Category Archives: Book Reviews

Make Great Art On Your iPad Book Review

Posted on by

When I was a child I loved to draw and would do it for hours. I have found it hard to continue to be an artist since I have become a mother. I never have the time nor the energy. I was excited when I saw Make Great Art on your iPad. I spent time on my iPad of course. It seemed the easiest way to get back to who I used to be.

This book tells you everything you could possible want to know, along with things you would never have thought to ask.  It is easy-to-read and to learn. It has all of the tips, tools and tricks you need. I highly recommend it.

Fully revised to reflect the latest updates in the most popular creativity apps, this is the original, best-selling guide to using creative apps on your Apple device to produce your very own masterpieces.

Artists like David Hockney have taken to creating art on the iPad, but you don’t have to be an artist to achieve great results on your device. This refreshingly accessible book is perfect for skilled artists and creative wannabes alike.

Alongside the step-by-step projects that teach the fundamentals of digital painting, there are also some easy and fun artistic tricks that anyone can try. You’ll master the most popular art apps, and you will learn new painting and drawing skills along the way.

Includes advice on using Procreate, ArtRage, Art Studio for iPad, Adobe Photoshop Sketch, Pen & Ink, Brushes and Tayasui Sketches Pro.

Make Great Art On Your iPad is available here.

SISTER SCRIBES’ READING ROUND UP: JUNE

Posted on by

Kirsten

This month I have finally got my writing mojo back after several months of not being able to concentrate on anything. But the first draft of book 2 is finally with my editor and I am suddenly devouring books like they are going out of fashion. Which, I am very pleased to report, they are not!

See Them Run by my Canelo stablemate Marion Todd is a ‘gripping detective thriller set in St Andrews’. I loved it. It’s nicely paced, has a very strong sense of place – I’ve only visited this part of Scotland twice, yet I feel I know it intimately now – a brilliant female lead and a cracking plot. I finished it in two days and the other books in the series are now downloaded and on my TBR.

Nicola Gill is a fellow 2020 debut so I know exactly what she is going through! The Neighbours is a lovely, laugh-out-loud story about picking yourself up, self-discovery and female friendship across the generations. It’s wonderfully heart-warming and uplifting read, yet it isn’t afraid to tackle some meaty topics – in this case depression – head on.  Highly recommended.

Kitty

Hamnet –  Maggie O’Farrell

This is a remarkable book. It is rare that I am moved to tears by reading and is testament to O’Farrell’s writing prowess that I was here, especially as readers come to the book knowing Hamnet’s fate. The way she weaves the story of this boy and his family is spellbinding, her writing evocative and a reminder to all of the beauty of prose. I loved every page.

Maggie O’Farrell creates scenes that are vivid and captivating, making you feel you are there in that moment, whether it be in woodland in the English countryside, a bedroom in the Shakespeare’s family home or aboard a ship from Italy as a plague carrying flea. She describes emotions with such beauty, such depth that I felt them myself – hence the tears and I can only bow down to this Queen of storytelling. I want to read it again and again and again. I cannot recommend it enough, it truly is a thing of beauty.

Natalie Normann – Summer Island

I raced through this book in two days and absolutely loved it. The romance between the two characters was fab and had me truly rooting for them, willing them on to have their happy ever after. The scenes where Ninni teaches Jack to row and their dash to the vet were so romantic, I adored them and that ending, embedded in the reality of life, that is true romance right there! The author has many strengths but for me the richness of the community was outstanding. I love how all the characters were drawn, how they interact with each other and how she creates a setting that I defy any reader not to want to visit immediately. I never thought I would want to plant potatoes on a Norwegian Island, but now I do. I learnt a thing or two as well, which is always a lovely upside to a good book. This book was cosy, feelgood heaven – so much so I have already pre-ordered the next in the series. Highly recommended.

Another Us – Kirsten Hesketh

I thoroughly enjoyed this debut novel. It is a tale of family and the bonds that tie us and how those bonds can stretch past what we imagine to be breaking point. The author has written an insightful story that explores the roles of motherhood and marriage, particularly when they clash with the expectations and desires we have for ourselves. Her voice is both honest and witty throughout as Emma comes to realise far more truth about herself than she had anticipated. Highly recommended.

 

Fair Warning By Michael Connoelly Book Review

Posted on by

Michael Connoelly, Fair Warning

There is a reason Stephen King calls Michael Connelly ‘a master of the genre.’ Pacy and perfect, Fair Warning is another superb thriller that you will not be able to put down. The book resonates with our present truth. Jack McEvoy is a journalist who is accused of murder and he uses his own skills to uncover the truth. Michael Connelly was a police reporter for the Los Angeles Times and as he says himself he puts ‘the truth in my novels  and research then like a reporter in a story.’ You can tell 

Fair Warning is a must read for any lover of crime novels, and even for those who are not. Superb. 

