My blog has moved

the Witterings of a Cruise Ship Reader has now moved to a new web page hosted by Wordpress.
All of my reviews and more have been transferred and you can read new reviews on that site too.
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Happy Reading !! 😊

Canberralover

The Secret Spice Cafe Book 2 - Spells & Oregano by Patricia V Davis

My regular readers will recall that back in September I was asked for the first time to actually review a book by an author who, had themselves become a reader of my blog. That book was ‘Cooking for Ghosts Book 1 - The Secret Spice Cafe’ by Patricia V Davis and was set on the Queen Mary, which is famously moored at Long Beach, California as a floating hotel. I genuinely enjoyed it, with a good story line and some really fascinating facts about the Queen Mary and its colourful history, I gave it a rating of 8 of 10. Well Patricia wrote a sequel to Cooking for Ghosts in ‘Spells & Oregano’ and she has asked me to read it and give an honest review of it, so hear goes.

The story starts with a prologue set in 1991 in Brooklyn and surrounds two young twins from an Italian background with one of them hiding in a kitchen cupboard as his estranged parents are having a blazing row. His brother is with his Grandfather on the Verrazano Bridge enjoying themselves when he feels something isn’t right and wants to rush home. During their row the husband pushes his wife and she falls to the ground banging her head on the kitchen table and breaking her neck killing her instantly. In shock at realising what he has done, the husband shots himself in the head twice before the police break in and whilst all this is going on, the son hiding in the kitchen cupboard sees this all happening.

We then step forward 22 years and the two young twins are grown men and are successful illusionists performing to crowds in Las Vegas. Cynthia and her daughter Sarita who are co-owners of The Spice Cafe on board the legendary Queen Mary in Long Beach, are in Vegas with Cynthia’s husband to celebrate Sarita’s birthday. Sarita still struggles with the psychology effects from events ten years previous along with keeping her grip on her powers of foreseeing things and seeing ghosts.

After a sumptuous meal, the trio head to the theatre at Caesar’s Palace to watch the The World’s Greatest Magic Show presented by twins Santi and Luca Miceli. Prior to going on stage the twins argue but walk on like professionals and start their show turning a dozen white doves into blood red roses which Luca hands to a certain young lady sat in the front row who is celebrating her birthday. The show goes as planned until Santi’s final illusion, being performed in front of an audience for the first time, when tradegy strikes and Santi dies much to the shock of all those in the audience and his brother Luca.

Nine months later and we catch up with the owners in The Spice Cafe, where Rohini and Cristiano are happily married, Sarita is now manager, Angela is feeling young again after a breast enhancement whilst Cynthia is travelling with Raul and Jane is in Italy. After seeing the ghost of her cousin Gina, who has been dead for other 20 years, Angela wants to bring her dead cousin’s son to The Spice Cafe to train as a chef. Low and behold this chef is Luca who after losing his brother falls into an unrelenting drunken stupor and is wasting his life away. Cristiano is against Luca joining the team and apprehension and tension filters through the team including Sarita.

Upon Luca’s arrival the ghosts of Queen Mary react and strange things once again begin to happen on board ship. The story takes us into more detail about many of the characters from the first book as we  understand more about their powers, their feelings towards others and how much they all really care for each other. Eventually Luca is accepted as part of the team but all is not as it seems as Luca and Sarita start to fall for each others charms, Cristiano and Rohini stop seeing eye to eye on a number of things including Luca and Angela is struggling to cope with her son, his partner and her love life.  The question is, is all this being caused by Luca, The ghosts, Cristiano’s imsecurities or something or someone else unconnected to He Secret Spice Cafe. 

Yet again, Patricia V Davis’ book had me hooked early on when normally a supernatural story would not appeal to me. I really like some of the interesting facts that we continue to find out about the Queen Mary and many aspects of the story are believable (even more so with the fact that the Queen Mary is widely acclaimed to be  one of the world’s most haunted places !!). The fact that this book is set on a liner should provide plenty of intrigue and interest to readers of this blog seeing as many of you have either cruised or are planning to cruise in the near future and for myself  I would have to rate ‘The Secret Spice Cafe Book 2 - Spells & Oregano’ the same as book 1, with a whopping 8 out of 10 as I so enjoyed it.

So when to read it on your forthcoming cruise ? Well firstly, if you haven’t read book 1, my suggestion would be to read book 2 after book 1 !! Secondly, when book 1 has been read, keep Spells & Oregano for a bedtime read especially when you are reading the chapters when the ship’s ghosts are making an appearance !!

A third book in the series is due shortly so keep an eye out for that review and in the meantime if you want to find out any more information on Patricia V Davis visit :

http://patriciavdavis.com/

Feel  free to take time to comment on this review and the book itself.

