Month: May 2018

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It’s Ok To Feel The Way You Do – Josh Langley – Award Winner and All-round Nice Guy

smallpubkids_wide

 

Press Release
Josh Langley’s inspiration book It’s OK to Feel The Way You Do was awarded 2018 Small Publisher’s Children’s Book of the Year Award.

Bunbury author, Josh Langley has won the Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA), Small Publisher Children book of the year for ‘It’s OK to Feel the Way You Do’, a powerful and fun book to help children understand their feelings. This is the fourth book in his inspirational children’s series.

What a terrific acknowledgement of a wonderful author and his little books with big messages. Josh’s books have been adopted by parents, children, grandparents and even government departments within Australia and overseas.
In the aftermath of receiving his award Josh was already looking to the future, “I’m excited about the new possibilities for Being You is Enough and It’s OK to Feel the Way You Do and where it’s all going to lead. It also comes at the same time that the Western Australian Education Department agreed to add both books to the Statewide Services and Resources Centre making them available to schools and special programs.” He said.
Head of Big Sky Publishing Children’s division, Diane Evans who worked with author Josh Langley across his much-loved little books with big messages series could not be happier, “As a publisher I love how fresh and unique Josh’s book is. As a parent, I know how powerful his simple messages and illustrations can be in connecting with kids and building self-esteem”.

The Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) is an annual celebration that celebrates the connection between Australian readers and the ‘book makers’ – authors, editors, publishing professionals and retailers, who unite to create the must-read books of the year.

Josh’s new book for Find Your Creative Mojo: How to overcome fear, procrastination and self-doubt to express your true self will be available in September 2018. (Big Sky Publishing).

 

My View:

Josh Langley is a remarkable human being – full of life, supportive, encouraging and talented  (artist, writer, speaker…) and generous. I met Josh at a writers festival a few years ago and have kept in touch by social media (http://www.joshlangley.com.au ) and over the odd cup of coffee.

 

I was thrilled when Josh’s inspirational children book (life lessons here can be applied to humans of all ages) won this ABIA award – the book is gorgeously illustrated, easy to read and brilliantly observed. To say I am a fan is an understatement. I cant wait to read Josh’s new book Finding Your Creative Mojo  (another timely message from the universe I think). Go Josh!

 

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Guest Review: The Art of Friendship – Lisa Ireland

 

The Art Of Friendship

The Art of Friendship

Lisa Ireland

Pan Macmillan AU

ISBN: 9781760552268

 

Description:

We all expect our friendships from childhood to last forever…

Libby and Kit have been best friends ever since the day 11-year-old Kit bounded up to Libby’s bedroom window. They’ve seen each other through first kisses, bad break-ups and everything in-between. It’s almost 20 years since Libby moved to Sydney, but they’ve remained close, despite the distance and the different paths their lives have taken.

So when Libby announces she’s moving back to Melbourne, Kit is overjoyed. They’re best friends – practically family – so it doesn’t matter that she and Libby now have different …well, different everything, actually, or so it seems when they’re finally living in the same city again.

Or does it?

Brenda’s Review:

Eleven-year-old Libby and her parents had had to sell their farm and move into the city. Woodvale in Melbourne was nothing like the family was used to, but it didn’t take Libby long to make friends. Kit lived over the road from Libby, and the very first day she had spotted Libby at her bedroom window, Kit declared they would be best friends forever. As they moved through school together, first primary then high school, their friendship didn’t falter. It was when Kit was in London that Libby met Cameron, married him and moved to Sydney.

Through letters, emails and long phone calls, the two friends remained close – it was twenty years later when both Libby and Kit were in their late thirties, and Libby’s son Harry was thirteen, that Cam announced he’d procured a top job in Melbourne. They were returning home.

Kit was ecstatic as was Libby. But would their friendship be the same? Kit was Harry’s godmother and thought the world of him, as he did her. But Libby’s life went a different way when she, Cam and Harry moved into Arcadia Lakes; a new, elite subdivision with elegant housing and much more. Keeping up with the wives of the executives was something which scared Libby half to death, but she would do it. But at what cost? Would Kit and Libby remain friends? Would their lifetime of friendship sustain any issues that might arise?

