This week

I'm reading

Don't you love it when you have occasions of reading serendipity! 

I am currently watching a renovation show which is set in Corfu. Last week I read two books in a row set in Greece, the second set in a hotel by the sea in Corfu.  The next book I am reading's title is literally Hotel by the Sea!

The first book I read was a WWII novel call The Islander's Daughter by Patricia Wilson which I reviewed here. Then I read Summer Ever After by Mandy Baggot which is set in a beachside hotel on Corfu. My review is here.

I then started The Hotel by the Sea by Julie Caplin. However, I realised that I had another book due before that one so now I am reading New Chapters on the French Riviera by Jennifer Bohnet. The review for that one will be up later this week. 

I am currently trying to list the books I want to read while I am on holidays in priority order. I think the Julie Caplin will be my plane reading on the way to Turkiye at least

I did finally finish listening to The Lost Brides by Nora Roberts, which is the last book in the Lost Brides trilogy. 

I then started The Names by Florence Knapp on audio. I got to the end of the first chapter and stopped, mainly because I am wondering if it might be a bit heavy for now, but if I stop now that means that I have to figure out what I need to listen to instead. Maybe it is easier to just stick to the decision I already made

I'm watching


Last night I watched the first seven episodes of The Other Bennett Sister and I am hooked! I can't wait to watch more, although I am a bit concerned that I might need to wait for a few weeks to watch the last couple of episodes.

The Other Bennett Sister focuses on the middle Miss Bennett. Often overlooked because she is plain, it is only once she gets out from under her mother's thumb that she truly blooms! It's so much fun!




Life


We went to two comedy shows at the Melbourne Comedy Festival over the last couple of weeks. First, we saw Wankernomics and then Nurse Georgie Carroll. Wankernomics basically takes all the things that happen in corporate workplaces and then makes fun of them. Here's a clip that I recognised. My boss says she has a hard stop quite regularly!

Nurse Georgie Carroll talks about a lot of medical stuff, the joys and trials of being a nurse in the healthcare system. Both of these shows were very, very funny!

The countdown in on to our holidays. After the indecision about whether we should go or not, I am really looking forward to getting away! The holiday nails are done. The pre-holiday haircut is scheduled for tomorrow night. Just have to get through three frantic days at work now!

I am not sure if I will be able to post my This Week posts or not. We'll see!

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Island Time!
Blog Tour: Something in the Air in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen
Blog Tour: The Islander's Daughter by Patricia Wilson
Blog Tour: Summer Ever After by Mandy Baggot
Weekend Cooking: Le Assaggiatrici (The Tasters)



I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date, Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and the Good Book and a Cup of Tea link up hosted at Boondock Ramblings

Blog Tour: The Islander's Daughter by Patricia Wilson

 

As much as I enjoy reading made up stories in historical fiction, there is something special about stories which are based on real life events, which is the case with this book.

The Islander's Daughter tells the story of a terrible massacre on the small Greek island of Milos in August 1943. 14 men were killed by the German occupiers in retribution for the bombing of the cargo ship, SS Artemis Pitta.

The story is predominantly told through the eyes of Dora, a young woman who has grown up on the island. Like many young women of her time, her life is all planned out for her. She is expected to marry family friend Zoodow, but it is more complicated than that as her brother also has feelings for Zoodow. Her brother is forced to leave home, with tragic consequences, leaving Dora at the mercy of her violent and unpredictable father.

The author really cleverly builds the tension, from the bombing of the ship, with the timelines counting down to the date of the massacre. Dora and her family are key to the events. Dora has a natural caring nature and so finds herself caring for a survivor of the boat explosion in secret, and soon finds herself falling in love. War brings out the best and worst in people and Dora experiences this first hand when she is betrayed.

If you read the blurb for this book it appears as though it is a dual timeline is, and I guess, technically, it is. However, it is only the prologue and epilogue that have a modern setting. To be honest, the reason why is only obvious in the last couple of pages. I do wonder if there was a different way of doing this. 

This is my first book from Patricia Wilson, who retired to Greece many years ago. Just looking at the titles and descriptions of her books, it is clear that she loves the country. That enthusiasm shines through the pages of the book!

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

Rating 3.5/5

About the book

The Islander's Daughter

When Trisha receives a mysterious letter to her Liverpool home, it opens a decades’ old mystery, drawing her back into her family’s forgotten past, the horrors of war, and a small island off the coast of Greece…

Eighty years earlier, on the island of Milos, Dora is dreaming of a better life, free from the oppression of the occupying army and, closer to home, the brutal rule of her father, an infamous horse breeder.

Then a German cargo ship is bombed in the harbour, killing dozens of the men on board. The islanders trawl the waters for spoilage from the wreckage – finding among the debris a badly injured man, who may just hold the awful truth about what happened.

