TOMORROW THE WORLD
By Josephine Cox
Bridget Mulligan loves her husband. He is caring, loyal and dependable - everything a woman could ask for. But she can't quite forget Harry - the one that got away - and when a snow storm drives her into his arms, the inevitable happens. Nine months later a child is born.
Overcome with remorse, Bridget is determined that her husband should know the truth, but her confession can lead only to heartbreak. Although he allows his wife and her child to continue living in his home, Tom Mulligan makes it clear that their marriage is over. Lonely and afraid, Bridget finds comfort in the friendship of Fanny, a feisty young mother who knows what it is to be alone. But Bridget's life can never be complete until she has the love of the only man she ever really wanted...
My Thoughts...
The ending to this book made me happy... so did the actual story, but the ending made me especially happy.
I thought that the event that started the story was wrong and that Bridget shouldn't have given in to temptation - she was married after all. Although, without that one event, there would be no story for me to add to my 'favorites' shelf!
I loved the characters of Bridget, Ruthie and, despite it all, Harry. They all seemed like really nice people, and I thought that the ending turned out well for them.
I was not sure what to think about Tom Mulligan. One minute he loves his child and the next he hates it. I believed that how he treated Bridget was appalling, even though she was honest and, in many similar cases, many lies would generally be told and things would be made ten times worse. I was slightly sorry for him at the end of his characters part in the story (no spoilers) but what happened, happened because of his own choices.
I do love this book and Highly Recommend it to any Josephine Cox/Historical Fiction/Historical Drama lovers!
A SWIFT PURE CRY
By Siobhan Dowd
After Shell's mother dies, her obsessively religious father descends into alcoholic mourning and Shell is left to care for her younger brother and sister. Her only release from the harshness of everyday life comes from her budding spiritual friendship with a naive young priest, and most importantly, her developing relationship with childhood friend, Declan, charming, eloquent and persuasive. But when Declan suddenly leaves Ireland to seek his fortune in America, Shell finds herself pregnant and the centre of a scandal that rocks the small community in which she lives, with repercussions across the whole country. The lives of those immediately around her will never be the same again.
MY THOUGHTS…
I loved reading this book. The story is a good one, the main character, Shell, being responsible for her siblings, Jimmy and Trix. Her mother had long since died, leaving her father a drunken, religious mess. But how would Shell cope?
I felt sorry for Shell all the way through the book. Her best friend isn't the nicest of people, and she had no one else to turn to but Declan. But Declan only made things worse for her. I won't give out any spoilers, but I cried when I read about Rosie.
My favourite character was Shell, followed closely by Jimmy, Trix, Rosie and Paul. It seemed such a travesty that Rosie and Paul could not have survived and Shell raised them as well as her siblings. It seemed so sad when no one believed Shell about Rosie and Paul, and I hoped that the ending would bring a little happiness for Shell.
Siobhan Down wrote a fantastic book, and I Highly Recommend this book to all Young Adult readers and anyone else wanting an amazing, yet heartbreaking, story to read.
Amazon
Severed Knot
By Cryssa Bazos
Barbados 1652. In the aftermath of the English Civil War, the vanquished are uprooted and scattered to the ends of the earth.
When marauding English soldiers descend on Mairead O’Coneill’s family farm, she is sold into indentured servitude. After surviving a harrowing voyage, the young Irish woman is auctioned off to a Barbados sugar plantation where she is thrust into a hostile world of depravation and heartbreak. Though stripped of her freedom, Mairead refuses to surrender her dignity.
Scottish prisoner of war Iain Johnstone has descended into hell. Under a blazing sun thousands of miles from home, he endures forced indentured labour in the unforgiving cane fields. As Iain plots his escape to save his men, his loyalties are tested by his yearning for Mairead and his desire to protect her.
With their future stolen, Mairead and Iain discover passion and freedom in each other’s arms. Until one fateful night, a dramatic chain of events turns them into fugitives.
Together they fight to survive; together they are determined to escape.
MY THOUGHTS....
I was lucky enough to win a copy of these book over on Myths, Legends, Books & Coffee Pots, and I have to say it is absolutely fabulous. I really liked Mairead and I LOVED Iain!!! This is such a great book. I cannot praise it enough!!
Amazon
THE HOST
By Stephenie Meyer
Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that takes over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed.
Wanderer, the invading 'soul' who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too-vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.
Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves - Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she's never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love.
MY THOUGHTS…
The Host is a fast paced action book with aliens and danger. My kind of book!
What do you do when you’re an alien with a human inside your head, and you don’t trust your fellow aliens? You change sides of course. Join the humans on the run to survival and help them along the way.
