January Books

One of my New Year Resolutions was to read more.  Here are my January books. (I've always found Evelyn at We Were Raised By Wolves a great inspiration - she reads loads of interesting books.  You can read her January Books List post here.)

I'd really enjoyed Chevy Steven's first book Still Missing so was pleased to see she had a new book out - Never knowing.

The book is based on the story of Sara who was adopted as a baby.  She has a daughter, Ally and is due to marry her boyfriend.  She decides to trace her birth parents, partly from curiosity but also for her medical history.  She finds out her father is a serial killer.  The book is written from Sara's perspective and read like sessions with her psychiatrist.  the book has a lot twists, turns and tension.  I quite enjoyed this book.  I give it 6/10.

My second book is, The Thread by Victoria Hislop.

The story starts in Thessalonika, Greece in 1917.  On the same night a fire rages through the City, leaving many people homeless, Dimitri Komnionos is born.  Five years later Katerina Sarafoglou's home in Asia Minor is destroyed by the Turkish Army and she and her mother and sister have to flee.  In the chaos to leave she get separated from her mother and she goes across the sea alone to Greece. The book is the story of Dimitri and Katerina's lives, the city in which they live, their work, the war, persecution and fears.  

In 2007 their Anglo-Greek grandson comes to visit and hears their life story and has to decide if he wants to make Greece his home.  A great read, would highly recommend. A 10/10 book.  I also loved The Island, the author's first book.

My third book is A Gathering Storm by Rachel Hore.  I am a massive Rachel Hore fan and I can highly recommend her other books (The Dream House, The Memory Garden, The Glass Painter's Daughter and A Place of Secrets).

When we meet Beatrice at the start of the book and you are left wondering what her connection is to the story.  Lucy Cardwell's father Tom dies and she finds papers in his belongings of researches into an Uncle Rafe she didn't know he had.

Lucy decides to go to Cornwall to visit the family home, Carlyon Manor which is now a ruin.  She meets a local lady, Beatrice who knew the family well and Beatrice tells Lucy her story...

Fascinating characters, romance, history, war, family, feuds, action, tension and drama, a real page turner.  I loved this book and I also give this a 10/10.


My fourth book, (yes I really am on a roll!) is Londoners by Craig Taylor.  A book I cannot recommend highly enough.  Totally fascinating.  London through the eyes of those who live there.  It makes you laugh, is sad, interesting and thought provoking.  I'd really recommend this book. 10/10

Have you read any of these, if so what are your thoughts?  Have you any suggestions for me of books to read?