The Lucky Sisters by Rachael Johns

 

Identical twins Nora and Stevie Lucky were adopted at birth and they are as close as they could be, despite having very different personalities and traits. Stevie is more happy go lucky and lets life happen whereas Nora is very controlled and plans everything. Stevie is single parent to the now adult Cherry, whilst Nora runs a successful restaurant with her husband Santi, with Nora being the pastry chef.

Another way that they differ is that Nora has always wanted to find out about their birth parents, whereas Stevie has no interest whatsoever in finding out. She has always had a bad feeling about the whole thing. They both adored their adoptive parents. Years ago they agreed that they would put off searching for their origins until after their adoptive parents had passed. 

The book opens at the funeral of their adoptive mother. Stevie is shocked when at the wake Nora declares that maybe now they can finally find out about their birth parents. I probably would have been shocked at the timing of such a declaration too. As the two women grieve, they have moments which appear like they are growing apart instead of together. As the story progresses, we also find out that they have kept secrets, big secrets, from each other over the years.

This book is a bit hard to discuss without too many spoilers, but the blurb for the book opens with the question What would you do if you thought each day on earth might just be your last? When the girls (I should say women really as they are nearly 50 years old) do find out about their birth parents they find something out that shakes them to their core. 

They each truly look at their lives and wonder if they are really happy and so begin to make some changes. For Stevie, that might mean letting widower Felix into her life more, but how can she let herself get closer to him and his boys when there is this big shadow hanging over her. For Nora, it means wondering about whether the restaurant and Santi are enough for her anymore. And whether all those plans and hours in the gym have been worth it. The two characters almost begin to take on some of their sister's characteristics.

There are so many layers to this book. There is the sister's relationship. There are the questions about what it is like to be adopted and to either want or not want to find out where you come from and there are questions about genetics and how they can influence how you live. While there are some big themes, this is a Rachael Johns book, so along the way you also get great relationships, humour, pop culture references and more. This one does take an unusual turn for part of the book, but I think that is exciting for Rachael as a writer that she feels like stretching herself and her readers. 

Butterflies play an important part in the story and I love the way that this motif goes all the way through the book, including on this stunning cover. 

I will say though....that ending! I had to read it twice to go ....wait....what. It certainly fits the book but I was a bit surprised by it. It's a bit enigmatic.

This book is set in Perth, which is where I am originally from, and I still have a lot of family living there. There were lots of very familiar places mentioned in the book. One scene was set at a restaurant that has been around for years that is maybe 2 kilometres away from my grandparents house and two of my cousins even worked there for a while. And yet, I have never been. Maybe I will make it happen one day. Maybe not.

I chose this as one of my book club selections this month when our theme was free choice. I mentioned how when I had my very long reading slump a few years ago Rachael was one of the few authors I still read and someone in the group asked me why I kept on coming back to her books. I had to think about it, but I think that it is that despite writing rural romance, rom-coms and commercial women's fiction, I always know that I am going to get an enjoyable read, filled with humour and emotion and relatable characters. It doesn't hurt that I feel like I know Rachael. I sometimes listen to her podcasts and I have met her many times now, going to lots of author events and attending all three of her book club readers retreats. I guess what it comes down to is that I can trust her as an author!

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted by The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews.

Rating 4/5

Top Ten Tuesday: Classics I Haven't Read

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week the theme is Modern Books You Think Will Be Classics In The Future (submitted by Veros @ Dark Shelf of Wonders). I was having a look at some lists of classics and it seems I am not great at even recognising what a classic classic is let alone looking at modern books and thinking it will become a classic in the future. So I am turning the theme on it's head and instead sharing 10 classics I haven't yet read. 

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque - Not too long ago we watched the recent German adaptation of the movie and then an older English version. Remarque was clearly something of a celebrity in his day as he was involved with Marlene Dietrich and married to actress Paulette Goddard

My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin -- Mile Franklin, real name Stella  has given her name to not one but two of the major awards in Australian literature (Miles Franklin award and Stella Prize)  but I haven't read anything by her. The book was published in 2001.

The Tree of Man by Patrick White - Patrick White is the only Australian winner of the Nobel Prize for literature. 