Jack McEvoy is a reporter with a track record in finding killers. But he’s never been accused of being one himself.

Jack went on one date with Tina Portrero. The next thing he knows, the police are at his house telling Jack he’s a suspect in her murder.

Maybe it’s because he doesn’t like being accused of a crime he didn’t commit. Or maybe it’s because the method of her murder is so chilling that he can’t get it out of his head.

But as he uses his journalistic skills to open doors closed to the police, Jack walks a thin line between suspect and detective – between investigation and obsession – on the trail of a killer who knows his victims better than they know themselves…

Riveting, original and terrifying – this masterpiece from Michael Connelly is the best thriller you will read this summer.

Fair Warning By Michael Connoelly is available here.

GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS – Jane Cable reviews two World War Two sagas

Posted on by

Although I am about to review two excellent books I have a bugbear I need to share. Not just aimed at these two, but at the saga publishing world in general. Why, oh why, do books featuring grown women have to refer to them as girls? Yes, I know it’s become a shorthand that readers recognise, but it still grates on me. Oh well…

It is particularly the case in point with Maisie Thomas’s The Railway Girls, because one of the most engaging and interesting characters in Dot, who is well into her forties. She is the sort of woman who organises and takes care of everyone to her own detriment, but determined to strike out and help the war effort, through which she is to find a great deal of self respect.

That is the premise of this excellent book; women from different backgrounds who were thrown together in 1940 to help keep the nation’s vital railways running. The challenges they face, the friendships they form and even their romances weave together into an utterly believable tapestry, depicting wartime Manchester as it surely was.

Thomas’s research must have been meticulous but it is the richness of her storytelling that had me hooked. The detailed descriptions fitted so easily into the narrative the pictures were painted as the story moved along, and that is a rare talent. There is quite an extensive cast of characters too; not only Dot, Joan and Mabel, who will be the focus of the series, but other railway workers as well as their families at home.

For a debut novel this is stunning writing, perfectly paced and never rushed, a slow and realistic journey through the phoney war, Dunkirk and into the beginnings of the blitz.

Vicky Beeby’s The Ops Room Girls is equally enjoyable but totally different. Here the story gallops along, making it difficult to put down, and there were places towards the end when my heart was actually thudding.

Again it features three women, but all of them are young and from modest backgrounds although they all join the WAAF for different reasons. This book (also the first in a series) focuses on Evie, a working class girl whose scholarship to an Oxford college was ripped away from her. The characterisation in this book is so good I was feeling for her within the first few pages and really wanted to know where her story was going.

The answer is the operations room of an airfield in West Sussex, where she arrives in the summer of 1940. She makes friends with glamourous former actress Jess and shy May who has been perpetually put down by her father and brothers. All of them are escaping from something but become totally committed to the war effort.

I expected this, and I expected love stories, but what made this book stand out is the mystery that had to be solved as sabotage rears its ugly head on the base. It is a compelling plot strand that certainly kept me turning the pages.

 

The Railway Girls by Maisie Thomas is published by Arrow and paperbacks and ebooks are available now. The Ops Room Girls by Vicki Beeby will be published as an ebook by Canelo on July 16th but can be ordered beforehand.

Hideaway By Nora Roberts Book Review

Posted on by

Some books grip you and never let go. This happened with Hideaway. Written by prolific writer Nora Roberts, Hideaway is about the daughter of a Hollywood dynasty that gets kidnapped. Does not sound cheery, does it? Yet it is a riveting book full of depth that draws you in and never lets you go until the final page. It has it all: crime, romance, mystery, Hollywood, and a kick-ass heroine. What more could you want?

One day, she thought, one moment, one innocent game. How was it that day, that moment, that game never seemed to end?

Caitlyn Sullivan is just nine years old when a game of hide and seek at a family party will change her life forever.

The betrayal she experienced that night will shape Caitlyn’s life – and for years she runs and runs, hiding from the aftermath of the trauma. But Caitlyn comes to realise that if she wants to not just survive but thrive, she must return to the family home to face up to her past.

What happened that night may always haunt Caitlyn but she must decide if it’s what you’re running from that matters. Or who finds you.

Hideaway is available here.

Books You Should Read Now

Posted on by

 

The Will To Succeed By Christine Raafat. Perfect for fans of historical fiction and kick-ass heroines. An impressive amount of research has clearly gone into this great book. 

