Month: April 2014

REVIEW: THURSDAY'S CHILDREN BY NICCI FRENCH

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THURSDAY’S CHILDREN Author: Nicci French Michael Joseph RRP $29.99 Review: Monique Mulligan Nicci French is the pseudonym for the writing partnership of journalists Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, a married couple whose books have sold more than 8 million books worldwide. My introduction to Nicci French was with Waiting for Wednesday (reviewed here), which I found to be an enjoyable psychological thriller with an interesting protagonist in psychotherapist Dr Frieda Klein. I haven’t had the chance to read the earlier books in the series (which started with Blue Monday), but I do hope to remedy that … one day. In Thursday’s Children, Frieda has to confront her own long-buried past after painful memories are triggered by a new crime, giving fans of the series a deeper look at a character who has made a point of holding herself back. When former classmate Maddie turns up in London unexpectedly and asks Frieda to help her troubled 16-year-old daughter, Frieda is reluctant. After all, she hasn’t heard from Maddie – or anyone from her childhood town – since …

IS SNORING PART OF THE DEAL?

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This article first appeared in the Sound Telegraph as an instalment of my Balancing Act column. I thought I’d uploaded it … but it turns out I didn’t. I wrote it about four or five years ago and not a lot has changed. Years ago when Bear was a bub, nearly everything he did was, in the words of my four-year-old neighbour, “so cute”. The gurgles, the raspberries, the giggles, smiles and even random bottom burps (though the projectile vomiting was not really that cute)… but I really loved hearing him snore. I used to stand and listen to his baby snores and smile in a satisfied new-mum way – it meant he wasn’t crying (at which point the smile slowly faded). He made this adorable (sorry Bear, but it was) “puh” noise at times as the air escaped his tiny lips. The first time I heard it I couldn’t help but giggle, and had to control myself when the giggling woke him up. These days I rarely hear Bear snore. I’m too busy blocking …

GUEST POST: HOW TO KEEP MOMENTUM FOR YOUR NOVEL

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I’d like to thank writer Emma Chapman for contributing this guest post about maintaining marketing momentum. Emma is the author of How to be a Good Wife (reviewed here). Originally from the UK, Emma spent some time living in Western Australia and currently lives in Jakarta, Indonesia. She learnt the ropes of publishing at Toby Eady Associates literary agency and it was to this agency she sent the finished manuscript for How to be a Good Wife. She is now working on her next novel. You can find out more about Emma and her books here. I interviewed Emma when How to be a Good Wife was released and that interview is here. How do we keep people interested in our work, long after it has hit the shelves? My first novel, How To Be A Good Wife, has now been out in the world for over a year. When the book first came out in hardback, my publishers in the UK and Australia both did a great job at creating a buzz around the novel. It was …

AUTHOR INSIGHT: MEET ROS THOMAS

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Ros Thomas has been a journalist for 24 years, 17 of them in television current affairs. Most recently she has turned her (dishpan) hand to writing a full page column for the Saturday edition of the West Australian newspaper. She attempts to write from home, whilst minding the nest and her three children, aged 2, 5 and 12. She lives with her partner, Matthew, in Perth, where she grew up. Ros will be my Stories on Stage guest at Koorliny Arts Centre on June 4. For more information about Ros, click here. Monique: Your book, Was it Something I said? is about to be published. How did the book come about? Ros: The editor of Saturday’s West approached UWA Press about the idea of publishing a ‘best of’ book of columns. Monique: The book’s a consolidated collection of your columns (published in the Weekend West). Who are the columns aimed at? What’s the motivation or purpose (or brief) of the column? Ros: That same editor rang me two years ago, when my third child was a year old: “We …

SHORT AND SWEET REVIEW: FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY BY PHILLIPA FIORETTI

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Note, the format of my Short and Sweet reviews differs in that they simply comprise the book blurb and a short response (hence, the short and sweet). Sometimes I have too many books to do a full-length review!  I won a copy of Phillipa Fioretti’s eBook For One Night Only earlier this year and finally managed to read it last week. Italy, romance and adventure all in one book … sounded like just the thing for me … and it was! Initially I planned only to review this on Goodreads, but then decided to add it here anyway. Here’s the blurb: When Ornella vacations in Sicily, she meets Hugh, an archaeologist working on a dig in the beautiful town of Taormina. Hugh convinces Ornella to join him on a trip to the island of Stromboli, where they hike up a live volcano at dusk. After a passionate night together Ornella, an actress usually focused on her career, suspects she’s in love. But after breakfast the next morning, Hugh vanishes. Ornella is left with Hugh’s phone, sunglasses and a sudden end to the love affair …

