Monday 26 February 2024

The Wartime Book Club

by

Kate Thompson

BLOG TOUR


Jersey, 1943. Once a warm and neighbourly community, now German soldiers patrol the cobbled streets, imposing a harsh rule on the people of the island. Grace La Mottée, the island's only librarian, is ordered to destroy books which threaten the new regime. Instead, she hides the stories away in secret. Along with her headstrong best friend, postwoman Bea Rose, she wants to fight back. So she forms the wartime book club: a lifeline, offering fearful islanders the joy and escapism of reading. But as the occupation drags on, the women's quiet acts of bravery become more perilous - and more important - than ever before. And, when tensions turn to violence, they are forced to face the true, terrible cost of resistance... 


Review

Bea and Grace are the best of friends and live on the island of Jersey during the occupation of the Germans in 1943. 

Grace is a librarian and even though the Germans tried their hardest to ban many books, Grace manages to find copies and distribute them among the people of her community, putting herself and everyone around her in danger.

Bea is smitten with Grace's brother Jimmy and is absolutely distraught when he is killed, but when a few weeks after his death, she misses her "monthly", she panics and tries to hide the pregnancy for as long as she can. 

When Bea gets a job as a Postie, she puts herself in danger by delivering messages to people warning them that the Germans were going to raid their property as some people were hiding Americans. Once such soldier was "Red" who takes a real shine to Grace and she to him, but love never does run smooth in war time and they try to hide their feelings during the invasion. 

This was such a lovely and sometimes emotional read. I loved that every chapter started with the name and description of a book that the Germans banned for whatever reason. The research that the author did for this book was second to none and it makes you think how close the Germans came to the British Isles during WWII.

Thank you Kate for writing such a thought provoking and interesting story about the lives of the people of Jersey and how a library and the books inside kept a community together during the war. I can't wait for your next one! My dear Mum would have loved this book. 

You can also listen to the author's podcast "From the Library with Love" about the people of London during the war. It is such a great podcast.



About the Author


Kate Thompson is an award-winning journalist, ghostwriter and novelist who has spent the past two decades in the UK mass market and book publishing industry. Over the past eight years Kate has written twelve fiction and non-fiction titles, three of which have made the Sunday Times top ten bestseller list. Find Kate online: X: @katethompson380 Website: www.katethompsonmedia.co.uk Kate’s new podcast, ‘From the Library with Love’, is available to listen to now.

Wednesday 7 February 2024

 ** COVER REVEAL **


Love, Julie

by

Jamie Anderson


Today, I'm delighted to share the cover reveal for Love, Julie by Jamie Anderson. What a fabulous cover! and as we share the same name, I felt it my duty to reveal this cover! Publication date is 30th April, so not long to wait. 



A Poignant and Humorous Journey of Self-discovery, Resilience, and Redemption

Once, Julie dreamed of a life filled with love and laughter. Now, in her mid-forties, she faces a starkly different reality. She's single, lonely, and reeling from breaking her hard-earned sobriety in front of her family and friends.

Opting for self-recovery over romance, Julie dives into planning her best friend Kate’s wedding. However, sharing this task with the irritatingly cheerful best man, single dad Luke, proves to be an unexpected challenge.

As Luke’s persistent kindness chips away at her icy exterior, a friendship forms, stirring a longing she’d sworn to suppress. But with self-forgiveness as her biggest hurdle, and her past ready to sabotage her future, can Julie confront the shame and trauma that have darkened so much of her life and find the courage to love again? Or will her demons shatter both her and Luke’s hearts in the process?


About the Author

Jamie Anderson is based in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. A proud Canadian and Saskatchewanian, she wanted to set her first two novels in the place she was born and raised.

She’s been writing for as long as she can remember, and has been reading for longer than that. She lives happily with her mountain of books, her TV and her two plants.

You can read Jamie’s first novel Someone to Kiss here: https://mybook.to/someonetokiss


Thursday 18 January 2024

 The Bright Spot

by

Jill Shalvis

Review

by

Julie Williams


Review

I do like a Jill Shalvis novel, as I know I am in for a romantic, easy read.

Based in Apple Ridge Farm, Luna Wright is surprised when she is informed that the late owner Silas has left her fifty percent of the farm. The Farm and its employees are like her family to her as Luna was adopted at birth with no knowledge of her birth family. This makes her particularly protective of the Farm and its adorable rescued animals.

When the co-owner, Jameson, arrives to announce the news Luna is confused and worried, as she does not know what his intentions will be, especially as he reveals that the Farm is in fact struggling financially with a high chance of it having to close. Jameson feels a spark between them but Luna is a hard nut to crack as her issues with trust go way back. They decide to pull together to try to find a solution to save Apple Ridge and make it a viable business.

I loved all the characters in this book and the relationships between them all. This book is number six in the Sunrise Cove series but can be read as a standalone, the next one being available in the Summer 2024, so we won’t have to wait long to see what Jill has in store for the delightful characters.

My thanks to Net Galley and the publishers Headline for the advanced digital copy and to Julie to post my review on Boons Bookcase blog as part of the blog tour.



