Review: To Sir Phillip, With Love by Julia Quinn

To Sir Phillip, With Love: Bridgerton by Julia Quinn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

To Sir Phillip with Love is the fifth book it the Bridgerton Series by Julia Quinn, although it is a series, the books are not required to be read in order, they each have their own story line which keeps the series intriguing.

Sir Phillip is recently widowed, after has firmly decided that he requires a wife to look after his two children, he has two requirements, that she must be happy and that she must love his children, or at the very least give her children the impression that they feel loved by her.

Sir Phillip received a letter from Eloise, the cousin of his recently passed Wife, Mariana, sending her condolences on her passing. Phillip writes back to Eloise, thanking her for her condolences, as it is only polite to do so, and they form a friendship over penmanship, this goes on for twelve months, with the two of them corresponding to each other on a fortnightly basis.

Sir Phillip decides that Eloise would be a good fit for a wife and mother too his two children, which he seemed to have quite forgotten to inform Eloise.

Eloise is reflecting upon her life and feels that she has reached an age of twenty and eight, and is deemed a "spinster" she feels she should be married by now, has received several decent proposals but has turned them all done for one reason or another as she was looking for the "perfect" husband. But now with her best friend Penelope now married, to her brother Colin and her other older siblings all happily married and busy with their children, Eloise if feeling lonely and thinks perhaps it is time to decide upon a Husband. She receives an offer a possible marriage from Sir Phillip through his correspondence and this to herself, maybe I should meet this man and see if it could possibly be a suitable match.....

Eloise's story is risky and adventurous, it is daring and brave, just like Eloise herself. It is a wonderful edition to the Bridgerton series and a must read for any Bridgerton fan.

I rate this 4 out of 5, my reasoning because I feel it is not the best book in the Bridgeton series, but it is still a wonderful read.

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Review: The Riviera House by Natasha Lester

The Riviera House by Natasha Lester
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Rivieira House is the story of Eliane, she is raised in a large family with five girls in Paris during the 1930's during the time of Hitler. She is studying Art, and working 2 jobs, whilst also trying to take care of her family. Her Mother works hard at the Brasserie they own, her father is a drunk, and is quite aggressive and violent and takes a lot of out on Eliane and her mother.

Eliane meets Xavier, an old friend of her brothers who is an Artist, his family run an Art Museum in town and also own a couple in America and England. Eliane and Xavier fall in love, they spend every possible moment together, Xavier is a kind, generous and thoughtful boyfriend to Eliane.

Xavier and his father move to England when the Germans invade France, Eliane is on her own. Her Father and Brother have been called up to join the army. Her Mother and her four sisters have fleed Paris in search of safety away from the war. Eliane is left on her own as the eldest daughter to keep working and earning money to support her family.

Ellie has been relocated to work at Jeu de Paume, under the supervision of the Germans, she keeps a secret from them and also pretends that she can not speak German.

The book then moves to the year 2015, Remy is living in a seaside house she is grieving the loss of her daughter and husband in a car accident two years prior. Remy wakes up one morning to find a stranger sitting in her lounge chair reading a book in the sunshine, she looks outside and the stranger quickly disappears. Remy owns a boutique antique clothing online store, she loans her antique clothing collection to fashion shoots and also sells them.

Remy meets her neighbours whilst she is down on the beach reading a book, they all invite her over to dinner, and the friendship she is forming with these strangers, is a great relief to Remy, she is starting to laugh again. She forms a friendship with Adam who is a professional photographer, who assists Remy by doing some photoshoots of her clothing for her Instagram account. Adam and Remy find a book which is a catalogue of lost Art from 70+ years ago, "The Goring Catalogue," which contains Art that Hermann Goring stole during World War II. It is this catalogue that Remy sees a picture of a stolen piece of Art that is hanging on her bedroom wall back home in Sydney. Remy is confused, how did she end up with this particular art piece that was stolen during war 70+ years ago, when Germany invaded France, and why is it in her family's possession.

This book is beautifully written by Natasha Lester, the dual time lines make the book very intriguing, and making you want to keep reading, to find out what is going to happen next with both main characters. It is a book I could not put down. This is the first book I have read by Natasha Lester, and I am now a huge fan, I will definitely be looking for more of her books in the future.

I received a copy of this book from Better Reading and Hachette Australia in exchange for an honest review, it's brilliant and five stars from me.

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Review: Tommo & Hawk by Bryce Courtenay

Tommo & Hawk by Bryce Courtenay
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the 2nd book in Bryce Courtenay's series the Potato Factory.

The story is continued with Tommo & Hawk, Mary Abacus' two sons. Their birth mother, died during child birth and they were found by Ikey Solomon who gave the two boys his name, and Mary raised them and loved them as her own sons.

The two boys were abducted when then were 7 and this experience has effected them both deeply. The story of Tommo and Hawk begins from when Tommo returns to Mary badly damaged both mentally and physically.

Tommo and Hawk leave the comforts of their mother, and find themselves on many adventures, they initially start out as workers on a whale ship, the embark in New Zealand and find themselves living amongst the Maori's, where Tommo meets his love Maraketa.

They leave New Zealand and return to Australia, but to Sydney where they travel to the gold mines and Tommo plays the Flats to get set for the next part of their journey. Hawk meets the love of his love Maggie Pye in Sydney.

Whilst they have been away, Mary has been writing to Hawk asking her boys to return to Hobart. Hawk gets himself in a spot of trouble and Tommo writes to Mary asking her to come to Sydney to help Hawk, whilst she is in Sydney, Mary continues to push Hawk and Tommo to return home.

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Review: The Potato Factory by Bryce Courtenay

The Potato Factory by Bryce Courtenay
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Bryce Courtenay - always delivers when it comes to outstandingly fantastic Australian Books.

The Potato Factory is definitely up there as one of his absolute best.

The story is about Mary, based in the early 18th century, she is living in London and has been raised by her father, who taught her how to use an abacus, with all intentions of one day being able to obtain a job as the best clerk. This hindered Mary's life as a Clerk's Job was a Male's job, not a female's job, and this because Mary's pitfall from the time she set out. She had been cruelly punished for being such a talented and smart lady.

However, Mary never gave up, she did whatever she could to make ends meet, and life was cruel to her, in many ways we can only try to imagine.

Mary meets Ikey, who makes a living as a pick pocket, and he is the one gives her the start in life that she has always hoped for, he gives her a job as a Clerk and they create numerous business adventures together.

Mary's story is amazingly heroic, it explores her journey from London to being transported to Australia, Van Diemens Land as a convict.

This book is the first of a trilogy.

I absolutely love love loved this book, Bryce Courtenay was an incredibly amazingly talented Author, this is a MUST read for every Australian.

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