The View from the Balcony by Janette Paul

 

It might seem like I love everything I read but I don’t. I read a lot of books and I only post reviews of the ones I’ve enjoyed and which I hope others will as well. The View from the Balcony is a case in point. I thought this one was positively brilliant, and I don’t mind saying so.

Three women are visitors to three patients at a rehabilitation hospital. Andie was injured when a man suffered a heart attack and accidentally drove his car into a group of people on a street corner. Andie is recovering at home from concussion and has no memory of the incident but she learns that a man who pushed her out of the way of the oncoming car was severely injured and is a patient at the Hepburn House Rehabilitation Hospital.

Coral’s mother, Val, is a patient at the hospital after a fall. Coral is trying frantically to prepare for an upcoming, eagerly anticipated trip, while at the same time sorting out Val’s care, finalising a work matter, looking after her temporarily disabled daughter and supervising a problem with her absent son’s flat.

Mara has been seconded to assist Estelle, a mean, scary senior partner in the legal firm where Mara works, who is in the hospital also recovering from a serious accident.

A single balcony which connects the three patients’ rooms eventually becomes a place where the women connect. They each empathise with the others’ difficulties and celebrate their happy moments as well, as they sit  together on the balcony and gaze over the sparkling blue ocean. The three stories unfold into one memorable, unputdownable, highly recommended book.

Janette Paul is another wonderfully talented Australian writer.  Thank you Pan Macmillan for my review copy.

Published by Pan Macmillan

Smuggler’s Cove by Fern Michaels

 

Smuggler’s Cove is my first Fern Michaels and I was amazed to see the number of titles including several series written by her, listed at the front of the book. Smuggler’s Cove is a short book and looks like it is the first in a new series.

Jackson Taylor had a difficult childhood and grew up to be a young man determined to have it all, wealth, prestige, the lot, at any cost. By the time his children, Madison and Lincoln, were teenagers Jackson’s fortunes were reversed in spectacular style and the children’s privileged New York lifestyle was gone. Several years later the now adult children learned that their Uncle Kirby had died and left them his marina at Smuggler’s Cove on the Jersey Shore.

So begins the story of how Madison and Jackson and Jackson’s wife, Olivia, became involved in the world of Smuggler’s Cove. It is good old fashioned story telling and Madison is the principal character. Back in the dark ages when I was young one of my favourite authors of light fiction was Judith Krantz and although her books centred completely on the fashion world, her style was similar to Fern Michaels’. 

Smuggler’s Cove is a feel-good story, without being a fluff piece or sloppily romantic (although a romance is hinted at). Perfect for a cozy sit-down with animal of your choice on your lap and beverage of your choice close by. Thank you NetGalley for my reader’s copy.

Published by Kensington Publishing Corp.

The Ones We Love by Anna Snoekstra

 

Janus has written a best selling novel and has moved with Kay, his wife, and their children, Liv and Casper,  from Melbourne to Los Angeles where he is working on a screenplay and hoping to see his book turned into a movie. Liv, 22 years old and studying fashion design, wakes up one morning in pain and covered in bruises with no recollection of leaving a party the night before. She is in her brother’s bedroom and finds a padlock on her bedroom door.

So begins a mysterious, suspenseful story. Liv’s parents tell her she is locked out of her bedroom because mould has been found there but they wont tell her how she came by her injuries and her mother is furious with her. Liv earns a little money babysitting for the next door neighbours and so a new element is introduced into this intriguing book. 

Kay, Liv’s mother, and Casper, her brother, are separately and individually having difficulties adjusting to life in America. Anna Snoekstra drops little clues throughout the story and I picked up on some of them, but I wasn’t prepared for the real answer to what was behind the locked door.

This was an absolutely ripping yarn and fans of mystery and suspense and spot on characterisations are going to love it. Thank you, Anna Snoekstra, for a thoroughly enjoyable read!

Thanks to NetGalley for my copy.

Published by Penguin.

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler

 

I was very happy to find this little hard covered gem on a recent visit to the Big Smoke. Anne Tyler is still in top form as her narrator, Gail, tells about the weekend of her daughter’s wedding. The first Anne Tyler I remember reading, years ago, was about a woman who walked away from her family who were having a day at the beach. I became an instant fan of Tyler’s plain, pure and simple style from that moment.

Gail tells of how the weekend began on Friday with an uncomfortable conversation with the headmistress of the school where Gail worked, followed by the arrival at her door of her ex-husband, Max, who should have been staying at their daughter’s house the night before the wedding; but Max had brought a cat he was fostering, and the husband-to-be was allergic to cat dander so it turned out Max had to find somewhere else to stay. The cat fits neatly into the story and if I hadn’t already started to love this book up till then, I did now.

