Blog Tour: A Greek Island Gift by Mandy Baggot

 

When Molly Adams learns that she has received an inheritance and she needs to go to Corfu in Greece to get the details she is very confused. As far as she knows she has never been to Greece. She doesn't even know anyone in Greece. And then her mum calls and talks about her Greek ex, Vaggelis, who has just passed away and Molly is suddenly convinced that this man might just be her long lost father. 

Molly works in a pharmacy but her dream is to release her own make up brand. She has done all the development, done testing, she has growing social media presence. She just needs one approval and a cash injection and she is ready to go. Could travelling to Corfu to claim this inheritance help her understand who she is and help her start up business at the same time?

Molly, her best friend Siobhan and mother, Janette, all head to Corfu. It quickly becomes clear that things aren't as straight-forward as they might be. Molly has inherited half of a rundown apartment, half a barely seaworthy boat, half a dilapidated truck, half an olive tree and a quarter of a disagreeable cat.

The other half has all been inherited by Christo Baros who was Vaggelis' godson. He loves his family but he is glad that his life is in Athens where he runs three very successful gyms. He doesn't understand why his godfather has structured his will in such a way. He is all for just selling everything and getting what little he can for it and going back to Athens.

While it is all sorted, Christos spends time with Molly and soon he realises that she is more than just his shared inheritor. And when the family secrets come out from both sides, they both realise that there might be more to this situation than meets the eye.

I have read a few Mandy Baggot books now, mostly set in Greece. There was one a few books ago that felt quite manic in terms of the humour and the pacing, but although this one is humourous the pacing felt just right to me. Each families had the time to unravel their particular stories, surprises and all. 

I really like the entrepreneurial part of Molly's story. She has worked really hard to develop her products and her brand, and she is able to use her time in Corfu to come up with some great marketing imagery. She does, however, need just that push to take the leap of faith required to launch! I understand that the character that helps with this is from an older backlist book which was a nice touch, especially to those readers who have been following this author for a while. I hadn't read that book but I got the idea pretty well I think.

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted by The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews. Be sure to check out other stops on the tour shown below. Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. 

Rating 4/5

About the book

A Greek Island Gift

An unexpected gift… A home in paradise?

When Molly Adams finds out she’s inherited an apartment in Kassiopi, Corfu, she’s left thinking there must be some mistake. She doesn’t know anyone in Greece at all.

But when she arrives there’s a shock. Molly hasn’t inherited a whole apartment, it’s only 50%. But there’s more - she’s also inherited 50% of a boat, 50% of an olive tree and… 25% of a cat.

Christos Baros is coming home to Corfu for the summer. A self-made entrepreneur, owning three gyms in Athens, he has no need for half an apartment, half a boat, half an olive tree or a quarter of a cat, but he knows these things are important to his mother.

Molly and Christos’s worlds collide in a whirlwind and the irresistible charm of the Greek island draws them even closer together. But as they uncover the secrets of their shared inheritance, will they discover that sometimes, sharing what you never wanted can lead to exactly what you need?

This summer, join Molly and Christos in Corfu as they try to work out if one shared Greek gift will turn into a shared future. Perfect for fans of Sue Moorcroft and Jenny Colgan.

Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/greekislandgift

About the Author 

Mandy Baggot is an international bestselling and award-winning romance writer represented by Tanera Simons of Greenstone Literary.

Mandy is best-known for her laugh-out-loud romantic comedies featuring strong heroines, gorgeous heroes and always that happy-ever-after!

The winner of the Innovation in Romantic Fiction award at the UK's Festival of Romance, her novel, One Wish in Manhattan, was also shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists' Association Romantic Comedy Novel of the Year award in 2016. In 2024, Mandy's novel, Desperately Seeking Summer became a Hallmark Original Movie entitled A Greek Recipe for Romance.

Mandy loves the Greek island of Corfu where she has a home. She also loves wine, cheese, Netflix, handbags and horse racing. Also a singer, she has taken part in ITV1's Who Dares Sings and The X-Factor. Most recently, Mandy took part in BBC1's Ready Steady Cook with Greek celebrity chef, Akis Petretzikis.

Mandy is a member of the Society of Authors and splits her time between living in Wiltshire, UK and Corfu, Greece.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @MandyBaggotAuthor
Twitter: @MandyBaggot
Instagram: @MandyBaggot
Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/MandyBaggotNews
Bookbub profile: @MandyBaggot

Blog Tour: The House of Lost Whispers by Jenni Keer

 

Olivia Davenport and her parents are due to travel on the inaugural sailing of RMS Titanic. However, the week before departure Olivia contracts measles and her parents travel without her. When the 'unsinkable' Titanic hits an iceberg and does sink, she is left an orphan. She goes to live with the Fairchild family at Merriford Manor. There she learned to cope with her loss, often withdrawing into her own vivid imagination. However, she is determined to live her life to the best of her ability and so she is a very positive, very fanciful and spirited young lady, who manages to provide inspiration to those around her. 

The Fairchilds do their best to accomodate the young girl but they are a very different to her own family. Whereas her own parents were tactile and joyful, the four Fairchild boys know that they are loved but are never shown any affection.The family is very correct, very wealthy, very upper class. 

One of the things that helps Olivia during this time is the voice on the other side of the wall. At first, Olivia and Seth annoy each other mainly because they are confused by the fact that they can hear each other but they can't physically see each other. They gradually look forward to the conversations that they have through the wall.

We see Olivia as she grows from a young girl into a young woman. We see her fall in love for the first time, and we see her dreams for the future.

