Top Ten Tuesday: New to me authors I read in 2025

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Bookish Discoveries I Made in 2025 (New-to-you authors you discovered, new genres you learned you like, new bookish resources you found, friends you made, local bookshops you found, a book club you joined, etc.). I am going to use this as an opportunity to showcase some of the new to me authors I read last year.

All up I read 67 new to me authors which is hard to narrow down to just ten choices, so the first 9 of these authors are those that I read multiple books from. In other words, I enjoyed their first books enough to go and read more!

Finding that elusive 10th author to include on the list was a bit trickier. I thought I would pick one where I only read one book by them but I gave that book 5/5 rating. However, there are still four of those! 

Claire Keegan - I know that I am late to the party with this one but I read two of Irish author Claire Keegan's books last year and I have already read another this year. I am going to run out of her books soon I think. Often her books are quite short but boy they pack a punch!

Claire van Ryn - Another Claire! This one is from Tasmania, and I really loved both books of hers that I read last year which I reviewed here and here. Birds play an important part in the stories and both covers are gorgeous! I will be excited about her next book for sure!

Emma Davies - Emma Davies is a British author. I enjoyed the two books I read from her and have now bought some of her earlier books. I reviewed her books here and here.

Emma Grey - I have mentioned Emma Grey several times now in my best of posts for last year. She is the only author that I have given 5/5 stars to both of the books I read from her last year. I reviewed them here and here. Can't wait for the next book which is out soon.

Hannah Bonam-Young - This is definitely a case of being last to the party. I read Out on a Limb and Next of Kin last year and I am looking forward to reading more this year!

Laura Imai Messina - Laura Imai Messina is Italian by birth, but she has lived in Japan for more than 20 years. I loved both of her books but so far I have only reviewed one of them. I have a friend who is a Japanophile and I was talking to her about this authors books, and she started to cry because she said that the stories just sound so Japanese. I don't think any more of this authors books have been translated into English, but if they are I will be reading them!

Mai Mochikuzi - At first I wasn't sure about the mix of human size, walking, talking cats, astrology and food but it is fun. I reviewed the first book here and the second book here.

Shari Low - I read three of Shari Low's books last year. They are mainly set in Scotland and feature a bunch of fun characters, and are often interconnected. 

Yuta Takahashi - This is the author of one of several Japanese foodie series I am reading. This one features a restaurant where you can come to eat remembrance meals and get the chance to have one last conversation with the person you are remembering. I reviewed the two books here and here.

Jodi McAlister - In the end I chose this book because it is the only book by a new to me author that I rated 5/5 stars that I never got around to reviewing, for no other reason than I ran out of time. I also saw her at a couple of events last year as well! If you love smart, funny enemies to lover romances check it out! Highly recommend! One of the members of my book club read it and she absolutely loved it, and she is 80 years old!! I will definitely read more from Jodi McAlister

Top Ten Tuesday: Books set in a snowy place

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Books Set in Snowy Places (If snow isn’t your thing, pick another kind of place and share books set there!)

Normally when there is a seasonal theme I swap it to represent the season here in Australia. However, this time I decided to go with the theme even though it is summer here.

The Secret Christmas Library by Jenny Colgan - I just finished listening to this. There is a lot of snow in this book to the point that the characters get snowed in for some of the book!

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson - This isn't a common Australian setting as it is set in the Alps in winter, and there is a lot of snow. (my review)

Meet Me Under the Northern Lights by Mandy Baggot - This one sees our main character heading off on a last minute trip to Iceland (my review)

Last Stop on the Winter Wonderland Express by Rebecca Raisin - This luxury festive train travels across Northern Europe and ending up in Lapland

Small Things Like These by Claire Foster - Now, I didn't read this book all that long ago, and I am relatively sure that there was snow in the book, but I am prepared to be wrong about that!

Escape to the Northern Lights by Carrie Walker - our main character thinks she is going to a luxury spa weekend but really it is a winter back to nature, vegan wellness retreat (my review)

A Winter Wedding Adventure by Leonie Mack - This is the second book in the Adventure Wedding series, set in the Italian Alps, and Mother Nature plays a bit part in the story! (my review)

One Snowy Day by Shari Low - I mean it even tells you about the weather in the title! (my review)

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett - This one is set in winter in Norway! (my review)

Beartown by Fredrik Backman - It's ice hockey season in Sweden. Of course there's snow! (my review)

Blog Tour: One Snowy Day by Shari Low

 

I don't know about you but sometimes it can feel like not much happens in our lives in a day, or even a week, but for the inhabitants of the small village of Weirbridge in Scotland, that couldn't be further from the truth on 1 December.