The Fortunes of Richard Mahony by Henry Handel Richardson - I had this book on my shelves for a long time but at some point it didn't survive a cull. Like Miles Franklin, Richardson is using a male name but is actually a female writer. 

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë - I haven't actually read any of the books by the Bronte sisters.

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank - You would think I would have managed to read this given how much I read about WWII. 

Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien - It's not like I haven't tried! I have read and loved The Hobbit at least 3 times. I have started the first book int he Lord of the Rings trilogy several times but I have never made it through to the end. 

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - I did get this on audio a few years ago, mainy because Richard Armitage was one of the narrators. I didn't get very far though. 

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne - I read Around the World in Eighty Days a couple of years ago and really loved it but haven't read anything else by him yet.  According to Goodreads there are apparently 6726 different editions of this book! Made choosing a cover a bit of a challenge.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle - I have known lot of people over the years who name this as a childhood favourite but I never read it!

I am contemplating using this as the basis to maybe join in on the Classics Spin next year, but we will see. I would have to find another 10 classics to add to make a full list. What's your favourite classic?

This week ....

I'm reading

I finished a couple of books this week. I finished reading Maame by Jessica George which is the current Cook the Books selection. On Sunday night we cooked the recipe that I was inspired to get my husband to cook, so my review will be up on Saturday.

I also finished The Midwive's Christmas Miracle by Fiona McArthur. I mentioned last week that I realised that I hadn't read all the books in the previous connected series. I am not sure why but it really bothered me!

I then started reading Letters from the Ginza Shihodo Stationery Shop by Kenji Ueda, which is another Japanese book and I started Good Spirits by BK Borison. After reading the first chapter of that book I am pretty sure I am going to love it!

This weekend was our read on a theme book club meeting. It was a free choice theme this time and above are some of the choices that people read. My choices were Maame and The Lucky Sisters by Rachael Johns. The first theme for 2026 is Childhood Favourites, and I have a few different ideas of what I might read but I haven't decided yet.


I'm watching

Nothing in particular

Life

On Saturday night we went to see the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra playing the music of Billy Joel which was a lot of fun. You forget how many amazing songs Billy Joel has had over the years! It was a great night!

It was a momentous blogging occasion for me this week! It is 20 years since I started my blog! Can you believe it, because I am not sure I can! Here's my post about it!

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Books set in or After WWI
Mini reviews of two Aussie novels
Weekend Cooking: Joanna Lumley's Spice Trail Adventures
Sunday Salon: 20 years!





I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date, Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and the Good Book and a Cup of Tea link up hosted at Boondock Ramblings

Sunday Salon: 20 years!

 

On the 12 November 2005, I posted a very imaginatively titled post called "First Post" on my shiny new blog which at the time was called Reading Adventures. I never expected it to last very long. After all, I had started diaries several times and never got beyond writing Dear Diary for more than a few weeks at a time. But....here we are.

I did have a gap of a year or so back in 2019 which coincided with a major reading slump, but other than I have been posting about books, baking and life in general over that time.

If I look back to see what prompted me to start a blog it was really because I read a book that I absolutely had to talk about. I was involved in various forums, and I read The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, and I absolutely had to talk about it, so I wrote a review and thought well, I could put that in a blog and so Reading Adventures was born. 

My life has changed a lot over the period as you would expect. When I started, my son was 7, and we followed his cooking adventures as the little chef. Now he's the man who cooks on occasion. He spent time in America playing basketball, and has played quite a bit of 3x3 in Japan, China and Malaysia. When I started the blog I had been a single parent for 5 years. I had no idea that I would have to wait another 12 years to meet someone amazing but I did. Since then we renovated one house, built two more, been on numerous holidays, got married in 2019 and so much more.

Like life, blogging has changed a lot over the years. I have a few different templates, had a blogspot address and have had a .com address for years now. I used to also blog over at Historical Tapestry, have hosted and continue to host numerous events and challenges. These range from Library Loot which I co-hosted for years to Weekend Cooking and the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I still host now.  

