Historical fiction is not a genre I would normally choose, but this novella caught my eye. I live in an area also rich with the history of these times and I also know Lincolnshire a little too so I feel well placed to admit that not only did I enjoy the atmosphere created by the author, the romantic weave lent another, very palatable thread of authenticity.
Well written, it is not only a romance but an accurate slice of life in those precarious years of Saxon England.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. The skill with which the author portrays the many diverse characters of Pagford - a small English country town - the way they reacted with and against each other and the subsequent fallout, is sublime. It opens with the death of local councillor Barry Fairbrother, and if I was to be incredibly harsh then I might add that the beginning didn't grab me totally, maybe because lots of characters were introduced quickly, but once I'd got past this point, I was totally hooked into every single thread Ms Rowling introduced.
So, a council seat is up for grabs - a casual vacancy - and a chance to change their small world, to have some power and prestige, throws the community into a state of flux. All the inhabitants are affected, whether they are interested in small town politics or not. The middle class, the working class and those trapped on the sink estate. The adults, the teenagers, the shop keepers and the drug users. All have a different agenda, and this novel was like slicing into a huge section of social strata and examining it under a microscope. The plot is entirely driven by the motives of each individual; greed, love, hope and despair, and peppered with all their pretensions and misguided prejudice. There is a wonderful balance to this novel, so many shades of black and white.
Barry wanted to save the sink estate, and some wanted it to just disappear.
What will become of the residents, his widow and his legacy?
Brilliant book.

This is a lighthearted, feel-good bubbly book but it has a solid centre. I am always wary when reviews say something is amazingly funny, but lots of this story actually did made me laugh.
It was a little predictable here and there, with some slight stereotyping in the characterisation, but it does what it says on the tin. Actually I think the pink cover makes it appear more frothy than it actually is. There is some sparky writing and a good plot foundation built around Celia, and her job at the elderly independents home where she teaches keep fit and art. Some of the escapades are a little zany, but on the other hand it does fly the flag for the older generation, rather than depicting them as `out of the loop.'
There is romance too - Celia is attached to the wrong man of course, but enter hunky policeman Alex, and although he has his own issues, he is clearly smitten - so will they, won't they?
It's a timeless structure but Sheryl Browne works it very well, and yes, it is funny.

This could be a marmite read maybe for those who don't connect with working class roots and British Humour. It could also be something of a niche novel with the strong Scottish dialogue. Well, I did connect with all of that, and I absolutely loved it.
I do like an anti-hero as well, and Jim certainly filled that role. The disappointed parents, the love-of-his-life-girlfriend that got away and the tedious, dead-end job that is his life.
So Jim starts his life again, from scratch.
This takes some guts; so maybe he's not such an anti-hero after all?
And then the ex pops up. It's complicated, and the author leads a skilled route through the minefield of relationships around this semi-clandestine affair.
Some hidden depths then, with this Jim Cooper and as the story progresses and we are taunted by the will-they-won't-they-get-back-together conundrum, there is something about this guy, something which makes us root for him.
Great lad-lit kind of style, very readable.
Overall, a solid four and a half rating for me. Slightly long winded here and there, but the characterisation, the relationship observations and the humour, more than made up for it. Loved the chef and his assistant. My OH had me read out the dialogue, and even with my appalling accent, he still laughed. Oh, and the ending...
(Last word: If this is ever made into a film, please have Mark Benton - with the appropriate accent training first, I'm sure he'd do a better job than me - to play Terry.)

Pam Howes has penned a very neat collection of short stories. There is no cliche or lack of depth, and each story is well-rounded in its simplicity. Love, relationships and clever insights into human nature, all peppered with that great Northern British humour.
I especially enjoyed My Generation and A Good Year for the Roses. Great characters and so well observed.

There are lots of books about terrible childhoods, but this one is written with a rather special insight. This account is of course, one step removed from the author, being the biography of his father's life but I think it is all the more powerful for that. Real, heartfelt emotion needs time to mature and be considered before it is shared, and maybe before we can learn anything.
We follow the life of Stefan from 1932 through that incomprehensible time endured by the people of the Ukraine during the reign of Stalin and then World War Two. Starvation and the horror of war painted a brutal landscape, but the author has cleverly woven the facts of these times into a work which is part fiction, part historical. It is a celebration of human endurance and the strength to survive not only physically, but mentally and emotionally too. Stefan Szpuk was a hero, there's no doubt about that. In fact, some of this book had me by the tear ducts and didn't let go until the last few pages.

The prequel to Three Steps to Heaven is not only a step back in time, but a re-visit to all those moments of teenage angst.
In this novel, Pam Howes takes us back to the early fifties & sixties when her cast of characters from the mega successful Rock-n-Roll Romance series were teenagers. This is the very start of the life-long journey the author has taken Roy and Eddie, Jane and Samantha. A sure sign of solidly built characters!
The music scene was slightly out of my era, but having a brother older by eight years, lots of information in the story popped back into my memory, which was a bonus. The author does a wonderful job of recreating the way we lived in those times and as a prequel, it not only ties up the lives of all the characters at the other end of the spectrum, but presents a polished springboard to go on to the main series. Great Northern humour and observations, and lots of musical references to those exciting times. Recommended.

This novel starts with a brilliant hook, when Andi is left standing at the altar, and you just have to read on... except that this fact is swept aside too quickly and no reference is made to it for a good while.
The storyline takes us to Blackberry Island and three houses known as the three sisters. A play on words here as the three female occupants become the main focus of the story, and their relationship problems form the basic structure of the novel. Characterisation is good and develops throughout the plot, but on the whole I felt it was a little predictable, lacking in some drama and plot twists, and I would have liked more of a sense of the location. Dialogue was engaging with some funny one-liners and the author didn't hold back with the love scenes.
I'm a little in two minds about this book. It held my interest, but there a little too much repetition and explanation, which was slightly irritating.
A three and half star rating for me, and I would certainly look at other titles by this author.

Well, I loved it.
A slow start for me, and although this love story is a slow burn in most aspects, it caught me in a powerful grip around a third of the way through.
An evocative background in the Isle of Garve, and the story of two very different women; both of whom come to love not only the island itself, but the men who are so much a part of its rugged landscape and its desolate, cruel beauty. Alys, a modern single parent, falls for an old childhood friend in Donal when she re-visits the island for a holiday.
In direct contrast, three hundred years ago, widowed Henrietta is brought to the island as a captive, a victim of her rich estate. The binding link between these women is a curiosity cabinet, something which has been handed down the generations and represents in its simplicity, everything which is precious about Garve and its unique history.
I loved the contrast between the lives of these women, and despite the changes on the island, their fundamental hopes and desires for love and motherhood, were somehow the same. A part historical, part contemporary story which was, spellbinding.

An interesting set of stories. Catherine Czerkawska always gets under my skin and I wasn't surprised to become immersed in this collection of three unusual stories. Museum of Torture managed to dredge up memories of my own, odd mix of post natal feelings, so I totally related to this one.
I didn't quite connect with the middle story, but loved the last one about Aunt Vera and her trip down memory lane.