Category: Reviews

My Week in Books – 9th August 2020

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MyWeekinBooks

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Blog posts

Monday – I published my review of The Housing Lark by Sam Selvon and achieved my NetGalley 200 Reviews badge at the same time!

Tuesday – This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Books With Colours In Their Titles. 

Wednesday – I published my review of The Honey and the Sting by E. C. Fremantle ahead of its publication on 6th August. And it wouldn’t be hump day without WWW Wednesday It’s the opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next…and have a good nose around to see what other bloggers are reading.

Thursday – I published my review of The Whispering House by Elizabeth Brooks 

Friday –  I shared my list for the latest Classics Club Spin and my review of The Scarlet Code by C. S. Quinn.

Saturday – I published my review of The Borrowed Boy by Deborah Klée as part of the blog tour.

As always, thanks to everyone who has liked, commented on or so generously shared my blog posts on social media this week.

New arrivals

2020-08-06 14.45.15Adrift: How Our World Lost Its Way by Amin Maalouf, translated by Frank Wynne (advance review copy, courtesy of World Editions) 

The United States is losing its moral credibility. The European Union is breaking apart. Africa, the Arab world, and the Mediterranean are becoming battlefields for various regional and global powers. Extreme forms of nationalism are on the rise. Thus divided, humanity is unable to address global threats to the environment and our health.

How did we get here and what is yet to come?

World-renowned scholar and bestselling author Amin Maalouf seeks to raise awareness and pursue a new human solidarity. In Adrift, Maalouf traces how civilizations have drifted apart throughout the 20th century, mixing personal narrative and historical analysis to provide a warning signal for the future.

9781788546430The Ghost Tree (A Betty Church Mystery #3) by M.R.C Kasasian (e-book, Head of Zeus, NetGalley)

Detective Betty Church is forced to revisit ghosts from her past when a skeleton is found buried in the woods.

July, 1914: Sixteen-year-old Etterly, running from something, hides inside the trunk of a tree and disappears. The police search but find no trace. Her family and friends wrack their brains, but come up with nothing. And so slowly life returns to normal. The hole in the tree is boarded up and the town of Sackwater moves on. Only Etterly’s best friend, Betty, clings to hope, insisting she can hear her friend crying for help.

June, 1940: A skeleton is discovered buried in the woods. Though most clues have long since decayed, it is wearing an unusual necklace. As soon as Inspector Betty Church sees the evidence she recognises it. The necklace belonged to Etterly. Fearing the worst, Betty is determined to solve this strange case once and for all.

What happened to Etterly? And why has this secret remained buried for so long?

9781912534258Those Who Know (The Teifi Valley Coroner #3) by Alis Hawkins (ARC, courtesy of The Dome Press)

Harry Probert-Lloyd has inherited the estate of Glanteifi and appointed his assistant John as under-steward. But his true vocation, to be coroner, is under threat. Against his natural instincts, Harry must campaign if he is to be voted as coroner permanently by the local people and politicking is not his strength.

On the hustings, Harry and John are called to examine the body of Nicholas Rowland, a radical and pioneering schoolteacher whose death may not be the accident it first appeared. What was Rowland’s real relationship with his eccentric patron, Miss Gwatkyn? And why does Harry’s rival for the post of coroner deny knowing him? Harry’s determination to uncover the truth threatens to undermine both his campaign and his future.

On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

  • Book Review: Katheryn Howard: The Tainted Queen by Alison Weir
  • Blog Tour/Book Review: Fortress of Fury by Matthew Harffy
  • Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Loved but Never Reviewed
  • Waiting on Wednesday
  • Blog Tour/Book Review: The Bird in the Bamboo Cage by Hazel Gaynor
  • My Five Favourite July Reads
  • Buchan of the Month: Introducing…A Prince of the Captivity by John Buchan

#BookReview The Borrowed Boy by Deborah Klée @rararesources

whatcathyreadnext2 Comments

The Borrowed BoyWelcome to the final day of the blog tour for The Borrowed Boy by Deborah Klée. Do check out the posts of my tour buddies for today, Els at B For Bookreview and Fee at Ebook Addicts. My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my digital review copy.

TheBorrowedBoy_coverDesign_finalAbout the Book

A borrowed boy, a borrowed name and living on borrowed time.

What do you put on a bucket list when you haven’t done anything with your life? No interesting job, no lovers, no family, no friends. Believing she has only weeks left to live, Angie Winkle vows to make the most of every minute.

Going back to Jaywick Sands, is top of her bucket list. Experiencing life as a grandmother is not, but the universe has other plans and when four-year-old Danny is separated from his mum on the tube, Angie goes to his rescue. She tries to return him to his mum but things do not go exactly as planned and the two of them embark on a life-changing journey.

Set in Jaywick Sands, once an idyllic Essex holiday village in the 70s, but now a shanty town of displaced Londoners, this is a story about hidden communities and our need to belong.

Format: ebook (319 pages)               Publisher:
Publication date: 1st August 2020 Genre: Contemporary fiction

Find The Borrowed Boy on Goodreads

Purchase links*
Amazon UK| Hive (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

The Borrowed Boy alternates between the stories of two women whose paths cross by chance because of one small Polish boy, four year old Danek.

Angie Winkle dreams of nothing more than making what she fears may be her final visit to the seaside town of Jaywick Sands. It holds happy childhood memories of staying in the chalet of her best friend’s grandparents. Angie recalls a time of simple pleasures: building sandcastles, picnics on the beach, ice cream and toffee apples.

When the chance arises to share the experience with Danek (or Danny, as she calls him) she convinces herself it is a gift of fate. “There was no such thing as coincidence. The universe had heard her heartfelt plea and given her this chance.” She eagerly grasps the opportunity to taste the life she might have had if she’d become a mother or grandmother.  It’s fair to say she’s a natural at it and the relationship that develops between Danny and Angie is heartfelt and touching. It gives Angie a chance to erase dark moments in her life and to distract her from what she fears lies ahead.

Nikoleta’s dream is of a new life in London with boyfriend Kamil and young Danek. But that dream has rapidly turned into a nightmare. She finds Kamil’s refusal to involve the police in the search for Danek and instead use his own network of contacts both frustrating and perplexing. Her trusting nature and naivety makes her ignore the many warning signs that everything is not what it seems.

Initially, Angie is disappointed to find Jaywick Sands rather faded and rundown, not the lovely place she remembers. However, as she and Danny discover, the residents of Jaywick Sands are much more community minded and welcoming than they at first appear. That’s just as well when the story moves in an entirely different and unexpected direction. As certain individuals will find out, “Outsiders didn’t stand a chance when Jaywick came together to protect their own.”

The Borrowed Boy is a touching story about facing up to the future and finding friendship where you least expect it. “Sometimes when you think that you are at the end of a road and have no place to go, a new way opens up to you.”

In three words: Touching, emotional, engaging

Try something similar: Train Man by Andrew Mulligan

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The Borrowed Boy - head and shoulder DKAbout the Author

Deborah has worked as an occupational therapist, a health service manager, a freelance journalist, and management consultant in health and social care.

​Her protagonists are often people who exist on the edges of society. Despite the very real, but dark, subject matter her stories are uplifting, combining pathos with humour. They are about self-discovery and the power of friendships and community.​ The Borrowed Boy, her debut, was shortlisted for the Deviant Minds Award 2019. Just Bea, her second novel will be published in 2021.

Deborah lives on the Essex coast. When she is not writing she combines her love of baking with trying to burn off the extra calories.

​Connect with Deborah
Website | Twitter | Instagram

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