BOOKSIMO

Description The remote Irish village of Duneen has known little drama; and yet its inhabitants are troubled. Sergeant PJ Collins hasn’t always been this overweight; mother-of-two Brid Riordan hasn’t always been an alcoholic; and elegant Evelyn Ross hasn’t always felt that her life was a total waste. So when human remains are discovered on an old farm, suspected to be that of Tommy Burke – a former love of both Brid and Evelyn – the village’s dark past begins to unravel. As the frustrated PJ struggles to solve a genuine case for the first time in his life, he unearths a community’s worth of anger and resentments, secrets and regret. Darkly comic, touching and at times profoundly sad, Holding is a masterful debut. Graham Norton employs his acerbic wit to breathe life into a host of loveable characters, and explore – with searing honesty – the complexities and contradictions that make us human. Review I was intrigued that Graham Norton had written a novel and couldn't wai...

Description *Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2016* A biting satire about a young man's isolated upbringing and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court,  The Sellout  showcases a comic genius at the top of his game. Born in Dickens on the southern outskirts of Los Angeles, the narrator of The Sellout spent his childhood as the subject in his father's racially charged psychological studies. He is told that his father’s work will lead to a memoir that will solve their financial woes. But when his father is killed in a drive-by shooting, he discovers there never was a memoir. All that’s left is a bill for a drive-through funeral. What’s more, Dickens has literally been wiped off the map to save California from further embarrassment. Fuelled by despair, the narrator sets out to right this wrong with the most outrageous action conceivable: reinstating slavery and segregating the local high school, which lands him in the Supreme Court. In his trademark absurd...

Description Hopeless romantic Eva loves everything about Christmas. Even if she is spending it alone housesitting a spectacular Fifth Avenue apartment. What she didn’t expect was to find the penthouse still occupied by its gorgeous–and mysterious–owner. Bestselling crime writer, and notorious cynic, Lucas Blade has hidden himself away in his penthouse with a deadline looming. But when the blizzard of the century leaves Eva and Lucas snowbound together will Lucas finally see the magic, and happily ever after that Christmas can bring? Review I've read a few of Sarah Morgan's books but not in this trilogy. However, the book stands alone and so you can read it without having read the previous books. You can always rely on Sarah for a nice romance and a Christmassy read. I love that this book has the love interest as Lucas Blade, he was a great character and the fact that he was a crime writer (one of my fav genres) just made it perfect teamed with New York and Christm...

Description A MISSING GIRL Edith Hind is gone, leaving just her coat, a smear of blood and a half-open door. A DESPERATE FAMILY Each of her friends and relatives has a version of the truth. But none quite adds up. A DETECTIVE AT BREAKING POINT The press grows hungrier by the day. Can DS Manon Bradshaw fend them off, before a missing persons case becomes a murder investigation? Review Something in the description of this book made me think that this wouldn't be a normal run of the mill crime read - and I was right. The basic plot of the book is that Edith is missing - cue the usual police procedure, press conference etc. However the book goes further with a look behind not only DS Manon Bradshaw and her love life, but also her colleagues and the friends and family of the missing girl. This book really hooked me in - not only in the whodunnit sense but also what would become of DS Manon - is she going to find love or go a step too far in her investigations preve...

Description Meet Prinny, Chelsea and Diana. Prinny is the owner of Cosmos, a shop that sells crystals, potions, candles, and hope. It’s also a place where no one turns down a little extra-special cocktail that can work as a romance potion or heal a broken heart. But Prinny is in love with her married lawyer and she’ll need nothing short of magic to forget about him. Chelsea works as a living statue at tourist sites around Washington, DC. It's a thankless job, but it helps pay the rent. That, and her part-time job at Cosmos. As her dream of becoming a successful actress starts to seem more remote and the possibility of being a permanently struggling one seems more realistic, Chelsea begins to wonder: at one point do you give up on your dreams? And will love ever be in the cards for her? Diana Tiesman is married to Leif, a charismatic man who isn’t faithful. But no matter how many times he lets her down, Diana just can't let him go. She knows the only way she can truly break...

Description Noelle is not a fan of the holidays and to make matters worse, she is at a crossroads in her life when it seems that love and adventure are no longer possible. When she stays late at her job in a department store on a snowy Christmas Eve she accidentally gets locked in after closing. She isn’t too concerned about the prospect of spending the night in the store…until a woman appears out of nowhere and tells Noelle that she’s her guardian angel. Soon Noelle finds herself camped out in the shoe department facing several “ghosts” of Christmases past, present, and future...Will visiting the holidays of yesterday and tomorrow help Noelle see the true spirit of Christmas? And will the love she has longed for all her life be the best surprise gift of all? Review I loved Beth Harbison's If I Could Turn Back Time and was eager to read this novella which is 176 pages long.  I wasn't disappointed this is a lovely tale - very Christmassy in the setting but you could rea...

Description An entertaining and authoritative exploration of how and why time has come to rule our lives from the bestselling author of  Just My Type . Not so long ago we timed our lives by the movement of the sun. These days our time arrives atomically and insistently, and our lives are propelled by the notion that we will never have enough of the one thing we crave the most. How have we come to be dominated by something so arbitrary? The compelling stories in this book explore our obsessions with time. An Englishman arrives back from Calcutta but refuses to adjust his watch. Beethoven has his symphonic wishes ignored. A moment of war is frozen forever. The timetable arrives by steam train. A woman designs a ten-hour clock and reinvents the calendar. Roger Bannister becomes stuck in the same four minutes forever. A British watchmaker competes with mighty Switzerland. And a prince attempts to stop time in its tracks. Timekeepers  is a vivid exploration of the ways ...