This Could Change Everything. Jill Mansell

Published: Hachette NZ
Date: 25th January 2018
Format:  Paperback
Pages:
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Source: Thanks to Hachette NZ
Rating:
                      

On the one hand, if Essie hadn't written that letter - the one that only her best friend was meant to see - then she'd still be living like an actual proper grown-up, tucked up with Paul in his picture-perfect cottage, maybe even planning their wedding...

On the other hand (if her true feelings hadn't accidentally taken the internet by storm, that is) she never would have met Zillah and Conor - not to mention Lucas. And she'd never have found out just how much life there is to be lived...

This Could Change Everything by Jill Mansell was a joy to read. One of those books you can just pick up and relax into. It was a great mix of wonderful and endearing characters, with a little fun and a bit of romance thrown in. 

I loved Zillah, what a character, the kind of person I'd love to be at eighty three. She was warm and generous, loves dressing up and going out and having a good time, yet very thoughtful of others. She's quite human so has a little guilt and regret thrown in there as well.

Essie is another easy to like. She has the horror of her email sent out accidentally to her whole address book. In it she is very honest about some people and it doesn't go down well. However really it sets in motion the next phase in Essie's life... which was so good.

Then there is Connor who rents the flat above Zillah, he keeps an eye on her, and is an excellent photographer.  I liked that he had the courage to change his life completely, be honest and move on.  He makes a few mistakes in romance but it all added to the fun.

Lucas is an adorable character, a very handsome one too and very much part of the story. I don't want to give too much away about his involvement in things because it would spoil the story but just let's say he has an interesting back story which makes him just that little bit more vulnerable.

If you like a light hearted, quirky story then this one will satisfy. I was charmed by it and it will certainly be one I remember.

The Little Breton Bistro. Nina George

Published: Hachette NZ
Date: April 2017
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages:292
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Source: Thanks to Hachette NZ
Rating:
                  

Marianne Messman longs to escape her loveless marriage to an uncaring husband - an artillery sergeant major named Luther. On a day trip to Paris, Marianne decides to leap off the Point Neuf into the Seine, but she is saved and while recovering in hospital comes across a painting of the tine port town of Kerdruc in Brittany and decides to try her luck on the coast.

Have you ever been desperate enough to want to escape life? To throw yourself in the Seine and end it all! No? Well Marianne does, life has passed her by, she is deeply unhappy and sees no other way out.  However when her effort to bring her sad life to a close is thwarted by a stranger she eventually finds herself on the way to Brittany and possibly ready to listen to herself and her own needs and desires.

The more I read on in this story the more I was captivated by Marianne and the people she meets up with. I loved them all and especially Emile and Pascal - one who suffers from Parkinson's and the other from Dementia but ... they are happy and love each other. 

I felt like I was there in Brittany, in the cafe, by the sea amongst the various characters. I loved seeing Marianne uncovering the things she loves and needs, the people she loves and needs. I read this book over Easter and truly if there was ever a book about death and resurrection this was it. Such an important message to us all, to live who we truly are, without worrying about what others think. 

While this may have been about a woman who needed to bring alive the powers within her, the men in the story are not left out, they too need to have the courage to live out their wildest dreams. I did despair that Jean-Remy, a young chef,  would ever get there and claim his love... 

Ultimately an uplifting and life affirming story that I'll remember for a long while.

Her Mother's Secret. Natasha Lester

Published: Hachette
Date:  March 28th 2017
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 390
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: Hachette NZ
Rating:
                 

1918, England Armistice Day should bring peace into Leonora's life. Rather than secretly making cosmetics in her father's chemist shop to sell to army nurses such as Joan, her adventurous Australian friend, Leo hopes to now display her wares openly. Instead, Spanish flu arrives in the village, claiming her father's life. Determined to start over, she boards a ship to New York City. On the way she meets debonair department store heir Everett Forsyth . . . In Manhattan, Leo works hard to make her cosmetics dream come true, but she's a woman alone with a small salary and a society that deems make-up scandalous.

Everett's daughter, Alice, a promising ballerina, receives a mysterious letter inviting her to star in a series of advertisements for a cosmetics line. If she accepts she will be immortalized like dancers such as Zelda Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker and Ginger Rogers. Why, then, are her parents so quick to forbid it?

From the moment I opened Her Mother's Secret I was caught up in a story that entertained me and had me reading on into the night. It ranges in setting from England to New York, from the time at the end of World War 1 to the beginning of World War 11.  

It is the story of a young woman - Leonora who has a dream, to become a maker of cosmetics. She has just a little money, a lot of knowledge and a couple of really good friends she finds along the way. She is both talented and tenacious. But its not easy because the other thing that you need is money to produce the cosmetics in quantities to interest shops in buying them. The whole story of cosmetics was fascinating, these days we don't really think about it, they are just there, but in 1918 you were regarded by many as a bit of a hussy if you had red lips. Leo set out to change attitudes and produce the best cosmetics she could.

