Holiday Reads 2019

The beauty of reading is that it lets you travel in a way you could never know.

Alek Wek

This time next week I will be closing my suitcase, which incidentally will be within a gram of my allowance, hugging the cats whilst leaving painstaking instructions for my friend who's moving in to look after them and then watching impatiently for the taxi I've booked to take me and two of the best friends anyone could ever wish for to Luton Airport. Yep, I'm off on my hols, two weeks of food, fun, culture, sun and laughter in Tuscany and Umbria. Starting with four nights in Florence, one of the most wonderful cities in the world, down to Assisi for six nights then finishing off with four nights at a lovely little spa hotel near the delightful little town of Orvieto - I've been looking forward to this for months and no doubt I will bore you with my adventures when I get back!

The other thing I've been looking forward to is my holiday reads! For those of you that have been following my blog, you will know of my love of reading however, when I’m holiday I tend to go a little bonkers, it's not unknown for me to go through four books on a two week beach holiday! I tend to take a selection with me so with the advent of eBooks I'm a very happy bunny! This year I'm taking six(ish).

Here's a few introductions inspired by Goodreads.

Vox by Christina Dalcher

Set in an America where half the population has been silenced, VOX is the harrowing, unforgettable story of what one woman will do to protect herself and her daughter. On the day the government decrees that women are no longer allowed to speak more than 100 words daily, Dr. Jean McClellan is in denial - this can't happen here. Not in America. Not to her.

This is just the beginning.

Soon women can no longer hold jobs. Girls are no longer taught to read or write. Females no longer have a voice. Before, the average person spoke sixteen thousand words a day, but now women only have one hundred to make themselves heard.

But this is not the end.

For herself, her daughter, and every woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice.

Summerhouse by the Sea by Jenny Oliver

For Ava Fisher, the backdrop to all her sun-drenched memories – from her first taste of chocolate-dipped churros to her very first kiss – is her grandmother’s Summerhouse in the sleepy Spanish seaside town of Mariposa.

Returning for one last summer, Ava throws herself into a project her grandmother would be proud of. Café Estrella - once the heart of the sleepy seaside village - now feels more ramshackle than rustic. Just like Ava, it seems it has lost its sparkle.

Away from the exhausting juggle of London life, Ava realises somehow her life has stopped being…happy. But being back at the Summerhouse by the sea could be the new beginning she didn’t even realise she needed…

Tara, Cam and Stella are very different women. Yet in a society that sets the agenda, there's something about being a woman that ties invisible bonds between us. When one extraordinary event rockets Tara to online infamy, their three worlds collide in ways they could never imagine - and they discover that one woman's catastrophe might just be another's inspiration!

Through friendship and conflict, difference and likeness, they'll learn to find their own voices.

A Woman of War by Mandy Robotham

Germany, 1944. Taken from the camps to serve the Führer himself, Anke Hoff is assigned as midwife to one of Hitler’s inner circle. If she refuses, her family will die. Torn between her duty as a caregiver and her hatred for the Nazi regime, Anke is swept into a life unlike anything she’s ever known – and she discovers that many of those at the Berghof are just as trapped as she is. Soon, she’s falling for a man who will make her world more complicated still…

Before long, the couple is faced with an impossible choice – and the consequences could be deadly. Can their forbidden love survive the horrors of war? And, more importantly, will they?

The Strawberry Thief by Joanne Harris

Vianne Rocher has settled down. Lansquenet-sous-Tannes, the place that once rejected her, has finally become her home. With Rosette, her 'special' child, she runs her chocolate shop in the square, talks to her friends on the river, is part of the community. Even Reynaud, the priest, has become a friend.

But when old Narcisse, the florist, dies, leaving a parcel of land to Rosette and a written confession to Reynaud, the life of the sleepy village is once more thrown into disarray. The arrival of Narcisse's relatives, the departure of an old friend and the opening of a mysterious new shop in the place of the florist's across the square - one that mirrors the chocolaterie, and has a strange appeal of its own - all seem to herald some kind of change: a confrontation, a turbulence - even, perhaps even, a murder…

Summer at the Cornish Café by Phillipa Ashley

Demi doesn’t expect her summer in Cornwall to hold anything out of the ordinary. As a waitress, working all hours to make ends meet, washing dishes and serving ice creams seems to be as exciting as the holiday season is about to get.

That’s until she meets Cal Penwith. An outsider, like herself, Cal is persuaded to let Demi help him renovate his holiday resort, Kilhallon Park. Set above an idyllic Cornish cove, the once popular destination for tourists has now gone to rack and ruin. During the course of the Cornish summer, Demi makes new friends – and foes – as she helps the dashing and often infuriating Cal in his quest. Working side by side, the pair grow close, but Cal has complications in his past which make Demi wonder if he could ever truly be interested in her.

Demi realises that she has finally found a place she can call home. But as the summer draws to a close, and Demi’s own reputation as an up and coming café owner starts to spread, she is faced with a tough decision……

No posts for the next few weeks, I'll let you know what I devoured when I get back!

What's on this week?