Tag: Reviews

My Week in Books – 11th December 2022

whatcathyreadnext

MyWeekinBooksOn What Cathy Read Next last week

Monday – I made another trip Down the TBR Hole.

Tuesday – I published my review of Animal Life by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir, translated by Brian FitxGibbon as part of the blog tour. This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was a freebie and I chose to highlight ten books featuring tennis players. 

Wednesday – As always WWW Wednesday is a weekly opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next… and to take a peek at what others are reading. 

Friday – I published my review of Forest of Foes by Matthew Harffy as part of the blog tour.

Saturday – I shared my review of Elena by Rupert Colley, a novella available as a free ebook via the author’s website.

New arrivals

The Paris SisterThe Paris Sister (The Three Fry Sisters #2) by Adrienne Chinn (eARC, One More Chapter via NetGalley)

The Fry sisters enter the Roaring Twenties forever changed by their experiences during the Great War. Now, as each of their lives unfold in different corners of the globe, they come to realise that the most important bond is that of family.

Desperate to save the man she loves, Etta leaves behind the life she has made for herself in Capri and enters the decadent world of Parisian society with all its secrets and scandals.

Celie’s new life on the Canadian prairies brings mixed blessings – a daughter to adore, but a husband who isn’t the man who holds her heart.

In Egypt, Jessie’s world is forever changed by a devastating loss.

And back in London – where each of their adventures began – their mother Christina watches as the pieces of her carefully orchestrated existence begin to shatter…with implications for them all…

On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

  • Book Review: Devils and Saints by Jean-Baptiste Andrea
  • Book Review: The Darlings of the Asylum by Noel O’Reilly
  • Book Review: The Truth Must Dazzle Gradually by Helen Cullen

#BookReview Elena by Rupert Colley

whatcathyreadnext

ElenaAbout the Book

Naples, 1944. Elena, aged twelve, is left orphaned and traumatized by war. But a gift from an American soldier shows her that kindness can still exist in a cruel world.

Post-war, and now a young woman, the memory of the soldier obsesses her. Eleven years after their first meeting, their paths cross again and Elena’s life will never be the same.

Find Elena on Goodreads

My Review

Available as a free ebook via the author’s website, Elena is the emotional story of a chance encounter and its repercussions. With their parents dead and their brother sent to work as forced labour in Germany, 12 year-old Elena and her sister Nina are trying to survive alone in a bomb-damaged Naples. Without money and close to starvation, a desperate act on Elena’s part is met with unexpected kindness and generosity by Nathaniel, a black American soldier. It ensures the sisters’ survival and Nathaniel becomes something of a hero figure in Elena’s eyes. She is convinced he will one day return to make good a promise. That conviction sustains her over the course of the next ten years but it means she is unwilling to look for love elsewhere. After all, what young man can compete with the hero you believe saved your life?   

Alongside Elena’s story, we see Naples recovering from the impact of war and taking gradual steps to becoming the vibrant city it once was. It acts as a kind of metaphor for Elena’s life. I won’t say much more for fear of spoilers but readers who love a heart-warming ending will not be disappointed.

In three words: Touching, evocative, tender

Rupert ColleyAbout the Author

Rupert writes: ‘I was born one Christmas Day, which means, as a child, I lost out on presents. Nonetheless, looking back on it, I lived a childhood with a “silver spoon in my mouth” – brought up in a rambling manor house in the beautiful Devon countryside. It’s been downhill ever since. I was a librarian for a long time, a noble profession. Then I started a series called History In An Hour, “history for busy people”, which I sold to HarperCollins UK. I now live in London with my wife, two children and dog (a fluffy cockapoo) and write historical fiction, mainly 20th-century war and misery. (Photo/Bio: Amazon author page)

Connect with Rupert
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