Happy Reading 😊

Why Mummy Swears by Gill Simms

When I was a child circa 30 something odd years ago, my mum rarely swore and if she did it was the odd ‘bloody’or ‘sod’ and at worst she might call my dad or one of us boys ‘bastards’ if we really annoyed her.  If we were caught swearing as kids, we would get a smacked bum, have our mouths washed out with either salt water or a spoonful of mustard and sent to our rooms. Swearing wasn’t really on tv either , in fact if I recall it correctly, the comedian Dave Allen was the first person to say the F Word On UK tv in 1990 !!

Wow how things have changed in a relatively short period of time, swearimg is common place on many tv programmes post 8pm and the F word is often used multiple times on programmes like celebrity juice, big brother etc during the course of just one episode. We seem to swear a lot more in everyday life both at home and at work, we are easily able to lip read professional sports people using bad language and sadly it becomes more commonplace to hear young children swearing in different forms after seeing their heroes and parents doing it.

‘Why Mummy Swears’ by Gill Sims does a great job at paroding swearing in modern day life at home  which actually makes it firstly, a very amusing book and secondly, has made me go repeatedly  ‘omg I say that or do that’, it could so easily be entitled ‘Why Daddy Swears’.

So it tells us the story of Ellen, a 40s something mum of 12 year old Jane and 9 year old Peter and she is also married to Simon. The kids bicker and fight ... a lot and she is forever telling them off and swearing at them. Prior to having children Jane had a successful career and made money developing an app before quitting to concentrate on raising her kids. Simon is now the breadwinner but is often away for work, enjoying fine food and drink, adult company and nice hotels. Ellen wants that to change and she wants to go back to work doing what she enjoys and enjoy her life more, sharing the parental responsibilities with Simon more.

We are taken through a year of Ellen’s life that sees her signing up for the PTA and becoming Chair, going back into employment, lying to her new work colleagues about her family status and eventually getting caught out, going out drinking with friends, constantly falling out with Simon to the point of considering seperation, dealing with her children, arguing with her sister about everything and anything, attempting to impress her mum with her life and finding out her father has married a Russian woman who is the same age as her !!

Ellen’s life appears like carnage and veers from one disaster to another and she swears oh so much. Her children pick up on this and start using their mums lanaguage and mimick her actions much to her astonishment and shame, especially when it’s done in front of her parents and sister.

This is a really funny book and had me laughing both inwardly and outwardly so frequently although you knew at times you shouldn’t really be laughing at the action of others, because it is either just so wrong or will only encourage them more.

‘Why Mummy Swears’ by Gill Sims was for me a rib tickling 8 out of 10 and is a perfect holiday read for many of us to read as we lay on a sun lounger during a cruise. Others may look at you as you read it as you will laugh out loud or say something like ‘Oh nooooo’ and they will want to know more about what’s making you do it. On the kindle at the moment you can buy it for £4.99 but actually on amazon you can buy the paperback version for £3.99 so you may want to take the paperback version with you instead.

This is Gill Sims’ second book, with her first released last year entitled ‘Why Mummy Drinks’ , so maybe she is building a theme here of books about things mummies shouldn’t do. More information on Gill Sims and her two books can be found on her publishers website https://www.harpercollins.com/author/cr-127516/gill-sims/

Happy Reading !

Canberralover

Past Tense (A Jack Reacher Novel) by Lee Childs

I would be surprised if many of you had failed at some point over the years to have read at least one Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child’s, after all ‘Past Tense’ is the 23rd instalment of the tales of the Giant of a Man and former US Marines MP officer who just wanders across the US continuously with just a toothbrush in his pocket. Me, I have read every single one of them in order, mainly on my kindle and whilst I’ve really enjoyed some, others I’ve just read through and gone hmmmmm yep ok let’s move on to the next book.  November always seems to be the time for a new Reacher novel and I usually order my copy in advance and start reading it as soon as I receive it.


Before I go on and talk about the book and plot itself let’s just talk about Reacher, the man and his portrayal on the screen. So, Reacher is 6ft 5ins tall and allegedly nearly as wide, he is full of muscle, completely solid, can shoot a man with a rifle from a fair old distance, and can kill one almost with just a mean stare. So why oh why has he been played by a man on the big screen who is not much over 5ft 4ins tall in heels, ok he can be a tough nut, but if he stares at you, you are more likely want to fall into bed with him, irrespective of your sex, and I’m pretty sure he is better at flying a plane that shooting a rifle !! Yes Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher has to be the biggest miscast of all time and has always been a bit of a strange fit I think for most people. Well the good news I heard last week as I read ‘Past Tense’, is that Tom Cruise as Reacher is no more.  Lee Child has announced that he is taking Reacher off the big screen and he’s signed a deal with Netflix to put him on the small screen with a new Reacher who is yet to be named and a promise that he will be a man mountain !!


