ARedHeadedReader

I LOVE my kindle but absolutely prefer real books, 

The Bomb Girls series by Rosie Archer; The Munition Girls, The Canary Girls and The Factory Girls.    

Charlaine Harris - Dead Until Dark 

‘Sookie Stackhouse is a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She's quiet, keeps to herself, and doesn't get out much. Not because she's not pretty. She is. It's just that, well, Sookie has this sort of "disability." She can read minds. And that doesn't make her too dateable. And then along comes Bill. He's tall, dark, handsome--and Sookie can't hear a word he's thinking. He's exactly the type of guy she's been waiting for all her life....’

If you have watched ‘True Blood’ on TV then there is not much point reading this book, it pretty much follows it word for word almost just missing some characters which are not featured as much. I started it because i received a disc full of books for my new Kindle and the 13 complete collection was on there, so i thought why not. 

This is the story of Sookie Stackhouse and how the dead start living again as vampires, they soon start arriving in the local and Sookie begins a relationship with Bill. 

The Code Girls - Daisy Styles

‘Can four girls protect a whole country?

It's 1941 and the country has been turned upside down. For the aristocratic Walsingham family this means being pushed unceremoniously upstairs while their grand home is taken over by the Army. But for newcomers Ava and Maudie this is a chance to get something more from life. They are at Walsingham Hall to become code girls and break German encryptions.’

Okay, so straight away i want to point out this book should not be called ‘The Code Girls’ because there isn't actually a big amount of ‘Code-breaking’ going on till later in the book. Put that aside and you have got a brilliant book full of amazing friendships through the worst possible times people have had to face. I just want to say that Daisy will break your heart but not in a obvious way, she did it before in ‘The Bomb Girls’ and she has done it again. Just when i think i’m safe and it is such a lovely book with lots of lovely happenings .. BANG she drops the worst thing possible in, i actually was speechless and had to re read the same lines to make sure i wasn't dreaming!   

This book shows another shocking truth from the war and how some English men and women would turn against their own king and country to become German spy's and send them secret transmissions using codes. I love learning new things when i read about the war and this absolutely horrified me. Which is how one character reacts when she finds out this is exactly what her brother is doing, it also includes social status and how such a scandal like this can be massive and has huge consequences. Showing also how to some their status does not mean to them as much as others, and they try to escape and find comfort in others who show kindness and love.   

Daisy also shows how friendships and relationships are made so much stronger when everyday they are faced with the greatest hardships, no matter what section you work for. From being in the RAF to working in a kitchen and having to feed over 30 people 3 times a day on the tiniest amount of ration food. Relying mostly on natural resources like; hunting (foxes, rabbits, ducks, hares, birds etc), vegetables and fruit all home grown. However if you have a bad year and don’t grow as much it makes a huge difference especially with so many mouths to feed at once. 

(Short but sweet)

Ellie Dean - Shelter from the storm 

“Nineteen-year-old April Wilton has just enlisted in the WRENs in Portsmouth, where she works servicing engines on ships. She finds herself immersed in dockyard life and surrounded by soldiers - from England and America.”

I own and have now read all of Ellie Dean’s books, they tell you about the lives in ‘Beachview Boarding House’ which is home to Peggy and many of her evacuees and family. At the moment they’re a total of 11 books which spreads the story and years out nicely, with each book introducing a new character and their story, which is Ellie’s clever way of bringing up all the harsh reality’s people faced in war. 

Me and my favorite half traveled all the way to London yesterday to go to the Warner Brothers Harry Potter studio tours. 

It was absolutely magical! 

Although expensive it really was brilliant with so much to look at, i’m pretty sure i missed like ¾ of it just due to the amount to look at. It is truly incredible to see and appreciate how much time and hard work actually went into making the best 8 films. 

We got to do things like go inside the Hogwarts Express to look around, go inside number 4 Privet Drive, walk along Diagon Alley and even walk along part of the bridge. The detail is really really inspiring, so much work has gone not into just making the sets and costumes but also preserving it for us all to enjoy. If you have not been yet don’t delay, it is worth every single penny! 

M.L. Stedman - The light between oceans 

‘After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.’

Wow! If you have not heard of or read this book, STOP what you are doing and find yourself a copy! What a book, what a story. 

It is absolutely heart breaking and completely soul grabbing, i have never felt such sorrow for different characters who have done the worst possible things for all the right reasons. A book which is certainly going to make you cry and keep you reading on and on till the end. It shows isolation at its worse and the horrible consequences it brings to Isabel's & Toms minds, bodies and souls. You don’t no if to feel sad or angry at them for all their decisions, if you want them to punished or spared. 

Lesley Pearse - Georgia 

‘When nine-year-old orphan Georgia James is unexpectedly fostered by the kindly Celia and her bank manager husband she can hardly believe her luck. But then - on her fifteenth birthday - she suffers the cruellest betrayal of all at the hands of her foster father and is forced to run away, leaving everything she loves behind her.’

I love Lesley Pearse, (as you may already guessed) she is my most favorite author but this book just seemed to bore me half way through. It was a brilliant story line and has some great characters but it just seemed to drop in the middle, thankfully it did pick up and as a whole it was a good book, not her best but still good. 

Lesley has such a great away of describing things in all her books; whether it be items to rooms or even events. She certainly did not disappoint in this book, a lot of the most unthinkable bad things happened to poor young Georgia which no detail is left out, the book is set mostly in the 60′s/70′s which is known and famous for its music scenes with a lot of sex, drugs and rock n roll, so you can imagine a lot of what happens.