Two Pence to Cross the Mersey by Helen Forrester

This is the remarkable true life story of the author’s poverty-stricken childhood in Liverpool in the 1930’s.

Helen a twelve year old girl and her family move from the South, to their father’s place of birth Liverpool. Where her father hopes to find employment, but with no employment on offer the family slip from living a middle-class life style into deep poverty. With her mother on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Helen is forced to stay at home to help with her younger siblings in a house with no heating and little food and the only clothes she owns are the ones which she is wearing.

This book is a very moving true life account. A book that will really touch your heart about one girl dealt a bad hand in life, who refuses to drown in self-pity but is determined to make her life better and lift her out of the hardship she is going through and to escape the slums, even when her parents refuse her right to an education.

To buy this book from Amazon UK click here http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0006361684

I would like to introduce special guest-author Donna Douglas to my blog.

The Nightingale Sisters by Donna Douglas

Ever since The Nightingale Girls came out last summer, readers have been asking me when the sequel is coming out. And I’m pleased to say that The Nightingale Sisters is finally published this week! 

The Nightingale Sisters continues the story of the three student nurses, feisty Dora, shy Helen and aristocratic rebel Millie, training at an East End hospital in the 1930s. But there are lots of new characters, too, so you can still enjoy it even if you haven’t read the first book (although I hope you will!).

The Nightingale Sisters picks up a couple of months after the last book finished. The three girls are still students, sharing a room in the nurses’ home under the watchful eye of the formidable Home Sister. As well as coping with the ups and downs of life on the wards, with demanding patients and even more demanding Sisters, they each have their own heartaches to deal with. East End girl Dora’s family is facing poverty, and Dora has a difficult dilemma – should she give up her nursing dream to save them from ruin? And then there’s Nick Riley, the bad boy next door. Dora’s in love with him, but so is her best friend – and Ruby isn’t going to give him up without a fight!

Meanwhile,  her room mate Millie is involved in a love triangle of her own, as she finds herself caught between her fiancé Seb and handsome doctor Will. But then an unlikely friendship with an elderly patient makes her question where her heart – and her future – really lies.

The Nightingale Sisters also introduces us to the new Night Sister, Violet Tanner. It soon becomes clear that Violet is not all she seems – but who is she, and what is the secret she’s hiding? The other Sisters are determined to find out. But their discovery sends shockwaves around the hospital…

I hope you enjoy reading The Nightingale Sisters as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you want to find out more about me and my books, take a look at my website – www.donnadouglas.co.uk.

You can buy The Nightingale Sisters here – http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0099569426/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=103612307&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0099569353&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=1NJYF4RPE9FC4EEJXTPG

Happy reading!

Dx

And now my review

At last the sequel to The Nightingale Girls, the brand new book from author Donna Douglas is now available to buy. I really enjoyed the first book and I really looked forward to catching up with the characters in the new book The Nightingale Sisters.

In book two the Sisters are now in their second year of training at The Nightingale Hospital in Bethnal Green, in the East End of London in the 1930’s.

Dora who is from a working class background finds it a struggle at times training alongside all the respectable middle-class students. In some ways she is working twice as hard as the rest trying to prove that she is just as capable as the rest and it is not easy for her. Things are made even harder for Dora when problems present themselves at home too and Dora faces a difficult decision of whether to carry on with her training or to help out her family.

Millie is now engaged to Seb but when they are married he expects Millie to give up nursing and become a full-time wife. Not happy with this plan will Millie be drawn to the charms of the handsome doctor William Tremayne?

Violet is the new night Sister with a dark secret she is in desperate circumstances in her personal life, when help comes from an unexpected source.