So let’s get back to the actual book ‘Past Tense’ which to me sounds like a title of an English lesson back at school. We find Reacher looking to hitch a ride out of a small coastal town in Maine looking to head towards San Diego on the other side of the US. Finding a ride and first heading down towards Boston, Reacher doesn’t get that far as his driver gets a call after a short while to turn back to deal with a business issue he has. Reacher gets out and starts walking both coming to a junction with a road sign where if he goes left it will take him to Portsmouth (and no not the English coastal city of Portsmouth), or if he goes right it will take him to Laconia, New Hampshire.


Laconia, is a name that Reacher knows but has never visited as it was the place where his father was born and raised before he left at the age of 17 to join the Marines. Whilst Portsmouth would provide him with better options in getting to San Diego, what is one day in Laconia to see a bit of his family history ?


At the same time, 30 miles away heading south on another road, 25 year old, Shorty Fleck and his girlfriend Patty Sundstrom from New Brunswick, Canada are en route to New York in their worn out old Honda Civic to with a full suitcase of items to set them up with enough money for a new life in Florida. Feeling tired after a long drive and with their car overheating, they see a sign for a motel and are in need of a rest. Upon finding the hotel they are met by the owner, who goes by the name of Reacher, Mark Reacher.


Jack meanwhile arrives in Laconia and starts looking into his ancestry by checking out the Census' over the last 80 years but there is no mention of his father or grandparents. Eager to find out more, Reacher extends his stay and that's when his trouble's begin. Hearing a noise in the early hours of the morning, Reacher comes to the aide of a damsel in distress and rearranges the jaw of the young buck that is over hitting on her. Somehow from this, the story spirals out into Reacher finding out more about his family, upsetting both the local and Boston mafia and finally meeting Mark Reacher attempting to save the lives of Shorty and Patty.


Jack Reacher is a mix between The A Team, John Mclean from the Die Hard Movies and Martin Riggs from the Lethal Weapon franchise in all that he does but, sadly for me in 'Past Tense', the story line lets him down significantly. We all love to see Reacher in a fight or shooting someone, but the plot takes too long warming us up and giving us background on his family and Laconia, until we get the first sniff of a punch being thrown. The various sub plots to the story line are tenuous and for me didn't quite get followed up in the way that they would do normally in past Reacher books. Finally, the big finale to the story is a bit of a let down by Reacher standards and I was left pretty disappointed after looking forward to the arrival of the lastest Lee Child novel.


This leaves me in a bit of predicament as to how to rate 'Past Tense' as on one hand I love the franchise but on the other this was probably the poorest Reacher book to date. Yes of course I will have to recommend it, especially to others who have read all the other Reacher books or a number of them. However if you haven't read a Reacher book before, I would probably go back to his very first book and maybe start there instead.


So a disappointing book and therefore only a rating of 4 out of 10 from me this time around, with a note to Lee Child's that next time he really needs to send Jack back into the Miltary for a stint to toughen him up. If you do want to read it on a cruise this winter, keep it for down time in your cabin as its not lively enough to be read anywhere else !


More information on the Jack Reacher franchise and Lee Child can be found at https://www.leechild.com/


Happy Reading !





Canberralover

Palace of Treason by Jason Matthews

My regular readers will recall that back in July I read The Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews and gave it a pretty good rating of 8 out 10, calling it a great spy thriller. Since that time as well as reading books, I have also had the opportunity to watch the film of the same name which was released back in early 2018 and compared to the book like a lot of films, it just did not compare and I was left very disappointed.


I did however promise to add to my reading list after my review of the Red Sparrow the two follow up books in the Sparrow series and I have just finished reading 'Palace of Treason'. This is the second in the series with our two main characters of Dominika, the Russian SVR operative and double agent, and Nate the CIA Spy and agent handler.


The story returns to the action a few months after the end of Red Sparrow, with Dominika in Paris on a mission to obtain information on the Iranian nuclear programme from an Iranian scientist who she has obtained compromising pictures of. Dominika is now reporting into Alexei Zyuganov who dislikes and distrusts Dominika and takes great pleasure out of torturing any of his prisoners, totally disregarding the rule book. Zyuganov only has two aims, one to expose Dominika as a spy and two to climb the political ladder to get as close to President Putin as he can by whatever means possible.


Whilst completing her successful mission in Paris, Dominika is set upon by some local henchman set up by Zyuganov however she has no hesitation in killing them, knowing full well she has been set up and she returns to Moscow, much to the satisfaction of President Putin who she gets to meet personally, but much to the dissatisfaction of Zyuganov.


