Review: Voyager

Voyager by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an absolutely unputdownable third installment of the Outlander Series featuring Claire and Jamie Fraser. In this part of the series Claire discovers that Jamie didn't die at Coloden and she decides to return to the Scotland of the 1760's. It is a terrifying and painful experience to go through the stones to the past and Claire is quite sure that she will not be able to return.

Jamie and Claire's daughter, Brianna, is now grown enough, as Claire decides, to be on her own. Claire tells her everything and leaves as much information about their lives and heredity as she possibly can for her.

And so she sets off to find Jamie, twenty years after he made her go back in order to save herself and the unborn baby.

What follows is an absolutely gripping novel of suspense, intrigue, murder, mystery and love, not to
mention kidnapping and forces of evil.

How could you not give this book five stars. Absolutely incredible!

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Review: Did You Ever Have A Family

Did You Ever Have A Family by Bill Clegg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Beautifully written heartbreaking story. June has lost her whole family the day before her daughter's wedding. She is so overcome that she gets into her car and drives aimlessly. This story takes each person in her life and unfolds their story bit by bit.

Eventually she stops at a motel on the Pacific Ocean and settles into a form of twilight life.

An excellent read.

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Review: Cocaine Blues

Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Hon. Miss Phryne Fisher solves crimes in London. An amateur, but very ambitious. She "collects"people as she goes because she is so kind and generous. There is nothing too good for the good people that she comes across.

One of her society friends has asked her to go to Australia and have a look at what might be happening to his daughter as she seemed very ill when she visited. So off she goes and in her travels finds a lot more than just an ailing wealthy lady.

A very good beginning to a new series that I would like to read more of.

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Review: A Kiss Before Dying

A Kiss Before Dying by Ira Levin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This had everything you want in a murder/crime novel. A poor guy, just returning from the war, meets a girl from a wealthy family and decides this is what he wants. However, this girl is at odds with her father and his carefully planned scheme backfires. There are other daughters in this family!

This was a thoroughly enjoyable novel that kept you engaged right up to the very end. It was written in the early 1950's when forensics were still a dream and cell phones were completely out of the realm of thought. Smoking was still all the rage and it seemed that everyone did it and it was accepted everywhere.

I loved this book and I would love to ask Ira Levin what made him portray all the females as completely and utterly unintelligent. Every woman fell for this guy's line, but then again, I guess that is what made the story so fascinating. He was a ladies' man.

A great read.




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Review: Labor Day

Labor Day by Joyce Maynard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am giving this book five stars because I thoroughly enjoyed it and I loved the writing.

A lonely young boy, Henry and his sad mother, Adele are shopping one day when a man who is bleeding asks the boy to give him a lift home. The man is an escaped prisoner who had jumped out of the hospital window after an appendectomy.

He stays with the family for six days over the Labour Day weekend. During this time he tells the story of his life and wins Henry's and Adele's hearts.

A wonderful story and I especially loved the last few chapters in this book.

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Review: The Pearl that Broke Its Shell

The Pearl that Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a well written story paralleling The lives of Rahima in 2007 and Shekiba a century earlier. It is basically accountings of the day to day lives of females in Afghanistan. It is an extremely sad story and knowing that it is the truth of the way that girls are treated is beyond unthinkable. You keep thinking that things will improve for the girls but with each chapter things seem to worsen. I have had my fill now of this topic.



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