July 2023 Book Reviews

July 2023 Book Reviews is part of the #What’sonyourBookshelfchallenge

Hello Everybody, welcome to my July 2023 Book Reviews. 

Well, it’s been a little while since my last book reviews post hasn’t it?

I was caught up with my son’s Year 12 end of term mayhem, then I was getting ready for our holiday and then I was away on holiday!  

It’s quite scary how quickly the time can pass.  Anyhow, I’m back and trying to get motivated into my usual routines.

Because of the long break from blogging I have a fair bit of book news to share but I think I will spread it over the next two book reviews to save overwhelming you!.  

So, here are my July 2023 book reviews: 

First up: Author talks

Kate Morton – Homecoming

Before life got busy I attended the Brisbane Literary Festival to hear Kate Morton talking about her latest book Homecoming.  I’ve yet to get myself a copy but I always love her books, so I’m sure I will not be disappointed.

OMG – She is an incredibly glamorous author!  I think I just might have a girl crush on her, well definitely on her yellow shoulder bag and sandals!

As I live in the hinterland mountains, across from Mount Tamborine, I loved hearing about her childhood growing up there.  Her mum was an antiques dealer, so she had endless dress up options and interesting objects to nurture her love of history. 

She also said she was an avid reader from a young age and loved her library bag!  This reminded me of my school library bag – I think at one stage I made my own and embroidered my name and own designs on it.    Did you have a school library bag?

She also described her writing process, saying that she first works out a rough plan for her story.  She always knows where she wants the story to go and how she wants the final book to look and feel, but it takes a lot of hard work getting the structure and ideas into place to achieve that.  Once she has her first draft though, she feels it’s much more fun going through the editing process, adding in all the finishing touches. 

In my mind, I felt it was probably like my bathroom creation process (you can read my creation post here).  You start off with the initial design and ideas that you want to achieve, then you have to go through all the pain of destroying the bathroom, ripping stuff out and rebuilding it until you get to a point where you have a bathroom again.  Then the fun bit starts when you can begin styling and making it look pretty. 

Josephine Moon – The wonderful thing about Phoenix Rose

This was an Australian author talk at my local library.  I haven’t read any of Josephine’s books yet but have added them to my list.

The book blurb describes her latest book as being about a burnt out 35 year old neurodivigent teacher, Rose,  who is at a crossroads in her life.  When her friend sends her a desperate plea to rehome her animals from Tasmania, Rose finds herself on a road trip across Australia back to Brisbane with an animal menagerie in tow.   This book is a warm funny story about different outlooks on life, friendship and relationships.

From the questions asked, it would appear Josephine includes lots of food references in her books, which will make her stories even more appealing to me.  I also loved the assistance dog who joined her on the stage!

Failed talk – Candice Fox

I was booked to attend another local library talk with the number one crime writer, Candice Fox (I recently reviewed one of her books here)  I was really looking forward to the talk but on the night my son was sick and I was just not feeling motivated to go out into the dark, cold, rainy night.  I knew I would regret not going but I just decided that no, I should listen to my body and rest instead.  Hopefully, I will make it to one of her next tours.

Finally, I saw this photo on instagram and fell in love with it.

Would you like a bed like this?

Thanks to the following bloggers for allowing me to take part in the #Whatsonyourbookshelf challenge.

Deb from Deb’s World

Jo from AndAnyways

Donna from Retirement Reflections

Sue from Women Living Well after 50

Please follow the link here to check out the other book reviews in this challenge.

Switzerland – Rick Steves (travel guide)

In the months before our holiday, I was dipping into this travel guide from my library to get ideas of places to visit in Switzerland.

Whilst the internet provides a multitude of information from blog posts to videos, I still find a good old fashion travel guide book easier to navigate.  How about you?

Bitter Greens – Kate Forsyth (fiction)

The Beast’s Garden – Kate Forsyth (fiction)

This book was much more engrossing.  It’s a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story but very subtly (that’s a hard word to spell when you start thinking about it!) 

Set in Germany August 1939, Ava’s world is in turmoil.  Her family are best friends with a Jewish family who are soon attacked and deported to concentration camps by the Nazis. At the same time Ava finds herself attracted to a young Nazi officer but she hates and fears the Nazi regime and what he stands for.  When the Nazi regime threatens to torture and send her father to the concentration camps, she agrees to marry the Nazi officer in the hope that he can help protect her family.  Leo von Lowenstein,  works for Hitler’s spy chief in Berlin and appears to be an integral part of the Nazi regime.

Although Ava loves her husband, she cannot stand the Nazi’s and behind his back, joins the resistance to help victims of the German war machine.  However, Ava slowly discovers that Leo is not all that he appears either and they find themselves fighting for their lives and freedom.

Whilst this was a really enjoyable book, it did bring home the terror of Nazi Germany – how you could trust no one, how anyone might betray you to protect their own interest.  My heart cried for all the people, particularly the Jewish population that were sent to the concentration camps.  This book is an important reminder of why we must never allow the loss of freedom of speech, learning and tolerance to be undermined.

(P.s. I could only find this book in my library in large print (my husband teased me mercilessly) so I don’t know if it had been formatted correctly but it did seem to jump into different scenes without a clear break.  This did disrupt the reading flow a little).

After the Flood – Christie Adams (fiction)

This was a quick short story which was being offered as an ebook freebie by the UK author Christie Adams.

Set in Sheffield, Yorkshire, UK, after a post apocalyptic catastrophe which flooded vast areas of the land, Ray and his family struggle to survive and find a new home for themselves.

Whilst this was a well written and entertaining story, it did remind me why I don’t really like dystopian stories – they always seem a little depressing, especially if they appear to be a realistic possibility. I think I’m more of a happy ending type of gal!

Big Magic – Elizabeth Gilbert (non-fiction)

Written by Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Prey Love fame this book digs into what makes us creative  and why it’s important for humans.  It also analyses  how we can develop our creativity.

This was a super easy read, and I found lots of quotes that really resonated with me.  I shall write a more in-depth review of this book at the end of the month for my word of the year/create blog post series.

The Sentence is Death – Anthony Horowitz (fiction)

Blood Fever – Charlie Higson (fiction/audio book)

Whilst on holiday, I downloaded this audio book for the kids to listen to on the long drives between our destinations.

James Bond is back at Eton, and to relieve the boredom of rules and regulations he and a group of boys take part in the risk taking Danger Society.  One night whilst evading capture from the teachers, Bond overhears some suspicious characters talking in Latin.  As the summer holidays approach, Bond looks forward to spending time on a school trip to Sardinia and time at his cousin Victor’s house.  But nothing is as it seems, and James soon finds himself mixed up in a fight to save a young girl’s life against enemies more ruthless than he could every imagine.

Well, that’s it for this month.  Drop me a comment below, and do let me know what you’ve been reading this month. I love hearing about good books!

If you missed my last book review you can catch up here