Welcome to “Rosie’s Good read Collections”, I’ve put together the books I’ve read into subject headings that I think the books belong to, for you to browse.
With a thunderstorm replacing the forecasted warm sunshine, Travis’s day started badly. He hoped a trip to Blackpool, with his friend Dave, would lift his spirits. He would be wrong. After encountering “Uncle Fester”, a naked gardener wielding a rake, and an incontinent dog, he should have turned the car around and gone home. Instead, Dave suggests a visit to the pub, where teetotaller Travis discovers a taste for alcohol. If the opposite of serendipity existed, this would be it. An hour later, someone calls Dave an ambulance. Things go downhill from there. Subsequently arrested for breaking and entering whilst wearing gorilla suits (and who knew that would be illegal), they have to convince the police they have been witness to the murder of a beautiful woman. Or have they? Or could it be, like the police suggest, a bad case of Beer Goggles. Beer Goggles is an epic(hangover) tale of (half)wit(s) and (Dutch)courage, where, thanks to the delights of alcohol, nothing is quite what it appears and where the wrong decision could cost Travis and Dave their lives. If you like a good romp as much as you love a good yarn, Beer Goggles should be your tipple of choice. Enjoy responsibly! Goodreads, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, My Review: http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-2en
A comedy so black that you’d have to eat a lot of carrots to know whether George’s adventures are actually visible. The Radio centres around the decline of the lovable, yet hapless George Poppleton, a middle-aged, henpecked father and husband who stumbles across an old transistor radio in his loft. His obsession with listening to the radio drives him on an unexpected journey, fuelled by the painful memories of the suicide of his only son many years before.
Whilst his only daughter, Sam, and wife, Sheila, plan perhaps the most ill-fated wedding ever conceived, the radio transports George further and further away from reality. When a garlic baguette is used as a lethal weapon and the hogs finally take a stand and turn on the farmer who is about to roast them, nothing is likely to go as smoothly as the family may have hoped. The accidental return of Sam’s ex-fiancé, David, coupled with the endlessly drunk Auntie Lesley ensures that an almighty farce is just around the corner. The Radio ends with an unimaginable twist, when the family realise that things are not at all how they seemed. It is a story of what it means to be a family, the perception of loving and being loved, and what it means to be sane. Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, My review: http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-2lq
If Maureen were real, I would advise you to avoid her like the plague. She somehow attracts disaster and farce in equal measure wherever she goes.
As she is fictional though, it should be safe enough for you to encounter her from behind your Kindle. Maureen had a disastrous trip to a modern art exhibition in ‘ECLECTIC: Ten Very Different Tales’. Well, now she’s back in her own feature-length adventure! The book will give you plenty of laughs and a taste of Italy, so join hapless Maureen on her Venetian break and just be glad you’re not there with her! Goodreads, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, My Review: http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-aD
Village Books is a local institution…which is good, because most of the staff probably belong in one. There’s the manager, Dante Andolini, who’s hiding more than just his hypochondria from his overbearing mother…Sebastian Donleavy, whose hedonistic lifestyle is two rails short of being on the rails…Aldous Swinghammer, whose philosophical eccentricities have not been the biggest hit with the ladies…Ebeneezer Chipping, whose crotchety exterior hides a burning passion for the Spanish émigré next door…Mina Bovary, whose crazy husband may have just gone AWOL with an arsenal of fragmentary explosive devices…and the store’s long-suffering assistant manager, who is spinning his wheels in retail while he waits for something better to come along. That something better may be new assistant manager Leah Dashwood, an aspiring actress with an ambitious plan to transform the store and its staff in a way that will turn their carefully disordered world on its head. Will the store survive? Will it be bought over by its evil corporate competition? All questions will be answered (but not necessarily in that order) in this hilarious debut novel. Goodreads, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, My Review: http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-cd
Make a Joyful Noise is the sparkling tale of a choir preparing for a very special Christmas performance of “Belshazzar’s Feast”. We meet a host of characters who are mercilessly sent up by the author: Lucy the staggeringly trusting young music teacher, Tristan the lecherous and vain anti-hero, Miss Greymitt the ageing and slightly confused choir pianist, Claire the shameless and scheming temptress, and singers with nothing but resonance between their ears. Just as all does not run smoothly for King Belshazzar in Walton’s music, so the characters in the novel suffer from hopeless yearnings, romantic misunderstandings and the unfortunate consequences of their own misguided actions. All is sharply and wittily observed in a delightful mix of romance, music and humour. Goodreads, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, My review: http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5F
Rosie Amber 