Campari for Breakfast - Sara Crowe - Guest Review

I would like to thank my very good friend Sarah Hollands for guest reviewing this book for me. You can follow her @SarahHollands1

Blurb:

Life is full of terrible things. Ghosts of dead relatives, heartbreak . . . burnt toast.

In 1987, Sue Bowl's world changes for ever. Her mother dies, leaving her feeling like she's lost a vital part of herself. And then her father shacks up with an awful golddigger called Ivana.

But Sue's mother always told her to make the most of what she's got - and what she's got is a love of writing and some interesting relatives. So Sue moves to her Aunt Coral's crumbling ancestral home, Green Place, along with a growing bunch of oddballs and eccentrics. Not to mention the odd badger or two . . .

There she fully intends to write a book, fall in love, and learn to live decadently.

Review:

This is Sara Crowe’s debut novel and after reading Campari for Breakfast I will definitely be looking out for more of her books in the future. From the beginning I was gripped by the eccentricity of the characters and the unusual format it is written in. The story centres around Sue, a 17 year old girl who is dealing with life after her mother’s death. The story is told through Sue’s diary and her Aunt Coral’s commonplace book. A commonplace book is ‘not only a diary, but a scrap book and a book of wisdom. Essentially one’s own book of life.’ 


The story is set in 1987, after her mother’s death Sue moves to Egham to live with her Aunt Coral and finds out more about her family then she was expecting. Sue’s story is intertwined by Coral’s commonplace entries which date back to 1930 and give you an insight into Coral’s childhood and Sue’s mother, Buddlia’s life before her death. This book is full of twists and turns and is the opposite of predictable. 


The story is about death, love, hope, friendship and family. While living with Aunt Coral Sue pursues her dream of being a writer and also finds herself working at a local café and helping to rescue her Aunt’s falling down mansion. Her Aunt is supportive of Sue’s dreams and sets up a writing group which helps sue find the inspiration she needs. Sue is also desperate to fall in love, amidst the sadness of losing her mother Sue finds hope, friendship and love from her family and new friends.


This heat warming story ends with all questions answered and Sue’s dreams realised, even if not in the way she’d thought. 

 Buy your copy now from thebookdepository.com

A French Affair Katie Fforde - Guest Reviewer Janet Emson

Published by Century

Hardback publication date – 28 February 2013

Paperback publication date – 13 March 2014

Rating 4 of 5 stars

Synopsis

Gina and Sally Makepiece have inherited a stall in the French House – an antiques centre nestled in the heart of the English countryside. 
Gina is determined to drag the French House and its grumpy owner into the twenty-first century. Bearing all the attributes of a modern-day Mr Rochester, Matthew Ballinger is less than happy with the whirlwind that has arrived on his doorstep.
The last thing either of them want is to fall in love.
But will a trip to France change their minds?



Gina Makepiece and her sister Sally have been left a small legacy by their Aunt Rainey, a stall in The French House, an antiques centre in the Cotswolds. Neither of them know anything about antiques and while Sally displays little interest in old things, Gina is determined to make a success of the business and learn all she can about antiques. She has to contend with the taciturn Matthew Ballinger the owner of the French House. As she learns more about the antiques business and Matthew she slowly comes to realise she has fallen in love with antiques, the French House and its owner.
When she learns that the French House is in danger of being sold she uses all her PR skills in an attempt to raise the funds needed to save it, all the while wondering if Matthew returns her feelings.

I’m sure I’m like other people in that I have a group of authors I can turn to when I’m in a reading slump. For me that group includes Jane Austen and Katie Fforde. I have read all of her previous novels, some a number of times and have never been disappointed. I have always enjoyed the journeys the female protagonists have taken and watching how they fall in love. I know that when I settle down with a Katie Fforde novel I’m in for a treat. A French Affair was no different. I liked Gina, who was just the right level of feistiness and determined and her sister Sally who was more emotional and romantic. The relationship between Gina and Matthew develops at a realistic pace, whereas in some romantic novels I have read the protagonists go from barely knowing each other to practically married in the space of a couple of chapters. As always I found myself racing through this book, with the last couple of chapters a blur as I eagerly wanted to find out what would happen to Gina, Matthew and the French House. This was a lovely read and Katie Fforde fans won’t be disappointed. The only disappointment I have is that I have to wait until next year for the next book!

