Category: books

April 21, 2020

Straight Uphill: A Tale of Love and Chocolate

In a hilltop Italian village, women chocolatiers work the improbable magic of love and chocolate.

About Straight Uphill: A Tale of Love and Chocolate

After tragedy strikes, brokenhearted Gretchen takes a holiday in a hilltop Italian village to seek peace and solitude. Through chance, she meets Bettina, an elderly woman estranged from her legacy as a chocolatier. Gretchen soon finds herself wrapped in the aromas of chocolate and caramel and butter and wine, as villagers past and present, question all aspects of love that send her on a journey of self-discovery and healing. But will Gretchen truly be able to leave the past behind and open her heart again to life and love, or will she be content to drown her sorrows in chocolate?

My Thoughts

Straight Uphill: A Tale of Love and Chocolate is a story full of loss, suffering, but also hope, love and second chances.

Our novel begins with Gretchen, who has suffered a pain that no parent ever should – the loss of her son. The death of her son has destroyed her marriage, her employment and her mental health. She spends her days in a fog without a sense of purpose or goal. She takes a trip to a small hilltop village in Italy – a remote village full of beauty and a small population. She is not quite sure what she is looking for, but this is just the trip that she needs.

It is here where we uncover a village full of history, promise and hope centred around a story of chocolate. In this small town, Gretchen meets an older woman, Bettina, who owns a bread bakery and is set to lose everything after her son ran away. Something tugs at Gretchen’s heart and she finds herself connecting with this woman and this small town in ways she hasn’t since she lost her son. We begin to dive into the story of this small village and how Bettina found herself where she was (she didn’t always sell bread!). Not only does this help Gretchen, but we find the bakery and the story begins to heal the hearts, mental well being and relationships of others in the small village. We learn about the people in the village, how they have survived over the years through great hardships, war and discrimination.

I found myself ready to cry at times and at other times sharing in the joys of the characters. Life is never perfect, it is a bumpy road full of questions around why do we suffer, why do we lose some people so early and how can people be so cruel. This novel captures life as it is – the raw pain of loss, cruel wars, loss of freedom, discrimination based on gender but also shows the beauty of life – love, hope and people coming together to fight for what is right. I loved every moment of this beautiful novel, I did not want to put it down as I wanted to see how the story evolved and I couldn’t help but fall in love with our characters. Our characters are beautiful inside and out, their thoughts, feelings and journey is something that we can all relate to. This is a fantastic read – perfect for book lovers.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Jess Wells is the author of five novels and five books of short stories, the recipient of a San Francisco Arts Commission Grant for Literature, a four-time finalist for the national Lambda Literary Award, and a member of the Saints & Sinners Literary Hall of Fame. Her work has appeared in more than three dozen literary journals and anthologies, has been reprinted in England and translated into Italian. She blogs regularly at jesswells.com.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

April 20, 2020

Killer Deadline Book Review

Folks in Pine Grove, Pennsylvania, claim that where Nikki Bryant goes, trouble is not far behind. Her refusal to back down from a challenge has made Nikki Bryant a top investigative journalist. With the clues in her father’s cold case hot again, Nikki intends to chase down the story of her life until she catches his killer—no matter what it takes.

About Killer Deadline

Folks in Pine Grove, Pennsylvania, claim that where Nikki Bryant goes, trouble is not far behind. Her refusal to back down from a challenge has made Nikki Bryant a top investigative journalist.

When an online friend nudges her to join him in a pact to reconnect with their first loves, Nikki and her boxer dog Elmo leave the bright lights of Las Vegas for the charming town of Pine Grove. There, she must face the biggest challenges in her career and life—the first love she had left behind and her father’s unsolved murder.

But before she has time to unpack her car, Nikki stumbles upon the dead body of local news anchor, Ashleigh Addison, her childhood rival. Could Ashleigh’s death be connected to an explosive news story that she had teased about airing live? Did that explosive story have anything to do with the murder of Nikki’s father?

With the clues in her father’s cold case hot again, Nikki intends to chase down the story of her life until she catches his killer—no matter what it takes.

My Thoughts

I love the way that Lauren Carr writes and she does not disappoint, this book is a huge treat! I loved our strong, independent characters, the plot that was true to her style of writing and full of twists – the novel is fantastic from start to finish.