Gail’s lack of ‘people skills’ having been pointed out at her meeting with the headmistress, she goes on to narrate some of her past history as well as what is happening in the present, mindful of this description. It is a short book (165 pages) but it says so much, including what it doesn’t say. It is a love story without seeming to be. Gail is quite judgmental of herself as well as others and it is up the reader to find the pictures which go with her words, which is a worthwhile, rewarding exercise.

My Anne Tyler collection was destroyed when a natural disaster hit our house two years ago but this beautiful little book is now going to occupy a proud position on my bookcase, which makes me happy!

Published by Penguin Random House.

The Death of Us by Abigail Dean

 

I read the first sentence and knew this book would be unputdownable. From the beginning Isabel is speaking, in her head, to the evil monster who tore apart the life she and Edward had built together as well as the lives of his many other victims.

But this is the story of Isabel and Edward and the progression of their relationship from their first meeting, a blind date although they were each involved with others at the time, to the realisation that they had fallen in love, to their unfolding careers. Abigail Dean’s writing is sensitive, beautiful, captivating. At the same time it is shocking and honest and goes straight to the heart of the matter. Edward’s story is told in each alternate chapter, and in the past tense. The enormity of the wrong done to Isabel and Edward is such that it is always there, metaphorically, watching every move they make. There are always going to be tiny cracks in even the most perfect of lives and it becomes inevitable that these particular cracks are headed for breaking point. It’s a long story, though, and Isabel the playwright and Edward the  corporate man are such lovely characters, with all their flaws, that I stayed mesmerised to the end.

So far the best book I’ve read this year. Thank you NetGalley for my arc.

Published by Harper Collins

The Wolf Tree by Laura McCluskey

 

Two detective inspectors, Georgina ‘George’ Lennox and Richie Stewart, are sent to Eadar, a remote island off the Scottish coast, to investigate the circumstances surrounding the apparent suicide of a young man. Eadar is a cold, dark, windy place with raging storms whipping up the surrounding ocean. George is recovering from traumatic injuries suffered in her last case and Richie, her older, more experienced colleague, is a little bit protective of her, which she doesn’t really appreciate.

A lot of the first half or so of the book is given to the introduction of the characters who will be most relevant to the story. I found my concentration wavering for a while and think now it would have been helpful to take notes to differentiate between them, especially as I was reading an e book. It is always helpful to be able to flip back through paper pages! I became involved in the story once the characters became familiar to me and I was able to get lost in the splendidly creepy, scary atmosphere. The freezing winds, the darkness, the rocky, uneven streets are the perfect backdrop for the secretive, superstitious inhabitants. George and Richie meet people who had left the island, seen the world, and have chosen to return to their closed, restrictive home, as well as one newcomer who had arrived and stayed.

For all the island’s folklore, superstitions and sounds of howling wolves, the detectives have not been able to find any evidence that would contradict the official cause of Alan’s death, after four days of investigation; however, this slow burning tale eventually reaches boiling point, and George and Richie’s questions are finally answered in a highly dramatic conclusion.

 The relationship between George and Richie is an interesting one: George is clever and ambitious but she is also impulsive and gets herself into situations that could harm her personal safety; meanwhile, Richie has a good, steady career behind him and an almost fatherly concern for George. He would rather see her alive and well than sitting at the top of the police force’s promotional ladder. I hope Laura McCluskey is thinking of bringing them back in another book.

Thank you NetGalley for my arc.

Published by Harper Collins

Best, First and Last by Amy Matthews

 This is a romantic novel packed with colour, humour, drama and complicated characters. I have never been to Peru but Amy Matthews’ vivid descriptions have brought it to life in ways I wouldn’t have imagined. Before ascending the Inca trail, a Wonder of the world, there are glorious beaches and beautiful towns and villages, the perfect setting for this lovely story.

Bon, Sandra and Heather are a grandmother, daughter and granddaughter. Grandmother Bon believes the three of them need to spend some time together. She believes Sandra, her daughter, needs to stop depending on Heather to lift her out of her misery; Heather, in the meantime, also has the added weight of trying to end a relationship with a man who is not willing to let her go. Bon herself has recently lost the husband with whom she had been hoping to spend the rest of her life and is dealing as well with lots of memories.

Bon presents Sandra and Heather with a proposal that the three of them should walk the Inca trail. She has booked and paid for luxury accommodation and private guides and she is not taking no for an answer. Bon’s main aim is to get Sandra to let go of her philandering ex-husband and start living again, although Bon’s plan for Sandra to try being a cougar may not go down well! In the meantime, Sandra’s attempts to interfere in Heather’s life cause a whole new set of problems. 

After reading this vivid story I am going to look for Amy Matthew’s Someone Else’s Bucket List. It is always exciting to find another talented author. Thank you NetGalley for my arc.

Published by Simon and Schuster