As the years pass, World War I looms, and the Fairchild boys head off to war, one by one. Being wealthy does not protect young men from German bullets so, once again, Olivia faces unimaginable grief and tragedy. But this time, Seth is no longer on the other side of the wall, until one day he is back. 

In time, they figure out that while their worlds are fundamentally the same, there are differences. In Seth's world, the Titanic did hit the iceberg but assistance came in time and the ship didn't sink, therefore Olivia didn't come to live at Merriford. It would have been easy to make the alternative history one where everything was bright and breezy, but the author avoided that. WWI still happens in the alternate history. It is still a terrible time of great loss but the outcomes were ever so slightly different in the other world.

Seth and Olivia rely on each other in many ways and realise that their feelings are growing, but with their two worlds being so separate and different, how can they be happy in the future. 

This book is best described as genre bending. Is it a strong historical fiction story about the years between the Titanic sinking and post WWI England? Yes, it is. Is it also fantasy with the magical realism and alternate timelines? Yes, it is that too.  Is it an unconventionally romantic story? Yes, it is. Regardless of how you want to label it, it is a compelling, well told story which tells of the traumatic effects of tragedy and war and the changes in society that it heralded.

This is the second Jenni Keer book I have read and I really like the way that she plays with genre and structure, and still manages to pull together all the different strands to make it a truly satisfying reading experience. I still need to read At the Stroke of Midnight and work through the rest of her backlist, but I will also be eagerly anticipating whatever she comes up with next

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted by The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews and the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host. Be sure to check out other stops on the tour shown below. Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. 

Rating 4.5/5

About the book

The House of Lost Whispers

On 15th April 1912, RMS Titanic sank and 1500 people lost their lives. But what if it had stayed afloat?

When the ill-fated maiden voyage of the Titanic leaves thirteen-year-old Olivia Davenport orphaned, she’s sent to live with her guardians, the Fairchilds, in their huge Jacobean mansion – Merriford Manor. But the Fairchilds have more to worry about than a grieving young girl – with war in Europe imminent and four sons to protect.

Olivia feels alone and friendless. That is, until she hears a voice from behind the wall in her tower bedroom. A voice from a man called Seth. At first she thinks he’s a ghost. But it soon becomes clear that he lives in an overlapping world that is just a shudder in time away from her own. A world where the Titanic never sank… And everything since has been just slightly… different.

All Olivia wants is to find a way into his reality. And not just to see the faces of her beloved parents once again. But also to meet Seth. Who might just be the love of her life…

An utterly unforgettable reading group historical novel, that is part romance, part gripping mystery, and part completely heartbreaking First World War historical fiction. Perfect for fans of Titanic, In Memoriam and Lucinda Riley.

Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/HouseLostWhispers

About the Author-


Jenni Keer lives in the glorious Suffolk countryside with her four grown up children, three demanding cats, but just the one husband. She is often frustrated by their inability to appreciate that when she's staring into space, she's actually working, and that watching television counts as research. Much younger in her head than she is on paper, she adores any excuse for fancy-dress and is part of a disco formation dance team.

Keer has written two contemporary rom coms and five quirky historicals, with two more due out in 2025.

The best-selling No. 23 Burlington Square (her 1920s sliding doors mystery) has now sold over 100,000 copies.



Social Media Links –

Facebook: @jenni.keer
Twitter: @JenniKeer
Instagram: @JenniKeer
Newsletter Sign Up:https://bit.ly/JenniKeerNews
Bookbub profile: @jennikeer

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with the Word Cafe in the Title

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books with the Word “[Insert Word Here]” in the Title (Choose a word and find ten books with that word in the title.)

My initial thought was to use the word girl but in the last few days I have read a couple of really good books which both had the word cafe in the title, so I am going with that! 

The Handsome Man's Deluxe Cafe by Alexander McCall Smith - This is book number 15 in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series

The Cafe by the Bridge by Lily Malone - This is the second book in a trilogy set in in southern Western Australia.

Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webb - I loved this book when I read it a few years ago (my review)

Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Cafe by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - This is the second book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series

The Custard Tart Cafe by Isabella May - Just thinking about this book makes me want to eat a Portuguese Custard Tart! (my review)

The Enchanted Garden Cafe by Abigail Drake - This is the first book in a series set in Pittsburgh. (my review)

Finding Family at the Cornish Cove by Kim Nash - whoops. Had this recorded in my spreadsheet as Finding Family at the Cornish Cafe. It is, however, set in a cafe so I am keeping it! It is the second book in the lovely Cornish Cove series. (my review)

The Pumpkin Spice Cafe by Laurie Gilmore - This is the first book in the very popular Dream Harbor series.

The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe by Catherine Greer - I just read this last week and I loved it. I will be reviewing it in a couple of weeks.

The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Woods - Whoops this is a bakery not cafe but it was such a good read I am going to count it anyway! 

I am also going to be sharing this post with Weekend Cooking which I host here! 

This week....

Global Book Crawl

Last week was the inaugural Global Book Crawl in Melbourne, so Bree from All the Books I Can Read and I couldn't resist the idea of wandering around the city visiting bookstores! The idea behind the crawl is that you have to visit between 8 and 12 bookstores around the city and collect stamps. As long as you visited the required number of stores then you could get a free book and you would go into the draw to win 50 books. If you spent $100 in a single store you should have received a Global Book Crawl tote bag. 

We were somewhat thwarted by the fact that one of the stores that you had to visit was only open on certain days so we didn't get to get the free book, but we did have a fabulous day visiting some bookstores that we were familiar with, others we had never visited before. We got to talk books, life and everything in general and I did as many steps on that day as I normally do when I am holidays! The photo above was taken at the first bookstore so I still look relatively fresh!

