The Art of Inheriting Secrets. Barbara O'Neal

Published: Lake Union Publishing
Date: 17th July 2018
Format: e-ARC
Pages: 364
Genre: General Fiction
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

When Olivia Shaw’s mother dies, the sophisticated food editor is astonished to learn she’s inherited a centuries-old English estate—and a title to go with it. Raw with grief and reeling from the knowledge that her reserved mother hid something so momentous, Olivia leaves San Francisco and crosses the pond to unravel the mystery of a lifetime.

One glance at the breathtaking Rosemere Priory and Olivia understands why the manor, magnificent even in disrepair, was the subject of her mother’s exquisite paintings. What she doesn’t understand is why her mother never mentioned it to her. As Olivia begins digging into her mother’s past, she discovers that the peeling wallpaper, debris-laden halls, and ceiling-high Elizabethan windows covered in lush green vines hide unimaginable secrets.

Although personal problems and her life back home beckon, Olivia finds herself falling for the charming English village and its residents. But before she can decide what Rosemere’s and her own future hold, Olivia must first untangle the secrets of her past.

The Art of Inheriting Secrets by Barbara O'Neal - a read I enjoyed.  Why?

• Set in the English countryside
• A falling down estate - especially the old English house - more than a small house - a stately house.
• A woman who has just lost her mother and has come to England because she has found papers amongst her mother's things.  She is about to find out she is now a Countess and the owner of the large estate.
• A cold case - a young missing girl and a missing man, her mother's brother.
• Unscrupulous people who are out to get their hands on the estate and any money there.
• Food - Olivia is a food editor and she appreciates the best tastes going.  To her delight she comes across and English /Indian family who are well versed in delightful tastes
• Samir - a young man who is working as a thatcher but is so much more.
• An old Earl who turns out to be a darling
• A treasure hunt of sorts that Olivia's mother has set up for her to find what she needs.
• Warm friendships that start to form
• The possibility of taking on Rosemere - the estate - and bringing it back to its former glory

All these things kept me reading, at times I found a little too much going on and some things then a little undeveloped for my taste, but that said, it was a great read.

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And if you'd like to see more check out these posts and reviews at TLC Book Tours.

Lighthouse Beach. Shelley Noble

Published: William Morrow
Date: May 29th 2018
Format: e-ARC
Pages: 400
Genre: Mainstream Fiction
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss
Rating:
                          

When Lillo Gray pulls up to Kennebunkport’s most exclusive hotel wearing a borrowed dress and driving a borrowed VW van, she knows she’s made a big mistake. She’s not even sure why Jessica Parker invited her to her posh wedding. They haven’t seen each other since they were unhappy fourteen-year-old girls at fat camp. And now they’re from two completely different worlds. There’s no way Lillo fits in the rarefied circles Jessica travels in.

Jess isn’t sure she’s ready to go through with this wedding, but she’s been too busy making everyone else happy to think about what she wants. But when she and her two closest friends, Allie and Diana, along with Lillo, discover her fiancé with his pants down in the hotel parking lot, she’s humiliated…and slightly relieved. In a rush to escape her crumbling life, Jess, Allie, and Diana pile into Lillo’s beat-up old van and head up the coast to Lighthouse Island. Once there, she hopes to figure out the next chapter in her life.

Visit Lighthouse Beach and you'll never be the same according to a notice at the entrance to the town. For a group of friends that certainly seems to ring true.  Lighthouse Beach is set in Maine in a small town that is sort of dying. No longer can the fishermen find the kind of work they once had.

Lilla has come back to live here, once her parents had a camp but they sold it to fund her education at medical school. So why is she wasting away on Lighthouse Beach? Mystery number one!  After being invited to Jessica's disastrous wedding, she ends up with three visitors. I thought these three women would be rich snobs but that was really quite the opposite. They all fit into Lilla's small cottage and adjust well to a week at the beach.

Jessica had come to Lilla's parents' camp so has known Lilla for a long time. She doesn't seem to have much of a backbone when it comes to her terrible parents and her ghastly father. Jessica has had to weather rich, manipulative, judgemental parents. It's left her with issues! Well to be honest many of the characters have issues.  Allie has lost her husband and has a five year old waiting for her at home. Diana has had two divorces. They are all intelligent, gifted and mostly successful women. 

