Book review - Tales from the Heart by Sophie King

Tales from the Heart

by Sophie King

Published by: Corazon Books

Available at:- Amazon Kindle

Blurb from Amazon.
A woman cooks a meal for her ex-husband, but has more than food on her mind...
Can a new arrival remind a family of what is really important in life..?
A young couple's love transports an elderly woman into the past...
Will love second time around heal old scars..?
Warring grandparents refuse to see eye to eye...
Are family secrets best kept hidden..?
A wise man's last request brings surprises for his great-niece...

Told with wit, understanding, humour, love and romance - these Tales from the Heart, which have appeared in a range of popular women's magazines such as Woman's Weekly and My Weekly, are brought together in one collection for the first time.

Plus, as a special bonus, the first two chapters of Sophie's witty new novel, Divorce for Beginners!

My review

Sophie King is well known for her short stories, written for womens magazines. T he nice light hearted reads that you can read and finish over a cup of morning coffee or afternoon tea.
This is a book full of 20 wonderful warm hearted short stories. Short stories that start you off on one line of thinking, only to surprise you near the end.

It includes reads such as "Under My Feet". A story about someone who stay's at home to keep house whilst their partner goes out to work. Their partner then gets given early retirement, threatening to disrupt the smooth running household.. A daunting feeling when you've had the house all to yourself and suddenly you're going to have someone under your feet. I loved this feel good tale of families and relationships. It amazes me how an author can give you so much information on a family and their life, in such a short story, but still have a full story.

One of my favourite tales was set in wartime Britain, and was the tale of a music box, and how it was such a wanted gift of a child with inquisitive eyes. I always remember the thrill of being bought a music box by my grandparents when I was a child. This lovely tale is about several generations of a family coming together in trying times. It really leaves you with a warm feeling at the end of it.

All 20 of the stories in this book are light hearted tales, with feel good endings. Its an ideal book to keep, to dip in and out of when you have a few minutes to spare. You won't be disappointed and you'll always be left with a smile on your face at the end of each story.

About the author

Sophie King is the author of the The School Run, Mums @ Home, Second Time Lucky, The Supper Club and The Wedding Party. Her first short story collection, Tales from the Heart, has just been released, and her latest novel, Divorce for Beginners, will be published later this summer.

Sophie's books are aimed at teenagers, mums and grans, or anyone else who can identify with a chaotic family life. Sophie has three children, a dog, a cat and a sleepy terrapin – all of whom make her laugh or cry, depending on how she feels.

Sophie has a pen name to distinguish her novels from her journalism. As Jane Bidder, she has written for The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Express, The Daily Mail, Woman, Woman’s Weekly, My Weekly, Good Housekeeping and many other national publications.

She has interviewed several big celebrities including her childhood hero David Essex, Michael Palin, Penny Vincenzi, Deborah Moggach, Julie Walters, Nigel Havers, Carolyn Quentin, Lord Lichfield, Martina Cole, Linda Robson, Lesley Joseph, Barbara Taylor Bradford and countless others.

This e-book was given to me to review, free of charge, by Great Stories With Heart
www.greatstorieswithheart.com. I was not paid for my review, and the words and thoughts are all my own.

Book Review -- Letters to My Mother by Rebecca Heath

Title - Letters to My Mother

Author - Rebecca Heath

Format - Kindle

ASIN: B0041844MW

This book is written partly as a story where the main character is relating what happened to her in the past, and also as a series of letters written to her parents whilst she was at college, which she found amongst her mothers belongings, when clearing her house.

Kate is a naive 19yr old student at Washington State in Seattle. She takes on a job as a typist for Dr. Rosenau and they eventually start an affair. He is her first boyfriend, and she is still a virgin and very naive in the affairs of the heart. David is very gentlemanly and does not take advantage of her so it didn't feel sordid.

The story started off quite well, but it soon became fairly predictable and I could see where it was heading. Kate and David (Dr.Rosenau) went out on his boat, and for quite a good percentage of the start of the book there were numerous yachting terms, which I had to keep looking up the meaning of on my kindle and I got a bit bored of it. As I reached 20% of the book I was glad it had finally stopped.

I got annoyed by David calling Kate "Dear" and "Dearest", and asked my Dad if that is something men used to call their loved ones in those times, and he didn't feel it was. It just sounded very patronising to me.

I felt that the story could have been dragged out a bit more and felt that there was quite a big time gap at the end, and then an abrupt ending.

I did quite like the characters, and there was quite a good storyline to it, which kept me reading. Some more yachting did come into the equation but this did add to the story. I won't spoil it by saying what.