I did get a bag from the last store that we visited but they had already run out of  the specific tote bags and it was only the second day when we did it.

The stores that we visited included Books for Cooks, Hill of Content Bookshop, Kay Craddock Antiquarian Booksellers, Mary Martin Bookshop (where the pic above was taken), Paperback Bookshop, Readings Emporium and Readings at the State Library.

I can definitely see myself doing this again if they have it again next year. 

Here are a couple more pics, including my haul for the day. 

I'm reading

Unlike last week I actually finished more books than I started this week! I also posted 5 reviews which is a very unusual for me! I have a few I would like to post this week and then I will be almost caught up I think!

I finished reading Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Woods which I thoroughly enjoyed. Last year I listened to the audio of The Lost Bookshop and was underwhelmed but this one grabbed my attention straight away and didn't let go!

I also finished The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe by Catherine Greer which was a really good read. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will post a review of this one in a couple of weeks time.

I also read A Greek Island Gift by Mandy Baggot. I have read a few of Mandy Baggot's books now and enjoy her portrayal of Greece in the pages of her books. My review for this one will be up later this week. 

I went to the library to pick up a cookbook that was on hold for me and saw The Rainfall Market by Korean author You Yeong-Gwang on the hot picks shelf and couldn't help myself. I have started reading it and so far it is good. Different from my usual reads but good.

I'm watching

We sat down this week and watched the most recent version of All Quiet on the Western Front which was an excellent film. What I didn't expect is that we would watched some of the 1979 version starring Ernest Borgnine as well. By comparing the two you can definitely see how movies have changed over the last 50 or so years. For example, the soldiers in the earlier version were very clean and tidy. The ones in the recent version with covered in mud and other things for most of the movie

However, they both don't compare to the gritty reality of war, as we saw when we watched a couple of epsides of the Ken Burns documentary about Vietnam. 

We have watched a few documentaries this week. We watched a four episodes of a documentary series about the life of Winston Churchill which was very interesting. Whilst he is rightly famous for leading the British during WWII, there are some less than stellar instances in his life where he made decisions that had devestating consequences.

On a lighter note we went to the movies over the weekend to see The Penguin Lessons which stars British actor Steve Coogan. It is about a man who is a bit lost really who starts teaching at a school in Argentina right when the military coup happens. He acquires a penguin, and the movie tells the story about how his life changed as a result. It wasn't a bad movie. The word nice probably applies more than anything. 

I did catch up on my Springtime in Paris movie viewing this week by watching Paris Blues and Hugo. 

Paris Blues stars Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier, Joanne Woodward and Diahann Caroll, with a guest appearance by the great Louis Armstrong. The story is about two American musicians who live in Paris. They meet two American women who have come to Paris on holidays and they quickly fall in love. I hadn't heard a lot about this movie but I did enjoy it for a number of reasons. Firstly, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were married in real life so it was fun seeing them together on screen. Secondly, it was interesting to see the way that the race question was addressed in this movie. If you had of asked me to name a movie which starred Sidney Poitier which addressed issues relating to race I would have said Guess Who's Coming to Dinner or To Sir With Love. This movie looked at how different the experience was for Poitier's character living as an African American in Paris compared to what it would have been in America at the time. Another point of interest for me was seeing Paris itself. Yes, there was glamourous side of Paris, but this movie was made in 1961 and there were evident signs of the destruction of Paris during WWII. For example, there was a scene where they visit what looks like a market, and the market is set up amongst some runs. 

After watching two older movies, Hugo was a more recent movie (made in 2011) but set in the 1930s. It surprised me that this movie was made by Martin Scorcese. I always associate his name with more violent movies but this was a very sweet movie which was based on the book The Invention of Hugo Cabaret by Brian Selznick.

In this movie orphaned boy Hugo lives in a train station in Paris, keeping the clocks wound up as he was taught to do by his uncle before he disappeared. He is trying to fix an automoton that his father had found at a museum, in the hope that he would get one final message from his dad. In order to survive and get the parts that he needs he steals from various stores in the train station, which brings him to the attention of the station policeman. If I had one criticism it is about the police man, but otherwise it is a great cast that brings a lovely story to life.

There were so many layers to this movie, which at its core is about the power of imagination and in particular the magic of movies. 

I am really looking forward to watching The Intouchables this week. It is a movie I have been meaning to watch for years!

Life


We did spend a lovely afternoon have afternoon tea at Oxi Tea Rooms. It is more of an immersive experience rather than just afternoon tea. I will post more about it in a couple of weeks for Weekend Cooking but this  is one photo. 

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Surprise!
Blog Tour: The Best Days of Our Lives by Helen Rolfe
White Mulberry by Rosa Kwon Easton
The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin
Weekend Cooking: The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki
Pictures of You by Emma Grey




I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date and Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz

Pictures of You by Emma Grey

 

When Evie wakes up from a coma after having a serious car accident she is very surprised that neither her parents or her best friend Bree are by her side. She is shocked when she is given the news that her husband, Oliver, died in that same car accident. The problem is Evie doesn't remember him at all. In her mind, she is still 16 years old!

At Oliver's funeral, it all becomes too much and she asks the guy she thinks is her Uber driver to help her get away from the event. However, photographer Drew isn't there randomly or as her driver. He met Evie around the same time as Oliver did, and their paths have intertwined throughout their lives. 

We follow Evie as she tries to discover who she is now, who Oliver was, and who they were together. And to be honest, the story she learns isn't the fairy tale that 16 year old Evie expected. Evie met wealthy and handsome Oliver at a party and they were pretty much inseparable from that point on. Certainly Oliver ingratiated himself into Evie's life until he was the centre of her life, pushing all others out in due course. Drew was one of those whose friendship was affected, not helped by the fact that Oliver hated him. Drew has no idea why Oliver hated him so much, but he did.

