Hobbies and Crafts

2 books as usual please.

Review 14 November.

Hello

My two suggestions are

The Child Garden
by Catriona McPherson

Eden was its name. "An alternative school for happy children." But it closed in disgrace after a student's suicide. Now it's a care home, its grounds neglected and overgrown. Gloria Harkness is its only neighbor, staying close to her son who lives there in the home, lighting up her life and breaking her heart each day.

When a childhood friend turns up at her door, Gloria doesn't hesitate before asking him in. He claims a girl from Eden is stalking him and has goaded him into meeting her at the site of the suicide. Only then, the dead begin to speak—it was murder, they say.

Gloria is in over her head before she can help it. Her loneliness, her loyalty, and her all-consuming love for her son lead her into the heart of a dark secret that threatens everything she lives for.

I did note that there is another book of the same title by a different author on the above book

Book 2 is
The Secret
by Kathryn Hughes


Mary has been nursing a secret. Forty years ago, she made a choice that would change her world for ever, and alter the path of someone she holds dear.

Beth is searching for answers. She has never known the truth about her parentage, but finding out could be the lifeline her sick child so desperately needs. When Beth finds a faded newspaper cutting amongst her mother's things, she realises the key to her son's future lies in her own past. She must go back to where it all began to unlock...The Secret.

I wont be around tomorrow from 2 till 9 if the vote is then, either vote without me or i be back at 9 tomorrow eve

Anne

The Windermere Witness by Rebecca Tope
Following a personal tragedy, florist Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown has moved to the beautiful region of The Lake District, content to lose herself in her work. But the peace she has found is shattered when, st the wedding of a millionaire's daughter, the bride's brother is found dead in the lake

As the wedding florist, and one of the last people to talk to Mark Baxter alive, Simmy becomes involved with the grief-ridden and angry relatives. And when events take another sinister turn, Simmy becomes a prime witness, finding herself at the heart of a murder investigation. The chief suspects are all intimidating, volatile and secretive - but which one is a killer?

A Reason to Kill by Michael Kerr
Book 1 in the DI Matt Barnes Series.

Detective Inspector Matt Barnes is a cop dedicated to his job at the expense of all else. He and his team are protecting the star witness in the upcoming trial of gangland boss, Frank Santini.

All aspects of Matt’s life are altered forever when Santini hires a contract killer, Gary Noon, to hit the safe house. Only Matt survives the onslaught of an inventive and sadistic killer, but is left seriously wounded.

The subsequent search for Noon is both a personal and professional challenge, during which Matt is aided by Criminal Psychologist Dr. Beth Holder, who is brought in to build a profile on Noon.

The man they seek comes to consider Matt a threat to his continued wellbeing, and determines to eliminate him.

As Matt and Beth’s relationship flourishes, more people die at Noon’s hand, and events conspire to bring the cop and killer ever closer to a deadly showdown.

With an unknown enemy within New Scotland Yard, Santini’s goons hunting for him, and a second imported hitman also on his trail, Matt knows that the odds against him surviving by outmanoeuvring the various factions are at best slim.
Noon is the personification of evil; a psychopath using violence and cruelty to feed his sadistic needs. He considers himself a hunter: his fellow man, and especially Matt Barnes, the prey.

Sorry Ann, only just got in, will post tomorrow.

From Persie

Jumping to Conclusions by Sarah Challis.

Point-to-point jockey Jess Haddon has maintained a resolute silence about the identity of the father of her little daughter, Izzy. But that hasn't stopped the rumours swirling around their small Dorset village. Izzy's adoring grandmother Belinda is not the only one who believes Jess must have had a fling with charming Johnnie Bearsden before he moved to America with his family.

Belinda is certain Jess's secret cannot be kept for ever. And when she discovers Johnnie is back in the area, she knows everything is about to change. Sooner or later the story must break, and when it does, there will surely be terrible consequences.


Ten Days by Gillian Slovo

It's 4 a.m. and dawn is about to break over the Lovelace estate.
Cathy Mason drags herself out of bed as she swelters in her overheated bedroom - the council still haven't turned the radiators off despite temperatures reaching the 30s.
In a kitchen across London, Home Secretary Peter Whiteley enjoys the tea that his security detail left for him before he joins his driver and heads to Parliament, whilst his new police chief, Joshua Yares, clears his head for his first day with a run.

