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Murder, ghosts, and the most dangerous seduction of all....
A 1994 novel by Kay Hooper
Kay Hooper wrote in a note to her readers in the front of this book that she always did love mystery, romance, and just a touch of the supernatural.
In The Haunting of Josie she gives us Josie Douglas, who rents an isolated house called Westbrook. Josie has taken a year off from teaching to solve a mystery that has cast a shadow over much of her life. As the story evolves, we learn about the mystery, but also find a bit of romance with the property's owner, Marc Westbrook, and that touch of the supernatural in the form of a special cat named Pendragon and a restless spirit who has an important message to pass on.
As Josie is unloading her car to move into her rental house, she meets first a large & friendly black cat with a name tag reading 'Pendragon'. A short time later she meets the owner of the house who is living in the cottage at the back of the property.
Josie is instantly startled by her immediate positive impression of Marc Westbrook. It must have something to do with the fact that he is “drop-dead gorgeous”.
Marc explains that the house is named 'Westbrook' because an ancestor built the house back in the thirties and it's been in the family ever since. As Marc & Josie get acquainted, she learns that the house had not been lived in for a long time, since the death of his uncle, Luke Westbrook, 50 years ago, a well-known mystery writer who supposedly committed suicide. The house has recently been renovated and updated.
On Josie's second night in the house, as she is walking from her bedroom to the bath, she is shocked by finding a man standing in the hallway. Her first thought was for how he could have possibly entered the locked house. Her next thought was that he wasn't really there; that he didn't look substantial at all. Pendragon also appeared to see this 'spirit' who reached out a hand to her, then vanished!
With Marc's help with background on his 'uncle', a mysterious brass key that keeps appearing in different places, and enigmatic hints from the cat, Pendragon, they eventually figure out through strange coincidences that the ghostly visitor has a message that will explain this 'Haunting of Josie'.
I have been a reading fan of author Kay Hooper for many years and own most of her books. Therefore, I know that 'Pendragon' appears several more times in a series of books by Hooper known as The Bishop Files. He is a very unique and special cat indeed.
It was charming and a great deal of fun to discover Pendragon in this early novel by Kay Hooper, author of more than 60 books in both the Romance genre and the Mystery and Paranormal genres. And The Haunting of Josie was a fascinating way to discover Hooper's writing talents in both the romantic and the mystery, with a touch of the paranormal. Most definitely well worth reading!
+Images from Amazon and Pixabay
The Haunting of Josie: A NovelCheck Price The Haunting of Josie - AudiobookCheck Price
Strange Sally Diamond is set to be the talk of the book world when it is published on July 18, 2023!
I love to read and I'm generally drawn to Historical Fiction and Cozy Mysteries. But once in a while I like to stretch my boundaries and search for something completely new!
Strange Sally Diamond caught my eye as a book that might interest me mainly because of the title. We just found out that one of our grandchildren is on the Autism Spectrum, she can be a little strange sometimes and I thought I might learn something when reading this book. Well, I did learn something for sure, but nothing that I had expected! This book was a real eye-opener for me.
Well, it has nothing at all to do with Autism per se, but rather what happens when someone is so damaged early in life (by circumstances imposed on them) and how the human spirit helps (or hinders) the very fragile psyche of the individual in the outer world.
Strange Sally Diamond is that girl. She has a horrific childhood that she cannot remember. At the tender age of 7 she is adopted by the very people who "found" her. So damaged was her mind, that no one was considered capable of caring for this youngster. So the psychologist and the medical doctor (The Diamonds) who were working with her, were granted guardianship of this young girl and adopted her.
Sally is a reclusive person, by nature of where she has come from and what she has been through, and encouraged to be so by her "new family". Much media attention followed her for many years after she was first rescued. In order to help her the Diamonds decide to live in the country away from media attention while Sally grows up.