The amnesia story line is done so well in this book! As a reader we watch as Evie uncovers her own story piece by piece.I had a fair idea of what was going to be unveiled, but the suspense leading up to the reveal was really well paced. We also get some of the story from Drew's perspective, although he is very careful about how much he reveals to Evie. He wants her to learn her story in her own time and way. He is taking a risk with that approach though. Will Evie see it that way or will she think that he is keeping secrets from her.

One of the things that I loved about this book was that there was nuance even in the worst of characters. I have read a few books this year where there are some similar themes explored. The bad guys are all very bad and the good guys are all very good, but in this case the author was careful to give a back story to all of the characters which showed where their own issues came from. Importantly,  this back story doesn't excuse their behaviour and actions, but does gives it some context. 

The title of this book comes from when they first met. Evie joined a photography club dominated by the boys from the private school that both Drew and Oliver attended. When they are looking for a subject for a photography exhibition, Evie suggests that it be girls in order to combat some of the ways that the boys see the girls, and Drew chose Evie as his muse.  I loved young Evie. She was feisty and optimistic, and so it is a shame to see how the influence of Oliver, and I guess ageing in general, robs her of that. 

Emma Grey was one of the authors who was at the Rachael Johns Readers Retreat last year, and she talked about both of her books. I had already bought The Last Love Note but I haven't read it yet. I saw this on the shelf at the library and borrowed it. I am so glad I did. I really, really loved this book! I started reading it and just couldn't put it down and so I finished it that same day! That doesn't usually happen for me anymore. Other things get in the way, but not with this book. I am also very happy to hear that this book has been optioned to be adapted for the screen. Now I am going to have to read Grey's earlier book and, of course, anything new that she comes up with!

The good news is that this book has been released in the US and so should be easy-ish to find. It isn't always the case with some of the great Australian books that I talked about on my blog!

This was a standout read for me and will absolutely be on my list of best reads of 2025. 

Rating 5/5

Weekend Cooking: The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki

 

Over the last few years I have read several books translated from Japanese to English, and I have noted that the books I have been choosing seem to have certain similarities. They are usually episodic with a story connected to one particular scenario and then the next story is about someone else. They often are looking at grief and those who are left behind, often they feature food and there are often cats. 

Whilst the Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki certainly fits three of these similarities, it is not so much a book about those left behind after a loved one dies, and it has a kind of magical realism running through it! Obviously you can tell from the cover that there are cats, it is episodic in structure (although it does tie together nicely at the end) and the food is out of this world, as you might guess from most of the chapter titles.

The sections of the book include 

Aquarius Trifle
Lunar Chocolate Fondant
Mercury Cream Soda
Moonlight and Venus Champagne Float

The Full Moon Coffee Shop is a very unusual coffee shop. It can randomly pop up and then be gone just as quickly, it's waiters are talking cats, and for those who are lucky enough to visit, there is a side of astrological readings and otherworldly wisdom.

The first visitor is a down on their luck scriptwriter named Mizuki.  In her twenties she was an in demand writer who had written hit TV shows. These days though, her TV scripts are out of fashion so she is writing for games, she lives in a much smaller apartment and she is something of a recluse. She has recently submitted a script that she is working on. 

The second visitor to the cafe is Akari who works in TV and has the horrible job of telling Mizuki that her script isn't going to be picked up, which is difficult because they have a past connection. Akari has a reputation as a driven TV executive who has a mess to clean up when her leading lady gets caught up in a scandal.

Then there is computer guy Takashi who ironically seems to have a lot of technology related issues a lot of the time.

The final visitor is Meguma, a hairdresser who has moved back home to help out in her parents small salon but who is trying to work out what she wants her career to look like in future.

I thought would share a passage from the book to give a bit of a taste of the writing. When I was reading this on the plane, I was amused to see that there was a chapter called Mercury Cream Soda, because I knew I had scheduled a Weekend Cooking post about creaming soda for when I was away. So here is a short passage about Mercury Creaming Soda

At the end of a road, I spotted what looked like a popup cafe.

In front of a truck were several sets of wooden tables and chairs, where the passengers from the train were sitting. I recognised them, somehow, and yet their faces remained a blur.

I took a seat at a free two-seater table. Someone appeared and placed a glass in front of me. "Here you go. A Mercury Creaming Soda."

Unlike the scenery and people around me, the drink was vivid and distinct. It had all the usual components of a cream soda  - ice cream and a cherry on top. What distinguished it from the normal version was that its soda wasn't the usual green, but instead a beautiful sky blue, and the ice cream was a greyish-what colour rather than the usual vanilla.

I pulled the glass toward me and sipped the drink through the straw.

The soda tasted pleasant and refreshing as it trickled down my throat, and the sweetness was just right. The taste was vaguely familiar and yet totally new,

The pale grey ice cream turned out to be a lemon-flavoured sorbet that went perfectly with the soda. As the flavours danced on my palate, I caught the sound of a woman's voice from the neighbouring table. She seemed to be complaining about something.

"Emails getting lost, data corrupting itself and now the train's late...Sheesh!"

The woman could have taken the words right out of my own mouth. It was if she was giving voice to my inner thoughts.

"Typical Mercury retrograde, isn't it?" she continued.

There is quite a lot of astrology in this book. Some of it I kind of skipped through, but some of it was very interesting, and some of it was just plain fun!

Interestingly, Jesse Kirkwood also translated the Kamogawa Food Detective Agency series by Hisashi Kashiwai. I might have to check out what else they have translated. The second book in the Full Moon Coffee Shop series is due to be released later this year. I will be reading it!

