Holiday read - August 2025

 

A break from the norm, whether long or short and whether it's just some place nearby or out of the country is always welcomed.

With that excitement, I will be going for a short break to celebrate a birthday.   Part of my excitement have always been what book to bring along with me during the trip.

 In recent years even when I wasn't reading much, a book will always accompany me whenever I travel.

After much thoughts and looking through my TBR collection, here's what I decided to bring with me during this trip. 

Titles by David Baldacci can be hits and misses. It is rather unpredictable.  Anyway, here's hoping that Hour Game will provide me with some thrilling time during my down time.

Happy holidays everyone!

Mightier Than The Sword (Book #5 of The Clifton Chronicles) by Jeffrey Archer

 

Synopsis :

Harry Clifton, now present of English PEN, launches a campaign for the release of a fellow author, Anatoly Babakov, but in doing so puts his own life in danger.  His wife, Emma, dealing with the repercussions of the IRA attack on the Buckingham, crosses swords with Lady Virginia Fenwick, who will stop at nothing to cause Emma's downfall.

Sir Giles Barrington is now a minister of the Crown, and looks set for even higher office, until an official trip to Berlin does not end as a diplomatic success.  In London, Harry and Emma's son Sabastian is quickly making a name for himself at Farthings Bank. But the dispicable Adrian Slone will do whatever it takes to remove his rival.

This is what I say :

Having read a total of 4 titles in this series, I was not very excited to pick up this fifth title.  However, as I was determined to complete this series, I believe I brought this title with me during a weekend break in the capital city a few months ago.  It has been a habit of mine to have a book with me when I travel since years ago and I still do.

Anyway, like what the synopsis says, in Mightier Than The Sword, things are just happening to the Clifton Barrington and they kept on picking up enemies all the time and this time round, it's the same story.  But like all of the titles in this series, the book ended with a cliff hanger which will continue in book No 6, Cometh The Hour.

Be Careful What You Wish For (Book #4 of The Clifton Chronicles) by Jeffrey Archer

 

Synopsis :

When Ross Burchanan is forced to resign as chairman of the Barrington Shopping Company, Emma Clifton wants to replace him. But Don Pedro Martinez intends to install his puppet, the devious Major Alex Fisher in order to destroy the Barrington family firm just as the company plans to build its new luxury liner, the MV Buckingham.

Meanwhile, in London, Harry and Emma's adopted daughter wins a scholarship to the Slade Academy of Art where she falls in love with a fellow student, Clive Bingham, who ask her to marry him. Both families are delighted until Priscilla Bingham, Jessica's future mother-in-law, has a visit from an old friend, Lady Virginia Fenwick, who drops her particular brand of poison into the wedding chalice.

Then, without warning, Cedric Hardcastle, a bluff Yorkshireman who no one has come across before, takes his place on the board of Barrington's. This event will change the lives of every member of the Clifton and Barrington families, as they march forward into the sixties, in this epic tale of love, revenge, ambition and betrayal.

This is what I say :

Actually, the above synopsis taken from the back cover of the book makes the particular title sounds much intrigue and exciting. Unfortunately, while book 4 of The Clifton Chronicles is still captivating, it wasn't as intriguing as what the synopsis stated.

Having investing over 4 books in the Chronicles, I really pretty invested in some of the characters but I still feel that characters development is rather poor in this series. Some characters have such potential but I guess they just play second fiddle in the whole scheme of thing in the lives of the Clifton and Barrington or to be exact, in the lives of Emma, Harry, Giles and Sabastian.  The author just doesn't have time for the others.

Be Careful What You Wish For is the mid point in this series.  It started with Only Time Will Tell, The Sins of The Father and Best Kept Secret.

Best Kept Secret (Book #3 of The Clifton Chronicles) by Jeffrey Archer

 

Synopsis :

1945. The vote in the House of Lords as to who should inherit the Barrington family fortune has ended in a tie.  The Lord Chancellor's deciding vote will cast a long shadow in the lives of Harry Clifton and Giles Barrington.

Harry returns to America to promote his latest novel, while his beloved Emma goes in search of the little girl who was found abandoned in her father's office on the night he was killed.

When the General Election is called Giles Barrington has to defend his seat in the House of Commons and is horrified to discover who the Conservatives select to stand against him. But it is Sabastian Clifton, Harry and Emma's son, who ultimately influences his uncle's fate.

in 1957, Sebastian wins a scholarship to Cambridge, and a new generation of the Clifton family march onto the page.  After Sabastian is expelled from school, he unwittingly becomes caught up in a case of international art fraud involving a Rodin statue that is worth far more than the sum it raises at auction. 

This is what I say :

Best Kept Secret is the third book of The Clifton Chronicles right after the first title Only Time will Tell and book two The Sins of the Father.

I feel there's too many things happening the the third title. It felt very rushed and also rather breathless to read as things are happening all at once to everyone that the characters become rather two dimension and dont really developed well.

