It’s March and Willaful won the ShallowreaderBingo!!!! Woooooot! Big shout out!

 

To this, I say congratulations!

Meanwhile, I didn’t even manage a straight line! However here are the squares that I did score:

Leonetti’s Housekeeper Bride

by Lynne Graham

Bingo Square: It was a dark and stormy night

Oh Lynne Graham novel, how do I love thee! Let me count the ways:

1. Poppy, the Goth M&B heroine!
2.  Heroine Chin Swag (see Miss Bates)
3. Lots of Genre Meta
4. Lynne Graham Zingers!
5. Fake Fiance!
6. Childhood crush!
7. Virgin!
8. The phrase “a dark, stormy night”
9. And of course, lurve!

Cold feet

by Amy FitzHenry

Bingo Square: Infidelity

I really do love infidelity plots. And really – this book has infidelity in bucket loads! Emma Moon gets pre-wedding jitters which has her searching for her long-lost dad, discovering secrets and exploring her relationship with her fiance, her mum and her best friend. Told from the first point of view (not my favourite narrative device), I was getting more and more agitated as I read through this book. I usually run screaming from “I need to find myself” stories and sadly the exploration of self bored me. Even the plot twists left me feeling flat. Overall, it was an okay read though I was perplexed that someone who was in their late twenties had 3 weeks annual leave, and a whole week off work before the wedding in the US. In Oz this makes sense as we get 4 weeks every year, but I thought that USians only got a week or two. Maybe a USian reader could clarify this for me.

So why did I persist reading this book. I’m not sure. I usually give up on this type of story. I think I liked the idea of having her wonky foot cover on my blog (as good a reason as any!)

A Place Called Home: Creating Beautiful Spaces to Call Your Own

by Jason Grant, James Geer (Photographs)

Bingo Square: Broken record

This book is gorgeous and the book design is one of my favourites for interior decorating books – all style, very little reading. I love the paper stock that was used for this book. The photography was great as were many of the ideas. But the image of the records lying on top of each other without their album sleeves did my head in. Obviously the visual ruled over the preserving the item and I can just imagine the scratches! Obviously, Mr Jason Grant did not grow up actually playing records! I give this book four stars. And yes – the loss of one star was due to this. I’m a pedant.

A Traveller’s Year: 365 Days of Travel Writing in Diaries, Journals and Letters

by Travis Elborough, Nick Rennison

Bingo square: Sloth

I adore reading letters and diary entries and I also adore travel books and this book has both! The editors have found travel entries from all over the world spanning 500 years and found 2 entries for every day of the year. This book was a divine experience in dipping in and out of my favourite dates – the family birthdays, anniversaries and April 25th. This book is just glorious! And it didn’t score the “Sloth” bingo square because I was armchair travelling but because it had entries for the 29th of February yet the title of the book is 365 rather than 366 days which I think is rather lazy, slothful and there was a lack of attention to detail in the naming of this book.

A Dad Like Daniel

by Elizabeth Bevarley

Bingo Square: Love thy Neighbour

This was a reread of an old favourite for me. I read it because I was trying to find a Hatchback Hero and I seemed to recall that Daniel Hero was a squeaky clean good guy and maybe he would own one. But alas, single and hot hot hot Daniel owned a station wagon. However, he lived next door to heroine Olivia who has just had a baby. Daniel is constantly checking up on her and the baby and after some angst of good guys and bad boys, Olivia realises that she too feels the love for Daniel. Awww!

 

I own my own copies of the Lynne Graham and Elizabeth Bevarly books which I purchased from a retailer when they were new releases. All the other books were borrowed from a public library in New South Wales.