Weekly meals

Saturday - Out for dinner
Sunday - Steak Egg and chips
Monday - Normandy pork
Tuesday - Chicken Kebabs and baked potato
Wednesday - Beef Stroganoff
Thursday - Mexican Chicken and Rice
Friday - Leftovers

I am sharing this review with Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story and Translated Fiction challenge hosted at Introverted Reader.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin

 

I have been meaning to read Madeline Martin's WWII historical fiction for quite a while now. A few months ago I picked up a book thinking it was by her, but it turned out to be by someone else. However, when my read on a theme book club chose Spy as it's theme, this was my chance!

Ava Harper is happy working as a librarian at the Library of Congress but given that she speaks two languages it probably isn't a surprise when she is recruited for something different during WWII. She is sent to Lisbon in Portugal. Portugal is a neutral country but that doesn't mean that it isn't a hotbed of activity. There are active spies from every country. There are refugees from countries like France who have made it this far but now they need the right documents in order to be able to fully escape to a new life. There are also the notorious Portuguese secret police who don't need much of an excuse to arrest people.

Ava's job is to collect all the different publications from different countries that end up in Lisbon and to photograph them so that they can then be saved to microfilm and sent back to the US to be analysed in the hope of finding any piece of information that might help turn the tide of the war. As soon as she arrives she catches the attention of both a British and a German spy, and so, over the course of her stay in Lisbon, she gets a bit more caught up in the spy game than she otherwise might have done. She also begins to make connections in the refugee community and it is here that she learns of the difficulties that the refugees face.

The other side of the story is set in Lyons in France. Elaine's husband has insisted that she do nothing for the resistance but when he disappears she realises that she is going to have to get involved. She starts working with the Resistance in the printing of illegal newspapers, but also gets involved in other activities. It is in the course of these activities that she meets a young Jewish woman and her child and she decides that she needs to help them escape in any way that she can. 

One day Ava is reading a French Resistance newspaper and she realises there is something unusual about the article. She cracks the puzzle and finds a plea for help. Can two women who have never met, who cannot communicate directly with each other, and who each face different kinds of danger on a regular basis help save a young family. 

I really enjoyed both aspects of this story, and even more so given that both aspects were inspired by true stories. I never really thought about what kind of activities would be happening in neutral countries like Portugal, and how for the refugees getting there was only one step on the journey. There were still more dangers and challenges to face before they could truly feel safe.

Elaine's story was the more dramatic of the two between her missing husband, her work with the Resistance putting her in danger, and the fear of being betrayed. She had many losses but she still decided to take risks for other people when they needed it.

I will now be looking to read Martin's other WWII novels. From what I can see her future books are moving away from the WWII setting so it will interesting to see how they are received.

I am sharing this review with the Historical Fiction Reading challenge which I host here.

Rating 4/5

White Mulberry by Rosa Kwon Easton

 

Recently we went on a cruise that visited both Japan and Korea. I already had this book on my TBR list but I decided to move it up the list because it was set both of the countries we were visiting, and I was very glad that I did.

White Mulberry tells the story of Miyoung who is a young girl who lives in a village near Pyongyang in Korea. Both of her sisters have gone abroad to marry leaving Miyoung at home with her ailing mother. Miyoung is very clever and dreams of becoming a teacher, but her mother knows that there are limited opportunities for her in Japanese occupied Korea. She is therefore sent to Japan to live with her sister to continue her education.

It soon becomes clear that Japan is not going to be any easier than Korea was. Koreans live segregated lives, working only the lowest of job and are discriminated against consistently. The only way to get ahead is to pretend to be Japanese, so Miyoung becomes Miyoko and trains to become a nurse. 

Eventually Miyoko starts attending a clandestine Korean Christian church and there meets a young man who is fighting for better rights for Korean immigrants. This makes her life even more complicated. She is a Korean pretending to be Japanese but in love with a Korean man and she is Christian at a time where this is frowned upon by the Japanese authorities. It doesn't help that when she marries her husband's family is difficult as well.

As World War II rages, Miyoungknows that her only hope is to get back to Korea, but also that will be difficult to say the least. What will it cost her in terms of her family and her life? And who will be left in Korea to help support her re-establishing her life there?

It was interesting to read about the differences between these two cultures and how someone who is trying to navigate these different worlds. I enjoyed the food talk, and I really liked the relationship between Miyoung and her sister, Bohbeh, who faced her own challenges and yet supported Miyoung when she needed her the most.

One of the reasons I read historical fiction is that you can learn so much. I had no idea that Korea was occupied by Japan as far back as the 1910s. I did know that they invaded Manchuria in the years leading up to WWII but not Korea! While I was in Japan I learned some things about the post war years that really surprised me. For example, did you know that the US controlled the Japanese island of Okinawa and only gave it back to Japanese control in 1972? They still have a significant say in the decisions of the island because of the military bases on the island. 

This story is made all the more interesting in that it is based on the author's own family history. It seems that there are quite a few WWII stories now that are based on true stories like this. I am sure that there are a lot more interesting stories out there still!

I am sharing this review with the Historical Fiction Reading challenge which I host here.

Rating 4/5

Blog Tour: The Best Days of Our Lives by Helen Rolfe

 

When Mallory receives some bad news regarding her health, she is determined to keep it a secret until she is ready to share the news on her own terms. She knows that she needs to get everything organised so that her daughter, Jilly, has all the support that she will need should the worst happen! 

Penny is Mallory's cousin and best friend which is ironic seeing as their mothers, sisters Gigi and Rose, haven't spoken to each other for decades. Penny and Mallory really don't know what caused the estrangement. Now Gigi is a widow and Rosa probably needs to retire from her wedding dress shop in the small village of Saxby Green. 