The Art of Friendship by Aussie author Lisa Ireland is a look at how people grow; how they change and how they remain the same. The difference between childhood friendships, and adult friendships is vast – that person you befriended as a child might not be one you’d befriend as an adult. But what happens when that friendship goes from childhood through to adulthood; when two people turn out to be vastly different from each other? The complexity of our lives – from being parents, to careers, basically to choices we make – is real and emotional. Lisa Ireland has tackled all issues in The Art of Friendship with sensitivity and she makes it very realistic. Highly recommended – 4 stars.

With thanks to Pan Macmillan Australia for my ARC to read and review.

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I Think I Am Being Sent A Message

Over the past few weeks I have read 3 books; A Place to Remember, True Blue and the Book of Colours, (4 if you include the The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart with its gorgeous cover and flower art between the covers) that have spoken to me about art, painting, creativity and the therapeutic value of creativity. The universe feels like it is sending me a message, to say I have been inspired is an understatement – I cannot stop painting! And I am loving the process.

 

A Place to Remember True BlueThe Book of Colours

 

 

 

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Post Script: True Blue – Sasha Wasley

True Blue

True Blue

Sasha Wasley

Penguin

Michael Joseph

ISBN: 9780143784548

 

Description:

Love is random. Accidental. You just live your life and then one day it’ll hit you with the right person.

 

Wandering soul Freya ‘Free’ Paterson has finally come back home. Idealistic and trusting, she’s landed the job of her dreams working on an art project with the local school, but she hadn’t planned on meeting the man of her dreams as well.

 

With his irresistible Irish accent, Constable Finn Kelly is everything Free wants – genuine, kind . . . and handsome as hell. He’s also everything Free isn’t – stable and dependable. Yet despite the passion simmering between them, he just wants to be friends. What is he trying to hide?

 

As Free throws herself into the challenges of her new job, fending off the unwelcome advances of a colleague and helping to save her beloved Herne River, Finn won’t stay out of her way, or out of her heart.

 

But just when she needs him the most, will Finn reveal his true colours?

 

 

My View:

I received my copy of True Blue at a time when life was a little traumatic and emotional. For those who know me or follow my blog you will be aware that in February/March we dealt a number of deaths in our family; concentrating on reading my normal diet of crime fiction was not possible. But True Blue came along and gave me a little glimpse of happiness, fun and optimism.

 

And the anecdote regarding art – the quantity versus quality story – really resonated. You will be pleased to know I have opted for the quantity experience/experiment and I am really enjoying (and learning a lot) my foray into acrylic abstract painting.

 

Thanks you so much for providing a narrative that sheds light into the sometimes gloomy world; this read is cheerful, inspiring and full of optimism.

 

 

 

 

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Two Reviews in One! The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart: Holly Ringland

This book is so amazing it gets two reviews! 

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart

Holy Ringland

Harper Collins Publishers Australia

ISBN: 9781460754337

 

Description:

The most enchanting debut novel of 2018, this is an irresistible, deeply moving and romantic story of a young girl, daughter of an abusive father, who has to learn the hard way that she can break the patterns of the past, live on her own terms and find her own strength.

 

After her family suffers a tragedy when she is nine years old, Alice Hart is forced to leave her idyllic seaside home. She is taken in by her estranged grandmother, June, a flower farmer who raises Alice on the language of Australian native flowers, a way to say the things that are too hard to speak. But Alice also learns that there are secrets within secrets about her past. Under the watchful eye of June and The Flowers, women who run the farm, Alice grows up. But an unexpected betrayal sends her reeling, and she flees to the dramatically beautiful central Australian desert. Alice thinks she has found solace, until she falls in love with Dylan, a charismatic and ultimately dangerous man.

 

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a story about stories: those we inherit, those we select to define us, and those we decide to hide. It is a novel about the secrets we keep and how they haunt us, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive. Spanning twenty years, set between the lush sugar cane fields by the sea, a native Australian flower farm, and a celestial crater in the central desert, Alice must go on a journey to discover that the most powerful story she will ever possess is her own.

