Late Nights On Air by Elizabeth Hay

Harry Boyd, a hard-bitten refugee from failure in Toronto television, has returned to a small radio station in the Canadian North. There, in Yellowknife, in the summer of 1975, he falls in love with a voice on air, though the real woman, Dido Paris, is both a surprise and even more than he imagined.

Dido and Harry are part of the cast of eccentric characters, all transplants from elsewhere, who form an unlikely group at the station. Their loves and longings, their rivalries and entanglements, the stories of their pasts and what brought each of them to the North, form the centre. One summer, on a canoe trip four of them make into the Arctic wilderness (following in the steps of the legendary Englishman John Hornby, who, along with his small party, starved to death in the barrens in 1927), they find the balance of love shifting, much as the balance of power in the North is being changed by the proposed Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline, which threatens to displace Native people from their land. 

 Character and place driven story of a group of people who come together and share an experience.  I loved the descriptions of the Canadian wilderness.

A quiet, contemplative read. 

The Ocean at the End of The Lane by Neil Gaiman

It began for our narrator forty years ago when the family lodger stole their car and committed suicide in it, stirring up ancient powers best left undisturbed. Dark creatures from beyond this world are on the loose, and it will take everything our narrator has just to stay alive: there is primal horror here, and menace unleashed - within his family and from the forces that have gathered to destroy it. 

His only defence is three women, on a farm at the end of the lane. The youngest of them claims that her duckpond is an ocean. The oldest can remember the Big Bang.

Part fantasy, part horror and part coming-of-age tale, this bewitching story is a beautifully written adult fairytale. 

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

 Marie-Laure has been blind since the age of six. Her father builds a perfect miniature of their Paris neighbourhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. But when the Nazis invade, father and daughter flee with a dangerous secret.

Werner is a German orphan, destined to labour in the same mine that claimed his father’s life, until he discovers a knack for engineering. His talent wins him a place at a brutal military academy, but his way out of obscurity is built on suffering.

At the same time, far away in a walled city by the sea, an old man discovers new worlds without ever setting foot outside his home. But all around him, impending danger closes in.

Beautifully written story about 2 people during a war rather than a war story. Marie Laure protected and cherished since birth, was taught to cope in a dark and frightening world. Werner, an orphan, struggled to find his own way and not to succumb to the evil he was exposed to.

Not the ending I had hoped for, but a more realistic outcome. 

Picture Me Dead by Heather Graham

Ashley Montague is a rookie cop who discovers a body on the side of the highway in Miami. Her investigation leads her to Detective Jack Dilessio, an arrogant Veteran who is determined to exact revenge for a murder that happened years earlier. Together they're dragged into the dangerous world of drug trafficking, only to find that they're now fighting for their lives...and for each other. 

Twists, turns and red herrings abound.  I prefer her ghost hunter stories to her murder mysteries.

diamonds in the mud by Joy Dettman

Diamonds in the Mud and Other Stories is the complete collection of Joy Dettman's exquisite short stories.
We meet an old coot in a rusty ute who picks up a hitchhiker, a neighbour reaches across the language divide to lend a helping hand, a grave digger might just have saved a young man's life, an exhausted farmer's wife lusts after a china cup, Granny Jordan is losing her marbles and an author is troubled by rats under the floorboards. 

 I loved all of these stories. It was very hard to pick my favourite. I have narrowed it down to;
The Khaki Flannel Dress  - a young girl takes the opportunity offered by a flood to get rid of her hated khaki flannel dress

Scattered Cinders - a man who has lost  everything finds hope

Her Name Is Karli - a story with a lovely sweet ending

Summer Pink - a 100 year old lady gets the last laugh on her greedy descendants

Two Gifts For Annie - a really nice story about a deaf girl and the teacher who had faith in ner

Like a Lady  - a boy goes to buy a dog and is told the story of how the old man selling the pups found his original dog back in the depression

An Irresistible Bachelor by J R Ward

Jack Walker has given up his playboy status and, much to his Machiavellian mother's delight, become engaged to a wealthy socialite. Now mommy dearest can go ahead with her plans to make him governor of Massachusetts. But the best-laid plans often go offtrack, and in this case the cause of the derailment is art conservationist Callie Burke. The minute Jack lays eyes on her, he forgets everything, including his politically acceptable fiancee. He hires Callie to restore a recently acquired John Singleton Copley portrait of one of his ancestors and moves her into his mansion so she can work uninterrupted on the $5 million art treasure, but both Callie and the painting conceal secrets.

Well written romance with few surprises. 

Killbox by Ann Aguirre

Navigational grimspace "jumper" Sirantha Jax forms an army to defend colonists stationed on the outskirts of space from a legion of flesh- eating aliens.

Wonderfully complex characters and an exciting storyline. War has begun and March and Jax are fighting to save the universe and all who live in it from the Morgut (people eating aliens). Big decisions, lots of emotions and sacrifices. There are 2 more books in the series but I think I will stop here.   I've enjoyed the series and want to stop while I still do.