Category Archives: Book Review

Deception Island by Brynn Kelly – 2016

Posted on August 27, 2017 by alysonebaker

Deception Island won the 2017 KORU Published Romance Book of the Year Award, and deservedly so.  It is a Romance novel; a large part of it deals with two people on a tropical island, they should hate each other but … Continue reading →

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Fletcher of the Bounty by Graeme Lay – 2017

Posted on August 14, 2017 by alysonebaker

I really enjoyed Lay’s James Cook trilogy, from the first installment which adores Cook, through to the final depiction of a man gone mad.  I picked up Fletcher of the Bounty expecting a combination of the two – adoring of … Continue reading →

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Catching the Last Tram by Susan Holt – 2017

Posted on August 5, 2017 by alysonebaker

What a charming book!  Catching the last tram is a romance that follows the usual romantic arc – but not at all in a usual way.  Beth is a librarian who has moved into a new part of town, she … Continue reading →

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The Earth Cries Out by Bonnie Etherington – 2017

Posted on July 30, 2017 by alysonebaker

Ruth is a young girl, living with her family on her grandparent’s apple orchard in Nelson, when a terrible accident tears her family apart.  Ironically it also keeps her family together, as her parents were talking divorce before the accident, … Continue reading →

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Lifting by Damien Wilkins – 2017

Posted on July 15, 2017 by alysonebaker

Amy is a new mum, still coming to terms with having a ‘family’, her husband has moved from a job where he smelt of coffee all the time to one where he stinks of petrol, they have problems with the … Continue reading →

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Straight and Level by Penelope Haines – 2017

Posted on July 12, 2017 by alysonebaker

Claire Hardcastle is a twenty-something pilot working for a small aviation outfit on the Kapiti Coast.  Her new, still finding out about each other, partner is a cop – and currently off in the Solomon’s on secondment – leaving their relationship at … Continue reading →

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See You in September by Charity Norman – 2017

Posted on June 9, 2017 by alysonebaker

Cassy has a typical love/hate relationship with her parents, especially her ex-army Dad, and she is well on the way to completing a Law Degree when she and her ambitious boyfriend Hamish decide to go off on a short trip … Continue reading →

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The French Perfumer by Amanda Hampson – 2017

Posted on May 25, 2017 by alysonebaker

Iris is 35 and living in London in 1956, her only company her father, her cat and a workmate, Colleen.  She does have a brother, but their relationship is tainted by the brother’s ambitious wife.  When her father and cat … Continue reading →

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The Wish Child by Catherine Chidgey – 2016

Posted on May 22, 2017 by alysonebaker

The Wish Child is a beautifully written tale of terrible things.  It tells the story of two children living in Germany from the height of Hitler’s power to his demise and beyond.  Erich lives on a farm near Leipzig, he … Continue reading →

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Marlborough Man by Alan Carter – 2017

Posted on May 20, 2017 by alysonebaker

What makes a great thriller great is nerve-wracking plotting, rich atmospheric settings, and complex characters – Marlborough Man has the lot – and it treats the ‘Top of the South’ as Paul Cleave has been treating Christchurch for years – … Continue reading →

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