She has a loving relationship (in her mind) with her new mom and dad as they don't make too many demands on her personally. She is home schooled and doesn't have too many friends. Sally's problems begin when she tries to incinerate her father after his death in their home. He left instructions for her and she followed them to the letter! Media frenzy ensues as Sally is arrested for this "crime" and she's no longer protected by the confines of the family home. She only has a couple of really good family friends who have been with her from the time of her arrival on the family 's farm.
Stepping out into the world for the first time Sally must learn to navigate a world she does not know or understand and really has not been a part of for most of her life. Her new mom and dad had sheltered her completely. After mom's death, dad kept her even more isolated from the "outside world". But then he died too.......
The twists and turns in this book are enough to keep you turning the pages. What is "normal" and how do you help someone who is NOT part of that very narrow definition?
Sally has some help, but she also has a lot to learn both about the present, the past and the future.
You can pre-oder this book through Amazon and it will be published July 18 of this year. It is a page turner and if you enjoy mind bending books, this one will keep you totally captivated.
I'm going back to re-read it once again, it is that good. Mark your calendar or pre-order the choice is yours, but you will not regret reading this book!
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All That We Are is the third book in the Wyndham Beach Series. With this book, author Mariah Stewart concludes this trilogy of lighthearted tales of love and reinvention.
Readers of books one and two in this trilogy have met the three older heroines whose lives have intersected since grade school in the charming small town of Wyndham Beach, Massachusetts. Now in their fifties, married, then divorced or widowed, they have become mothers, and now grandmothers.
Book One featured Maggie Lloyd in An Invincible Summer
Book Two featured Liddy Bryant in Goodbye Again
Now in Book Three, All That We Are, the star of the story is Emma Dean.
Emma Dean is the widow of Harry who died a decade ago and mother of Chris, a charming young man who pursued his dream, followed his music and today is a famous rock star.
At this stage in her life, Emma has found fulfillment in running the Art Center in town and has been busy finalizing plans for the artist colony the Art Center will host this summer. She enjoys her peaceful and organized life in her hometown and the friendship of the two women she grew up with. Plus, she has recently been seeing a charming businessman.
Then two surprises interrupt her life. First she accidentally finds evidence in some old papers of her husband's longtime affair she knew nothing about.
And the biggest surprise of all turns her life completely upside down when she opens her front door to discover a small, thin, 8-year-old girl with pig tails standing there. The little girl ~ Winnie ~ states that her granny in Georgia sent her on the bus to Emma “cause she said it's 'bout time you took your turn.”
The letter Winnie hands Emma states that her son, Chris Dean, is listed as the father on the child's birth certificate. Could Emma, unknown to her (and apparently to her son, Chris), be this child's grandmother?
As Emma struggles between what was and what is, she discovers that the life she really wants may be unexpected, but is hers if she is willing to fight for it.
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A story of friendships, forgetting and moving forward. An enjoyable read about love, loss, and second chances.
*All That We Are was reviewed by Wednesday Elf
I recently finished reading You Let Me Go by Eliza Graham and am still thinking about the characters and setting. Beloved grandmother Rozenn passes away quietly and while knowing that she is leaving a will that she could not explain to her two precious granddaughters. Rozenn leaves her beautiful home on the Helord estuary in Cornwall to Gwen and it appears nothing is left to Morane. Why would their grandmother, who clearly adored them both, drive this wedge between them?
"It's not the first time Rozenn has torn her family apart. Something heavy and round presses into her palm. The silver compass. Her guide through the next leg of her voyage? A mist lowers over her eyes. For the last time she looks out of the window at the water - green, grey and blue all at once, glittering in the sunlight."
The story begins with Rozenn quietly passing in her home Vue Claire. Then the story line alternates between Morane's life in the present and Rozenn's life in the 1940s. Both voices are strong and take us into their world.
Morane struggles mightily with her current situation - a broken relationship, starting over, and trying to salvage her business. Her career. Then adding to that the heartbreak of her grandmother's passing with all the second-guessing that might come from being left out of a will. Morane tries her best to be strong and to accept her grandmother's wishes. But it weighs on her and she wants to understand what caused her grandmother to make this decision.