One day, Jilly comes home and shows Mallory a picture of a famous movie star from the 60s wearing the dress that Gigi wore for her wedding - a dress that the two sisters made together. What could have happened to cause such a rift between two sisters who used to be so close.

Mallory decides to spend some time in the village and Penny comes home from London to try and talk some sense into her mother, and to find out what is going on with Mallory. She knows something is just not quite adding up with her cousin and she is determined to find out the truth. And if a little well intended meddling could help reunite the estranged sisters all the better. 

Gigi and Rose's story is interspersed throughout the book. Both of them have carried around the hurt of what happened for years, and as a reader you get to see both sides of the story. In some ways, some of the issues discussed about the past are very much of their time and yet still relevant in many ways, but the repercussions are felt through the years. 

It did take me quite a while to get into this book, mainly because I had a bit of a book hangover from another book, but once I did immerse myself into it, I was very emotionally affected by it, and cried a couple of times. The way that the friendship between the two cousins, the fears that Mallory had for herself and her daughter were sensitively handled, and then there was a nicely nuanced romance that felt exactly right for the book!

I have read Helen Rolfe before. I really enjoyed her Skylarks series which was set in an air ambulance centre. If I'm honest, I was a bit disappointed that we weren't getting another book with that setting. However, I ended up really enjoying this one.

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted by The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews. Be sure to check out other stops on the tour shown below. Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. 

Rating 4/5

About the book 

The Best Days of Our Lives

When Mallory receives life-shattering news, she decides to use this summer to make sure her family and friends are prepared for whatever might come.

But Mallory has a challenge when it comes to her mother, Gigi. Following the loss of her husband, Gigi is lonely. So when Mallory makes a shocking discovery that shows a new side to Gigi's relationship with her estranged sister Rose, she decides to intervene and make a last attempt to reunite them.

Returning to her mother’s quiet hometown, Mallory and her cousin Penny try to get to the bottom of a dispute that has lasted more than sixty years, involving a lost wedding dress and a heartbreaking secret. But with Rose and Gigi determined to ignore their daughters’ efforts, will Mallory be able to put her affairs in order before it’s too late?

Gorgeous and emotional new novel from Helen Rolfe, perfect for fans of Shari Low, Cathy Bramley and Lucy Diamond.

Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/bestdaysofourlives

About the Author

Helen Rolfe writes contemporary women's fiction and romantic fiction. She enjoys weaving stories about family, friendship, secrets, and relationships. Characters often face challenges and must fight to overcome them, but above all, Helen's stories always have a happy ending.

Helen loves creating village settings or places with a small-town feel and a big sense of community. Location has always been a big part of the adventure in Helen's books and she enjoys setting stories in different cities and countries around the world. So far, locations have included Melbourne, Sydney, New York, Connecticut, Bath, Paris and the Cotswolds.

Born and raised in the UK, Helen graduated from University with a business degree and began working in I.T. This job took her over to Australia where she eventually turned her attentions back to the career she'd dreamt of since she was fourteen. She studied writing and journalism and wrote articles for women's health and fitness magazines. Helen began writing fiction in 2011 and hasn't missed the I.T. world one little bit... in fact she may just have found her dream job!

Social Media Links –



Facebook: @HelenRolfeAuthor

Instagram: @helen_j_rolfe

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/HelenRolfeNews

Bookbub profile: @helenrolfe

Top Ten Tuesday: Surprise!

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books that Surprised Me (in a good or bad way)

I wasn't sure how I was going to go about this topic, but in the end I found ten books which surprised me in different ways

The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley - I was recently looking through the reviews that I have written for Susanna Kearsley books, and I came across this review for The Rose Garden where I said that I gasped in surprised when I read the big twist!

My Sisters Keeper by Jodi Picoult - This was a surprise in a bad way. That ending made me want to throw the book against the wall. And I have never read another one of her books in the 20 years since.

White Mulberry by Rosa Kwon Easton - The surprised for me in this one was that I didn't know that Japan had occupied Korea for so long! I knew that they had invaded Manchuria in the years before WWII but not Korea.

The Lost Love Song by Minnie Darke - I searched my blog for the word surprise and this is one of the books that came up. I do love this book! (my review)

Undercover Billionaire by Amy Andrews - The surprise for this one was that I forgot to add it to my blog tours list and suddenly realised I had to read and review it in the space of a couple of day! Surprise! (my review)

Return to Virgin River by Robyn Carr - I was surprised that this book was released 8 years after the previous book in the series. Still haven't read it!

The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson - I am a bit surprised I haven't read any more of Helen Simonson's books given how much I loved Major Pettrigrew's Last Stand which I reviewed here. I will be reading this one soon!

A Christmas Surprise in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen - I was surprised I had so few books with the word surprise in the title! (my review)

Midnight in Paris by Gillian Harvey - I am a bit surprised I have had so many 5 star reads so far this year. Normally I have two or three but so far this year I have had 6! This was the first. (my review)

Pictures of You by Emma Grey - And this was the most recent!

This week

I'm reading

I did a lot of starting books this week! Some finishing but nowhere near as many as I started!

One book that I finished was the audio of Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley and Harry Whittaker, the final book in the Seven Sisters series. I have listened to all of these on audiobook. Given that each of these books is more than 20 hours long that's a lot of listening time! I started listening to the first book more than 6.5 years ago, so it has been a bit commitment! This final book was narrated by Richard Armitage for Pa Salt's parts and Tuppence Middleton for the modern story. It feels like this book did what it needed to do in terms of tying all the origin stories together, and telling Pa's story, so I was satisfied with the end of the series. I did have one question about what happened on the luxury super yachts (IFYKYK) but overall it was good. 

