DRAMA COMES TO PRIOR'S FORD - By Eve Houston

In the first edition of  the 'Prior's Ford' series by Eve Houston, we left the residents with their situation of the quarry settled , yet not all was resolved in the lives of the villagers.

This time around, we pick up from there and are welcoming a popular television soap actress to the village.
An aloof step-daughter arrives and seeks refuge and consolation.
Unexpected news from up at 'Linn Manor' causes alarm.
And another long, lost step-daughter moves in, that sweet little toddler has become a difficult teenager with a grudge to settle.

Oh how I'd LOVE to live in a village just like this one! I wonder sometimes if village life is like that in the real world?

The settings are still so impossibly close to how I'd imagine them to be, because Eve Houston has taken the trouble to explain in detail about the area where 'Prior's Ford' is situated, though I'm pretty sure it's fictional.
Here's a run down of what you might expect if you are ever lucky to visit.

http://www.visitdumfriesandgalloway.co.uk/

Enjoy my fellow booklovers!
Michelle
xx

SECRETS IN PRIOR'S FORD - by Eve Houston

Hello once again my fellow booklovers! How are you all doing? It's been so nice to catch up with you all. I've been really quite busy with my new series of books about Prior's Ford. Written by Eve Houston she has sequels and I'm very much enjoying them.

As you know, I'm into all those books that relate to fictional village life and these fit the reading bill nicely. It's like Rebecca Shaw all over again but with different kinds of twists and turns. So far I've bought three of them from Amazon and was lucky to down load one free via Kindle so it's all good.

The first book is called 'Secrets In Prior's Ford'. There is consternation among the villagers of pretty Scottish Borders town Prior's Ford' when a firm expresses interest in reopening an old granite quarry. Publican Glen organises a protest group then starts to feel nervous with the outcome. Jenny Forsyth is shocked that someone comes forward from her past. Newly widowed Clarissa Ramsay discovers her deceased husband Keith had a secret life while up at Linn Hall the owners realise they have much more at stake  with the changes threatened by the quarry reopening.

Such fun books to read. Eve Houston has done well to explain the outline of the village and the residents lives - it's like your actually there! I love being in the moment with a book and this delivers.
So, if your into these lovely books and enjoy light easy reading then I say, look them over.

CROCHET PATTERN BOOKS

Love to crochet. I've had this hobby since I was a teenager. Though I can't knit and have been shown numerous times, I'm a mean crochet blanket maker. Now, I'm going into the tricky side of it (well for me anyway), I'm going to attempt to crochet ladies tops. It's the treble and funny names they have that I'm going to have to learn but at least I can pick up a stitch quite easily if I drop it, not like knitting where I can never find the damn thing when I drop/lose it.

So I've finished heaps of baby blankets now and have given them away as little gifts to anyone I know who's expecting the stork some time soon, so why not give my hand to little matinee tops for bubs and some pretty tops for the ladies?

Hmmm, see how I go.

I did find some great books for crochet learners that I've linked to the side bar. One I purchased has easy, peasy instructions, the book for 'dummies' like moi.

Do any of you crochet?
Do you have any easy, peasy patterns?

Michelle
xx

CALLING ALL MAEVE BINCHY FANS!!!!!!

I've enjoyed all of Maeve Binchy's books so far and I've still yet to read some more. Began with 'Tara Road' and liked it so much I bought the DVD, though as I've said in my very first blog post here, movies never really come close to the reading. But enough of the movie stuff, the book 'Tara Road' had me imagining all types of scenes, what with the much talked about house and it's renovations, Rita and Marilyn - the main two characters -  who decide to get away from it all after tragedies are hurled at them out of the blue, and with those life changes comes huge adjustments. There is the loveable 'Quentins' restaurant where a lot of soul searching takes place.

With Maeve Binchy at her best, she takes 'Quentins' through a few more novels and we are allowed to be swept into the lives of new characters but with the twist of them all knowing one another whether it be friend or foe.

Not all of Maeve Binchy's novels are about this particular field, other books she's written are just good ole' Irish reading novels - yet you get the feeling of the most cosiest kind with each and every one of her stories.

Since 1982 Meave Binchy has notched up a dozen or so novels and short stories. I loved her quick read books, and all of these have become best sellers.

