-The Boatman And Other Stories

The Boatman and Other Stories

by Billy O'Callaghan

This is my first book by Billy O'Callaghan. The book offers twelve remarkable and astonishing stories, explaining the depth of different bitter and sweet feelings that humanity experience during lifetime. It explores the depth of love, loss, regret, relationships, and tragedies in life.

I enjoyed every single one of them. O’callaghan’s storytelling skill is amazing. With intense an emphasis, each story describes and portrays a moment in people’s lives O’callaghan have chosen ordinary characters and what they have gone through in life. Their life stories made me very emotional since I felt strong grief and heartbreak. And I don’t recommend it to those who can not easily handle these feelings.

I would like to share these quotes from my two favorite stories, the first one from Love is Strange and the second one from A Death in the Family:

- “‘Love shouldn’t be anybody’s business’, I sighed. ‘what lives between to people doesn’t belong to anyone one else. And maybe we don’t always have to understand what it is about.’

- “Time passes but doesn’t get far, and maybe for some of us, for some of us nearing our own precipice, the dead still sing.”

No matter how much I try to review this book I can not express my feeling, I think it’s a must read book.

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-The First Emma

             

The First Emma

by Camille Di Maio

The First of Emma is a very well-researched historical fiction. The story is based on true events, covering the life of Emma Koehler, a powerful woman called the first Emma, she was Otto Joehler’s wife. Otto was a very powerful businessman and was killed by one his mistresses in 1914. This was when Emma took over their brewery business.

We get to know another powerful woman in this story, Mabel who lives in Baltimore. She responds to an ad of an old lady wanting to write her memoir, and that is how she gets to know Emma.

I discovered a lot about these two time periods, described from each of these two empowering women’s perspectives. What I really enjoyed about this book was the very well-developed characters.

 I highly recommend reading this book to readers of historical fiction. Especially those looking to read about powerful women.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing for the digital copy.

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- The Art of Deception

The Art of Deception

By Leonard Goldberg

The Art of Deception is book 4 of “The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes Mysteries”.Since this book was my first read by this author, I had to read the previous books summary.

Its 1912, the story is taking place in London, where Dr. Watson, his son and Joanna (Sherlock Holmes daughter) are investigating their recent case. Someone is breaking into private homes and different art galleries and rips paintings. As if he is looking for something hidden behind these canvases. 

In one of the swift escapes of the Hawk and Evans Art Gallery the suspect loses his scarf and leaves it on the floor. this scarf becomes a lead their investigation.

 Joanna finds the answer to so many questions by examining this shabby scarf. Facts like financial status, characteristic and size of the suspect.

We also get to know Joanna’s son, John, he is away at school. There is Cholera Epidemic going on at Johns school that gave me a lot of anxiety since we are dealing with a similar situation right now during Covid Pandemic.

 I enjoyed reading this detective story. I liked how close he Watson family members were. The affluent explanation of the artworks and mentioning different well-known artists in the story.

What I hope to see in the next book is more developed characters. I do recommend this book to the reader of detective and mystery stories.  

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- A Taste of Sage

 A Taste of Sage

by Yaffa S. Santos

Lumi Santana, grew up with a mother who believed that love and dreams are fairy tales.  But She never gave up on her dreams and opened her Dominican restaurant. the story introduced me to the culture and food which I found remarkably interesting. Things did not work out at her restaurant and her venture fails. Trying to make her ends meet, she takes a position as a sous chef with Julien Dax who is a renowned chef at a traditional French restaurant.

Lumi is amazingly gifted and she can guess people’s sentiment when she tastes the food they cook.

Working with Julien, she is surprised with the disconnect between the mean, arrogant, practically intolerable Julien and the feeling he spread into his food.

Dax (Julien) and Lumi have quite different cooking styles. Dax is all about classic where as Lumi enjoys modernization. Our main characters gradually get to know each other and start to fall in love.