Her CIA handler Nate is now stationed out in Athens, Greece and is taking on board another spy from the Russian military to obtain essential information on the development of the Russian military power. Still teamed up with Gable and Forsythe, he longs to hear from Dominika as his feelings for her still remain and when a message comes to say that she will meet him in Vienna he does not hesitate to go.


Reunited, the story explodes into another great spy thriller as Dominika provides the Nate and the CIA with regular information on the Iranian nuclear programme whilst trying to cover her tracks from Zyuganov and also forging a relationship with the president himself to obtain information. She also informs Nate that the CIA have another unknown double agent in their ranks who is working with a top Russian spy master in Washington obtaining important information. The double agent is also on the hunt internally at the CIA for the names of the moles providing information to the CIA as a way to earn extra credence with the Russian authorities. His main aim is to expose the real name of DIVA who is known to be the top Russian Mole and unbeknown but to only a few is Dominika.


With the story moving all over Europe, the Middle East and the US, the second instalment of the Sparrow triology is as good as the first one, Matthews is a great writer of espionage thrillers, with him himself having worked for the CIA for a number of years. The killings at times are brutal and necessary and as the story starts to unravel and identities start to get discovered there are killings all over the place. You actually wonder with Matthews’ time in the CIA whether there is actually a certain level of truth as to what really happens in the world of espionage.


My only minor question mark with this book and The Red Sparrow is whether Matthews is also a bit of a foodie at heart, because every chapter involves eating some food or another and at the end of each chapter comes a recipe for the dish eaten ! To me its just a bit strange for a top quality spy thriller ?!?


'The Palace of Treason' is yet another great holiday read and whilst again a long read, will be read relatively quickly on sea days as you will find you will not want to put it down and will be eager to find out what is happening next. Rating wise, I don't think I could give it any less or any more than an 8 out of 10 to match that of 'The Red Sparrow' and with the final book already loaded on to my kindle, I look forward to hopefully before Christmas to reading the final instalment in the triology.


More information on Jason Matthews and the Red Sparrow trilogy can be found at http://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Jason-Matthews/406807038


I hope that you have enjoyed my review and also end up enjoying the book. If you don't already follow my blog and are interested in keeping up to date on what I have to say and all of my book reviews then please click on the 'Follow' button on the top right hand side of this web page.




Happy Reading





Canberralover 

Moeen by Moeen Ali

Hi again dear readers

It should be noted that I am a massive cricket fan, not just a cricket fan but I am also a qualified cricket umpire. I frequently spend my British Summer Saturdays off around the villages of Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire umpiring cricket matches in a local league where I get to see some fantastic countryside, amazing wildlife, and some very tasty teas !! I also love going to watch cricket matches whenever I get the chance and for me the test match format is still the best.

Now a number of regular blog readers don't come from a cricketing nation (lets be honest, there is only a few namely, us, Australia, India, Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand, The West Indies, Sri Lanka and Bangledesh) may be wondering what the heck cricket is ?? Well it is a sport that inspired baseball, is far move civilised than baseball and arguably for most, a lot more interesting than baseball !! In fact its a very posh version of baseball and comes in many variations that last from between 4 hours (T20) and 5 days (a Test match) for a match !!

Cricket has provided us over the years with a significant number of very famous people with Ian Botham, Sir Garfield Sobers, Viv Richards, Imran Khan, Shane Warne and Dickie Bird to name but a few. The list is endless of famous cricketers over the years and whenever I see a book by a cricketer I tend to as a minimum have a browse of it in a book shop and for the really good ones, I tend to actually buy them in hard back form so that they can form part of my home furniture.

So Moeen by Moeen Ali, what is it about and who actually is Moeen ?? Moeen to many cricket fans is known as 'The Beard to be Feared'. Fans of England and Worcestershire often chant his nickname when he plays as he has become known as a good all rounder (he bowls spin and bats a bit !) and is a bit of a character. His book starts to tells us about the up bringing of his family which in itself is actually quite interesting, with his Grandfather born in Kashmir but he came to England where he married an English woman called Betty, who converted to Islam. Him and Betty had a number of children including Moeen's father and all once born and old enough were educated in Pakistan before returning to the UK to carry on their up bringing. Betty and Moeen's grandfather sadly however split with the cultural differences eventually forcing them apart, however they still showed their love for each other and cared for their children and grandchildren.

Moeen's father was a lover of the game of cricket but despite his family being Pakistani, his interest in the sport was frowned upon and he was encouraged to pursue a proper career. A good local club player in the Birmingham area where he lived and worked, Moeen's father decided that when he had children of his own, he would look to encourage them along with his brother to play and follow cricket. Born in the late 80s with his twin brother in the Sparkhill area of Birmingham, Moeen and his brothers and cousins took to cricket at the encouragement of their fathers and of all, Moeen showed the most potential scoring 195 not out as a 12 year old.

