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Inver's Reading List(s) (No.2)


Inver

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:readingtwo:My Reading List 2009:readingtwo:

'The Chocolate Lovers' Club' by Carole Matthews

 

Another bookring via Bookcrossing. The title says it all, a group of friends, their lives and chocolate. Although a chocolate lover I struggled a bit with this book in places, but have to say I would LOVE to have a place like 'Chocolate Heaven' to chill out in with my friends!! I feel fatter just having read about chocolate!!

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:readingtwo:My Reading List 2009:readingtwo:

 

'The Chocolate Lovers' Club' by Carole Matthews

 

Another bookring via Bookcrossing. The title says it all, a group of friends, their lives and chocolate. Although a chocolate lover I struggled a bit with this book in places, but have to say I would LOVE to have a place like 'Chocolate Heaven' to chill out in with my friends!! I feel fatter just having read about chocolate!!

I didn't think you liked chocolate Diane:sarcastic::blush:

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Can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe just too much reference to chocolate!! Or it could have been just not in the mood for that kind of read. Maybe some of the antics were a bit far fetched for me at times and the way one of the characters got called 'gorgeous' all the time, however I did carry on with it and it got to the stage that I had to finish it.

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Oh, okay. And I guess there is such a thing as too much chocolate, no matter how much we love the stuff! *laughs* I often find myself reacting badly to repetition too. Like "yes, I know, you've said she's gorgeous a million times! Give it a rest already!"

 

Thank you for your answer. I've picked this book up at the store a couple of times, and haven't yet really felt like it. I doubt I will buy it now. Sounds like I'll just be disappointed.

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Can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe just too much reference to chocolate!! Or it could have been just not in the mood for that kind of read. Maybe some of the antics were a bit far fetched for me at times and the way one of the characters got called 'gorgeous' all the time, however I did carry on with it and it got to the stage that I had to finish it.

 

I also tried this book at one time in the past couple of years.. it just didn't grab me! I moved on to something else since I had more books from the library to work my way through. I wish I could remember exactly what it was that didn't excite me, but I can't... just remember getting distracted and it not drawing me in.

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  • 3 weeks later...

'Soft Voices Whispering' by Adrienne Dines





Blurb When Eleanor Morrissey leaves Kildoran on a dark September night in 1930, nobody is sorry to see her go and nobody expects to see her return. As far as the villagers are concerned, the Morrisseys have been shamed out of town forever. Fifty years later, some visitors attend the funeral of the convent's Mother Superior. When the funeral is over, one woman stays behind. Until she is free to leave again, she must struggle to understand her legacy - a legacy of voices. Threatening, angry, accusing voices that only she can hear, because they are soft voices - whispering.





Another bookring via Bookcrossing. After a slow start and almost giving up on the book, I am so glad I continued with it. I enjoyed the present/past aspect of the writing and the way it all tied together. Sympathy with some of the characters was something you couldn't avoid. The title was very apt and well chosen given the subject matter. It was such a shame that such secrets took such a long time to come to light for those involved in the events of the past.

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'A Good Yarn' by Debbie Macomber

Second in the series about 'The Shop on Blossom Street'. Lydia owns the wool shop A Good Yarn and has survived her fight with cancer. New ideas to help the business have to be found, and she offers up another knitting class. Things brings in new characters, Elise, Bethanne and Courtney. All of different ages and stages in their lives. The usual intermingling of a bunch of friends, who help each other out in times of needs. All in all a good read, but I did find it a bit all too 'goody goody' at the end. However I am looking forward to reading the next one 'Back on Blossom Street'. Due to be with me soon, thanks to a bookring on here by K1nS

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  • 3 weeks later...

'Back on Blossom Street' by Debbie Macomber

The third in the Blossom Street series and as the others, the group of friends help each other through thick and thin, good and bad, while getting involved with the knitting project of the 'prayer shawl'. There is a familiar pattern to these books, that being the people who use the 'Good Yarn' wool store, but they are enjoyable. Bookring run by K1Ns

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  • 2 weeks later...

'Bed & Breakfast' by Lois Battle

Bookring via Bookcrossing but have had to give up on this one it just wasn't holding my interest. Potentially it sounded like my kind of read. Main character has a B&B, but it was more to do with getting her family together for Christmas and putting their trials and tribulations behind them etc, and not about characters who use the B&B. Was just something annoying about how it was written I think. Too many books on my shelf to be read to bother about trying to finish this one.

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'Star Gazing' by Linda Gillard

Eventually got around to reading the third book from Linda (my signed copy). Again I loved it. I enjoy the way Linda writes. Writing from the way blind people imagine and deal with life was dealt with in a very sensitive manner. The relationship between Marianne and Kier was wonderful. How Linda managed to imagine climbing into a tree house when you are blind I have know idea! So glad the ending turned out the way I wanted it to (slightly predictable!) but didn't spoil it.

 

Living in Aberdeen I know about the Piper Alpha Memorial in the rose garden in Hazelhead park and have seen it. It is a wonderful momument to those unfortunate souls who lost their lives so tragically off shore and Linda's description is spot on. I was supposed to meet up with Linda when she was coming to Aberdeen to research for her book (via bookcrossing).

