Audiobook Review: The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

Title: The Little Paris Bookshop
Author: Nina George
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Publication Date: 30th April 2015
Time: 12hrs 9mins
Narrator: Ray Sawyer
Book Source: own audio

Synopsis: Monsieur Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary. From his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine, he prescribes novels for the hardships of life. Using his intuitive feel for the exact book a reader needs, Perdu mends broken hearts and souls. The only person he can't seem to heal through literature is himself; he's still haunted by heartbreak after his great love disappeared. She left him with only a letter, which he has never opened.

After Perdu is finally tempted to read the letter, he hauls anchor and departs on a mission to the south of France, hoping to make peace with his loss and discover the end of the story. Joined by a bestselling but blocked author and a lovelorn Italian chef, Perdu travels along the country’s rivers, dispensing his wisdom and his books, showing that the literary world can take the human soul on a journey to heal itself.

My Thoughts:

Paris and bookshop in the same title ... who could resist? Kathryn's wonderful review clinched the deal (head on over to Book Date to check it out) and I picked this one up on audio and enjoyed both the quirky nature of the story and characters. 

I love the philosophy of the healing power of books, so the idea of a literary apothecary is simply magical. 

" … A book is both medic and medicine at once. It makes a diagnosis as well as offering therapy. Putting the right novels to the appropriate ailments: that’s how I sell books.”

"I wanted to treat feelings that are not recognized as afflictions and are never diagnosed by doctors. All those little feelings and emotions no therapist is interested in, because they are apparently too minor and intangible. The feeling that washes over you when another summer nears its end. Or when you recognize that you haven't got your whole life left to find out where you belong. Or the slight sense of grief when a friendship doesn't develop as you thought, and you have to continue your search for a lifelong companion. Or those birthday morning blues. Nostalgia for the air of your childhood. Things like that." 

Perdu is such an interesting character; insightful and outspoken with others and yet surprisingly stupid blinkered with his own emotional well being. 

I fell in love with George's prose ... Perdu's journey from Paris to Provence along the waterways, dispensing wisdom and collecting travelling companions, the beautiful descriptions of French food and wine, the blooms and herbs, the countryside, the tango scene. I felt transported and immersed in the colour and fragrance of the region. 

I imagine, like Perdu's feelings regarding books “There are books that are suitable for a million people, others for only a hundred. There are even remedies—I mean books—that were written for one person only." this won't be a book for everyone, if you're after a succinct, fast paced read this may not be for you. It wanders off on tangents but for me the meandering, contemplative style was half the charm ... to be tasted, savoured and mulled over. 

At the end of the story there's descriptions of Provencal cuisine, produce specific to the region and a number of delicious Provencal recipes that had my mouth watering. And then there is "Jean Perdu's Emergency Literary Pharmacy" ... amusing and perceptive book recommendations to suit any number of ailments. 

Fast-acting medicines for minds and hearts affected by minor or moderate emotional turmoil.

To be taken in easily digestible doses (between five and fifty pages) unless otherwise indicated and if possible, with warm feet and/or with a cat on your lap.

Suggestions such as: 

Adams, Douglas. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Five Parts

Effective in large doses for treating pathological optimism or a sense of humor failure. Ideal for sauna goers with exhibitionist tendencies. 

Side effects: An aversion to owning things, and a potentially chronic tendency to wear a dressing gown all day.

Martin, George R.R. A Game of Thrones

Helps one to kick a TV habit and to cope with love sickness, the hassles of daily life and tedious dreams.

Side effects: insomnia, unsettling dreams.

Verdict: The Little Paris Bookshop is a charming look at life and death and everything in between. It's a "love letter to books" and a journey of self discovery in the autumn of one's life. 

PS. I thought Ray Sawyer did a great job with narration and I'd be happy to listen to him again.

Paris in July hosted by Tamara @ Thyme for Tea

Also linking up with Paulita's Dreaming of France meme over at 

An Accidental Blog

Review: Wild Wood by Posie Graeme-Evans

Title: Wild Wood
Author: Posie Graeme-Evans
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Date: 1st April 2015
Pages: 454
Book Source: Simon & Schuster AU

Synopsis: Jesse Marley calls herself a realist; she’s all about the here and now. But in the month before Prince Charles and Lady Diana’s wedding in 1981, all her certainties are blown aside by events she cannot control. First she finds out she’s adopted. Then she’s run down by a motorbike.