Rozenn's story starts in Paris with her parents, brother, and eventually her twin sister joins the family. Her father is a doctor and they live in financial comfort and privilege.
"Maman was in the salon with a magazine, distracting herself with photographs of clothes, one of many Parisiennes trying to persuade themselves that early June in Paris was just as it had always been."
Paris was occupied by Germany at that time and things were changing for everyone. Resources were becoming scarce. Young men were forced into labor and Jewish families were taken away. Rozenn's family relocates to Brittany, trying to hide her brother Yann from the Germans.
I LOVED this story. The stress of the occupation, the sadness of a grandmother's passing, and the difficulties caused by family secrets were present but somehow lightened by the descriptions of the settings and the love family members had for one another. Sometimes dual storylines can become confusing. But in this case Ms. Graham pulled me in to each setting so completely that I swore I could smell the water and hear the waves crashing in that coastal village. And feel the peaceful setting of Vu Claire - designed by an adult Rozenn.
I had won this book during one of the Great Big Giveaways at Readers Coffeehouse. Readers Coffeehouse is a Facebook group page for people who love reading. The page organizers enforce a "positive" atmosphere where readers are encourage to share what they currently are reading or recommend. Negative reviews are highly discouraged (frankly, I don't see that they are allowed at all).
Some authors choose to give copies of their books away on this page. However, once a year there is an enormous book giveaway. For the day, authors make a post about their book and members leave a comment. The winner for each book is chosen from the comments. Hundreds of books are given away in this manner. It is in this way that I won a copy of You Let Me Go by Eliza Graham.
If you use Facebook and would enjoy an upbeat place to see what others are reading, I encourage you to check out Readers Coffeehouse.
The latest suspense thriller by Harlan Coben
As the story begins, David Burroughs is in his fifth year of a life sentence for murdering his three-year-old son, Matthew. Only one problem; he didn't do it.
David was alone with his child that night, as his physician wife was working a night shift. He knew he got drunk the night it happened and apparently slept through the whole thing. He woke up to discover that Matthew had been murdered. Since there was no evidence pointing to anyone else, and since David had no real alibi, he was convicted and sent to prison.
Half a decade later, his wife Cheryl has divorced him and remarried. David has had no visitors all this time. Then, Cheryl's younger sister, Rachel, comes to see David to show him a strange photograph taken by friends of Rachel's on vacation at an amusement park. In the background is a boy who bears an eerie resemblence to David's son. It doesn't seem possible; it just can't be, yet David just knows. Matthew is still alive.
Somehow David has to get out of prison, search for his son and discover what really happened. To do so, he plans and successfully accomplishes a daring prison escape.
Now David's life is on the line and the FBI is following his every move. Can David evade capture long enough to discover what really happened, save his son and clear his name? The shocking truth will be revealed in the final moments of the story.
Another thriller by this master of suspense. I Will Find You is Harlan Coben's most recent (March 2023) novel.
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Goodbye Again is Book Two in the Wyndham Beach contemporary romance series.
In Book 1 (An Invincible Summer reviewed here on ReviewThisReviews!) we met Maggie Lloyd as she moved back to the small town community of Wyndham Beach, Massachusetts. Her best friends since high school, Emma Harper and Lydia (Libby) Bryant helped her adjust to all the changes her widowhood and then her reuniting with her first love from high school, have brought.
In Goodbye Again, it is time to learn more about Libby Bryant, whose husband left her after the suicide of their daughter.
Libby desperately needs to move on and make some positive changes in her life. When she discovers that the long-standing bookstore in town has closed due to the elderly owner's Alzheimer condition and is for sale, Libby decides to buy the neglected bookstore and bring both herself and the shop back on track.
With a little help from her friends, she is well on her way with new paint and new ideas for the new and improved bookshop. One friend Libby has known forever, local contractor Tuck Shelby, begins to make himself indispensable. Not just in the rehab of Libby's shop, but in her life. Tuck now wants to be more than just a 'friend'. But then her ex-husband, Jim, returns with a long overdue apology, hoping for forgiveness and a chance to start over.
