Review ~ The Consul's Daughter by Jane Jackson

Accent Press
2015

When Teuder Bonython becomes unable to run his beloved boat yard, his daughter Caseley takes on the daunting responsibility of keeping the business viable, but this is not an easy task for a young woman in Victorian England, and Caseley encounters many difficulties, which, at times, seem insurmountable. Her life becomes even more complicated when she meets, Jago Barata, the half Spanish captain of one of the Bonython ships, who’s brashness and audacity both appeals and frightens Caseley. Unprepared for the effect that Jago will have on her life, Caseley is determined to succeed in a male dominated world, with, or without, Jago’s interference.

I really enjoyed getting to know Caseley, whose determined personality confirms that she is no shrinking violet when it comes to business, but there was also a softer side to her personality, with an aching vulnerably, which, I thought, was nicely explored, and which became more evident in her dealings with Jago Barata. Jago is, from his detailed description, very easy on the eye, and I had no difficulty in being fascinated by him! He was a clever contradiction of being both fearless and tender at the same time.

The Consul’s Daughter is a lovely story. I enjoyed both the romance and the history, and felt that time and place was captured perfectly. I really felt like I was in the boatyard with Caseley and Jago, watching the ships arrive and cargoes being unloaded, with the tang of sea salt and the kiss of sea spray in the air. The author’s evident love of writing and her skill at story telling make the story both exciting, and realistic. The mystery at the heart of the novel has just the right amount of adventure to keep the story interesting and informative, and yet, it is in the relationship between Caseley and Jago where romance is allowed to take centre stage. I thought that there was a lovely blend of attraction and desire between Caseley and Jago, I enjoyed getting to know them as characters, and hoped that everything would turn out right for them.

The ending of the story lends itself nicely to a continuation of The Captain’s Honour Series and I look forward to reading more in future novels.

About the Author

Follow Jane on Twitter @JJacksonAuthor
Find her on Facebook 

A professional writer for over 30 years, Jane Jackson has had 27 books published with world-wide sales topping ten million. Shortlisted twice for the Romantic Novel of the Year Award, she has also taught the craft of Novel Writing at every level from Writers’ summer schools and Ad Ed to the MA in Professional Writing at University College Falmouth.

My thanks to the author for sharing her novel with me.

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The author in my spotlight is .....Victoria Saccenti

I am delighted to welcome to Jaffareadstoo

the author

Victoria Saccenti talking about her debut novel

Destiny's Plan

September 15
2015

"Destiny has the final word...."

Victoria ~ welcome to Jaffareadstoo and thanks for spending time with us...

Hello, Jo and readers of Jaffareadstoo.  Thank you for the wonderful opportunity to speak about my novel, Destiny’s Plan.

Your debut novel, Destiny’s Plan, is set during the turbulent Vietnam War. What can you share with us about the story that won’t give too much away?

Despite appearances, Destiny’s Plan is not about war, it’s a story about love and spiritual growth in difficult times. Because of the decade, the Vietnam War cannot be ignored; it is a looming, constant presence. However, there is more, the period was rich and full of groundbreaking changes. As the narrative follows Raquelita’s footsteps, her challenges, defeats, and triumphs, the counter cultures of the era, such as drug experimentation, rebellion against the establishment, and the sexual revolution are also explored. 

 

Destiny’s Plan is a story about ill-fated love and duty to one’s country – in your research for the novel, did you discover anything which surprised you?

For years I believed the US government supported the troops in Vietnam with all its resources. Not quite. The propaganda was good, but when it came to arms provisioning, intelligence, and political alliances it was mostly a smoke screen. On the opposite side, the faith and dedication of the men in combat moved me to tears. The majority of those details fell on the cutting room floor. I may have found such revelations fascinating, but I didn’t want to bore readers with military minutiae.

Where did the idea for the characters come from and did you base any of them on people you know?

I worked for an international carrier for many years. In my travels, I watched young servicemen, in groups or alone, going back and forth on orders. More than once I wondered about their lives, their loves, their fears, and their beliefs. The idea sprouted there. For the rest, I suppose all writers inject into their stories what they know. I grew up in a Spanish-Latin environment. I used that as a reference for the interaction and conflict between mother and daughter.

Have you written the type of book you like to read and what would you say has influenced your writing?

Writing about the sixties was a total pantser event – as in people who don’t plan their books – but my characters required it and I had to adapt. I love historical fiction and complex, emotional stories that satisfy my Latin temperament, so yes, I wrote the type of book I like to read. I adore Dorothy Dunnett and Linda Gillard in English and Isabel Allende and Laura Esquivel in Spanish, I can only hope something good from them stuck. 

