The Cat, The Quilt and the Corpse. by. Leann Sweeney

Jill's quiet life is shattered when her house is broken into and her Abyssinian, Syrah, goes missing. Jill's convinced her kitty's been catnapped. But when her cat-crime-solving leads her to a murdered body, suddenly all paws are pointing to Jill.

Soon, Jill discovers that Syrah isn't the only purebred who's been stolen. Now she has to find these furry felines before they all become the prey of a cold-blooded killer-and she ends up nabbed for a crime... 

Cute cat cosy let down by the characters. I enjoyed the mystery. 

The Secrets of Midwives by Sally Hepworth

In a family of midwives, some secrets are too big to keep hidden.

Neva Bradley, a third-generation midwife, is determined to keep the details surrounding her own pregnancy - including the identity of the baby's father - hidden from her family and co-workers for as long as possible.

Her mother, Grace, finds it impossible to let this secret rest, even while her own life begins to crumble around her.

For Floss, Neva's grandmother and a retired midwife, Neva's situation thrusts her back 60 years in time to a secret that eerily mirrors her granddaughter's-a secret which, if revealed, will have life-changing consequences for them all. 

A lovely quick read told in 3 voices with a real feel-good ending. The grandmothers story was the best of them all.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Thirteen linked tales  present a heart-wrenching, penetrating portrait of ordinary coastal Mainers living lives of quiet grief intermingled with flashes of human connection.

The stories all involve the central character, Olive Kitteridge, in one way or another - each told from the perspective of either Olive or one of the townspeople. Each gives us an insight into a life of one of these townsfolk. Brilliantly crafted and stunningly told.

Between The Duke and the Deep Blue Sea. by. Sophia Nash

One of England’s most disreputable peers, Alexander Barclay, Duke of Kress, has stumbled upon a perfect opportunity for redemption. Having been exiled to Cornwall by the Prince Regent himself, Barclay discovers lovely Roxanne Vanderhaven clinging to the edge of a cliff, stranded there by her murderous blackguard of a husband . . . just waiting to be rescued.

Back on solid ground, Roxanne is desperate for a new life— once she’s retaliated for her husband’s despicable actions. Surprisingly, she finds herself drawn to her unlikely champion, certainly the last man in England she could count on. Yet, the infamous Duke of Kress isn’t quite the scoundrel he seems . . . 

Light, fluffy and rather silly.

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland

After her family suffers a tragedy, nine-year-old Alice Hart is forced to leave her idyllic seaside home. She is taken in by her grandmother, June, a flower farmer who raises Alice on the language of Australian native flowers, a way to say the things that are too hard to speak.

Under the watchful eye of June and the women who run the farm, Alice settles, but grows up increasingly frustrated by how little she knows of her family's story. In her early twenties, Alice's life is thrown into upheaval again when she suffers devastating betrayal and loss. Desperate to outrun grief, Alice flees to the dramatically beautiful central Australian desert. In this otherworldly landscape Alice thinks she has found solace, until she meets a charismatic and ultimately dangerous man. 

Enchanting, stunning, haunting and heartbreaking. This book initially caught my attention with the beautiful cover, but the story captured me from the first sentence.

The ending wasn't what I had expected, but it was right. 

Trust by Kate Veitch

I'm a lucky woman, thinks Susanna Greenfield. And why wouldn't she? She has a happy, loving family and a solid career. But beneath the carefully maintained surface, seismic forces are at work. Fault lines are forming, not only in Susanna, but within each member of her family. In a single, tragically ill-judged moment, the fabric it has taken a lifetime to construct can be torn apart.

A realistic family drama with believable characters.  The perfect family on the outside is never real. Every family has its secrets, men and women have their guilt and insecurities, things they would rather others not know about, their own secrets.  Mothers never feel they are good enough, children that they are not understood.

A story of an ordinary family, heartbreak, growth and ultimately trust.

It didn't end the way I expected, but the ending was right.

The Stranger In The Woods by. Michael Finkel

Many people dream of escaping modern life, but most will never act on it. This is the remarkable true story of a man who lived alone in the woods of Maine for 27 years, making this dream a reality—not out of anger at the world, but simply because he preferred to live on his own. 

A fascinating story with a sad ending.  He was caught, spent 7 months in jail (hell for a man who had lived alone in the woods for 27 years), then had 12 months probation including have counselling.  When he told the counsellors the truth of how he was feeling and that he wanted to go back to the woods they kept at him to do more social things, so he just told them what they wanted to hear and they would leave him alone. 

The Island House by Posie Graeme-Evans

One warm, rainy summer, Freya Dane, a PhD candidate in archaeology, arrives on the ancient Scottish island of Findnar. Estranged as a child from her recently dead father, himself an archaeologist, Freya yearns to understand more about the man, his work on the island, and why he left her mother so many years ago. It seems Michael Dane uncovered much of Findnar’s Viking and Christian past through his search for an illusive tomb, and Freya continues his work. The discoveries she is destined to make, far greater than her father’s, will teach her the true meaning of love and of loss. 

AD 800, and a wandering comet, an omen of evil, shines down on Findnar. The fears of the locals are justified. In a Viking raid, Signy, a Pictish girl, loses her entire family. Taken in by survivors of the island’s Christian community, she falls in love with an injured Viking youth left behind by the raiders and is cast out. Confused and bereft, eventually she becomes a nun, a decision that will unleash tragedy as she is plunged into the heart of a war between three religions. Forced to choose among her ancestors’ animist beliefs, her adopted faith, and the man she loves, Signy will call out to Freya across the centuries. Ancient wrongs must be laid to rest in the present and the mystery at the heart of Findnar’s violent past exposed. 

Beautiful setting. A well written mystery with a touch of romance and ghost story.  It kept my interest all the way through.

The Coincidence Makers by Yoav Blum

The first thing you should know is: there's no such thing as coincidence.

There are beings that watch over you. Some of us were like you, once. Call us what you will, guardians, agents, sentinels or perhaps spirits, angels, demons. No matter how you think of us, we have one purpose. We are architects of chance, we make coincidences.

Of course, a Coincidence Maker always has the choice: fulfil the coincidence, or refuse. So when an assignment of the highest level is slipped under the door one night, it's immediately obvious that the choice will have to be made. A choice that could change our understanding of coincidences, of fate, free will, and even perhaps, love itself...
 

 Beautifully blended elements of thriller, romance, and fantasy. It is a book that will stay with me and left me with a satisfied smile.