The Best Summer Of Our Lives by Rachel Hauck

Feb11

Coming Home

The Best Summer Of Our Lives by Rachel Hauck is the most beautiful Christian dual timeline novel that I savoured and never wanted to end.

This is a book about friendship. It is a coming-of-age novel. It is about love, which is the glue that binds people together. We see four eighteen-year-olds as they are determined to have the best summer of their lives. After a prank gone wrong, they find themselves as councillors in a summer camp for eleven-year-old girls. “What if the best summer of our lives isn’t about parties or shopping… but giving these girls a summer they’ll never forget.” It is a summer that will be pivotal. Lives will be shattered and new paths forged but the summer of 1977 will be in the minds of them all. “8 weeks, 8 Saturdays, and the summer of ’77 still defined her.” Everything hung on that summer. For the friends, and the reader, there is a gap of twenty years before the tale resumes in 1997.

The novel is written in the two alternating time periods and in four different voices. The teens are all easy to empathise with, easy to picture, and they all lodged in my heart.

Rachel Hauck includes a real-life murder event that rocks the girl’s world as the camp goes on lockdown for the summer in order to protect the innocent. They must all look out for each other. The reader can ‘feel’ the fear and apprehension.

All four teens are carrying secrets that are burdening them down. They need to open their hearts to each other, no matter what the consequences.

We all need God, whether we recognise it or not. There are some beautiful scenes with The Preacher. We see that He calls us each by name – will we answer His call? “ ‘You feel like you’ve been in a desert.’ She turned at the sound of His voice. The Preacher walked towards her… Part of your journey is to draw you to Me.” Jesus waits patiently for us to answer His call.

There is a beautiful moment when a character asks why there are so many empty chairs in the large tent. “Hundreds of empty chairs, waiting for the hurting, the sick and the lost, the broken to come.” God calls us to come just as we are.

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Five On A Treasure Island by Enid Blyton

Feb11

Good Old-Fashioned Fun

Five On A Treasure Island by Enid Blyton is an entertaining children’s novel and just perfect for the over tens. It is the first book in The Famous Five series.

Written in 1942 the story is exciting and appealing as when it was first penned. For adults re-visiting their childhood memories, it is a pure delight to escape into the world of the famous five again.

The three siblings, Julian, Dick and Anne meet their tomboy cousin George for the first time. She lives by the sea and has her very own island. It is on Kirrin Island that the children really bond as they search for hidden gold. George discovers that life is better together, and that sharing what you have is better than keeping things to yourself.

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No Stone Left Unturned by Annette Dashofy

Feb10

Superb Crime Suspense

No Stone Left Unturned by Annette Dashofy is a gripping contemporary crime suspense that I could not put down. It is the fourth book in A Detective Honeywell Mystery series but can be read as a stand-alone.

I enjoyed meeting up with familiar faces. Once more the police work in tantum with photographer, Emma, in the hope of solving a brutal crime. Newspaper archives hold secrets that are clues.

The crimes are far too close to home as an unknown figure goes on a crime spree that seems to be a personal vendetta.

As the body count rises, the law enforcement is left scratching its’ heads.

Annette Dashofy has created a marvellous plotline, with the suspense ramping up. Locations become seedier and darker, to mirror the action. My heartrate rose as I read towards the conclusion. There were times when I gasped out loud, yelling ‘no’ at my book!

There were tender moments too, particularly concerning an elderly dog who was in need of love and care.

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A Body In The Banjo by Elaine Spires

Feb8

A Walk Down Memory Lane

A Body In The Banjo by Elaine Spires is a most entertaining retro crime saga that I thoroughly enjoyed and read in just one sitting.

The story is set in Dagenham in 1958 and is focused on the small group of houses in the banjo. The houses have inter-connecting alleyways – and not much happens that isn’t viewed by at least one nosey neighbour!

One quiet Sunday morning a body is found. The neighbourhood is then awash with police and their questions.

To complement the police, forty-eight-year-old Cissy starts her amateur sleuthing. She reminded me of Miss Marple but a younger version and one who informs the police of her findings and suspicions. She is relentless in her pursuit of answers.

A Body In The Banjo is written in a very personable style. Elaine Spires ‘shows’ us the scene with her descriptions. She has perfectly captured a bygone era where life was simple and neighbours were in and out of each other’s houses and lives. Neighbourhoods gelled together.

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