'lots of love' by fiona walker

ellen after a long term relationship goes to stay at her parents' cottage which is for sale. she goes to a village where she spent little time in the past. getting the know village life and it's weird ways. falling in love, but can it go anywhere....

had to get into it. but after a couple of chapters i liked it.

(not part of my library)

comments to: dutchwomanabroad@gmail.com

'the immigrant' by manju kapur

a great book, especially for someone like me who has emigrated. a story of an indian girl, being quite ripe meaning on the way to becoming a spinster. not an arranged marriage, although someone had his or her finger in it. two people, who on long distance, seem to get along very well. but once living together, not everything is that easy as it seems. big choices to make.

i wonder what happens in the chapter that is not there. i wonder how the story would continue. good bookclub read.

comments: duthcwomanabraod@gmail.com

'fearless fourteen' by janet evanovich

there are thirteen book before this one. i have read all of them. a story about a reckless, fearful, disasterous female bounty hunter. everything that can go wrong, will go wrong for stephanie plum. torn between two males, being assisted by a bomb of a lady with the name lula, a grandmother who goes for fun to sightings at the funeral home.

the story is more or less always the same, but still i cannot get enough of an easy as this one. it makes me laugh quite a bit. totally relaxing.

(not part of my library)

for comments: dutchwomanabroad@gmail.com

'welcome to temptation' by jennifer crusie

just started the book. i love jennifer crusie. hope this one will be what i am expecting. will let you know soon.

what a great book, a bit like peyton place in it's own way. a little bit of crime, a little bit of sex, and small town life. sophie came to temptaion, ohio. to help her sister make a movie. having to deal with life in a place she doesn't. she finds love and caring people around her.

the book was all i expected. pity it finished.

(not part of my library)

comments: dutchwomanabroad@gmail

'stupid cupid' by arabella weir

hat is getting married, but the groom leaves her, getting cold feet. hat wants the wedding to go thru anyway, she wants to get married. and she just goes on planning the wedding.

a beach book, nothing special. good if your brain needs light lecture.

(not part of my library)

comments to: dutchwomanabroad@gmail.com

'sense & sensibility' by jane austen

a year or so out of the lives of the two dashwood sisters, elinor and marianne. the way life evolves in 1800 circa. love, broken hearts, money, extended family ties.

the first of books written by jane austen. very interesting to see how life was so many years ago. i haven't found out how people's allowences work, why so many men do not have a job, that people stay at each other's houses for weeks on end.(nowadays we say visitors are like fish, they start to smell after 3 days). does jane give us a picture of reality or was it the way she would like the life to be? i hope to find out more by reading history books of that era. the book i read is the exact edition from 1811, so i had to get used to the english written. that meant maybe rereading a page twice. but it was great to read the book again. the next time i will read it, other phrases might stand out, and i will have a different picture again in my head of how the story goes.

comments to: dutchwomanabroad@gmail.com

'jack shall have jill' by juliette mead

olivia going back to england. she is on the brink of getting married. will it be the university friend she met again in her now hometown of rome, with whom she once had a fling. there are other probable suitors. she is going back to the life she and her frineds, male and female, had many years before at university. looking into the past and the now.

very enjoyable book. pity it ended.

(not part of my library)

for comments: dutchwomanabroad@gmail.com

'intimate strangers' by juliette mead

house swap between an english and an american family for a whole summer. walking in someone elses shoes. living their lives. two women married with not the right husband. with in the end also a partner swap.

enjoyable read. the thing that bothered me was that both families have a nanny/au pair and a housekeeper and the wife has no engagements outside of the house. the poor kids are always in the care of a young girl. parents/mothers all the time having to go to have drinks or diners with other people. why in the hell do you need an au pair when you go on vacation. spend some time with your children, otherwise give them away for adoption if you can't give a damn to take care of them yourself.

'the invisible sex' by j.m. adovasio, soffer & page

the complete title of the book is 'the invisible sex, uncovering the true roles of women in prehistory. upto now almost every book one reads about prehistory tells the tale of men hunting big and dangerous animals, them drawing pictures in caves, ecc. the women are nowhere to be seen. a very interesting, easy to read book with scientific evidence to show that it wasn't only the man who had a role in prehistory. written by an archaelogist, an anthropologist and a science journalist. the book also gives an insight in different things which still are part of our live today and people came to spread allover the world.

'cocktails for three' by madeleine wickham

three friends who's relationship changes because life goes different paths and their is a person who becomes an obstacle in their friendship. but real friends you don't loose that easily.

a nice book, no love story. things that happen where you can put yourself in the shoes of the caracter.

(not part of my library)

contact: dutchwomanabroad@gmail.com

'shire hell' by rachel johnson

sequel to 'notting hell'. life of mimi in the countryside after moving from notting hill. dear mimi has to get used to living far away from all the comforts of a big city. learning the rules of country life. land rovers with mud patches, country estates, lots of horses, and simple country folk.

it is a nice book, not a romance. liked the first book a bit better. a fun read. how does the ladder of society work and act. have's and havenot's.

dutchwomanabroad@gmail.com

'this charming man' by marian keyes

three women in the aftermath of a relationship with one and the same man. he is about to get married and for some of them this is difficult. is he this perfect man with a great political career ahead of him or is he a person with a shadow over him. is the future wife on top of the things where her fiancee is involved.

usually i am not very favorite of books where more caracters play a leading role meaning the book leaps from one caracter to the next. but in this case that is what kept me totally interested. with a grand finale, it's a pity the book ended.

