Sunday Salon: Aussie authors mini reviews

My reviewing goal for the last couple of years has been to review all historical fiction and all Australian authors I read. It turns out I am a bit behind on both of these! August is also Aussie Author August so today I am doing two mini reviews for Aussie books I have read recently! I was going to be doing three mini reviews, but I had so much to say about the third book that it became a full review which I will post later this week!

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConnaghey

Confession time. I am part of a read on a theme book club. There are times when we are choosing the next theme that I may nominate themes that would force me to read something I already have on my schedule. This month is one of those months given that this book was one that I chose to read for a GR Summer Challenge prompt. The theme that we chose was "environment" which I feel would probably work for any of Charlotte McConaghy's books

When a woman is washed up on the shore of Shearwater Island, an isolated island not far from Antarctica, it complete turns the lives of the four inhabitants upside down. Once upon a time, this was an island that was home to many researchers, but now it is just home to Dominic Salt and his three children Raff, Fen and Orly. They too are packing up to leave. Their last task is to take the essential seeds from the world's largest seedbank to save them. The rest are going to be left to Mother Nature. Shearwater is now too dangerous for human occupation with the sea levels rapidly rising. 

As Dom and his family nurse the woman, Rowan, back to health, she begins to notice that there are a number of things that don't make sense. He's lying to her, and she doesn't know what about. Then again, she hasn't been honest about why she was trying so hard to get to Shearwater either. There are layer upon layer of secrets that need to unravel before we get to the end of the book

All of the characters in this book are damaged by various events from their lives, and we see them trying to make sense of the world that they love as it is being torn apart by forces outside their control. There is grief, a lot of grief, anger, feelings of betrayal at what they are being asked to and so much more.

Charlotte McConnaghey is an author who I have wanted to read for a while. Now that I have read one of her books I am absolutely going to have to go and read them all. I will say I was quite surprised by the ending of this book. I hope they don't all end in a similar way.

Everyone in this Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson

This is the fourth book in the Ernest Cunningham series and Ern and his partner Juliette find themselves at a private bank in a small country town. The reason they are there is that they have decided to set up a detective agency so that they can be paid for solving crimes. However, things take a turn when their visit to the bank turns into a hostage situation. It soon becomes clear that not everything is as it seems.

Given that they are all locked inside the bank, when a body is found, it is clear that someone inside the bank is a murderer, but who and why.

Right from page 1 we know that Ern has managed to get himself into another deadly situation. The question is, will he be able to survive long enough to tell us the whole story so we know exactly who the murderer was, and who stole what!

There was at least one decision that Ernie makes that made me go.....huh? Why would he do that! Some days I feel sorry for Juliette, but I guess that she knows what to expect from Ern by now!

I had nominated this as one of my 20 Books of Winter. Hopefully by the time we put together next year's list there will be another Ernest Cunningham that I can read and enjoy!

Mini reviews: Three Aussie books

 

The Heir Apparent by Rebecca Armitage

When Lexi Villiers' father and brother are killed while skiing, she suddenly finds herself whisked off to London to take up her place in the succession to the the throne. Princess Alexandrina had walked away from the royal family years before and was living in Tasmania and studying to be a doctor. Now she needs to decide does she want everything that being royal means (both the good and the bad) or does she want to live a normal life.

This is the royal family but not as we know it. The starting point is that Charles II makes his mistress Barbara Villiers his queen and the crown passes down through the Villiers family. It is a really interesting premise to base a story on! Even though it is a fictionalised royal family, you can definitely see where it has been inspired by the real royal family. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this story, although it was probably too long. 

Rating 4/5

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson

This is the third book in the Ernest Cunningham series and as you might surmise from the title this time the story is set at Christmas time. Ernest gets a phone call from his ex-wife whose new partner has just been found dead and she is the prime suspect. Soon Ernest is trying to solve a murder where there everyone has a secret, where sleight of hand and magic are the everyday business of some of the suspect and where nothing is quite as it seems. 

This was shorter than a normal book but longer than a novella and at times it felt a bit rushed, but it also has a fun advent calendar style format! Already looking forward to the next book! And I have just found out that Benjamin Stevenson is coming to my local library in May so I have booked tickets for that!

Rating 4/5

Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon by Sophie Green

I have been meaning to read Sophie Green's books for several years now but I just hadn't been able to fit one in! This book tells the story of four women who are all at different stages of their lives who all come together in a hairdressing salon in a small town on the Central Coast of NSW. What they all have in common in addition to the salon is that they are all trying to find themselves.

Trudy is a widow who is the owner of the salon. Since her husband died she has sort of been going through the motions. She doesn't really connect well with her only son, but the people in her salon are almost like family to her. 

Single mum Evie has never really had much luck with relationships. She is trying to balance work with raising her son but really her secret desire is to fall in love. Could the new male hairdresser Sam finally bring love into her live.

Anna is feeling neglected in her marriage and so she separates from her husband Gary. She brings her mother into the salon regularly but could changing her life start with changing her hair.

Finally, there is Josie who joins the salon as an apprentice. She has been bought up in a very strict household and so when she meets a young man, she needs to keep everything a secret!

I had so much fun with this one. It is set in the mid 1980s and there were so many nods to music, pop culture, world events and of course hairstyles!

This one counts for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host

Rating 4/5

Everyone on this Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson

We met Ernest Cunningham in the first book in the series that has his name in Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone, which I read last year and loved. While I don't read a lot of mysteries any more, that one was fresh and funny and I knew I would be reading more. Lucky for me I am coming to the series late so I still have two more books in the series that are already published!

