Paper Chains – Book Review

 

PAPER CHAINS

Nicola Moriarty

About the Book

A heart-warming story of family, friendship and forgiveness – and the crazy twists of fate that shape our lives…

Hannah and India are new best friends. Although true friendship means always telling each other the truth, doesn’t it…?

Hannah, you see, is running from her life back in Sydney. Now in London, she’s trying to put the past behind her, and finding this amazing new friend is a positive step forward. If only she could stop punishing herself for what she did.

India knows Hannah is hiding something big, and she’s determined to figure it out. Fast.

Because India has a secret of her own… One that is currently sealed in a love letter that’s making its journey across Europe in the most unconventional way.

Before it reaches its destination, can India help Hannah learn to forgive herself? And will Hannah wake up and realise that India needs rescuing too …?

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/paper-chains-9781742752624

Comments

As the rating (4/10) indicates, Paper Chains is ok. A vanilla romance about two young Australian women, India and Hannah who meet by chance in London. Both are running away from a traumatic event in their lives which they don’t wish to reveal.

Paper Chains is a competently written, perfectly adequate book. Would prefer a more challenging read for a book club title. Will be interested in reading the comments of other book clubs.

An enjoyable ‘light’ read.

4/10

Ready by

Dundas Readers

 

 

Book Review: Readers of the Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald

The Readers of the Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald

Summary

It all begins with a correspondence between two quite different women: 28-year-old Sara from Haninge, Sweden, and 65-year-old Amy from Broken Wheel, Iowa. After two years of exchanging books, letters and thoughts on the meaning of literature and life, Sara, who has never been anywhere in her life, decides it’s time to visit Amy. But when she gets there, she finds her friend’s house empty, Amy’s funeral guests just heading home…So, Sara finds herself all alone. But what choice do the inhabitants of Broken Wheel have but to take care of their bewildered tourist? And what choice does Sara have, faced with a growing desire to honour her friend and her beloved little town, but to set up her perfect bookshop with all the books she and Amy shared – from Joyce Carol Oates and Iris Murdoch to Bridget Jones and Little House on the Prairie?

 

Comments

As our first read together the “Dundas Readers” had a mixed response to Swedish author Katarina Bivald’s first novel, “The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend”. In our initial meeting in July we had selected this novel because of its quirky title and its suggested study of relationships.

Most of us felt we could recommend it as a light read although the characters were not fully developed and the small USA town of Broken Wheel and its neighbouring town of Hope were in some ways unrealistic.

The author’s style in using letters from Amy to her Swedish pen pal Sara was successful in introducing Amy to us, who otherwise is not alive at the time of the story.

On a scale of 1-10 we gave it a 6.

 

Read by – Dundas Readers

Book Review: Surprise Me by Sophie Kinsella

Surprise Me by Sophie Kinsella

Summary

After being together for ten years, Sylvie and Dan have all the trimmings of a happy life and marriage; they have a comfortable home, fulfilling jobs, beautiful twin girls, and communicate so seamlessly, they finish each other’s sentences. However, a trip to the doctor reveals they could live another 68 years together… and panic sets in. They never expected ‘until death do us part’ to mean seven decades.

In the name of marriage survival, they quickly concoct a plan to keep their relationship fresh and exciting: they will create little surprises for each other so that their (extended) years together will never become boring.

But in their pursuit to execute Project Surprise Me, mishaps arise and secrets are uncovered that start to threaten the very foundation of their unshakeable bond. When a scandal from the past is revealed that questions some important untold truths, they begin to wonder if they ever really knew each other after all…

Comments

We had some mixed reviews from within our group with this one.  While some didn’t like, others LOVED it.  It was a slow starter, but definitely improved as it went along.  We really enjoyed the ending.  It surprised us, after we felt some parts of the story were a little predictable.  The book gave us a few laughs, with the ‘surprises’ the couple cooked up for each other.  We really loved the next-door neighbour, Tilda’s character and her scenes with Sylvie.  All-in-all, while it wasn’t our favourite Sophie Kinsella read, we did enjoy it.  Another good, easy read.  A perfect book for a holiday read.

6.5/10

Read by – Cultcha Club

PERFECT PAGE TURNERS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BOOK NINJA by ALI BERG & MICHELLE KALUS

Frankie Rose is desperate for love. Or a relationship. Or just a date with a semi-normal person will do. It’s not that she hasn’t tried. She’s the queen of online dating. But enough is enough. Inspired by her job at The Little Brunswick Street Bookshop, Frankie decides to take fate into her own hands and embarks on the ultimate love experiment.Her plan? Plant her favourite books on trains inscribed with her contact details in a bid to lure the sophisticated, charming and well-read man of her dreams.

Enter Sunny, and one spontaneous kiss later, Frankie begins to fall for him. But there’s just one problem – Frankie is strictly a classics kind of gal, and Sunny is really into Young Adult. Like really.A clever, funny and wryly observed story about books and discovering who you really are.

