January Books

 These are my favourite reads from January:

Jamie Beck - The Happy Accidents

Successful artist Jess invites her younger sister Liz and her friend Chloe to celebrate her birthday with her. Jess can't get over the break-up of her marriage to Dennis, believing he was the love of her life. But there was one thing he wanted that she was unwilling to compromise over. The day after isn't good - she wakes up after having a one-night stand, to find that Liz is regretting a drunken rant about her co-host on daytime tv, and that Chloe has gambled away five thousand dollars which she can't afford. Back in her lonely house, Jess has no inspiration to create. She knows that she needs to find a new path in life, and wonders whether maybe she could build bridges with her successful, career-oriented parents who frowned upon her artistic talent. Meanwhile the fall-out from Liz's faux-pas devastates her own career. Chloe has to face that her husband Jeff is disappointed in her, while feeling powerless to do anything about this debt because she's a stay-at-home mother. But what if this is a turning-point in all of their lives? What if the way to overcome all of their mistakes is to turn to a new direction? Three very different characters beautifully drawn by the author, and a story that pulls along the reader as we join the three women on their rocky roads and cheer them on as they try to find the courage to change.  

Jenny Kane - Frost Falls over the Potting Shed

Maddie's father, Tony, agreed to leave her his house and their plant nursery, The Potting Shed, while her sister Sabi would get valuables that would be more meaningful for her role as husband to a successful architecht and mother to their daughter. However, Tony died before his will could be changed. Now the two young women are joint owners of The Potting Shed, and it's been a struggle for Maddie to bring it through the Pandemic. It has become her sole dream to upgrade it to a garden centre, as she and her father had wished. Then a large garden centre company offers to buy their land as storage for their new branch that they're proposing to open nearby. Sabi jumps at the chance, as her dream house has come up for sale. Maddie can't afford to buy out her sister, and will struggle even to pay the local solicitors her share of their bill. Surprisingly, the attractive new partner, Ed, is willing to help her with her fight against Big Garden Centres, and he's interested in her romantically. But Maddie has too much on her mind, especially as it looks like her family is falling apart and she's going to lose her livelihood too. As Christmas approaches, Maddie wonders if she can trust anyone. A warm-hearted tale of reaching for dreams and finding that all may not be lost when the chips are down.

Matthew FitzSimmons - Chance (Constance Book #2)

I've already blogged about my appreciation of the first book in this series (Constance), set in the not-too-distant future. This is a plausible near-future world. The novels circle around human cloning, which has become possible in the author's world. Yet again the reader is flung into a roller-coaster thriller and mystery. Chance is only twenty one years old, but was cloned as a boy when he was killed by his kidnappers, as was his older brother Marley. But Marley is really dead now, and Chance spends his time doing life-threatening stunts. He's now on his fifth clone. He believes that his father, a former director of Palingenesis (the cloning company) isn't telling him the truth about his abduction. He has no memory of his kidnapping because his consciousness was uploaded a month before that. But his mindset has changed, and all he wants is to escape with Maggie, the woman he loves. Unexpectedly he wakens from another download into a clone, and finds that he's being charged with murder - the killing of one of his abductors. Soon he discovers that it's not only his father who's hiding secrets. As Chance fights to find out the truth about his past and find meaning in his life, he may be uncovering concealed facts that are too shocking to know, and may destroy him forever. Another gripping story in this series.