Harvest Cruise by Rebecca Benison - #bookreview

 

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Lisa demanded, not even bothering to exchange pleasantries as Geri entered the office. Geri was startled by the outburst, before realizing that Lisa was probably referring to yesterday's date. Word travels fast, she thought to herself.

"Nothings wrong, we just didn't connect," she replied as she put down her bag, took off her jacket, and hung it over the back of her chair. As she got settled she assumed that Lisa would get frustrated and leave. Instead, Lisa got frustated and stayed.

***

What's the true cost of a free vacation?

Geri is an introverted writer who is most comfortable at home. When her boss-turned-best-friend wins two passes for a single’s cruise, she thinks she’s taking steps towards expanding her circle. What begins as an uncomfortable but enticing foray into a world of awkward flirting and adventure, quickly becomes a fight for survival.

With kidnappings, murder, and conspiracy, Geri finds herself in the middle of a story she never could have imagined writing.

***

What a thrilling and exciting story this book turned out to have!

Lisa considers herself lucky to have won tickets for two on a singles cruise, and she invites her friend and colleague, Geri to accompany her. Geri is an introvert and agrees to join her, albeit reluctantly. On board, Geri meets Billy, and they seem equally attracted to one another.

Had I not read the blurb of this book, I may have thought that this was going to turn into a romance novel as everything was in place to indicate that. However, the book then takes an exciting turn and the two friends, along with others are kidnapped whilst on a cruise excursion. From there they are all held captive until they are auctioned off to the highest bidder.

This made for a pageturner of a book as the story takes a series of twists and turns. I do not want to say too much more regarding the plot as I would not want to take the enjoyment of seeing the story unfold for you. Suffice to say, there is plenty to hold a readers interest in this thrilling story.

Geri made for an excellent main character, and watching her develop and face up to her fears made for enjoyable reading. 

Additionally, the reader is also aware of how their absence is being played out at home. Geri's parents and Lisa's sister seek help in locating their missing relatives. This part of the book is every bit as gripping as the main story and it added another dimension to the book.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys books with an adventure packed storyline that will keep you turning the pages long after bedtime.

Published by Chicken House Press, the print and e-book version is availabe from their website at: https://www.chickenhousepress.ca/bookstore/p/harvest-cruise

E-book also available from Amazon

About the Author:

A professional storyteller, Rebecca Benison’s weekdays are spent connecting with audiences on behalf of brands, while her nights and weekends are devoted to fiction. Her work has been published in the Workers Write! literary journal, Empyrean Literary Magazine, Newsday, the Long Island Herald, and a host of other publications. Harvest Cruise is her debut novel.

(ARC and media courtesy of the author)

(all opinions are my own)

10 Year Blogversary - My Favourite Book from 2014 - Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement

 

Now we make you ugly, my mother said. She whistled. Her mouth was so close she sprayed my neck with her whistle-spit. I could smell beer. In the mirror I watched her move the piece of charcoal across my face. It's a nasty life, she whispered.

It's my first memory. She held an old cracked mirror to my face. I must have been about five years old. The crack make my face look as if it had been broken into two pieces. The best thing you can be in Mexico is an ugly girl...

***

On the mountainside in rural Mexico where Ladydi lives, being a girl is dangerous. Especially a pretty one. If the Narcos hear there is a pretty girl on the mountain, they steal her. So when the black SUVs roll into town, Ladydi and her friends hide in the warren of holes scattered across the mountain, safely out of sight. Because the stolen girls don’t come back.

Ladydi is determined to get out, to find a life that offers more than just the struggle to survive. But she soon finds that the drug cartels have eyes everywhere, and the cities are no safer than the mountains.

***

Continuing with my ten year blog anniversary celebrations, here is another of my favourites of the decade. Today I am publishing my favourite read from 2014 and was originally posted on 17th February, 2014. I read it on Kindle at the time and I noted the price as costing £6.02 that day. Today the same edition would cost £4.99 from the same retailer so is in fact less expensive today than it was nine years ago. 

This book has stayed with me since then. I have updated the review a little so there is more information about the book and the author but essentially the review is as it appeared that day.

This novel deals with some difficult issues.  Every year in Mexico women go missing, stolen by drug cartels to be used as prostitutes or slave labour. Jennifer Clements has based her novel on the lives of these women and she unflinchingly faces this issue head on.

However, whilst this novel makes the reader look at the harsh realities facing these women Ms. Clements writes intelligently and sensitively ensuring that this was a book that had me completely hooked.  She skilfully humanises real life victims through her portrayal of her characters whom she has created with a detailed realism. Whilst we experience the hardships facing the women and girls of this community they are never self pitying and are always brutally honest.

