- The Art of Arranging Flowers by Lynne Branard (received through NetGalley)
- The Right Wife by Beverly Barton (received through NetGalley)
- Summer House with Swimming Pool by Herman Koch (received through the publisher)
- All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot (received through Goodreads Firstreads Giveaway)
Recent Reviews:
Secrets of the
Lighthouse by Santa Montefiore (received through NetGalley)
4 stars
A gothic romance set on the coast of Ireland, the novel
follows former socialite Ellen as she escapes her restricting London life to
live with her rustic Irish family. Once
there, she meets a cast of interesting characters, most of which are family
that she doesn’t know she had. She also
meets, and almost instantly falls in love with, the mysterious Conor whose
scandalous past has made him an outsider in the isolated little town. His deceased wife also features prominently
in this book as an unhappy ghost that learns how to manipulate the events of
the living. The descriptions of the
coast, the village, the ruined buildings and the numerous family members are
stunning and I felt as if I was plopped into the middle of this beautiful
community each time I opened the book.
Ellen’s embrace of this new life felt authentic and I enjoyed her
transformation as she discovers the family she never knew existed. I was not a fan of the sudden and intense
romance that forced Ellen into acting nowhere near the 33 year old that she is
supposed to be. Otherwise, this is a
beautiful book that I read for the cast of characters and the gorgeous
descriptions but maybe not the romance.
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest
review.
J.D. Salinger: The
Escape Artist by Thomas Beller (received through NetGalley)
4 stars
I found this to be a strange biography and while I liked
it very much, I am having a hard time with the words to describe it. There has been a lot of Salinger news in the
years since his death as the existence of his further works has come to
light. This book is about Salinger but
is also about the author and his voyage to understand Salinger’s life. The book is under 200 pages so it is
definitely not the most comprehensive biography written but it does provide a
broad overview of Salinger’s work and his secretive life. In some ways it included an assortment of
random information and I felt there were a lot of digressions but overall it
was entertaining and I would recommend it to fans of Salinger’s work. I received this from NetGalley in exchange
for an honest review.
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