 

 

My View:

This is a very very, very special read– unique; the sense of place, the credible, flawed characters (I have come across people who share some of the characteristics portrayed here), a narrative of such sadness juxtaposed against the overarching optimism of the prose, the way unique Indigenous stories and culture are woven into the narrative…I could continue to rave and rave.  But I won’t, this is a book you must read for yourself, with no spoilers and no hints of what awaits Alice’s life.

 READ IT.

 One more thing – the cover art is award winning!

 

Brenda’s Review:

The days when her father wasn’t home were the best of all for young Alice Hart. She and her mother would tend the garden together, finding a calm and peace that was never around when he was there. Alice adored her mother and was terrified of her father. But at nine years of age, a tragedy meant Alice had to live with her grandmother – a woman she had never met – on a flower farm a long way from the seaside that was the only home Alice had known.

Gradually Alice came to love the flowers and their meanings. The way they spoke when words were too hard. Learning the language of flowers created a peace within Alice – until her peace was shattered. With her heart broken, she fled the farm and all it had meant to her, driving without knowing where she was headed. Alice’s unexpected destination was deep in the Australian desert where the Sturt’s desert pea was prolific and filled with meaning.

Haunting and dangerous – that was her time in the middle of Australia. But would Alice ever find solace? Could she make peace with her past and finally look forward to the future?

Enchanting; heartbreaking; divine! Stunning; spectacular; poignant! What a debut! The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is all that and more, by an Australian author I’ll be keeping an eye out for from now on! Holly Ringland’s debut novel is full of depth and emotion; the story of a young girl who had to find the strength to live a life which was so different from the one she had envisioned. The cover of the book is beautiful – I was drawn to it – the beginning of each chapter with the type of Australian native flower and its meaning adds more to the story. Holly Ringland has captured the essence of Australia, and I have no hesitation in recommending The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart highly. 5+ stars!

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read and review.

 

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Post Script: A Place to Remember – Jenn J McLeod

A Place to Remember

 

A Place to Remember

Jenn J McLeod

Head of Zeus

Harper Collins Australia

ISBN: 9781786699923

 

Description:

A man loses five years of his life. Two women are desperate for him to remember.

 

Running away for the second time in her life, twenty-seven-year old Ava believes the cook’s job at a country B&B is perfect, until she meets the owner’s son, John Tate. At twenty, the fifth generation grazier is a beguiling blend of both man, boy and a terrible flirt. With their connection immediate and intense, they begin a clandestine affair right under the noses of John’s formidable parents.

 

Thirty years later, Ava returns to Candlebark Creek with her daughter, Nina, who is determined to meet her mother’s lost love for herself. While struggling to find her own place in the world, Nina discovers an urban myth about a love-struck man, a forgotten engagement ring, and a dinner reservation back in the eighties. Now she must decide if revealing the truth will hurt more than it heals…

 

 

My View:

A remarkable read! Jenn J McLeod has out done herself with this epic Australian family saga. Fantastic settings, family dramas that will wrench your heart, a little mystery and a compelling narrative. All that is left to say now, is, what’s next Jenn?

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Post Script: I Have Lost My Way – Gayle Forman

We can lose ourselves so easily….


I Have Lost My Way

 

I Have Lost My Way

Gayle Forman

Simon & Schuster Australia

ISBN: 9781471173721

 

Description:

Around the time that Freya loses her voice while recording her debut album, Harun is making plans to run away from everyone he has ever loved, and Nathaniel is arriving in New York City with a backpack, a desperate plan, and nothing left to lose. When a fateful accident draws these three strangers together, their secrets start to unravel as they begin to understand that the way out of their own loss might just lie in help­ing the others out of theirs.

 

 

My View:

My first taste of Gayle Forman’s evocative and immersive writing was in 2015 when I read I Was here. What a read! I have Lost My Way is just as exceptional; it is heartbreaking yet simultaneously heart-warming. The narrative is fast paced and choc-a-block full of contemporary social issues.  This is an all ages book, a book that reminds me that I should read more fiction that is classified YA and certainly more books written by this talented author.

 

A complex, engaging, satisfying and heart-warming read.

