The Gardeners' Club by Marnie Riches

 

Description from Goodreads:

"Gardening is dirty work – but should it be deadly?

When Gill Swanley decides to take up gardening to fight a midlife malaise, she never expected it to become quite such a dangerous hobby.

Pushing herself to 'get out there', Gill picks herself up the secateurs and joins the Bromley Botanists. Here she finds a seven-strong group whose main agenda is how to win the coveted Golden Trowel for best community club of the year.

But when a dead body turns up in the community greenhouse, they suddenly have more serious matters to consider than victory. They must uncover whether their arch-rivals, Croydon, are taking things to another level or whether someone more dangerous is targeting their rag tag group.

Can they dig up the truth before someone else is left pushing up the daisies?"

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Oh my word ... I can't put into adequate words how much I absolutely loved this book!  I absolutely devoured it in quick time such was the quality of the story I was reading.

I'm not going to go into the story line as the blurb says it all but what I will say is that it's full of fantastic characters each of which are unique and 'special' in their own way but, equally, they could be your neighbour, work colleague or family member such is their relateability and how well they have been written and developed.

The story is much more than a cosy, murder-mystery; it's about life and everything that is thrown at us and gardening of course!  I cannot rate this book highly enough and would recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Many thanks to the author, Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of this excellent book.  This is the first in a new series and I can't wait for the next instalment to find out what is in store for The Bromley Botanists' Golden Trowel gardeners' club.

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The Great Decay by Steven Jenkins

 

Description from Goodreads:

"Like so many towns and cities, the giant walls around Camberwood stand as silent reminders of humanity's darkest hour—The Great Decay: a zombie invasion that nearly wiped-out mankind.

For seventeen-year-old Ruby and her friends, these walls are nothing more than relics of a history they're too young to remember, monuments to their parents' trauma.

Ruby dreams of a better life away from this small, soul-crushing town. Away from her alcoholic mother who still grieves the loss of her husband.

But boredom suddenly lifts when Ruby and her friends discover what seems impossible: a lone, emaciated zombie, perhaps the last of its kind, trapped in an abandoned coal mine. The creature appears docile, almost pitiful—a living artifact begging to be studied. Against all reason, they keep it secret, drawn to this rotting piece of forbidden history.

But their dangerous game of friendship with the undead is about to shatter their safe, uneventful world.

As a new wave of infection erupts within Camberwood's walls, Ruby faces a devastating realization: she and her friends haven't just unearthed a scientific curiosity—they've unleashed the very nightmare the last generation barely survived.

As the shadows of the past rise again, Ruby must fight to prevent a second Great Decay—or watch everything she loves crumble into ruin."

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I do love a good Zombie story and this is one of them and another hit from an author I enjoy reading.

The Great Decay is everything you would expect in a zombie story and more; great characters, great setting, horror, humour, action, suspense and all written at a great pace with a satisfying ending.

Another cracker from Steven Jenkins ... if you haven't read anything by him before, you won't be disappointed if this is the first book of his you read.

Many thanks to the author for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of this great book.

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The Tenacious Nurse Nichols by Eileen Yanoviak

 

Description from Goodreads:

"There is only one known image of Lucy Higgs Nichols, a Civil War nurse who escaped slavery. In this captivating photograph dated to 1898, the elderly Lucy is the sole female and the only person of color. She stands stately in the middle of a large group of war veterans at a reunion that she diligently attended every year. Some of these soldiers were from the Indiana 23rd Regiment, the men who fiercely advocated for her Civil War nurse's pension in the 1890s. 

Her story is remarkable—a journey from enslavement in Tennessee, to freedom and service among the ranks of the Union Army, and finally to independence and national recognition from the press, the Grand Army of the Republic, and even Congress.

Despite considerable obstacles and unimaginable pain, Lucy achieved notoriety, nobility, and self-sufficiency in a post-Civil War era that often denied black Americans and women justice and opportunity."

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This is an inspirational and amazing story of a former slave and how she came to be a nurse during the Civil War and her fight to receive a pension and all whilst having to deal with prejudice and the hardships of life for a Black person in 1800's America.

This is a very informative book that has clearly been well researched.  It's easy to read and flows well and I would recommend it to anyone interested in the American Civil War, Black history or those who enjoy opening their minds and learning about history.

