family

Peter Elliott is Sharing the Shallows

shallowreader 11 Comments

When I asked my son Peter to write a guest post for my blog, I honestly expected him to answer with an outright “No!”. Instead, he surprised me and he wrote up his answers in a matter of minutes – and I only had to veto one! When he was little, I would read him Berkeley Breathed’s Edward Fudwupper Fibbed Big which is a really funny story about the consequences of a kid who lies – a bit like Hilaire Belloc’s fabulous Matilda Who Told Such Dreadful Lies. He was always enthralled by this book. His eyes wide and excited, so I kept borrowing it and reading it to him. Many years later, when he was 15, I went to the library and borrowed it again to read to my 7 year old nephew. Peter saw the book and was aghast and said “You are not reading that! I hated that book when I was little. I thought you read it to me as a warning to not be a bad kid”! I guess my skillz in reader responses assessment isn’t  as well honed as I thought.

MEA CULPA!

Peter at work in a cafe Peter

Son of blogger

Can you describe yourself?

Caucasian male adolescent, 5’10, cobalt blue eyes, dark, blond, wavy hair, moderately pale complexion.

 

What is your main reading medium (books, blogs, games, news, etc) and how much time do you spend reading a week?  

I spend at least 30 minutes every day reading Australia’s oldest newspaper, The Betoota Advocate. Continue reading →

Train travel, sexy baklava and a retro Anne McAllister romance: a running commentary

shallowreader 9 Comments

I was in Melbourne a few weeks ago. As a total wimp and the catastrophising human that I am, instead of braving a one hour flight each way, I caught the 10 hour train to and from Melbourne instead. On the return trip I reread an old favourite Sexy Mills & Boon by the wonderful Anne McAllister called The Antonides Marriage Deal  and I wrote running commentary while I read and travelled. All the photographs are my own taken with the thoughtful and precise skills developed over the years which my sons lovingly (I’m sure) call “The Veros School of Photography”.

Though I am posting this in time for SuperWendy’s TBR Challenge, the only thing that is paranormal about it is the smokey jackaroo….

Oh. And a warning: FULL of SPOILERS!

You can fast forward to the end of the blog for the review part.

The TL:DR for this book is Tis Great!

The Antonides Marriage Deal by Anne McAllister

The Antonides Marriage Deal

by Anne McAllister

The Greek tycoon’s takeover…
Greek magnate Elias Antonides has single-handedly regained his family’s fortune. So when his father gambles away a vital share he’s furious! Elias now has a new business partner…stunning heiress Tallie Savas.

The terms of the deal…
Tallie’s eager to prove herself, but she hasn’t counted on Elias being so sexy. Elias has underestimated Tallie, and now wonders if he can make their business arrangement personal — as in marriage!

 

 

 

8:00am Melbourne

The Yarra River in Melbourne, AustralianI’m at Southern Cross Station having just received a text informing me that my train was being replaced by buses

Successful business man Elias Antonides is fending off phone calls from his mother, his sisters, his brothers and other business partners like a pro. He is deliberate in keeping his fickle father waiting on hold but is unable to shake him. His dad, as the majority owner of the company but totally inept of keeping it afloat, insists that his son who saved the family biz from bankruptcy meet with him. The two meet just for μπαμπα to tell Elias that he has sold off half the company from under him to a buy-and-destroy self-made Greek magnate Socrates Savas.

Socrates is an Old Skool Greek man who props up his footloose sons (as Greek sons are known to be ζαχαροπαιδα/sugar boys who dissolve if they aren’t treated as though they are something special – trust me on this) and dismisses his sharp and intelligent daughter Tallie as a possibility to work in his company and instead keeps trying to match her up with Greek dudes (that said, you get to meet Tallie’s brother Theo in The Santorini Bride and he is far from a ζαχαροπαιδο in his romance with Martha, Elias’s sister). Continue reading →