Heart of a Runaway Girl by Trevor Wiltzen My rating: 4 of 5 stars The main character, Mabel Davison, is the star of this novel. She’s a down-to-earth single mum and a waitress. She owns the diner and an attached motel, but she isn’t rolling in money. Mabel works hard and long and tries to…
Tag: fiction
Dead[ish] – a very original short story by Naomi Kramer
Dead[ish] by Naomi Kramer My rating: 5 of 5 stars Oh, wow. Oh, my. I read Dead[ish] on a long-distance train yesterday and became so engrossed that I suddenly thought I’d missed my stop. I flung myself onto the platform only to find the reality was I was half an hour early and had to…
Dead as a Doornail (Sookie Stackhouse #5)
And there is Tara (from True Blood) on the cover! Woohoo! Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris My rating: 5 of 5 stars Dead as a Doornail is a classic Sookie Stackhouse novel with lots of action. But something I particularly liked in this one was it felt like a lot of time was…
Dead to the World (Sookie Stackhouse #4)
Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris My rating: 5 of 5 stars (another re-read) Aww, Eric was a funny boy in this one. I liked it…a lot. And if you’re an Eric fan then you probably will, too. 🙂 Indeed it was. Erm, no. Nope. It was a lot more than that. Anyhoo… There…
Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
Bitten by Kelley Armstrong My rating: 5 of 5 stars A great werewolf tale! A bit raunchy in bits, not really my thing, but very well done. I liked the relationship between Elena, the main, and Clay. I found it quite gripping. In fact overall it was well-written and engaging – there was always action…
The Great Divide by L.J.M. Owen
The Great Divide by L.J.M. Owen My rating: 4 of 5 stars The Great Divide had a story that kept me up at night reading. It also had a dark almost gothic feel. Aussie gothic, maybe? I don’t know, but I can tell you the story was brutal, the weather foggy, and the small town…
Club Dead (Sookie Stackhouse #3) by Charlaine Harris
I guess I bought this book for $6 😛 Well worth it I might say. Club Dead by Charlaine Harris My rating: 4 of 5 stars After my re-read: Oh, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie. Boy do you get in some scraps. I love her so much even though, at times, she’s a bit whiney. I think…
Living Dead in Dallas (Sookie Stackhouse #2) by Charlaine Harris
Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris My rating: 4 of 5 stars I forgot how different the story was to the TV series. Not bad, just different. I enjoyed reading this again as an audiobook this time. The narrator is quite good, in fact excellent, as Sookie. While the male voices are a little…
The Complete Sookie Stackhouse Stories by Charlaine Harris
The Complete Sookie Stackhouse Stories by Charlaine Harris My rating: 3 of 5 stars This was a mix of a few ‘great’ stories and some that didn’t seem to have been checked by anyone before they were printed out in lovely hardcover story collection. I read them all because I love the town of Bon…
The Bodysurfers by Robert Drewe
The Bodysurfers – Book Review Author: Robert Drewe Genre: Short stories, Australia, classic My rating: ★★★☆☆ Release Date: Published 29th June, 2009 by Penguin Group (Australia) Format: Paperback, 168 pages What did I think? Drewe’s short story collection was printed in the eighties and I could tell. It reminded me in style and characters of…
Siren by Tara Moss
Siren – Book Review Author: Tara Moss Genre: Mystery, thriller, Aussie My rating: ★★★★★ Release Date: Published 28th June, 2011 by Bolinda Publishing Format: Audiobook, 11 hours, 31 minutes Yes, I’m back. You’d think that Covid-19 would give me more time to read (and write) but instead it upset my routine. Oh well, no harm,…
If I Had Your Face – A contemporary tale from South Korea
If I Had Your Face – Book Review Author: Frances Cha Genre: Contemporary, women’s fiction My rating: ★★★★★ Release Date: Published 21st April, 2020 by Penguin Books, UK (Viking) Format: Kindle, 272 pages What did I think? Frances Cha’s debut novel introduces you to the lives of five women in modern day Seoul with their…
The Animals in That Country – Must Read.
The Animals in That Country – Book Review Author: Laura Jean McKay Genre: Australian, contemporary, literary fiction, speculative fiction My rating: ★★★★★ Release Date: March 31st 2020 by Scribe Publications Format: Paperback, 288 pages What did I think? I’m not going to lie. McKay’s The Animals in That Country is an odd one. Odd, yet…
The Secrets of Strangers – what a story!
The Secrets of Strangers – Book Review Author: Charity Norman Genre: My rating: ★★★★★ Release Date: Published 3rd March, 2020 by Allen & Unwin Format: Paperback, 352 pages What did I think? I have given Norman’s The Secrets of Strangers five stars – it probably would have been a 4.5 if there were such a…
Death in the Ladies Goddess Club – A fabulous 1930s mystery set in Sydney
Death in the Ladies Goddess Club – Book Review Author: Julian Leatherdale Genre: Mystery, Australian My rating: ★★★★☆ Release Date: Expected 3rd March, 2020 by Allen & Unwin Format: Paperback, 400 pages What did I think? Death in the Ladies Goddess Club is a complex murder mystery set in Kings Cross in the 1930s. Leatherdale’s…
Three Apples Fell from the Sky – a fable
Three Apples Fell from the Sky – Book Review Author: Narine Abgaryan Genre: Fiction, fable My rating: ★★★★☆ Expected Release Date: 5th March, 2020 by Oneworld Publications Format: Kindle, 256 pages What did I think? Author, Narine Abgaryan, gave me plenty to enjoy in this fable detailing the difficulties facing Maran, a small mountain village…
The Institute by Stephen King – Now I see why he’s so popular!
The Institute – Book Review Author: Stephen King Genre: Horror, thriller, mystery My rating: ★★★★☆ Release Date: Published 10th September, 2019 by Hodder & Stoughton Format: Hard back, 485 pages What did I think? This was my aha moment regarding Stephen King. I hadn’t placed him in the writers I didn’t like category—not at all—but…
Good Dogs Don’t Make It to the South Pole by Hans-Olav Thyvold – Odd and outstanding!
Good Dogs Don’t Make It to the South Pole – Book Review Author: Hans-Olav Thyvold Genre: Fiction but it’s a tricky one My rating: ★★★★★ Release Date: Expected 4th February, 2020 by Allen and Unwin Format: Paperback, 304 pages What did I think? (Edit (25/01/20): I think this book had a much darker ending that…
Charlotte Pass by Lee Christine – a solid murder mystery
Charlotte Pass – Book Review Author: Lee Christine Genre: Murder mystery, Australia, romance My rating: ★★★★☆ Release Date: Expected publication: 4th February, 2020 by Allen & Unwin AU Format: Paperback, 320 pages What did I think? My third novel for this year is another good mystery (after A Murder at Malabar Hill). I was hooked…
My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite – what a treat!
My Sister the Serial Killer – Book Review Author: Oyinkan Braithwaite Genre: It’s tricky -read on My rating: ★★★★★ Release Date: Published 28th November, 2018 by Atlantic (first published July 17th 2017) Format: Paperback, 226 pages What did I think? When I finally began this book, which I had been looking forward to for many…