Wednesday 17 January 2024

 ** Cover Reveal **

The Bookshop Ladies

by

Faith Hogan


Joy Blackwood has no idea why her French art dealer husband has left a valuable painting to a woman called Robyn Tessier in Ballycove, a small town on the west coast of Ireland, but she is determined to find out. She arrives in Ballycove to find that Robyn runs a rather chaotic and unprofitable bookshop. She is shy, suffering from unrequited love for dashing Cathal, and badly in need of advice on how to make the bookshop successful.
As Joy gets drawn into the dramas of everyday life in the town, she finds it more and more difficult to confess why she really came, let alone find the truth about the painting she brought with her. When she does finally summon up the courage, it sets the cat amongst the pigeons in the close-knit, friendly community she has come to love.J

Monday 4 December 2023

Library with Love Podcast

 Podcast

with 

Kate Thompson

Something new on the blog today and it's a review of a podcast I listened to by Kate Thompson. I love Kate's books and I am really interested in reading wartime books and so I listened to Kate's podcast From the Library with Love and I have reviewed a podcast titled Vanishing Voices of Wartime London. 


Review

In this podcast we listen to 3 people about their wartime experiences. Marie recalls her mother's words of wisdom like "if you get lost, never ask a copper, always ask a tramp and they will get you home". 

She also talks about her evacuation. She says she was treated badly and the lady who she went to stay with cut her hair off as she thought she had lice because she came from London. Marie says she wasn't fed very well, even though her mother sent money regularly for her upkeep. When her mother found out about this, she went to pick Marie up and had such a row with the lady and punched her that a Policeman had to intervene! She took Marie home back to London after that. My Mum told me a similar story about my uncle (her brother) being treated badly when he was evacuated. Some people had a great time living in the country during the war, but for others, it was a nightmare. So sad. 

Dot Smee was another lady who spoke to Kate on the podcast. I loved hearing her singing wartime songs and Sally Flood reciting her Jewish poetry and reminiscing about her time during the war as a jewish child and the awful way she was treated. 

Listening to people talk about their lives during the war always reminds me of my dear Mum. She was 9 when war broke out and she used to tell me stories of when she was evacuated to Dorset and even though she never stayed there for very long, it always held a place in her heart and we even scattered some of her ashes down there. She even had relatives who never came back to London!

I shall continue to listen to Kate's podcasts as she talks to such interesting people. I do love a cockey voice as it reminds me of my childhood, even if I wasn't born within the sound of Bow bells, I am still proud of my South East London roots!





ABOUT KATE THOMPSON

Kate Thompson an award-winning journalist, ghostwriter and novelist who has spent the past two decades in the UK mass market and book publishing industry.

Over the past eight years Kate has written eleven fiction and non-fiction titles, three of which have made the Sunday Times top ten bestseller list.

www.facebook.com/KateThompsonAuthor

TWITTER / X @katethompson3680

INSTAGRAM @katethompsonauthor

Friday 24 November 2023

 The Orphans on the Train

by

Gill Thompson

BLOG TOUR


1939.
A girl with auburn hair looks anxiously out of the train window, watching the mountains of Europe pass by. War is on the horizon at home, and Kirsty finds herself heading to neutral Hungary to help in a school for Jewish children. Little does she know that in leaving everything behind, she is about to find the most precious gift of all - a true friend in school pupil Anna.

1943.
When the Nazis invade Budapest, Kirsty and Anna are on their own, and Kirsty worries desperately for her Jewish friend. What lengths must they go to in order to survive, and, when they are separated, can the guiding light of friendship bring them back to each other?


REVIEW

Kirsty lives in Scotland with her father, who is a miner. Her mother died when she was young and there were just the two of them getting on with their lives.

 Kirsty enjoyed working at the swimming pool and also loved being able to use the pool when everyone else had gone home. It was her escape from the danger of her father working underground and also impending war.

Kirsty's worst fears come true when her father dies in a mining accident and she is then left orphaned. After being looked after for a while by a family friend, Kirsty feels she has outstayed her welcome and begins to look towards the future. She is given the opportunity to travel to Hungary to help in a Jewish school as an assistant cook and is assured she will be safer there than in the UK as war erupts.

Once arriving in Hungary she settles down and works alongside the cook Maria who is not so friendly, but Kirsty meets a Jewish girl called Anna who she instantly strikes up a friendship with and they soon become inseparable. Anna also has a brother called Endre who Kirsty finds she has an attraction to.

Things aren't as safe in Hungary as Kirsty thought they would be and when Endre is sent to war and violence erupts near the school, Kirsty has to have her wits about her every minute of the day.

This was a super read with great characters. I do love a wartime story and this one certainly pulls at your heartstrings with a fabulous ending. 








Thursday 23 November 2023

 The Christmas Book Club

by

Sarah Morgan

Review by

Julie Williams


Review

Another successful story written by Sarah Morgan who has the well-earned title of Queen of Romance. This latest Christmas story has, I am pleased to say romance in abundance.

Three firm friends have delayed their annual book club vacation, which usually occurs in summer to just before the Christmas holidays. Erica who is a single independent woman books them into the luxurious Maple Sugar Inn hotel set in an idyllic location.

 Anna the perfect mother and wife has reservations about the trip, as she is desperate to spend time with her twins who are off to university and she is already dreading the empty nest. 

Claudia who is recently divorced and redundant from her job as a chef is at a turning point in her life as she tries to decide just what she wants to do next. These three characters are all very different and although they are best friends, they each hold their own insecurities and apprehensions.

The hotel owner Hattie has her own worries as she muddles through the daily tasks and stresses it takes to be a top class hotelier, a legacy she is determined to uphold as set by her late husband, as well as Mum to the delightful Delphi her 5-year-old daughter.

I loved the connections between all these female characters and their background stories. Set in a gorgeous location, which oozed Christmas, bode for a perfect Christmas story.