Tag Archive | Rachels Random Resources

The Little Venice Bookshop by Rebecca Raisin

Purrfectly Charming

The Little Venice Bookshop by Rebecca Raisin is a most delightful contemporary novel that will warm your heart.

Following the death of her mother, a daughter is searching for her roots after a discovery of decades old letters. For all her life, it had been enough just being with her mother. Now she wants to seek out her father.

We see the importance of family. Family does not have to be blood related. The mother and daughter had spent their lives living with other women in a commune. “Women who will always strive to lift me up and love me. Help me when I fall.” These women were family.

Travelling to many places meant there is no one place to call home. But perhaps home was never meant to be bricks and mortar, maybe home is meant to be flesh and blood.

Sometimes when we are hurt, we build walls. “My walls are built high so that no one can ever leave me again.” Walls we build to protect can actually imprison us. Demolish the walls and begin to really live.

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His Fatal Legacy by Heather Atkinson

Chilling

His Fatal Legacy by Heather Atkinson is an historical novel that gripped me from the start. It is the third book in the Alardyce House series but can be read as a stand-alone.

The tale is set in Edinburgh in the late nineteenth century. It has elements of the Gothic tradition with large houses, dark nights, deserted alleyways and sinister characters. The tone is chilling as an air of menace appears.

Family is important. A mother’s love is fiercely protective, needing to uphold appearances no matter the cost. Dreadful secrets and suspicions arise but lips are sealed.

We witness nature versus nurture – are monsters made by their genes or a product of their environment? A character wrestles with the darkness within as he tries to focus on the light.

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Ten Dates by Rachel Dove

Still Me

Ten Dates by Rachel Dove is the most beautiful contemporary novel that warmed my heart and soul.

The story is told in the third person from two alternating points of view. The reader becomes well acquainted with the two lead characters. Both of which are easy to empathise with.

Love completely radiates from the pages – a mind recovering from a coma has forgotten much, but a heart still recognizes feelings of love. This is a love to last a lifetime. This is a love so huge, it fears hurting another. This is a love that denies self and always puts another first. This is a beautiful love.

Rachel Dove has written a novel that assaults your emotions. The raw emotion of love is palpable. The reader wafts alongside the characters as we long to know – what will happen at the end of ten dates?

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Ellie-May And Her Toy Dragon, Ben by Genna Rowbotham

Very Charming

Ellie-May And Her Toy Dragon, Ben by Genna Rowbotham is a very charming book for the under fives.

The story is written in rhyme with verses four lines long. There is a bouncy rhythm enabling children to join in once they have heard the tale a few times. They can anticipate the action.

All the book is beautifully illustrated. The drawings are simple but effective. Each page is packed full of detail, enabling you to talk it through with your children.

 The dragon has a friendly face that will appeal to young children.

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