I Take You by Nikki Gemmell (HarperCollins, RRP $33) Australian author Nikki Gemmell has a great handle on delivering well-written erotica. A co-worker introduced her work to me last year, lending me With My Body and then, shortly after, The…
Category: General fiction
Sweeping tale of love and loss
Midnight in St Petersburg, by Vanora Bennet (Random House, RRP $38): It’s Russia, 1911, and young Jewish woman Inna Feldman has taken her destiny into her hands and travelled to St Petersburg. Her own family are long dead and the…
Life has moved on, not Bridget
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, by Helen Fielding (Random House, RRP $37) I loved the Bridget that Helen Fielding created in her newspaper column in 1995 which was quickly novelised in 1996. And while I could’ve lived without reading…
Epic sequel not so epic
Bittersweet, by Colleen McCullough (HarperCollins, RRP $50): It’s been 36 years since Colleen McCullough’s epic The Thorn Birds was first published, 30 years since it was made into that massive miniseries starring such luminaries as Richard Chamberlain, Barbara Stanwyck and Christopher…
Violence and redemption in recommended read
Frederick’s Coat, by Alan Duff (Vintage, RRP $38) Alan Duff has produced another powerful novel in Frederick’s Coat, a story of crime, violence and family. Duff is know for his compelling and gritty writing, and this book is as moving as…
Keyes’ chronicles continue
The Mystery of Mercy Close, by Marian Keyes (Michael Joseph, RRP $38): If you have read any of Marian Keyes’ earlier stories featuring the delightfully dysfunctional Walsh family, this will be the one you’ve been waiting for. The Walsh family…
Dramatic family saga re-released
Children of War trilogy: Tamar, White Feathers, Blue Smoke, by Deborah Challinor (HarperCollins, RRP $25 each): Deborah Challinor’s best-selling Children of War trilogy has been re-released with new covers to appeal to a new generation of readers. The dramatic family…
Perfect mix of drama and warmth
22 Britannia Road, by Amanda Hodgkinson (Fig Tree/Penguin, RRP $40): This story starts, as so many do, with a young couple meeting and falling in love. However, in 1937 Poland no love story could be straight forward. As war approaches,…
Alternative history delivers
The Spanish Helmet, by Greg Scowen: New Zealand author Greg Scowen has come up with an interesting concept for his conspiracy thriller The Spanish Helmet: what if the officially accepted history of New Zealand is wrong? A mysterious Spanish helmet…
Chick lit … but I enjoyed them
Hand Me Down, by Michelle Holman (HarperCollins, RRP $25): Waikato author Michelle Holman’s latest book features bad girl April Ritchie, who returns home to Pisa after a nine-year absence. April was a bit of a spoilt brat who never made…