Love and other secrets by Sarah Challis

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Genre - Family


Nothing can really prepare you for the terrible anxiety and overwhelming fatigue of having a baby. Florence is a first time mother at 35 and her carefully planned life is about to be rudely interrupted in ways she has never imagined. This pregnancy brings also back memories of her own birth for her mother Jane. Florence has never understood the reality of her mother’s life as an unmarried 18 year old struggling to keep her baby in the tumultuous 1960’s. Old resentments are stirred up and secrets are revealed with the birth of this new baby and ultimately the two women are brought closer together.

---- Reviewed by Sue, Knox

Sunshine on Sugar Hill by Angela Gilltrap

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Genre - Biography


Once upon a time, an Australian girl moved to Harlem. This is the true story of ABC “Strictly Dancing” presenter, Angela Gilltrap who grew up in sunny Queensland, shared a flat at beautiful Bondi Beach and chose to live on Sugar Hill in Harlem. Angela fell in love with an African American and went to live in his sixth floor apartment on one of the noisiest streets in Manhattan. She describes her adventures as the only white woman living in this part of the city with humour and tries to explain her attachment to her new home. I especially enjoyed the contrasts with life in Australia … “the trees, the silence, the absence of guys hanging out on my block”.

---- Reviewed by Sue, Knox

While my sister sleeps by Barbara Delinsky

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Genre - Family saga


The latest book by this prolific author poses an ethical dilemma for the Snow family. Robin Snow is an Olympic level long distance runner who suffers a heart attack whilst out running one day. When it is determined she has suffered permanent brain damage from a lack of oxygen, the rest of her family deal with the tragedy in different ways. Molly has always lived in Robin’s shadow and feels terribly guilty that she wasn’t with her older sister when she collapsed. Her mother Kathryn wants to believe Robin will survive this prognosis, whilst Charlie is a strong silent supporter and her brother Chris is distracted by his own relationship problems. Family secrets are revealed as they struggle to find out what Robin would have wanted. They have to decide how much to tell her friends and supporters and reach a decision on the ethics of life support. A thought provoking novel.

---- Reviewed by Sue, Knox

True Colors by Kristin Hannah

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Genre - Family saga

There are three Grey sisters, Winona, Aurora and Vivi Ann raised by their stern and distant father, Henry, following the early death of their mother. As adults they still live in a close ranching community where the reputation of their family is very important and the domestic details of their lives becomes the subject of town gossip. A rift develops between the sisters when Winona and Vivi Ann seem to be in love with the same man whilst Aurora is struggling with the reality of her own failing marriage. True love rarely runs smooth and even when Vivi Ann finally finds her true soul mate in ranch hand Dallas Raintree their happiness is destroyed by small town prejudices. This is an emotional story with strong female characters who reveal a range of family values. They represent a real combination of the love and support as well as jealousy and betrayal that can exist between sisters.

---- Reviewed by Sue, Knox

Dark mirror by Barry Maitland

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Genre - Mystery


Marion Summers dies a painful death in the London Library. The autopsy reveals that she died of arsenic poisoning, a method of murder more suited to the murky 19th century world of the Pre-Raphaelite painters & poets she was researching. Detectives Brock & Kolla investigate secretive Marion’s background & discover that her research may have been the reason she was killed. Did her discoveries threaten the career of her academic supervisor? Or was it the fellow researcher who had been following her, taking photos on his mobile phone? Or her mysterious lover, who may have been the father of the child she lost just weeks before her death? This is a complex mystery with fascinating literary & historical elements. Brock & Kolla are sympathetic characters & it’s always good to catch up with them again.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

Love letters by Katie Fforde

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Genre - Romance


Shy Laura is about to lose her dream job in a bookshop where she’s been responsible for organizing successful author events & bookclubs. She finds herself agreeing to help run a new literary festival at the stately home of Fenella & Rupert. When she reveals her admiration for the writing of reclusive Irish novelist, Dermot Flynn, she finds herself on the way to Ireland to convince him to appear at the festival. This is a lovely romantic comedy about first love, literature & friendship. Dermot is an engagingly scruffy, sexy hero & there’s a lot of humour in Laura & Dermot’s growing relationship.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

Hater by David Moody

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Read more reviews at NoveList

Genre - Horror

It’s just another typical day, you are on your way to work when the person walking next to turns and murders an old woman in front of you, out of the blue, for no reason at all, what would you do? What would you think?

This is just the start of David Moody's Hater. An intriguing novel, I found it strangely fascinating even if I was not absorbed by the story, I kept reading because I needed to know why people were committing these seemingly random acts of violence towards strangers as well as loved ones.

With recommendations from the directors of the Orphanage and Pan's Labyrinth.I would not be surprised if this is turned into a movie.

I can recommend this novel if you are looking for something different to read.

'Kill or be killed. Hate or be hated.'

---- Reviewed by Megan, Knox