On her way to New York she meets Everett, a man she is immediately attracted to, and perhaps even comes to love in a very short time. However there are devious women at work who thwart the young lovers and inevitably come between them. One woman in particular is mean and calculating and nasty, the other rich and spoiled - by drugs and alcohol, although I did feel a little sympathy for her. In the end who will win out? 

Everett has a daughter Alice, as time moves on to near the second world war she is becoming a dancer of note. She too is experiencing a love with a male dancer, something her mother does not approve of. Will she follow the path her mother has mapped out for her or will she follow her heart?

I loved the era this was set in, the resilience with which Leo worked on her cosmetics line, refusing to let setbacks take over.  There is a little romance, a little mystery and considerable drama. 

It is an extremely well written novel, throughly captivating and I so look forward to whatever Natasha Lester will write next. 

A Letter From Italy Pamela Hart

Published: Hachette NZ
Date: March 14th 2017
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 356
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source:Hachette NZ
Rating:
                    

1917, Italy. Australian journalist Rebecca Quinn is an unconventional woman. At the height of World War I, she has given up the safety of her Sydney home for the bloody battlefields of Europe, following her journalist husband to the frontline as a war correspondent in Italy.

Reporting the horrors of the Italian campaign, Rebecca finds herself thrown together with American-born Italian photographer Alessandro Panucci, and soon discovers another battleground every bit as dangerous and unpredictable: the human heart.

A Letter From Italy is set in Italy during World War 1. Rebecca an Australian, has arrived with her husband Jack Quinn to report the war to an English and Australian newspaper. It is still a time when women news correspondents were really not in existence or not accepted. Rebecca comes from a family where women's rights were strong, her mother an active suffragette. The Italian attitude to women comes as both a bit of a shock and a challenge to Rebecca.

Rebecca is a strong woman, with flaws, but passionate about her work. She is determined to prove herself and report what she sees and hears about. She is relentless in her pursuit of what might make a news story and report to those at home what is going on. And she does so with a woman's heart and compassion.  Along the way she learns how her husband Jack is not all that she first thought, which brings out actually the best in her.

Along with Rebecca we meet Sandro, or Al as he is known back in New York. He is helping out his Nonna, Nonna Rosa a woman with a story of her own I am sure. Sandro has been unable to join the war efforts and up until now has struggled with it. But alongside Rebecca he finds something that he can accomplish and so participate in the war effort.

The story is really well told, small details make it feel like a factual, real account. We meet some of the actual heroes in that war and witness the pain and loss of the young men that went off to fight that war. 

As well Italy is brought to life, the countryside, the food, the people and their way of life at that time. 

Well worth the read.  Once begun hard to put down.

About the Author

Pamela is an award-winning author for adults and children. She has a Doctorate in Creative Arts from the University of Technology, Sydney. Under the name of Pamela Freeman she wrote the historical novel The Black Dress, which won the NSW Premier's History Prize for 2006. Pamela lives in Sydney, with her husband and their son, and teaches at the Australian Writers' Centre. A Letter From Italy is her thirtieth book.

Find her at her website Pamela Hart

The House of Secrets. Sarra Manning

Published: Hachette NZ
Date: 10th January 2017
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 437
Genre: Historical/Contemporary Fiction
Source: Thank you to Hachette NZ
Rating:
                     

Zoe and Win are trying to move forward with their marriage and put the raw memories of a recent tragedy behind them.

Their move into an almost derelict house in suburban London is the first step to moving on. Then Zoe finds an old suitcase full of letters, diaries, and press cuttings from the 1930's, belonging to a long-forgotten woman. And it contains something that strikes a chord with Zoe's own pain. She knows she won't be able to rest until she finds out the truth of this mysterious woman's fate.

House of Secrets is set in two time periods and follows the lives of two sets of people, with a link to a mystery house. Libby lives in 1936, she has lost a child through miscarriage and even worse has been deserted by the father and her husband. Zoe and her husband Win buy a house that was built in 1936 but never lived in. Now it is run down, full of dry rot but they have put in a bid and have won the house. 

Zoe finds a suitcase with baby clothes and letters and newspaper clippings that sets her off on a journey to find out about the mystery Libby and how the suitcase came to be left in the house. Zoe is in mourning, having too lost a child through an ectopic pregnancy, and almost lost her life as well. Since then things have not been that good between herself and Win and they are drifting apart. Zoe finds herself in tears, Win is his most controlling self and even takes off to stay with his mother because he can't cope.