Over the years, people have come and gone from the blogging world, but there are still a few of us who have been going for similar lengths of time. Some people, I still miss. Others have become friends in real life. Some of the bloggers I have met have inspired me to try new things, and I hope that I have done the same thing in return. I have met many authors, gone to book festivals and retreats and so much more. 

It's easy to look back and think that things were better in the past, but I think it is probably more that they are different. It does feel like there used to be more blogger events and a more cohesive community. For example, back in 2010 someone came up with the idea of Armchair BEA. When some people were actually heading to New York to go to Book Expo America, the rest of us joined in. I did whole weeks of posts where I would say if I was in New York today where I would think about which author I would be tracking down or this is what I would be doing. Or there was the Great North and South Crusade where KristieJ convinced us all that we absolutely had to watch the BBC adaptation of North and South starring Richard Armitage. I was obsessed with that show for years as a result. The book community of Twitter thrived and it was easy to get caught up in the excitement. 

While it is nostalgic to look back, you can still find those events which bring people together. I think of Paris in July (probably my favourite current event) or Twenty Books of Summer/Winter which I only participated in for the first time this year even though it has been going for years.  I still find new to me bloggers who have been around a long time through those events. I don't know that I am particular good at connecting with new bloggers, but I try!

There are things that have changed. Back in the day I predominantly read paper books and borrowed a lot of books through my local library. At the time I could have up to 60 books out from the library at one time and I was often juggling returning books so I could borrow the next ones. These days I predominantly read e-books. I remember I was so excited when I got my first e-reader (it was red and a thing of beauty) but it is really only in the last few years that I really moved over to e-books for the majority of my reading. I used to receive a LOT of book mail from publishers, but now it is very rare for me to receive a physical review book and it is even getting a bit harder on Netgalley. 

What I read has changed too. Back in the day I read very little contemporary romance and mostly historical romance. Now, it is absolutely the opposite. I can't remember the last time I read a historical romance. I also read my fair share of vampire, werewolf and other paranormal romance. I read a bit more crime and a bit more fantasy than I do now. Now, I read a lot more books set in Europe (France in particular) and I read quite a bit of Asian fiction. Things that haven't changed...I still love reading Aussie authors and historical fiction, although I read a lot more WWII fiction and less medieval than I used to.

For whatever reason, what I do and how I do it isn't particularly appealing to publishers, maybe because I am no good at aesthetics on Bookstagram and it often feels like a competition. Even after all this time, I still haven't worked out how engagement works. Sometimes I put a lot of time into a post and get nothing in terms of responses, and other times I post something easy, like a quote from a book about a particular subject and boom, more responses than I have had in weeks. You'd think I would be better at all of this by now! And I still don't have the secret to getting a large and active following. I think I am interesting but I don't seem to hold people's interest. 

You know I love a statistic, so I thought I would pull a few together!

This is post number 4304, and according to my stats there have been something like just under 6 million site visitors in that time. It's fair to say not all of them are actual people! There have been approximately 50000 comments.

I've read 2578 books in that time (or at least that's what my spreadsheet tells me!)

Of those I have reread 47 books, with The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta being the book I have read/listened to the most times, closely followed by The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley and Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. 

Beyond anything, I am grateful to blogging for giving me a community, especially during all those lonely years when I was a single parent where often blogging was my company. I have spent hours and hours creating blog posts, reading other peoples posts and more, and I don't regret any of them. When I look back through my archives I often find posts I had forgotten about that entertain me, bring back great memories or that I am just really proud of!

I still love talking about books, food and travel in this corner of the internet and I don't see that changing any time soon.

Weekend Cooking: Joanna Lumley's Spice Trail Adventure

We love a good travelogue show where you get to see visit an interesting place, learn about the food, the people, the history and the culture. Sometimes presenters have a particular interest. For example, Michael Portillo has a thing for trains and we are there for it. There's Simon Reeves who has a particular focus on the environment, and others! If I had to pick a favourite host though, there is only one. Joanne Lumley!