The prose is impeccable and not a word is wasted.  The subject matter ensures that this is not a comfortable book to read. The author packs a hard punch in this novel but does so whilst gently guiding her readers through it so that the subject matter never becomes overwhelming.  She is a very skilled writer and I am convinced that this is a book that will be being discussed amongst readers and critics long after the publication date.

I shall certainly be re-reading it at some point as it has so much to offer.  A book rich in humanity and insight, powerful and thought provoking and that is also beautifully written deserves a place on everybody’s bookshelf and I would strongly encourage you to read this.

ISBN: 978 0099587590

Publisher: Vintage

Formats:  e-book, hardcover and paperback

No. of Pages:  240 (paperback)

About the Author:

Jennifer Clement is President Emerita of the human rights and freedom of expression organization PEN International and the only woman to hold the office of President (2015-2021) since the organization was founded in 1921.   

Clement is author of the novels A True Story Based on Lies, The Poison That Fascinates, Prayers for the Stolen, Gun Love and Stormy People as well as several poetry books including Poems and Errors, published by Kaunitz-Olsson in Sweden.  Clement also wrote the acclaimed memoir Widow Basquiat on New York City in the early 1980’s and the painter Jean-Michel Basquiat, which NPR named best book of 2015 in seven different categories.  Her memoir The Promised Party will be published in early 2024. Clement’s books have been translated into 38 languages and have covered topics such as the stealing of little girls in Mexico, the effects of gun violence and trafficking of guns into Mexico and Central America as well as writing about her life in  the art worlds of Mexico and New York.

Jennifer Clement was raised in Mexico where she lives.  She and her sister Barbara Sibley founded and direct the San Miguel Poetry Week.  Clement has a double major in anthropology and English Literature from New York University (Gallatin)  and an MFA from University of Southern Maine (Stonecoast). She was named a Distinguished Alumna by the Kingswood Cranbrook School.

(author photo and bio courtesy of the author's website https://www.jenniferclement.org/)

(all opinions are my own)

My Top 12 Books of 2022 - #ReadingRoundup

 

As the end of 2022 approaches I am looking back over the past year, and what a mixed year it has been.

Here in the UK we celebrated the Platinum Jubilee of our Queen, and then only three months later, we mourned her passing. We have seen the succession of a new monarch and have endured a record breaking heatwave in the summer.

On a personal note, I have welcomed a new grandson to the family, and I could not be more proud.

At the time of writing I have read 110 books this year. When I checked on my Good Reads page I had eighteen five star books, and thus it has been extremely difficult to whittle it down to just twelve.

Here are my favourite twelve in no particular order.

A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville

It is 1788. Twenty-one-year-old Elizabeth is hungry for life but, as the ward of a Devon clergyman, knows she has few prospects. When proud, scarred soldier, John Macarthur, promises her the earth one midsummer’s night, she believes him.

But Elizabeth soon realises she has made a terrible mistake. Her new husband is reckless, tormented, driven by some dark rage at the world. He tells her he is to take up a position as Lieutenant in a New South Wales penal colony and she has no choice but to go. Sailing for six months to the far side of the globe with a child growing inside her, she arrives to find Sydney Town a brutal, dusty, hungry place of makeshift shelters, failing crops, scheming and rumours. 

All her life she has learned to be obliging, to fold herself up small. Now, in the vast landscapes of an unknown continent, Elizabeth has to discover a strength she never imagined, and passions she could never express.

If you would like to read my review of this book then please click here. 

Mr Peacock's Possessions by Lydia Syson

Oceania, 1817

For two years the Peacocks, a determined family of settlers, have struggled to make a remote volcanic island their home. At last, a ship appears. The six Pacific Islanders on board have travelled over eight hundred miles in search of new horizons. Hopes are high, until a vulnerable boy vanishes.

In their search for the lost child, settlers and newcomers together uncover far more than they were looking for. The island's secrets force young Lizzie Peacock to question her deepest convictions, and slowly this tiny, fragile community begins to fracture...

If you would like to read my review then please click here.

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

It is 1985, in an Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant, faces into his busiest season. As he does the rounds, he feels the past rising up to meet him - and encounters the complicit silences of a people controlled by the Church.

To read my review you can reach it by clicking here.

The French House by Jacquie Bloese

In Nazi-occupied Guernsey, the wrong decision can destroy a life...

Left profoundly deaf after an accident, Émile is no stranger to isolation - or heartbreak. Now, as Nazi planes loom over Guernsey, he senses life is about to change forever.

