Category Archives: Book Reviews

NEW BOOKS FROM THE CARIADS

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The Secret Sister by Jan Baynham, reviewed by Jane Cable

This beautiful book transported me not only to Sicily, but to mid Wales during the Second World War, and the claustrophobia of the small communities where everyone knew everybody else’s business. It is here the book starts, in 1943, when Italian prisoner of war Carlo meets Sara, who had been trapped in an abusive marriage.

The Secret Sister is unusual for a dual timeline because the whole wartime narrative is played out before the story moves on to 1968, but I can see it had to be this way for the story to work, and the author definitely made the right decision to do so. It is in this second part of the book that we travel to Sicily and Baynham brings the island to life in a wondrous whorl of colours, tastes and sensations. I was absolutely transported there and now cannot wait to visit the island.

I thoroughly recommend this emotional tale of family secrets and enduring love.

 

The Sea Sisters Swimming Club by Sue McDonagh, reviewed by Morton S Gray

Fran is a survivor and a woman cast adrift by a heart attack which cut short her police career. She is finding the adjustment to life outside of the force difficult and unsettling. She really doesn’t know who she is at the beginning of the novel. An opportunity to house sit by the sea in Wales offers her the chance to explore options for her future and rediscover her spirit.

Wyn is also wounded by life after an accident changed him forever both mentally and physically. He agrees to teach Fran to swim and they get ever closer, but he is hiding secrets of his own and has a needy ex-wife.

Enjoyed the references to the Art Hotel encountered in other Sue McDonagh books and the comradery of the sea sisters. I loved some of the secondary characters too – Elin, Gavin, Caitlin. And the novel made me want to enjoy coffee and cake by the sea, even if I don’t venture into the waves beyond paddling, but who knows I may get braver like Fran after being shown a glimpse of possibilities by this book.

A feel good, inspiring read which made me want to read more of Sue McDonagh’s novels.

 

The Lost Heir by Jane Cable, reviewed by Kitty Wilson

The Lost Heir is a dual timeline story that flits between Regency Cornwall and Cornish life in 2020. For the historical element, Jane Cable has taken her location and characters straight out of the Cornish Archives and built a world around them that you can absolutely believe to be true, or at the very least, wish it was.

Jane Cable meshes history, romance, and the supernatural and touches on subjects that are far from easy to write about, rape, the scandal of illegitimacy, the limitations placed on women in Regency times, the lockdowns of recent years; and yet each and every storyline is written with an insight and sensitivity that pulls the reader thoroughly into the world inhabited by these characters.

It is the descriptions of Cornwall however that set this book far above others of a similar vein. I was galloping across the cliffs with William, sat with Harriet as the oil-lamps flickered and I found myself escaping to this book whenever I had a few spare minutes, racing through the story desperate to know how Franny would resolve her situation, keen to know if the modern-day romance could possibly play out as I wished it to.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and if you too want to escape to Regency Cornwall, then I highly recommend that you do so with this beautifully captivating, insightful and evocative book.

 

 

 

 

JANE CABLE REVIEWS…

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The Rescue by S L Rosewarne

What a triumph, writing a whole book for adults from the point of view of a dog. Not something quirky like a comedy, but an at times gut-wrenching novel of human love, grief, desire and second chances.

Told from terrier Moll’s point of view, The Rescue is about what happens after Suki’s beloved husband dies and how Moll resolves to help her to build a new life. Everything is seen from Moll’s eye view and for the author to think herself inside a dog’s head to this extent takes not only exceptional observational skills, but also huge talent as a writer.

 

The Beach Holiday by Isabelle Broom

Although the very first line of this book drew me in, I groaned inwardly when I realised this book had a celebrity protagonist, because it’s a trope I don’t generally get on with. However the setting was son wonderfully drawn I thought I would read on for a while, if only to learn more about creating a sense of place from a writer at the top of their game.

I am so glad I did. After their initial meeting the characters, Honor and Kellan, have real depth and I found them very believable, so I was increasingly drawn into their story. I knew there would be up and downs, ins and outs until they reached their HEA, but this is a romance novel after all. A very good one too, and the perfect book to devour from your sun lounger or on the plane to your perfect holiday destination.