Nikki is incredible – brave, confident and strong. She is not afraid to say how she feels and go after what she wants (except for maybe that lost love of hers). She lost her Father many years ago and the murder had gone unsolved, something that she intends to change once she gets a tip from a frenemy (who she also later discovers dead!). This sets her off on a very dangerous path of lies and betrayal and a discovery in the death of her Father, while reuniting her with a lost love, her hometown and those who she thought loved her family.

There is an excellent blend of mystery and suspense with comic relief and romance throughout novel. Lauren has a great way of balancing this without taking away from the story. We have well developed characters, that you can’t help but feel a connection to. I loved Nikki’s character but also her connections to her hometown, her family and her lost love. We learn about so much history in this small town and how this ends up being connected to several murders. I loved the way the story unfolds, it kept me on my toes and constantly guessing on who actually committed the murder of her Father so many years ago. I definitely did not see the end coming!

Killer Deadline is a fantastic read from start to finish – you will love the plot and characters. A definite must read.

You can pre-order a copy of this book on Amazon.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, Chris Matheson Cold Case, and Thorny Rose Mysteries—over twenty-five titles across three fast-paced mystery series filled with twists and turns!

Killer Deadline marks Lauren’s first venture into mystery’s purely cozy sub-genre with a female protagonist.

Book reviewers and readers alike rave about how Lauren Carr’s seamlessly crosses genres to include mystery, suspense, crime fiction, police procedurals, romance, and humor.

A popular speaker, Lauren is also the owner of Acorn Book Service, the umbrella under which falls iRead Book Tours. She lives with her husband and two spoiled rotten German Shepherds on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.

Connect with her on her website, Twitter and Facebook.

The Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

April 10, 2020

The Sea Book

Featuring fascinating fishy facts accompanied by bright, bold, and beautiful illustrations, this book takes children on a journey through the sea and all its zones.

About The Sea Book

The Sea Book explores a wealth of incredible marine animals and their habitats, from up on the ice, down to colorful coral reefs, underwater forests, and right down to the deepest darkest depths where the weird and wonderful lurk.

Following on from The Bee Book, Charlotte Milner continues to highlight to children important ecological issues faced by our planet, this time with a focus on marine life and the damaging effects humans are having on our seas. Children will discover what they can do to help, and there are tips on how to live plastic-free. Children will even get to craft their own recycled shopping bag!

Our Thoughts

I have always found our oceans fascinating – the power, the mysterious nature of them and the incredible creatures found in their depths. The sea is beautiful and it is our job to protect the animals that live in the water and their home.

The Sea Book starts off by exploring our blue planet and what inhabits those mysterious waters. We are even introduced to underwater volcanoes and trenches – I have always been intrigued by volcanoes underwater and learned that there are more volcanoes underwater than there are on land! Neat right? The deepest point in the ocean is so deep that Mount Everest could fit into it – almost hard to believe right?

The creatures that fill the ocean are pretty incredible too. There are fish of all shapes and sizes – some that we are familiar with and others not so much. We even learned about a new shark – a cookiecutter shark! We learned about the reptiles, mammals and invertebrates that also call this home. We also appreciated that Charlotte went into detail on the different areas in the sea – the place these animals call home can be quite different. We explored life on ice, coral reefs, kelp forests, open water, and even the deep and dark areas of the ocean.

This book is full of interesting facts as it explores the waters around us. We learn about the animals and the places they call home using beautiful illustrations and facts that are age appropriate. I love how the book also dedicates parts of the book to how we are hurting these animals and their home and how we (parents and children) can help out. This is a definite must have book for children.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and Indigo.

About the Author

Charlotte Milner is an illustrator and author based in London. She studied illustration at Kingston University where she discovered picture books as a tool to bring non-fiction topics to life. Since graduating, she has been designing, writing, and illustrating to bring information to little readers. Charlotte has a natural flair for illustrated storytelling and a strong interest in conservation.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

April 9, 2020

The Bee Book

Explore the secret world of bees: how they live, how they work, how they support each other and their hive.

About The Bee Book

DK’s The Bee Book is a wonderful introduction to the humble honeybee: nature’s hardest worker, and much more than just a provider of honey! Bees are incredibly industrious, brilliant at building, super social, and-most importantly-responsible for a third of every mouthful of food you eat! Find out how bees talk to one another, what it takes to become a queen bee, what the life of a worker bee is like, and more. The contents include bee anatomy, types of bee, hives, colonies, pollination, making honey, and more. Discover just how much they matter, why they are declining, and what you can do to help!

