Stacking the Shelves #11

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga of Tynga's Reviews and, as of May 2017, co-hosted by Marlene of Reading Reality. This meme is about sharing the books you are adding to your physical or virtual shelves. This means you can include books you buy in a physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and, of

Book Review: Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar

Lucy Treloar’s debut novel is a wonderful exploration of colonial life, set in the ruggedly beautiful coastal region of the Coorong, South Australia, which encompasses the traditional lands of the Ngarrindjeri people.

In 1874, from her home in Chichester, England, Hester Finch’s memories of her years spent on the Coorong are evoked by the arrival of letters and an old tin trunk from Australia. The items inside the trunk take her back to when she was fifteen: to March 1855 when her father, Stanton Finch, due to several failed business ventures, removes his large family from Adelaide to the isolation of Salt Creek Station.

Stacking the Shelves #10

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga of Tynga's Reviews and, as of May 2017, co-hosted by Marlene of Reading Reality. This meme is about sharing the books you are adding to your physical or virtual shelves. This means you can include books you buy in a physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and, of

Book Review: For Two Cents I'll Go With You by Marcia Maxwell

For Two Cents I'll Go With You follows Walter "Pat" Lusk from his role as a shipping clerk for a chemical company in Michigan, through his training in the Army Medical Corps to his posting as a surgeon's assistant with Evacuation Hospital No.4 in France during World War I.

Pat, his imagination fired up by his grandfather's stories of his time in the First Michigan Volunteer Cavalry during the American Civil War, yearns for glory and similar stories to tell his own grandchildren. When America declares war on Germany, it takes only a little cajoling from his friend, Aubrey, before he decides to enlist.

Book Review: The Unmourned by Meg and Tom Keneally

The Unmourned is the second book in the crime series set in colonial Australia from daughter and father team, Meg and Tom Keneally.

I enjoyed their first collaboration, The Soldier’s Curse, which takes place in Port Macquarie, a penal settlement for reoffenders, and introduced Mrs. Mulrooney, an Irish housekeeper, and Hugh Monsarrat, an English gentleman convict.

In The Unmourned, Monsarrat, with his ticket of leave regained, is in Parramatta, with Mrs. Mulrooney, now employed as his housekeeper and unofficial assistant.

Shadow of the Moon by M.M. Kaye Book Review

Shadow of the Moon, set in India before and during the Sepoy rebellion of 1857, was one of those books that I'd been meaning to read but never got around to. So when I saw that Helen was joining Cirtnecce and Cleo in a Read Along, I decided to join them.

At the start of the Read Along, additional background on the Company Raj and an overview of how the mutiny spread was supplied by Cirtnecce, which gave me a better grasp of the situation in India at the time of the novel.

Shadow of the Moon was first published in 1957, but was not as popular as M.M. Kaye's other novel

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This weekly meme is hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date and is a place to share what you've been reading over the past week, what you are currently reading and what you hope to read next.

It's been a cold, wet and windy week in the south-eastern part of Australia, with snow falling on the nearby hills. Needless to say I've been cooped up indoors except for essential trips to town - to the library,

Stacking the Shelves #9

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga of Tynga's Reviews and, as of May 2017, co-hosted by Marlene of Reading Reality. This meme is about sharing the books you are adding to your physical or virtual shelves. This means you can include books you buy in a physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and, of

Book Review: Land of Golden Wattle by J.H. Fletcher

J.H. Fletcher's latest release is the story of Derwent, an agricultural empire in Tasmania, Australia, and the women that eventually take control of it. Beginning with Emma Tregellas in 1826, the story follows the trials and tribulations of Derwent's owners through seven generations to 1982, played out against a backdrop of domestic and world events.

Synopsis

1826, Van Diemen's Land
Seventeen-year-old Emma Tregellas has no one she can depend upon but herself. When her reckless father is killed in a duel, Emma finds herself in danger of being sold off into a marriage more like a burial

Stacking the Shelves #8

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga of Tynga's Reviews and, as of May 2017, co-hosted by Marlene of Reading Reality. This meme is about sharing the books you are adding to your physical or virtual shelves. This means you can include books you buy in a physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and, of

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This weekly meme is hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date and is a place to share what you've been reading over the past week, what you are currently reading and what you hope to read next.

Last week I completed the Shadow of the Moon Readalong. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, especially the historical aspect of what led to the Indian Mutiny.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This weekly meme is hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date and is a place to share what you've been reading over the past week, what you are currently reading and what you hope to read next.

I've not participated in this meme for a while, so the books I've finished cover a three week period.

The Ballad of Desmond Kale was a long read, but what

Book Review: From This Valley by Murray Harvey

Murray Harvey's debut novel, inspired by one of his ancestors, is a very easy to read and informative potted history of the north west territory of Canada, as seen through the eyes of a young man searching for peace of mind and a place to belong.

At the age of sixteen Ryan Meade is banished from his home in Boston due to an illicit romance with the daughter of a Negro family retainer and is forced to enlist in the Union Army. After the Civil War ends he follows his hero, George Custer, to the west. Disillusioned by the treatment of the Native Americans and Custer’s part in it, he deserts just before the Battle of the Little Bighorn and heads for Canada. Here he meets up with a

Stacking the Shelves #7

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga of Tynga's Reviews and, as of May 2017, co-hosted by Marlene of Reading Reality. This meme is about sharing the books you are adding to your physical or virtual shelves. This means you can include books you buy in a physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and, of

SIX IN SIX is Back for 2017!

This meme, hosted by Jo @ The Book Jotter, is back for another year. It's the sixth SIX IN SIX (that's a bit of a tongue twister).

SIX IN SIX is a meme where the aim is to share in July six books in six categories from the books we have read etc. in the first six months of the year, either using Jo's categories or our own.

I participated in this meme for the first time in 2016 and had so much fun looking back over what books I'd read and slotting them into categories that I'm happy to do it again in 2017.

It's Monday? What Are You Reading?

This weekly meme is hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date and is a place to share what you've been reading over the past week, what you are currently reading and what you hope to read next.

I usually don't read Christian/Inspirational fiction, but last week I read a delightful regency romance by Julie Klassen, with a lovely hero and a great plot. As expected there was some religious content woven

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This weekly meme is hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date and is a place to share what you've been reading over the past week, what you are currently reading and what you hope to read next.

I'm still battling my reading slump, but things are on the up. My spirits have risen considerably due to my participation in a Read Along for M.M. Kaye's Shadow