 

Everything is Beautiful by Eleanor Ray

It took me a little while to sink into this book, to properly get a handle on Amy, but I guess that was the point. And I loved the premise of the book as it revealed itself; that everyone has baggage of one sort of another, but it shouldn’t stop you from living your life.

Amy’s life – and house – are filled with things she considers beautiful, and hark back to her relationship with Tim who disappeared in mysterious circumstances some years before. The structure takes us back in time, object by object, which was appealing, as Amy’s life begins to move slowly forwards.

The book is really well written, but I did wonder if every plot strand was strictly necessary, and some fell into place a little too snugly at the end. But overall I thought it a very good read.

 

The Invisible Women’s Club by Helen Paris (published 3rd August)

The main character, Janet, was so harshly drawn in the opening chapters I almost put the book down, but I am so very glad I didn’t because I ended up absolutely loving her story.

Janet is in her early seventies, intensely prickly and full of her own importance. But that hides a terrible loneliness, so achingly described; the loneliness of never having a meal cooked for you by another person, of going through whole days, weeks, months, without having a conversation. Her one solace is her allotment, but even there she seems apt at falling out with other gardeners. The point being, that when you are alone so much you are likely to lose your social skills.

But then the allotments are threatened and Janet smells a rat. She decides to consult a former colleague at the other end of the country and by fluke her outgoing neighbour, menopausal midwife Bev, ends up taking her. And then Janet’s adventures really begin.

This book is all heart and all soul, with a huge dollop of feminist militancy and just the right amount of humour. The more I read, the more I adored it and I thoroughly, thoroughly recommend.

 

CARIADS’ CHOICE BOOK REVIEWS: JUNE 2023

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Jessie Cahalin:

Summer of Secrets by Adrienne Vaughan

Take several leading ladies, a mermaid, Cinderella and a fairy godfather. Let the dreams take you to the magical coast of Ireland. Mysteries linked to the characters’ lives and the history of the place are cleverly interwoven. Like a skilled seamstress, Adrienne Vaughan has sewn the narrative together. Everything is held together by the wonderfully flamboyant Archie, a Hollywood screen legend. Before things change forever, Archie, wants to ensure, those he loves – especially Mia – are given the chance to fulfil their dreams. And to do this, secrets need to be told and their revelations resolved. I could not stop reading to discover if Archie was Mia’s father. Long after you have finished this novel, and the credits roll, you will be thinking about the magic of this story.

 

Morton S Gray:

The Guest House by the Sea by Faith Hogan

Faith Hogan does it again! I have now read all of her published titles and enjoyed each one and The Guest House by the Sea is no exception.

I loved Esme with her vulnerabilities and wise words for all of her guests. I admired Cora, was rooting for Niamh and Rob, empathised with Phyllis and Kurt and was suspicious of Tanya and Paschal. I cared about them all and even worried about how much Marta was doing. Really think Joel Lawson needs his own story please!

Faith Hogan has a way of writing that flows and carries you along as you get closer to the many characters and care about them as their stories unfold. By the time the book is finished, you wonder how you will get by without regular updates on their progress through life. Real issues and problems tackled in a gentle way. Bravo!

 

Jessie Cahalin:

Second Chances by Miriam McGuirk

The sun began to shine as soon as I met Molly. The mystery of her life intrigued me, but her kindness touched me. It is wonderful how she engages in the community, while dealing with her own problems. I also loved Florence, Boudie and Colonel Bryce Beckwith. This delightful multi-generational narrative, and you do not want to leave the people. The author places each single word with care and there is a poetic quality to the style. It was a joy to escape to India and the places in Kent. This is a novel with a great big heart.

 

Jane Cable:

The Book-Lovers’ Retreat by Heidi Swain

This is Heidi Swain’s first standalone novel, and I hope it won’t be her last. She has such an easy, accomplished, style of writing you feel as though you are being told the story by a friend, which only adds to the charm of this escapist book.

Best friends Em and Rachel have been looking forward to a very special holiday in the Lake District for years, but when Tori drops out at the last minute their plans are in jeopardy until the owner of the property gives her some options from her waiting list and after an exchange of emails they’re happy to choose Alex. Except this Alex turns out to be a man.

In the best traditions of friends’ fiction they all have secrets and they all need to revaluate their lives. Inevitably there are ups, downs, and misunderstandings – as well as the occasional curve ball I did not see coming. A really enjoyed joining them on their journeys and had just the tiniest book hangover the morning after I finished it.

