Month: March 2019

Recent Reads: Mr Doubler Begins Again by Seni Glaister

Posted on by Pam

My review: ????

Mr Doubler is Begins Again is about an older man, very set in his ways, and who hasn’t left his potato farm for many years.  He spends his days working on the farm, and every lunch is spent talking to his cleaner.

But, life changes when his cleaner is too ill to work, and he finds himself becoming more interested in things outside of his farm for the first time in a long time.

I read a comment about enjoying this is if you enjoyed Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, and I agree, it is the same kind of journey that our protagonist goes on, with the kindness of others to help them to get more out of life.

It was a very charming book, and one that made me think of the film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, (which I’ve just discovered is a book, so another for the to be read pile!).

Mr Doubler Begins Again was published on 24th January this year, and is available on Amazon, and everywhere else you can find books!

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to HQ (the publishers) for this book.
Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

Recent Reads: The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary

Posted on by Pam
My review: ?????

Oh, this was a glorious book!  A wonderful tale of how 2 people are not going to meet, even though they share the same bed.

Tiffy is trying to move on from her ex, whose apartment she is still staying in, and Leon is trying to get more money together to help his brother.  Neither of them really want to do this, and Leon’s girlfriend, Kay, really isn’t pleased.  But, it’s not as if they’ll ever meet.  Leon works nights, and is to spend the weekends at Kay’s.  

This isn’t always a light book (see below for the warning!) but it is a very enjoyable one, and sweeps you along in the action.  Tiffy and Leon have very different voices, which drives home how different they are, and saves you from getting confused which one you are reading!  

Be warned, some might find the emotional abuse described upsetting, and one of the characters has PTSD.  This is the first book that I’ve reviewed on my blog that I’ve felt needs a warning, but that’s just because it’s being described as uplifting, joyous and so on, which it is, but not always.


With that warning given, this is a book I’m going to be recommending to every one to read, and is one that is going to do well!  So what are you waiting for?  Go and pre-order it from your favourite bookshop, or pre-order it to your device!

The Flat Share is out on 18th April this year, and is available on Amazon to preorder, and everywhere else you can find books!

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Quercus (the publishers) for this book.
Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

Recent Reads: A Well-Behaved Woman by Therese Anne Fowler

Posted on by Pam

My review: ?????

A Well-Behaved Woman is a fictionalised version of the events of Alva Vanderbilt’s life, from her humble beginnings, her marriage to William Vanderbilt, to her support of Suffragettes.

It was amazing how many houses I wanted to look at when reading this, as Therese Anne Fowler describes the buildings so well, and I kept wanting to see what they looked like today!  Sadly, the ones in New York don’t survive, but still lovely to look at online!

I did also look up characters on Wikipedia, and was interested in how Alva’s daughter Consuelo wrote about her mother in her autobiography, The Glitter and the Gold, and yes, I want to read that now!  

All in all, this was a really enjoyable read, and made me interested in American history!

This was written by the same person who wrote Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, which Amazon then made into a series called Z: The Beginning of Everything, starring Christina Ricci, and having read A Well-Behaved Woman, I now want to read Z!

A Well-Behaved Woman was published on 24th January this year, and is available on Amazon, and everywhere else you can find books!

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to John Murray Press (the publishers) for this book.
Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

Recent Reads: The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins

Posted on by Pam

My review: ????

The Confessions of Frannie Langton is set in 1826, with Frannie Langton, a servant, is standing trial, charged with murdering her employers.  This book is her writing to her barrister, telling him her life story, with occasional cross examinations of witnesses during the trial thrown in.

She tells us her story; born a slave in Jamaica, she is Mr Langton’s property, and so when he decides to take her to Britain with him, she has no choice but to follow.  We see her starting a new life in Britain, and the relationships she has with her master, her mistress, and fellow servants.  And we see her in love with her mistress, how that love is returned, and how she can’t remember what happened that fateful night, when she was found sleeping next to the dead body of her mistress.

With settings like the sugar plantation in Jamaica, to a gentleman’s home in Britain, this is all rife with discussions of slavery, racism, and opium, which you see all through the eyes of Frannie.

I thought this was a compelling story, with Frannie as a fascinating character.  I wanted to know what had happened, and wasn’t disappointed.  I would recommend this if you enjoy crime novels, and historical fiction!


The Confessions of Frannie Langton is out on 4th April 2019, and will be available on Amazon, and everywhere else you can find books!

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Book UK (the publishers) for this book.

Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

Recent Reads: The Wolf and the Watchman by Niklas Natt och Dag

Posted on by Pam

My review: ????

Nordic noir is a genre that I think of as being present day, but Niklas Natt och Dag has shaken that for me with The Wolf and the Watchman.  

Set mostly in 1793 in Stockholm, this is the investigation into a hideous discovery of a mutilated body in the water that sets watchman Mickel Cardell reluctantly off on an investigation with Cecile Winge, a lawyer and now a consultant for the police, dying of consumption.

We get flashes of the French revolution, and of Cardell’s career in battle, when he lost his hand and his friends.  We are shown the seedy underside of Stockholm, and of the people who prey off of each other.

This is quite a graphic book, and looks at how Cardell deals with his life after battle through alcohol and violence.  It shows Winge’s choices about how he is going to die, not in his home with his wife, but in a boarding house.  It also looks at what lengths people can go to for revenge, and the joy of hurting others.

Definitely not a cosy crime novel, but, yes, nordic noir with a horror edge.  It is a book that will make you keep turning the pages, and you’ll be taken for a great ride!

The Wolf and the Watchman was published on 7th February this year, and is available on Amazon, and everywhere else you can find books!

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to John Murray Press (the publishers) for this book.

Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

Recent Reads: Golden State by Ben H. Winters

Posted on by Pam

My review: ?????

We are in the Golden State, where everyone speaks the truth, records their daily activities, and are monitored everywhere.  

But this is a good thing, because we tell each other facts as a form of greeting.  There are Speculators, those with the power to sense a lie, and Lazlo Ratesic is one of these.  He’s been a Speculator for 10 years, and always worked alone.

Until today, when he is assigned Aysa Paige to mentor.  She has an even greater gift for lies.  She can sense when objects are wrong or missing, and this skill helps with the case that they are sent out on.

This was a very well crafted world, where all of this monitoring is justified at all times, and talked about in such a positive way that you can see the brain washing that has been carried out on the inhabitants of the Golden State, which is set in California.

This is a post apocalyptic tale, with you only finding out this at the very end of the book, but isn’t something that impacts the tale.

I really enjoyed this book, and would thoroughly recommend it.  It would be classified as sci-fi for the lie detection powers, and because it’s post apocalyptic.

Golden State is out now, and is available on Amazon, and everywhere else you can find books!  It was published on 24th January this year.

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Random House, and Cornerstone (the publishers) for this book.
Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!