Tuesday 18 February 2014

for my second book review...

I can't believe that we are only half way through February and I have finished my second book! If I keep this up I am going to SMASH my reading challenge..

I saw this book at Big W before Christmas and as Mum had asked for books I thought she would enjoy it, my sister obviously thought the same thing as she bought her the same book! 

The second book is Poppy's Dilemma by Karly Lane.

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'Poppy Abbott seems to have it all. Bright, successful and attractive, she lives in a beautiful apartment with sweeping views of Sydney. However since the recent death of her beloved Grandmother, Poppy's been struggling to come to terms with her grief.'

A major error in judgement sees Poppy leave Sydney suddenly and head for the small town of Warrial, where her Grandmother used to live, to go through her stuff and clean out her house. Poppy uncovers an old journal in amongst her Grandmother's things with the name 'Maggie Abbott' written on it. Poppy becomes consumed by the story of Maggie's life as she writes about her love for her soldier boyfriend during the First World War.

The story flips between today with Poppy and the past with Maggie and I usually don't like that but in this case it seems to work. Of course, while Poppy is on this journey she finds herself questioning everything she thought she knew about life and love and it's pretty predictable what is going to happen for her in about the tenth chapter but it is the storyline of Maggie that kept me turning the pages.

It was also interesting to read in the Author's notes at the end of the book that a lot of the events described in the book about the First World War, were in fact based on real events.

This 312 page country romance novel was certainly an easy read, albeit somewhat predictable, that I did enjoy.

You can read my first book review here..

Linking this review up with Essentially Jess for IBOT and at the Australian Women Writers Challenge Page



10 comments:

  1. Sounds like something I would like. Pinning it to my TBR board for sure! Sometimes I think they do novels like this with the contemporary story because they don't think that a straight historical novel will work, or to appeal to a wider audience. Personally I don't mind a good historical novel but I've also read a few in this style and they've been pretty good too. #teamIBOT

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    1. Would love to hear what you think of it Kylie!

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  2. Will have to add this one to my reading list! Thanks :)

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  3. Sounds like good easy reading. Sometimes predictable can be nice.

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    1. It can be Jess! But sometimes I want things not to 'live happily ever after'... haha... that's my cynical single girl side coming out!!!

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  4. Sometimes we need a nice, easy to read novel to escape to. I usually read chic lit books in between my normal favourite genre to give my brain a bit of a break. When I was at school I used to use magazines in the same way.

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  5. Two books already, teaching, 12-week challenges, talk about an over achiever! GO YOU x Em

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  6. I wish I could read more book this year...

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