I Shall Wear Midnight

So we have a incredible hotel just of the Devonshire coast full of rich, glamorous and "beautiful" people.  We have three couples, all of whom are staying at the hotel for special occasions, escapism from real life, or to recover.  We then have the unexplained death of a staff member, an attack on a hotel guest, the death of another guest.    Finally we have the privilege of learning the secrets of the couples - whether they are worried about not being good enough, unable to have children, or they are terminally ill.  All I can say is wow, having finished this book last night I kind of want to re read the last few chapters as there were so many twists, turns and upsets towards the end that I almost want to make sure I have understood what has happened!  This is a book where rather than falling in love with any of the characters I found myself strongly disliking them and I just wanted to know if I was right in feeling the way I did.  Having never read a...

YOUR DREAM GETAWAY OR YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE? Anyone who knows me knows that I have a tendency to choose books based on the cover, and the title. I think this one fell into all of those traps for me - I didn't however, expect the resort to be lying off the Devonshire Coast however, and I think that in itself added a unique element to the book as all too often books like this are set in far off countries and are therefore somewhat unrelatable.  I imagine Fitzgerald's (the hotel in the book) to be based on somewhere like this  in a secluded hotel on an island off the Devonshire coast. I don't know about anyone else but when reading I love being able to use websites to be able to get a clearer picture of things!  Anyway, I'm still reading and so far it is proving to be one of those books which is absolutely addictive. I am loving the characters and definitely want to learn more about them, there are a couple of key players who I instantly took a dislike to and I am wondering...

First of all thank you to Net Galley for giving me this opportunity.  I picked this book based on the cover image, I mean who could resist it? I also have a love of cows, having grown up in rural Wales I would often spot them grazing in the fields close to where I would live and on occasion would go over for a chat.  So far I am only a short way into the book (10% ish) and I have already learnt so much in relation to their history and evolution.  I think the prologue of this book deserves a special mention as I found it absolutely fascinating - it takes you through a normal a high street and all the places where cows and their by-products are used in everyday life. I never realised I owed so much to one animal!  I am looking forward to reading more of this book as it is truly an education!  

So since the New Year I seem to be struggling to read. My wife who is normally way behind me in her consumption of books is doing considerably better than me. I think one of the issues is that at the moment life is heavy... I guess keeping that in mind you can see why I might be struggling with a book which is set in a not too distant future. In this dystopia there are hotels where people can go to end their lives - you check in but you don't check out.  The writing style of the book is quite lovely and the romance that runs at the centre of it is quite beautiful in spite of the circumstances etc. surrounding it. However, after a year in which I have lost people who are dear to me and prepared to lose others it probably just isn't the right book for me.... So after about 6 weeks I am at 69% of a book with 222 pages... problem is the content means I struggle to read it at bedtime as it impacts my sleep and dreams (I'm a sensitive sole) and so I am left to reading it when I a...

So "We Were Liars"  is a 2014 young-adult novel by  E. Lockhart . The novel has received critical acclaim and won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Young Adult Fiction.  It was also listed as an  ALA Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults  for 2015. The book is based on a wealthy family who every summer go off to their island (which in turn lies off the coast of Martha's Vineyard). The island has a number of houses which are allocated to each of the three adult sisters and their children...  (Formatting note : I think that one of the things about reading books on Kindle is that you can't just flick back to things like this map when needing to remind yourself where things are. In this story it's not really essential as it is all set over a relatively small geographical area but in other books I have found this much more of an issue! I am someone whoever who quite often reads quickly and then find I have to double check on certain details etc. so the Kindle'...

So once I got my head round the changes in perspectives etc. this book improved considerably. I'm also kind of hoping that the author writes some spin offs (if only short stories) as I would love to know: 1. Is the marriage a success? What happens next for Chani and Baruch? 2. What happens with the Rebbetzin? 3. Avromi/Shola - please say they reunite!!  The Marrying of Chani Kaufman provides a really interesting view into marriage within the Orthodox community.  I had never consider many of the things discussed in the book. As a female reader I found the mikveh a particularly interesting concept i.e purity following menstruation. I found this article online when I finished reading and I think it addresses (at least for me) the question of why the Rebbetzin had to be present at such a personal event.                       https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-middle-east-47129538  Another point that s...