 

 

 

 

PUBLICATION DAY SPECIAL: THE GILDED CAGE BY LUISA A JONES

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The Gilded Cage emphatically introduces Luisa A Jones as a fresh and modern voice in historical fiction. It’s hard-hitting, pulling no punches in the way it deals with the domestic violence that is at the heart of this Edwardian story, and the author doesn’t hold back when it comes to the love scenes either.

When Rosamund’s circumstances force her into marriage with Sir Lucien Fitznorton she is too young and innocent to even imagine the horrors that await, sharing her life with this controlling man. At the beginning of the story she is broken, with no allies, but that slowly begins to change when she uses Sir Lucien’s absence to learn to drive. Society and the servants consider her a little mad, but to her it represents a freedom she could never have imagined and she begins to recover at least a little confidence.

Although the story is a little slow to start, later it rattles along, its depiction of life in an Edwardian country house meticulously drawn, and by the end I was quite breathless to know what would happen.

What lingers most in the memory about this book are the brutally realistic depictions of the violence Rosamund has to suffer, particularly contrasted with the tenderness in some of the scenes which follow as she discovers her sexuality for the first time. I asked Luisa why she had chosen to write the book this way.

I was aware when approaching publishers for this book that certain aspects would be too strong for some readers, but I felt it was essential to tell Rosamund’s story honestly, and not to shrink away from depicting the harrowing impact of abuse. It was important to me to have her ultimately finding her own agency, and for her to experience tenderness and pleasure, despite her earlier dreadful experiences.

Rosamund’s story was inspired by several people I know well who have been raped and/or otherwise abused. I was, and always will be, incensed by the idea of anyone deliberately subjecting another person to sexual, mental or physical harm. A disturbingly high proportion of women report that they have experienced at least one incident of sexual assault in their lifetime. Rape within marriage was only made illegal in Britain under the Sexual Offences Act of 2003, and until at least the 1990s the law held that by marrying, a wife was effectively consenting to sex whenever her husband wanted it. Marital rape is still legal in many countries.

Alarmingly, a survey in 2018 by YouGov revealed that a third of British people believed non-consensual sex wasn’t rape if it didn’t involve violence, even though anyone with any understanding of psychology will tell you that freezing and flopping are common responses to threat, along with the perhaps more well-known responses of fight or flight. The same survey showed that a quarter of Britons believed non-consensual sex within marriage isn’t rape. I can’t read those statistics and not feel deeply angry.

I am aware that many will find aspects of Rosamund’s experience uncomfortable to read. If I upset any reader, I feel for them. Those scenes are included in the hope that her story will challenge people to rethink, and highlight that nobody should be used as another person’s sexual plaything. Everyone should have the right to decide who touches their body, whatever they wore when they went out for the evening, no matter whether they’ve flirted with the other person, and whether or not they once agreed to marry them.

Most of all, I hope I have honoured the real-life survivors I know and love, and that readers will not perceive Rosamund solely as a victim. I hope they will rejoice with her when she experiences kindness and feel uplifted at the end of the novel. For me, she is a victor.

MORTON S GRAY REVIEWS…

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Into a Cornish Wind by Kate Ryder

A gentle, slow-burn romance which I was reading at a very hectic time of my life, so it helped to soothe my senses. A hero, Mac, with a painful past, a heroine, Kat, who doubts love and men, interwoven with an otherworldly insight and a strong sense of place. I do not always like present tense written books, but with Kate Ryder this enables the chapters to be absorbed effortlessly. I am now left with a desire for a sequel and the need for a holiday in Cornwall.

The Secret Keeper by Amanda James

I loved this story. As with Amanda James’ other recent titles, this has a touch of otherworldliness, a poignancy and lots of positivity and hope.

Rosa Fernley is keen to fulfil her grandmother, Jocelyn’s dying wish and that is what she sets out to do on her visit to Tintagel in Cornwall, but along the way she not only discovers more about the past, but also a lot about herself.

I had a fascination with Tintagel as a child and enjoyed revisiting the location of so many myths and legends. The story carried me along and was thought provoking and well written.