As Moeen developed both he and his father found it hard for him to move on in cricket due to the attitudes of the stiff upper lipped English cricket boards who for some reason continued to overlook talented players from ethnic backgrounds. To force his way into the upper echelons of cricket, Moeen moved County (team) from Warwickshire to Worcestershire and broke into the first team as a good batsman and spin bowler, regularly amongst the runs and frequently taking wickets.

His auto biography goes on to talk about his desire to play for England and the challenges he faced to break into the team, not knowing what else he could do to be selected. Eventually at age 27 his debut came belatedly and his impact was impressive and he consistently scored runs and took wickets for his country.

Once we get through his early years and the troubles of breaking into the England team, the book does turn into a bit of a typical cricketers auto biography where Moeen talks about his tours, scores and wicket hauls as a test cricketer, with his hatrick at the Oval being his pinnacle. Since the book was written, Moeen has continued to score runs and take wickets and I am sure he will remain a key player for England in all forms of the sport for a good few years to come.

So ‘Moeen’ I admit may not appeal to all of my blog readers but, if you are a cricket fan I can highly recommend downloading it onto your kindle to read beside the pool as you cruise around the Caribbean this winter.  If you aren’t fortunate enough to cruise then maybe get a read of this in between the Sri Lanka v England test series. Finally if you know nothing about cricket and you are curious then why not give it a try, you never know you may just start to follow the sport. For me ‘Moeen’ by Moeen Ali is a solid 6 out of 10 read.

Moeen doesn’t have a specific website for his book, but to find out more about his career and cricket in general try http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/8917.html

As ever feel free to leave a comment on this review on my blog and Happy Reading 😊

Canberralover

The Mother of All Chrismases by Milly Johnson

As many of you will know if you read my review of The Perfectly Imperfect Woman by Milly Johnson back in August, I am a big big Milly Johnson fan, and the responses I got from many of you via the various Facebook groups that many of of my readers are members of, you are all also very big fans of Milly. For me it was, Here Comes The Girls, set on board a ficticious cruise that got me started on Milly books and from that moment on, I was hooked and I’ve since read everything that she has ever written.

Can you imagine my absolute delight when after messaging Milly about this blog and my review of her last book, The Perfectly Imperfect Woman, Milly responded with not only a thank you but a special and honest request to review her next book before it’s actual release !!

Blown away by the request, I very kindly accepted and a few weeks ago a copy of 'The Mother of All Chritsmases' arrived in the post for me to review. This book is going on general sale on 15th November but can be pre ordered now for your kindle and from all good book shops, but first you will want to know is it worth it and what is it all about.  I have promised Milly that I will be honest in my review but won’t give away many spoilers as to what may happen in the book.

So, The Mother of All Christmases starts around about early spring time and is centered around primarily three characters in Palma, Annie and Eve, who are all from different back grounds. Poor Palma, she is living on a dodgy housing estate and has had a tough up bringing, being in Care before getting a wonderful foster mum who then sadly passed away. Palma is desperate to get away from the estate and in particular away from local druggie and wide boy Clint O’Gowan that she agrees to earn £5k by becoming a surrogate mum to a rich couple who allegedly desperately want a baby but the wife can’t bare the thought of being pregnant. However once Palma finds herself pregnant and goes to tell the great news to the couple she finds that they have split and she is left carrying the baby.

Annie Pandoro and her Italian husband Joe are in their late forties and Annie is heading for the menopause having giving up on having children after failed ivf attempts and being turned down for adoption. Her and Joe however are happy running their Christmas cracker business, but thinking she isn’t well and it’s the start of the menopause, Annie can’t believe it when she finds herself expecting for the first time.

Eve is marrived to Jacques and they run the Winterworld theme park and are busy expanding it ready for next Christmas and like Annie, Eve feels having children has now past her by but then again she is not great at remembering her contraceptive pills and unexpectedly finds herself expecting but she isn’t sure when is best to tell Jacques as they are so busy are Winterworld and are having a few problems with their expansion work.

All three ladies are brought together as they each fall pregnant and their babies are all due around Christmas time. Through their GP, Dr Gilhooley, the Christmas Pudding Club is created and Palma, Annie and Eve begin to share their lives and their stories with each other and other like minded mums to be.

The Mother Of All Christmases is a lovely heartfelt story about impending motherhood tinged with some sadness that does come good in the end. Milly writes this story in her usual Yorkshire way and I found myself hearing the strong Yorkshire accents of all of the characters throughout (tinged with a bit of Italian in Joe Pandoro !). It was also good to be reunited with some characters once again from past Milly books, and the Daily Trumpet news reports and apologies made me laugh out loud as many of them were so funny.