(not part of my library)

to contact me: dutchwomanabroad@gmail.com

'the birthing house' by christopher ransom

a man wanting to start a new life with his wife far away from where they live. he buys a house and he gets a troublesome history thrown in for free. he hears things and he sees things. is he the only one, or did the former owners also haved visits from the other side? he is not the only one involved. strange things happen, no explainations available.

a change from the usual. sleeping after reading this book wasn't always easy. i had a nightmare or two. but i loved it! i don't care about sleeping bad. at least i know how to react if something similar would happen to me. not for softies, that's for sure.

'upside down, inside out' by monica mcinerney

eve from ireland and joe from england meet in australia. each one of them not telling the truth about themselves. will they spill the beans and be able to get into a real relationship?

a very good book to relax.

(not part of my library)

'city woman' by patricia scanlan

the follow up story of 'city girl'. devlin, caroline and maggie, three woman in ireland and their lives. one is a big business owner, one is a houswive/mother/writer and one who found out her husband who treated her very badly is a homosexual ans she has to get her life together on her own.

i read the first book which i liked. i finished this book also but it was more that i wanted to read a book from cover to cover for once. i didn't think it was exiting or superbly written. there are too many books where there are 3 leading caracters and you have to see their lives. i am done with these kind of books i think.

(this book is not part of my library)

'the art of racing in the rain' by garth steiner

a lovely story from the position of a dog. looking back on his life with his owner. the hobbies they share, the expanding of their family, with lots of laughter and lots of tears.

a wonderful book filled with so many emotions. i would say 'a must read'. too bad it finished, i could have continued reading the tales of enzo the dog's life. it is so incredible how the writer in every single phrase gives you the feeling that enzo is speaking. and is this the way the mind of a dog works?!

'pilcrow' by adam mars-jones

time passes by slowly when you are bedridden. a little boy having a rheumatic fever, later rightly diagnosed with still's disease. life seen largely seen from a horiziontal position. john's life from childhood until adolescence.

a strange book, not an easy read. good the first half, but in the second half it becomes a bit of a drag. no new input, continuing with the same things happening in the story. in the last few chapters the story picks up again and gets interesting. i had to put away the book a couple of times, let it rest for a week or so. it was nice to read it because it was so different.

'just a family affair' by veronica henry

best friends. in love or not? a groom ready to get married or will he never show up in church? the father of the groom having complications of a old affair. keeping the family business or going busted? easy going family members taking care of unpleasant issues. patchwork families.

a great book, with lots going on. a book about love and whatever comes after that when you have a family. about regular life and things that happen. and the end.... it's different than you might expect.

'secrets' by freya north

tess has to escape london with her infant daughter because she is in debt. she has people knocking at the door the whole time and cannot live like that anymore. she stumbles across an insert in a newspaper 'wanted: a house-sitter' in a place far away from the big city, in a small town on the north sea. she takes the job and does loads more than just housesitting. ofcourse the man of the house is a bit older, a nice person who lets her do whatever she wants in doing up the house a bit.............

this is the first time that i have finished reading a book by freya north, she is not my style. this story is one of the usual lovestories. in the beginning they are having difficulties, but all ends well. lots of words, small story. a waste of time?!

- not part of my library -

'vince & joy' by lisa jewell

vince gets talking about 'big love' with his friends at a party. and there starts the story of vince and joy, who met when they where teenagers. it seemed to be the start of something very intense, but their ways separate almost straight away. during their life time their paths cross a couple of times, strange coincidences happening. but timing is always off for them to be together.

a lovely romance. it's not the usual book of a girl meeting a boy and at first they cannot stand each other and in the end they fall into each other's arms. it is totally something else. you cannot see clearly where the story is going. the ending could be very different than what you are expecting. good for a bookclub to discuss.

(not part of my library)

'twenty chickens for a saddle' by robyn scott

an autobiografie of a childhood and adolescence spent in botswana. the great impact on this girl's life being homeschooled by an adventurous mother and having a father who, as a doctor, tries to do something about aids. living out in the bush encountering animals and the 'weird' ways of the botswana people. leaving botswana in adulthood with great memories.

a very nice book with insights of a different culture and way of living. leaves me wanting to visit the place.

'the memory keeper's daughter' by kim edwards

a doctor has to deliver his own twins during a winter storm in the hospital where he works. one of the babies is handicapped, and he decides it's best for his family to not keep the baby. the infant is supposed to go to an orphanage.......... the doctor's wife is troubled because of the loss of the child. her husband told her the baby died at birth. the family life is wrecked.

a great book. i would like to call it 'real' literature. a story with depth. lots of psychological angles. situations to think about and reflect. a very good read for a bookclub. i thought especially the end was great. love between siblings can be very strong and overcome everything.

'the italian matchmaker' by santa montefiore

luca leaving his marriage and job, going to visit his parents on the amalfi coast of italy. the parents restaurated an old castle where according to the village people are ghosts present. a love story develops between luca and a village girl, with the usual problems of jealousy. ofcourse everything ends well.

a romance, good to read on the beach or where ever you just want to relax. what i was missing a bit were the ghosts. reading the backside of the book i expected something more intrigueing. the part of the 'ghost' is too short and not exciting. the rest of the book is nice. like looking at a film in the italian country with people having lunch a long tables in the shadow of century old trees.