Category: Self Discovery

Recent Reads: Ghosts by Dolly Alderton

Posted on by Pam

My review:?????

Ghosts by Dolly Alderton is about relationships.  Nina is a food writer, has a column in a paper, published one part cook book part memoir, and has her second book coming out soon.  She has good friends, loves her dad and has an ok relationship with her mother.  And then she meets Max on a dating app, and they hit it off.

But, life isn’t all that it seems.  Nina feels disconnected with her oldest friend.  Her father has been diagnosed with dementia, and it’s showing.  Her mother seems obsessed with socialising, and groups that alliterate. 

This is a powerful read, with relationships of all sorts examined.  There are moments of joy, confusion, horror and sadness.  It’s a very good book, and one that makes you think about 

Ghosts by Dolly Alderton was published on 15th October 2020, and you can buy it from Amazon, Waterstones and your local independent bookshop.

You can follow Dolly Alderton on Twitter, Instagram and her website.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley, and to Fig Tree, Penguin.

Recent Reads: Wintering by Katherine May

Posted on by Pam

My rating: ?????

Wintering, How I learned to flourish when life became frozen, is a book that I read a little while ago, and only now, whilst writing the review in this time of Coronavirus, do I realise how needed this book is.

It’s about accepting that at times you need to withdraw, and that you can’t do everything with enthusiasm and bounce.  That at times you need to take time for you.

Katherine May discovers Wintering when she is ill, her husband is seriously ill, and when both of them are getting better, her son hates school, and she decides to home school him.

It was an enjoyable read when I was reading it just in the winter, and thinking about the idea of having time to recuperate, and not be angry at yourself for not being able to do everything.

And then Coronavirus has happened, and the world is mostly in lock down.  

This book looks at going into wintering, but also coming out of it.  There is hope, and there is certainty that things will get better.

Wintering was published on 6th February 2020 and is available on Amazon and Waterstones, and through your local bookshop!

You can following Katherine May on Twitter and through her website.

If you’re interested in self help books, then here’s some others that I’ve reviewed:

The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo ????

An Edited Life by Anna Newton ????

Hinch Yourself Happy by Mrs Hinch ????

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

Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

 

Recent Reads: Five French Hens by Judy Leigh

Posted on by Pam

My review: ????

This cover is quite mis-leading, as it makes it look like it’s a Christmas book, and there isn’t a single scene that is set at Christmas time. It starts in February, and ends a few months later.

Five French Hens is about five ladies in their 70s discovering that life isn’t over.

Jen is 73, and just engaged to Eddie, who has decided to go on a stag do with his son to Las Vegas.  Jen, and her friends decide they want to go to Paris, and so off the go!

Rose, a widow who teaches piano, Pam, who loves her dog and isn’t interested in a relationship with anyone, Tess who is boisterous but has a husband who loves golf, and finds her embarrassing, and Della, whose only problem is money, and who is very much in love with her husband even after all these years.

I really enjoyed this book, even if in the back of my mind I was wondering about when Christmas would fit in!

Five French Hens was published on 5th December 2019,  and is available to buy on Amazon  and on Waterstones.  I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!


You can follow Judy Leigh on Twitter, or through her website.

If you’re interested in other books where age is just a number books, then have a read of:

Mr Double Begins Again by Seni Glaister ????

One Summer in Paris by Sarah Morgan ????


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

Recent Reads: The Confession by Jessie Burton

Posted on by Pam

My review: ?????

The Confession by Jessie Burton tells two stories.  One is set in 1980, where Elise meets Connie, a successful writer, and follows her to Los Angeles.  The other story is set in 2017, where we follow Rose, who is trying to find out why her mother abandoned her and her father.  

Rose’s journey in to the past leads her to take on a false name, with a false past, and start working for Connie as an assistant.

I really enjoyed The Confession, and wanted to find out the answers that Rose was searching for, and understand what happened.  It wraps up well, and I thought the characters were great!

Jessie Burton is the author of The Miniaturist, which had great success, and was turned into a TV series, and The Muse, which I think I need to read now!

The Confession was published on 19th September 2019,  and is available to buy on Amazon  and on Waterstones.  Waterstones has signed editions!  I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

You can follow Jessie Burton on Instagram, or through her website.

