Rhoda Baxter's Blog, page 9

Book review: A Murder of Principal by Saralyn Richards

I bought book this on a whim after seeing it on Twitter (I can’t remember what it referenced – the books by Arthur Hailey, maybe?). It’s been a while since I’ve read a book written in this style. There was a lot of background about school procedures etc, but it was still a murder mystery and it was still compelling. It reminded me of how much I enjoyed reading Arthur Hailey’s detail rich books. I’ll have to go read The Moneychangers again.
There are a lot of POV characters, but the main one i...

New covers for the Trewton Royd books

Last month, I went to the RNA conference where there were many excellent talks. One of the talks I attended was on book covers. It was led by Stuart Bache, who is an expert cover designer. He offered to critique some covers that people had submitted. I sent in my cover for Snowed In. Stuart’s comments were:

The covers for small town romance have moved on a bit – here’s what the book covers in that genre have in common now:

The countryside takes up the lower third of the cover. The sky mak...

Book review: The Love Arrangement by Ruby Basu

Annika loves her travel-heavy lifestyle. Her world is arranged just the way she wants it to be. Unfortunately, all the travelling and working in remote places isn’t exactly conducive to a long term relationship. But, when she impulsively blurts out to her parents that she has a boy friend … she needs to produce one.
Enter Rav, Annika’s childhood nemesis turned handsome entrepreneur. He needs someone to pretend to be his partner for a business thing. It’s the perfect arrangement. It’s almost a...

Picture Perfect is available for pre-order

Did I mention that I have a new book coming out in October? The early reviews are coming in now. (Always a nerve-wracking time). Please pre-order it. Having pre-orders on the ebook means that the publisher can try and get the print book (out at the start of next year) into actual bricks and mortar shops.

‘I loved it! I read this book in a (very pleasant) day’

Sue Moorcroft, Sunday Times bestselling author

“Picture Perfect is the perfect fake dating novel! It packed emotion, tension a...

Book review: The Stand-In by Lily Chu

https://amzn.to/3w5Ial6

I picked this book up purely based on the cover. I’m so glad I did. I raced through it.
I loved how Gracie struggled with her to-do list (don’t we all) and how Sam annoyed her enough to burn through her normal people-pleaser tendencies.
The friendship between Gracie and FangLi was lovely. The whole story was a delightful read.

As an aside, I liked that there was a bit about what it was like being bi-racial and how Gracie felt bad about not embracing her Chinese heri...

Book review: The Water Witch by Jessica Throne

I love how Jessica Thorne weaves the supernatural and folkloric elements into a contemporary love story. I also like how a lot of the folklore in this story is based on actual folk tales.
Ari Walker is roped in, by her brother, to carry on the search for the City of Ys. A search that probably led to her late fiance’s death.
Raphael Du Lac is haunted by his family curse – which means that all men in his family die at the age of 35. And Raphael has a month left.

This book starts quietly and b...

Book review: Summer People by Julie Cohen

Summer people is about two marriages and, almost equally, about life on Unity Island. Julie Cohen captures the claustrophobic nature of living in an tiny, enclosed community as well as the sense of belonging that comes with it.
Vee and Mike are a golden couple. ‘Summer people’ who visit the island and bring with them valuable tourist income. Except Vee isn’t a summer person, not really. She grew up on the island, running wild with her best friend Sterling. But she left to make a new life for ...

Book review: Small Miracles by Anne Booth

I picked up small miracles after seeing Julie Cohen post about it. When I was a student, I used to live in a hostel run by the Convent of the Sacred Heart, so I always have a small, soft spot for religious sisters. When I saw a book that was about three of them fighting to save their convent from being closed down, it seemed like a book that was meant for me to read.
St Philomena’s is a small convent in the small town of Fairbridge. In fact, the order is very small now because there’s only ...

Book review: Love & Other Dramas by Ronali Collings

Women’s fiction with Sri Lankan protagonists? I am 100% in the target demographic for this book. It’s always nice to see people who look like me in a popular book.
The story follows the lives of Tania, her mother Helen and Tania’s best friend, Priya as they learn to love and discover their sexualities later in life.
Tania is recently divorced and finding her feet again. She’s even gone back to work. But she can’t just slip back into the life she gave up when she got married and had kids. The w...

Book giveaway (UK Only)

Over at my alter ego Jeevani Charika’s website, I’m giving away a bundle of three books + a funky tea towel to one lucky winner. Check out the details here.

Enter to win the book bundle