Tag Archives For: Australia

11 Aug, 2018

A Recipe for Disaster

/ posted in: Book Review, Reading

A Recipe for Disaster by Belinda Missen
on August 7, 2018
Genres: Fiction
Format: eARC
Source: Book Tour, From author/publisher
Setting: Australia

Life’s not always a piece of cake…

Meet Lucy, master wedding cake baker, idealistic school canteen crusader, and someone whose broken heart just won’t seem to mend…

Lucy is quietly confident that she has made the right choices in life. Surrounded by friends and family in a small town by the sea, Lucy can easily suppress the feeling that something is missing from her life.

But when a blast from the past arrives in the form of her estranged husband, international celebrity chef Oliver Murray, Lucy’s carefully constructed life begins to crumble beneath her like overbaked meringue.

Is Oliver’s return all business or is it motivated by something more?

A Recipe for Disaster starts long after most love stories would have ended, proving it is never too late to offer someone a second slice of cake or a second chance.

Perfect for fans of Carole Mathews, Mhairi McFarlane and Carrie Hope Fletcher.

Second chance romance stories are not my favorites. I figure if you broke up before there was probably a good reason. Especially if you break up for the incredibly stupid reason that the couple in this book did. They are both chefs. She’s a pastry chef. He gets a job offer in Paris. She decides to stay at home in Australia because there is no work for her. As a PASTRY CHEF. IN FRANCE…

At this point I was muttering to myself about agreeing to review this book, but the book surprised me. There wasn’t a magical fix to the relationship as soon as her estranged husband reappeared. She is still insanely jealous of what he’s been able to do. He is still prone to running over everyone else’s thoughts and feelings in pursuit of what he wants. They can’t communicate at all about anything other than food.

They both need to grow up and decide if their relationship is more important than their businesses. Can they work together and have professional disagreements without it hurting their personal relationship?

This book turned out to be deeper than I expected from the first few chapters. It shows that life is messy and complicated and that you need to learn to work through it to get what you want.

17 Jul, 2018

The Vanished Child

/ posted in: Book Review, Reading

The Vanished Child (Jayne Sinclair Genealogical Mystery #4) by M.J. Lee
on February 23, 2018
Genres: Fiction
Format: eBook
Source: Book Tour, From author/publisher
Setting: England

Every childhood lasts a lifetime. On her deathbed, Freda Duckworth confesses to giving birth to an illegitimate child in 1944 and placing him in a children’s home. Seven years later she went back but he had vanished. What happened to the child? Why did he disappear? Where did he go? Jayne Sinclair, genealogical investigator, is faced with lies, secrets and one of the most shameful episodes in recent British history. Can she find the vanished child?

This is the fourth book in this series of mysteries solved by a genealogical researcher. I hadn’t read the previous ones but I didn’t have any trouble following this book. I do think this is an interesting angle for a mystery. I love watching genealogy shows on TV and researching my own family history.

This book hits hard on one of my push button issues – the horrific treatment of unmarried women with children at the hands of Christian churches. I spent my whole time reading this book muttering to myself about how abusive the church is and how it always seems to be coming up with new ways to be awful. It was not unusual for unmarried women to be separated from their children because it was considered better for the children to be raised elsewhere away from their immoral mothers. This book looks at the practice of shipping English children to Australia to be trained as domestics and laborers. Yes, it was considered better for them to be raised as virtual slaves than to stay with their mothers. People were told they were orphans and they wanted to believe that so they dismissed the children when they talked about having mothers at home in England.

The whole book is pretty heartbreaking but it highlights some British history that isn’t well known. If you want to continue your outrage after this one, check out the movies Philomena or The Magdalene Sisters. The first one is sad but has funny moments. The second is just deeply horrifying.

27 Oct, 2017

#AusReadingMonth

/ posted in: Reading

Brona is a very observant person and noticed that my Australia/Oceania bar on the right side of the blog has not moved. She let me know about AusReadingMonth in November to try to fix that.

She starts out with some very hard questions.

