One Summer - David Baldacci

                        

When thirty-four year old war veteran Jack Armstrong is told he has only weeks to live, his first concern is for his beloved wife Lizzie, and their children: baby Jackie, twelve-year-old and would be actor Cory and rebellious teenage daughter, Mikki. It seems so cruel that an apparently fatal illness should claim him, a survivor of Afghanistan and Iraq, when he still has so much left to live for. 

On Christmas Eve, as Jack prepares to say goodbye to his family, unthinkable tragedy strikes again and Lizzie is killed in a car accident. Just when Jack thought living was far harder than dying, and the children's future looked so bleak, something remarkable happens which gives Jack the valuable second chance he'd only dreamed of.

Unexpectedly, the family inherits Lizzie's beautiful childhood home on the ocean front in South Carolina. During one unforgettable summer, Jack and the children struggle to re-build their lives. They learn to live again - and to love again. And they learn the biggest lesson of all  - the importance of family.

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David Baldaci's One Summer was another one of my charity bookshelf finds in Tesco's. 

By all accounts this is not the usual type of novel that David Baldaci is known for,

In One Summer you find a family struggling to come to terms with the loss of their wife and mother. Jack Armstrong had was a military man and for a large proportion of his marriage to Lizzie he had been away, leaving her to raise their three children.  Jack becomes ill and at the beginning of the novel it is he who is coming close to the end of his life when his wife is killed in a car accident. By some miracle Jack starts to regain his strength and finds he has a second chance with his children. 

Lizzie had grown up in a house by the ocean that she called The Palace. When Lizzie's grandmother dies she leaves the house to Jack and his family. Jack decides to take the children to The Palace for the summer just as his wife had planned before her death giving them the chance to come to terms with their loss.

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I had only read the first chapter when the Kleenex were required.  It was a gentle read and I was a little worried that it was going to loose it's way in the middle but then there is a twist at the end that you don't necessarily see coming and and you don't want to put it down because you need to know what is going to happen.

Moving onto my next read

I'm afraid this is a queue jumper. I saw this book in the supermarket and when I read just the front cover that was it I knew I had to have it and that it was going to have to be my next May read.
If I thought I needed the Kleenex before I certainly know I am going to need them now.


Happy reading one & all

Mx

500 Words

Here in the UK we have a very cheeky chappy called Chris Evans. He is best known for his BBC Radio 2 breakfast show and his appearances on BBC 1's 

The One Show. 

In 2010 helped to launch a competition for children aged from 5-13 years called  500 Words. 

500 Words invites children under 13 years to write and submit a story.

 These stories are judged in two categories 5-9 years and 10-13 years. 

I believe they had over 4000 entries this year. Each story was read by a team of teachers and librarians and from the 4000 entries the top 50 stories were picked. 

These top 50 authors are then invited to the final which is broadcast live on

 Radio 2. 

In the past they have taken place as part of the Hay Festival but this year they had a very special invitation when they were invited by Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cornwall to St. Jame's Palace.  The final took place last Friday 29th May and the top three stories in each of the two categories were awarded a medal. 

If you didn't get to hear any of the final or you had not heard of this competition before I urge you to go to the website here and see the winners. You won't be disappointed and for a couple you will need to have your tissue at the ready. 

It is such an inspiration that we have such talented young people and if they are writing this type of story now what are they going to be able to produce in the future.

I am so behind with joining in with Laura's The year In Books Project this month and have already read two books and onto my third but I will try and rectify this over the weekend. 

I feel like the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland

I'm late, I'm late for a very important date.

Mx

Follyfoot - Monica Dickens

I am sure many of you who are into your golden years will remember the TV series called 

Follyfoot 

The series was based on the novels written by Monica Dickens. 

Monica Dickens was a great granddaughter of Charles Dickens who took to writing children's books in the 1970's. 

She kept horses and loved to ride herself. 

Her Follyfoot series of books followed the mysteries and adventures surrounding Follyfoot farm which is a retirement home for old and unwanted horses. 

It was owned and run by the Colonel helped by his step daughter Callie and stable hands Dora and Steve. 

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In this the first book Callie is having trouble with two brothers at school Louis and Todd Hammond or as she refers to them Louse and Toad.  Their parents run a local hotel and offer riding lessons as part of the experience of staying at Pinecrest. Unfortunately the manor in which they keep and treat their horses is not up to the standard of the colonel and when he receives word that they are mistreating a mare the team at Follyfoot decide they have to do something about it.  Meanwhile there are reports to the police a horse getting out of his paddock and getting onto a neighbouring farmers land. Now horses are intelligent animals but not many work out to unlock a padlock on a gate. Steve decides to investigate and catches the perpetrator in the act. 

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I love these stories as much  now as I did when I was 11 years old (and that's a long time ago). At that time anyone who had a passion for horses would have Monica Dickens books on their bookshelves. 

Moving on my next book is from my bookshelf rather than my kindle 

This was another find from the charity table in my local Tesco. 

Having read the first chapter I feel that a large box of Kleenex and a large supply of chocolate may be necessary. 

Happy reading one & all

Mx  

The year in Books May 2015

It has been another bumper month of reading here at The Willows.  

