How It All Began by Penelope Lively
Published: 3 Nov 2011 - UK ….......... 5 Jan 2012 - USA
When . . . Charlotte is mugged and breaks her hip, her daughter Rose cannot accompany her employer Lord Peters to Manchester, which means his niece Marion has to go instead, which means she sends a text to her lover which is intercepted by his wife, which is . . . just the beginning in the ensuing chain of life-altering events.
In this engaging, utterly absorbing and brilliantly told novel, Penelope Lively shows us how one random event can cause marriages to fracture and heal themselves, opportunities to appear and disappear, lovers who might never have met to find each other and entire lives to become irrevocably changed.
Funny, humane, touching, sly and sympathetic, HOW IT ALL BEGAN is a brilliant sleight of hand from an author at the top of her game.
Penelope Lively, CBE, was born in Cairo, Egypt and came to England at age 12 in 1945. She studied Modern History at Oxford …. has two children and six grandchildren and now lives in London. Her books have been shortlisted three times for the Booker Prize, winning once for Moon Tiger in 1987.
For more on Penelope Lively see her website.
Click here to see what Samantha Cox at bookgeeks thought of this book.
******************************************************
The Sisters by Nancy Jensen
Published: 8 Nov 2011 - UK & USA
Genre: General Fiction
In the tradition of Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping and Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge, a dazzling debut novel about the family bonds that remain even when they seem irretrievably torn apartGrowing up in hardscrabble Kentucky in the 1920s, with their mother dead and their stepfather an ever-present threat, Bertie Fisher and her older sister Mabel have no one but each other - with perhaps a sweetheart for Bertie waiting in the wings. But on the day that Bertie receives her eighth-grade diploma, good intentions go terribly wrong, setting off a chain of misunderstandings that will send the sisters on separate paths and reverberate through their daughters' and granddaughters' lives.
What happens when nothing turns out as you planned? From the Depression through World War II and Vietnam, and smaller events both tragic and joyful. Bertie and Mabel forge unexpected identities and raise daughters - and sisters - of their own, learning that love and betrayal are even more complicated than they seem. Gorgeously written, with extraordinary insight and emotional truth, Nancy Jensen's debut novel illuminates the far-reaching power of family and family secrets.
Nancy Jensen is a Goodreads author and there are several reviews of this novel there.
*****************************************************
Published: 10 Nov 2011 - UK & USA
Genre: Romance
At 30, Katie Lavender thinks she is better than most when it comes to dealing with life's surprises. But when she gets a request to visit a solicitor, she's not expecting the dramatic turn her life is about to take. There, she receives a letter from her deceased mother that literally changes everything she ever knew about herself...
Sounds intriguing.....
Erica James is the author of several bestselling novels. Born Erica Sullivan, she grew up on Hayling Island in Hampshire, England and lives now with her two sons in Cheshire. She began writing after attending a creative writing course at the Arvon Foundation. For her novel Gardens of Delight she won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award from the Romantic Novelists' Association in 2006.
To find out more about Erica James her lovely website is here.
*******************************************************
Published: 10 Nov 2011 - UK & USA
Genre: Horror
It's the perfect seaside village - no crime, no Londoners ...When things start to go badly wrong for James Greer in London, Brodmaw Bay seems to be calling him and his family. There's a perfect house, excellent schools - and welcoming neighbours who assure the Greers that they'd be delighted to have some new blood in the Bay. But perhaps the village isn't so much welcoming them as luring them. To something ancient and evil....
FG Cottam has had several horror books published by Hodder -- his last novel was The Waiting Room which I have reviewed here.
***************************************************
Published: 10 Nov 2011 - UK & USA
Genre: Popular Fiction
Beth Prince has always loved fairytales and now, aged twenty-four, she feels like she's finally on the verge of her own happily ever after. She lives by the seaside, works in the Picturebox - a charming but rundown independent cinema - and has a boyfriend who's so debonair and charming she can't believe her luck!
There's just one problem - none of her boyfriends have ever told her they love her and it doesn't look like Aiden's going to say it any time soon. Desperate to hear I love you' for the first time Beth takes matters into her own hands - and instantly wishes she hadn't.
Just when it seems like her luck can't get any worse, bad news arrives in the devilishly handsome shape of Matt Jones. Matt is the regional director of a multiplex cinema and he's determined to get his hands on the Picturebox by Christmas. Can Beth keep her job, her man and her home or is her romantic-comedy life about to turn into a disaster movie?
A sparkling seasonal tale of finding true love at Christmas.
Aawww I love this cover! It makes me feel all warm and Christmassy.......
Cally Taylor’s novel Heaven Can Wait was published by Orion in October 2009. It scooped the 'Debut Novel of the Year' and 'Novel of the Year' prizes at chicklitreviews.com, was awarded chicklitclub.com's first ever 10/10 review and has been translated into thirteen languages.
For more information on Cally Taylor her website is here.