1. Tell us about the Australian books you’ve loved and read so far.

Well, everything I know about Australia comes from Bill Bryson’s In a Sunburned Country so that is probably going to skew every other question on this list.

I’ve read these two books. I think that’s about it in the last year or two.

2. When you think of Australia, what are the first five things that pop into your mind?

Opera house, barrier reef, great white sharks, desert, Aboriginal art

3. Have you ever visited Australia? Or thought about it?

What are the pros and cons about travelling to/in Australia for you?

What are/were your impressions?

I haven’t seriously thought about it. It is so far away.

4. If you have been or plan to visit, where will you be heading first?

If you already live in this big, beautiful land, tell us a little about where you are, what you love (or not) about it and where you like to holiday (or would like to visit) in Australia.

If I visited I would probably stick to the cities and beaches.

5. Do you have a favourite Australian author/s or book/s?

Tell us about him/her/it.

I don’t really. Obviously I need some help.

6. Which Aussie books are on your TBR pile/wishlist?

There are sequels to the two books I’ve read. I could start there.

7. Which book/s do you hope to read for #AusReadingMonth?

Am I Black Enough For You? by Anita Heiss

“I’m Aboriginal. I’m just not the Aboriginal person a lot of people want or expect me to be.

What does it mean to be Aboriginal? Why is Australia so obsessed with notions of identity? Anita Heiss, successful author and passionate campaigner for Aboriginal literacy, was born a member of the Wiradjuri nation of central New South Wales, but was raised in the suburbs of Sydney and educated at the local Catholic school. She is Aboriginal – however, this does not mean she likes to go barefoot and, please, don’t ask her to camp in the desert.

After years of stereotyping Aboriginal Australians as either settlement dwellers or rioters in Redfern, the Australian media have discovered a new crime to charge them with: being too ‘fair-skinned’ to be an Australian Aboriginal. Such accusations led to Anita’s involvement in one of the most important and sensational Australian legal decisions of the 21st-century when she joined others in charging a newspaper columnist with breaching the Racial Discrimination Act. He was found guilty, and the repercussions continue.”

The Disappearance of Ember Crow by Ambelin Kwaymullina

“Ember Crow is missing. To find her friend, Ashala Wolf must control her increasingly erratic and dangerous Sleepwalking ability and leave the Firstwood. But Ashala doesn’t realise that Ember is harbouring terrible secrets and is trying to shield the Tribe and all Illegals from a devastating new threat – her own past.”

8. It came to my attention recently (when I posted a snake photo on Instagram) that our overseas friends view Australia as a land full of big, bad, deadly animals.

Can you name five of them?

What about five of our cuter more unique creatures?

(For the locals, which five animals from each category have you had an up close and personal with)?

Um, the humans?

The Princess Bride wouldn’t lie to me, right? Sorry Brona. I’m American. I’ve got no room to talk.

Sharks, spiders, snakes of all kinds of poisonousness – scary ones

Koala bears, cockatoos, kangaroos, sheep – not so scary

9. Can you name our current Prime Minister (plus four more from memory)?

No googling allowed!

Nope, but I know that one went missing and was never found. (Thank you Bill Bryson for arming me with facts that I never knew I was going to need.)

10. Did you know that Australians have a weird thing for BIG statues of bizarre animals and things?

Can you name five of them?

Nope

09 Jan, 2017

The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf

/ posted in: Reading The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf

The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf (The Tribe #1) by Ambelin Kwaymullina
on July 2012
Pages: 395
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Young Adult
Published by Walker Books Australia
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library
Buy on Amazon (affiliate link)
Setting: Australia

“There will come a day when a thousand Illegals descend on your detention centres. Boomers will breach the walls. Skychangers will send lightning to strike you all down from above, and Rumblers will open the earth to swallow you up from below. . . . And when that day comes, Justin Connor, think of me.”
Ashala Wolf has been captured by Chief Administrator Neville Rose. A man who is intent on destroying Ashala’s Tribe — the runaway Illegals hiding in the Firstwood. Injured and vulnerable and with her Sleepwalker ability blocked, Ashala is forced to succumb to the machine that will pull secrets from her mind.
And right beside her is Justin Connor, her betrayer, watching her every move.
Will the Tribe survive the interrogation of Ashala Wolf?