This a not only a good winter sun holiday read, to have either in paperback or on the kindle by the pool on board your Caribbean cruise, but it is also a great book to read on the run up to Christmas at home too. Trying to remain unbiased, in my view due to my love of Milly’s books, I would give The Mother of All Christmases a strong 8 out 10 and I know that Milly fans will undoubtedly agree this high rating. If you’ve not read a Milly book before, try this one and I’m sure you firstly won’t be disappointed and secondly it will leave you wanting to read more of Milly’s books.

More information on Milly and all of her great books can be found at https://millyjohnson.co.uk/the-mother-of-all-christmases/

As ever with all of my reviews please feel free to leave a comment and follow my regular updates.

Happy Reading 😊


Canberralover

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith

Everyone’s favourite Private Dectective and his assistant are back in Comoran Strike  and Robin Ellacot. We all know now that the author, Robert Galbraith is in fact J K Rowling, she of Harry Potter fame.

Hopefully many of you will have read the three previous Strike novels and also will have had the chance earlier this year to watch the excellent BBC Drama adaptations of each of the books starring Tom Burke and Holly Granger.

Lethal White starts very shortly after the ending of the last book at Robin and her fiancé Matt’s  wedding. Robin is still in shock after her vicious attack and also is unsure about her emotions and feelings towards both Matt and Strike. She learns on her big day that Matt has been accessing her phone and deleting Strike’s messages requesting that she comes back and works for him. With Strike also making an appearance on her wedding day her and Matt have an almighty row and you question straight away if the marriage will last.

Suddenly after an introduction to the story on Robin and Matt’s wedding day we are thrown forward one year later and business for Strike has been doing reasonably well but neither him or Robin have spoken to each other about events on her wedding day. Out of the office, Strike gets a call from his latest temporary secretary to urgently come back as someone is demanding too see him.

He returns to find a young man called Billy, clearly in distress and suffering from a severe mental illness and looking homeless claiming he has seen a young girl strangled. Before getting the full story from Billy, Billy runs as the secretary calls the police. The story plays on Strike’s mind and he tentatively investigate’s what Billy has told him, albeit with little to go on and he is led to a an anti London Olympics meeting in East London run by Billy’s older brother, Jimmy.

The Billy story appears a dead end until Strike is approached by a senior government minister to investigate a potential black mail against him deep in the heart of the House of Commons. With Robin inserted under cover as the ministers newest intern, Strike and Robin investigate and Billy’s story appears to have connections with the ministers blackmail.

Murder then occurs and the case deepens as Strike, Robin and there expanding team try to get to the bottom of their latest case.

Despite being in excess of 600 pages, this is a very fast paced thriller intwined with the developments of the personal lives of both Strike and Robin.  The plot left me very rarely wanting to put the book down as it had me captivated from the moment I picked it up. This for me is the best Galbraith novel to date and probably one of the best novels I have read this year so I have to give this a whopping ten out of ten. The relationship between Strike and Robin bubbles under the surface and develops again nicely in the book and you do wonder will they or won’t they get together?

Despite its size and length don’t be put off of reading Lethal White on your winter Caribbean Cruise, but maybe to help keep the excess luggage down, download it on to your kindle. You will not want to put it down so it will be a read at any time, night or day kind of book, but it will probably help to have read the other Galbraith books first to help you understand some of the storyline and references in the book.

More information on the Comoron Strike novels by Robert Galbraith can be found at https://robert-galbraith.com/

I hope yet again you have enjoyed the review, feel free to leave a comment or to start following all of my book reviews.

Happy Reading 😊

Canberralover

At the Wedding by Matt Dunn

Matt Dunn is to me a great writer like Mike Gayle of male chick flick books. He is really good at telling a story from the guys angle and it’s usually the guy you feel most for in his books. I think I’ve now read 4 or 5 of his books and have enjoyed each and everyone of them, and just because he writes it from a guys angle it does not mean that his books don’t appeal to everyone, in fact I am pretty sure my lady readers will enjoy his books as much as my male readers. 

‘At the Wedding’ is set over 24 hours in the life of Jed and Livia, who have been together for over10 years happy as a couple but never married. Livia is expecting their first baby and she arranges for them to spend a long weekend in Barcelona, the city they first met in. Over dinner on their first night, Jed finds Livia getting out of her seat and down on one knee proposing to him and as much as he loves her, he really does not know what to do or say as marriage has never really been on his radar and has never appealed to him as he is happy as he is. Whilst waiting for his answer, Livia drops her second bombshell by telling Jed that their wedding is booked for tomorrow and a small group of their friends and Jed’s brother are arriving in the morning to join them in the ceremony. Forced into a decision Jed reluctantly says yes but immediately starts to think about how he can get out of it without ruining his life with Livia.