I then started listening to Away with the Fairies by Kerry Greenwood. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Kerry Greenwood had passed away recently, so I thought it would be a good time to go back to the next Phryne Fisher book. It did surprise me a little that is 16 years since I read one of the books but I think I have slipped back into the world quickly. After listening to Richard Armitage for so long it did take me a little while to get used to the sound of a new narrator but I think I am there now!

We did a bit of a roadtrip on the Friday and Saturday of the Easter weekend, and I convinced my husband that we could listen to a book while we drove. It needed to be something that he would enjoy too, so I chose The World According to Kaleb by Kaleb Cooper. Kaleb Cooper is a young British farmer who is now a bit of a celebrity thanks to his appearances on Clarkson's Farm, a reality TV show featuring well known British....presenter I guess is the best word....Jeremy Clarkson. It is only a short book at around 2.5 hours and it was amusing. Kaleb is a young man who knows exactly what he likes (farming) and what he doesn't like (sheep among other things!). 

As that book was so short, we then started listening to The Satsuma Complex which is both written and narrated by Bob Mortimer. Bob Mortimer is a British comedian who appears regularly on panel shows such as Would I Lie to You and he makes us laugh a lot every time he is on! He's a great oral storyteller. We will listen to this when we are in the car together for the next little while!

In terms of books I was reading myself, I finished The Best Days of Our Lives by Helen Rolfe. The review for that will be up this week. 

I then read The House of Lost Whispers by Jenni Keer, which is another super interesting book by her! It's a bit of a genre bender but I will say more when I review it next week!

I also started The Tea Ladies by Amanda Hampson which is going to be my read on a theme book club selection this time around. The theme is 1960s and this book is set in 1966 so it fits the theme beautifully. 

I also started The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe by Catherine Greer. I picked it up on a whim when I went to the library last week, but I can only borrow it for a week so I needed to get going with that one sooner rather than later!

Finally, I didn't take the physical books I was reading with me when we went away so started The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Woods. I am a bit torn now as to which book to finish first as I did get sucked into this one pretty much straight away!


I'm watching


We are big fans of the archeological show Time Team here in my house. It is often on the Real History channel at around dinner time so we will watch it if it is on, even if we have seen the episode multiple times before. I was a bit surprised to find that over the last couple of years they have been making Time Team specials that are only on Youtube! This week we watched one called Digging Band of Brothers which was an excavation of the camp where the US 101st Airborne Division was based in Britain. There are a few other specials that we will watch now! If you are interested this is the link.

We also started watching a new series of  the American Baking Show which is the first one I have seen where Paul and Prue are the judges.

I also watched How to Steal a Million as part of the Springtime in  Paris event hosted by  Erin from Still Life, with Cracker Crumb and Lisa from Boondock Ramblings. What a fun movie! It starred the beautiful and ethereal Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole, who was very handsome as a young man.  The premise is that Audrey Hepburn's father is a serial art forger. He agrees to hand over a famous statue to display in a museum without realising that he has agreed to have the piece authenticated. If it is tested, then it will be revealed as a fake then he will be found out. Hepburn's character then enlists the help of a man she caught stealing a painting from her own house (or so she thought) and hijinks ensue. The movie had such charm and naivety. I couldn't help but think if the movie was made today how very different it would be! I am planning to watch the next couple of movies for the event this week.


Life

I had to go to the funeral of a friend last week. He was a larger than life character who drew people to him. It was a reminder to live life to the best of your ability as you don't really know how long you have. Also #$%$ cancer.

In Australia, Easter is a four day weekend with public holidays on both Good Friday and Easter Monday. A lot of people choose to go away for the weekend. Originally, we were planning to go away overnight next weekend, but then my son is going interstate that weekend so we decided to go on Friday and come back on Saturday.

You probably recall that we like a good art silo, and this trip we managed to see 4 full size ones, plus a collection of smaller ones. The main reason for heading up the highway was to go to the Lake Boga Flying Boat Museum. During WWII, Lake Boga was a secret base for the repair of flying boats like the Catalina aircraft and saw Australian, American and Dutch planes landing on the lake.  It was also a key point in the communications between the Allies. It was a fascinating place, and I think it might be a place that we go back to should we be up that way again. Recently there has been a new art silo done at Lake Boga, which reflects this history. The other photo is of a silo at a place called Sea Lake, which was cool because in the day you can see the image below, but at night they projects some films onto the silos taking about the farming and the dark sky environs around which means amazing stargazing

One of the highlights of the trip was going to a nearby lake called Lake Tyrrell which is the largest salt water lake in the state of Victoria.  We went at sunset the first night and it was spectacular. I took so many photos. The next morning we went at about 8am and we were pretty much the only ones there. Well...us and the flies. 

We had to come back on Saturday as we had a show from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival featuring another British comic, Tom Allen! He is on various UK show and he was very entertaining. This was the only show we got to go to in this year's festival as we were away for most of it!


Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: What I Read on Holidays
Blog Tour: Under a Riviera Moon by Helen McGinn
Blog Tour: Secrets Under a Riviera Sky by Jennifer Bohnet

Weekend Cooking: What We Ate on Holidays: Japan and South Korea - the Sweet Edition

Spell the Month in Books - April





I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date and Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz

Spell the Month in Books - April

Reviews From the Stacks

Welcome to the April edition of Spell the Month in Books which is hosted at Reviews From the Stacks. The link party opens on the first Saturday of the month, but I won't be posting until after that as I already have other things scheduled every Saturday and for the first two Sundays of the month.