 

 

 

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Post Script: If Kisses Cured Cancer – T S Hawken

If Kisses Cured Cancer

If Kisses Cured Cancer

T S Hawken

Timothy Hawken

ISBN: 9780648255802

 

Description:

If Kisses Cured Cancer is a story about life in a growing coastal town, falling in love and stealing shopping trolleys.

 

‘A refreshing take on young love poisoned by life-threatening illness. Heartfelt, honest and surprisingly funny.’ – Jodie How.

 

Matt Pearce is depressed, working an uninspiring job and lacking any prospect of dragging his life out of mediocrity. That is until he meets Joy: a cancer survivor who lives beyond the rules of normal people.

 

As the pair go on a series of unusual dates – from hijacking fish n chip orders, to ‘extreme people watching’ at the airport – their love for each other grows. But Joy’s past is about to catch up with her, and a hidden secret could tear the two apart forever.

 

If Kisses Cured Cancer is a quirky look at finding love in unlikely places. It is about the importance of connecting with those around you, enjoying every moment and not being afraid to go skinny dipping in the forest. It will have you in tears of joy, tears of sorrow and tears of laughter.

 

My View:

*ahem* It appears I have something in my eye 🙂 death, dying, risks, living, laughter, this book has it all.

 Ok I am now composed and can begin 🙂 . Tim Hawken writes humour deftly and lightly with every day scenarios that will make you smile. Tim writes death and dying with grace, humility and sensitivity. This is a wonderful coming of age story that will fully immerse you in the lives of Joy, Matt and their friends. This is a read in one sitting type of book.

 

If a tear falls after midnight and no one is around to see – do we have to own up?

 

I look forward to reading more by this eloquent and masterful wordsmith – T S Hawken makes writing look easy.

 

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Guest Review: The Jade Lily – Kirsty Manning

The Jade Lily

The Jade Lily

Kirsty Manning

Allen & Unwin AU

ISBN: 9781760294793

Description:

In 2016, fleeing London with a broken heart, Alexandra returns to Australia to be with her grandparents, Romy and Wilhelm, when her grandfather is dying. With only weeks left together, her grandparents begin to reveal the family mysteries they have kept secret for more than half a century.

In 1939, two young girls meet in Shanghai, the ‘Paris of the East’: beautiful local Li and Viennese refugee Romy form a fierce friendship. But the deepening shadows of World War Two fall over the women as Li and Romy slip between the city’s glamorous French Concession and the desperate Shanghai Ghetto. Eventually, they are forced separate ways as Romy doubts Li’s loyalties.

After Wilhelm dies, Alexandra flies to Shanghai, determined to trace her grandparents’ past. As she peels back the layers of their hidden lives, she begins to question everything she knows about her family – and herself.

A compelling and gorgeously told tale of female friendship, the price of love, and the power of hardship and courage to shape us all.

 

Brenda’s Review:

It was 1938 and Romy Bernfeld was forced to flee Vienna with her parents after the Nazis began rounding up Jewish residents. Shanghai was a different city completely – bewildered and afraid, Romy found friendship with a neighbour, Li and her brother, while Romy’s mother was shattered and depressed. Her father, a doctor, began working at the local hospital. Gradually Romy found her way around the French Concession where they lived. But with the Japanese invasion, everything changed once again.

Alexandra Laird had returned to Melbourne, Australia to be with her Opa who was dying. It was 2016, and the thought of losing him devastated her – he and Oma (Wilhelm and Romy) had been there for her for as long as she could remember. Alexandra had no idea how she would cope when he was gone. Her transfer to Shanghai with work felt fortuitous – she could research her grandparents’ past while there. Oma had told her very little of what had happened during the war years.

But what would Alexandra find? Her search was frustrating, but as secrets came to light, she found more questions than answers…

The Jade Lily by Aussie author Kirsty Manning is my first by this author, and it won’t be my last! A thoroughly enjoyable historical fiction novel which was set mainly in Shanghai, with the narration in two timelines by both a young Romy and Alexandra; I couldn’t put it down. Heartbreaking, filled with hope, a lifetime of friendship, and masses of courage, The Jade Lily is one I highly recommend – 5 stars.

With thanks to Allen & Unwin for my uncorrected proof to read and review.