As well in this town there is Mac, growing old but still wanting to watch over the lighthouse. And Dr. Clancy who wants to watch over Mac.  Doc (Ned) rides into town every so often to provide medical care with Dr. Clancy. As well there is Ian the vet... yes you guessed it, he has issues too!

Much happens in a week, the background to Lilla and Ian especially is revealed, and the anguish and guilt they experience.  As I read on I see how Lilla and Jessica have both in a way experienced similar consequences to each other of other people's behavior. 

I loved the final chapters of the book as the action heated up and stands were made. Life issued a challenge and those challenges were taken up.

The story left me a little dissatisfied. I wanted to know more about Allie. Where to for Lillie and Jessica and Diana. Yes I could finish off their stories in the way I'd like for them in my imagination. However... surely there has to be another book in there somewhere from Shelley Noble about them.

The High Tide Club. Mary Kay Andrews

Published: St Martin's Press
Date: 8th May 2018
Format: e-ARC
Pages: 480
Genre: Mainstream Fiction
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Rating:
                   

When ninety-nine-year-old heiress Josephine Bettendorf Warrick summons Brooke Trappnell to Talisa Island, her 20,000 acre remote barrier island home, Brooke is puzzled. Everybody in the South has heard about the eccentric millionaire mistress of Talisa, but Brooke has never met her. Josephine’s cryptic note says she wants to discuss an important legal matter with Brooke, who is an attorney, but Brooke knows that Mrs. Warrick has long been a client of a prestigious Atlanta law firm.

Over a few meetings, the ailing Josephine spins a tale of old friendships, secrets, betrayal and a long-unsolved murder. She tells Brooke she is hiring her for two reasons: to protect her island and legacy from those who would despoil her land, and secondly, to help her make amends with the heirs of the long dead women who were her closest friends, the girls of The High Tide Club—so named because of their youthful skinny dipping escapades—Millie, Ruth and Varina. When Josephine dies with her secrets intact, Brooke is charged with contacting Josephine’s friends’ descendants and bringing them together on Talisa for a reunion of women who’ve actually never met.

The High Tide Club was an entertaining read - lots happening, interesting and varied characters, a little bit of mystery and crime, and some life happenings that tugged at my heart.

I loved that it was a dual time story - usually I find those a little annoying, but this one is really done well and it all goes together seamlessly. It tells the story of Josephine, Milly, Ruth and Varina back in the day and how their lives intertwined and then they lost contact. Why? Josephine was a secretive lady but in my opinion she meant well. I liked her.  

The present day ladies called together by Josephine are Lizzie - related to Ruth, Felicity related to Varina who is still alive, and Brooke a lawyer daughter of Marie who is a daughter of Milly as it turns out.  I liked how they all developed and reacted to the various events, taking their time often to adjust. The last moments in the book are sweet.

Brooke is really a main character, she has a beautiful son Henry and a missing father for Henry that she still sort of wishes was still around. But its been three years, he doesn't know he is Henry's father and Brooke has found herself being courted by a lawyer she used to work with and now needs his help.

It kept me reading, even during a difficult time, so you might say its just the right kind of read to take your mind off real life.  A story of friendship, love, sadness and loss, forgiveness and new hope.

Sisters Like Us. Susan Mallery

Published:Harlequin
Date: 23rd January 2018
Format: 3-ARC
Pages: 432
Genre: Mainstream Fiction
Source:Publisher via NetGalley
Rating:
                     

Divorce left Harper Szymanski with a name no one can spell, a house she can't afford and a teenage daughter who's pulling away. With her fledgling virtual-assistant business, she's scrambling to maintain her overbearing mother’s ridiculous Susie Homemaker standards and still pay the bills, thanks to clients like Lucas, the annoying playboy cop who claims he hangs around for Harper's fresh-baked cookies.

Spending half her life in school hasn't prepared Dr. Stacey Bloom for her most daunting challenge—motherhood. She didn't inherit the nurturing gene like Harper and is in deep denial that a baby is coming. Worse, her mother will be horrified to learn that Stacey's husband plans to be a stay-at-home dad…assuming Stacey can first find the courage to tell Mom she's already six months pregnant.