REVIEW: THE WIVES OF LOS ALAMOS BY TARASHEA NESBIT

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THE WIVES OF LOS ALAMOS Author: Tarashea Nesbit  Bloomsbury RRP $27.99 Review: Monique Mulligan Imagine if your husband or partner said you were moving somewhere … but couldn’t or wouldn’t tell you any more than that. Imagine if you just had to go along with it, not ask questions, and not talk to anyone about it. It’s hard to imagine women today in such a situation accepting this, especially the not asking questions part. Yet, that’s exactly what hundreds, if not more, women were expected to do when their scientist husbands were approached to work on a top-secret research project in the USA during WW2. The project? The atomic bomb. Told from a collective viewpoint, The Wives of Los Alamos, is an unusual, but powerful story. The women came from everywhere – Berkeley, Cambridge, Paris, London and Chicago – and arrived in New Mexico, some uncertain, some confident, some resigned and others hopeful. We arrived in New Mexico and thought we had come to the end of earth, or we thought we had come home … We stepped …

SUNDAY SHOUT-OUT: A MEMOIR, SOMETHING LITERARY AND A THRILLER

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Is there ever such a thing as too many books? I don’t think there are too many books to read, but there can definitely be too many to review. Often I’m sent books and, with an already sagging review shelf, these unsolicited books often often don’t fit in to my schedule. Other times, I am unable to finish a book I intended to review (for various reasons), or I don’t have time for a full review. Sunday Shout-Out aims to acknowledge these books and the publishers who have sent them to me. Sunday Shout Out is a bookish meme hosted by Monique of Write Note Reviews. If you’re a book blogger and you want to join in, just: Share the title, author, blurb and image from a book (or more than one) you want to acknowledge Share the genre, price and link to the publisher so readers can follow up if they like the sound of the book Ping back to Write Note Reviews in your post. ♦♦♦ 1. The Wolf in Winter by John Connolly, H & …

REVIEW: THE COLLECTED WORKS OF A.J. FIKRY BY GABRIELLE ZEVIN

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THE COLLECTED WORKS OF A.J. FIKRY Author: Gabrielle Zevin  Hachette RRP $26.99 Review: Monique Mulligan Every once in a while I come across a book that reminds me of what an absolute pleasure it is to read. The Collected Works of A.J. Fikry (aka The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry) is one such book. I was captivated from the start by this short and sweet tale that’s set in a bookshop and is about books, reading and life. For me, it was one of those books where clever writing, a quirky tale, and ordinary but stand-out characters fuse into genuine reading pleasure. I read it in one sitting and finished it with a touch of sadness, because I simply wasn’t ready to leave the story behind. Zevin assembles a charming cast of characters to tell her tale, from the grouchy (at first) A.J Fikry, owner of Island Books and recent widow, to new book sales representative Amelia, from abandoned toddler Maya to ‘not much of a reader’ police officer Lambiase, who starts a book club for police officers.  When the characters first meet, they have no idea how important they will …

REVIEW: THE TEA CHEST BY JOSEPHINE MOON

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THE TEA CHEST Author: Josephine Moon  Allen & Unwin RRP $29.99 Review: Monique Mulligan I love books that whisk me away into another place, drawing me into the pages so that I feel as much a part of it as the characters I’m reading about. The Tea Chest drew me into a perfumed world of teas, herbs and flowers, a place of warmth, dreams and creativity, a shop that I wish existed in more than its readers’ hearts. I read it in a matter of hours, a cup of tea at hand; just like a good “cuppa”, The Tea Chest hit the spot. The Tea Chest unfolds through the viewpoints of Kate, Leila and Elizabeth, three woman drawn together in a combined quest to take a beloved boutique teashop to the next level. Following the death of her mentor, Simone, Kate inherits 50 per cent of the business, which has stores in Brisbane and Sydney, and the shell of a shop in London. Despite her brusque business partner, Judy, making it clear she wants out, Kate forges ahead with …

GUEST POST: WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW

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I’d like to thank novelist Cathryn Hein for contributing this guest post about writing what you know. Cathryn wrote this piece ahead of the launch of her fourth rural romance novel, Rocking Horse Hill. She finally gave in to her life-long desire to write while living in Provence, France. Her short fiction has been recognised in numerous contests, and published in Woman’s Day. Cathryn’s first three novels, Promises, Heart of the Valley and Heartland were finalists in the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Australian Romance Readers Awards. In September she will release The French Prize, her first romantic adventure story. You can find out more about Cathryn here. Write what you know By CATHRYN HEIN Write what you know is common advice given to aspiring writers, but is it good advice? On the yes side, writing what you know enables you to draw on all your life experiences; the little things that make stories richer and bring them to life. The grassy scent of fresh cut lucerne in the summer, as if the colour green has some to life. The …