Lady Byron and her Daughters by Julia Markus

This account of the life and times of Lady Byron was interesting from many angles. More than a book or memoir it was lots of facts - her early life as Annabella Millbank the much loved daughter to that of wife to a notorious rake Lord Byron and her subsequent separation and divorce. Annabella was a progressive woman very different from others of her time and she was not frightened to show it.

Her life with Byron was harsh and very often he treated her very cruelly but despite the incest, the women in Byron's life she treated both his sister and the child she bore with much love and kindness. Her relationship with Byron was complex to say the least and volatile and it affected her entire life.
Founder of a school for infants and valuing education above all else, she saw that her daughter was thoroughly educated and eventually became a pioneer in computer education.

The book was at times slow to read and I did take a while to finish this book but it was an interesting read of a woman way beyond her time.

Sent to me by Edelweiss.

The Last Weynfeldt by Martin Suter

Adrian is super rich lives in a fabulous apartment in a very wealthy part of town and is an older bachelor. He is somewhat dissatisfied with the way his life is going, despite on the surface having it all. The advent of Lorena into his life in an unexpected way and the manner in which he saves her life is the one surprising thing he did. This then accounts for all the "differences" which follow thereafter, totally at variance with his earlier placid life.

The book was descriptive of a lifestyle that few could achieve and what we all would like to have! Adrian takes it for granted as an inheritance from his parents. The unexpected also turns up a reckless spirit in Adrian where he is willing to forego all that he lived and strived for all these years. How the character changed was one aspect of the story which kept you reading wanting to know how far Adrian would or could go.

Sent to me by Edelweiss.

Things Unsaid by Diana Y Paul

A family story of some not very nice characters. What I liked was that this was a no frills, no niceties in the relationships story! The mother was manipulative, nasty, judgemental and flirtatious! She had favourites and did not hesitate to play one against the other. She knew how to manipulate the one who was her least favourite to get what she wanted.

All this only led to stress within each family unit of each sibling and you knew that this was not going to end well for Jules especially. Each sibling had their share of woes and it was made much worse by their mother. Though the book was full of negative feelings, I couldn't put it down as it was very compelling reading.  You could easily identify the situations that came up within the family and characteristics of each person as very common in the world we live in and this is what made it very good reading.

Sent to me by She Writes Press via Netgalley.

Footprints in the Desert by Maha Akhtar

I like history as a whole and history like this is always good. History combined with the lives of three friends and their extended families and how the fall of the Ottoman Empire affected each of them.

With Salah as the main character of the story and the other friends as satellites the story revolves around the Arab Revolt. Bringing in Lawrence of Arabia added the finishing touch to this story of love and sadness, loss and joy and survival of at least a few of those involved in the revolt.

The story did not linger, was fast paced and was precise as well. I will be looking out for this author.

Sent to me by Netgalley courtesy of Open Road Integrated Media.

Saving Sophie by Ronald H. Balson

We read lots of stories on this subject but this is the first time I read a story centred on this. A child is kidnapped by the grandparents and is being kept in Palestine, away from her father who has to now devise a way of getting her back.

Jack Sommers is just an Accountant and a golden opportunity of getting a lot of money just lands on his plate. Faced with the immediate problem of getting Sophie back, this seems too good a chance to miss. He did not envisage that he was facing terrorists, murder and mayhem and a ruthless grandfather for whom Sophie was just a pawn.

With the CIA being drawn in we have a tale of intrigue and international terrorism which has to be thwarted at all costs.

Descriptive of Hebron and the intricacies of Middle Eastern politics, this was a good read.

Sent to me by Netgalley courtesy of St. Martin's Press.

The Gates of Rutherford by Elizabeth Cooke

If you like Downton Abbey then you will enjoy this book. Reminiscent of a past era the book follows the lives and loves of the Cavendish family and their retainers.

The year is 1917, the world is in the thrall of WWI and the Cavendish family are not exempt from its influence. From their daughter Charlotte to Louisa to losing all their more efficient workers the Cavendish family has to change their style of work and living though some of them are not willing to do so and actually do not do so. William is still distant, still not aware of what is happening in the personal lives of his staff and is certainly not interested. His wife Octavia lives openly with an American in London, having been refused a divorce. William believes in the false hope that she will return eventually and so he must be stoic and just go on. Charlotte marries for the sake of marrying and realises immediately what a bad move it was and Louisa has fallen in love with a stable boy, extremely "unsuitable", totally "unacceptable". Harry the son and heir is flying for the RAF but he too has his share of issues.

The era is such a good one - it signified the breakdown of the old social order and gave way to a new so that everyone was confronted with the change immediately. You accepted it and modified your life or you stubbornly clung on to the past which was the wont of the aristocracy. How they lived and how they expected to continue to live is told in this story very well. It may irritate some readers the attitude of the gentry and their total lack of any kind of feelings towards the people who made their life so comfortable, but this is history and we cannot change that.

The saga of the Cavendish family along with the romance of Louisa and Charlotte and the sadness engendered by WWI for the whole country is very descriptively told.

The book was sent to me by Edelweiss. 

Winter Street byElin Hilderbrand

I was reading this mid November and felt it was very timely. I have not felt Christmassy and this year is going to be special. My grand daughter and grandson along with my daughter and son in law are visiting for Christmas and I really need to get into the spirit of things to deal with two lively children! My family is appalled that I gave up on Christmas the moment they all emigrated but I never felt it was worth it for just two of us!!! This book put me right in the mood.

The story revolves around an Inn during Christmas week. The family is in chaos. Kelley and Mitzi who own the inn have had a marital crisis. Mitzi was caught in bed with George (Santa Claus at the Inn for twelve years) and Kelley feels that this is unforgivable. Twelve years and its a Christmas fling! she is now leaving him. On top of that their son is in Afghanistan on his first deployment and tension is high about his safety. There is then Patrick, Kevin and Ava the three step siblings who are having major crisis's of their own all happening exactly at the same time.  On top of that their mother the first Mrs Kelley decides to come in to save things and this makes for a very unusual Christmas.

It is not a happily ever after ending actually but it certainly kept my spirits high. The characters were all distinctly individualistic ones, the story line and setting was credible and the warmth of the season crept through the whole book.

Sent to me by Netgalley courtesy of Hodder and Stoughton for an unbiased review.