When the 15-year-old Lady Anne Clifford’s father died in 1605, she was his sole surviving child and expecting to inherit the Cliffords’ great northern estates. But the Earl of Cumberland leaves a will which ignores an ancient law and bequeaths the lands to his brother, in the belief that a prophecy by his great-grandfather will eventually come true and return the estates to Anne. She and her mother vow to contest the will.

Anne spends the next three decades battling for what she believes is rightfully hers. She risks everything by opposing her beloved husband, her family and friends, the nobility, the law courts, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the King. She steadfastly (and treasonably) refuses to accept the King’s decision, whatever the consequences, but is defeated and left with the prophecy as her only hope.

Widowed at thirty-four, she survives an anxious period alone with her two young daughters before surprising everyone with an ill-judged second marriage which gives her access to the highest in the land. But the Civil War destroys that power and confines the 52-year-old Anne to a grand palace in London for six years. Still convinced of her rights, will she ever attain “ye landes of mine inheritance”?

The Will To Succeed By Christine Raafat is available here.

The Storm By Amanda Jennings. A stunningly brilliant book about coercive control. Rich and atmospheric. I raced through it. 

To the outside world Hannah married the perfect man. Behind the closed doors of their imposing home it’s a very different story. Nathan controls everything Hannah does. He chooses her clothes, checks her receipts, and keeps her passport locked away. But why does she let him? Years before, in the midst of a relentless storm, the tragic events of one night changed everything. And Hannah has been living with the consequences ever since. Keeping Nathan happy. Doing as she’s told.

But the past is about to catch up with them.

Set against the unforgiving backdrop of a Cornish fishing port in the ‘90s, this is a devastating exploration of the power of coercive control in a marriage where nothing is quite as it seems…

The Storm is available here.

The Night Fire by Michael Connelly. Another cracking Bosch novel. A riveting read full of twists and stunning prose. 

A JUDGE MURDERED IN A CITY PARK
Mickey Haller, the Lincoln Lawyer, defends the man accused.

A HOMELESS PERSON BURNED ALIVE
Detective Renée Ballard catches the case on the LAPD’s notorious graveyard shift.

AN UNSOLVED HOMICIDE FROM A LIFETIME AGO
Harry Bosch is left a missing case file by his mentor who passed away. He was the man who taught Bosch that everybody counts, or nobody counts. Why did he keep the case all these years? To find the truth – or bury it?

IN L.A. CRIME NEVER SLEEPS
But in Ballard, Bosch and Haller: the fire always burns. Will it light the way – or leave their lives in ashes?

The Night Fire is available here.

Living With The Long-Term Effects of Cancer by Dr Cordelia Galgut. This is an essential book for anyone with cancer. I cannot praise it highly enough. 

Challenging a number of myths about living long term with or after cancer, this book offers new insights by delving into areas that are not usually spoken about. Written from a dual perspective- that of a psychologist who had breast cancer and who copes with the long-term effects of treatment – the book contests the assumption that the afflicted person will simply ‘get better’ or ‘move through’ to a better situation. Emotional and physical side-effects can worsen over time and people living beyond or with cancer often endure a mismatch between expectations and reality, because they have been told that life would be easier than it actually is. This can leave both those suffering longer term and those close to them confused and unprepared. Including testimonies with people who have had a cancer diagnosis and people in the medical profession, the book signposts ways that professionals may help and offers prompts for friends and relatives to have useful and open conversations with the person affected. It gives voice to many people who feel that their suffering is disputed and diminished by the prevailing narrative around recovery. Galgut includes discussion on relationships, work, trauma, fear of recurrence and the role of therapy. Giving an unflinchingly honest perspective, Living with the Long-Term Effects of Cancer sheds light on these struggles, in the belief that bringing this conversation to the forefront is key to improving life for those who are affected by cancer and who suffer longer term from its effects.

Living With The Long-Term Effects of Cancer.

The First Lie by A.J Park. This is a hugely enjoyable thriller. It will leave you thinking about consequences long after you have read the last page. Keeps you hooked all the way through. 

A freak accident. An impossible choice. But what was…

THE FIRST LIE

When Paul Reeve comes home to find his wife in the bathroom, bloodied and shaking, his survival instinct kicks in.

Alice never meant to kill the intruder. She was at home, alone, and terrified. She doesn’t deserve to be blamed for it. Covering up the murder is their only option.

But the crime eats away at the couple and soon they can’t trust anyone – even one another…

The First Lie is available here.


