Book Review: Rising Tide by Susan Roebuck

Last Updated: 21 May 2021

AD* | Time, and most of Portugal, has almost forgotten Luminosa, a small fishing community on the Alentejo coast. A cluster of white and blue cottages huddle under the cliffs overshadowed by the great manor of Herdade Albatroz whose family has ruled the village since the days of Napoleon. Far off the tourist route, nobody visits Luminosa by chance.

When a ruthless American racketeer turns up, the peaceful village's way of life could be ruined forever. But will other visitors - Piper Pines, seeking news of her long-dead Portuguese mother, and Leo Shine, bereft of a father and brother accused of terrible crimes - help or hinder his objective to drag Luminosa into the twenty-first century?

Book Review: Oblivion by Arnaldur Indridason

Last Updated: 15 May 2021

AD* | THE QUICK

A woman swims in a remote, milky-blue lagoon. Steam rises from the water and as it clears, a body is revealed in the ghostly light.

THE DEAD

Miles away, a vast aircraft hangar rises behind the perimeter fence of the US military base. A sickening thud is heard as a man’s body falls from a high platform.

THE FORGOTTEN

Many years before, a schoolgirl went missing. The world has forgotten her. But Erlendur has not.

THE SEARCHER

Erlendur Sveinsson is a newly promoted detective with a battered body, a rogue CIA operative and America’s troublesome presence in Iceland to contend with. In his spare time, he investigates a cold case. He is only starting out but he is already up to his neck.

Book Review: Love Defined by Leila Tualla

Last Updated: 15 May 2021

AD* | In their final summer before graduating college, three childhood friends expect an uncomplicated transition to adulthood... but learn they all still have some growing up to do.

Alex Makapulo is facing a crisis of faith.

Raised a Catholic, Alex is considering becoming a member of her best friend Jack Page’s church - against her family’s wishes - but she can’t quite take the final step of baptism. Jack loves Alex and doesn’t understand her hesitation, and Alex wonders if Jack’s love is a blessing or a distraction to test her religious conviction.

Lori Hanson embarks on the trip of a lifetime.

For her twenty-second birthday, Lori’s grandfather presents her with a summer vacation in England. While preparing for her adventure, she meets British musician Colin Watson online and quickly falls for him. They plan to hook up when she lands in London, but her grandfather forbids it. Due to complicated family dynamics, Lori must regretfully comply with his wishes, though she vows never to forgive him.

Andy Taylor is looking for love in all the wrong places.

When Andy runs into an old crush, she decides she wants a more meaningful relationship with sexy Miles Webber. But when she confides in Alex, her friend warns her Miles only wants her for sex. Andy becomes angry and devises a reckless plan to distract Alex’s attention from her relationship. Things don’t go quite as she expected, though, and Andy is left facing a crushing moral dilemma.

As the summer unfolds, three young women learn that love and faith go hand in hand, not everything is black and white, and sometimes in a fast-paced world, you have to slow down, breathe a little, and find your own definition of love.

Book Review: Violet Chain by J. Kahele

Last Updated: 15 May 2021

AD* | After catching her fiancé with another woman at their engagement party, Violet Townsend's world is turned upside down. Desperate to numb the pain, she falls into the arms of charming, young entrepreneur Chain Alexander.

Chain, a notorious womaniser of Philadelphia, not looking for anything more than a night of pleasure with a woman, is drawn to Violet instantly. There is something about her that he needs and wants so desperately and it’s not just sex.

But Violet is resistant. Can she open her heart again after having it broken so brutally? And more importantly, should she?

Interview: J. Kahele

I recently got the chance to interview J. Kahele, author of Violet Chain (paid link; commission earned), as part of the book's blog tour. If you missed my review, you can find it here!