Category: <span>READING</span>

~Southernmost Silas House In Tennessee a flood wipes out a small town and its Pastor, Asher Sharp, extends an invitation to two men, a gay couple, to spend the night at his own house. But his wife refuses to allow it. It is a seemingly simple gesture which sparks a radical change within Asher who goes on to deliver an emotional and fervent sermon in front of his congregation which (because, of course) is filmed by a young parishioner and subsequently goes viral. The outcome is a bitter custody battle over Asher’s young son, Justin, which leads him to run away…

By Its Cover is a series of posts wherein I read a book based solely on my love of the cover. No reading the jacket, no checking reviews! After being consistently drawn to colourful covers I did a 180 and picked a book that has a haunting quality due to its washed out colour (or lack thereof)  and twisted tree branches. Which is entirely appropriate given that the book is about magic. Love the title too, especially after a surfeit of novels entitled I Let You Go, I Found You, I See You etc, etc, etc. I wasn’t wild about Kat…

~Goodbye, Paris Anstey Harris Grace Atherton appears to be quite content with her life. She owns a little shop in Kent, England where she sells the violins and cellos that she makes herself. She’s also in a long term relationship with David although we learn almost immediately that things aren’t quite what they seem. When he heroically pulls a woman off the track in the Metro the subsequent spotlight fractures their quiet life and ultimately leads to a revelation that upends the apple cart for Grace. A broken heart ensues and she is helped in her attempts to mend it by…

The inky darkness of winter is descending and Halloween is casting forth it’s spooky shadows which makes it an excellent time to talk about the gothic novel. This is the genre that bursts at the seams with atmosphere and creepiness, oozes with impending doom and drips with the mournful shrieks of the wretched. In short, these are the books which beg to be read in the oft cheerless gloom of the colder months. At the very heart of the gothic novel lies a world shrouded in doubt, particularly with regard to the spiritual and supernatural. These books toy with the…

~A Place For Us Fatima Farheen Mirza Finally, a book that checked all my boxes for a fabulous read. And what an astonishing debut novel. It’s a book about family and the myriad betrayals, misconceptions and misunderstandings that take place over the years and fracture the whole into little pieces. It starts at the wedding of Hadia, the eldest daughter of Rafiq and Layla and older sister to Huda and Amar. Amar has returned for his sister’s nuptials after abruptly leaving the family three years prior. From here the book does what I love above all else…meanders slowly back and forth…

I think it’s safe to say that afternoon tea is generally regarded as one of the most English of afternoon past times. Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford gets credit for adding such a delightful addition to the day back in 1840 after she got rather peckish in the late afternoon before an eight o’ clock dinner. It was only a matter of time before she started inviting all of her peckish friends to join her and by the 1920’s, afternoon tea had turned into a full-blown affair, frequently with dancing in posh hotels. It makes one want to swoon…

~The Woman in the Window A.J.Finn Well, imagine…a thriller that actually thrills and doesn’t induce you to lob it in the bin. This book seemed to get so many great reviews that I found myself unable to pass it up. And it’s really good…but only if you like slow atmospheric reads and not ones that are heavy on action and drama. The book jacket refers to it as a “sophisticated novel of psychological suspense that recalls the best of Hitchcock” and that’s exactly what it is. Anna Fox lives alone in her NYC brownstone and is completely unable to venture outside and…