All three will have reasons to recollect this morning as their lives collide over ten days they will never forget.
Ten Days takes an unflinching look at how lives are ruined and careers are made when small misjudgements have profound effects on frustrated communities and damaged individuals. Gillian Slovo's game-changing novel about political expediency and personal disenfranchisement is as page-turning as it is culturally significant.

The Darkest Hour Barbara Erskine


In the summer of 1940, eyes are focussed on the skies above the South of England: the Battle for Britain has just begun. But Evie Lucas has eyes for no-one but a dashing young pilot called Tony. Evie has a glittering career as an artist ahead of her but seems only to be fascinated in sketching portraits of him…

Seventy years later, recently widowed art historian Lucy is putting the pieces of her life back together, and to do that she needs to uncover the mystery surrounding a painting in her home. As Lucy ties up the loose ends of one lifetime, she stirs up a hornet’s nest of history in another. Suddenly, Lucy finds herself in danger from people past and present who have no intention of letting an untold truth ever surface.

Some stories are buried in the darkness forever. Some are just waiting to be told…




The Secret Wife Gill Paul
1914

Russia is on the brink of collapse, and the Romanov family faces a terrifyingly uncertain future. Grand Duchess Tatiana has fallen in love with cavalry officer Dmitri, but events take a catastrophic turn, placing their romance – and their lives – in danger . . .

2016

Kitty Fisher escapes to her great-grandfather’s remote cabin in America, after a devastating revelation makes her flee London. There, on the shores of Lake Akanabee, she discovers the spectacular jewelled pendant that will lead her to a long-buried family secret . . .

The Gordonston Ladies Dog Walking Club
by Duncan Whitehead

Little is what it seems to be in a leafy Savannah neighborhood as members of an afternoon cocktail and dog walking club mourn a neighbor’s death. Jealousies surface when friends vie for the widower running for mayor. An old woman with an infamous uncle plots to avenge a wrong. Memories haunt a once successful children’s writer. And a model has won the trip of a lifetime.
But a killer lurks and secrets unfold, as does a web of deceit. Is anyone really who he or she seems to be? A mysterious South American, a young Italian count, and a charitable nephew add suspicion and intrigue, as do an enigmatic organization linked to organized crime, a handsome firefighter, and three widows with hidden agendas. What’s a retired accountant’s secret, and why did a former showgirl really have plastic surgery?
The plot thickens, the Georgia temperature rises, and someone is destined for an early unmarked grave. The truth contorts to a climax that leaves readers breathless.

Hour of need by Melinda Leigh

While fighting in Afghanistan, Major Grant Barrett receives devastating news: his brother and sister-in-law have been murdered in Scarlet Falls, the sleepy suburb of Grant’s youth. Emotionally scarred from war, the career soldier returns home on emergency leave to temporarily care for his orphaned nephew and niece. But when someone tries to kidnap the kids and their teenage babysitter, Grant knows it’s not a random act…and neither were the murders.
Already devastated by her neighbors’ violent deaths, Ellie Ross is shattered by the attempted abduction of her teenage daughter so she desperately turns to Grant for help. As they navigate a deadly search for the truth, they struggle with growing feelings for each other and Grant’s impending return to Afghanistan.
But time is running out. The killer is growing bolder by the hour, and Ellie and Grant must find him before the children become his next victims.

I have sent Tess a message so hopefully she will respond soon. If she has not responded by tomorrow, that will be two days after the review date so we will go on without her, assuming she is away or has pc problems. I hope she is ok though.

Have just responded to Ann's message. I won't be joining in the suggestions (and therefore the voting) for the moment. Just seem to have fallen behind in my reading. (still waiting for the only book that the library hsdy in stock at another branch).
Have also had difficulty finding books that are easily and cheaply available to others.

Will however try to get the books that win the vote, failing that will try to get any of the recommended book/s and review them.

Hope to rejoin properly St a later date.

Meanwhile, Happy reading.!

:-) :-)
Tess

Hello,
I also struggle although recently the library has had the chosen ones in, this month though only one is available then that one has a few before me.
This month I think I will only be reading the one.

Anne

I am sure The Windermere witness only cost me 1.99 in the Works not long ago. The other one is 99p on Kindle for those that have one.