The Summer We Ran Away by Jenny Oliver. This is the perfect summer novel. It is funny, relatable and full of fun and fizz. It is also a great novel that shows that the grass is not always greener on the other side (to use a cliche), and that we have the power to change our lives if we want to. 

It was meant to be the party of the summer…

In Cedar Road, everyone is preparing for Lexi’s ‘White Hot’ summer party. For one night, parking squabbles and petitions are put aside as neighbours sip Prosecco under the fairy lights and gather by the hot tub to marvel at Lexi’s effortlessly glamorous life with Hot Hamish.

For Julia, it’s a chance to coax husband Charlie out of his potting shed and into a shirt so they can have a welcome break from the hellish house renovation they’ve been wrestling with. And it’s a chance for Julia to pretend – just for a night – that her life is as perfect as Lexi’s.

But when, during the party, one of Julia’s WhatsApp messages falls into the wrong hands and reveals her most intimate thoughts, things reach boiling point…

And when all the neighbours know exactly what you’re thinking, there’s only one thing to do.

Run away.

It’s going to be a summer Julia will never forget…

The Summer We Ran Away is available here.

 

What will you read?

The Operator by Gretchen Berg | Book Review

Posted on by

The Operator, Gretchen Berg, book, book review, I read The Operator in awe. The relationship between the characters, the complexities of relationships, the jaw-dropping setting, this book is just perfect. Set in the 1950s in Wooster, Ohio, it follows switchboard operator Vivian Dalton who eavesdrops on the residents of the town. This comes back to bite her when she hears some gossip about her own life. 

This pieces of gossip sends Vivian on a path of discovery and the consequences come thick and fast. I loved so much about this book: the setting is done so well. Gretchen really knows her stuff. She writes so well from different people’s perspectives. This book is full of depth and luscious descriptions. It keeps you guessing. When you pick it up it is impossible to put it back down. 

It’s 1952. The switchboard operators in Wooster, Ohio, love nothing more than to eavesdrop on their neighbours’ conversations, and gossip about what they learn. Vivian Dalton is no different (despite her teenage daughter’s disapproval), and always longs to hear something scandalous. But on the night of December 15th, she wishes she hadn’t. The secret that’s shared by a stranger on the line threatens to rip the rug of Vivian’s life from under her.

Vivian may be mortified, but she’s not going to take this lying down. She wants the truth, no matter how painful it may be. But one secret tends to lead to another . . .

This moving, heart-felt and ultimately uplifting novel brilliantly weaves together an irresistible portrayal of a town buzzing with scandal, and an unforgettable story of marriage, motherhood and the unbreakable ties of family.

The Operator is available here.

 

This Month’s Recommended Reads | What To Read Now

Posted on by

The Song of the tree, book

My children loved this magical book. It has a wonderful story and beautiful illustrations.

A lyrical, heart-warming new tale from the award-winning designer and creator of The Fox and the Star

Bird loves to sing in the towering tree at the heart of the jungle. It feels like home.
When the season changes she must say goodbye, but she isn’t ready to let go.
As she listens to the other animals, Bird learns to sing a new song.

The Song of the Tree is available here.

This is the book we all need during these stressful times. Just breathe in, breathe out, and let this book help you relieve all of your worries. 

The secret to living mindfully. Just don’t breathe a word of it…

You breathe 22,000 times every day. How many are you really aware of?

International bestselling and award-winning author Dr Danny Penman provides a concise guide to letting go and finding peace in a messy world, simply by taking the time to breathe.

Known side effects: You will start to smile more. You will worry less. Life won’t bother you so much.

Dissolve anxiety, stress and unhappiness, enhance your mind and unleash your creativity with these simple exercises. And with each little moment of mindfulness, discover a happier, calmer you.

It really is as easy as breathing…

This is a fantastic idea. This book takes you on a journey around ten of the top London galleries. One hundred pieces of art are in this clever book. Essential for art lovers. I take my copy out every now and then for a dose of art. 
A Taste of Art – London takes the reader on a journey around ten of the city’s galleries, exploring ten significant artworks at each location and offering an insightful ‘taste’ of art – the ultimate antidote to museum fatigue. The paintings, sculptures and objects selected from each gallery focus on a different time period in the history of Western art – beginning with pieces from an ‘Emerging Britain’ at The British Museum and concluding with contemporary portraiture at the National Portrait Gallery. ‘Tasting notes’ offer an engaging, narrative look at each work, accompanied by a quotation to whet the reader’s appetite; whilst an illustrated ‘key ingredient’ unlocks the meaning and encourages the reader to not only look but more fully explore all one hundred pieces. The book also includes a map, a checklist to tick off what you see and specially commissioned illustrations throughout.

