Books I Read on Holiday ......

I've just come back from a week's holiday and here are short reviews of the  two books I read and one audiobook I listened to while being very lazy!

My first book was Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts by Lucy Dillon.

The Bad News for Rachel, 39, is that she's just lost her job, her home in London and her boyfriend!
The Good News is that she's just inherited, from her aunt, a lovely house, together with a Dogs Rescue/Boarding Kennels in the countryside!
Rachel is not a dog lover and doesn't know the first thing about dogs and fully intends to sell the business......but finds she has the knack of matching just the right people with the rescue dogs, and there's a hunky vet and a handsome doctor around.....well, maybe she may still a little longer!
It's obvious that Lucy Dillon loves dogs, the descriptions of the cute dogs will just make you go aaawww all the time.  Interesting and lively characters and a great plot make for an entertaining read.


I also listened to The Summer of Secrets by Martina Reilly read by Caroline Lennon.

Hope has just lost her 16th job in London when she decides to leave her friends and her life and move elsewhere, but a tragic plane crash lands her in hospital and her two best friends, Adam and Julie, decide she should recuperate back home in Ireland and so they rent a small cottage in Hope's home town and spend the summer there, not knowing that that is the last place that Hope wanted to go to.
Their lives will never be the same at the end of the summer as secrets and lies come out.
I really enjoyed this - in some parts it was laugh out loud funny and in others I was in tears!  Of all the books this was definitely my favourite.
Fabulous descriptions of the Irish countryside, the rolling hills, waterfalls, the sea, and the people....I want to move to Dunport!
Caroline Lennon's seductive Irish voice just added another dimension to the whole storyline.

My least favourite read was The Salt Road by Jane Johnson.

Set in the present time and the past, the parallel stories are of two different women.  Isabelle is left an amulet by her father and is fascinated by it and the unreadable parchment inside.  She is drawn to Morocco and has the opportunity to go there rock climbing where she meets someone who could help her solve the mystery of the ancient amulet and how it came to be in her father's possession.

The parallel story is of Marieta who obtains the amulet from her lover, we are never sure of the exact year but know it is in the past.

Although there are wonderful descriptions of the Moroccan land and people, I found it quite slow and boring in the middle.  I also didn't warm to the main character of Taib, who was helping Isabelle.  I thought it would be more of a mystery so I was disappointed at the overall storyline.

What are your Summer Reads?

Have you read any of these books and did you enjoy them?