Jessie McLean has worked hard to build up a hairdressing business in the town. She has many regular clients who have become friends, the salon has been decorated to the highest standard, and her daughter, Georgie has worked with her for years. Now, it is time for Jessie to retire and 1 December is her retirement party day, but it is something she is not looking forward to. Her husband, Stan, has decided that they are going to retire to Tenerife. Nothing but endless days of sunshine ahead with lots of golf for Stan. Jessie is trying to be excited about this move, but the reality is that she doesn't really want to go. How will she cope without seeing her daughter every day like she has for years? How will she manage without being able to see her best friends regularly?

As for Georgie, she is really pleased that she has been able to take over her mum's business. Georgie has had a tough few years after her husband left her to go and find himself. Now, her daughter has left home so Georgie is an empty nester, but her ex-husband is back and he also wants to come back to Georgie. What she hasn't told anyone is that she has had an offer to go and be an on-set hairdresser with a major Hollywood star. It's an attractive offer which would mean living in Los Angeles and other locations, and is very tempting but how can she take the job when it means closing the salon that she has just taken over from her mother permanently.

Across the road from the salon, Alyssa has poured her heart and soul into creating the Once Upon a Book cafe. The walls are lined with bookshelves filled with books that customers can read while having their coffees. Alyssa's day gets off to a terrible start when she reads a letter that has been sent to her from an estate lawyer advising her that she has 60 days to vacate her premises following the death of the owner. 

When the late owner's son Lachlan shows up to the cafe as he takes a trip down memory lane, Alyssa can't help but confront him. He doesn't really want to be in Scotland at all. He was summoned to Glasgow to hear the reading of the will. While he couldn't care less about what he might inherit from his father's estate, his brother Jason is adamant that he has to liquidate any assets immediately, and that means that Alyssa's cafe's operational days are numbered. All of this is happening on the day that she has to host Jessie's going away party and suddenly she also has to be her sister's taxi driver given how bad the weather is! No wonder she was quite antagonistic towards him.

As the day progresses, preparations continue for the party which basically the whole village is attending, lives are changed, secrets that have been kept for decades are revealed and dreams come true. The book is structured in a way that we see what is happening with each of the characters at various 2 hour blocks on this particularly momentous, and yes, snowy day. 

This is the third book I have read by Shari Low and this was another fun ensemble piece . There are a variety of characters who represent people at varying stages in life from those contemplating the golden years of retirement to those trying to start or restart their lives and with multiple different issues that they are facing. 

Shari Low seems to have a habit of populating her books with characters that have appeared in earlier books. Whilst I was familiar with some of them, like the irrepressible Moira Chiles who has appeared in the previous two books I read, there were others who I was not familiar with. I think that this is a case where there are crossover characters in multiple books but it doesn't stop you from still enjoying the story. I will be going back through Shari Low's back list at some point, and of course reading anything new she puts out in the future. 

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted at 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

One Snowy Day

On a cold winter’s day, a storm is brewing in the village of Weirbridge…

Georgie Dern has the chance to swap her empty nest for the job of a lifetime in Los Angeles. Can she chase her dream if it means letting down the woman who has given her the world?

Jessie McLean should be counting down the hours until she jets off to spend her retirement years in the sun. But when a devastating betrayal resurfaces, she has to choose between a fresh start and staying behind to settle old scores.

Alyssa Canavan has spent years building the business she adores. Now a legal letter has threatened her home and livelihood, but how does she fight a family that doesn’t give a damn?

Lachlan Morden is forced to return to Scotland to face the people who almost destroyed him. Will coming home reopen old wounds, or will a memory from the past lead him to the perfect revenge?

One snowy day, four lives, but who will have a bright new future when the snow is gone?