Continuing two months from where the last book left off. We are back in the lives of Donna Douglas’s wonderful characters. Each of the nurses have their own stories to tell and the brilliant way that Donna Douglas writes leaving the reader in suspense at the end of chapters, that you can’t help but read on, wanting to know and find out what is happening to these amazing characters that you can’t help but care about. I really liked the introduction of a new character called Violet and I found her story to be really moving. I really do hope there will be a book three in the series as I did not want this book to end. If I was able to award this book more than five stars I would, just like The Nightingale Girls, The Nightingale Sisters is a book well worth reading.

The Pollyanna Plan by Talli Roland

Emma Beckett always expects the worse to happen in everything. She is always looking at the downs in life rather than the ups, the negative side to life and not the positives. When Emma loses her job and her fiancé, her best friend Alice challenges Emma to take part in the Pollyanna Plan, to see the good in everything and to be more positive instead of expecting the worse all the time.

When Emma starts to use the plan and good things come into her life, including handsome Will Ballard, life seems to be working out for the better, with a bit of positive thinking. All is going great, until Will seems at times distant with her and not known to Emma, Will is keeping a secret of his own. Can Emma except that life is all about living with the good and the bad?

Another great read from author Talli Roland. What I really like about books from this author is that they are so fast pace, no messing about; you are straight slam, bam into the plot of a brilliant, lively and entertaining story.  I recommend reading any books by author Talli Roland for an enjoyable read.

To buy this book from Amazon UK click here http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AFAW2GK

To buy this book from Amazon US click here http://amzn.com/B00AFAW2GK

Unmasking Maya by Libby Mercer

When artist Maya Kirkwood meets handsome Derek Whitley, their first meeting does not go well when un-be-known to Derek he criticises Maya’s art work. But when Derek surprises Maya by commissioning her to produce art work for his company, she agrees to take the job and they both seem to be moving forward from that shaky first meeting and there is an attraction between the pair.

But with both Maya and Derek having bad experiences in their pasts to overcome and with Maya’s new work colleagues mentioning a mysterious woman named Daisy. Will Maya and Derek be able to let go of their past and be able to star living in the present?

Unmasking Maya is a gentle love story that tells the story of two people, who on the outside look like they are complete opposites of each other, but deep inside have a lot more in common than they think. A delightful story, although a slow-burner at times and not much happens in the story, it is still an enjoyable and entertaining read.

To buy this book from Amazon UK, click here http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AN7CCV0

To buy this book from Amazon US, click here http://amzn.com/B00AN7CCV0

And Furthermore by Judi Dench

This is a really interesting and entertaining read. In this great book the well-known actress Judi Dench shares her own memories and personal experiences about her life and work. From her work in the theatre to her role in the James Bond films as ‘M’. Judi Dench gives a very honest account of her life in acting.  There is never a dull moment in this book. Judi talks about the people who have inspired and influenced her the most and this book would give inspiration to many aspiring actors and actresses and a few handy hints too about working in the profession. If you are a fan of Dame Judi or just like interesting books about people then you will find this book a great read.

Falling Through the World by Rachel Clarke

Falling through the World is a compelling and gripping story all about a teenage girl called Sarah. Sarah is struck down with a mysterious illness and her health begins to fail her. Sarah becomes really ill and is no longer able to continue living a normal teenage life.  When her family find that they can get no help with a diagnosis from their doctor, they take it upon themselves to find out what it is that is making Sarah so ill. They find out that the illness that is the best match to Sarah’s symptoms is a condition called ME (Mya Encepho) a condition that does not seem to be recognised in the medical world.

In the authors notes in this book Rachel Clarke says that she hopes this novel can do a small amount to raise awareness of ME and she really does achieve this, I did not know anything at all about ME, I had heard about it, but now after reading this book, it does give the reader a better understanding of the condition and with its emotional storyline, it makes you feel more compassionate towards people who suffer from ME, than the detachment of if you had read up on the condition in a text book. By using characters emotions and experiences, this book is a great idea of how to get information across about a condition that is often not understood.

To buy this book from Amazon UK click here http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00A3S7Z20

To buy this book from Amazon US click here http://amzn.com/B00A3S7Z20