Our Thoughts

Bees have been a hot topic for the last year or so, and rightly so. These insects are so very important to our everyday lives and we should do everything we can to help them.

The Bee Book starts off with a background about bees, I had no idea there were around 20,000 different species of bees! We learned about the Wallace’s Giant Bee, Dwarf Bee and Killer Bees, which prompted us to look them up online (especially Killer Bees – I always thought this was a made up story to scare kids!).

From here the story dives right into the incredible honeybees, the bees you are most likely to be familiar with. We begin to discover what is a honeybee, body parts (including that famous stinger), why they buzz, and how bees make honey. We really enjoyed reading about the worker honeybee’s life (from birth to everyday life), the Queen bee and how honeybees talk to each other.

But why are bees so important?

“1 in 3 mouthfuls of food that you eat has been made thanks to pollinators such as bees” – The Bee Book.

As we learn about the important process of pollination, quotes like the one above really help kids put into perspective how important bees are. Charlotte helps kids break down all the important steps after pollination – from crop collection, to transportation of crops, to grocery stores and finally to our table. This is important for kids (and adults) to understand why we have to help the bees. She even gives great examples on how we can help bees, from which plants to plant outside to even bee hotels.

This is a wonderfully written and illustrated book about bees that teaches kids all about the importance of honeybees and how we can help them.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and Indigo.

About the Author

London-based author and illustrator, Charlotte Milner has a strong interest in bees and a natural flair for illustrated storytelling.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

April 8, 2020

Act of Murder Book Review

Doc Brady soon realizes that the old adage remains true: The love of money is the root of all evil.

About Act of Murder

Doc Brady became an orthopedic surgeon to avoid being surrounded by death. But now it’s everywhere around him.One spring day in 1994 Houston, Dr. Jim Bob Brady witnesses his neighbor’s ten-year-old son killed by a hit-and-run driver. An accident, or an act of murder? After the death, Brady enlists the help of his twenty-year-old son J. J. and his wife Mary Louise in chasing down clues that take them deeper and deeper into a Houston he never imagined existed. In the process, they discover a macabre conspiracy stretching from the ivory towers of the largest teaching hospital in Texas, to the upper reaches of Houston’s legal community, to the shores of Galveston.Doc Brady soon realizes that the old adage remains true: The love of money is the root of all evil.

My Thoughts

Act of Murder starts off with what appears to be a hit and run that results in the death of a young boy. As our story unfolds, a plot is revealed that has quite a few twists and turns that will leave you on the edge of your seat.

Doc Brady is an orthopedic surgeon, his patients are generally healthy (no terminal cancer patients), he has a great routine, an amazing relationship with his wife and a grown child that is out of the house (who we later learn has some incredible hidden talents!). Life was great for him as he went about his days, until the hit and run of his young neighbour. Doc Brady was one of the first people on the scene but unfortunately there was nothing he could do for the young boy. This was a young boy who he had treated several times in the past for a rare disorder of the bones that caused them to fracture easily. While he knows that there was nothing he could have done for the young child, the pain of the death is still there.

This event is the catalyst for how our story unfolds – why would anyone leave the scene after hitting such a young boy? And how could this ever be viewed as a murder? Who could commit such a crime? We soon find out that money and greed are powerful factors and some people will do anything for money.

I loved the plot in this novel, it was fast paced but not too fast that you felt as though you missed something. I really enjoyed the way the story unfolded and we learned how the characters were connected in such small but extremely important ways. Each character played an important role in the death of the young child and the resulting investigations and mysterious deaths that stem from this. The book is well written and highlights how greed can be a powerful motivator for evil actions. A definite must read novel.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

Rating: 4.5/5

About the Author

John Bishop MD practiced orthopedic surgery in Houston, Texas, for 30 years. An avid golfer and accomplished piano player, Bishop is honored to have once served as the keyboard player for the rhythm and blues band Bert Wills and the Crying Shames. The Doc Brady medical thriller series is set in the changing environment of medicine in the 1990s. Drawing on his years of experience as a practicing surgeon, Bishop entertains readers using his unique insights into the medical world with all its challenges, intricacies, and complexities, while at the same time revealing the compassion and dedication of health care professionals. Dr. Bishop and his wife, Joan, reside in the Texas Hill Country.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.