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

About the author 

Shari Low is the multi-million copy bestselling author of over 30 novels, including the #1 bestsellers One Day with You, One Midnight with You and One Day and Forever.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @sharilowbooks

Twitter: @ShariLow

Instagram: @sharilowbooks

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

Bookbub profile: @ShariLow

Top Ten Tuesday: Sunset colours

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Beach/Beachy Reads (Share books you’d take to the beach OR books that take place at the beach.)

I am going to twist the topic a little this week. I have read several books recently where the colours on the cover are pink, orange, yellow and red, the colours of a lovely sunset on the beach so I thought I would use this as my theme for this week. . Coincidentally these are also the colours of the Top Ten Tuesday logo. 

Love and Saffron by Kim Fay - I read this a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. I still need to read her latest book! (My review)

The Alphabet Sisters by Monica McInerney - This was the original cover when this book first came out, and which I still have now. 

Eat Your Heart Out by Victoria Brownlee - This is my most recent 5 star read, and the most recent cover with these colours. (My review)

An Italian Wedding Adventure by Leonie Mack - I do enjoy this author's books and was glad I could find a cover that worked for this post. (My review)

Happy Place by Emily Henry - In my mind a lot of Emily Henry's books would suit this theme but it turns out they really don't!

A Sunrise Over Bali by Sandy Barker - Sunrise, sunset! Oh well. The colours worked. I have read a lot of Sandy Barker's books but I still need to read this series.

The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe by Catherine Greer - Read and loved this earlier this year! Even cooked a recipe from it. (My review)

One Day and Forever by Shari Low - I am about to read my next book by this author so I needed to add her to this list. 

Happily Ever After by Jane Lovering - I have read a few books by this author now and like the way she tells her stories. (My review)

Half Truth by Nadia Mahjouri - This is the colour as it gets darker and darker! Another great read from an Australian author! (My review)

This week...

I'm reading

I feel like I am in a bit of a reading frenzy at the moment! This is mainly because I am trying to get ahead with my review reading and library due dates. I also need to take a look at my Big Books of Winter and read something off there because I am probably a book or two behind with that list!

So what did I read this week?

I absolutely devoured Eat Your Heart Out by Australian author Victoria Brownlee. I think this was a case of right book at the right time as I just couldn't put it down. It was a 5/5 read for me, and because it is set in France I reviewed it as part of Paris in July. 

On Tuesday night I went to an author event for Jessica Dettman whose latest book Your Friend and Mine was released at the beginning of July. I had a big of a gap in my reading so I read it. This one is set in London. I liked it and plan to review the book in the next couple of weeks.

I finally finished reading Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett. I liked this book too and will read the next book in the series. I think this book suffered a little bit because I kept on putting it aside to read other things. 

When I was looking at my library due dates I was thinking I still had a couple of weeks to read The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson, but it is a big book at nearly 600 pages so I have started that one.

I wanted to get all my review posts done for next week so over the weekend I prioritised reading those books. The first one I read was A Place in the Sun by Jo Thomas. This was another great read from her, and it made me want lasagne so that is what we are having for dinner tonight.

Yesterday I read One Snowy Day by Shari Low. I have only started reading Shari Low this year and I really enjoyed her book.

I did go to another author event last week and I have two coming up this week that I am looking forward to. I went to hear Lucy Sussex talk at my local library about the book she co-wrote with Megan Brown called Outrageous Fortune. It is a non-fiction book about a woman called Mary Fortune who was the first Australian crime writer. She was extremely prolific and had a long running crime series, and yet has basically been lost to history. The irony of her being a crime writer was that her son was a career criminal! It was a fascinating talk.

I'm watching


I went to the movies last week to watch Jane Austen Wrecked My Life again. I first saw it and really enjoyed it earlier this year. I wanted to write about it for Paris in July and so when I saw that it was on at the cinemas again I jumped at the opportunity to watch it again. I really enjoyed it the second time around too. I wrote about it here.

I mentioned last week that I went to the movies to see a Japanese movie called Grand Maison Paris. When I was writing my post about it for Weekend Cooking, I realised that the movie was actually a spin-off from a Netflix TV series called Grand Maison Tokyo. It features a lot of the same characters and is about a couple of Japanese chefs who want to open a French restaurant in Tokyo with the aim of being awarded three Michelin stars. I started watching the series on the weekend.

