Tag Archive | Harper Collins

The Little Italian Hotel by Phaedra Patrick

Jul20

Looking For Stars

The Little Italian Hotel by Phaedra Patrick is the most delightful contemporary novel that will warm your heart and make you smile.

The little Italian hotel is a place where strangers go to heal and leave as friends. It is a place to rediscover the little things that make you smile and bring you joy. And it is a place where friends encourage each other to face their darkest hurts.

Everyone has things that hurt us – from bereavement to illness to relationship breakdowns. Everyone experiences pain differently and everyone heals differently.

We meet a group of five strangers plus the two who run the hotel. The pain of loss is tangible. “Without Daisy in her life, Edna’s loneliness felt like an unwelcome house guest that wouldn’t leave.” Loss consumes, threatening to drag us down into the depths. We need to find a reason to smile again. “Losing her was like an eclipse of the sun.” The days feel so dark. We need others to help to lift us up. Sometimes we just need someone to sit in the silence beside us.

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This Child Of Mine by Emma-Claire Wilson

Jul12

Incredibly Beautiful

This Child Of Mine by Emma-Claire Wilson is a simply beautiful contemporary tale that will tug at your heart. Tissues will be needed.

The story is told in the first person from the point of view of the leading lady. We can ‘feel’ her pain and her fears. We understand her tears.

Receiving the best and the worst of news on the same day, is enough to tear anyone apart. We see a rift appearing as a character decides to take control of the only thing she can – her choices. Life moves from ‘our’ to ‘my’, and as it does, journeys of isolation begin.

On our hardest days, we need not travel alone, as those who love us will journey beside us, if we let them. “Grief is a path best walked in company.” We can never take away the pain but we can hold hands and walk together.

There has been much loss in the lives of both leading characters. “We were falling apart, in separate places.” In our hurt and pain, we sometimes pull away. The hurt and pain that we are pushing down, never goes away, it is just hidden. Those who know us, offer tea, sympathy and “the I get it hugs and the it gets easier smiles” – except it doesn’t get easier, we just learn to cope – or not.

We witness a character drowning in guilt. Words spoken in anger can never be taken back.

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The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

Jul6

Chasing The Moon

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston is the most beautiful contemporary novel that I absolutely loved. I savored every word.

This is a novel about love – but it is not your conventional tale. Ashley Poston has created a unique story that is so very beautiful and will warm your heart.

Love happens in very different circumstances. We see a variety of love within the novel – between couples, family members and friendships. Love unites and binds down the years. There are some truly heartwarming moments as dialogue bounces between the characters.

When love leaves, it hurts. Sometimes love is torn apart through circumstances and sometimes through death. “Sometimes the people you love don’t leave you with goodbyes – they just leave.” There is raw grief on display within the novel.

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Homebodies by Tembe Denton-Hurst

Jul6

A Marvellous Debut

Homebodies by Tembe Denton-Hurst is a marvellous contemporary debut novel that consumed me from the start.

The novel is written from the point of view of Mickey, a young black woman, who is searching for her place in society. Life is unfair as Mickey finds she has to work twice as hard to receive half as much, as the white women in her workplace. Life is not at all fair when the scales are already tipped against you.

As Mickey’s world tips on its axis, she returns to her grandmother’s house. Here, she feels loved, and starts to heal bit by bit.

Mickey’s hometown is full of memories which she re-visits both physically and mentally.

In New York Mickey felt invisible. In her hometown she is seen.

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