Dora soon finds this man under her care, and it changes her life forever, introducing her to the possibility of love and freedom for the first time… But Dora cannot know, as she nurses the stranger back to health, that her actions will have devastating consequences for her beloved island. Consequences that will last for generations…

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

About the Author 

Born on the Wirral, Patricia Wilson is the author of emotional, escapist historical fiction set in the Greek Islands, including the Sunday Times bestseller Villa of Secrets. She has had seven bestsellers, and her books have been published worldwide and in thirteen languages. She is dyslexic, and fell in love with writing thanks to modern technology.



Social Media Links

Facebook: @PatriciaWilsonAuthor

Twitter: @pmwilson_author

Instagram: @pmwilson.author

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

Top Ten Tuesday: Island time!

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. 

This week the theme is Books About/Set In Places on My Bucket List (submitted by Rachel @ Sunny Side). In theory this is an easy topic for me as I read a lot of books set in places I would love to visit. I have done entire posts just on Paris alone, France, and Greece, Japan, previous holiday destinations, armchair travelling and more. As I start this post, I am away for Easter on a island called Phillip Island which is a couple of hours away from home. So, my twist this week is that I am going to focus on books set on islands, however, I am limiting it to islands that are not countries. To be fair, I could probably do this topic several times over! I am saving islands that are also countries for another time.

Past the Shallows by Favel Parrett - This book is set on Bruny Island which is in Tasmania. I just read this one recently!

The Bad Bridesmaid by Rachael Johns - A lot of this story takes place on Norfolk Island which is a place I would love to visit (my review)

The Secrets of the Huon Wren by Clair van Ryn - This is another book set in Tasmania (my review)

The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi de Lampedusa - This one is set in Sicily (my review)

The Islander's Daughter by Patricia Wilson - I am currently reading this one which is mainly set on a Greek island called Milos during WWII

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune - I think a lot of islands are magical but this one is set in a magical world!

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See - This book is set on the island of Jeju in South Korea

The Sweet Life Cafe by Helen Rolfe - Set on an island in the Channel Island (my review)

The Light Between Oceans by M L Stedman - Takes place on a tiny island just off the Australian coast where the only structure is a lighthouse

Over the Seas to Skye by Sue Moorcroft - This is the third book in the Skye Sisters trilogy which are all set on the Isle of Skye in Scotland (my review)

This week

I'm reading

This week my reading has been all about upcoming review books. 

I read Jessica Redland's Hopes and Dreams at the Chocolate Pot Café which I reviewed here.

This coming week I have three reviews due. I powered through Maggie Christensen's Something in the Air in Pelican Crossing. I always love Maggie Christensen's books and this was another engrossing read.

I also started reading The Islander's Daughter by Patricia Wilson. This is a dual timeline WWII novel which is partly set in Greece. I haven't read this author before. My review will be up for this in a couple of days. I need to finish this one was I have one more book due for review by the end of the week

We went away for the weekend and we started listening to Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir while we were driving (for reasons that will become obvious later in this post!

I read 14 books in March which kind of surprises me as I didn't feel like I was getting a lot of reading done and work has been pretty challenging. I didn't give any books 5/5 this month, although there were 5 books that I gave 4.5/5 to. They were

Books let our imaginations travel where our feet cannot - Nora Nguyen

This is where I travelled through books during March

Europe

UK - The Strawberry House, The Language of Food, The Heir Apparent

America

Maryland - Lovelight Farms, The Correspondent

Mississipi/Missouri - James

Australia

New South Wales - Everyone this Christmas has a Secret, Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon

Tasmania -  The Heir Apparent, Past the Shallows

Europe

Italy  - The Leopard
Russia/Germany - The Rebel Romanov:Julie of Saxe-Coburg, the Empress Russia Never Had

Asia

Japan - We'll Prescribe You a Cat

I'm watching

We went to the movies on Friday and saw Project Hail Mary which we really enjoyed. I did spend half the movie trying to remember what other Ryan's name was. No idea why my mind fixated on that. The Martian is one of those movies for me where I will put it on whenever I come across it on the TV schedule. I suspect Project Hail Mary might too!


Life

We decided to do a quick getaway for the Easter long weekend so we visited an island which is a couple of hours away from us called Phillip Island. It is most famous for two things. The motorcycle grand prix was held here for many years and each night at dusk a colony of penguins waddles up out of the sea. We didn't see either of those but we did enjoy our time on the island visiting the Nobbies (where we saw this fellow as well as lots of big geese and more), the local market, going the Vietnam Veterans Museum and more.

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Buzz-words!
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: April links
Blog Tour: Love Blooms at the Cornish Cottage by Kim Nash
Blog Tour: Hopes and Dreams at the Chocolate Pot Café by Jessica Redland
Weekend Cooking: In My Kitchen: March
Six Degrees of Separation: The Correspondent to Letters from Skye




I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date, Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and the Good Book and a Cup of Tea link up hosted at Boondock Ramblings