Tag: contemporary fiction

#BookReview Endless Skies by Jane Cable @SapereBooks

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Endless Skies Blog Blitz

Welcome to today’s stop on the blog blitz for Endless Skies by Jane Cable. My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting to participate in the tour and to Sapere Books for my digital review copy. And what a fabulous quartet of book bloggers I have joining me in hosting today’s stop on the tour – Jo at Jaffareadstoo, Cal at Cal Turner Reviews, Joanne at Portobello Book Blog and Anne at Being Anne. Do try to find some time to check out their posts.

If my review makes you want to read the book, then don’t hang about as the ebook of Endless Skies will be 99p until 23rd October (purchase link below).

  • Endless Skies
  • Jane Cable

About the Book

If you want to move forward, you have to deal with the past…

After yet another disastrous love affair – this time with her married boss – Rachel Ward has been forced to leave her long-term position in Southampton for a temporary role as an Archaeology Lecturer at Lincoln University. Rachel has sworn off men and is determined to spend her time away clearing her head and sorting her life out. But when one of her students begins flirting with her, it seems she could be about to make the same mistakes again…

She distracts herself by taking on some freelance work for local property developer, Jonathan Daubney. He introduces her to an old Second World War RAF base. And from her very first visit something about it gives Rachel chills…

As Rachel makes new friends and delves into local history, she is also forced to confront her own troubled past. Why is she unable to get into a healthy relationship? What’s stopping her from finding Mr Right? And what are the echoes of the past trying to tell her…?

Format: ebook (283 pages)   Publisher: Sapere Books
Publication date: 26th July 2020   Genre: Historical/Contemporary Fiction, Romance

Find Endless Skies on Goodreads

Purchase links*
Amazon UK
*link provided for convenience not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

The haunting and dramatic prologue does what just what a prologue should: leave questions in your mind as you read the rest of the book and make you want to read it again once you’ve turned the last page.

Rachel is a flawed but relatable character. Okay, she’s made poor decisions in the past about relationships but she’s also been let down and damaged by the actions of others. However, she recognizes she’s made mistakes and, guided by the wise advice of her friend Jessie, tries her best not to repeat them. However, sometimes she just cannot resist the tug of her heart over her head and, as we learned from Pride & Prejudice, first impressions cannot always be relied upon.

I liked seeing Rachel cast off the self-imposed shackles of academia and return to her first love, hands-on field archaeology with a trowel in her hand and dirt under her fingernails. Her connection with Esther, one of the ladies at The Firs retirement home, was touching and I loved how Rachel’s gradual unearthing of Esther’s memories mirrored her own literal unearthing of the history of the nearby air base. The landscape of rural Lincolnshire and its endless skies is vividly evoked.

The balance between the contemporary and wartime storylines was different from what I’d anticipated and there were elements I hadn’t been expecting. However, it’s no bad thing for a book to confound your expectations, is it?

Endless Skies has a bit of everything – romance, archaeology, mystery, history – making it the ideal book to immerse yourself in for a few hours on a wet afternoon. And for fans of old movies, the wonderful 1945 film, The Way to the Stars, would make the perfect companion piece.

In three words: Engaging, tender, romantic

Try something similar: The Sea Gate by Jane Johnson

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About the Author

Jane says: I write romance with a twist, that extra something to keep readers guessing right to the end. While my books are character driven my inspiration is always a British setting; so far a village in Yorkshire (The Cheesemaker’s House), a Hampshire wood (The Faerie Tree), gorgeous Studland Bay in Dorset (Another You) and rural Lincolnshire (Endless Skies).

I was born and raised in Cardiff but spent most of my adult life living near Chichester before my husband and I upped sticks and moved to Cornwall three years ago.

I published my first two novels independently and have now been signed by Sapere Books. I am an active member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and contributing editor to Frost online magazine.

Connect with Jane
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#BookReview The Borrowed Boy by Deborah Klée @rararesources

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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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