If you’re interested in a self discovery book with the same kind of feel, then I’d suggest City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert.


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

Recent Reads: Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Posted on by Pam

 My review: ?????

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi is a quick little book, which is set in a cafe where there is one seat that if you sit in, and drink coffee, you’ll be able to travel in time.  But, you have to drink the coffee before it gets cold, or you won’t return!

The book has four stories in it, and you see different people coming in to time travel.  It’s a science fiction book as it has time travel, but that is the limit of the sci-fi!  It is telling you about the people, their lives, and how the time travel affects them.

I really enjoyed this book. It was light, and refreshingly different as it was written in Japanese, and released in Japan first, and has now been translated.

Before The Coffee Gets Cold was published on 19th September 2019,  and is available to buy on Amazon  and on Waterstones.  I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

You can follow Toshikazu Kawaguchi on Goodreads.  I’m afraid I couldn’t find their website, or social media!

If you’re interested in self discovery books, then here’s some others I’ve reviewed:

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

Recent Reads: What She Found in the Woods by Josephine Angelini

Posted on by Pam

My review: ????

What She Found in the Woods by Josephine Angelini is about Madga, a teenage girl from New York, who has caused problems in her old life, and has come to live with her grandparents, somewhere she hasn’t been for a couple of years, but where she used to summer every year, so there are other teens in the area that her grandparents fish up for her to socialise with again.

You find out more about Magda as you read the book, but you start out with a young woman who needs to take pills, and talks about guilt.  She starts to take walks in the woods near her grandparents house, and one day meets a guy, Bo, who tells her his family lives in the woods.

Magda is keeping his secret, trying to act like a normal college age teen, whilst knowing she won’t be accepted by any college, so she starts volunteering at a woman’s refuge in the town, with some of her friends. 

This was a thrill ride, as you learn more about Magda, Bo, the woman’s refuge, and someone called Dr Goodnight.  It is a book written for teens, but that just means all of the emotions come across more intensely, which really works for a thriller.

What She Found in the Woods was published on 25th July 2019,  and is available to buy on Amazon  and on Waterstones.  I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

You can follow Josephine Angelini on Twitter, or through her website.


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

Recent Reads: City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

Posted on by Pam

My review: ?????

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert is mostly set in 1940s New York, from the point of view of Vivian Morris, then a 19 year old, good at sewing, but we are told her story by 95 year old Vivian, set in the present day.

Vivian has had a boring upbringing, and is ready for adventure, so when she can go and live with her Aunt Peg, who owns a rundown theatre, in a run down part of New York, she is thrilled.  When they discover that she can sew, they make her the seamstress, and she is surrounded by the glamorous people of the theatre, and is soon going out on the town with them.

This was a very evocative story, with the characters enjoyable, and flawed.  I really enjoyed reading Vivian’s life story, even if there were moments when you wanted to reach into the book and shake her.

This was the first fiction book that I’ve read by Elizabeth Gilbert, but I have previously really enjoyed a couple of her non-fiction books; Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, and the famous Eat, Pray, Love (I also really liked the film with Julia Roberts!).

City of Girls was published on 4th June 2019,  and is available to buy on Amazon  and on Waterstones.  I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!


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

Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

Recent Reads: One Summer in Paris by Sarah Morgan shows you two journeys of self discovery and love

Posted on by Pam

My review: ????

One Summer in Paris by Sarah Morgan is about two women who discover themselves again.  Grace and Audrey end up living in the same building, and spend a lot of time together, pushing each other out of their comfort zones.

Grace is in Paris for an amazing holiday that she planned for her and her husbands 25th wedding anniversary, but learns that her husband is leaving her.

Audrey, who is 18, leaves her alcoholic mother with her new husband, and goes to Paris, where she doesn’t speak French, just so she can escape her life.

The impact these two have on each other, and how their lives change was lovely, and very heartwarming.  If you like feel good books, you’ll enjoy this!

Sarah Morgan is described as an USA Today and Sunday Times bestselling author on her GoodReads profile.  She has written quite a few romance novels! 

One Summer in Paris was published on 4th April 2019,  and is available on Amazon and on Waterstones.  I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!


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!