I feel the author just wanted to pack a lot of things to move to story along to a particular future and such everything felt rush.  Having said that, it's still entertaining book and I remember I brought this title with me on a trip to the capital city around this time last year.

Once you are done with Best Kept Secret, you will need to then move to the forth title in the series which is Be Careful What You Wish For which will be my next post.

The Sins of the Father (Book #2 of The Clifton Chronicles) by Jeffrey Archer

 

Synopsis :

On the heels of the international bestseller Only Time Will Tell, Jeffrey Archer picks up the sweeping story of the Clifton Chronicles.

Only days before Britain declares war on Germany, Harry Clifton, hoping to escape the consequences of long-buried family secrets, and forced to accept that his desire to marry Emma Barrington will never be fulfilled, has joined the Merchant Navy.
But his ship is sunk in the Atlantic by a German U-boat, drowning almost the entire crew.  An American cruise liner, the SS Kansas Star, rescues a handful of sailors, among them Harry and the third officer, an American named Tom Bradshaw.  When Bradshaw dies in the night, Harry seizes on the chance to escape his tangled past and assumes his identity.

But on landing in America, he quickly learns the mistake he has made, when he discovers what is awaiting Bradshaw in New York.  Without any way of proving his true identity, Harry Clifton is now chained to a past that could be far worse than the one he had hoped to escape.

This is what I say :

The Sins of the Father is second title in the Clifton Chronicles Series.  It continues and follows the story of Harry Clifton right after he arrives in America.

If you are interested in the Clifton Chronicles, you will need to start with the first book Only Time Will Tell and you will need to read the titles in the book order.  Only then will you be able to appreciate and follow the storyline.

The Sins of The Father is as captivating as the first book. It not only tells the story of Harry Clifton but also the story of the love of his life, Emma Barrington and what she went through to get reunited with Harry.

Right after this would be book no. 3, Best Kept Secret.

Only Time Will Tell (Book #1 of The Clifton Chronicles) by Jeffrey Archer

 

Synopsis :

The epic tale of Harry Clifton’s life begins in 1920, with the words “I was told that my father was killed in the war.” A dock worker in Bristol, Harry never knew his father, but he learns about life on the docks from his uncle, who expects Harry to join him at the shipyard once he’s left school. But then an unexpected gift wins him a scholarship to an exclusive boys’ school, and his life will never be the same again.

As he enters into adulthood, Harry finally learns how his father really died, but the awful truth only leads him to question, was he even his father? Is he the son of Arthur Clifton, a stevedore who spent his whole life on the docks, or the firstborn son of a scion of West Country society, whose family owns a shipping line?

This introductory novel in Archer’s ambitious series The Clifton Chronicles includes a cast of colorful characters and takes us from the ravages of the Great War to the outbreak of the Second World War, when Harry must decide whether to take up a place at Oxford or join the navy and go to war with Hitler’s Germany.

From the docks of working-class England to the bustling streets of 1940 New York City, Only Time Will Tell takes readers on a journey through to future volumes, which will bring to life one hundred years of recent history to reveal a family story that neither the reader nor Harry Clifton himself could ever have imagined.

This is what I say :

This post will start the review of The Clifton Chronicles of which there are about 6 to 7 titles.  Only Time Will Tell is the first title of the series which I read about a year ago.

I made much effort to gather all the physical books in the series even way before Covid. I got it from book sales, from FB marketplace and even from charity sales and they have a place in my shelf.  However,  about a year ago, I started to take them down one after another to read and now I am in book five

Only Time Will Tell started the tale of Harry Clifton.  The first book explores his identity.  Whose son is he actually?  Harry Clifton was portrayed as a rather gifted child with angelic voices who went to a prestigious school under a scholarship and met some friends and foes there who will impacting his life and the lives of his family in years to come.  The book ended with a rather cliff hanger to entice readers to quickly pick up book #2, The Sins of the Father.

The Godmother by Carrie Adams

 

Synopsis :

Tessa King is The Godmother 

And she's having the time of her life. Trouble is, she doesn't know it.

Sassy and solvent, Tessa King has nothing tying her down but her friends and her four godchidren. She could accept any invitation and go on any adventure.

But she doesn't. She's idling in neutral, waiting for her own 'happy ever after'

The her wish for domestic bliss is granted. Marriage and motherhood coud be hers if she wants them.  But as ever, the devil's in the detail and Tessa soon discovers that 'happy ever after' is just the beginning of the story because some fairytales aren't fair.

This is what I say :

This is yet another title that I read quite a while back.  It was quite entertaining but as of recent reads, I am also not too fond of the main character.  The way it's written, Tessa King just doesnt warm up to me.  

She does well enough to warm up to her godchildren especially the rebellious teen.  Along the way, she tries to find her own man to start her own family but no, it didn't end with her doing just that.

Would I recommend this title?  I dont really think I would.