It's Monday. What Are You Reading?

Another favourite author for me this past couple of days - I do enjoy a book set in Ireland.

If I Were You by Shelia O'Flanagan is proving to be a quick and enjoyable read.

You're engaged to a great man. You're on a countdown to your wedding day. You stopped thinking about your first love a long time ago.

But what if one unexpected, forbidden kiss were to throw your life upside down?

Carlotta O'Keefe suddenly finds herself wondering if the girl she was would recognise the woman she has become.

She thought she was living a charmed life. But what if she's got it all wrong?

What if her past is meant to be her future?

Skywatch Friday

Stormy view from Roseisle Beach.

Please pop over to the Skywatch blog for more skies from around the world.

It's Monday. What Are You Reading?

Good morning. Last day off before I go back to work tomorrow - boo hiss!

I have just finished The Missing and the Dead by Stuart MacBride. Really enjoyed it and as it is set up here in the North East of Scotland there were plenty of places that I knew and lots of funny local sayings. Not quite as gory as some of his books.

One mistake can cost you everything…

When you catch a twisted killer there should be a reward, right? What Acting Detective Inspector Logan McRae gets instead is a ‘development opportunity’ out in the depths of rural Aberdeenshire. Welcome to divisional policing – catching drug dealers, shop lifters, vandals and the odd escaped farm animal.

Then a little girl’s body washes up just outside the sleepy town of Banff, kicking off a massive manhunt. The Major Investigation Team is up from Aberdeen, wanting answers, and they don’t care who they trample over to get them.

Logan’s got enough on his plate keeping B Division together, but DCI Steel wants him back on her team. As his old colleagues stomp around the countryside, burning bridges, Logan gets dragged deeper and deeper into the investigation.

One thing’s clear: there are dangerous predators lurking in the wilds of Aberdeenshire, and not everyone’s going to get out of this alive…

I am now onto The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty. I loved What Alice Forgot and Big Little Lies by the same author so I have high hopes for this one.

Hypnotherapist Ellen is fascinated by what makes people tick. So when she falls in love with Patrick, the fact that he has a stalker doesn't faze her in the slightest. If anything it intrigues her, and the more she hears about Saskia, the more she wants to meet this woman. But what Ellen doesn't know is that they've already met . . .

Saskia has been posing as one of Ellen's clients. Unable to let go of the life she so abruptly lost, she wants to know everything about the woman who took her place. And the further she inches her way into Ellen's world, the more trouble she stirs up.

Ellen's love story is about to take an unexpected turn. But it's not only Saskia who doesn't know where to stop: Ellen also has to ask herself what lines she's prepared to cross to get the happy ending she's always wanted.

Skywatch Friday

Stunning view from Cullen across the Moray Firth - blue seas and blue skies - what more could you want?

Please pop over to the Skywatch blog to see more skies from around the world.

It's Monday. What Are You Reading?

Another week confined to barracks looking after hubby.

Last week I finished Three Weddings and a Baby by Scarlett Bailey and The Curvy Girls Club by Michelle Gorman - both lovely fun reads.

This week I am reading The Dandelion Years by Erica James who is one of my favourite authors.

Ashcombe was the most beautiful house Saskia had ever seen as a little girl. A rambling pink cottage on the edge of the Suffolk village of Melbury Green, its enchanting garden provided a fairy-tale playground of seclusion, a perfect sanctuary to hide from the tragedy which shattered her childhood.

Now an adult, Saskia is still living at Ashcombe and as a book restorer devotes her days tending to the broken, battered books that find their way to her, daydreaming about the people who had once turned their pages. When she discovers a notebook carefully concealed in an old Bible - and realising someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to hide a story of their own - Saskia finds herself drawn into a heart-rending tale of wartime love...

Even hubby has picked up a book whilst he is nursing his broken bones and cannot move - he is reading Personal by Lee Child.

Jack Reacher walks alone. Once a go-to hard man in the US military police, now he’s a drifter of no fixed abode. But the army tracks him down. Because someone has taken a long-range shot at the French president.

Only one man could have done it. And Reacher is the one man who can find him.