Joanna Lumley was originally known as a model and actress starring in shows like The New Avengers, Absolutely Fabulous and most recently Amandaland but she started doing travel shows back in the late 1990s. I first started watching her travel adventures around 10 years ago but since then I have watched quite a few of her TV series including

    Joanna Lumley's Trans-Siberian Adventure

    Joanna Lumley's Japan

    Joanna Lumley's India

    Joanna & Jennifer: Absolutely Champers

    Joanna Lumley's Silk Road Adventure

    Joanna Lumley's Hidden Caribbean: Havana to Haiti

    Joanna Lumley's Unseen Adventures

    Joanna Lumley's Great Cities of the World

    Joanna Lumley's Spice Trail Adventure

I have seen that there is a new adventure coming called Joanna Lumley’s Danube. It's pretty amazing that she is still doing these shows given that she is now nearly 80 years old.

Part of the reason why I love her shows is that she comes across as genuinely respectful of the beliefs and culture of the places that she visits, of the people she meets. She is also game for a lot of activities, loves vegetarian food and she is funny. We were lucky enough to see her live when she was in Australia last year as well and I love listening to her speak.

If I had to pick a favourite show from the list above it is probably the one where she visited Japan. However, if I am channel surfing and I come across any of her shows then I will watch it. Today, though, I wanted to talk about the last one I watched deliberately which was the Spice Trail Adventure

The spice trade shaped the world, over hundreds of years from the ancient traders and then especially once Europeans got involved, and heralded the start of colonisation, caused wars, and changed the way that we eat.

In the first episode, she visits Indonesia, formerly known as the Dutch East Indies, and specifically visits the Banda Islands which was originally the only place in the world where nutmeg was grown. The Dutch were so eager to control the spice trade in this area of the world that they did a trade with the British trading the island of New Amsterdam for the island of Run which is in the Banda Islands. Of course, New Amsterdam became New York, the city that never sleeps

An interesting thing about nutmeg is that the spice mace comes from the same fruit. Nutmeg is the seed and mace is a lacy outer membrane. Whilst nutmeg is something that we always have in the cupboard, mace is something a bit more unusual.

Next stop is India, which is a country that Lumley loves, mainly because she was born there when her father was stationed there. She actually had a pretty interesting childhood. The focus in India is on black pepper

From there, we travel to Madagscar where the focus in on vanilla. Did you know that vanilla is actually grown on a vine. Vanilla was native to Mexico and whilst it thrives in Madagascar and the country is known for growing some of the best quality vanilla in the world. One of the things I learned from this program is that there is no natural way for the plant to pollinate and so this all has to be done by hand. It was interesting to see the vanilla traders as well. 

The final stops on this tour are Zanzibar and Jordan. In Zanzibar she is excited to get to sail in a dhow and also talks about the slave trade and more. Jordan is important because it formed an important stop on the ancient spice road when the spices were being transported from their origins to market. There was an odd moment in this where she visits The Treasury in the dark. It does mean that she was there as the sun rose, but the part leading up to that where she was wandering around with a torch was a bit odd.

Whilst all the spice related conversations are very interesting, it is sobering to reflect on the fact that for all the riches and the empires that were build on the back of the trade, the local people don't appear to have prospered at all, even now. 

When we were in Sri Lanka we visited a spice garden where they grew many different spices including nutmeg, mace, pepper and vanilla and so much more. We also learned about many of the medicinal properties of spices.

And ow I will wait for the Danube show! I know I will lvoe it!

Weekly meals

Saturday - Out for dinner
Sunday - Massaman curry pizza
Monday - Fried Chicken, mash broccoli and gravy
Tuesday - Chicken, broccoli pasta bake
Wednesday - Zucchini, Parmesan and tomato risotto
Thursday - Beef enchiladas

Friday - Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Mini reviews of two Aussie novels

This year I said that I was going to aim to review all the books I read that were either historical fiction or by Australian authors. I am a bit behind, but I think I will have some space to be able to catch up over the coming weeks. Today, I am going to share two mini-ish reviews of books by Australian authors. These books have very little in common apart from the fact that they are by Aussie authors and  I really enjoyed them both.

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

Ernest Cunningham is not looking forward to the Cunningham family reunion which is being held to celebrate the release of his brother from prison. He has no idea how his brother is going to feel about him given that Ernest was the one who testified and got him convicted in the first place. 