A mixture of books and kindle reads 10 books in all this month.

From the bookshelf 

1. The Girl on the Train - Paul Hawkins
2. The Forgotten Garden   - Kate Morton
3. We are all completely beside ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler
4.  The Dark Witch Book 1 of the O'Dwyer Trilogy - Nora Roberts
5.  Behind Closed Doors - Susan Lewis
6. The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz - Denis Avey

From the Kindle

                                         

                             

                                   

1.  The Villa  - Rosanna Ley
2.  The Missing Half - Brooke Powley
3. The Love of My Life  - Louise Douglas 

And not forgetting this months return to my childhood read 

1.  Rikki-Tikki Tavi - Rudyard Kipling 

If you haven't had a chance to catch up with what I have been reading over the last month and want to know my thoughts you can click on the link above and it will take you back to my post. 

There have been some that I have loved, some that were OK but I wouldn't read again and are destined for the 'To go to the charity shop'  shelf.  Thankfully there weren't any that were so bad I couldn't wait to get to the end or even worse they were so bad I couldn't finish. 

They were all very different but my favourites this month have definitely been 

The Forgotten Garden  is Kate Morton's second novel and although she got great reviews for her début  novel The House at Riverton  I think this one is far better. I base this judgement on the size of the box of tissues required - BIG

I think everyone has seen or heard about The Girl on the Train. I heard about it whilst driving home listening to Simon Mayo's book club when Paula Hawkins came along to give a synopsis of her book.  I had put off reading this one as sometimes when a book is so hyped up I can be left disappointed when I actually come to reading it.  That definitely was not the case and if this is Ms Hawkins first attempt at writing fiction I can't wait to see what she will produce in the future.

And lastly I had downloaded The Missing Half sometime ago onto my kindle when Amazon had one of their 99p  sales.  It is Brooke Powley's début novel which can sometimes be a bit like Marmite can't they you either love them or hate them.  Fortunately I loved this one and everywhere I went my kindle would go just in case I got five minutes to spare and I have now downloaded her two follow on novels which I suppose should give you some idea of how good her first one was. 

So if you have clicked on to the link to my previous posts you will now understand my dilemma of which of the three to choose as my book of month. You don't want to read one really good book in a month followed by those that are a bit mediocre just to make the choice that little bit easier but I really think I have given myself a bit of problem this month. I have chosen to have two books as my book of the  month before now but I think choosing all three would be a little excessive don't you. Even a nice cup of tea in my favourite cup & saucer together with three biscuits has not made the job any the easier. 

But in the end I decided to go for

 The Missing Half  by Brooke Powley

So it is Goodbye to May and Hello June and hopefully some nicer weather than we have been having of late. Judging by my bookshelf/kindle  there is a whole lot more reading to be done over the summer months and it would be nice if some of that reading time could be spent in the garden with a nice glass of white.

Happy Reading one & all

Mx

The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz - Denis Avey

The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz is the extraordinary true story of a British soldier who marched willingly into Buna-Monowitz, the concentration camp known as Auschwitz III.

Denis Avey was being held in a POW labour camp near Auschwitz III. He had heard of the brutality meted out to the prisoners there and he was determined to witness what he could. 

He hatched a plan to swap places with a Jewish inmate and smuggled himself into the camp. He spent the night there on two occasions and experienced at first-hand the cruelty of a place where slave workers had been sentenced to death through labour.

Astonishingly, he survived.

For decades he couldn't bring himself to revisit the past that haunted his dreams, but now Denis Avey feels able to tell the full story - a tale as gripping as it is moving - which offers us a unique insight into the mind of an ordinary man whose moral and physical courage are almost beyond belief. 

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I originally picked this book up in our local Tesco's,  They have a charity bookshelf where for a small donation to their chosen charity, this year being Diabetes UK, you can find some pretty good books. 

I think there is also an element of people getting rid of any books that they enjoyed but wouldn't read again as well as those that they didn't finish and probably never likely to and of course those that were that bad they couldn't wait to put them out for the charity shop.

My father in law has a keen interest in the first and second world wars and if I spot any books I tend to pick them up for him for when he visits.  And that is how I came to have a copy of this book.  Father in law will be due to visit at some point soon so I thought I should move it up the reading list so that I can pass it on.  

The first 100 pages of Denis Avey's  account are of his time in service and takes you up to the point where he becomes a POW.  He is put in a camp next to Auschwitz III.  He has seen the prisoners in their stripe pyjamas, with the Star of David, through the fence and he has heard the stories of what goes on within the camp, then he makes a decision to see for himself. He arranges to change places with a stripy prisoner not once  but twice in order to see first hand what goes on behind the fence. There was always the possibility that the stripy wouldn't turn up to change back but as the consequences of being found out were worse he did meet at the elected time and place to return to Auschwitz III. From page 169 Denis Avey continues his story after they have left the camp for the last time. From this point he continues to tell you of his journey back to blighty and how he adjusted to being back in England.