In a London hospital, temporarily unable to speak, she uses her left hand to write. But Jesse’s right-handed. And as if her fingers have a will of their own, she begins to draw places she’s never seen, people from another time—a castle, a man in medieval armour. And a woman’s face.

Rory Brandon, Jesse’s neurologist, is intrigued. Maybe his patient’s head trauma has brought out latent abilities. But wait. He knows the castle. He’s been there.

So begins an extraordinary journey across borders and beyond time, one that takes Jesse to Hundredfield, a stronghold built a thousand years ago by a brutal Norman warlord and passed down to the noble Dieudonné family, a clan honored and burdened with the task of protecting England’s dangerous northern border in the fourteenth century. Jesse holds the key to the castle’s many secrets and its connection to the mystical legend of the Lady of the Forest.

Somehow Hundredfield, with its history of darkness and light, of bloody battles won and lost, will help Jesse find her true lineage. In a world where the tales of old are just a heartbeat away, there are no accidents. There is only fate.

My Thoughts:
I fell in love with Posie Graeme-Evans' writing almost 10 years ago after reading her War of the Roses trilogy. The cover of Wild Wood called my name, blessed by the cover fairies with what looks to me like Eilean Donan Castle. Then of course I noticed the author's name and when I finally read the synopsis, I was sold. And not disappointed ... this Australian author's writing has evolved over the years and Wild Wood is a beautifully refined story, compelling and evocative. 

"The past bleeds into the present."

A dual narrative, separated by centuries, distinct but slowly merging as the threads of past and present unlock long-held secrets ...

1321 in the borderlands, the story unfolds at the Norman stronghold Hundredfield, held by Godefroi, eldest of the three Dieudonné brothers. The story is narrated by the youngest, Bayard. I loved his character; battle-hardened knight, his strength, compassion and sensitivity endearing traits. 

1981 Jesse Mayard's world is rocked when she learns she is adopted and leaves her home in Sydney, Australia determined to discover the truth, and herself. Heading for Jedburgh in Scotland, fate intervenes bringing Jesse and Alicia and her neurologist friend Rory Brandon together, setting Jesse on the path to Hundredfield.

In a dual time line story I normally find one story appeals more than the other but with Wild Wood I was equally intrigued by both. I was immediately hooked on Bayard's narration, page-turning, breath-holding reading, the setting and times, violent, harsh and unforgiving. Jesse's narration was a quieter pulling, until Hundredfield exerted its influence. 

Wild Wood has its faults but maybe visiting Scotland gave the story and Hundredfield a whole lot more 'feel' ... history literally seeps from the walls of these ancient castles and ruins, it can be quite emotionally overwhelming. It was lovely to revisit that feeling with Wild Wood. 

History, dark secrets, legend and superstition create a haunting tale. And now I look forward to the author's new writing venture ... The Outer Sea. Write faster Posie :)

Cover: I'm in love.

Eilean Donan ~ photos taken Nov 2014

Connect with Posie Graeme-Evans

Website

Twitter

 Facebook

Review: Turtle Reef by Jennifer Scoullar

Title: Turtle Reef
Author: Jennifer Scoullar
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Publication Date: 25th March 2015
Pages: 304
Book Source: Penguin Aust & NetGalley

Synopsis: Unlucky-in-love zoologist Zoe King has given up on men. Moving from Sydney to take up an exciting new role in marine science in the small sugar town of Kiawa is a welcome fresh start. Zoe is immediately charmed by the region's beauty – by its rivers and rainforests, and by its vast cane fields, sweeping from the foothills down to the rocky coral coast. And also by its people – its farmers and fishermen, unhurried and down to earth, proud of their traditions.