I would like to thank Janet for reviewing A French Affair, another great review!

You can contact Janet on Twitter: @JanetEmson 

Sense & Sensibility - Joanne Trollope. Guest Reviewer - Janet Emson

Sense & Sensibility by Joanna Trollope

Published by Harper Collins

Release date 24 October 2013

5 of 5 stars

Synopsis (from the back cover)

Two Sisters who could hardly be more different. 
Elinor Dashwood, an architecture student, values discretion above all. Her impulsive sister Marianne displays her creativity everywhere, as she dreams of going to art school. But when the family finds itself forced out of Norland Park, their beloved home for twenty years, their values are severely put to the test. 

Can Elinor remain stoic knowing that the man she likes has been ensnared by another girl? Will Marianne’s faith in love be shaken by meeting the hottest boy in the county? And when social media is the controlling force at play, can love ever triumph over conventions and disproval?

I was lucky to receive this copy from @writingatrosys via Twitter and am grateful to them and Harper Collins for allowing me an advanced copy.

I’ll start by saying I love Jane Austen. Hers are the books I turn to when I don’t know what to read next. They never fail to re-ignite my love of books and remind me of the joy of reading. I am always wary of Austen inspired work because as good as some of them are they don’t tend to live up to the original. However I was intrigued to hear about The Austen Project launched by Harper Collins. Each of the six completed published works of Austen is being re-written by six literary greats, bringing them squarely into the 21st Century. The first offering is Sense & Sensibility by Joanna Trollope. 

The story remains the same. The Dashwood girls, Elinor, Marianne and Margaret lose their father and due to antiquated inheritance terms Norland, their home for 20 years passes to their half – brother John and his scheming wife Fanny. She wastes no time in moving into Norland and persuading John that the help to his sisters and stepmother he promised to his dying father amounts to nothing more than allowing them to live at Norland rent free until they find somewhere else.  The Dashwoods are soon offered a cottage by Sir John Middleton, a distant relative and they soon move to Devon. Each are leaving behind something that they love, for Margaret it is her private school, Marianne, Norland and for Elinor it is Edward Ferrars, the younger brother of Fanny, who disapproves of the friendship between the two. 

Once ensconced in Barton Cottage the girls soon become involved in the comings and goings of the Middletons and Mrs Jennings, the mother-in-law of Sir John. Here they are introduced to Colonel Brandon who soon falls for Mariannne. She however believes him too old for her but soon falls for John ‘Wills’ Willoughby who rescues her when she suffers an asthma attack. A romance between the two quickly develops but just as quickly ends with Wills sudden departure, leaving Marianne heart broken. 

Meanwhile Elinor is befriended by Lucy Steele, a friend of Mrs Jennings, who confides that she is secretly engaged to Edward Ferrars, the man Elinor can scarcely admit to herself she loves and with whom she now barely sees. For those of you who have read the original you know how the rest of the story goes, for those of you who haven’t I don’t want to spoil it by saying any more.

The difficulty with re-writing such a book and making it fit with 21st Century lifestyles is that many of the social conventions are no longer an issue. Ms Trollope deals with them deftly, showing that for some the most important thing is still money and status and not love. The use of modern conveniences felt natural, cars replaced carriages, the modern cottage replaced the old idea of Barton cottage to show how keenly the Dashwoods felt the loss of their old home and Facebook and Twitter replaced the newspapers and gossip grapevines utilised by Jane Austen. Nothing jars when reading the modern version as I thought it may. 

I loved this book. There are few books which I can re-read on numerous occasions however this I feel will join those select few. It is just as good as the original for enjoyment and I am waiting impatiently for the next installment of the Austen Project, Northanger Abbey re-written by Val McDermid to be released early next year.


I would like to thank Janet for her guest review post on The Book Corner. - Great review thank you! You can contact Janet via Twitter: @JanetEmson