Tag: blogtour

#BookReview The Morning Star by Gita V. Reddy @RandomTTours

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The Morning Star - BT Poster

Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for The Morning Star by Gita V. Reddy. My thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour and to the author for my digital review copy.

The Morning Star by Gita V. ReddyAbout the Book

Anything is possible if fate wills it.

A desperate woman calls a neighbour before dying in childbirth. Is it a coincidence that she chooses someone who will give her all to save the baby from its unscrupulous father?

When Sudha answers a telephone call in the middle of the night, she cannot know how it will change her life. From the first, she feels a strong connection with the motherless baby. She brings her home and names her after the Arundhati star. Sudha loves Arundhati – Anu as she calls her – as much as she does her son. She is the daughter of her heart, a precious gift that fate has given her. As the threat to Anu’s safety increases, she grows desperate and takes a drastic step to protect the baby.

Only, it might cost her everything she holds dear…

Format: Paperback (329 pages)          Publisher:
Publication date: 30th August 2020  Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Women’s Fiction

Find The Morning Star on Goodreads

Purchase links*
Amazon UK
*Link provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

Having previously read the author’s two short story collections, Happiness Is A Collage and A Tapestry Of Tears, I was intrigued at the prospect of experiencing her writing in novel length form. Even more so since I also enjoyed her book, Outside the Magic Circle, exploring the private life of Charles Dickens and revealing his cruel treatment of his wife Catherine, mother of his children.

Described as “a story of love, sacrifice and the unseen hand of destiny”, The Morning Star takes the reader on an emotional – and literal – journey as Sudha attempts to fulfil her neighbour Prerna’s dying wish that she keep her newborn daughter safe from Prerna’s alcoholic husband. Sudha soon finds herself forced to choose between respecting the wishes of her husband Vinay, her responsibilities for her young son Raghu and her sincere conviction that destiny has chosen her to be the protector of the baby she names Arundhati. Her choice sets her on a path that jeopardizes her marriage, forces her to venture outside the relatively enclosed life she has led so far, and brings challenges and risks she can never have imagined.

Although Sudha’s actions may appear rash, even naïve at times, they are clearly motivated by her love for Arundhati, the daughter she would have loved to have, and by her own experiences as a child. This makes her a very sympathetic character. And I’m sure I’m not the only reader to give a little cheer the first time she, in her words, “stands her ground”, answering back to yet another mean comment from her cousin Lavanya.

A chance encounter on a train journey results in an unlikely friendship which brings Sudha (who is somewhat of an innocent abroad, at one point describing herself as “a boat without oars in a fast-moving river”) much needed practical help. It also leads to Sudha and Arundhati finding an unexpected refuge as well as a source of love and support, just at the moment they need it most.

The novel’s references to smartphones, Instagram and Netflix place it very much in the here and now, even more so as the author very cleverly weaves current world events into the storyline. However, as in her previous books, the central story is accompanied by fascinating insights into Indian culture, religious belief and social customs. Oh, and delicious sounding food.

The Morning Star is a moving family drama set against the backdrop of modern day India. It will take you on an emotional journey, one you won’t want to forget for a while.

In three words: Emotional, touching, hopeful

Try something similar: The Borrowed Boy by Deborah Klee

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Gita Reddy Author PicAbout the Author

Gita V. Reddy lives in Hyderabad, India, with her husband and son. She writes fiction for both adults and children. Her books for children are written when she takes a break from writing for adults and vice versa. She enjoys thinking up tales in different genres and has written historical fiction, women’s fiction and has recently made a foray into Regency romance. For children, she has written mysteries, adventure tales, fantasy, science fiction and also a fable. In addition to writing, she is interested in art and has illustrated three picture books.

Gita Reddy also writes under the pen names of Heera Datta and Jessica Spencer (for Regency romance). Ms. Reddy is a postgraduate in Mathematics. In an earlier life, that she voluntarily quit in 2011, she was a senior manager in a bank. To know more about her and her writing journey, visit her website.