Sisters Like Us is #4 in the Mischief Bay series, while part of a series it is very much a stand alone as well. I had been anticipating it with reading relish because so far I have really liked this series.

There are two sisters - Stacey who is about to become a Mom, she is about 6 months pregnant and as sure as can be that she will not make a good mother. Her mother - Bunny sent her the message in childhood that there was something wrong with her, and every since she has believed it.  She has a wonderful husband Kit and his insightful nephew Ashton who would most likely hold a different opinion entirely about Stacey.

Harper runs her own business and seems often to be overwhelmed by it, taking on too much and not standing up to one demanding client. Her mother - Bunny is always harping on to her about getting all the home things right. As the book opens she isn't getting things quite right with her daughter Becca, who is struggling with some pertinent issues.  

We also meet the police cop from the book A Million Little Things.  He uses Harper's business to deal with some of the details of his life like paying his bills. I really liked him and his approach especially to Becca, although I felt one thing he did was really not quite in character, but everyone seemed to understand!

So this story deals with mothers and daughters - what makes a good mother? How can you juggle an important job and be a mother too? And the messages we receive as children from our parents can have a huge impact.  As well we see two sisters who do really support each other, teenage friendships explored, the need for a strong father in one's life and what makes a great teenage romantic relationship.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book - just as I expected.

Now That You Mention It. Kristan Higgins

Published: HQN Books
Date: 26th December 2017
Format: e-ARC
Pages: 416
Genre: Mainstream Fiction
Source:Publisher via NetGalley
Rating:
               

One step forward. Two steps back. The Tufts scholarship that put Nora Stuart on the path to becoming a Boston medical specialist was a step forward. Being hit by a car and then overhearing her boyfriend hit on another doctor when she thought she was dying? Two major steps back.

Injured in more ways than one, Nora feels her carefully built life cracking at the edges. There's only one place to land: home. But the tiny Maine community she left fifteen years ago doesn't necessarily want her. At every turn, someone holds the prodigal daughter of Scupper Island responsible for small-town drama and big-time disappointments.

With a tough islander mother who's always been distant and a wild-child sister in jail, unable to raise her daughter—a withdrawn teen as eager to ditch the island as Nora once was—Nora has her work cut out for her if she's going to take what might be her last chance to mend the family.

It is a delicious feeling to open up a book by Kristan Higgins and indeed it was so for this latest book as well. It was funny and heart warming, poignant and at times caught me right in the heart.

This is the story of Nora, before and after. As a young teen on Scupper Island she has much to contend with. She has the heart ache of her Dad walking out on their family and to compensate she over eats which leads to further insults. Her mother is tough but not particularly the warm huggable kind.  Nora is bright though and she has the chance of winning a big scholarship, although she has big competition from an equally intelligent student. But intelligence is not the only thing that counts.

Nora does make it to being a very successful doctor, however there is a Big Bad Event that has caused her a lot of trauma, and there are other aspects of her life that just aren't working out.

When she returns to Scupper Island she has her mother to deal with, her niece Poe who is a sullen 'don't look at me' kind of teen, and her nemesis Luke Fletcher. However Nora is not easily deterred and the story rollicks along as she faces into all the challenges before her. Not least of all is winning over her niece Poe and finding a partner for her mother.  

Of course Nora is accompanied by her beloved dog Boomer and they have a fantastic relationship. However not so with her mother's pet bird Tweety. Oh my how I was horrified and .... yes laughed at the interactions there.

Nora makes significant changes in her life, she meets up again with Sully Fletcher and there just might be sparks there. As well he has a daughter Audrey, someone Nora is able to reach out to.

I loved picking up this book to read any chance I had, I loved the island, the people and scenery on Scupper. Kristan Higgins has satisfied my reading heart again.

Have You Met Nora? Nicole Blades

Published: Kensington
Date: 31st October 2017
Format: e-ARC
Pages: 320
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Rating:
                

She’s blossomed from wealthy surgeon’s beautiful daughter to elegant socialite to being the top fashion stylist in the country. And Nora Mackenzie is only days away from marrying into one of New York’s richest, most powerful families. But her fairy tale rise is rooted in an incredible deception—one scandal away from turning her perfect world to ashes . . .

