Tag Archive | Aria Fiction

Christmas At The Board Game Cafe by Jennifer Page

Nov5

Imperfectly Perfect

Christmas At The Board Game Café by Jennifer Page is a most delightful Christmas contemporary novel that will warm your heart and leave you smiling. It is the fourth book in The Board Game Café series but can be read as a stand-alone.

This is the perfect book to read in the lead up to Christmas. It will get you in the mood for the festive season. This really is Christmas in a book.

Two Yorkshire villages are the delightful setting. As summer has given way to autumn, the tourists have dropped off. Something needs to be done to attract the visitors back again – enter the Advent Calendar Trail. What is it? Read the book and immerse yourself in the action. It educates, it stirs memories and it is downright hilarious. The scene with the baubles makes me snigger even now!

All the characters were well drawn, likable and believable. They offer a warm welcome to all, including the reader.

We see how the loneliest place can be amongst friends who are all couples, when you are single. It feels like being on the outside looking in. Christmas is a time that some people dread.

A character has struggled with loneliness for years. “Staying busy… keeping the loneliness at bay.” Sooner or later the busyness has to stop or we risk burn-out. Being single has been a way of protecting a heart from hurt but it is a heart that isn’t cherished due to the walls that have been erected around it.

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Second Chances At The Board Game Cafe by Jennifer Page

Jun13

The Spirit Of Generosity

Second Chances At The Board Game Café by Jennifer Page is the most charming, contemporary read that warmed my heart.

Just once in a while, a book comes along that as soon as you start it, you just know that it is going to wrap around you like a warm blanket, leaving you feeling loved – Second Chances At The Board Game Café is one such book.

Everything between the pages delighted me. I chose to read the book because it is set in Yorkshire – my favourite place in the whole world. I thought that it could not get any better – but it did! Not only set in Yorkshire but the 1970 film The Railway Children, one of my favourite films, was continually referenced. And then to top it all off, Haworth, my favourite place to visit, was mentioned. This book was just made for me!

Second Chances At The Board Game Café is a book to savor, to keep, and to prompt you to buy the other two books in the series! I just cannot get enough of this book! I certainly hope there will be many more in the series.

All the characters were delightfully drawn and easy to empathise with. Max, who was in year four, brought out my mothering instincts. He has autism. Jennifer Page has perfectly captured Max with his mannerisms, fears and dislike of change. Likewise, leading character Harry also has autistic traits. Despite their age difference, Max and Harry understand and support each other as they navigate life.

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The Women Who Wouldn’t Leave by Victoria Scott

Aug3

Delightful

The Women Who Wouldn’t Leave by Victoria Scott is a delightful contemporary novel that made me smile.

It is a novel about friendship, love and community as a group of neighbours come together to fight the authorities for what is theirs. The community pull together.

Over the years the neighbours exchanged polite greetings but as needs are identified, friendships begin and isolated lives begin to open up.

You never know what private battles people are fighting. Some residents have hidden secrets for years. They feel safer hiding from the world. If they do not let others in, they cannot be hurt – but we all need friends.

Animals and being in nature promote healing. The animals offer pure love, expecting nothing in return.

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Escape To Tuscany by Kat Devereaux

Jul10

The Guardian

Escape To Tuscany by Kat Devereaux is a compelling dual timeline novel that enthralled me and entertained me from the start.

Two stories run parallel, having similarities and differences as we follow teenager Stella in Tuscany in 1944 and Tori who escapes to Tuscany in 2019. Both women are under estimated by those around them – seen as weak but possessing an inner strength that surfaces when it is really needed. The chapters alternate as we hear their stories.

Tuscany was under Nazi occupation in 1944. The resistance was strong but there were fierce reprisals and fighting. Strong stomachs were needed to deal with the injured and dying.

1944 was a time of secrets, in order to survive. We witness breakdowns of relationships as those who are nearest and dearest feel betrayed.

We see a close relationship between a brother and a siter. He lives life on the edge even after the war has ended.

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