As the friends head out to Barcelona, Patrick is with Izzy who is half is age and he is still licking his wounds from an expensive divorce after his wife cheated on him. Rachel has fallen out with her boyfriend Richard about the trip and he has decided to stay at home and Liam, Jed’s brother is attempting to pull every lady in Spain on the back of his 2nd place in Big Brother !! Jed awakens still confused and unsure what to do re his pending nuptials amd goes out for a run, a very long run to try and get his head around it all.

As the day unravels and the time of the wedding approaches fast, we learn about the lives of each and everyone of the characters in an often humorous way. Jed’s past concerns him, Livia can’t understand what the fuss is about and the friends all have their own problems and pleasures to deal with along the way.  How they all manage to for so much into one full day is beyond me, but fill they do and will  heavily pregnant Livia and Jed make it up the aisle together and will their own fears and other people get in the way of them doing that ?

At The Wedding is a good humoured fast paced read then scores a very presentable 7 out of 10 for me. It is certainly a good holiday read and comes recommended to be done so by the pool Ona hot day, especially with the Caribbean cruise season fast approaching.

More information on Matt Dunn and his numerous other books (which are also good easy holiday reads !), can be found at http://www.mattdunn.co.uk/

As ever hope you enjoyed the review, leave a comment with your thoughts while I get busy reading my next book ready for review 😊

Happy Reading

Canberralover

An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena

Have you like me, never been on a murder mystery weekend at a remote hotel and then wondered what it would be like to actually go on one  ? If so then this could be a book just for you.

I’ve read a couple of Shari Lapena’s books previously and to be honest they have been ok, a bit predictable but ok, and I have liked them enough to want to read her latest book, ‘An Unwanted Guest’.

So our story starts with a number of people heading off in a terrible snow storm to the middle of nowhere in New York State, to a relaxing weekend retreat at a hotel run by father and son, James and Bradley. Ian and Lauren find friends Gwen and Riley crashed in a ditch en route to the hotel, so they offer them a lift to the hotel and agree in light of the storm to get the car recovered in he morning. Beverly and Henry have been married for years but are in a loveless relationship and Beverley is hoping that there weekend away will help to rekindle their love. Matthew and Dana are engaged and due to be married shortly, Matthew is from a wealthy family and his mother doesn’t believe that Dana is good enough for him despite her beauty. Candice is an author with one book behind her and a looming deadline for finishing her second book, she has come to the hotel for inspiration and time away to get the book completed. Finally, there is David, a defence attorney who has just decided to get away from it all for a weekend after a tough time both in his professional and personal life.

With all having arrived at the hotel but very few staff there due to the weather (which is a little strange as all the guests have made it from the city.), the guests congregate in the bar and socialise before sitting down to dinner. David and Gwen catch each other’s eye and begin chatting much to the annoyance of Riley, who after being a journalist,  has done two tours of Afghanistan and now suffers from PTSD with all that she has seen and experienced.  Matthew and Dana place themselves away in the corner of the restaurant to have a romantic time whilst, Ian and Lauren size everyone up in the room. Beverly and Henry just don’t talk to each other and Candice keeps to herself.

Post dinner as the guests disperse, David finds himself in the library alone and he absorbs himself in a book, before Gwen walks in and they begin chatting by the fire. Cutting to the chase they find each other attractive and with both being single, they end up back in bed in David’s room together. Matthew and Dana end up back in their room, with Matthew only having thoughts of making love to Dana, but upset over the wedding arrangements and the fact her mother in law to be doesn’t like her, they row and go to sleep on unhappy terms. Beverly like Matthew, having been out and purchased new lingerie especially for the weekend, only has one thing on her mind, but Henry is the opposite and berates and belittles her for her efforts. Ian and Lauren however don’t even make it back to their room, having found a dark back staircase where they make love before heading off to bed.

In the middle of the night Beverly is awoken by the sound of a scream, but unsure if she is dreaming or not she turns over and goes back to sleep.

As morning arrives, the snow has turned to sleet and then frozen with all the power and phone lines brought down and the hotel in darkness and no phone connection. Lauren awakens with Ian still snoring so decides to get up and wander around the hotel. Riley and Gwen awaken shortly afterwards to the sounds of a loud piercing scream and both get up to find out it’s source. They find Lauren kneeling at the bottom of the Grand Staircase where Dana’s lifeless body is lying, with her limbs in an unnatural position, attempting to find a pulse.

Other guests rise to find the body and Lauren in tears except for Matthew. David comes down and studies the body without touching it and takes in the scene with his practised eye as a defence attorney. Agreeing to break the news to her fiancé, David goes to tell Matthew the sad news and he breaks down claiming he didn’t know she had even left the room. David is suspicious about Dana’s death as her position does not fit with having fallen down the stairs and the cut to her head is as if it has been smashed against something.