Her work at the Reef Centre provides all the passion she needs and Zoe finds a friend in Bridget, the centre’s director. The last thing she wants is to fall for her boss’s boyfriend, cane king Quinn Cooper, so she refuses to acknowledge the attraction between them – even to herself. But things aren’t quite adding up at the Reef Centre and when animals on the reef begin to sicken and die, Zoe’s personal and professional worlds collide. She faces a terrible choice. Will protecting the reef mean betraying the man she loves?

My Thoughts: 

I fell in love with Jennifer Scoullar's writing after inhaling Currawong Creek in 2013 and Billabong Bend in 2014, she has a beautiful way with words and her love for the natural world sings.

The beauty and diversity of the region, rainforest to reef, the sugar cane fields and hand-in-hand, the challenges of protecting our reef and marine animals from ignorance, age-old traditions, outdated and often dangerous farming practices. I'm passionate about reef protection so you might have guessed I was cheering Zoe on for actively driving the wheels of change. 

Turtle Reef has an interesting bunch of characters, an intriguing mystery, a splash of romance (but the circumstances surrounding it are just a tad weird) but for me, the stars  of the show were the animals. 

I liked Zoe and Quinn's younger brother Josh and his special affinity with animals was particularly endearing but I loved the dolphins, especially Kane, Echo and Mirrhi, the turtles, Einstein the hammer octopus and the Arabian mare Aisha. I loved learning about the female octopus, seagrass mapping and the principles of operant conditioning and and I got teary over the dugong and Einstein ... animals undo me. 

Turtle Reef was a particularly special read for me, Kiawa and the Reef Centre bringing with it nostalgic memories of my visits to Bargara and Mon Repos Conservation Centre and more recently Lady Elliot Island (southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef) the highly protected "green zone" sanctuary for marine and other wildlife. 

I wonder where Jennifer Scoullar is taking us next? ... can't wait!

 turtle hatchlings - Lady Elliot Island

Connect with Jennifer Scoullar

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Purchase Turtle Reef
@Penguin Aust
@Amazon

Review: The Violets of March by Sarah Jio

Title: The Violets of March
Author: Sarah Jio
Genre: Contemporary/Historical Fiction
Publication Date: 26th April 2011
Pages: 296
Book Source: Book win from Stacy @ Stacy's Books

Synopsis: In her twenties, Emily Wilson was on top of the world: she had a bestselling novel, a husband plucked from the pages of GQ, and a one-way ticket to happily ever after. 

Ten years later, the tide has turned on Emily's good fortune. So when her great-aunt Bee invites her to spend the month of March on Bainbridge Island in Washington State, Emily accepts, longing to be healed by the sea. Researching her next book, Emily discovers a red velvet diary, dated 1943, whose contents reveal startling connections to her own life. 

A mesmerizing debut with an idyllic setting and intriguing dual story line, The Violets of March announces Sarah Jio as a writer to watch.

My Thoughts:

No secret, I love Sarah Jio's writing. Goodnight June was a favourite read last year. I loved The Bungalow & Morning Glory. The Violets of March was a favourite read of Stacy's and I was lucky enough to win a copy from her a few years ago, sadly it remained unread while I inhaled Sarah Jio's more recent works. 

I happen to love the delicate but hardy little violet flower with it's sweet, fleeting scent and some day I'd love to visit the beautiful Bainbridge Island. For now, I'm happy I pulled Sarah Jio's (very patient) debut off my bookshelf. 

In The Violets of March Emily retreats to her great-aunt Bee's home on Bainbridge Island with her marriage and writing career in tatters, hoping the beauty of the Puget Sound will heal and work its magic. The past seeps into the present and long kept secrets are slowly revealed as Emily gets caught up reading an old diary found in her nightstand. 

I really liked Bee and her dear friend Evelyn, and Jack too. And I was as consumed as Emily by Esther & Elliot's story, the secrets and mystery pulled me in ... betrayals, lost loves, forgiveness and second chances.

Another little treasure from Sarah Jio ... 