When do you find the time to write, and do you have a favourite place to do your writing?

I write best in my cave and in the morning, which can be difficult to manage when you have a home and a husband. My office is my refuge. I hang a Do Not Disturb sign on the door handle. The sign doesn’t always work.  

Destiny’s Plan is the first book in a proposed series – at this stage in your writing, do you know where the other books in the series are leading, or are you a…. “Let’s wait and see sort of writer”...?

Book two follows Marité’s story, Raquelita’s younger sister. It’s already plotted and planned. Not a pantser this time. However, due to the length of the novel, I have decided to split the book in two. I also have in mind a spinoff, shorter story, based on Richard, a surprisingly attractive character from Destiny’s Plan. 

How long do we have to wait before the second book is ready to be published?

If the writing and promoting gods cooperate, I should have Marité’s Choice, Part One ready to roll by spring of 2016.

Victoria, thanks so much for giving us such a thoughtful insight into Destiny's Plan. Jaffa and I wish you much success with your writing and hope you'll come back and visit us again soon.

Thanks again Jo, it has been a pleasure visiting with you. 

You can find Victoria :

On her Blog

On her Webpage

Follow her on Twitter @VictoriaSAuthor

Find her on Facebook

Buy links:

Amazon: myBook.to/DP 

Smashwords: http://ow.ly/QPPrA
Barnes & Noble: http://ow.ly/QPPcF
Kobo: http://ow.ly/QPP4A
iTunes-Apple: http://ow.ly/QPPmJ

YouTube book trailer: https://youtu.be/S8vqorehiRY   

August 2015

What's it all about :

When Raquelita Muro and Matthew Buchanan meet by chance on a Greyhound bus between Texas and Tallahassee, neither suspects Fate is about to take over.

Raquelita, a gentle girl under the heel of her abusive mother, finds this kind young man a miracle. Matthew, an idealistic young soldier, discovers this sweet-natured girl is an angel in need of a guardian. However, the next stop on Matthew’s journey is Fort Benning to report for deployment to Vietnam, while Raquelita’s destination is set at her mother’s whim. Regardless of the forces tearing them apart, they discover a way to secretly span the distance, to end up closer than ever. But Fate is rarely kind. The vagaries of war—and the unstable tempers of Raquelita’s mother—intervene, leaving both ill-fated lovers feeling there is no hope for their love.

Set in the turbulent era of the Vietnam War, Raquelita’s and Matthew’s story is one of love, loss, lost faith, shattered memories, deferred dreams and broken promises. Will Fate tear apart these two damaged souls, leaving them desperately alone forever, or will they finally overcome Fate, their bond stronger than they ever thought possible?

Take a look at the trailer for Destiny's Plan.

Happy Reading.

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Review ~ The Tea Planter's Wife by Dinah Jefferies.

Penguin Random House
August 2015

When nineteen year old Gwendolyn Hooper steps of the steam ship in Ceylon, she is excited to start married life with her handsome husband, Laurence. Life on the remote tea plantation is very different from her life in England, but Gwen is determined to make the most of her new life. Totally in love with Laurence, Gwen is puzzled when he appears to become secretive and distant and quite unlike the man she fell in love with, and added to the marital discord, is the appearance of Laurence's younger sister, Verity, whose bizarre possessiveness towards Laurence, makes it difficult for Gwen to be accepted as mistress of her own home.

Captivated and enthralled from the very start of the novel, I quickly became immersed in plantation life and saw that Gwen’s rather naïve outlook on life would make for compelling reading. Idealistic and filled with only kindness, Gwen tries to make sense of this rather archaic way of life and even though she doesn’t fully understand the running of the plantation, she is determined to make a difference. The story is beautifully written, with a true sense of time and place, and brings to life, not just the social history of Ceylon but also the fundamental changes which were happening towards the end of colonialism in the 1920s and 1930s. From the decadent house parties of the late 1920s, to the abject poverty of the plantation workers, I felt like I had stepped into Gwen’s shoes and experienced everything as she saw it. I wore her sumptuous flapper dresses with their beads and fripperies, and strolled with her and Laurence through the cool of the evening towards a lake where sparkled light glistened and danced.

