Sam's Fireside - Cosy Book Reviews & Recommendations

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Margarete Rosenbaum is living as Annegret Huber following a bombing raid, from Jew to part of a German high-ranking family in the blink of an eye. I have read many war fiction novels, but I’m not sure I’ve ever read one which included so much detail of the inhumane behaviour of the German SS. It takes a lot to make me shudder when reading, but parts of The Girl in the Shadows did just that. Of course, I am aware of the gist of what happened during the war, but to have it written down and for the characters involved to be portrayed in such a way was eye-opening. Marion Kummerow is an exceptional author. There aren’t many who can skip between love and romance and hate and cruelty and ensure the reader is also feeling those emotions. Yes, I was left feeling very uncomfortable many times throughout the book, but actually, this was a good thing. It meant that the author was doing her job well!  The Girl in the Shadows is the third book in Margarete’s journey, but can certainly be ...

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I laughed, I cried, I laughed some more! Stepping Up by Sarah Turner is pretty special and tugged at my heartstrings.  Aunty Beth steps up to look after her teenage niece, Polly and toddler nephew, Ted, following an accident. Over the course of the next year, Beth has to learn how to be a parent, coping with teenage emotions and toddler tantrums, all whilst trying to hold a job down, prove to her Mum that she can be capable of being responsible and also maintaining friendships.  I was hooked from the start, and despite the sad moments and difficult situations, I found the book heartwarming but heartbreaking at the same time. It’s been a long time since a story made me laugh and cry on the same page but Stepping Up managed it.  There isn’t a character who won’t melt your heart, one way or another, and Beth, in particular, grows in strength and confidence as the book progresses. She realises that perhaps she’s not as useless as she thinks she is and maybe people do ne...

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I was asked to read and review ‘Rose’ by the author, Robin P Fletcher, and I am so pleased that he approached me. Rose was awesome, from page one. I was hooked, and I spent the whole time I was reading it, thinking how good it would be as a movie! Rose is abducted as a nine-year-old girl from her home village in Goa and taken across to the other side of the country to live with a family who wants a daughter. She remembers nothing from her previous life and settles down with her new family for the next seven years.  I don’t want to give any spoilers because I think the less you know how the story progresses, the better. We discover the lengths that a family will go to, to right a wrong, and how, with the right resources, it’s easier to solve a crime.  The characters in Rose were diverse, many of them were loveable, but even more, were downright evil and, rightly, got what was coming to them. Fletcher writes with enthusiasm and spirit, and his descriptions of people and...

  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Second World War has recently ended and people are trying to return to some sort of normality in Worthing, West Sussex. Izzy and Linda’s father has returned from the war but is without a job, suffering from anger issues and often in the pub, returning home drunk, late at night. After one such night, and following an argument with her husband, Izzy’s mother leaves and doesn’t return. Over the next two years, the girls are brought up by their grandparents, until one day their father comes to take them home. Izzy is desperate to find out why her mother left, whilst trying to maintain a job and support her sister and father.  As was normal in post-war Britain, it is the women who look after the house and, in the absence of a mother, this fell to Izzy. We travel along with her as she grows up, with a world of responsibility on her shoulders. Her family has fallen apart and she will do all she can to find out why and put right as much as she can.  At Home by the Sea...

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Abbie and Matt have been together since they were teenagers. They’re now 37 and having a difficult time in their marriage. Unable to have a child, this has brought pressure on their relationship and they need to try to rekindle some of the romance that brought them together all those years ago. P.S. I Hate You (Abbie never does actually hate Matt), skips back and forth between the present, and when Abbie and Matt first met, following them throughout significant events in their life together. The author focuses a huge amount on how important friends are in a woman’s life and how good friends stick around, no matter what. If Abbie has a problem, or is upset, it’s The Girlfriend Club’s WhatsApp group she turns to, and there is always someone at the end of a message with support and advice. I enjoyed how Abbie tried to recreate some of the good memories that her and Matt had shared, some worked out, some didn’t but it both were keen to try! Sophie Ranald shows us the parts of relation...