***************************************************************
Published: 10 Nov 2011 - UK & USA
Genre: Fantasy
Three hundred years after the events of the Mistborn trilogy, Scadrial is now on the verge of modernity, with railroads to supplement the canals, electric lighting in the streets and the homes of the wealthy, and the first steel-framed skyscrapers racing for the clouds.
Kelsier, Vin, Elend, Sazed, Spook, and the rest are now part of history - or religion. Yet even as science and technology are reaching new heights, the old magics of Allomancy and Feruchemy continue to play a role in this reborn world. Out in the frontier lands known as the Roughs, they are crucial tools for the brave men and women attempting to establish order and justice.
One such is Waxillium Ladrian, a rare Twinborn, who can Push on metals with his Allomancy and use Feruchemy to become lighter or heavier at will. After twenty years in the Roughs, Wax has been forced by family tragedy to return to the metropolis of Elendel. Now he must reluctantly put away his guns and assume the duties and dignity incumbent upon the head of a noble house. Or so he thinks, until he learns the hard way that the mansions and elegant tree-lined streets of the city can be even more dangerous than the dusty plains of the Roughs.
The Mistborn series is a trilogy of high fantasy novels. Published by Tor Fantasy between 2006 and 2008, the series currently consists of Mistborn: The Final Empire, Mistborn: The Well of Ascension, and Mistborn: The Hero of Ages.
The Alloy of Law is a stand-alone short novel which takes place about 300 years after Mistborn: The Hero of Ages.
******************************************************
Published: 24 Nov 2011 - UK …...... 1 Mar 2012 - USA
Genre: Mystery
When ex-police dog handler Daniel Whelan is asked by his former boss to help a friend who is struggling to run her husband's haulage company while he is recovering from a vicious attack, he and his German shepherd, Taz, rapidly find themselves attracting the wrong sort of attention. Daniel investigates, and soon finds evidence of some very nasty business indeed - but after several violent warnings, he begins to wonder . . . has he bitten off more than he can chew?
This is unusual - an ex-police dog handler (with Taz the dog) who investigates mysteries!
*********************************************************************
Published: 24 Nov 2011 - UK …........ 1 Mar 2012 - USA
Genre: Historical Mystery
December, 1380.
When the corpse of Sir Robert Kilverby is discovered in a locked room, Brother Athelstan accompanies the King's coroner to investigate. For Sir Robert had in his possession a priceless relic, a sacred bloodstone, which has now disappeared. Did Sir Robert die of natural causes or was he murdered? Athelstan is sceptical of rumours of a curse hanging over Sir Robert, but when it is discovered that a second old soldier has been gruesomely slain on the same night, the rumours no longer seem so far-fetched . . .
Paul C. Doherty has published a series of historical mysteries set in the Middle Ages, Classical, Greek, Ancient Egypt and elsewhere. He writes both fiction and non-fiction under his own name, both as P.C. Doherty and Paul C. Doherty, as well as the pennames: Anna Apostolou, Michael Clynes, Ann Dukthas, C. L. Grace, Paul Harding, and Vanessa Alexander. Doherty is the author of several mystery series, including The Sorrowful Mysteries of Brother Athelstan, the Hugh Corbett medieval mysteries, the Canterbury Tales of mystery and murder.
He is also the Headmaster of Trinity Catholic High School in the UK.
**********************************************************************
Published: 24 Nov 2011 - UK …... 1 Mar 2012 - USA
Genre: Thriller
Former MI5 officer Harry Tate's skill at tracking down runaways is second to none - and the Security Services need his help. When MI6 ask him to trace Vanessa Tan, a lieutenant with the Royal Logistics Corps who failed to report for her return flight to Afghanistan, Harry instinctively feels it's a mission to avoid. But when he learns of the involvement of his former boss, Henry Paulton - the man who tried to have him killed - he agrees to take the job, and events soon take an unexpected turn . . .
ADRIAN MAGSON began writing short fiction and features for women’s magazines, contributing over the years to publications in the UK, US, Scandinavia, Japan and Australia. As well as writing comedy material and stories for BBC radio, he also turned to writing crime thrillers, and was shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Award. Since then he has gone on to have several crime thrillers published.
**********************************************************************
Published: 30 Nov 2011 - UK & USA
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Returning to her roots and discovering that her childhood home in Devon is up for sale, Frankie buys it on impulse but is moving back a mistake?
Will living here again help her to come to terms with something that has haunted her for years? Will she be able to rid herself of the guilt she feels following the accident to her brother James, an accident for which she feels responsible.
Meeting up with an old girlfriend Izzy brings things to a head for Izzy was present that day and knows the truth and it is Izzy and Gareth, the new man in her life, who help Frankie to find her way to forgive herself at last and move on.
Patricia Fawcett was born in Preston, Lancashire and has been writing for over 30 years.
For more information see her website.
If I see any reviews of these books I will add them
