Please Release Me – @RhodaBaxter #Review #amreading #Books @ChocLituk

Please Release Me by Rhoda Baxter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Good looking and with bags of potential, Peter is a catch and Sally has snared him. He’s a bit nerdy, definitely naïve, but for a girl who’s determined to shake off her problematic and traumatic past, he’s perfect. Newlywed Sally is about to embark on a new, debt free life. Only she never makes it past the honeymoon, leaving Peter blaming himself for the car crash that results in her comatose state of existence. For info, the author has obviously done her research and the scenes in the hospice are handled extremely sensitively. As Sally hovers between life and death, Peter, too, is in a state of limbo, unable to move forward, unable to grieve the loss of someone who isn’t physically gone. As he keeps up a vigil at Sally’s bedside, Peter comes to know Grace, a volunteer at the hospice, who is attempting to move forward after the loss of her mother and helps Peter take tentative steps to do the same.

An attraction between these two lonely souls soon grows and Sally is having none of it. I’ll leave you to work it out. I’m desperate not to give spoilers but think ‘Ghost’ and ‘Truly Madly Deeply’ and you have it, but with a difference. I adored these two films and so too I adored Please Release Me. If at first you hate her, when Sally’s secrets are revealed, you can’t help but empathise with her and like her a little. A feisty ghost, a hurting hero, what’s not to love? Definitely recommended.


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Please Release Me – @RhodaBaxter #Review #amreading #Books @ChocLituk

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The Woolworths Girls – @ElaineEverest #Review #amreading #mustreads #Books

The Woolworths Girls by Elaine Everest
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When you pick up a book like The Woolworths Girls you’re looking a comfort read. I think most of us are aware that the ‘good old days’ weren’t quite so good, but what the author brings us is that magical sense of nostalgia for things past, perhaps things lost, a sense of family, of belonging and community spirit. Opening at the beginning of WWII, telling the story of three young girls setting out on an uncertain journey to adulthood, a journey made more daunting by the impending war, the story is based around Woolworths, a landmark in history, the go to shop for bits and bobs which you could rely on Woollies to stock. It can’t fail to resonate with people, young and old, those who might have shopped there, those who, like me, had mothers or grandmothers with barely ‘two pennies to rub together’, who would go to Woollies for everything from cheap lippy to laces. The central girls, Sarah, Freda and Maisie, win hearts immediately. Nervously attending interviews, we are given glimpses of just the right amount of beautifully concise backstory to have us totally invested in them. They’re from very different backgrounds, each with their own troubled secrets, and each with an innocence we want to preserve. We watch them bond, we watch them grow, we follow their trials and tribulations, from the seemingly trivial which are so important to girls of that age, to their adapting to the terrors that war brings. The secondary characters are cleverly drawn, making us want to share their stories too. Sarah’s grandmother, Ruby, whose home is where the heart is, is the linchpin, a stalwart of a woman who’s as determined the girls will have a square meal inside them as she is to protect them. I loved this book from the opening chapter, where ex-sailors from the Seaman’s Mission were singing Christmas carols in the snow. I loved the ending, where Sarah was taking new staff under her wing. I loved everything in between. If you love WWII reads, nostalgia in bucketfuls, a timely reminder of the hardship endured, and a smile along the way, The Woolworths Girls encapsulates it all. Highly recommended.

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Cover Reveal! Orion's Gift by Anneli Purchase. #Books #amreading #LLm @anneli33

Welcome Anneli Purchase. I’m showing off Anneli’s beautiful new cover for Orion’s Gift, which I must say looks hugely intriguing. Anneli’s here to share a little bit more about it.

 Thanks to Anita B. Carroll’s design skills, you can now judge a book by its cover,

Sylvia, our California girl, is walking away (from her old life), but she looks enticing enough for Kevin, her new love interest, to follow her. Actually, he did say he’d follow her anywhere—and he does.

But will it be enough? Does our California girl trust him? Can she ever trust anyone again after what she’s been through? Can he convince her that they can make it together?

But neither of them know that characters from their old life are catching up with them, and their pursuers have less than noble intentions.

Orion’s Gift will keep you turning pages.

Excerpt from Orion’s Gift:

Sylvia is driving the Baja Peninsula. It’s the day before she meets Kevin, her new love interest. Her van has a flat tire. She is alone (with only Annie, her mascot doll, hanging from the curtain rod) on the empty Baja highway.

Heatwaves rose from the pavement as far as I could see in either direction. It was unlikely that anyone would be coming along, but to be safe, I set up my emergency triangles. I didn’t want to get creamed by a crazy driver. And what about those bandidos Rose had told me about? A shiver of fear passed through me. I should hurry up and get this tire changed. I couldn’t shake off the creepy feeling. Don’t be so paranoid, I told myself. All the same, I placed my bear spray on the passenger seat.