THE HIGH TIDE CLUB by MARY KAY ANDREWS

When ninety-nine-year-old heiress Josephine Bettendorf Warrick summons Brooke Trappnell to Talisa Island, her 20,000 acre remote barrier island home, Brooke is puzzled. Everybody in the South has heard about the eccentric millionaire mistress of Talisa, but Brooke has never met her. Josephine’s cryptic note says she wants to discuss an important legal matter with Brooke, who is an attorney, but Brooke knows that Mrs. Warrick has long been a client of a prestigious Atlanta law firm.
Over a few meetings, the ailing Josephine spins a tale of old friendships, secrets, betrayal and a long-unsolved murder. She tells Brooke she is hiring her for two reasons: to protect her island and legacy from those who would despoil her land, and secondly, to help her make amends with the heirs of the long dead women who were her closest friends, the girls of The High Tide Club – so named because of their youthful skinny dipping escapades – Millie, Ruth and Varina.
Even at the end of her life, Josephine seems unwilling or unable to face her past, deliberately evading Brooke’s questions. When Josephine dies with her secrets intact, Brooke is charged with contacting Josephine’s friends’ descendants and bringing them together on Talisa for a reunion of women who’ve actually never met. What follows is a tale of a romance thwarted, friendships renewed, justice delivered and true love found. It’s Mary Kay Andrews at her Queen of the Beach Reads best.’

THOSE OTHER WOMEN by  NICOLA MORIARTY

Poppy and Annalise are driven mad by mums enjoying special privileges at work while they pick up the slack. Setting up a Facebook group to vent about smug mummies is just a healthy outlet – right? But as their new group’s membership soars, the frustrated women start confronting mums in the real world. Cafes become battlegrounds, playgrounds become warzones and offices have never been more divided. A rivalry that was once harmless fun is about to spiral out of Poppy and Annalise’s control. Because one of their members is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. And she has an agenda of her own…

HOW TO WALK AWAY  by  KATHERINE CENTER

Margaret Jacobsen is just about to step into the bright future she’s worked for so hard and so long: a new dream job, a fiance she adores, and the promise of a picture-perfect life just around the corner. Then, suddenly, on what should have been one of the happiest days of her life, everything she worked for is taken away in a brief, tumultuous moment.

In the hospital and forced to face the possibility that nothing will ever be the same again, Maggie must confront the unthinkable. First there is her fiance, Chip, who wallows in self-pity while simultaneously expecting to be forgiven. Then, there’s her sister Kit, who shows up after pulling a three-year vanishing act. Finally, there’s Ian, her physical therapist, the one the nurses said was too tough for her. Ian, who won’t let her give in to her pity, and who sees her like no one has seen her before. Sometimes the last thing you want is the one thing you need. Sometimes we all need someone to catch us when we fall. And sometimes love can find us in the least likely place we would ever expect.

STELLA AND MARGIE  by  GLENNA THOMSON

A beautiful novel about two women – a generation apart – thrown together by circumstance, who slowly come to love and understand one another.
Stella and her mother-in-law Margie are two very different women.
Stella is kind, compassionate and just a little chaotic. Margie is prickly, demanding and a stickler for convention. Stella has exciting dreams for the future. Margie has only bitter memories of the past.
When Margie needs help recovering from a major operation, Stella offers her a place to stay. With no other options, Margie returns to the family farm where for decades, until Stella’s arrival, she was the one in charge. Margie has never made life easy for her daughter-in-law, and that’s not going to change now she’s been made a guest in her former home. But as the dry summer turns to a beautiful autumn, the two women gradually form an unlikely bond, as the ambitions, secrets, and tragedies that have shaped their lives are slowly uncovered…

THE WHOLE BRIGHT YEAR  by  DEBRA OSWALD

In the summer of 1976 it’s picking season on an Australian stone-fruit orchard run by Celia, a hard-working woman in her early forties. Years ago, when her husband was killed as a bystander in an armed robbery, Celia left the city and brought her newborn daughter Zoe to this farm for a secure life. Now sixteen, Zoe is a passionate, intelligent girl, chafing against her mother’s protectiveness, yearning to find intensity and a bit of danger.

Barging into this world as itinerant fruit-pickers come a desperate brother and sister from Sydney. The hard-bitten Sheena has kidnapped her wild, ebullient eighteen-year-old brother Kieran and dragged him out west, away from trouble in the city. Kieran and Zoe are drawn to each other the instant they meet, sparking excitement, worry, lust, trouble . . .

STILL ME by  JOJO MOYES

Lou Clark arrives in New York ready to start a new life, confident that she can embrace this new adventure and keep her relationship with Ambulance Sam alive across several thousand miles. She is hurled into the world of the super-rich Gopniks: Leonard and his much younger second wife, Agnes, and a never-ending array of household staff and hangers-on. Lou is determined to get the most out of the experience and throws herself into her job and New York life within this privileged world.Before she knows what’s happening, Lou is mixing in New York high society, where she meets Joshua Ryan, a man who brings with him a whisper of her past.

In Still Me, as Lou tries to keep the two sides of her world together, she finds herself carrying secrets – not all her own – that cause a catastrophic change in her circumstances. And when matters come to a head, she has to ask herself: Who is Louisa Clark? And how do you reconcile a heart that lives in two places?

SURPRISE ME  by  SOPHIE KINSELLA

After being together for ten years, Sylvie and Dan have all the trimmings of a happy life and marriage; they have a comfortable home, fulfilling jobs, beautiful twin girls, and communicate so seamlessly, they finish each other’s sentences. However, a trip to the doctor reveals they could live another 68 years together… and panic sets in. They never expected ‘until death do us part’ to mean seven decades.
In the name of marriage survival, they quickly concoct a plan to keep their relationship fresh and exciting: they will create little surprises for each other so that their (extended) years together will never become boring.
But in their pursuit to execute Project Surprise Me, mishaps arise and secrets are uncovered that start to threaten the very foundation of their unshakeable bond. When a scandal from the past is revealed that questions some important untold truths, they begin to wonder if they ever really knew each other after all…