Broken Threads by Maggie Christensen #Contemporary #Bookreview #wwwblogs @MaggieChriste33

Broken Threads by Maggie Christensen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Broken threads is a light easy contemporary read set in Australia. It opens with the accidental death of a young man. His death splits the grieving family of Jan, Graham and Andy forcing Jan to leave home.

Guilt blame and denial run deep for more than one family. Jan find herself offering a home to Simon’s girlfriend as her family turn her away at a time of need. Finding strength from her situation Jan gets a job, signs up as a volunteer at the zoo and even enjoys a new social life.

However she is drawn back to the family when youngest son Andy suffers at school and Jan must be the one to pull the family back together again.

This review is based on a free copy of the book given to me by the author.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

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The Dreamcatcher by Maggie Christensen #bookreview #FamilyDrama @MaggieChriste33

The Dreamcatcher by Maggie Christensen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Dream Catcher is set in Florence, Oregon and continues the stories of characters we first met in The Sand Dollar. Ellen Williams is a native American book shop owner, she can see signs and portent of events past and future.

The book quickly jumps in with her brother Ron’s accident with a boat hook, he needs a trip to the hospital. Travis Petersen is staying with Ron, he’s an ex-war veteran and Ellen labels him as a waster.

Ellen’s parents are also going through some problems, her Dad Dick is getting forgetful and having vacant moments of memory loss, this leads to his own accident and once again Travis is there at the hospital.

Throw into this mix a threat from new developers who want to tear down Ellen’s shop and Ellen is in need of support and advice from friends and family. Should she allow Travis to help her? How will she save her shop?

I enjoyed some of the settings in this book, the trip to Canada and Butchart gardens was interesting, and the Oregon setting sounds really lovely. This book is a light contemporary read full of family life.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

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The Sand Dollar by Maggie Christensen

The Sand Dollar by Maggie Christensen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Sand Dollar is a piece of contemporary fiction. Sixty year old Jenny lives in Queensland Australia. The company she works for is making her redundant which has rather shocked her. Jenny’s son and daughter believe this is good news as she’ll be able to help them both out with baby-sitting, but Jenny wants more from life.

She decides to travel to Oregon to visit her Godmother Maddy. Mike Halliday, a widower, has also decided to move to Seal Rock, Oregon after the death of his wife. He wants a quiet life where he can continue his research into Native Americans.

When Maddy has a fall Jenny and Mike must let down their defences and work together. Jenny discovers some old letters from her Mum to Maddy and is shocked by their content. It opens up a whole new direction of her life and leaves her with lots of questions.

This is a relaxed paced story about people in later life still finding reason to live and love.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

View all my reviews on Goodreads.

Good Deeds Challenge Year 2 Week 48

Welcome to my second Year of Good Deeds, a challenge I set myself during April 2013. I decided to do at least one Good Deed a day for a whole year, now I am into my second year.

This week I’ve been doing the following;

March 15th – It’s Mothering Sunday here in the UK, as a mother myself I’m sandwiched in the middle of giving and receiving gifts. Wrote my review of Crashing into Love by Melissa Foster ready for my place on the book tour next week.

March 16th – My morning in school volunteering, and a lunchtime walk to deliver some thank you notes.

March 17th – Delivered a whole car load of items to the charity shop on behalf on the in-laws.

March 18th – Finished reading Britannia Part II: The Watchmen by Richard Denham book two in his Roman Britain tales around men who protected Hadrian’s Wall. Went for my walk and picked up litter.

March 19th – Collected some books from my Mum to pass on to other readers, finished reading Reality Is In A Dream by Lauren Mayhew

March 20th – Have been reading Aquarius Addiction by Trish Jackson. Everything went rather dark this morning for the eclipse 2015, but as it was cloudy no one could see too much, I went for my walk early just to be out in the eerie atmosphere and picked up litter, even the birds went a bit quiet.

March 21st – Getting ready for the A to Z Challenge theme reveal on Monday, an early walk in the park, it’s our town half marathon tomorrow and the park is being fenced off in readiness for all the runners. A swift walk and litter pick on the way home. I’m been reading A Twist Of Fortune by Mike Martin ready for an April launch and I’ve just started  reading The Sand Dollar by Maggie Christensen