Browsing Category Book Reviews

Canada’s Answer To Bridget Jones’s Diary

If you can get past the seemingly unhappy subject matter and appreciate the great writing, then Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey is a wonderful read. You will appreciate it even more if you have ever been through a painful divorce because that is what this fictional, humorous book is about. The bonus is the author is Canadian and readers will relate to the Toronto…

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Finally! Two Good Books That Ended My Reading Drought

It had been several weeks since I’d been able to get my hands on any books that held my interest long enough to get past a couple of dozen pages. Then, finally, two I downloaded from the library turned out to be worth the wait. Still Life Takes Us on a Decades-Long Trip to Florence, Italy  Still Life by Sarah Winman ticked all my boxes—historical fiction,…

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Books: The best gift ever!

Your blogger had a very successful day this week selling my three books at an arts and crafts show at Riverwood Golf Club in Port Charlotte, Florida. It was lovely to be back in the saddle after being so constricted in our social lives by COVID for more than two years. Amidst tables of creative artwork, jewelry, paintings, sewing, Christmas decorations, woodwork, and other amazing…

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Double your pleasure; double your fun with two great books about buying a rural home in France

Have you ever dreamed of buying an old farmhouse in France and spending your summers there? Many people have done just that but no one describes the experience as wonderfully and with as much humour as Mark Greenside in his book I’ll Never Be French (no matter what I do. The book was published in 2008 and written when French currency was in francs but…

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Two memoirs. A Gen-Xer and a baby boomer. Different stories. Different countries. Similar challenges.

Memoirs by women who have overcome adversity always rise to the top of my “To Read” list. I’ve just finished reading two books by very different women from different generations who share a common challenge. Both Laura Chinn and Vicki Laveau-Harvie rose above being raised by difficult or indifferent parents to become successful women in spite of their lack of parenting—one American, one Canadian, one…

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I stepped outside my preferred reading genre to see what all the fuss was about

When an author has captured four spots on the current New York Times ten best-sellers’ list, then I figure it’s about time I read one of her books. Colleen Hoover must be a good writer to achieve this incredible accomplishment. Right? The problem for me is her genre. While I do enjoy a good suspense novel from time to time, I am not a fan…

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