Cover: much love 

Connect with Sarah Jio

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Review: The Girls of Mischief Bay by Susan Mallery

Title: The Girls of Mischief Bay
Author: Susan Mallery
Genre: Women's Fiction/Contemporary Fiction
Series: Mischief Bay #1
Publication Date: 1st March 2015
Pages: 352
Book Source: Harlequin Mira & NetGalley

Synopsis: Nicole Lord wants to be a good wife, but there’s a difference between being supportive and supporting her husband, who quit his job to write a screenplay she’s never seen. He won’t even help take care of their son, leaving Nicole to run the house and work full-time at her Mischief Bay Pilates studio. Can she say enough is enough without losing the man she loves?

Sacrificing a personal life for her career is how Shannon Rigg rose to become vice president in her firm, but she wonders now whether she made the right choice. An exciting new relationship with a great guy convinces her that it might not be too late — until he drops a bombshell that has her questioning whether she can have it all. And if she can, does she want it?

Although Pam Eiland has a beautiful house and a husband she adores, she feels...restless. She wonders who a stay-at-home mom becomes after the kids are grown. Finding sexy new ways to surprise her husband brings the heat and the humour back to their marriage, but when unexpected change turns her life upside down, she’ll have to redefine herself. Again.

Through romance and heartbreak, laughter and tears, three very different women will discover that friends can become family, and that life is richer with sisters at your side.

My Thoughts:

Loved it! I've been craving another heartfelt series from Susan Mallery. I loved the first two books in her Blackberry Island series (not so much the last one) and The Girls of Mischief Bay has a similar feel ... warm and real.

For me, friends are the family you choose for yourself, the strength and security that true friendship brings is a beautiful thing and you can see how true this is for Nicole, Shannon and Pam.  

30 year old Nicole with her oxygen-bandit narcissistic husband, Shannon almost 40, successful business woman, ready for a partner in life and Pam at 50, empty-nester, doting mother to delicate fur-baby Lulu, seeking to spice up her 30 year marriage. They're an unlikely trio but I loved what each brought to the friendship, their journey individually and together. 

Susan Mallery has a knack for writing women's friendships, real women with heartaches, insecurities, strengths and flaws. Mallery doesn't gloss over the trials and sadness of life familiar to many of us or the pain and frustration of watching a loved one coping with the challenges and changes dealt them but there's also a lot to be said about the value of friendship, laughs and good wine. 

A big slice of life in these pages.

Of course the residents of Mischief Bay have favourite restaurants they frequent and Susan Mallery has put together a yummy selection of recipes from these restaurants. Here's a quick easy one I'd love to try ... plenty more on the website.   

Chicken-Bacon Pesto Pizza

 from THE SLICE IS RIGHT

• 1 store bought pizza crust

• 1 jar pesto, 6 oz

• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast

• 2 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled

• ½ small onion, sliced

• ¼ C pine nuts

• 1 C shredded mozzarella

• ¼ C shredded parmesan

• 3 mushrooms, sliced

Preheat the oven to 425. Spread the crust with pesto. Add remaining ingredients. Bake directly on center shelf of oven until cheese is bubbly and starts to turn brown at the edges, 12-15 minutes. 

Connect with Susan Mallery

Website

Twitter

  Facebook

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs.

Review: The Seafront Tea Rooms by Vanessa Greene

Title: The Seafront Tea Rooms
Author: Vanessa Greene
Genre: Contemporary Women's Fiction
Publication Date: 8th September 2014
Pages: 416
Book Source: Own purchase

Synopsis: The Seafront Tea Rooms is a peaceful hideaway, away from the bustle of the seaside, and in this quiet place a group of women find exactly what they've been searching for.

Charismatic journalist Charlotte is on a mission to scope out Britain's best tea rooms. She knows she's found something special in the Seafront Tea Rooms but is it a secret she should share? Kathryn, a single mother whose only sanctuary is the 'Seafront', convinces Charlie to keep the place out of her article by agreeing to join her on her search. Together with another regular, Seraphine, a culture-shocked French au pair with a passion for pastry-making, they travel around the country discovering quaint hideaways and hidden gems. But what none of them expect is for their journey to surprise them with discoveries of a different kind . . . 

My Thoughts:

This was just what I needed, perfect escapism complete with tea and comfort food. A light, easy feel-good read, and completely satisfying. 