Clumsily, I inserted the jack handle and turned it to raise the car. The van started to roll. I grabbed the nearest rock and put it behind the back wheel. I put one more behind each of the other wheels and pulled on the emergency brake. Then I raised the van again. I tried to loosen the wheel nuts. The tire spun around. I lowered the van a bit till the tire barely touched the ground. Better. It was trial and error, but I was learning. I raised the van a tiny bit again, got the old tire off, and rolled the spare over. As I fitted the spare onto the bolts, a compact car with a noisy muffler rattled up behind me and stopped.

A young Mexican in scruffy jeans and a black shirt jumped out. “Hola!” he said. “You need help?” He was alone.

“Thanks. I’m almost done.” Where was he when I needed him ten minutes ago?

“Permítame. Manuel Hernandez will do it for you.” He shoved me aside. The push was harder than the friendly nudge of a man saying, “Step aside, honey, and let a man do that.” I didn’t like it, and my fluttering stomach warned me to be careful. But he was already tightening the nuts on the wheel. The job was finished.

I took the jack and wrench from him and put them into the van through the open sliding door. As I turned my back to him, he laughed and said, “And now, pretty señorita, I will take my thank you.”

His grip on my arm sent adrenaline rushing to my knees. I thought they had turned to jelly. Thoughts of Mario and his unwanted attentions flashed through my head. No one was around to save me this time. I smiled and said, “Ah sí, momento. Mi bolsa.” With my free arm, I reached for the front seat. I hoped he would think I was getting my purse. The bear spray hit him full in the face. He spun away backwards and roared with outrage, filling the quiet desert air with Spanish obscenities. Recovering slightly, he staggered towards me cursing and batting at me blindly. I gave him a shove and another spray. While he lay in the ditch shrieking and gasping and moaning, I ran to his car and took the keys out of the ignition. Then I slammed shut the van’s side door, jumped into the driver’s seat, and locked all the doors. “You can have your keys back,” I shouted at him. “I’ll drop them on the road one mile from here.”

He lurched to his feet and yelled. He shook his fist at me, and staggered in my direction. As he slammed his fist into the side of the van, I punched the gas pedal. The tires squealed on the hot pavement. My hands were shaking so badly I could hardly steer.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. Calm down, calm down.” I glanced at Annie. She wouldn’t panic. But I wasn’t Annie. “I should never have come here alone.” I babbled incoherently, aware of what I was doing but unable to stop.

About Anneli Purchase:

Anneli Purchase has more hobbies and projects than she can pursue in one lifetime, but of them all, writing takes priority. Traveling, camping, fishing, gardening, mushroom picking, and birdwatching are her preferred pastimes when she is not writing. Anneli has lived on Vancouver Island, Canada, for most of her life. The island provides everything she needs for the activities she enjoys.

Links:

You can buy Orion’s Gift from

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Smashwords.com

To find out more about Anneli Purchase and her books visit:

Twitter: @anneli33

Website: http://www.anneli-purchase.com

Blogs:

https://wordsfromanneli.com/

https://annelisplace.wordpress.com/

Cover Reveal! Orion's Gift by Anneli Purchase. #Books #amreading #LLm @anneli33

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I Don't Want to Talk About it - @janelovering #Review #Book #Bookbloggers #amreading #romance

I Don't Want To Talk About It by Jane Lovering

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I Don’t Want to Talk About it delivers a romance with all of the poignancy you would expect from a Choc Lit read. The title is perfect for this story, which looks at loss and love, the impact of grief on our lives and relationships and our ability to deal with it. Peppered with the perfect amount of humour to make it uplifting, as well as heart breaking, it tells the story of a successful author, who might just be in danger of becoming a one hit wonder if she can’t knuckle down and meet the deadline for her second book. Matters are complicated by the fact that her editor is also now her ex-boyfriend. How could Winter Gregory not break it off with a man who would make her choose between him and her twin sister? There is more to this than meets the eye is all I will say on that subject. You need to read it. Opening in a graveyard …? Uplifting, I hear you ask. Oh yes. As soon as eight-year old Scarlet appears on the scene, with Light Bulb, her very real ‘hobby’ horse and a cherished connection to her lost mother, you can’t help but smile and be as drawn in as Winter was.

The use of social media as a form of communication is extremely clever, allowing us to come to know Alex through his emails and twitter messages. Alex’s grief and guilt over the loss of his sister has manifested itself physically. Alex, Scarlet’s uncle and now her guardian, has developed a stammer, meaning he is not always able to verbalise well and causing Scarlet more problems at school than being a motherless child. Alex is one of the good guys, we feel. How can Winter not be drawn to him? Similarly, through Dan’s emails, we come to see a softer side of the ex-boyfriend. The reference to the epitaphs carved on headstones I found touching and equally clever, giving us glimpses into Winter’s inner character.

To say more would definitely be the classic spoiler. Jane Lovering has given us a heroine who is strong yet vulnerable, defensive, yet caring. Definitely identifiable with, as are all the characters, including Alex’s initially annoying mother. ‘I Don’t Want to Talk About it’ is written, as mentioned, with humour and huge sensitivity. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend it. Perfect escapism, yet real.

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I Don't Want to Talk About it - @janelovering #Review #Book #Bookbloggers #amreading #romance

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