Tag Archives: women’s fiction

#BookReview ‘Please Release Me’ by @RhodaBaxter #romance

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Please Release Me by Rhoda Baxter really grew on me. It was a trifle slow to start with lots of everyday detail, and I wondered where the story was going. And then there is a huge jump and the story flies. I finished reading it on a plane, exactly the right sort of book for my location as I was completely unaware of the time. This is a romantic comedy about tragedy, grief, death and… no, I won’t give away the clever twist. It also questions how well we actually know the person we are closest to. Rhoda Baxter The endpoint of a lot of romantic comedies is a wedding. This book starts with one, and a car accident. We meet Sally, who is marrying Peter. Sally is bright, bubbly, seems manipulative, and has a gambling problem. I can’t say I took to Sally, who is the first character we meet. On the surface this seems a light and fluffy read but there is much more going on. After the accident, Peter recovers but Sally is in a coma. After months of no response from Sally, Peter meets Grace, another hospice visitor. Their relationship triggers all sorts of issues for the three main characters. I think there is more we could know about Peter, IT specialist, and Grace, scientist, and how their jobs shape their personalities and their attitudes to the situation in which they find themselves. I was three-quarters through the book and realized I didn’t know what Grace’s job was, and had to flick back to check.
This is the first of Rhoda Baxter’s books that I’ve read, but will certainly read more.

Here’s my review of another novel by Rhoda Baxter:-
GIRL IN TROUBLE #3SMARTGIRLS

If you like this, try:-
‘Kings and Queens’ by Terry Tyler
‘If I Knew You Were Going to be This Beautiful I Never Would Have Let You Go’ by Judy Chicurel
‘The Other Eden’ by Sarah Bryant

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview PLEASE RELEASE ME by @RhodaBaxter via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1Np

#BookReview ‘Stormy Summer’ by @suzy_turner #romance #chicklit

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Stormy Summer is not my usual sort of book. I guess I grew out of chick lit novels four decades ago. But this book made me laugh. So I’ll put a warning up front for the sensitive: the book starts with a sex scene. But don’t let that put you off. Yes, this is a fun read as author Suzy Turner takes her eponymous character Summer on a relationship road trip. Suzy TurnerFor a year she has been manless and therefore sexless, and when she does meet a nice guy it goes wrong for an unexpected reason [I did see this coming, but it still made me smile]. So, Summer and her best friend Gwen fly off to the Algarve for two weeks of intended flirting, laughter and girly gossip. Of course when she isn’t looking for a nice man, she stumbles over one.
Turner is good at writing physical comedy scenes. Summer is a likeable klutz, we all have/had a friend like her at some point in our lives. She is prone to misunderstandings and is rather gullible, accepting the most obvious explanation of a situation rather than thinking ‘what if?’ This is a coming-of-age story, Summer learns to look beyond the surface and look for the less obvious answer.

If you like this, try:-
‘An Englishwoman’s Guide to the Cowboy’ by June Kearns
‘The Unfinished Symphony of You and Me’ by Lucy Robinson
‘The Audacious Mendacity of Lily Green’ by Shelley Weiner

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview STORMY SUMMER by @suzy_turner via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1Nt

#BookReview ‘Forever Fredless’ by @suzy_turner #romance #chicklit

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Forever Fredless is a sunny ‘what if…’ story by Suzy Turner about a girl who longs for a dream, not recognising that her life is offering her something better than that unattainable dream. It is a reminder to appreciate what you have rather than covet something out of reach. Suzy TurnerKate Robinson falls instantly in love when she is 12. She doesn’t know the boy’s name, they exchange a glance but not a single word, before being whisked away by their parents, destined never to meet again. As Kate grows older, no man matches up to ‘Fred’, as she thinks of him, until a surprise inheritance changes her life and shows her that there are other possible loves in her life than the unknown ‘Fred’.
Forever Fredless is a fast-moving chicklit novel which I read quickly on a flight going on holiday. Exactly the book to pack in your suitcase. It’ll teach you about the perils of celebrity, that money isn’t always a blessing, and that teenage dreams are made of clouds… but are still worth believing in.

Here’s my review of STORMY SUMMER, also by Suzy Turner.

If you like this, try:-
‘A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting’ by Sophie Urwin
‘Butterfly Barn’ by Karen Power
‘The Art of Baking Blind’ by Sarah Vaughan

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview FOREVER FREDLESS by @suzy_turner http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1rN via @SandraDanby