The book shop has rejuvenated Libby, along with the attention of two charming men.
When the shocking truth of her daughter's unexplained suicide comes out, Libby suddenly has a life-changing choice to make.
Moving on doesn't mean leaving everything behind.
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+Note: The third book in the Wyndham Beach Series, All That We Are will be reviewed soon. This book features the third friend of the three women the series is about ~ Emma Dean.
For more book reviews, check out ReviewThisBooks.com
*Goodbye Again Book Review is written by Wednesday Elf
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An Invincible Summer is the first book in the Wyndham Beach Series. This contemporary women romantic fiction series revolves around three best friends since high school ~ Maggie Lloyd, Lydia Bryant and Emma Harper. The main character in Book 1 is Maggie.
In An Invincible Summer, recently widowed Maggie Lloyd returns to her hometown of Wyndham Beach on the Massachusetts coast for her fortieth high school reunion. Even though it seems to have been a lifetime ago that she was there, she picks right up with her two dear friends, Lydia and Emma. The friends have a wonderful time catching up, until the night of the reunion dinner where she comes face to face with Brett Crawford and deep emotions are once again stirred.
Brett and Maggie were the town's golden couple seemingly destined for one another. But a shattering secret drove them apart those 40 years ago.
Lydia and Emma, having left their beach community for college, returned to Wyndham Beach where they married and each had a child. Maggie left, married someone other then Brett, and raised two daughters in Pennsylvania.
Just before leaving Wyndham Beach for her home in Philadelphia, Maggie learns that the home she grew up in, sold years ago after her parents were gone, is now for sale. A few weeks later, realizing how much she has missed her Wyndham Beach community, Maggie decides it's time to put sad memories behind her by selling the Philadelphia house and buying her old family home in Wyndham Beach. Her oldest daughter goes with her to try and forget the nasty divorce she just went through.
Even though it is wonderful to be back in the home she grew up in, with the friends who meant so much to her, and having a chance to start over, returning home also means facing her rekindled feelings for her first love. Can Maggie and Brett get past the terrible secret that has been buried all these years and open their hearts to the future?
An Invincible Summer is a story of timeless friendship and endless love.
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*Book Review of 'An Invincible Summer' written by Wednesday Elf
Here is my review of Geoff Hamilton's book "Cottage Gardens". Geoff Hamilton was my inspiration and education where gardening was concerned and I have learned an incredible amount from his books, TV series and his gardens.
In this book at approximately 250 pages of text and photographs, he specifically concentrates on Cottage gardens. This happens to be my most loved style of gardening so I was always going to buy and treasure this book.
In fact, I am rapidly buying up every Geoff Hamilton book I can as I am concerned his books will start to get more difficult to find. He sadly died 4th August 1996 at the age of 59 and of course now there are many other good gardeners on the scene and many other books.
However, for me, Geoff's enthusiasm, knowledge and style of gardening will never go out of fashion. I feel in tune with his methods. His writing seems to speak directly to me as if he were teaching me and I need his ongoing guidance to improve my own gardening.
I have written about my admiration and joy when visiting Geoff Hamiltons Barnsdale Gardens near Oakham in UK in A Personal Review Of The Inspirational Gardener Geoff Hamilton
If you are looking for a down to earth, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and practical gardening guide to "Cottage Gardens" please take a look at this book.
The photos included here are all of my own photographs taken either at Barnsdale Gardens or in my own garden at home.
Section one covers a fascinating history of the cottage garden and the people who tended them.
Cottage gardens have been in existence in some form since the Middle Ages in UK and the premise for all cottage gardens is that they are there to be used. These gardens were used primarily for food, herbs and some medicinal purposes, plus some flowers to lift the spirits.
Geoff takes us through the Cottage garden in the UK and how it its use changes and evolves through the Middle Ages ( 500- 1400) to the enlightened era of the Elizabethan age (1533- 1603) onto the Victorians and beyond and into the twentieth century.
It includes discussions of gardens and the role of people who were the labouring classes, the craftspeople and the wealthier people.