After a chance meeting in Letty's Seafront Tea Rooms, a special haven in Scarborough, Charlie, Kat and Seraphine become firm friends, sharing tea room research, baking, family crises, relationship dramas and work challenges ... all the normal, every-day nuances of friendship. I'd love to be friends with these women. I also have serious job-envy, well just for this tea room assignment of Charlie's :)

Whilst set in Scarborough, the friends also travel to York, London and a couple of other places I visited on my holiday last year making this extra special, bringing back memories of tea and  treats on my travels. Already being a scones, jam and cream girl, England turned me into a monster. I fell in lust with cream teas ... scones with jam and lashings of clotted cream and the tea of your choice ... English Breakfast of course. The Somerset Cream Tea from the Abbey Tea Rooms in Glastonbury was one of the best I had in England :)

I love tea rooms, there's just something so comforting about them, they bring people together, you leave your troubles at the door, they're the perfect place to escape for a few indulgent hours. 

What could be more perfect ... tea, cake, friendship and just a little romance. I'm looking forward to checking out more of Vanessa Greene's titles.

Cover: gorgeous

Letty's Classic English Scones

(makes 12 scones)

2.5ml/1/2 tsp salt

40-50g /1 1/2-2oz butter

150ml/1/4 pint milk

225g/80z SR flour plus extra for dusting

5ml/1tsp cream of tartar

 2.5ml/1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

Lightly butter a baking sheet. 

Sift the flour, cream of tartar, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl together. Rub or cut in butter, rubbing the mixture until it forms large crumbs with a flaky texture. 

Mix in the milk and stir to form a soft dough.

Roll out to a thickness of around 1cm and using a 5cm diameter pastry/scone cutter, cut into rounds. 

Arrange the scones on the baking sheet fairly close together and dust with flour. 

Bake in oven 425 °F/220°C for 12-15 mins until they rise and turn golden.

Serve warm with jam and clotted cream. 

Connect with Vanessa Greene

Website

Twitter

 Facebook

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs.

Review: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Title: The Nightingale
Author: Kristin Hannah
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Date: 3rd February 2015
Pages: 448
Book Source: St Martin's Press & NetGalley

Synopsis: In love we find out who we want to be.

In war we find out who we are.

FRANCE, 1939

In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France...but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When France is overrun, Vianne is forced to take an enemy into her house, and suddenly her every move is watched; her life and her child’s life is at constant risk. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates around her, she must make one terrible choice after another. 

Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets the compelling and mysterious Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can...completely. When he betrays her, Isabelle races headlong into danger and joins the Resistance, never looking back or giving a thought to the real--and deadly--consequences.

My Thoughts: 

I left a piece of my heart on the pages of The Nightingale. I could quite honestly leave it at that as I'm not sure I have the words to convey how much this book affected me. 

I read quite a bit of WWII fiction and nonfiction but at the risk of sounding cliched The Nightingale was different. I was incapable of putting it down, sleep paled into insignificance as Vianne and Isabelle's story took hold and I finished it at 3am, emotionally wrung out. 

Kristin Hannah captures the horror, the hunger, the heart, the biting contrast between humanity and inhumanity with an eloquence that left me breathless and ugly crying. Alongside the atrocities there are moments of great tenderness, love and always hope. This story is one big 'feel' and that's what makes it unforgettable.

Andrée de Jongh, the young Belgium woman who established an escape network over the Pyrenees which later became known as the Comet Line was Hannah's inspiration for Isabelle. It doesn't seem to matter how much I read of the holocaust the unimaginable horror never lessens in intensity. But The Nightingale recognises the quiet courage, strength and determination of women, those who protected friends, saved Jewish children, sacrificed and survived, made gut wrenching choices, worked in the Resistance, risked their lives for strangers, endured the unthinkable, died fighting evil. Those like Isabelle and Vianne ... 

I've read many of Kristin Hannah's books, I love her writing. Winter Garden is a favourite but The Nightingale is exceptional. I'll go out on a limb and say it's one of the best books I've read ... the kind of best that lands a novel on my books-to-be-buried-with list. I can't stop thinking about it, my heart hurts ... 

Connect with Kristin Hannah

Website

Facebook