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Showing posts from October, 2014

Preview : Flea Market - October 2014

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October's coming to an end and in about two months we will be welcoming a new year.  However, before that there's still plenty for for me to do both at work, at home and also my book sales.  For this month, I will again be taking part in the flea market running from 31st October to 2nd November at the same mall like in previous months. For this month, it's slightly different as it will be over three days and it might be the last sales I would be taking part in before calling it a year (I signed up for the flea market for the month of December but I'm not sure if I can make it or not due to a trip that I might need to take but that's a deciding for another day). For October, I will bring to the sales the following titles : Scarlett Feather by one of my newly favourite author, Maeve Binchy.  The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks which is a wonderful read and Venus Envy , chic lite by Louise Bagshawe which is not too bad. Department 19

Venus Envy by Louise Bagshawe

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Synopsis : At twenty-seven, Alex Wilde feels like her life is going nowhere. She’s stuck in a dead-end job and her relationship history is a tale of woe. What’s more, she’s put on a few pounds lately...Sharing a house with three gorgeous girls doesn’t help. Her sister Gail got more than her fair share of the good genes, Keisha is an ice-cool man-magnet and Bronwen is so hip it hurts.  With competition like this, is it any wonder Alex feels so inadequate? Alex has two choices: she can retreat to the safety of her duvet and stuff herself with chocolate or she can smarten up her act and face the world head on. Never one to choose the easy option, Alex realises she needs to up her game if she wants to stay in it.. I was advised not to read this book - that it would be a waste of my time.  I can't say the advice is valid but I also can't say that it's not wrong too.  I have read a few books by this author previously. Some I quite like , some I don't .  Venu

The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks

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Synopsis : When confronted by raging fires or deadly accidents, volunteer fireman Taylor McAden feels compelled to take terrifying risks to save lives. But there is one leap of faith Taylor can't bring himself to make: he can't fall in love. For all his adult years, Taylor has sought out women who need to be rescued, women he leaves as soon as their crisis is over and the relationship starts to become truly intimate.  When a raging storm hits his small Southern town, single mother Denise Holton’s car skids off the road. The young mom is with her four-year-old son Kyle, a boy with severe learning disabilities and for whom she has sacrificed everything. Taylor McAden finds her unconscious and bleeding, but does not find Kyle. When Denise wakes, the chilling truth becomes clear to both of them: Kyle is gone. During the search for Kyle, the connection between Taylor and Denise takes root. Taylor doesn't know that this rescue will be different from all the ot

And She Was by Alison Gaylin

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Synopsis : On a summer afternoon in 1998, six-year-old Iris Neff walked away from a barbecue in her small suburban town...and vanished. Missing persons investigator Brenna Spector has a rare neuro-logical disorder that enables her to recall every detail of every day of her life.  A blessing and a curse, it began in childhood, when her older sister stepped into a strange car never to be seen again, and it's proven invaluable in her work. But i hasn't helped her solve the mystery that haunts her above all others - and it didn't lead her to little Iris.  When a local woman, Carol Wentz, disappears eleven years later, Brena uncovers bizarre connections between the missing woman, the long-gone little girl and herself. I love the cover of this book - red font text and a little girl in red dress against dark grey and black background - very mysterious and intriguing. Book cover aside, it was an extremely enjoyable book even though it's a book on missing child, a th

The Bondmaid by Catherine Lim

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Synopsis: Set in Singapore in the early 1950s, The Bondmaid captures the special ethos of a wealthy and powerful Chinese household in that bygone era. A little girl, Han, is sold as a bondmaid into the House of  Wu, where she grows up with the young heir.  But the idyll of childhood attachment quickly turns into a nightmare of a thwarted sexual passion, as Han, beautiful, proud and uncompromisingly loyal, struggles against the forces of tradition and tyranny in a household where patriarchs and matriarchs wield inexorable power, lustful male relatives watch young bondmaids to claim their rightful share of pleasure, and gods and goddesses smile to see the human drama unfold.  The Bondmaid chronicles the power of one woman's love - right to its terrifying climax. After reading The Bondmaid , I can't believe that the story is set in early 50s and some more in Singapore..  For what the story represents and from the way it weaves, it could and should have set in feudal era

Tara Road by Maeve Binchy

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Synopsis : Ria and Marilyn have never met - they live thousands of miles apart, separated by the Atlantic Ocean : one in a big, warm, Victorian house in Tara Road, Dublin, the other in a modern, open-plan house in New England. Two more unlikely friends would be hard to find : Ria's life revolves around her family and friends, while Marilyn's reserve is born of grief.  But when each needs a place to escape to, a house exchange seems an ideal solution. Along with the borrowed houses come neighbours and friends, gossip and speculation as Ria and Marilyn swap lives for the summer. I enjoyed reading Evening Class tremendously that when 'class was over', I was quite happy to start Tara Road .  One interesting titbits I discover about reading Maeve Binchy is that some of her characters made appearances in her other titles.  This is especially so when she based her book at the same location. While the characters might not make much impact in the storyline, their appe