The Second Chance Holiday Club by Kate Galley

When I started this book, I wasn’t too sure about the age of the main characters, but this was soon dismissed as I got carried away with the story and the reveal about more detail of Evelyn, Joy and Cynthia’s lives. The revelations really make you think about your own life and in particular “seizing the day”. Sad, funny and uplifting. I really think we need a sequel to this one!

An Invitation to Seashell Bay: Part 1 by Bella Osborne

A classic Bella Osborne story with hot heroes, quirky heroines, misunderstandings, almost impossible strange situations and real life stuff. I finished Part One of An Invitation to Seashell Bay with a big outburst of laughter. Fun stuff. Can’t wait for Part Two.

The Collaborator’s Daughter by Eva Glyn

This book is one of my favourite reads this year! I related to the feelings and thoughts of Fran the main character so much that I could be her. Having visited Dubrovnik in my teens, I could easily imagine walking in the streets and well remember oranges and lemons growing on the trees and the bullet holes in the buildings. Fascinating, intriguing, well researched, poignant, heart-breaking and a great read. Another triumph from Eva Glyn – more please.

An Introduction to Needle Felting by Linda Calver

What a beautiful cover this book has with the delightful, felted animals on the front. It immediately makes you want to pick up the book and open it…

Needle felting involves tangling wool fleece using a needle to make 3D sculptures by adding layers of the wool. The process of working the wool initially feels strange, but it is surprising how quickly you can see a project taking shape and how easy it is to change the size and character of what you are trying to make.

I realised very quickly that I would need to practice to achieve the lovely animals in the book, as mine tended to come out a little lopsided with funny faces to begin with, but the craft is very addictive and I will persevere to achieve the standard I would like.

This book is a great introduction to felting and I think if you only work through the projects contained in its pages you will be more than happy, although probably by then, firmly addicted and wanting to make more.

 

PUBLICATION DAY SPECIAL: THE SECRET SHORE BY LIZ FENWICK

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I’ll say up front that for me, this is Liz Fenwick’s best book yet. It is just so very rich in everything; the sense of the era, the superbly described settings, the characters that refuse to leave your side.

The Secret Shore is also Liz’s first fully historical novel and her research is impeccable. Not only that, it is used so sparingly in both tiny period details and sweeping events, it whisks you back the Second World War in an entirely credible and unsentimental fashion that never gets in the way of the story.

The entire narrative is carried by the main character, Merry, an Oxford geography lecturer recruited to help the war effort. Merry is an expert in maps and they stretch into every corner of her world; her vital work, her hobbies, and even her personal life. If there is something she cannot map she is deeply uncomfortable. Liz uses the metaphor well and it never seems overdone.

War, however, throws up the unforeseen; the unmappable, the unfathomable, the tragic, the moments of laughter and intense joy. But it is also a time of transit, impermanence, the last time of all that career-minded Merry would want to listen to her heart.

Set mainly around Liz’s beloved Helford River, this book is a treat not to be missed.

When Liz told me in passing she had read forty books in the name of research, I had to ask more about how she set about that gargantuan task:

If I had known beforehand that it would require me to read forty books and multiple academic papers in order to write The Secret Shore, would I have done it? Yes. This story was one I had to write because I love the Helford River so much. The story of the secret flotillas in WW2 is part of the history of the river and I have wanted to write about them for ages. But I struggled to find a way until the character of Meredith Tremayne, a cartographer, came to me.

The starting point for my research was the book The Secret Flotillas by Brooks Richards. In the course of writing The Secret Shore, I reread his book three times just to keep straight the different operations running the routes from Devon and Cornwall to Brittany. After learning of the teams’ immense bravery, I made the decision to use the names of the real people in my novel and this led to more books to research… from general history, to biography, to memoirs, and finally to obscure titles to find the small details. Some I had also read previously while researching for The Returning Tide, such as the personal memoir of the woman who managed the Ferryboat Inn during the war.

In all this fascinating background work the key thing for me was to digest the information and then to step away. It’s far too easy to want to squeeze in all the riveting facts, but that would have dragged the story down. By the end of my research, I may have done the equivalent of a Geography A level, but more akin to the study of geography as taught in the 1930s.