After the events of the last book, Ernest changed from being someone who wrote books about how to write books, to actually writing a book of his own, all about the events at his family reunion which turned out to be very deadly. But now he needs to write a follow up. The pressure is on!

He and his partner are invited to be guests at the 50th anniversary of the Australian Mystery Writer's Society festival, of course they say yes which is being held on The Ghan. Ernest does know that he is pretty lucky to be there although he is not entirely confident that he belongs there. There are going to be 7 guest authors in total ranging from one of the biggest names in crime fiction in the world, to an author who had a big hit twenty years ago and is about to release their next novel, the literary (with a capital L) writer and then Ernest who has just published his debut novel. Ernest is hoping that he will get the inspiration he needs to pen his next book using his imagination, but before he gets to that point he has to work out hidden connections, old crimes, bad reviews and so much more. Add to that mix some publishers and the fans and the scene is set.

Once the train leaves Darwin, it doesn't take long for things to start getting off track (see what I did there?). There are some interesting interactions between the guest authors and Ernest starts to wonder if he is just seeing signs of things that aren't really there. However, when one of the authors dies, it would seem that there is definitely something deeper going on. Who better to solve a crime than six crime writers, although to be fair, they probably also know the best ways to get away with a crime.

Just like in the first book, there are plenty of times that Ernest breaks the fourth wall with the reader. He is writing the book after the events, so you know that he has to survive, but we get the benefit of hindsight where he can see the errors he has made along the way. We also get handy recaps of where we are at, including a name check count as he believes that according to the Golden Rules of mystery writing the killer's name will be mentioned a precise 106 times by the end of the book. Despite this, I was still surprised at several of the reveals!

Ernest tells us very early in the book “Seven writers board a train. At the end of the line, five will leave it alive. One will be in cuffs. Body count: nine. Bit lower than last time. And me? I don’t kill anybody this time around." As readers we get to ride the story as it unfurls one surprise, one body, one big reveal at a time. Murder isn't funny, but we certainly get a few laughs along the way!

As much as my husband and I do love to explore the world, we also still love to explore Australia. One experience that is definitely on our to-do list is to take the train known as The Ghan which goes from Darwin to Adelaide (and vice versa) through the middle of Australia. When we do get to do the trip, I am glad that it won't be with these people!

Another fantastic entry in the Ernest Cunningham series. Can't wait to read the next one!

I am sharing this review with the Bookish Books challenge hosted at Bloggin' Bout Books.

Rating 4.5/5

Mini reviews of two Aussie novels

This year I said that I was going to aim to review all the books I read that were either historical fiction or by Australian authors. I am a bit behind, but I think I will have some space to be able to catch up over the coming weeks. Today, I am going to share two mini-ish reviews of books by Australian authors. These books have very little in common apart from the fact that they are by Aussie authors and  I really enjoyed them both.

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

Ernest Cunningham is not looking forward to the Cunningham family reunion which is being held to celebrate the release of his brother from prison. He has no idea how his brother is going to feel about him given that Ernest was the one who testified and got him convicted in the first place. 

The Cunningham family dynamic is very complicated. Ernest's mother has disowned him, his wife has left him for his brother whose own wife is hoping for a reconciliation and his auntie has every minute of the reunion meticulously planned. There's a stash of money, a number of crimes and a snow storm. What could go wrong? Well, quite a lot actually.

This story has a very unusual structure. Ernie is a self published writer who writes books about how to write mysteries. When a body is found, Ernie is the one who needs to investigate (because he has experience) but he is telling us the story after the event. As such, he knows what happened and so can give us asides. For example, he might say that a character went outside for her last cigarette but of course she didn't know that at the time. And we know in the prologue at exactly what page we should expect all of the deaths to occur. Yes, there are multiple deaths

This was so much fun right from page 1, with twists and turns, a narrator who regularly breaks the fourth wall to talk directly to the reader, fantastic characters and so much more!

I am not really sure why but it was only recently that I realised that the author was Australian, and in the end it was this fact that prompted me to finally request the book from the library! I can't wait to read the next book in the series. 

Rating 4.5/5

The Last Love Note by Emma Grey

You really could not get more different books. Where Everybody in My Family Has Killed Someone is funny and a bit disingenuous, The Last Love Note is deeply emotional. That's not to say that it isn't hopeful because it is, but it takes the reader on a devastating journey on the way, 

Kate Whittaker is a young widow who is raising her son on her own following the death of her husband Cam. Cam had been ill for quite some time with early onset dementia, going from a dynamic university lecturer to a man who needed full time care. Kate and Cam were one of those couples who were just meant to be together forever. No one expected forever to be so short.

The story of Kate's life both before and after Cam's death slowly unfolds. We see Kate facing all sorts of challenges but thankfully she has some great support from her friends to her boss, Hugh. Hugh had also been a great friend to Cam but Kate is sure that he has secrets that he is keeping from her and she doesn't understand why.

This is the story of a woman who has had to face one of the most difficult situations and her slow journey to a new, different life. 

Author Emma Grey has lived experience of many of the things that happened in this book. Her husband died suddenly at a young age, leaving her a widow with young children to raise on her own which gives the storytelling a real authenticity. I laughed and I cried. In short, I felt all the feels.

This is the second book I have read from Emma Grey, with the first being Pictures of You which I reviewed here. 

Rating 5/5