The Cunningham family dynamic is very complicated. Ernest's mother has disowned him, his wife has left him for his brother whose own wife is hoping for a reconciliation and his auntie has every minute of the reunion meticulously planned. There's a stash of money, a number of crimes and a snow storm. What could go wrong? Well, quite a lot actually.

This story has a very unusual structure. Ernie is a self published writer who writes books about how to write mysteries. When a body is found, Ernie is the one who needs to investigate (because he has experience) but he is telling us the story after the event. As such, he knows what happened and so can give us asides. For example, he might say that a character went outside for her last cigarette but of course she didn't know that at the time. And we know in the prologue at exactly what page we should expect all of the deaths to occur. Yes, there are multiple deaths

This was so much fun right from page 1, with twists and turns, a narrator who regularly breaks the fourth wall to talk directly to the reader, fantastic characters and so much more!

I am not really sure why but it was only recently that I realised that the author was Australian, and in the end it was this fact that prompted me to finally request the book from the library! I can't wait to read the next book in the series. 

Rating 4.5/5

The Last Love Note by Emma Grey

You really could not get more different books. Where Everybody in My Family Has Killed Someone is funny and a bit disingenuous, The Last Love Note is deeply emotional. That's not to say that it isn't hopeful because it is, but it takes the reader on a devastating journey on the way, 

Kate Whittaker is a young widow who is raising her son on her own following the death of her husband Cam. Cam had been ill for quite some time with early onset dementia, going from a dynamic university lecturer to a man who needed full time care. Kate and Cam were one of those couples who were just meant to be together forever. No one expected forever to be so short.

The story of Kate's life both before and after Cam's death slowly unfolds. We see Kate facing all sorts of challenges but thankfully she has some great support from her friends to her boss, Hugh. Hugh had also been a great friend to Cam but Kate is sure that he has secrets that he is keeping from her and she doesn't understand why.

This is the story of a woman who has had to face one of the most difficult situations and her slow journey to a new, different life. 

Author Emma Grey has lived experience of many of the things that happened in this book. Her husband died suddenly at a young age, leaving her a widow with young children to raise on her own which gives the storytelling a real authenticity. I laughed and I cried. In short, I felt all the feels.

This is the second book I have read from Emma Grey, with the first being Pictures of You which I reviewed here. 

Rating 5/5

Top Ten Tuesday: Books set during or after WWI

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Books I Enjoyed that Were Outside My Comfort Zone (or books you’d like to read that are outside your comfort zone!) However, it might not be a surprise to see that I am going rogue. It's not the first time and it won't be the last.

Instead, in honour of the fact that today is Remembrance Day which commemorates the end of World War I at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, I am sharing ten books I have read that are either set either in or just after WWI.

The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonsen - This book is set in the immediate aftermath of WWI and deals with the impact on society and for those who returned. I could have chosen The Summer Before the War too. I read both of these books earlier this year. (my review)

The House at the River's Edge by Rachel Burton - This book starts just before the outbreak of WWI. It is a dual timeline so we get to see what the legacy of the events that occurred were through the generations. (my review)

The Desert Nurse by Pamela Hart  - Follows a young Australian woman who becomes a nurse in  Egypt during WWI.

 The Vineyards of Champagne by Juliet Blackwell - Another dual timeline, with the historical section being set in the Champagne area of France during WWI. 

The Girl from Paris by Ella Carey- I used to read a lot of Ella Carey's books which are predominantly set in WWII. This one, however, is a WWI story.  (My review)

When I Come Home Again by Caroline Scott - Set in the aftermath of WWI, this story looks at the impact of trauma on two men who both served.  (my review)

In Falling Snow by Mary-Rose MacColl - I loved this book when I read it a number of years ago.  This is another nurse story with a young Australian woman travelling to France to work in the field hospitals in France

The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes - I had forgotten that this was a WWI story. It is set in occupied France and is another dual timeline story. (my review)

Black Diamonds by Kim Kelly - This book tells the story of a young man who goes to war but also of life on the home front with the woman he left behind. (my review)

The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally - Two sisters head off to become nurses in WWI.

Lest we forget.