This book was given to me by the author to review. This is no way influenced my review and the words are all my own.

I'm home and lots of books to review!

Well I'm home now and back down to earth with a bump! At least I don't have to work until Sunday and I'm not looking forward to that as lots of changes have taken place whilst I've been away.

Finally finished reading "One Day" and also 3 other books, so have some book reviews to do, but unfortunately have the washing to do first! My kindle battery held up really well and isn't even 1/2 used! Very impressed.

Made some good friends whilst in Crete and learnt some Greek whilst I was at it.

Will be posting my reviews as soon as I've got some time spare.

Kindle loaded & bags packed!

Well I am off on a long needed holiday tomorrow, to Fodele in Crete.

Photo courtesy of www.myholidayhomeincrete.co.uk

I have loaded my kindle and have more books on it than I can read in a week, and have added a mixture of genres. Looking forward to sitting on the roof terrace of our apartment and reading. Or sitting on the beach if the weather is nice enough.

I'll also be meeting up with an old schoolfriend that I haven't seen in nearly 30 yrs. She has been living in Crete for over 20 years and is married to a Cretan and has children who speak both Greek and English.

Will be studying my guide books closely.

photo couresty of www.freedigitalphotos.net

When double checking with my husband that he had both parts of his driving licence, his answer was " I don't need mine as you're down as the only driver!" Great! Especially when I read that they drive on the right, but sometimes the left. They don't indicate and they just pull up at the side of the road to chat to their friends. Mmmm not sure that I'm going to like this.

Photo courtesy of www.fotosearch.com

Anyway, if I've read loads of books whilst I'm away I will have lots of reviews to do on my return.

I will start running competitions when I get back, for a book giveaway, for those who can get me the most new followers. All you will have to do is to get your friend, or write yourself on who you have recommended as a follower and I will then give a book away.   Title to be decided upon my return, so watch this space!

Happy reading dear friends and I'll be back in a week or so's time.

photo courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net

Book Review -- The Child Taker, Conrad Jones

I have to be honest, I had never heard of Conrad Jones (Sorry Mr Jones), and really only bought the book as it was a bargain on the Kindle and I'm open to reading any thrillers from any authors.
Initially I couldn't work out where the book was going as in the first 4 chapters, two were dealing with a child taker and the other two were dealing with a secret ops unit in somalia. When it became apparant where the book was going I was enthralled and couldn't put it down.
I cannot believe those that gave the book 1 and 2 star ratings on Amazon, one even saying the writing was childlike! I found the book every bit as a good as those from writers such as Linwood Barclay, Andrew Gross, James Patterson. The book kept me gripped to the end, and boy what an ending.
I would certainly read more books from this author, although not so keen on the terrorist genre of books, but certainly if he wrote more thrillers like this I would buy them all.
Highly recommend it. Give it a try.

Kindle v Paperback

For ages my husband kept going on about wanting to buy me a Kindle for Christmas, but I kept saying that I loved the feel of having a book in my hand. One of the girls at work had a Kindle and she showed me how it worked and talked through the advantages of having a kindle especially when it comes to holidays!
I wasn't initially convinced, but when she said about holidays I thought that it would be better than carrying 6 or so paperbacks on holiday with me.

So in the end I relented and Santa bought me one. I must admit I am very pleased with it. It's easier to carry it in my handbag and take on holiday. I download all the books I want on it before I go. I have found access to numerous sites like Smashwords and NetGalley where I can pick up free books. They are usually from new or just unknown authors and I have read some better books on there than from well known authors.

I still buy paperbacks/hardbacks though, and when recently in London I visited Waterstones in Picadilly which is on 5 floors and I was in heaven! I could have spent all day there. I did purchase 3 books, so my Kindle hasn't killed my love of "real books". One of them being "The Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch". This book is a mixture of a crime book with modern day policing, versus a Harry Potter type book with Wizards. It looks fun and quirky.

Now I have both paperbacks/hardbacks and my kindle. I have managed to get so many free books or books under £1 for my kindle, and have built my collection up quite quickly. Most of the older books, like Jane Austen, Dickens etc, and now out of copyright, so they are all free.

So I'm still addicted to books but instead of being addicted to two types, I'm now addicted to three! The third also having music on it so I can read and listen to music at the same time!


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rivers-London-Ben-Aaronovitch/dp/0575097566/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300403111&sr=1-1

Due out 21st April 2011
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Moon-Over-Soho-Ben-Aaronovitch/dp/0575097604/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1300403111&sr=1-4

Pre order from Amazon -- currently only £6.49! Bargain.

If you have any questions about the Kindle please feel free to ask me.