We also get to know Esme, Dax’s obsessed Secretary who is in love with him. But for me it was like a commercial ad, she was there and then she was gone.

Overall, I liked the fast-paced story line and I think it has potential. I really enjoyed the recipes and I think it was very brilliant to add them to the story.

The dual perspective (Julien and Lumi’s perspective) storyline was really attractive

I found Lumi’s character was likable and at times naïve. While Dax’s character made me feel bored at times. The characters where not fully developed and were superficial. And that is why I have a 3-star rating for this book.

 

Many thanks to Harper Collins Publishers for the gifted copy.

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- Have you seen me?

 

Have You Seen Me?

by Kate White

 

I really enjoyed reading this book, a total page turner, I actually read it in one sitting.

Ally Linden is a journalist who is experiencing a dissociative fugue state after finding herself in her Manhattan office that she used to work 5 years ago. She knows her name, she knows she quit working in that office because she was in love with her boss Damien and now married to Hugh. She remembers everything except what happened during the 2 days that she was missing. Her husband thinks she was attending a seminar so her not being home was not a shocking matter at that time.

Going through therapies and talking to her husband, friends and colleagues, she is trying to piece together all the information to find out what happened to her during that 2 days of her disappearance.

The plot is a perfect compilation of mystery and suspense. Ally faces several situation and threads; the twists are perfectly crafted. as a reader I was not able to anticipate what to expect next. The storyline is very engaging and keeps reader guessing but not so convoluted to cause the reader lose track of specifics.

I appreciated the articulated writing style and the authors choice of well-turned phrases.

The only reason I have a 4-star rating for this book is the ending. I felt like it was scribbled just to end the book.

 

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- Flight of the 500

Flight of the 500

by C.D. Tavenor

I have to say, this was not a genre I usually read. But I was excited to read it as a person who is very much into AI.

This book is part of a series that I haven’t read before, so the prologue was very difficult for me to understand 😊 it was at the beginning of chapter 2 that I started to understand the story. and that is when it became so interesting and provoking that I could not stop reading it.

Raith is a synthetic intelligence that loves to race and has been banned by law to race. When he met Olive in a junkyard, Olive had an offer for him. She asked him to do a space race, a race that is faster than light, the biggest race ever known.  At first, he just didn’t take it seriously, but he thought if he do the race and they lift his race ban, it would be well worth it. so, he accepts it on one condition, that they lift his race ban.

I really enjoyed this classic Sci-fi, it was a face paced read for me and at point I can say it was a page turner for me. The characters were well developed for non-humans. And the story was very well formed. I admire the creative mind of the author. I would recommend for fans of Science fiction reads.

Many Thanks to the Author for the ARC.

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- Little Secrets

Little Secrets

by Jennifer Hillier

I have to admit this was an amazing book.

Martin Machado, is a very successful, high end salon owner, she has been featured in magazines as a celebrity salon owner. She has an adorable and sweet 4-year-old son, Sebastian, with Derek, her cheating husband. Derek is also a very successful businessman.

Their life seems so perfect from the outside. But all it takes, is a lollipop to turn it upside down.

Sebastian went missing in the mall while she was on the phone for only 4 minutes. Every day she wakes up hoping to find her son, while during this devastating time she finds out, from a private investigator she hired without her husband knowing, that her husband is cheating on her with the 20 year old Kenzie ,who is working as a barista, has a life on Instagram and  is secretly dating Derek.

The title is ideal for this book. A wickedly twisted thriller with so many secrets and perfectly planned twists and turns.

The story is very well written, and the characters are complex and perfectly developed. It was very easy for me to connect with each character. The story is told from two different perspective. Marine and Kenzie. Jennifer Hiller made it so easy for me to also like Kenzie when I read her side of the story. It made me feel sorry for both women.

This was my first Jennifer Hillier book and after this one I am an avid admirer 😊

Many Thanks to Minotaur Books for this gifted copy.

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