This is what Wanda did and what makes her one of my favourite characters. She, with persuading from Melanie, treks across the desert and puts her life, and Melanie's, in the trust of the humans, a different species. But she wins them over and becomes friends with them, especially Melanie's little brother, Jamie, and Ian, who are my other favourite characters.
I loved reading this book, and I Highly Recommend this book to YA readers and adults because it is suitable for anyone wanting some action and aliens.
THE WAITING BOOTH
(Whispering Woods #1)
By Brinda Berry
A missing boy, government agents, an interdimensional portal...
Mia has one goal for her senior year at Whispering Woods High--find her missing older brother. But when her science project reveals a portal into another dimension, she learns that travelers are moving in and out of her woods in the most alarming way and government agents Regulus and Arizona are policing their immigration. Mia’s drawn to the mysterious, aloof Regulus, but it’s no time for a crush. She needs to find out what they know about her brother, while the agents fight to save the world from viral contamination. But when Regulus reveals that he knows Mia’s secrets, she begins to wonder if there’s more going on than she thought...and if she was wrong to trust him...
MY THOUGHTS
I really liked reading this book and was torn all the way through it... Arizona or Regulus?
I came to a conclusion in the end that, if I had a choice, I would choose Arizona. Not only is he a fun, food loving joker, he has such a cool name! And besides... Regulus hardly ever laughs so my sense of humour would be wasted on him!
I give this book a four star rating, for there were certain parts of the book which confused me a little, trying to figure out where Dr Bleeker fits into it all, but I can guarantee that I will definitely be reading it again.
THE TINKERS GIRL
BY
Catherine Cookson
When young Jinnie Howlett’s widowed father, a tinker man, died a pauper, she was already a reluctant inmate of a northern workhouse. But she thought herself fortunate – the alternative might have meant she ended up on the streets.
When close to her fifteenth birthday and after years of toil and drudgery, she was at last offered a position as a maid-of-all-work. Jinnie’s employers were the Shalemans and her place of work Tollet’s Ridge Farm, a bleakly isolated and run-down sheep farm way out beyond Allendale and towards the Cumbrian border. Before long, she discovered she had exchanged one kind of drudgery for another, this time for the Shaleman family.
Rose, invalid wife of Pug and mother to Bruce and Hal, demanded every hour of the day and night of her. Fortunately Bruce soon recognized that there was more to this seemingly vulnerable girl and it was he who would defend her against the taunts and harassment of the brutish Pug and Hal.
She became acquainted with Richard Baxton-Powell, who owed his life to Bruce, but when the persistent attention Richard paid her became too obtrusive, she was to understand that her growing confidence and maturity owed more to her life with the Shalemans than to any outside influence. It was then that Jinnie Howlett was suddenly thrust into womanhood, and the path to her own destiny became clear.
MY THOUGHTS...
This book is one of the best books that I have read for a long time.
There were several characters in this book that I hated and several that I wanted only good things to happen to. Bruce, Jinnie and Max were my favourite characters, but the list of characters I didn't like goes on a bit longer.
I didn't like Mrs or Mr Shaleman. They treated Jinnie appallingly, although she put up with it, most of the time. Richard seemed nice at first, but he soon joined Mrs and Mr Shaleman on the list of characters I hated. But the one character who tops this list is Hal. For those who have read this book, you'll know why I feel this way about Hal, but for those of you who haven't read this book; read it. Right now.
This book is one of my absolute favourites, and I will be reading this one over and over again until I know it off by heart.
I Highly Recommend this book to EVERYONE!
THE NEXT TOGETHER
(The Next Together #1)
By Lauren James
A powerful and epic debut novel about fate and the timelessness of first love. Katherine and Matthew are destined to be born again and again. Each time their presence changes history for the better, and each time, they fall hopelessly in love, only to be tragically separated. How many times can you lose the person you love? For Matthew and Katherine it is again and again, over and over, century after century. But why do they keep coming back? How many times must they die to save the world? What else must they achieve before they can be left to live and love in peace? Maybe the next together will be different.
MY THOUGHTS
This book confused me. It is no spoiler that Katherine and Mathew time travel to be with one another, but they have no idea how they do it. Was it anything to do with Clove? This book, although was entertaining to read and was like reading three books in one, due to the different time settings, wasn't very explanative on the matter of how the time travel works.
My favourite time setting was 1754. I thought that, for a lady of the era, Katherine was brave to stick up for what she believed in. The Matthew in 1754 was my favourite version of Matthew and I cried when his fate caught up with him. I felt sorry for Katherine, for her Mathew was so suddenly changed and the Mathew in his place wasn’t the same.
I Highly Recommend this book to Historical Fiction/Time Travel/Romance loving teens!