I also finished watching Gary Barlow's Wine Tour of South Africa. Over the last few weeks I have watched this series and also the one he did in Australia. They are both very easy watching, feature some amazing food and wine and some beautiful scenery.




Life

I forgot to mention last week that we went to see a musical called Here You Come Again which features the song of Dolly Parton. It was a lot of fun, and I have been hearing a lot of her songs in my head ever since. 

On Saturday we went to the National Gallery of Victoria which is an art gallery and saw the French Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston exhibition which is currently on. We then had afternoon tea in the Tea Rooms. It was a lovely outing and I will have a Paris in July post up about it on Thursday. 

We then followed that up by going to see an 80's band at a local pub. It's the first time we have been to this pub and I have to say it was so nice to be able to go out and then be home in 15 minutes. Normally, if we are in the city it is half an hour or more to get home. We will go back and see some other shows there in due course. 

The big news in my world is that I finally got a job and I start next week, which is why I am trying to cram so many books and write the reviews for them this week. When I decided to resign from my last job I did so deliberately choosing to take some time off. However, it has taken a bit longer than I would necessarily have liked to get another job! I am definitely relieved and I am really looking forward to the new role


Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Historical Fiction Novels Set in France
Paris in July: Eat Your Heart Out by Victoria Brownlee
Paris in July: Jane Austen Wrecked my Life

Paris in July: The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl
Weekend Cooking/Paris in July: Grande Maison Paris
Bestsellers Around the World: France



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

Top Ten Tuesday: Books that Feature Travel

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 Feature Travel. I've done quite a few travel themed Top Ten Tuesdays over the years. This time, I am keeping it simple and just sharing some of the recent books that I have read that feature travel in one way or another!

Let's go, or should I say, bon voyage!

An Italian Wedding Adventure by Leonie Mack - Wedding planner Sophie is asked to organise a wedding at the top of a mountain climb so she needs to travel to Italy to find the locations. The catch, her guide is her ex-boyfriend. 

Booked for Summer by Kathryn Freeman - British woman Jade Taylor goes to the island of Nantucket to run a cute bookstore for three months where she meets the owner of the resort that wants to close the store down. (My review)

One More Day of Us by Shari Low - Singer Moira Chiles spent a large part of her career working on cruise ships. This story takes us back to her first trip when she lived in Hong Kong back in the early 1990s. (My review)

A Greek Island Gift by Mandy Baggot - When Molly receives an inheritance from someone she has never heard of, she has to travel to Corfu to accept it. What is she going to do with half an apartment, half a boat and a quarter of a cat amongst other things! (My review)

Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley - This is the final book in the Seven Sisters series, and follows Pa's life as he travels all round the world.

Secret Beneath a Riviera Sky by Jennifer Bohnet - Francine travels to Cannes with her mother and daughter after her estranged father dies. (My review)

Where the Birds Calls Her Name by Claire van Ryn - The travel in this one is a bit closer to home. Saskia and her daughter drive from Broome in far north Western Australia to Tasmania as they discover who Saskia's mother is and who Saskia needs to be in the future. (My review)

The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin - Ava travels from her job as a librarian in the Library of Congress to work in Lisbon in Portugal during WWII. (My review)

The King's Messenger by Susanna Kearsley - The method of travel in this one was by ship and by horse. A group of travellers go to Scotland from London on the King's business. (My review)

White Mulberry by Rosa Kwon Easton - A young girl travels from Korea to Japan in the years prior to WWII, and then she struggles to return home. (My review)

Where did your Top Ten Tuesday take you today?

Blog Tour: One More Day of Us by Shari Low

 

It is 1990, and Moira Chiles is on an adventure. She has decided to leave Scotland and travel to Hong Kong to join a performance group where she will make her living as a singer. Whilst the bar that she performs in every day is very swanky, the accommodation where she is staying is a dump. The only thing that makes it any better are the two girls she became instant friends with and the hot reception guy who looks a lot like Michael Hutchence from INXS. Carina and Lisa are in Hong Kong for their own reasons but what they know is that they are going to be friends forever.

Fast forward to 2025 and the three of them are living very different lives. They are still in touch but it's more of an exchange of Christmas cards type of friendship than the all encompassing one they imagined they would have lived. Moira has spent her life raising her son Ollie and singing on cruise ships to make a living, Carina has moved all round the world with her very wealthy and successful husband and two daughters, and Lisa has lived a very quiet life raising her daughter, Stevie.