Thanks to the author, The Globe Pequot Publishing Group, Inc. and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of this informative book.

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The Webs You Weave by Shade Owens [Audiobook]

🎙🎙🎙 Narrated by Kaden Catalina and Jay Parker 🎙🎙🎙

Description from Goodreads:

"MEGHAN

My husband is a cheating bastard.

If it weren't for my daughter, I'd have gotten rid of him years ago. But I don't want my sweet Hazel growing up the way I did. So I've continued putting up with Cole's indiscretions. But this time around, Cole crosses a line that he can't come back from. And I'm going to teach him a lesson he'll never forget.

COLE

I love my wife dearly, but she needs some serious help.

Ever since her traumatic brain injury, she hasn't been the same. She's constantly accusing me of cheating on her. Yes, I've made mistakes, but that's in the past, and I've apologized for those. Now, I think she might even be following me to work. She's taking things too far. I don't know how much more of this I can handle. The only problem is, I'm afraid that if I try to leave her, she'll kill me."

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Ooooo ... the title of this book is absolutely perfect ... so many webs are woven in this gripping audiobook.

I have read one of Shade Owen's previous books, Death Row Games, and really enjoyed it so didn't want to miss the chance to grab another and I wasn't disappointed.

This audiobook is intriguing in that you have no idea which of the main characters you can trust - Meghan who is recovering after a brain injury or her husband Cole, you also have their daughter, Hazel, and a mystery 'diary entry' person.  This does sound a little confusing and whilst it could be if you were reading a physical book, this was not the case with the audiobook with the excellent narrators who brought the characters to life.

A great book that's full of tension, misdirection and red herrings and one that I am happy to recommend.  Many thanks to the author, Red Raven Publishing and NetGalley for enabling me to listen to and share my thoughts of this book.

 

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In the Footsteps of the Holocaust by Ainslie Hepburn

 

Description from the Publisher: 

"This is a story of 'ordinary' people – ordinary people who were caught up in the cataclysm of events in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s. A discovery of letters that had been carefully kept for decades since that time led to the uncovering of a family story that took the author on a journey in the footsteps of her husband's grandparents through Germany, Belgium, and France.

Hermann Hartog (1887–1942) was a Jewish teacher in the north-west of Germany at a time of increasing anti-Semitism. He and his wife, Henny (1897–1942) recognised that Germany was becoming an unsafe place for Jews and sent their daughters to England for safety. As a leader of his community, Hermann stayed for as long as he could.

After 'Kristallnacht' in November 1938, Hermann was arrested with other Jewish men and sent to the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen. He was later released on condition that he would leave the country. Hermann and Henny fled Germany for Brussels, but when Belgium was invaded in 1940 they were sent to Paris, and then found refuge in a village in the south-west of France. Here, 'ordinary' people gave them shelter, work and friendship – and shared their lives during the dark days of 1941 and 1942.

When French police – acting on the orders of the Vichy government and the Nazi occupiers of France – arrested Hermann and Henny, it was part of a round-up of Jews to deport them for extermination. After a long journey, they were murdered in Auschwitz in September 1942.

An active memory of the Hartog family lives on. In France and Germany, 'ordinary' people remember their names, commemorate their legacy, and work to build communities where tolerance, acceptance, and friendship can thrive."

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This is clearly a well researched book that sheds light on an area of this horrendous period in our history that I was not fully aware of.  

We follow the story of the Hartog family which has been pieced together following the discovery of letters and postcards sent during that time.  Henny and Hermann had to make the difficult decision to send their daughters to England and then try and survive all that was happening around them whilst trying to make arrangements to leave.  I admit to struggling to understand why other countries wouldn't accept people trying to flee especially when they had an inkling of what was going on!  I don't know how they could live with themselves knowing that they could have saved so many people once the full horror or what happened came to light.  However, what came through strongly was that there were many people who were kind and went out of their way to support the Jewish refugees despite having very little themselves and at great risk and whilst it didn't save Henny and Hermann, it did make a huge difference to them.

This is a book that needs to be read by everyone if only so that we don't repeat what happened and that we continue to remember the names of those who didn't survive.

Thanks to the author, Pen & Sword and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts on this powerful book.

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