Monthly Archives: April 2021

Second Chance Books, Titles You Just Couldn’t Finish

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It’s time to share the shame!

I am sure we have all experienced that awkward moment when a person asks, “Have you read…?” and you are forced to admit, “Actually, I tried but just couldn’t make it to the end. The book actually didn’t interest me”.

When I first started reading, there was no way I would stop reading a book even if I hated it. For months, I would struggle through reading a chapter a night, if I could manage it. Now, I don’t waste my precious reading time on books I either don’t like, or am not in the mood to read. There are too many great books out there waiting to be read, to waste my time on something I am not enjoying.

However, there are a few books I have abandoned and picked up again months or years later and enjoyed reading. ‘Jane Eyre’ was one of those books. Now I have read it I don’t understand why I didn’t enjoy it the first couple of times I tired. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind to read it; I suppose I will never know. Now however, it continues to be one of my all-time favourites.

I won’t go on to share the long list of books on my ‘couldn’t finish list’, I will save those for June’s Online Book Club reading recommendations when we tackle, ‘Second Chance Books’. Keep an eye out for a post in June with a complete list of titles.

If you love reading and enjoy sharing what you are reading with other like-minded people, then follow Parra Reads on Goodreads or add us as friend.

Happy Reading,

Jody

Book Review Six Minutes by Petronella McGovern

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Six Minutes by Petronella McGovern

Allen & Unwin, June 2020

How can a child disappear from under the care of four playgroup mums?

One Thursday morning, Lexie Parker dashes to the shop for biscuits, leaving Bella in the safe care of the other mums in the playgroup.

Six minutes later, Bella is gone.

Police and media descend on the tiny village of Merrigang on the edge of Canberra. Locals unite to search the dense bushland. But as the investigation continues, relationships start to fracture, online hate messages target Lexie, and the community is engulfed by fear.

Is Bella’s disappearance connected to the angry protests at Parliament House? What secrets are the parents hiding? And why does a local teacher keep a photo of Bella in his lounge room?

What happened in those six minutes and where is Bella?

The clock is ticking…

Comments

Bella has gone missing after she was left in the care of the playgroup mums Lexie meets up with once a week.  She was only gone for six minutes.  Where is she?  What has happened to her?

As mothers, this would be our worst nightmare!  Very relatable story, with lots of twists and turns that kept most of us guessing to the end.  A few of our readers picked who had done what, but not necessarily why that had done it.  Some of our readers found it a little hard to empathise with the main characters.  We thought the premise was great, but it left us wanting a little more.  Overall, we thought the book was well written.  Another good book, set in Australia, from a first time Australian author. 

We’d recommend this for readers who like Liane Moriarty books. 

7/10

Read by Cultcha Club