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Did I enjoy this book?  I think from the very nature of the book you couldn't say that you enjoyed it. It was certainly informative and I think my father in law will be pleased with it. My only criticism would be that the title of the book suggests that it will be more about the time he spent in Auschwitz but that is only a very small proportion in comparison to  the before and after sections.
I still and always will have the deepest respect for those who spent time in the camps and lived to tell the tale the likes of which we would hope would never happen again.

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So what next?

My next post will be my end of May round up with a quick look back at the books I have read over the month of May and which have been my favourites. Then of course I will have to decide which will be my book of the month which is going to be a hard decision to make again this month.

As always happy reading one & all

Mx

Behind Closed Doors - Susan Lewis

When fourteen-year-old Sophie Monroe suddenly vanishes one night, it looks at first as though she's run away from home.

Her computer and mobile phone have gone, and she's taken a bag full of clothes.

As the police investigation unfolds, a wealth of secrets from the surrounding community start coming to light. And it seems everyone has something to hide.

For Detective Sergeant Andrea Lawrence, the case is a painful reminder of the tragedy that tore her family apart over twenty years ago. She is convinced there is more to Sophie's disappearance than teenage rebellion.

But us the past clouding her judgement, preventing her from seeing a truth that neither she or Sophie's family would ever want to face?

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Sophie disappears after a family argument but is not reporting missing for almost a week.  DS Lawrence finds this a little odd. If one of her children went missing she would be on it a lot quicker than that, especially after what happened in her own family all those years ago.

CCTV does not reveal much and you are left wondering is she hiding out at a friends house. Has she got mixed up with the wrong type of people or has she been abducted. Or could even be something a lot closer to home.

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I have often seen Susan Lewis books on the bookshelf of the local supermarket or Waterstone but up until now hadn't read anything by this author.

For my birthday I was given a duo set of Susan Lewis books Behind Closed Doors and The Truth About You.  Seen as my birthday was in January and we are almost into June  I thought it was high time that I got to reading one of them.  I hadn't seen any reviews by anyone else so went into reading Behind Closed Doors with an unbiased view.

I did enjoy reading it. Susan Lewis description of how a 14 year old can sometimes behave (thankfully my own daughter who is now 21 was a pretty good teenager) was very true. How many times did we tell our parents life wasn't fare and how could they possibly understand anything when they were so old.  The way in which she involves DS Lawrence's background and home life makes the story all the more appealing.  

It must have been pretty good as I read over the bank holiday weekend and I did have other things to do apart from have a book in my hand.

Definitely worth considering as a holiday read as we will soon be upon that season.

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For my next book I have chosen a memoir written by Denis Avey. 

It has taken Denis Avey seventy years to write his account of  his time during the second world war and how he managed to get into Auschwitz. 

I had originally picked this one up from the charity book shelf at our local Tesco's (currently collecting for Diabetes UK)  for my FiL who has a keen interest in the military, but having got it home I decided that may be I should read it before popping it in the post. 

As you can see by my book mark I am only a part way into this one and not quite at the point where he is taken POW by the Germans but already I am thinking I am going to need the tissue box to hand. 

Happy reading one & all.

Mx

The Love of My Life - Louise Douglas

I miss him with every breath and heartbeat. He should have been my happy ending, he is the sad beginning of my story.

Olivia and Luca Felicone had known each other nearly all their lives, but when they fell in love as teenagers and eloped to London, they broke the hearts of those closest to them. Luca's parents run Marinella's restaurant, the colourful hub of life in the otherwise bleak north-eastern seaside town of Watersford, and his mother, Angela, has never forgiven Olivia for causing such a rift in her beloved family.

On a freezing January night Olivia's life is shattered when she learns that Luca has been killed in a car accident on the M1. She is left with nothing, and after suffering from weeks of overwhelming grief she abandons her job and returns North to where Luca has been buried in Watersford, just to be close to him - even though she knows she will not be welcomes at Marinella's.

Olivia's chance meeting with Luca's married twin brother, Marc, leads to the realization that he is experiencing a loss almost as painful as her own. Their desolation draws them into an affair which both know has no future, but fills the space where Luca should be. It is a course of action that can only spiral out of control, and when it does, the consequences are both explosive and cruel.

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Olivia Felicone finds herself widowed when her beloved husband Luca is killed in a car accident.  His family insist he be buried near to their home in Watersford. Olivia can't cope being so far away from him and decides the only thing to do is move back to where they grew up as children.
Luca has a twin brother Marc and after a chance meeting Olivia and Marc become reliant on one another to get through their grief.
There is no love lost between Olivia and her mother in law Angela and with Marc's wife Nathalie. Olivia and Marc's friendship soon turns into more than either of them had anticipated.

Narrated by Olivia she takes you through her life growing up in Watersford and how she met the Felicone family and what lead her to fall in love with Luca.

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This is the début novel of Louise Douglas and is a gentle read of love, loss, new beginnings and romance.  Not necessarily the normal type of book I would go for but never the less it was very good and certainly a worthwhile holiday read.

I have downloaded a further novel by this author and I think as time goes on her writing will improve there is certainly potential.

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Moving on my next and possibly final read for May is going to be

Behind Closed Doors by Susan Lewis another new author to my bookshelf

Happy reading one & all


Mx