I hadn’t heard of this book until it was selected for the Diverse SciFi and Fantasy book club on Twitter. The author is an Indigenous Australian woman.

Several hundred years ago the Reckoning happened. It isn’t explained exactly what occurred. Now there are humans with special abilities. They are killed or imprisoned when their abilities start to manifest in order to maintain the status quo of the new world. Several of these kids have escaped into the wilderness and are living together. They live close to a compound specially built to jail captured Illegals.

The humans haven’t decided this just because of fear of the Illegals. They decided in response to the Reckoning that they will live in harmony with nature. They will keep their technology simple so as not to cause another ecological disaster. I like that the conflict between the types of Humans isn’t just based in fear. I’d like to see the authorities’ thoughts about how keeping illegals subdued helps lessen human impact on the environment explored more. I hear that these are explored more in the next book.

When Ashala is betrayed and captured, she is terrified that she will lead authorities to the rest of her Tribe. They are probably protected because they have made a deal with a species of large lizards who live in the wilds between the detention center and the Tribe. The Tribe can live in the forest if they promise not to eat any meat. Vegetarians for the win! But if the authorities can get past the Saurs the kids don’t have great defenses.

Something feels off about her capture and interrogation. Ashala isn’t sure what it is. She’s going to have to figure it out quickly because it is distracting her and distraction may make her betray her people. She’s also grieving because of some tough decisions that she had to make for the safety of the Tribe.

I can’t talk much more about the plot without spoilers. Ashala needs to trust herself and her own mind in order to survive her interrogation and possibly find a way to escape.

The abilities of Ashala’s tribe are based in Aboriginal folklore. I haven’t read a book before that uses that as a basis for a magical/supernatural system.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

POC authors

07 Dec, 2016

The Chocolate Apothecary

/ posted in: Reading The Chocolate Apothecary

The Chocolate Apothecary by Josephine Moon
on June 24, 2015
Genres: Fiction
Format: Paperback
Source: Owned
Setting: Australia

“Christmas Livingstone has formulated 10 top rules for happiness by which she tries very hard to live. Nurturing the senses every day, doing what you love, sharing joy with others are some of the rules but the most important for her is no. 10 – absolutely no romantic relationships!
Her life is good now. Creating her enchantingly seductive shop, The Chocolate Apothecary, and exploring the potential medicinal uses of chocolate makes her happy; her friends surround her; and her role as a fairy godmother to her community allows her to share her joy. She doesn’t need a handsome botany ace who knows everything about cacao to walk into her life. One who has the nicest grandmother – Book Club Captain at Green Hills Aged Care Facility and intent on interfering – a gorgeous rescue dog, and who wants her help to write a book. She really doesn’t need any of that at all.
Or does she?”

I hardly ever find any Australian books to read. I’m not sure why. I was so excited when this turned out to be set in Tasmania! I don’t know that I’ve ever read a book set there.

Christmas owns a chocolate store that reminds me a lot of the one in Chocolat, without the magical realism. Her goal is to combine chocolate and medicine. She started to store after a heartbreak on the mainland. Now she is content in her life. There are two big opportunities for her coming up. She has a chance to go to an eccentric chocolate making week-long course in France and she is asked to co-write a book on chocolate with a botanist. Both of these are exciting on their own, but her friends and family are interfering. They think she should look up her long lost father in France and they think that she should see the botanist as a romantic opportunity. Christmas is fine without either complication, thank you very much.

This book is mainly about the characters. Christmas and her family are all unique personalities as are the residents at the Aged Care Facility who decide to work as matchmakers. That distracts them from the cut throat competition to be in charge of the book club. There isn’t a lot that happens in the story but getting to know the people is the real joy of this book.

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