The story of Libby unfolds as the book alternatively explores the life of Libby and then Zoe and Win. Libby has a tough time and she is a victim of her love for men who do not love her in return. However of the two men she turns to, one of them comes through for her and it enables her to start out on a new venture.  Zoe and Win have many challenges in their relationship and in renovating the house. And always to the fore, especially for Zoe is finding out about Libby, as she identifies with her, they share so many similarities that it is important to Zoe that things worked out for Libby.

I liked Libby and Zoe and Win, none of them are perfect, but they are very real and I was soon engrossed in the lives of all of them. The story linked really well between the two time periods and nothing was left hanging. Something I really appreciated after reading a book or two where things were "dropped" but never brought to resolution.  I liked the growth of the characters, it felt real and ended on a note of hope.

Well worth reading.

Echoes in Death. J. D. Robb

Published:  Hachette NZ
Date: February 7th 2017
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages:371
Genre: Suspense
Source:Thank you to Hachette NZ
Rating:
                   

New York at night. A young woman stumbles out on to a busy street - right in front of Lieutenant Eve Dallas and husband Roarke. Her name is Daphne Strazza, and she has been brutally assaulted. Confused and traumatised, she manages to tell them one thing. Her attacker wore a devil's mask.

As Eve investigates this shocking case, she soon discovers a disturbing pattern. Someone is preying on wealthy couples, subjecting them to a cruel and terrifying ordeal. Worse still, the attacks are escalating in violence and depraved theatricality. Eve and her team are now in a race against time to find the man behind the mask - before he strikes again. But for Eve, this case in particular has unsettling echoes of her own troubled past...

Echoes in Death is #44 in the series. It seems an awful lot but every book is excellent as we watch Eve Dallas, Roarke and Eve's team go in to bat for those who have been murdered.

Every story is different, yet there is often a very egotistical killer, and this one has an ego the size of a city. Yet he in the end is no match for Eve as she carefully builds the details to bring him down. The young woman Eve and Roarke find  - Daphne - awakens in Eve memories of her own experiences and it seems to me that she is learning to deal and move on. She has the love of Roarke, her main support. And of course she is a strong woman. However her past experience helps her walk in the shoes of Daphne and understand her like no other cop would be able to.  

There is the usual banter between friends, the fun of the others on the team seeing Eve's new work space at home and Eve's own enjoyment of it. Somerset is a little in the background this time but he's there and so is the cat, another little bulwark for Eve.

The murders are different to any others J. D. Robb has come up with, she has an amazing ability to set up a murderer and his motives, reveal his warped mind and then unravel them all through Eve. This murderer like all the other ones really, is very very unlikeable. There is a little twist at the end, I should have seen it coming but I didn't and loved how that was dealt with.

Peabody and Eve continue to work as a team and there are little indications that Peabody is growing more and more in stature and Eve is the best of leaders and teachers. She gives to Peabody before Peabody even realises she is taking a new step. 

Verdict: Thoroughly great yarn.

Meet Me at Beachcomber Bay. Jill Mansell

Published: Hachette NZ
Date: 10th January  2017
Format: Paperback
Pages: 405
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Source: Hachette NZ
Rating:
                      

The man Clemency loves belongs to someone else. She has to hide her true feelings - but when she ropes in an unsuspecting friend to help, wires start to get crossed.

For the first time in Ronan's life his charm has failed him in winning over the woman he wants. Loving her from afar appears to be his only option.

Belle seems to have the perfect boyfriend, but something isn't quite right. And now a long-buried secret is slowly rising to the surface.

Meet Me at Beachcomber Bay - what an entertaining, laugh out loud read. I enjoyed every minute of it. It's light, yet it could be your neighbours next door, facing issues such as the ones the characters in Jill Mansell's latest book have to work through.

I fell in love with the characters, all over again with the lovely Cornwall setting at St Carys. It has a small town story feel to it, but with Jill Mansell's very own voice and way of presenting to readers a story they will enjoy.

There are a variety of characters. Firstly two sisters or rather step-sisters, Clemency and Annabelle. They have had their ups and downs since their parents married when they were teenagers, and they are still sorting out how they see each other. 

Ronan works with Clem, they are amazing friends and co-workers. And when Clem requests Ronan to pretend to be her boyfriend to help her out, he does, leading to all kinds of mix ups. Kate the post office worker who might have an attraction and something more for Ronan has to take a back seat. 

Sam a guy that Annabelle is with, also has links to Clem unknown to Annabelle. They once met on a plane. In fact that scene opens the book, it was a great hook in, and by the time that chapter finished I was in.

In fact there is a host of charming characters and lets just say after some misunderstandings, heart to heart talks and sorting out things all end very satisfactorily. It would make a very relaxing and heartwarming beach or holiday read. A little intrigue, some secrets eventually revealed and long lost relationships restored.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.