For The Secret Shore I stuck to my tried and tested method of doing my research in chunks. To begin with, only enough to write the first draft, then as the story develops I commence the deep dive for the right information. I can if I’m not careful become easily led astray down the many rabbit holes of research. Through the ensuing drafts I keep seeing the need for further information and will keep reading more to add subtle layers, without overloading it, hopefully bringing the story alive for my readers.

Now the big question is where to put all the books?

 

 

 

‘NEVER NEVER’ by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher

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The powerhouse couple of Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher was always going to be an event and my, my, what a book this is. The first in a trilogy about a teenager couple who’s memory vanishes. It’s hard to place the genre initially, but the ride is there in the characterisation and whip-smart dialogue. It made me laugh, smile and kept my guessing all of the way.

A good starter to what I reckon is going to be a belter of a trilogy. Loved it.

Charlie Wynwood and Silas Nash have been best friends since they could walk. They’ve been in love since the age of fourteen. But as of this morning… they are complete strangers. Their first kiss, their first fight, the moment they fell in love… every memory has vanished.

Now Charlie and Silas must work together to uncover the truth about what happened to them and why. But the more they learn about the couple they used to be… the more they question why they were ever together to begin with.

Forgetting is terrifying, but remembering may be worse.

The Number One Sunday Times bestselling author of It Ends with Us joins forces with the New York Times bestselling author of The Wives for a gripping, twisty, romantic mystery unlike any other.

 

Never Never

By Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher

About the author:

Colleen Hoover is the #1 New York Times and international bestselling author of multiple novels and novellas. She lives in Texas with her husband and their three boys. She is the founder of The Bookworm Box, a non-profit book subscription service and bookstore in Sulphur Springs, Texas.

 

Tarryn Fisher is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of nine novels. Born a sun hater, she currently makes her home in Seattle, Washington, with her children, husband, and psychotic husky. She loves connecting with her readers on Instagram.

 

JANE CABLE REVIEWS…

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Two research books, and two book club reads this time. My book of the month is Tracy Chevalier’s stunning story, The Last Runaway.

 

The Girl Who Left by Debra Gavranich

I read this book in the name of research, because I was fascinated by the opportunity to read a first hand account of the Second World War on the Croatian island of Korcula, and I wasn’t disappointed. Such gems in the English language are rare, and this family history is firmly rooted in the author’s mother’s memories, and well written.

As Marija’s story unfolds I found that I really cared about the outcome and her journey across the oceans as a proxy was fascinating. I must admit I only scanned the parts about her life in Australia, but my lack of interest was a personal thing and no reflection on the book.

 

The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier

Such a brilliant book, it took me straight to nineteenth century Ohio with all the harshness and iniquities of life there.

Honor Bright is a quaker from Dorset who accompanies her sister to America, where she is to be married. But the fates are cruel and the bride dies on the way, so Honor arrives in rural Ohio alone. The story revolves around her quest for friendship and happiness, but also her desire help escaped slaves in the Underground Railroad to Canada, which runs through the community where she lives.

Rich in description, strong in emotion, run through with tension, this is close to a perfect read. The characters became almost real to me and I was completely invested in Honor’s story and how her choices affected those around her. It was only the ending that left me feeling a tiny, tiny bit short-changed but I would still unreservedly recommend this very special novel.

 

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

If the author hadn’t explained in the foreword she’d started to write this as a bit of a joke, I don’t think I would have got it – and there were moments the author’s asides made me laugh out loud. I have to admit that I skimmed through much of it. but I did love the dreamlike elasticity of time, gender and sexuality and it was clearly a book ahead of its time.

Orlando is born a boy in the Elizabethan era and ages only a little and rather irregularly so in effect travels through time. But the real fascination for me was when he becomes a woman part way through the story and is therefore in a position to compare the two states.

If like a highly unusual read, rich in description and introspection, this is definitely worth a go.

 

The Sunrise by Victoria Hislop

I loved the premise of this book, set in the Cypriot resort of Famagusta, which was abandoned during the troubles in the 1970s which divided the island. However for me it didn’t completely deliver. For some reason I couldn’t buy into the love story between the nightclub manager and his boss, and although I appreciated the tensions which led to the arrival of the Turkish troops, for me it took far too long to happen.

What I did really love was the relationship between the neighbouring families of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots and how that developed. And as ever with Victoria Hislop, the sense of place was phenomenal and the historical research extensive. I just didn’t fall in love with it as much as some of her other books.