The Little Porto Book Club by Rebecca Raisin

Aug18

The Meddling Mothers

The Little Porto Book Club by Rebecca Raisin is a most delightful contemporary novel that entertained me from the start.

The book has a wonderful light-hearted and fun tone as we drop in on an eclectic bunch of characters who are avid readers.

The Little Porto Book Club draws people from different walks of life who are united by their love of reading. As the book progresses, we glimpse the individual’s lives. Each one is battling something that no-one knows anything about.

Along the way there are misunderstandings which means the amateur super sleuths start investigating – always making two plus two equal five!

We meet meddling mothers who try to give romance a helping hand.

Grief is a major theme. “Grief is like a shadow, just behind you, but always there.” Grief is the price we pay for love. “This pain is my love for you, a love that has nowhere to go, it’s directionless, because you’re not there.” Sometimes grief is complicated when you suddenly find secrets coming to life.

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Starting Over In Bellbird Bay by Maggie Christensen

Aug16

Never Too Old

Starting Over In Bellbird Bay by Maggie Christensen is a most charming contemporary novel that will warm your heart and leave you smiling. It is the third book in the Bellbird Bay series but can be read as a stand-alone.

I thoroughly enjoyed returning to Bellbird Bay. It always feels like I am returning home as I sink into a Bellbird Bay novel. There is always a warm, friendly atmosphere.

The reader is cocooned within the tale. It is easy to picture the beautiful landscape and to ‘feel’ the warmth of the sun on your face, and the sand between your toes.

Bellbird Bay is a place of healing and second chances. Whilst we still have breath in our body, we can live full and rewarding lives. Whatever your age, life is for living.

All the characters were wonderfully drawn and easy to empathise with. The leading characters are the other side of forty. They proved that we are never too old to have a new beginning.

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Chase The Light by Suzanne Woods Fisher

Aug15

Searching For True Treasure

Chase The Light by Suzanne Woods Fisher is a marvellous contemporary Christian novel that I thoroughly enjoyed. It is the second book in the National Parks Summers series but can be read as a stand-alone.

Acadia National Park is the setting for this book. The landscape comes to life under the author’s artistic pen. We ‘see’ the rugged landscape, the high mountains and the crashing waves. It truly is an area of outstanding natural beauty.

There is an ancient mystery to solve and gold treasure to find, hidden in the park, but help will be needed to solve the clues.

We see that legacy and heritage are important. We want to preserve the things of the past. A character wants to save the town’s newspaper as it was started by his distant ancestor. The past is important. We can learn from it as we move into the future.

A leading character belongs to the Penobscot people who worked the land long before the white settlers arrived. Their heritage is important to preserve. “Native Americans all share responsibility for the next generation.” Unfortunately prejudice still exists. Though the Native American character has a commanding presence, he still feels invisible at times due to his heritage.

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The Lost Husband by Shari J Ryan

Aug9

Love Will Not Die

The Lost Husband by Shari J Ryan is a powerful and heartbreaking historical dual timeline novel that consumed me from the start.

The action is set in Amsterdam at the start of World War II, and then moves to Auschwitz in January 1945. Historians will recognise the latter date as the time when the Nazis emptied Auschwitz of all those who were able to walk, to go on a death march, before the Soviets liberated the camp. The story sees the leading characters marching through Poland. Both time periods alternate as the tale is told through the eyes of the leading lady.

We learn about the indomitable human spirit. Despite witnessing her husband die at the hands of the Nazis, the leading lady kept going for the life within. Darkness and despair could not kill the human spirit.

Ending up in Auschwitz, we see the dehumanisation of the people – their names, clothes and hair were taken from them but their humanity remained. “I still see humans. Suffering.” Little acts of kindness, that said ‘I see you’, meant a great deal.

Suffering from dysentery, a character wonders if she hallucinated seeing her husband in a Nazi uniform. She was left “in limbo between grief and a sliver of hope that my eyes had deceived me.” She needed to know. She clung to the hope that what she had seen all those years ago, simply wasn’t the truth.

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