Pass The Word #3
Pass the Word is a Meme hosted by me featuring some great books that I have either read and not had time to review or had not had time to read at all.
In the words of Maud Casey, I do believe that "I was born with a reading list I will never finish".
Happy Reading everyone!
"The summer the Dovers move in next door, sixteen-year-old Helen's lonely world is at once a more thrilling place. She is infatuated with the bohemian family, especially the petulant and charming daughter Victoria.
As the long, hot days stretch out in front of them, Helen and Victoria grow inseparable. But when a stranger appears, Helen begins to question whether the secretive Dover family are really what they seem.
It's the kind of summer when anything seems possible . . .
Until something goes wrong.
A suspenseful, spell-binding coming-of-age story about how one simple action on a summer's day can echo through the years. Perfect for fans of Louise Doughty's Apple Tree Yard, Liane Moriarty's The Husband's Secret and Helen Dunmore's The Lie."
"Luisa has met the love of her life ... now she just needs to figure out what to do with her husband.
Luisa has fallen madly in love with sculptor Jarvis, so she comes up with a plan to find a new wife for her husband Luke so she can exit stage left. She wants to screen potential stepmothers for her 8-year-old son Max and has strict criteria: the woman must be a single mother; have no more than two children; she can't be authoritarian; she must be creative, nurturing and not much prettier than Luisa.
After a few carefully orchestrated meetings with different women that fail to raise a spark, Luke finally connects with a potential replacement wife.
However, Luisa isn't prepared for the fact that Luke's interest in the other woman makes him a better man and a more attractive husband. After suffering for years in a half-dead marriage, Luisa starts to remember what it was about Luke that she originally fell in love with. But is it too late?"
"She went from having everything to having nothing—except what she really needed.
Heiress Lily Schofield never had to think about money, until suddenly she no longer has any. Left destitute by her father’s shady dealings, Lily has only one place to go: Mirabook, her mother’s country estate and the place she spent every childhood summer running wild with the station manager’s son, Josh. Until that last time, ten years ago, when everything went horribly wrong.
Strong, reliable and definitely country, Josh Farrell may have worshipped and adored his summer friend, but that was before he found out what she and her family were really like. Mirabook has stood empty for a decade, and Josh has been waiting a long time for the chance to turn the tables and make Mirabook his own.
But now Lily is back in town, looking to make the move permanent, and all Josh can see is the truckload of unfinished business she brought with her…"
"Justine thought she knew who she was, until an anonymous caller seemed to know better...
After escaping London and a career that nearly destroyed her, Justine plans to spend her days doing as little as possible in her beautiful home in Devon.
But soon after the move, her daughter Ellen starts to withdraw when her new best friend, George, is unfairly expelled from school. Justine begs the head teacher to reconsider, only to be told that nobody's been expelled - there is, and was, no George.
Then the anonymous calls start: a stranger, making threats that suggest she and Justine share a traumatic past and a guilty secret - yet Justine doesn't recognise her voice. When the caller starts to talk about three graves - two big and one small, to fit a child - Justine fears for her family's safety.
If the police can't help, she'll have to eliminate the danger herself, but first she must work out who she's supposed to be..."
"A remarkably warm-hearted, uplifting and inspiring story of one boy's survival against the odds.
Abdi's world fell apart when he was only fifteen and Somalia's vicious civil war hit Mogadishu. Unable to find his family and effectively an orphan, he fled with some sixty others,heading to Kenya. On the way, death squads hunted them and they daily faced violence, danger and starvation. After almost four months, they arrived in at refugee camps in Kenya - of the group he'd set out with, only five had survived.
All alone in the world and desperate to find his family, Abdi couldn't stay in Kenya, so he turned around and undertook the dangerous journey back to Mogadishu. But the search was fruitless, and eventually Abdi made his way - alone, with no money in his pockets - to Romania, then to Germany, completely dependent on the kindess of strangers. He was just seventeen years old when he arrived in Melbourne. He had no English, no family or friends, no money, no home. Yet, against the odds, he not only survived, he thrived. Abdi went on to complete secondary education and later university. He became a youth worker, was acknowledged with the 2007 Victorian Refugee Recognition Award and was featured in the SBS second series of Go Back to Where You Came From.
Despite what he has gone through, Abdi is a most inspiring man, who is constantly thankful for his life and what he has. Everything he has endured and achieved is testament to his quiet strength and courage, his resilience and most of all, his warm-hearted, shining and enduring optimism."
"I am the star of screaming tabloid headlines and campfire ghost stories. I am one of the four Black-Eyed Susans. The lucky one.
Seventeen-year-old Tessa, dubbed a 'Black-Eyed Susan' by the media, became famous for being the only victim to survive the vicious attack of a serial killer. Her testimony helped to put a dangerous criminal behind bars - or so she thought.
Now, decades later, the case has been reopened and the black-eyed Susans planted outside Tessa's bedroom window seem to be a message from a killer who should be safely in prison.
Tessa agrees to help with the investigation, but she is haunted by fragmented memories of the night she was attacked and terrified for her own teenage daughter's safety. Can she unlock the truth about the killer before it's too late?"
I've really wanted to read Black Eyed Susans but not managed to get hold of it.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about getting time to review though... I've started taking some short-cuts (using backcover blurbs) and occasionally just reviewing in Goodreads. I'm probably a bit more harsh re my DNFs now too... I have so many books waiting for me I won't waste time on something I'm really not enjoying!