Trapped in a tense, fearful marriage, Isabelle doesn't know what has become of Émile and the future she hoped for. But when she glimpses him from the window of the French House, their lives collide once more.

Leutnant Schreiber is more comfortable wielding a paintbrush than a pistol. But he has little choice in the role he is forced to play in the occupying forces - or in his own forbidden desires.

As their paths entwine, loyalties are blurred and dangerous secrets forged. But on an island under occupation, courage can have deadly consequences...

The Appeal by Janice Hallett

ONE MURDER. FIFTEEN SUSPECTS. CAN YOU UNCOVER THE TRUTH?

There is a mystery to solve in the sleepy town of Lower Lockwood. It starts with the arrival of two secretive newcomers, and ends with a tragic death. Roderick Tanner QC has assigned law students Charlotte and Femi to the case. Someone has already been sent to prison for murder, but he suspects that they are innocent. And that far darker secrets have yet to be revealed...

Throughout the amateur dramatics society's disastrous staging of All My Sons and the shady charity appeal for a little girl's medical treatment, the murderer hid in plain sight. The evidence is all there, waiting to be found. But will Charlotte and Femi solve the case? Will you?

To read my review of this book please click here.

The Secrets of Bridgewater Bay by Julie Brooks

England, 1919: Rose and Ivy board a ship bound for Australia.

One is travelling there to marry a man she has never met.

One is destined never to arrive.

Australia, 2016: Amongst her late-grandmother's possessions, Molly uncovers a photograph of two girls dressed in First World War nurses' uniforms, labelled 'Rose and Ivy 1917', and a letter from her grandmother, asking her to find out what happened to her own mother, Rose, who disappeared in the 1960s.

Compelled to carry out her grandmother's last wish, Molly embarks on a journey to England to unravel the mystery of the two girls whose photograph promised they'd be 'together forever'...

If you would like to read my review please click here.

House Boy by Lorenzo DeStefano

House Boy is a contemporary thriller set in Southern India and in the polite suburb of Hendon, North London. 

At 321 Finchley Lane, ancient traditions take root and prosper in our so-called civilized society. The lives of a boy from rural India, Vijay Pallan, and an Indo-British woman and her son, Binda and Ravi Tagorstani, collide as if decreed by history. Through Vijay, we experience the shocking realities of modern slavery, the human spirit's boundless capacity for pain, and the ultimate blessing of one young man's redemption and survival.

My review of this book can be reached by clicking here.

Still Life by Sarah Winman

1944, Italy. As bombs fall around them, two strangers meet in the ruined wine cellar of a Tuscan villa and share an extraordinary evening.

Ulysses Temper is a young British soldier, Evelyn Skinner a 64-year-old art historian living life on her own terms. She has come to salvage paintings from the wreckage of war and relive memories of her youth when her heart was stolen by an Italian maid in a particular room with a view. Ulysses’ chance encounter with Evelyn will transform his life – and all those who love him back home in London – forever.

Uplifting, sweeping and full of unforgettable characters, Still Life is a novel about beauty, love, family and friendship.

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

Balram Halwai is the White Tiger - the smartest boy in his village. His family is too poor for him to afford for him to finish school and he has to work in a teashop, breaking coals and wiping tables. But Balram gets his break when a rich man hires him as a chauffeur, and takes him to live in Delhi. The city is a revelation. As he drives his master to shopping malls and call centres, Balram becomes increasingly aware of immense wealth and opportunity all around him, while knowing that he will never be able to gain access to that world. As Balram broods over his situation, he realizes that there is only one way he can become part of this glamorous new India - by murdering his master.

You can read my review of this book by clicking here.

The Midnight House by Amanda Geard

My Dearest T, Whatever you hear, do not believe it for a moment…

1940: In south-west Ireland, the young and beautiful Lady Charlotte Rathmore is pronounced dead after she mysteriously disappears by the lake of Blackwater Hall. In London, on the brink of the Blitz, Nancy Rathmore is grieving Charlotte’s death when a letter arrives containing a secret that she is sworn to keep – one that will change her life for ever.

1958: Nancy's daughter Hattie finds herself growing up at the mysterious Blackwater Hall, where she overhears the secrets whispered above and below stairs. Secrets that she will carry with her for the rest of her life.

2019: Decades later, Ellie Fitzgerald is forced to leave Dublin disgraced and heartbroken. Abandoning journalism, she returns to rural Kerry to weather out the storm. But, when she discovers a faded letter, tucked inside the pages of an old book, she finds herself drawn in by a long-buried secret. And as Ellie begins to unravel the mystery, it becomes clear that the letter might hold the key to more than just Charlotte’s disappearance.