The Tea Planter’s Wife is a story about contrasts, about what is right and proper, and of the great price paid by adhering to social and cultural expectations. It’s also about secrets and lies, of the huge burden of culpability and of the hidden dangers of deceit and overwhelming sadness. After reading this author’s previous book, The Separation, which I absolutely loved, I had misgivings that this one wouldn’t live up to expectations, but I am delighted to say that this book exceeded all my hopes. I was beguiled, immersed and completely overwhelmed by the power of the story and of my emotional connection to it.

A perfect accompaniment to a delicious cup of Ceylon tea, The Tea Planter's Wife is without doubt one of my reads of the year...

Amazon UK

About the Author

I am delighted to say that The Tea Planter's Wife has been picked as one of the Richard and Judy book club Autumn reads.

 My thanks to Celeste at Penguin Random House for my copy of this book and the 

to Kandula for the delicious Ceylon tea bags which accompanied the book.

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Sunday War Poet ..

The theme for this months poetry

 is

The Soldier







The Soldier Addresses His Body

by

Edgell Rickword

I shall be mad if you get smashed about,

we’ve had good times together, you and I;

although you groused a bit when luck was out,

say a girl turned us down, or we went dry.

But there’s a world of things we haven’t done,

countries not seen, where people do strange things;

eat fish alive, and mimic in the sun

the solemn gestures of their stone-grey kings.

I’ve heard of forests that are dim at noon

where snakes and creepers wrestle all day long;

where vivid beasts grow pale with the full moon,

gibber and cry, and wail a mad old song;

because at the full moon the Hippogriff

with crinkled ivory snout and agate feet,

with his green eye will glare them cold and stiff

for the coward Wyvern to come down and eat.

Vodka and kvass, and bitter mountain wines

we’ve never drunk; nor snatched the bursting grapes

to pelt slim girls among Sicilian vines,

who’d flicker through the leaves, faint frolic shapes.

Yes, there’s a world of things we’ve never done,

but it’s a sweat to knock them into rhyme,

let’s have a drink, and give the cards a run

and leave dull verse to the dull peaceful time.

Edgell Rickword

1898 - 1982

John Edgell Rickword was born in Colchester, Essex, England, where his father, George Rickword, was the town’s first borough librarian. He saw front-line action in France as a subaltern in the Royal Berkshire Regiment. 

He was wounded twice—losing the sight of one eye—and he won the Military Cross for distinguished service.

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Review ~ Killing Eva by Alex Blackmore

No Exit Press

To be published  November 2015

What's it about:

Eva Scott is wanted . . . dead.

Witnessing a dramatic murder at London’s Waterloo Station has recalled events in Paris and Paraguay that previously shattered her world. The man’s last words on the station concourse awakened a history that Eva had thought long buried. But the past is about to be resurrected, in all its brutal reality.

Eva finds herself facing terrifying danger. A genetic coding key is keeping her alive – but foreshadowing her death. Inextricably linked to her survival is a plan to destabilise the structure of the global economy, and trusting the wrong person could prove fatal. . .

Fighting is futile. Escape is impossible. Survival is everything.

My thoughts :

When Eva Scott is confronted by a dying man at London's Waterloo station, she is ill prepared for the cataclysmic events which follow her. Always keeping one step ahead of danger is a difficult task,and for Eva, her entire future is irrevocably linked with a past she is trying to escape. The novel gets off to a cracking start and the intricacy of the plot develops really well, and as the story progresses you can't help but be taken in by this modern day thriller. There are lots of twists and turns in the story, and, almost like a jigsaw puzzle you have to piece the clues together, which is an absorbing task. 

When the puzzle starts to come together, I started to gel more with Eva's character, as I'm afraid at first, I didn't like her over much. And also, if I'm perfectly honest, I have to say that I struggled with the story and had to keep backtracking to try and make sense of where the plot was taking me. This is not because the story is badly done, far from, it's exceedingly well written, it's just that not having read the first Eva Scott thriller, Lethal Profit, I felt a bit lost by the references to what had happened previously, and I couldn't always understand fully just what Eva was coping with from the previous story.

However, my overall impression is this is a story from a very competent writer, who clearly spends a lot of time developing her characters and this shows in the strength of purpose that exudes from Eva, who is a feisty and determined protagonist. I am sure that readers who are following this series will be delighted with this continuation but for those new to Eva Scott, for greater enjoyment,  my advice would be to start at the beginning with Lethal Profit.

About the Author

Amazon UK

               My thanks to Real Readers and No Exit Press for my review copy of this book.