 

Look forward to your next book Linda :blush:

 

Photo of memorial

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

'When the Soul Mends' by Cindy Woodsmall

 

The third in the trilogy (Sisters of the Quilt). This one tied up all the loose ends of the saga between Hannah and Paul. She continues her life outside Owl's Perch and is training to be a nurse and has a relationship with Martin. Her sister Sarah needs her help and she returns home to her beloved Amish community, but old wounds are opened by those who frowned up her before she left, including her father's dissaproval. Lots of truths come to light about things/messages that were said and never passed on between Paul and Hannah. Each thinking the other doesn't want any contact with them. A wonderful trilogy. Highly Recommended.

Edited by Inver
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  • 2 weeks later...

'Set in Stone' by Linda Newbery

 

This was my World Book day swap from Lucybird. What a great choice it was too. Not an author I have come across. A young artist, Samual Godwin is employed as a tutor to sisters Marianne and Juliana. But there are secrets that slowly unfold, twists and turns you aren't expecting about the family history. But together with the governess, Charlotte, they put the pieces together.

 

8/10 Thanks again Lucy for the swap.

Edited by Inver
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  • 4 weeks later...

'Marshmallows for Breakfast' by Dorothy Koomson (author My Best Friends Girl)

Blurb

When Kendra Tamale returns to England from Australia she rents a room from Kyle, a seperated father of two, & begins a new job. She's looking forward to a fresh start & a simple life. Kyle's six-year-old twins, Summer & Jaxon, have other ideas & quickly adopt Kendra as their new mother - mainly because she let's them eat marshmallows for breakfast. Kendra eventually becomes a part of their lives, even though she's hiding a painful secret that makes her keep everyone - especially children - at arm's length. Then Kendra bumps into the man who shares her awful secret, & everything falls apart: she can't sleep, she can't eat, she's suspended fom work, & the kids are taken away by their mother. The only way to fix things is to confess to the terrible mistake she made all those years ago. But that's something she swore never to do....

I joined a bookring on Bookcrossing for this one. It was a bit too long for what the actual story was about and took quite a while to get to the point of it all. I had to complete the read though to see if it turned out the way I wanted it too. It sort of did. There are flash backs on occasions to let you understand why Kendra is how she is, but she does a good job at keeping her past to herself. I loved the twins in the book, making you laugh and cry. Wasn't quite a believable read,

but it did deal with the effects an alcoholic mother has on young children

.

Would maybe give it a 6/10

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'Stage by Stage' by Jan Jones

Not a lot to say about this one except.....:smile2: yawn....so much so I only gave it 50 pages. Didn't like any of the characters and found it boring. My sis only got to page 66 with it too!

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  • 2 weeks later...

'Light on Snow' by Anita Shreve

Nicky Dillon and her father take a walk through new-fallen snow in the forest near their home and come upon and abandoned new born baby, wrapped in a sleeping bag. And so begins the tale of how/why the wee sole has been abandoned. Nicky is only 12 and lives with her father and have a very close loving father/daughter relationship, although she obviously misses her mother and little sister dearly and Anita deals with this sensitively at this ever changing time of growing into teenage years.

A simply written and compulsive read and didn't take long to whizz through. One of the books that has been on my shelf waiting patiently to be read. I am so glad I took time out to read this one. Has been recommended many a time in the thread here for Anita Shreve

8/10

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'Salem Falls' by Jodi Picoult

Jack St Bride turns up in Salem Falls after being released from prison to start a new life, after being wrongly accused of rape. But yet again he falls into the trap of being in the wrong place at the wrong time!

This was a great read. Jodi Picoult is such a good story teller. Plenty of characters (a few too many at times!) that weave the story to its ultimate climax via the court case

(and the last page!)

. There are parts that explain the complex dealings of DNA and how this can sway the evidence to a conclusion, but not always the way you expect it too. I found I had to read this part over two or three times to understand the data, but Jodi explained it well. It was certainly a page turner and I should have finished a lot quicker.

9/10 ~ definitely worth a read if you enjoy Jodi Picoult....now which one do I read next!

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Hi Inver.... glad to see you enjoyed another Jodi Picoult book! I'll be sure to keep an eye out for that one. And thanks for the review on the Anita Shreve book, she's another author that's on my wishlist, I had no particular book choice by her, I just wanted to read *A* book at some point. Might try 'Light On Snow'. :D

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lol which haven't you read? Perfect Match is kind of similar, and a good one too, although a somewhat hard subject to read about.

 

I haven't read Salem Falls for a while actually, but I have too many new books for re-reads

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'Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows' by J.K.Rowling

 

Hurrah....I have eventually finished it. Think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't taken so long to read it, and reading other books inbetween. I felt there was a lot to try and remember and understand in this one. How younger readers manage I don't know. However glad I can say I have read them all now.

Highlight to view spoiler: It had the ending I thought it would be, but it did take a long time to get there! Too much hanging about in tents for me...lol. Poor Dobby, that upset me the most I think. Am I the only one who kinda had a soft spot for Snape, bad sort of turned good(ish). And good for Neville and the sword!

 

 

8/10 Wonder how the movie will turn out?

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