My review of this book can be found by clicking here.

More Than I Love My Life by David Grossman

On a kibbutz in Israel in 2008, Gili is celebrating the ninetieth birthday of her grandmother Vera, the adored matriarch of a sprawling and tight-knit family. But festivities are interrupted by the arrival of Nina: the iron-willed daughter who rejected Vera's care; and the absent mother who abandoned Gili when she was still a baby.

Nina's return to the family after years of silence precipitates an epic journey from Israel to the desolate island of Goli Otok, formerly part of Yugoslavia. It was here, five decades earlier, that Vera was held and tortured as a political prisoner. And it is here that the three women will finally come to terms with the terrible moral dilemma that Vera faced, and that permanently altered the course of their lives.

More Than I Love My Life is a sweeping story about the power of love and loving with courage. A novel driven by faith in humanity even in our darkest moments, it asks us to confront our deepest held beliefs about a woman's duty to herself and to her children.

My review of this book can be accessed by clicking here.

Faithful by Alice Hoffman

Shelby Richmond is an ordinary girl growing up on Long Island until one night a terrible road accident brings her life to a halt. While her best friend Helene suffers life-changing injuries, Shelby becomes overwhelmed with guilt and is suddenly unable to see the possibility of a future she’d once taken for granted.

But as time passes, and Helene becomes an almost otherworldly figure within the town, seen by its inhabitants as a source of healing, Shelby finds herself attended to by her own guardian angel. A mysterious figure she half-glimpsed the night of the car crash, he now sends Shelby brief but beautiful messages imploring her to take charge of her life once more . . .

What happens when a life is turned inside out? When you lose all hope and sense of worth? Shelby, a fan of Chinese food, dogs, bookshops, and men she should stay away from, captures both the ache of loneliness and the joy of finding oneself at last. From the bestselling author of The Dovekeepers comes this spellbinding, poignant and life-affirming story of one woman’s journey towards happiness – and the power of love, family and fate.

To read my review please click here.

What have been your favourite reads of 2022?

The Sealwoman's Gift by Sally Magnusson - #BookReview

“The pirates rushed with violent speed across the island, like hunting hounds… Some of my neighbours managed to escape quickly into the caves or down the cliffs, but many were seized or bound… I and my poor wife were amongst the first to be captured.” (Reverend Olafur Egilsson)

In 1627 Barbary pirates raided the coast of Iceland and abducted at least 400 of its people, including 250 from a tiny island off the mainland. Among the captives sold into slavery in Algiers were the island pastor, his wife and their three children.

Although the raid itself is well documented, little is known about what happened to the women and children afterwards. It was a time when women everywhere were largely silent. In this brilliant reimagining Sally Magnusson gives a voice to Asta, the pastor’s wife. Enslaved in an alien Arab culture, Asta meets the loss of freedom and family with the one thing she has brought from her northern homeland: the sagas and folktales in her head.

The Sealwoman’s Gift is about the eternal power of storytelling to help us survive. Here are Icelandic sagas to fend off a slave-master’s advances, Arabian nights to help an old man die. Here, too, the stories we tell ourselves to protect our minds from what cannot otherwise be borne, the stories we need to make us happy.

The opening sentence in this book is very powerful - 

“There is nothing to be said for giving birth in the bowels of a sailing ship with your stomach heaving and hundreds of people listening.” 

However, whilst this first line was gripping I found this book a little hard to get into. However, I think that may just have been due to the unfamiliarity of the time and culture as it is well worth hanging in there as this is an outstanding novel.

This should not be any surprise coming from the pen of such a well respected journalist. Ms. Magnusson has written an intelligent literary novel based on actual events in a little known period of Icelandic history. I really enjoyed this mix of fiction and fact. As well as this being an enjoyable novel to read, at the back the author distinguishes between the real events and her own imaginings and was fascinating to read.

Asta was a wonderful character to engage with. I loved not only her story but her own art of storytelling which plays a significant part in the book. The author herself clearly has tremendous storytelling skills which bring to life the characters, their environments and their individual stories.

Although a well known writer this is the authors debut novel. I am sincerely hoping that there will be further novels as this one had all the ingredients that a first class historical novel should have. This is a book about love, loss and hope and also about the role that stories have on our life.

ISBN: 978 1473638952

Publisher: Two Roads

About the Author:

Broadcaster and journalist Sally Magnusson has written 10 books, most famously her Sunday Times bestseller, Where Memories Go (2014) about her mother’s dementia. Half-Icelandic, half-Scottish, Sally has inherited a rich storytelling tradition. The Sealwoman’s Gift is her first novel.