#TopTenTuesday Love Island(s)

Top Ten Tuesday newTop Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

The rules are simple:

Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want. Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post. Add your name to the Linky widget on that day’s post so that everyone can check out other bloggers’ lists. Or if you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.

This week it’s a freebie where we’re invited to put our own spin on the theme of Love. My list is made up of books that involve a love story of one kind or another and which are set on islands (real and fictional). Links from the book titles will take you to my review or the book description on Goodreads.


The Isle of Wight – Stealing Roses by Heather Cooper

San Domino – Mussolini’s Island by Sarah Day

Martinique – Island On Fire by Sophie Schiller

Madeira – Joseph Barnaby by Susan Roebuck

Seal Island – I Will Find You by Daniela Sacerdoti

Stealing RosesmussoliniIsland on FireJoseph BarnabyI Will Find You

Santaniki – The Olive Garden Choir by Leah Fleming

Cephalonia – Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres

Rathlin – The Watch House by Bernie McGill

Crete – The Secret Life of Alfred Nightingale by Rebecca Stonehill

Plakos – The Dancing Floor by John Buchan

The Olive Garden ChoirTheWatchHouseThe Secret Life of Alfred Nightingale9780749397548The Dancing Floor The Free Fishers

My Week in Books – 9th February 2020

MyWeekinBooks

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Blog posts

Monday – I published my review of historical thriller, Burning Cold by Lisa Lieberman.

Tuesday – I  joined the blog tour for Inexpressible Island by Paullina Simons. This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Books In My TBR I Predict Will Be 5* Reads. I’m tough when it comes to handing out five stars but I adopted a spirit of optimism and who knows?

Wednesday – WWW Wednesday is 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 shared my review of Requiem for a Knave by Laura Carlin. 

Friday – I published my review of The Bermondsey Bookshop by Mary Gibson as part of the blog tour.

Saturday – I shared My 5 Favourite January Reads.

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


New arrivals

cover181979-mediumThe Glass House by Eve Chase (eARC, courtesy of Michael Joseph and NetGalley)

Outside a remote manor house in an idyllic wood, a baby girl is found.

The Harrington family takes her in and disbelief quickly turns to joy. They’re grieving a terrible tragedy of their own and the beautiful baby fills them with hope, lighting up the house’s dark, dusty corners. Desperate not to lose her to the authorities, they keep her secret, suspended in a blissful summer world where normal rules of behaviour – and the law – don’t seem to apply.

But within days a body will lie dead in the grounds. And their dreams of a perfect family will shatter like glass. Years later, the truth will need to be put back together again, piece by piece . . .

From the author of Black Rabbit Hall, The Glass House is a emotional, thrilling book about family secrets and belonging – and how we find ourselves when we are most lost.

cover181688-mediumPeople Like Us by Louise Fein (eARC, courtesy of Head of Zeus and NetGalley)

‘I nearly drowned and Walter rescued me. That changes everything.’

Leipzig, 1930’s Germany. Hetty Heinrich is a perfect German child. Her father is an SS officer, her brother in the Luftwaffe, herself a member of the BDM. She believes resolutely in her country, and the man who runs it.

Until Walter changes everything. Blond-haired, blue-eyed, perfect in every way Walter. The boy who saved her life. A Jew.

Anti-Semitism is growing by the day, and neighbours, friends and family members are turning on one another. As Hetty falls deeper in love with a man who is against all she has been taught, she begins to fight against her country, her family and herself. Hetty will risk have to risk everything to save Walter, even if it means sacrificing herself.

20200207_130145_kindlephoto-77579891The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant by Kayte Nunn (giveaway, courtesy of Orion Books)

A cache of unsent love letters from the 1950s is found in a suitcase on a remote island in this mysterious love story by top ten bestselling author, Kayte Nunn

1951. Esther Durrant, a young mother, is committed to an isolated mental asylum by her husband. Run by a pioneering psychiatrist, the hospital is at first Esther’s prison but soon becomes her refuge.

2018. Free-spirited marine scientist Rachel Parker embarks on a research posting in the Isles of Scilly, off the Cornish coast. When a violent storm forces her to take shelter on a far-flung island, she discovers a collection of hidden love letters. Captivated by their passion and tenderness, Rachel determines to track down the intended recipient.

Meanwhile, in London, Eve is helping her grandmother, a renowned mountaineer, write her memoirs. When she is contacted by Rachel, it sets in motion a chain of events that threatens to reveal secrets kept buried for more than sixty years.

The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant is a deeply atmospheric, resonant novel that charts the heart’s wild places, choices and consequences. If you love Elizabeth Gilbert and Kate Morton you will devour this book.


On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

 

Planned posts

  • Q&A: Sandy Day, author of Head on Backwards, Chest Full of Sand
  • Top Ten Tuesday: Love Freebie
  • Waiting on Wednesday
  • Book Review: Summerland by Lucy Adlington
  • Buchan of the Month: Introducing… John Burnet of Barns