Archive | October 2022

Kitty Angel by Jane Daphne Knight

Oct29

A Pure Delight

Kitty Angel by Jane Daphne Knight is a pure delight and perfect to read to young children or for more confident readers to read themselves. Whatever your age, Kitty Angel is a perfectly charming read.

We see that life has fractured a family, leaving Mum and two children out of sorts. Many changes have left everyone feeling anxious. The children really want a kitten, but a kitten is expensive and hard work.

Kitty Angel enters lives where she is needed, to spread calm, peace and love. Only the young and the young at heart can see her. Kitty Angel changes lives. She stays as long as she is needed and then moves on. This reminded me of the film The Bishops Wife with Cary Grant.

Kitty Angel is an enchanting read that will warm your heart on even the coldest day. It is perfectly charming.

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The Girl I Used To Be by Debbie Howells

Oct28

Breathtakingly Beautiful

The Girl I Used To Be by Debbie Howells is the most beautiful contemporary book that will fill your heart with love.

The book is a celebration of love. Love comes in many forms. True love requires self-sacrifice. True love sometimes means letting go. True love is what will always remain.

We witness parental sacrificial love. This requires us to put our children’s well-being and happiness above our own. Love goes the extra mile for those we love.

Within the book there are two marriages in trouble and a long-lasting one that has stood the test of life.

The action is set over twenty years, alternating between present day and times in the past, moving forwards to collide with present day. We see the action from alternating points of view.

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True Courage by Kathryn Barrett

Oct28

A Dose Of Daily Courage

True Courage by Kathryn Barrett is a compelling contemporary novel that is completely consuming. It was a cracking read.

The action is set in the White House with a fictitious president who is a decorated war veteran. The walls are ingrained with past presidents who like to offer advice.

The president is a man of principles. He prefers to be truthful and risk his popularity rather than feed the people the party line.

We see that being the president is a lonely job, not only for him but also for his fourteen year old daughter. Being surrounded by a security detail is not the way to gain new friends at a new school. We witness some awful, sneaky bullying. It takes courage to keep on facing daily life.

There is the pull back to when life was simpler in Chicago.

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The Winter Garden by Nicola Cornick

Oct27

True Treasure

The Winter Garden by Nicola Cornick is a marvellous dual timeline novel that had me enthralled from the start.

The book is set in present day and 1598 in the lead up to the Gunpowder Plot. Chapters alternate, as do the voices, with the action being seen through the eyes of the leading ladies – in the third person in present day and in the first person in 1598.

Living in a barn called Gunpowder Barn in the grounds of the old Catesby cottage provides a link to the past. It is all very atmospheric as there seems to be a thin veil between the two time periods.

We witness that sadness in the present attracts sadness in the past. A love will not rest until the past has surrendered its secrets.

A mother’s love is strong. We witness several instances. Life in the sixteenth century was precarious, not all children born, survived. A veil of grief is palpable.

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