What no one knows is that Nora is the biracial daughter of a Caribbean woman and a long-gone white father. Adopted—and abused—by her mother’s employer, then sent to an exclusive boarding school to buy her silence, Nora found that “passing” as a white woman could give her everything she never had. Every golden opportunity she seized and every deception she worked kept that powerless, forgotten girl forever in the past.

Now, an ex-classmate who Nora betrayed many years ago has returned to her life to even the score. She’s a woman who won’t be bought off, reasoned against, or pleaded with. Her machinations are turning Nora’s privilege into one gilded trap after another. Running out of choices, Nora must decide how far she will go to protect a lie or give up and finally face the truth.

I was drawn to reading this book by the synopsis and the cover and I kept reading because I wanted to see how Nora was going to deal with the big issues present in her life.

It's a story of great injustice, revenge, fear and lies. Nora has had many things happen to her that she wants to keep hidden. Does she risk telling the truth or does she hide the truth in case it ruins her? I felt for her, but really couldn't go along with her choices.    If you have ever hesitated over telling someone something about yourself for fear of what they will think of you, then you will be able to empathise with Nora.   Meet Nora - an extremely flawed character. 

Personally I wanted more from her and for her. Certainly a thought provoking book that will have you talking if you read it. 

What Others Say about Have You Met Nora?

“Nicole Blades has created a heroine both honorable and deceptive, both vulnerable and powerful, a heroine whose choices are at times shocking but arguably necessary. It is near impossible not to cheer Nora Mackenzie’s ultimate triumph over a childhood of cruelty and loss, even if that terrible past compels her to extreme behavior in order to achieve a life of security and love.” —Holly Chamberlin, author of The Season of Us

  
“If Gillian Flynn wrote a 21st Century take on Imitation of Life, it would be this book. A fascinating page-turner, Have You Met Nora? is smart, funny, and wholly unexpected.” 
—Attica Locke, author of Pleasantville, producer and writer for Fox TV’s Empire
  
“Have You Met Nora? is stunning, riveting, and positively unpredictable. This is a deft and searing commentary on identity and race. Nicole Blades has written a book that feels effortless to read and yet pulls no punches, offering a point of view that is piercing and uncompromising. You will be thinking about this book long after it’s over.” 
—Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

The Greatest Gift. Rachael Johns

Published: MIRA (Australia)
Date: 23rd October 2017
Format: e-ARC
Pages: 416
Genre: General Fiction
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Rating:
                             

Radio host Harper Drummond lives for her career. Every day she meets fascinating people doing extraordinary things, but has begun to wonder whether there could something more for her out there. She’s financially secure, happily married to Samuel and has a great group of friends — what more could she want? It’s only when she interviews one special couple that she starts to think about whether she could make a different kind of contribution.

Claire and Jasper Beggs are passionate about their thriving hot air balloon business and know they're lucky to find such joy in their work and in each other. But while Jasper has accepted that he will never be a father, Claire has found it hard to come to terms with her infertility. She doesn't want Jasper to regret choosing her over a child in the years to come. Is there a way to give themselves a real chance at being a happy family?

Can they find someone who will give them the greatest gift? Or will it come at a greater cost?

In her latest book The Greatest Gift Rachael Johns explores the issues of wanting children but being infertile and the amazing role those who make egg donations take on, to help those who have a strong desire to be a parent. This was actually a new idea to me, not sure why I hadn't heard of it before but I hadn't and so this book was a marvellous way for me to gain insight into it. 

Harper is a woman who doesn't want children and neither does her husband Samuel. However Harper does want to contribute and find deeper meaning in her life so she decides to explore the possibility of donating some of her eggs.  Thereby creating the greatest gift. 

Claire is infertile due to a childhood illness and so when she wants children one possibility is to look for an egg donor. In Australia this is unpaid and donors willingly make the gift. How things follow up in terms of whether the egg donor has any further communication with the new parents was another interesting aspect. 

Of course this is a story that does not just go from A to B and new baby and every one goes home happy.  Rachael Johns throws in a few curly twists and turns that made for some heart in the mouth reading. 

I liked the development of the characters, especially that of Harper - her journey was in the end the one that grabbed me. Jasper - husband of Claire, was another character whose reactions and feelings seemed totally believable. How they change and take up the challenges of the journey they are on made for some very good reading.