This new heartstopping, nailbiting book in Lee Child’s number-one bestselling series takes Reacher across the Atlantic to Paris – and then to London. The stakes have never been higher - because this time, it’s personal.

Skywatch Friday

Another lovely walk at the weekend with The Sunday Strollers.

We walked from Cullen and up The Giants Steps and then back into Cullen for a delicious ice cream We then set off again along the old railway line to Portknockie, past Bow Fiddle Rock and back to where we started. 7.5 miles in glorious sunshine along our wonderful coastline, The photo is of the ruins of Logie House.

Please pop over to the Skywatch blog to see more skies from around the world.

It's Monday. What Are You Reading?

I have several books on the go this week.

I am halfway through Three Weddings and a Baby by Scarlett Bailey (AKA Rowan Coleman.) It is good to meet some of the characters we met in Just For Christmas. A nice light read.

Tamsyn Thorne has not been back to her home town of Poldore for five long years.

But now her brother, Ruan, is about to get married and she has no excuses left.

Her plans to arrive in Cornwall looking chic and successful are dashed when a huge storm turns her from fashion goddess to a drowned rat. Worse, she ends up insulting the local hunky vicar – and then finds a tiny baby abandoned in his churchyard…

I am also reading Proud by Gareth Thomas - ex Wales rugby international who came out as gay several years ago. I am a huge Welsh rugby fan and for a huge rugged man this is a very sensitive and moving book so far.

Gareth Thomas had it all. He was a national hero, a sporting icon. He was a leader of men, captain of Wales and the British Lions. To him, rugby was an expression of cultural identity, a sacred code. It was no mere ball game. It gave him everything, except the freedom to be himself.

This is the story of a man with a secret that was slowly killing him. Something that might devastate not only his own life but the lives of his wife, family, friends and teammates. The only place where he could find any refuge from the pain and guilt of the lie he was living was on the pitch, playing the sport he loved. But all his success didn’t make the strain of hiding who he really was go away. His fear that telling the truth about his sexuality would lose him everything he loved almost sent him over the edge.

The deceit ended when Gareth became the world’s most prominent athlete to come out as a gay man. His gesture has strengthened strangers, and given him a fresh perspective. Gareth’s inspiring and moving story transcends the world of sport to tell a universal truth about feeling like an outsider, and facing up to who you really are.

There is no link to The Book Journey today as very sadly Shelia lost her son Justin in a road traffic accident over the weekend. I cannot imagine what she is going through but I am thinking of her and her family at this sad time.

My Month In Numbers : March

I can honestly say I do not want another month like March.

3 was the number of breaks in hubby leg after a nasty accident on his motorbike - this is in addition to the 7 broken ribs (plus a fractured wrist and pelvis)

He is now the owner of 1 full leg cast.

He was very lucky that 3 bikers found him within minutes (one of whom was a part time auxillary at an ambulance station) and called the emergency services which resulted in 1 helicopter ride to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.

A few days later I put a post on a local biking Facebook page which was shared 220 times and but the time I had finished work I had the names of the 3 lads who stopped to help. Amazingly they all live within a few miles of us and as soon as Andy is up and about they are all going to meet up so he can say thank you properly.

On a much brighter note my fitness campaign is still in full swing - and no backing out now as I have just signed up for the Benromach 10k in May!!

In March I walked 21.20 miles; biked 49.47 miles and ran 36.67 miles. I have joined both a ladies only cycling group and a ladies only Sunday walking group - both of which I am enjoying.

In March I read a total of 9 books - I have had to take time off work to look after Andy hence more reading time - every cloud has a silver lining!

The best book was The Cake Shop in the Garden by Carole Matthews and despite all the hype about The Girl on a Train by Paula Hawkins I thought it was an OK debut novel but not great.

My MOnth in Numbers is the brainchild of Julie over at Notes on Paper - please pop over and say hi.

Skywatch Friday

My second walk with The Sunday Strollers - 7.5 miles to the top of the Bin Hill and back down. Great views from up there.

Pop over to the Skywatch blog for more skies from around the world.