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Review ~ The Doctor's Daughter by Vanessa Matthews

CompletelyNovel
2015

Marta Rosenbilt is the daughter of the prominent psychiatrist, Arnold Rosenbilt. Shaped by her father as his protégé, Marta is quite unconventional for a woman of her time, and in 1927 Vienna, to be unconventional is to incite not just curiosity but also to attract gossip and innuendo. Encouraged by a family friend, Dr Leopold Kaposi, to break away from her father’s stifling influence, Marta tries to become more independent of thought and action. When she has a chance encounter with a young medical graduate, Elise Salomon, the possibilities of friendship are attractive to Marta, but it soon becomes evident that Elise has some furtive secrets of her own.

What the follows is an absorbing story which looks at the struggle both Marta and Elise had in trying to succeed professionally. The darkness to the narrative is entirely in keeping with time and place and adds an authentic touch to the story. The many twists and turns in the story kept me guessing and I enjoyed reading about the early days of psychiatry, and the huge struggle that women had, generally, to prosper and thrive in a male dominated world.

It’s obvious from reading the novel that the author care passionately about writing and has developed her own unique style of writing. I am sure that this is just the start of a fascinating writing career and I shall watch how this develops with great interest.

Amazon UK

About the Author

Visit Vanessa on Facebook

Follow on Twitter @VanessaMatthews

My thanks to the author for sharing her book with me.

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Guest Post - Lucy Cruickshanks ~ Author of The Road to Rangoon..

I am delighted to welcome author Lucy Cruickshanks to the blog today 

and thank her for sharing  with us 

the  inspiration

for her latest novel

The Road to Rangoon

Quercus
17 September 2015

Welcome back to Jaffareadstoo, Lucy. It's lovely to see you again...


What can you tell us about The Road to Rangoon?

I have a real love affair with Asia. My first novel, The Trader of Saigon, was set in Vietnam and my second was always going to have its heart in the region too. I hadn’t been to Myanmar before I started writing The Road to Rangoon, though I’d wanted to travel there for years. The country is only beginning to open up to tourism and the long-standing military dictatorship is undertaking embryonic reforms. Their society is poised on the cusp of change. I was conscious that if I didn’t visit soon, it might have transformed beyond recognition, so setting a novel there seemed an excellent reason to expedite my trip.

Before I went, I looked at the issues facing the country, searching for a story. Myanmar is a fascinating but troubled beast. Her history is replete with conflict, from the brawling kings of old, to the arrival of the Portuguese mercenaries, British colonialist and Japanese invaders in World War II, to the decades of dictatorship and civil war that followed, and the emergence and repression of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. There were opportunities for stories galore, but the gem trade captured my imagination above all else. As many as 90% of the world’s rubies come from Myanmar and their quality is unparalleled. They are as much conflict gems as Africa’s notorious blood diamonds, however, funding both the government and the insurgent ethnic armies who vie for control of their historic regional homelands. Many of the most valuable gemstones are from a single region, high in the rugged mountains of Shan State. Mogok is an area where violence, corruption, smuggling, trickery, secrecy and superstition reign, and it became an irresistible backdrop for The Road toRangoon.

Myanmar is a difficult place to research in. The country is staggeringly beautiful but its people have been made wary by decades of repression and human rights abuses. I’d read vicariously before I travelled there, but there’s no substitute for experiencing a setting yourself and hearing about life from the people who call it home. The Burmese are often understandably reluctant to talk about the past or politics, though, and I was always aware that to push a conversation may have been to endanger them as the government is so strict. It was frustrating at times, but I found the more I opened up about my own life, the more people were willing to talk about theirs too. There is a genuine desire to discover about the outside world, to compare their day-to-day experiences to ours and discuss the challenges they face. I learned to read between the lines, to listen to the unspoken sentences, the hints and subtexts, as much as the words that were actually said.

Throughout writing The Road to Rangoon, I felt responsible for portraying Myanmar and the Burmese people as sensitively and authentically as possible, but as a writer, that’s positive. It helps me keep believability at the fore of my mind. The story and the characters I’ve created in this novel are fictional, but the context through which they wade is real. Though I can only imagine what life is like living under a military dictatorship, I hope to have done their experiences justice, at least a small amount.

©Lucy Cruickshanks

You can find more about Lucy on her website

Follow her on Twitter @LJCruickshanks

Visit her on Facebook

Amazon UK
Amazon.com

My thanks to Lucy for sharing the inspiration for her novel

and also to Corinna at Quercus Books for her help with this interview.



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