Have a little read of one of her novels on the bookloverscouch and I'm sure you'll be wanting more.

Check her out at the  link on the right hand side and let me know what you think.

Michelle
xx

THE SHIFTING FOG. author - Kate Morton

With over one million copies sold worldwide, it's no wonder this murder mystery was a real page turner.
Published as 'The House At Riverton', the title 'The Shifting Fog' is actually the name the fictional character Ursula calls it. Ursula decides to make a movie about the murder that took place at 'The House At Riverton', but she wants and does name the movie 'The Shifting Fog'. Hope I haven't confused you there but that's why this book can be found under both titles.

Loveable old Grace is the character who holds the key to the mystery. She knew exactly what took place that night back in 1924 and yet it was a secret that she never intended to be told. Now that Grace is residing in an old aged nursing home in the year 1999, she's introduced to the young Ursula who is intent on telling the story.

The book is written from past to present tense and yet we don't lose track due to the writing habit of author Kate Morton - she makes it very easy for us to follow.

Still, a riveting book that it is, I was often reminded of the movie 'Titanic' where Rose is taken back from her old age to her younger days upon the oceanliner with Jack. The 'Shifting Fog' does the same, ever so gracefully.

Please take the time to read this book, it really was a can't-put-down type of book and a pleasure to read.
Michelle
xx

KINDLE V'S BOOK

So you've all read about me buying a Kindle yes? Ok, well I love it! Have downloaded many books, finding it quite easy to use and have become very fond of it. In fact I'd recommend them to anyone (thanks everyone who commented on my blog about it).

And you've all read about the amount of books I'd accrued over the years and how I my home was turning into a library yes? Ok, well lately I've just been giving the books away as I still haven't got to the market stall to sell them, nor do I see myself actually having the time to do that so giving them away was probably for the best and I have to say I felt like I was saying goodbye to old friends as I packed them lovingly into boxes and then watched sadly as they were taken away to new homes. I wonder what they're doing now? I wonder if their pages are being tenderly turned as their new owner gets to know them?

I wandered back into my hubby's office the other night (wow, you can really move around in there now that the books have gone) and was elated to find half a dozen paperbacks still sitting on the shelf. After glancing over them I remembered I'd kept those particular unread ones for later reading. So now I've been taking in some early reading nights as it's winter and there's nothing like a good snuggle up with a paperback, leccy blanket and a hot milo. But then I found myself glancing over to my Kindle and wondering should I read one of the novels I've downloaded? Not that I'm not enjoying paperbacks - it's just that I KNOW  there is some really good reading material on that Kindle too! Maybe I'm just greedy and want to read them all at once. Maybe I think the next one on the Kindle is better than the paperback I'm currently reading. Wouldn't it be great if we could read them all at once? I know some people can read more than one at a time but I'm not that very advanced ha,hahahahasnort.

So I've come to the decision that I'll read one paperback and then one off the Kindle and so on.
Sigh..........I love all books and wonder which you prefer?

Michelle
xx

THE NEW RECTOR - Rebecca Shaw

Of course I would have to pick up the one book that was in the middle of the sequence novels from author Rebecca Shaw wouldn't I?
'Whispers In The Village' caught my eye one day as I was visiting my local library and so I bought it, read it, loved it and THEN realised I'd just read a book within a series! Don't you just hate that? I've really got to start reading the intro's so I know if  I should be reading the first one first - get my meaning?
But it was a good thing 'cause it opened my love of  reading about  'Turnham Malpas' which is a small english village somewhere in fiction land. The books don't evolve around just one or two of the villagers but intertwines with the other loveable characters who also reside in 'Turnham Malpas' .

Rebecca Shaw introduces us to each and every one of them and if your not sure whether you'll like them or not, as the sequences unravel one after the other, you'll find yourself either in sympathy with them or finding they are really loveable characters. Often you are left feeling you are right there with them. Rebecca began writing the  'Tales From Turnham Malpas' series back in 1994 with the 'New Rector' and has continued through with sixteen follow ups to the present.

I just love these types of books with tales of village life. If anyone can tell of more that are similar, I'd love to hear from you.

Michelle
xx