topics and unexpected life changing events.

Yes Of Course It Hurts When Buds Are Breaking by Karin Boye
Karin Boye’s one of Sweden’s most famous author and poet. This is my favourite poem as it touches my heart in numerous ways.The words and sentiments are beautiful, very relatable and sad. I think of my beloved parents and all the wonderful times we had together. This was their favourite poem as well.

 

 

M W ARNOLD – A MAN IN A WOMAN’S WORLD?

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Not all romance writers are women… so I asked Mick Arnold to write about his publishing journey.

Good day and thank you very much for having me. My name is Mick Arnold and I write sagas as M W Arnold.

Those are words I certainly don’t think I’d have been putting down even a year or two back. So what was I doing at that time? Well, doing my best to recover after being laid low by illness, to be truthful and writing wasn’t top of my to-do list. I had written and indeed, had a women’s fiction novel, ‘The Season for Love’ published back in 2017, but whilst recovering I hadn’t been able to pick up my work-in-progress. An author friend persuaded me to try something different, something which wouldn’t put me in a bad place, so to speak.

Shortly after she’d made this suggestion – the author in question was Elaine Everest by the way – I watched a documentary on the Air Transport Auxiliary. This sparked something inside me and shortly after, I found myself scrolling around the internet to find out more about this organization who were responsible for the delivery of the military aircraft used by the Royal Air Force during WW2.

Fast forward about nine or so months, and I found myself pitching the story to some agents at the Romantic Novelists’ Association conference. Nothing came of that, so I began to pitch it to publishers online. I ended up with a contract for what became ‘A Wing and a Prayer’ with the American publishing house, The Wild Rose Press. From virtually out of nowhere, I was being published again.

Once more, I’ve found myself published in a predominantly female line of publishing…I couldn’t be happier! I’ve many good friends in the romance genre due to my previous book and my membership of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, and I’m very happy to have found the same very warm welcome in the saga/historical genre. I do find this a little strange as in most lines of work where you are in direct competition, there is much back-stabbing, but there has been none of that. Everyone has been so very welcoming and I feel as if I’m in a big, happy family. I don’t feel like I’ve been treated any different being a man as I would if I were a woman, and there aren’t many lines of work I reckon could say that.

My one regret? Well, no prizes for guessing. I’ve only, like everyone else, been able to chat online with my fellow authors and I really can’t wait for that to end!

Find out more about Mick and his books at https://www.facebook.com/MWArnoldAuthor