Moira has now retired from cruising and she decides that she wants to go back to Hong Kong and hopefully Carina and Lisa can join her so they can relive their misspent youth and maybe rekindle their friendship along the way. At first Carina was not going to join Moira in Hong Kong, but then something happens that changes her mind and she impulsively decides she will go. 

Both Moira and Carina are quite surprised when it is not Lisa who shows up but rather her lookalike daughter Stevie. The heavy partying Lisa that Moira and Carina knew back in the day is very different from the ultra conservative mother Stevie knows. Can Stevie begin to understand why her mother was so strict? Can Moira and Carina learn what happened in those last couple of months before they all went their separate ways? And what does it all mean to their future lives?

This book brought back so many memories of the 90s. I left home to move to the UK in 1993 and whilst I wasn't singing up a storm in a nightclub, there was a level of freedom associated with being so far away from home for the first time. I stayed in the UK for 5 years and I am still in contact with a couple of people and Facebook friends with a few others. I went to the UK with a suitcase and a backpack and came back with two suitcases, a backpack and a baby. That baby is now 26 years old. 

There were a lot of 90s pop culture references throughout the book, which I enjoyed finding, but really this is an ode to the endurance of the music of Fleetwood Mac, from the iconic music, to the distinct look of Stevie Nicks and so much more. 

Also we visited Hong Kong last year and I found myself reminiscing about doing things like taking the ferry across the harbour, taking the tram up to Victoria Peak and the humidity as I read this book.  Oh, the humidity.

When I said yes to being on this blog tour, I did go back and read One Day and Forever because some of the same characters appeared in both books. I have now come to understand that there are links to other books as well so it is a bit of a tangled web as far as any kind of reading order is concerned, I am a stickler for reading books in order normally,. Even though there is a crossover in characters they are completely different stories with connections but nothing to stop you from reading each book as a standalone. I hadn't read Shari Low before this year. I had looked at her books and had them on my read one day list, but I enjoyed these two books so much that I have mentally moved her backlist to the need to read it now list! And you can be sure I will be reading her future books as well. 

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 4.5/5

About the book

One More Day of Us

Would you give up your dreams for love?

1990: In a hot, humid Hong Kong summer, three young singers are loving life, performing to packed crowds every night in a swanky hotel bar. Twenty-three-year-old Scottish songbird, Moira Chiles is living the dream alongside Carina Lloyd and Lisa Dixon. They work hard, play hard, and always stick together… until one day Moira has to make a choice that changes everything.

Fast forward to…

2025: In a wet, chilly, Glasgow summer, Moira has just retired after singing in Glasgow pubs and Caribbean cruise ships for three decades. Now she’s ready for a new adventure – one that takes her to Hong Kong to revisit a world she left behind. Moira hasn’t seen Carina or Lisa for over thirty years, but will an invitation to join her on a holiday of a lifetime rekindle the friendships that changed her life? Or will stepping back in time expose secrets that could break their hearts?

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

About the Author –

Shari Low is the multi-million copy bestselling author of over 30 novels, including the #1 bestsellers One Day with You and One Midnight with You.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @sharilowbooks
Twitter: @ShariLow
Instagram: @sharilowbooks
Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/ShariLownews
Bookbub profile: @ShariLow

This week....

I'm reading

I finished reading The Rainfall Market by You Yeong-Gwang, and liked it. It was a book I picked up on a whim from the library having not heard anything about it. It has a really fun premise, is a bit fantastical and just that little bit different.

I started reading The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson. This is the current Cook the Books selection and so I will be reviewing it later this month and finding something to cook from it as well. It's not as foodie as most of the other selections are so I am not sure what I will make yet.

I read One More Day of Us by Shari Low, which I am due to review this week. I also started The House on the River by Rachel Burton which is also due for review this week. I actually have another book that I need to squeeze in before Friday but I haven't started that yet. 

A couple of weeks ago I went to an author event at my local library to see Australian author Amanda Hampson talk about her latest book, The Deadly Dispute, which is the third book in the Tea Ladies series. I just finished reading the first book in the series, called The Tea Ladies, and it was a fun tea-cosy mystery! It is set in the garment trade in 1965 so it is also a great choice for my read on a theme book club this month as the theme for that is the 60s.