This book from Jessica Ryn is a modern classic. In turns uplifting and sad- because you cannot have one without the other- it is a book that leaves you satisfied and entertained. Dawn Brightside is a complex and lovable character. The Extraordinary Hope of Dawn Brightside covers mental illness, homelessness and the capacity of the human spirit. This is a book that tells the story of people who do not have their voices heard enough and does so perfectly. 

Dawn Elisabeth Brightside has been running from her past for twenty-two years and two months, precisely.

So when she is offered a bed in St Jude’s Hostel for the Homeless, it means so much more than just a roof over her head.

But with St Jude’s threatened with closure, Dawn worries that everything is about to crumble around her all over again.

Perhaps, with a little help from her new friends, she can find a way to save this light in the darkness?

And maybe, just maybe, Dawn will finally have a place to call home….

The utterly charming feel-good debut novel of 2020 to curl up with.

The Extraordinary Hope of Dawn Brightside is available here.

We Just Clicked is a fun and fizzy novel. Perfect for millennials, and those who want to understand them. This is a romantic novel with a clever take. I fell in love with the main character, Izzy, even if she frustrated me sometimes. This book also serves as a cautionary tale on social media addiction. 

Izzy’s always played by the rules. But now, it’s time to break them…

Izzy Brown has always dreamed of making it big on Instagram, but her followers just aren’t growing. So when her colleague and fellow ‘influencer’ Luke suggests they fake date to boost their profiles, Izzy says yes – against her better judgement. Now Izzy’s profile shows a confident, glamorous thirty-something with the perfect boyfriend, and her followers are shooting up by the thousands.

So what if behind the scenes, things are a little different? Izzy can’t stop bickering with Luke, his habit of checking his quiff in EVERY SINGLE mirror is driving her insane, and she’s hiding a secret heartache. But everyone tells a few fibs on social media, right?

Then Izzy runs into Aidan, the mysterious stranger who saved her the day her world fell apart two years ago – and major sparks start to fly. Izzy’s sure she can have the online success she’s always dreamed of, whilst falling in love in real life. After all, Aidan doesn’t use social media… what could possibly go wrong?

We Just Clicked is available here.

Sophia Money-Coutts. What happens now?

What Happens Now? is the second novel from Sophia Money-Coutts. Sophia has a way of writing that is raw, honest and brave. After having a one-night stand with a handsome aristocratic mountaineer Lil ends up pregnant, because her pill did not work after she had a dodgy tummy- it does actually happen! Cautionary note. What happens next – see what I did there?- is a fun and sometimes embarrassing journey where two strangers now realise they must co-parent a child. Will they end up together? Read the book to find out, there are plenty of funny lines along the way. 

‘No question about it, there are two little purple lines. I’m pregnant.’

After eight years together, Lil Bailey thought she’d already found ‘the one’ – that is, until he dumped her for a blonde twenty-something colleague. So she does what any self-respecting singleton would do: swipes right, puts on her best bra and finds herself on a first date with a handsome mountaineer called Max. What’s the worst that can happen?

Well it’s pretty bad actually. First Max ghosts her and then, after weeing on a stick (but mostly her hands), a few weeks later Lil discovers she’s pregnant. She’s single, thirty-one and living in a thimble-sized flat in London, it’s hardly the happily-ever-after she was looking for.

Lil’s ready to do the baby-thing on her own – it can’t be that hard, right? But she should probably tell Max, if she can track him down. Surely he’s not that Max, the highly eligible, headline-grabbing son of Lord and Lady Rushbrooke, currently trekking up a mountain in South Asia? Oh, maybe he wasn’t ignoring Lil after all…

What Happens Now is available here.

This book is like a cup of tea on a rainy Sunday. Comforting and just what you need. Brilliant. 

The Wronged Daughter by Mary Wood is an emotional and moving novel that reunites old friends and heals old wounds.

Mags has never forgotten the friendship she forged with Flora and Ella, two fellow nurses she served with at the beginning of World War I. Haunted by what she experienced during that time, she fears a reunion with her friends would bring back the horror she’s tried so desperately to suppress.

Now, with her wedding on the horizon, this should be a joyful time for Mags. But the sudden loss of her mother and the constant doubt she harbours surrounding her fiancé, Harold, are marring her happiness.

Mags throws herself into running the family mill, but she’s dealt another aching blow by a betrayal that leaves her reeling. Finding the strength the war had taken from her, she fights back, not realizing the consequences and devastating outcome awaiting her.

Can she pick up the pieces of her life and begin anew?

The Wronged Daughter is available here.