It discusses the role of medieval medicine and primitive gardening techniques and how over time improvement in living conditions meant more vegetables and fruits were consumed and how gardening developed.
He highlights certain influential gardeners over time such as Capability Brown, Humprey Repton and William Robinson.
The role of topiary and model villages is discussed along with the effect of social divisions, revolts, reforms and philanthropic movements. He covers the role of Allotments and the evolution of the Cottage Garden into the more modern age.
Section two instructs us on how to create a Cottage Garden and covers two different styles.
The first is very much a working garden to feed us and be as productive as possible.
This is the affordable Artisans garden, which is built specifically with low cost and reclaimed or second hand materials in mind. More is handmade and plants grown and raised from young.
This style of garden is much more like the original cottage gardens built and tended by working people, would have looked.
Entrance to Artisan Cottage Garden Barnsdale. Photo by Raintree Annie |
The second garden is more stylized, an idea rather than the reality of the rustic garden, with far more comforts and romance.
Vegetables would be grown, but were not essential to the gardener for food for the family.
This is the more expensive Gentleman's garden, where cost is not really an issue. It is altogether more elaborate and uses more costly materials.
Gentlemans Cottage Garden Barnsdale UK. Photo by Raintree Annie |
I had the pleasure of seeing both these gardens in Barnsdale gardens designed and built by Geoff Hamilton, they have stood the test of time and look fantastic.
Interesting Geoff said that he enjoyed making the more affordable Artisan garden more than the more expensive Gentleman's garden. When you understand more of the man and gardener he was this is not surprising.
He believed there is creative pleasure in making items, raising plants, developing a personal garden and saving money.
He understood that people can and do buy some ready-made items and grown plants for the garden, but his hope was that gardeners would take ideas from both types of gardens and using our creativity, make them our own.
So we learn about building these two gardens from principles to the layout. Which important aspects to include, how to consider designing it, what sort of boundaries to consider and what materials to use.
He includes information on arbours and benches, herb tables and love seats, paving, compost bins, containers and cold frames. He details what to consider, how to build and design and gives a very comprehensive overview of both gardens. The photographs and pictures are lovely and bring it all to life.
Artisan Cottage Garden Barnsdale. Photo By Raintree Annie |
Then the book goes into more detail about the plants to use at the back, middle and front of the border to provide those layers of use and interest in the garden.
This section includes propagation techniques so we can make more plants for free! This is always a very useful and easy skill to learn for anyone who has a large garden to a window box.
Geoff's love of plants and trees comes through and he details how to choose and look after trees, climbers, ramblers, border plants, shrubs, herbaceous plants, bulbs, annuals, biannuals and topiary. It details a wealth of plants that we can include according to our situation and needs.
Section Three covers "A Cottage Economy" and teaches us how to grow and tend a wide variety of vegetables, herbs, tree fruit and soft fruit.
He includes cultivation methods and how to grow vegetables in borders. It is a very useful, practical and interesting guide to growing and tending these plants.
The way Geoff Hamilton approaches the information, it all seems totally achievable and straightforward to learn.
Finally the book discusses Cottage Garden Plants Through History where he gives a snapshot of plants that would have been grown through the ages. Although a short section this is quite fascinating to learn what was grown in different eras in history.
I bought this book in the UK as a hardback copy but it is available via Amazon in hardback and paperback and I imagine it is the same book.
If you have the smallest interest in gardening or even garden history in terms of cottage gardens and the way people lived with them and how they evolved, this book is very interesting and a worthwhile read.
If you love gardening and want to learn more from a true master I do not hesitate to recommend it.
Geoff Hamilton died many years ago now but even today, or perhaps more so today, many people grow vegetables and fruit in gardens or allotments to supplement the weekly shop.
With shortages and prices of vegetables, salad and herbs rocketing in the shops, growing food ourselves can make it more accessible and affordable to us.
I wonder if gardening may again become something we need to know how to do and an essential life skill to pass on to the next generation as it used to be. So maybe the story or history of the Cottage Garden is not yet over.
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