On audio, I finished listening to Away with the Fairies which is the 11th book in the Phryne Fisher series by Kerry Greenwood. I hadn't actually read any of the series for many years, but it didn't take me long to get back into that world! I then started listening to Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry. Is there a more perfect author/narrator combination than Emily Henry and Julia Whelan? I'm not sure there is!

I did also go to one author event last week. I drove to a small country town called Gisborne which is about 40 minutes away from me to hear Natasha Lester talk about her new book, The Madamoiselle Alliance which is based on a real person. What a woman! I was ready to drop anything and just start reading that book straight away. I will read it next week as it is one of the book club selection for the readers retreat I am going to in a couple of weeks.

I did share my April highlights on Instagram which were the books below. There are reviews for three of them up on the blog already, and a fourth will be up this weekend. These are the books I rated as 4.5 or 5 star reads with Pictures of You being the 5 star read for this month.

I'm watching


Masterchef Australia is back! Yay! This is a show that my husband and I enjoy watching together. This year it is a Back To Win series, meaning that all of the contestants have been on the show once or twice before but never won! I think I would prefer a show with new contestants but this will still be good.

I watched the first three episodes of a new show called The Secret DNA of Us. The idea is that a couple of hundred people from a town all come together and get DNA tested and then they come back together once the results are in and talk about what connects them. In some cases they find out that they might be fourth cousins, or that at some point they had an ancestor from a part of the world they had no idea about. There is also a reporter who is a researcher and she has come up with some very interesting stories to connect the DNA results with history. It's my kind of show!

I need to say thank you to Erin from Still Life, with Cracker Crumb and Lisa from Boondock Ramblings who are hosting the Springtime in Paris movie event. I have been meaning to watch the French movie The Intouchables starring Omar Sy for the longest time and I never quite got around to it! It was this week's selection for the event, and I loved it!

The Intouchables is about a young unemployed man named Driss who just needs someone to sign his paper to say that he attended for a job interview and was unsuccessful so he can get his unemployment benefit. The job is to look after a man named Philippe who is a quadriplegic. No one is more surprised than Driss is when he is offered a trial period. Philippe is an aristocrat who lives in an amazing house in Paris, Driss grew up in the projects. Philippe loves classical music and expensive art. Driss grew up living off his wits and getting by however he could. What sets Driss apart from everyone else is that he doesn't see Philippe as just a quadriplegic man, he sees him as a man. A man who used to love extreme sports, a man who now has an accessible van to move around in but has a very expensive, fast car just sitting in the driveway.

The movie is a touching look at care and compassion and about seeing the best in each other, and it is even more touching given that it is based on a true story I am so pleased to have watched it now. 

Here's the trailer

The last movie for the event is Charade which I hope to watch this week.

Life

I went to aqua class for the first time in forever last week. In fact, I went twice and I am going again this morning. It's a friendly enough group, who clearly have all known each other for a long time. The first class I did I was thinking that it wasn't really pushing me, until later that day when I could definitely feel it in my legs. 

On Wednesday night we went to see German composer Hans Zimmer live in concert. My husband loves listening to movie soundtracks while he is working and Hans Zimmer is one of his favourites so this was his birthday present! It was a really good show, different to what I was expecting really. I wasn't familiar with everything but I still enjoyed the show. There was music from movies like Gladiator, Inception, Dune and much more. The highlight for me was music from The Lion King.

On Saturday it was our federal election. In Australia it is compulsory to vote, or should I say it is compulsory to turn up to the polling station and get your name crossed of. If you are lucky, your polling station will have a barbecue set up where you by what is known as a democracy sausage. It is a sausage in white bread, sometimes with onion, and with the sauce of your choice. Australians do get excited about the democracy sausage on election day. My polling station doesn't have a barbecue. I think we are going to have to find one that does for the next election.


Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with the Word Cafe in the Title
Blog Tour: The House of Lost Whispers by Jenni Keer
Blog Tour: A Greek Island Gift by Mandy Baggot
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - May Links
The King's Messenger by Susanna Kearsley
Where the Birds Call Her Name by Claire van Ryn
Weekend Cooking: In My Kitchen - April
Six Degrees of Separation: Rapture to The Swan Maiden



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