Sharing his views with the other guests and unable to contact the police, the suspicion falls on Matthew, even more so when Beverly comments that she heard them arguing in the room next door. What happens next is that the guests all start to find out more about each other which, in turn makes them suspicious about each other. More deaths occur in and around the house in suspicious circumstances and they all fear for their lives. Over the next 24 hours the race is on to work out which one of them is the killer and why they are doing it, it could be any of them, they all have potential motives with their background, or could there be another person in the hotel who is stalking all of the guests ??  Lapena keeps you guessing right through to just before the end trying to work out whodunnit !!

To be honest, this is an easy read and at times a little bit like playing Cluedo. I found large parts of the plot quite unbelievable amd a bit silly so I didn’t take the storyline too seriously. However, having said that, yet again with a Lapena novel it was ok to read, not a book to set the world on fire, but likewise not one to totally cross off your holiday reading list. What Lapena does well in Unwanted Guest and her other novels I’ve read is to keep you guessing and in suspense.

With a rating from me of 6 out 10, I can suggest you download it on to your kindle for your holiday read and perhaps read it at bedtime with the lights down low !!

More information on the author Sharna Lapena and her books, can be found on her own personal website : http://www.sharilapena.com/

As always, I hope you have enjoyed my review and please feel free to leave comments and follow my regular reviews.

Happy Reading 😊

Canberralover

The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred Year Old Man by Jonas Jonasson

For those of you who may have read The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of a Window and Disappeared will probably know what to expect from Jonas Jonasson’s latest hilarious story about Allan Karlsson, the centenarian who just says it how he sees it and does what he wants when he wants to. If you have not read a Jonas Jonasson book, you will find he has a very unique writing style  that sounds like the narrator just doesn’t have time to pause for breath. Also his way of telling a good yarn is just so funny especially with the lengths he goes to, to get his characters to explain things.

Our story starts, with Karlsson now approaching his 101st birthday, living a life of luxury in Bali with    his partner in crime, Julius Jonsson who he met in his first book after doing a runner out the window of his old people’s home in Sweden. The pair of them have been spending the millions that they acquired at the end of Book 1 and the money is running out but they don’t want the owner of the luxury hotel that they are staying in to know that. Allan is introduced to the wonders of the iPad and the internet and gives Julius daily updates on what is happening in the world around them, including the election of Trump and Macron, Brexit, the leadership of Kim Jung-Un, and lots of other useless information on world events.

Julius decides, that despite having no money to pay for it, he wants to give Allan a champagne air ballon flight for his birthday as it’s what he really wants. But somehow between them they manage to accidenly take off in the ballon without their pilot and are whisked out to sea by strong winds. Eventually they land in the water miles from shore with nothing but a few bottles of champagne, Allan’s IPAD and the wicker basket that they are in. Destined for death they start on the champagne before a passing North Korean cargo ship bound for Pyongyang comes to their rescue and brings them aboard.

When finding out the ship will not be stopping before Pyongyang and has a secret cargo on board of uranium, Allan informs the Captain (untruthfully) of his nuclear science expertise (which he has researched quickly on his IPad !) to save their lives and they are taken to the Supreme Leader himself, Kim Jong-Un, to discuss how Allan can help them make  the nuclear weapon that Kim has so long desired.

What then follows is a hilarious tale across 4 continents as Allan and Julius steal the uranium, meet and upset President Trump, Angela Merkel and other world leaders along the way. Added to this, funded by the Russians, they are chased by a Neo Nazi group following a mix up over a funeral, before ending up in the Serengeti trying to stop half a tonne of enriched uranium from being smuggled back to North Korea without even realising what they are doing. Along the way they pick up new friends in the form of a Swedish medium, a German secret agent and a massai warrior who help them save the world/cause chaos.

Allan Karlsson for me is a literary character who is fast coming up to be like an Adrian Mole or Alan Partridge in so far that he is completely off of his rocker but you just can’t help but love him and he doesn’t fail to make you laugh. The Further Adventures of The Humdred Year Old Man is an excellent 9.5 out 10 for me and if you love a good laugh, this has to be on your cruising reading list. Read it by the pool, in a bar or in a general area and I am sure you will get people coming up and asking you what you are reading as they watch you chuckle away to yourself and see your belly wobble with laughter.

If after reading it, you want some more of Jonas Jonasson he has a small number of other books to read (I’ve read them all !!) and information can be found on Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_Jonasson or his publishers website https://www.harpercollins.com/author/107644/jonas-jonasson/

Feel free to leave a comment about this review and why not follow me keep up to date with all of my book reviews !!

Happy Reading 😊😊

Canberralover