That Summer

That Summer by Lauren Willig
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Julia Conley, recently New York unemployed, has found that she has inherited her great-aunt’s home in England. Her memories of her childhood there have perished along with her mother’s death in the accident. With nothing else on her plate, Julie flies over to London, preparing to sort, clean, and sell the house for desperately needed income. While there her snooty cousin calls, wanting to look for “treasure” amidst the mess. Is there really a treasure or could it be hanging on the wall right in front of their noses?

I love how the story switches from 2009 back and forth to 1849 within the same home. A story within a story is always more exciting and mysterious! Lauren Willig is such a great writer and I could barely put the book down for fear I’d miss something!!


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The Wednesday Daughters

The Wednesday Daughters by Meg Waite Clayton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It all began with the Wednesday Sisters, published in 2008 - five moms that got together in the park to chat, discuss literary works, and share their lives with each other. Now Meg Waite Clayton is back with the Wednesday Daughters - daughters, of those same moms, that have grown up around each other and are closer than sisters. Hope goes on a trip to England to discover more about her mother, Allie, one of the five original moms who liked to write, who had recently passed. She carries her mother's ashes with her. Friends Anna and Julie, who are Wednesday sisters and who were also very close to Allie, travel with Hope, to give support but also looking for answers to their own issues at hand. Discoveries are made, new family is found, and secrets are unlocked and laid to rest.

All the references to Beatrix Potter really intrigued me, as did the setting in England's Lake District, as Allie spoke through Beatrix's voice and illustrations. Beautiful descriptions of the area bring the surrounding countryside to life.

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Wedding Night

Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At the perfect moment Lottie just knows that her boyfriend is going to finally propose! Setting: fancy, smancy restaurant, corner table overlooking the river, and at the point where Richard has something to ask her, Lottie looks down at her stockings and sees one of them flapping around her ankle. Flouncing off to the ladies room to tear both both stockings from her legs results in Lottie telling all the girls in there that THE moment has arrived - now practically the whole restaurant is holding their breath when Lottie returns back to her table, Richard, and the question. Only to Lottie's tearful embarrassment, the question isn't, "Will you marry me, " but something boring about air miles...

Lottie's sister Fliss knows that every time her sister ends a relationship, impulsive, outrageous things happens...like when Lottie got a tattoo, or an "intimate" piercing, or the expensive membership in a cult. So Fliss knows something horrible is about to happen and will she be able to successfully head it off?

Sophie Kinsella is hilariously funny - I found myself giggling until my sides hurt!

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A Perfect Proposal

A Perfect Proposal by Katie Fforde
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sophie - who seems to me, is quite smart and funny - is the black sheep of the family - the non-academic member.(think tops in common sense) More than a lil snobby and money-grubbing, they're quite happy to stick Sophie with the mundane tasks of life, like working, cooking, and taking care of the house. When Sophie get the chance of lifetime to jet over to New York and see a friend and follow up on a job lead, she jumps, only to find out the job has fallen through. How like Sophie to land on her feet, as Sophie as usual and without airs, lands another one. Read more about Sophie and her up and down life in A Perfect Proposal,


There is something about the way Katie Fforde cooks up her characters - a little charming, goofy, a bit trodden upon and taken advantage of, and sometimes even a little dizzy - that keeps me coming back for more.

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The Secret Keeper

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sixteen year old Laurel Nicolson, hiding in her favorite spot - the family treehouse - witnessed something that she will never forget - her sweet, happy young mother plunging a cake knife into an unknown man's chest. Everything changes after that, everything....now 50 years later, Laurel - an accomplished actress - is still looking for answers to how her mother, now 90 and nearing death, could have committed such a horrible crime and then covered it up with a lie.

Oh my, such a great book - of mysteries and coverups, love and great loss, set in again one of my favorite time periods, pre-WWII to the Blitz and back to current times in England. Sometimes circumstances can change your entire life...this book should be your definite next read!

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The Coal Gatherer

The Coal Gatherer by Janet Woods
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Callie Ingram, one of the many living children of Mary and Ebeneezer, has higher hopes than to marry young, bear babies, and gather coal from the sea. She has watched her mother, once from a family of respectable shopkeepers, carry and then mourn the death of her babies and suffer the blows of her father. Befriending the local gentry opens the doors to another life that Callie can only imagine. Can Callie escape this impoverished and brutal life before Ebeneezer marries her off to cruel Sam Brown?

Being from coal country, the title pulled me in. I had never heard of coal being carted off from the sea and had to do a little research. Sea-coal is coal that has been washed up on the beach, coming from coal seams in sea cliffs or underwater deposits. For centuries this coal was collected and used for cooking, heating and forging metals. It is probable that European cultures back to the Romans and before used sea-coal. In places where this coal occurred it could be a dependable source of fuel and there were professional sea-coal gatherers and small local industries existed to gather and sell the coal. This continued in many areas, particularly in northern Britain and parts of Scotland as other sources of fuel were expensive and more difficult to obtain.

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Below Stairs: The Classic Kitchen Maid's Memoir That Inspired "Upstairs, Downstairs" and "Downton Abbey

Below Stairs: The Classic Kitchen Maid's Memoir That Inspired "Upstairs, Downstairs" and "Downton Abbey" by Margaret Powell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you love the movie Downton Abbey or Upstairs, Downstairs - this is the perfect read for you. Growing up in Hove, England, Margaret Powell, came from a very loving, but poor family. At age seven she was preparing breakfast for her siblings and ushering them to school. Even though Margaret was extremely bright and was given a scholarship, she began work at the tender age of 13 to help her family. Big for her age, she could pass for several years older and was, unfortunately, asked to do even more. At age 15, Margaret was working in a laundry and then moved up in the world when she was hired on as a kitchen maid - the lowest rung of the servant ladder, but Margaret had her eye on being a cook one day. The cook was usually treated better than other staff, given more free time, and could go out any afternoon - as long as she was back in time to cook dinner.

So honest, sad, and hilarious in parts, Margaret Powell wrote her novel in 1968 and opened the door on what went on behind the closed doors and basements of the wealthier class.


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Love Letters

Love Letters by Katie Fforde

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Romantic. Hilarious. Absurd. Witty. I love Katie Fforde's novel - always guaranteed many giggles and laughs. Shy Laura had a wonderful job at the local bookshop, didn't pay much, but she loved her job. As the bookshop prepares to close, to tide her over until she finds a new job, Laura uncharacteristically, agrees to chair a literary festival. There was one author, a sexy, reclusive Irish writer named Dermot Flynn whose works Laura loved since her college days, and Laura is hopeful that he will lead the festival. So she takes off for Ireland to try and persuade Dermot, while keeping her romantic thoughts and wits about her. The events that follow are bound to make you laugh out loud.



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