The idea is that you use the title of books to spell the month name. There is also a theme each month, with the theme for April being animals on the cover. 

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - I couldn't go past this children's classic which includes talking hares, grinning cats and so much more!

The Restaurant in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen - Whilst I might be cheating with this one, this is the first book in a series set in a small Australian coastal town called  in Pelican Crossing, and the word pelican appears in the title of every one of them

Rescue my Heart by Jill Shalvis - It's been many years since I read Jill Shalvis, but I do recall enjoying her trilogy called Animal Magnetism, which is set in and around an animal shelter 

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros - Does a dragon count as an animal?

Lion in the Valley by Elizabeth Peters - This is the fourth book in the excellent Amelia Peabody series set in Victorian Egypt. 

There's no set theme for May. Maybe I will have to come up with my own! Or maybe I will just keep it simple next month. We'll see when we get closer to the time!

I am sharing this post with Sunday Salon hosted by Readerbuzz.

Weekend Cooking: What We Ate on Holidays - Japan and South Korea - the sweet edition.

Last week I shared just some of the food that we ate during our recent trip to Japan, but it didn't include any sweet food. That's because the cakes, particularly in Japan, were A-MAZ-ING and therefore definitely deserved a whole post of their own.

One of the things that amazed us in Tokyo was how amazing the food areas were in each of the major train stations. Our hotel was quite close to Shinagawa station, one of the busiest train stations in the world, and once you got inside the station, there were the most amazing stores selling all kinds of things from sweet treats to cooked food you could have for a quick dinner, and everything in between. We went into these food halls in multiple stations and they were all different but all amazing!

Before I share some of the things we did eat, I thought I would talk about something we didn't eat!

Look how gorgeous these biscuits are! We saw these in the shop at the station and I instantly said we need to try those. Little did we know we would try for three days and still not get to eat them. Every time we went through the station they were sold out! One time, I joined the queue and they said it was at least a 45 minute wait, and in my wisdom I said I am not waiting in a queue for that long for a biscuit. That was probably our best opportunity. We knew that they should be restocked at 8am and 5pm so one our last morning I sent Robert down to get some at 8am but the delivery was running late so we still didn't get any. 

Now, onto things we did eat.

I was very surprised by how prevalent strawberry was as a flavour in Japan. The first night in Tokyo we decided to buy two different flavour cakes - strawberry and orange. The strawberry was deliciously light and fluffy. It honestly feels a bit like you are eating air. I didn't enjoy the orange one quite so much.

After we didn't get the biscuits I mentioned above, we consoled ourselves with these strawberry mousse cakes which were totally amazing! Inside there was some sponge and strawberry sauce! So good!

On the Saturday morning, we ended up walking along a waterfront area where we ended up in a large local shopping centre which included a little dog park for residents to exercise their dogs, and nearby there was a cafe where dogs were welcome. There was even a dog on the straws! I had an ice cream which had a black charcoal cone!

When we couldn't get the biscuits that we wanted on our last day in Tokyo, this was the alternative - it is a biscuit which is filled with strawberry jam and flavoured cream. They were so good!

One of the things I knew I wanted to try again was Doriyaki. I first heard about them when I read the book Sweet Bean, and then when I watched the movie of the book. We had some of these when we visited Osaka Castle. I had the tradition red bean paste flavour and my husband tried the custard one.  Aren't they so cute!

One of the things that we did on the cruise was a wine tasting class. They gave us a few tips and then we did some blind tasting using the dark glasses on the table, and you had to tell them whether it was red or white wine, what kind of wine it was and whether it was an old or new world wine! They were trying to get us to be able to smell and taste the underlying flavours which I can never do. One thing this lesson did really surprise me with was when it came to how food changes the taste of wine. Now, I know that wine and food pairing a thing, but this was such a simple demonstration. When we tasted the wine, and then had a bit of macaroon, and then tasted the wine again, there were definitely differences in the wine experience! And the bonus was we also got to eat macaroons!

I mentioned in last week's post that we went to a fish market in Okinawa. I also tried this ice cream there which is a salt pineapple flavour! It was really good!

The way that food is presented in Japan is just so beautiful. This is a slice of Castella cake. Each perfect slice comes individually wrapped, and then packaged in a gorgeous box. Castella is considered a specialty of Nagasaki, and originally derived from Portuguese cakes when they were one of the few traders allowed into Japan when it was otherwise closed off from the Western world. I had heard about Castella before when I read What You Are Looking For is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama, and one of the characters taught herself to make the perfect Castella cake. I was excited to be able to try it!

Moving on to Seoul, we went to crazy busy market in Seoul where we got to try these baked fish. They are actually filled with bean paste whilst the one on the right are corn shaped and filled with custard. So good!

On our last day in Seoul we went searching for a Pandora store (because I buy a Pandora charm for every country we visit) and we needed a break so we went to a coffee shop and had this amazing mandarin cream cake. It was so good! We did share it, although it was very light and fluffy and delicious and you could easily eat one by yourself! The drink I had was a peach and strawberry frappe and Robert had a condensed milk cappuccino. My mouth waters just thinking about that frappe!

I did think that would be the last of the sweet treats to share until the ice creams were handed out of the flight from Seoul to Singapore. Have you ever seen ice cream shaped like a cob of corn? I hadn't!

Weekly meals

Saturday - Beef and Broccoli Noodles
Sunday - Out for dinner
Monday - Pressure Cooker Spaghetti Bolognaise
Tuesday - Chicken Stir Fry
Wednesday - Green Curry Chicken Pie
Thursday - Baked Tuscan Chicken and Rice
Friday - Away

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page