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#BookReview The House in the Hollow by Allie Cresswell @alliescribbler

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Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for The House in the Hollow by Allie Cresswell. My thanks to Allie for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my digital review copy of the book.

The House in the Hollow by Allie CresswellAbout the Book

The Talbots are wealthy. But their wealth is from ‘trade’. With neither ancient lineage nor title, they struggle for entrance into elite Regency society. Finally, aided by an impecunious viscount, they gain access to the drawing rooms of England’s most illustrious houses.

Once established in le bon ton, Mrs Talbot intends her daughter Jocelyn to marry well, to eliminate the stain of the family’s ignoble beginnings. But the young men Jocelyn meets are vacuous, seeing Jocelyn as merely a brood mare with a great deal of money. Only Lieutenant Barnaby Willow sees the real Jocelyn, but he must go to Europe to fight the French. The hypocrisy of fashionable society repulses Jocelyn – beneath the courtly manners and studied elegance she finds tittle-tattle, deceit, dissipation and vice.

Jocelyn stumbles upon and then is embroiled in a sordid scandal which will mean utter disgrace for the Talbot family. Humiliated and dishonoured, she is sent to a remote house hidden in a hollow of the Yorkshire moors. There, separated from family, friends and any hope of hearing about the lieutenant’s fate, she must build her own life – and her own social order – anew.

Format: ebook (300 pages)                        Publisher: N/A
Publication date: 10th November 2020 Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance

Find The House in the Hollow on Goodreads

Purchase links*
Amazon UK (99p for a limited time)
*Link provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

The House in the Hollow (a prequel to the author’s award-winning Tall Chimneys ) opens with Jocelyn Talbot’s journey to the house of the title, with its eerie atmosphere of gloom and melancholy.   For Jocelyn it is the beginning of a period of exile the full reason for which will only gradually be revealed.  As she gets used to the isolation of her new surroundings she recalls earlier, happier days when, as the daughter of a wealthy family, her expectations of life were very different.

As an aficionado of Jane Austen, the author does a great job of replicating the satirical edge that Austen brought to her observations of contemporary society. For example, the disdain with which an offer to take tea is greeted rather than the sign of more favoured status, an invitation to dine. I particularly enjoyed the description of a dinner party at Binsley House, home of the eccentric Sir Diggory, at which casual snobbery, social pretensions, “fashion and empty affectation” are laid bare. Fans of Pride & Prejudice will also enjoy the efforts of various ladies to procure advantageous marriages for their daughters.

By introducing the point of view of Annie Orphan (so named because she was taken from the workhouse into service in the Talbot household along with another orphan, Sally), the reader gets a fascinating insight into the daily routine of servants in a large house. It also provides another perspective on the events that have led to Jocelyn’s exile. There are moments of melodrama too, many of which involve the magnificently named Lord Petrel.

I liked that the author took the opportunity to add diversity to the story by introducing a couple of characters who would definitely not have found a place in a Jane Austen novel. Moreover, that these characters are given responsible and useful positions in society. Continuing this egalitarian theme is Jocelyn’s gradual unpicking of the barriers that society imposes between her and the household servants, what she describes as a ‘very ridiculous, utterly artificial separation’.

I really enjoyed The House in the Hollow which, for me, had just the right combination of period detail, social history, romance and skillfully constructed storyline.  No surprise then that Tall Chimneys has been added to my wishlist.  To find out more about the inspiration for the book and how it became a lockdown project, check out Allie’s guest post hosted by Nicola at Short Book and Scribes.

In three words: Dramatic, engrossing, assured

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Allie CresswellAbout the Author

Allie Cresswell was born in Stockport, UK and began writing fiction as soon as she could hold a pencil. She did a BA in English Literature at Birmingham University and an MA at Queen Mary College, London. She has been a print-buyer, a pub landlady, a book-keeper, run a B&B and a group of boutique holiday cottages. Nowadays Allie writes full time having retired from teaching literature to lifelong learners. She has two grown-up children, two granddaughters, two grandsons and two cockapoos but just one husband – Tim. They live in Cumbria, NW England.

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