Review: The Banned Books Club - Brenda Novak - September 2024 I am in two minds about this book as I come to write the book review the first thing I want to address is the title can be a bit misleading. Yes, there were talks and a session of The Banned Books Club where they read Stephen King's Cujo and it talked a little about how the group came to be formed. That was it - I assumed with the title that it would be a book about books and book club, maybe each chapter talking about a banned book but nope, this book was more of a family going through a hard time and coming together in the face of tragic circumstances and getting the courage to stand up and be the person that they had read in books that were banned. The type of person who in the face of injustice gets knocked down but gets back up again. We have our two main sisters Gia and Margot. Gia left the town when she was young and never returned as she was caught up in a #MeToo case He Said/ She Said case with her English teach...

Review: Zetas Till We Die - Amber and Danielle Brown - September 2024 As we celebrate the month of October, for some it means it's Halloween but for the readers in the world - it can mean two things Spooktober where you read Spooky thrillers/horror books or Pucktober where you read Ice Hockey Reads. As a mood reader, I am aiming to do a bit of both and mix it up.  One of my favorite settings and themes for books is college fiction and sororities, which is why Amber and Danielle Brown's book grabbed my interest. This book is set on the 10th anniversary of their sorority sister's murder "Lupe". Ten years ago, Priscilla came home to find Lupe at the bottom of the stairs dead and her other sorority sisters and Travis around the body all covered in blood. The other girls claimed that Travis pushed her down the stairs. Priscilla went along with it and the girls' testimony put Travis behind bars despite his protests of innocence. Now on the tenth anniversary, Travis ...

Review: The Paris Widow - Kimberly Belle - June 2024 I've read a few of Kimberly Belle's books and looked forward to reading The Paris Widow as I love her mysteries. The Paris Widow starts with a female transporting goods and you get the view that this would be a smuggling book. The book then jumps to our couple Stella and Adam who are married and spending a honeymoon travel trip in France. Adam has some business to do and Stella is sightseeing. What happens though when they head to spend time in a small cafe only for a bomb to go off? Stella managed to get away but there was no sign of Adam. Is he among the dead, as she searches the death registers and rubble, there is no sign of her husband. What happens though when Stella gets a visit from the police who start mentioning Adam's business and she soon discovers that he is not who she thought he was. Can Stella get to the bottom of this and find Adam or will she find herself running for her own life when she discovers tha...

Review: Maya's Laws of Love - Alina Khawaja - March 2024 I have had almost a month without my Kindle and now I have it back, I have been able to take a break from cleaning my print bookshelf and hoping to read some of the ebooks I had. This had been one I have been meaning to read for a couple of months now and this one I loved more than I thought I would. It was such a fun sweet story of strangers/enemies to lovers. The other thing I enjoyed about this book was the insight into the culture of Pakistani/ Muslims and arranged marriages. Maya has never been lucky in love and believes she is cursed as so many things always go wrong and crazy happens whenever something good is about to happen. Maya is set to be married in an arranged marriage, the thing though is that deep down Maya doesn't love him and believes that the love will grow and she must settle. Her experience on the way to her wedding will open her eyes to realize, that she does deserve to be happy and that out there i...

Review: Kilt Trip - Alexandra Kiley - March 2024 As someone who has Scottish in my genes as my Nana came from the Gordon clan on her father's side, I have always felt connected as Mum was big about honouring her Scottish heritage as she joined the Scottish Clan community and we went as a family to the Highland Games when it was in Auckland. Like Addie Macrae, my Mum passed away and we just now have the memories of Scotland. Addie works for a travel consultancy business, helping businesses all around the world with increasing and sometimes overhauling their tour companies to make more profits. Her latest stop is Scotland and a small family business belonging to the Sutherlands in the Scottish Highlands. As Addie comes in from the "outside", Logan isn't happy as he feels she is commercializing his family business and future. Can the pair learn to work together as an enemies-to-lovers relationship sparks alight? Recently I read an NZ fiction book called Corkscrew You by ...