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The Other Side of Beautiful
The Other Side of Beautiful by Kim Lock. Harlequin Australia Mercy Blain’s house burns down and her life is totally u[ended. In the best of situations, this would be a seriously difficult situation but it’s not the only problem for Mercy. She hasn’t been out of her house in the past two years and now she is outside and exposed to the world. She is taken in by her ex-husband Eugene who lives with his current partner, Jose. This is a truly uncomfortable arrangement so when a neighbour offers to sell his old Hilux to her, she accepts and begins a journey of discovery and healing with her beloved dog,…
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Ancient History
Ancient History by Sophie Penhaligon BooksGoSocial Athena Duncan is the archaeologist daughter of an archeologist. It’s all she’s ever wanted to be and her life revolves almost exclusively around it. Life is good until her parents are killed in a car accident while they are holidaying in Crete. Her world collapses around her and she leans on close family friends for support. It’s as she starts to re-engage with the world that she is suddenly pursued by Patrice while in Paris. He’s a much older man who apparently wants to show her she might be wrong about a few things in life. Then there’s Jack, who also seems to have…
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Love, in Theory
Love, in Theory by Elodie Cheesman Pan MacMillan Australia Romy is a young lawyer working in employment law in Sydney with two failed relationships under her belt. She’s nearing her mid-twenties and feels it’s time she takes the scientific way to find her true love. She gets advice from family and friends and checks a few books that have a bit to say about the science of finding love. Then she tries to put it into practice. She meets Hans, an engineer from Germany and he truly meets her criteria. They hit it off from the start and soon end up in a relationship. But there’s also James, who she…
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The Accidental Gatekeeper
The Accidental Gatekeeper: The Accidental Midlife Trilogy Book 1 by Carla Rehse BooksGoSocial Everly Popa is a middle-aged mom of one who has informed the FBI on her husband and, for safety for herself and daughter, has returned to her hometown, Crossing Shadows. This town isn’t the usual sort of home town, but a border between other worlds and the earthly one. And Everly is from one of three families who are marked and who alternately act as gatekeepers between the worlds in order to keep the balance. Currently, it’s another family that is slated to take over the job but when Everly arrives it seems all hell has broken…
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Catch Us the Foxes
Marlowe Robertson is a young photojournalist looking for the big break to get her out of small-town Kiama. She has a sort of rivalry going with Lily Williams, who was once her best friend. Lily has just earned herself a cadet-ship and is on her way out of the town and Lo is just a bit envious. It’s while working for the local paper as a photographer that she discovers’ a murdered Lily’s body at the local show. Soon she is trying to solve the murder and find justice for her one-time friend and goes on an interesting journey along the way. I won’t go into any more specifics here…
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The Text God: Text and You Shall Receive
Jen is having a hard time in life at the moment and she really wishes something good would happen. She says a little prayer and “God” answers her in the form of a text. Meanwhile, Gabe sends a text message to the younger sister of his friend, offering some help as she is following the same career path as he has. This younger sister keeps asking for more and more and soon he is thinking she’s a bit off her rocker. Some of Gabe’s assistance gets Jen into a job at a hotel that he works with as a hospitality lawyer. It’s not long before they happen to meet and…
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Haru’s Curse
Natsumi and Haru are sisters and they are the closest family to each other after their parents divorce and the father remarries. When they are teenagers, Haru starts dating Togo as part of an engagement in an arranged marriage. They are together for two years when Haru dies from a non-specified cancer. Later Togo asks Natsumi to go out with him and she agrees on the condition they go to the places he went with Haru. Thus begins a sort of relationship between Natsumi and Togo that isn't all that straightforward. This story probably falls under the josei genre of manga which is targeted at women. For the most part…
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Normal People
Normal People was released in 2018 and has received a number of awards and much acclaim. I guess I’m a bit late to the party on this one despite seeing it appear on numerous must-read lists before now. Connell is a well-liked teenager who plays football and Marianne is mostly disliked by others and is generally unhappy with life. Connell and Marianne attend the same high school but to all appearances, they don’t know each other. In reality, Connell’s mum works for Marianne’s family as a housekeeper and the two have been acquainted for quite some time thanks to Connell regularly picking up his mum from Marianne’s house. Over time…