THE WINNERS! #TuesdayBookBlog #RBRT Bookreview team presents: The Gold & Silver 2016 Book Awards

The Winners!#RBRT Rosie’s Book Review Team presents: The Gold & Silver Rose Awards 2016

 

*Cough* … On behalf of my team, I’m delighted to announce the winners and runners-up in the #RBRT 2016 book awards!

Books were selected from the several hundred submitted to our team for review over the past year, with the 24 finalists voted for by the reviewing team. These finalists were then offered up to the public for voting. Congratulations to the 8 winners and runners up!

A click of the book’s title will take you to Goodreads, where you can see reviews, and also leads to the Amazon, etc, buy links.

 

Fantasy / SciFi/ Horror

Winner: The Prince’s Man by Deborah Jay

Runner-up: Passing Notes by D G Driver

Historical Fiction

Winner: The Elizabeth Papers by Jenetta James

Runner-Up: Back Home by Tom Williams

Mystery Thriller

Winner: On Lucky Shores by Kerry J Donovan

Runner-Up: Rack & Ruin  by Carol Hedges

Contemporary

Winner: The Disobedient Wife by Annika M Stanley

Runner-Up: Scotch On The Rocks by Lizzie Lamb

 

Congratulations to all the following finalists:

The Black Orchid by Celine Jean-Jean

Blood Of The Sixth by K R Rowe

Flesh by Dylan J Morgan

The Final Virus by Carol Hedges

La Petite Boulain by G Lawrence

When Doves Fly by Lauren Gregory

Jasper by Tony Riches

The Code For Killing by William Savage

Trust Me I Lie by Louise Marley

Wings Of Mayhem by Sue Coletta

Murder at the Lighthouse by Frances Evesham

Trust Me by Earl Javorsky

What Jennifer Knows by Wendy Janes

The Bad Girl by L Donsky-Levine

Silent Water by Jan Ruth

The Brazilian Husband by Rebecca Powell

Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT THE BRAZILIAN HUSBAND by @BeccaPowellUK

Today’s team review is from Alison, she blogs at http://alisonwilliamswriting.wordpress.com/

Alison has been reading The Brazilian Husband by Rebecca Powell

Book Blurb

SUNSHINE, SAMBA, SECRETS AND LIES – this summer’s must-read. “…scrawled in biro, the words which had brought me here… ‘Take me home’.” Determined to honor her late husband’s final request, Judith and her teenage step-daughter, Rosa, set out on a journey from London to Brazil to track down his family and take his ashes home. But when Judith’s search leads her to Ricardo, a handsome but haunted human rights lawyer, she begins to unravel a web of lies surrounding her husband’s past: a past which is about to come crashing into their present in the form of Rosa’s real mother. As the two women navigate their way through this vibrant country of contrasts, they find themselves struggling to salvage their own fractured relationship and put the past behind them. The perfect blend of romance and suspense, set against the stunning backdrop of northeast Brazil, The Brazilian Husband is a story of friendship, family and finding out who we really are. 

Review

I read ‘The Brazilian Husband’ for Rosie Amber’s Book Review Team.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Intelligent, thoughtful, and engaging, it really is a page turner.

Judith is an interesting and well-developed main character. Her difficult relationship with her troubled step-daughter Rosa is very well-portrayed and a real strength of the book. Judith’s desperation to rekindle her connection with Rosa is heart-breaking and frustrating – just as it should be, and Rosa is spot-on, her voice completely authentic. I didn’t know whether I wanted to give her a hug or a real telling-off!

The author clearly knows Brazil and it is described in vivid detail; no punches are pulled and there is some very gritty realism here, but this is tempered by an obvious affection for the country and its people and an appreciation of its beauty.

The writing really flows and is a pleasure to read.

All in all an excellent debut novel. I’ll certainly be looking out for more from this author.

Five stars

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

Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT THE BRAZILIAN HUSBAND by @BeccaPowellUK #SundayBlogShare

Today’s team review is from Liz, she blogs here https://lizannelloyd.wordpress.com/

Liz has been reading The Brazilian Husband by Rebecca Powell

The Brazilian Husband by Rebecca Powell

This year the Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro so our eyes are focused on Brazil. I’m aware that it is country of great beauty but also of extreme poverty with a history of political chaos so I was curious about what I would learn of the country in Rebecca Powell’s book.

 

The Brazilian Husband is written from the point of view of the English wife, Judith Summers, who is making her first visit to Brazil in order to return her husband’s ashes to his home. Accompanied by her sullen 16-year-old step-daughter, Rosa, things go wrong almost immediately when their luggage goes missing, but Judith bravely seeks out a contact of her husband in the steaming, busy streets of Recife. It appears that all he had told her of his life were lies and Judith still hasn’t told Rosa the truth about her own birth.

Interspersed with Judith’s account are chapter’s in Rosa’s words. Bitterly unhappy after the sudden death of her beloved father, Edson, she has become estranged from her mother and doesn’t know how to cope with her turbulent emotions and hormones. Both she and Judith are looking for identity and a future path in a violent and frightening context.

The story is set in 1996 when Lula, founding member of the Worker’s party is standing for election as President. One of the people campaigning on Lula’s behalf is Ricardo, a sad, handsome human rights lawyer, who knew Edson before he left the country, but at first he refuses to help Judith.   We are taken back to 1978 in conversations between Ricardo’s dead wife and Rosa’s real mother Luciana and the truth of Rosa’s birth is gradually revealed.

This book is a romance, both personal for Judith, but also a romance with a country for her and her daughter. They begin to understand the “saudade” which Edson felt, that mixture of longing, melancholy and nostalgia for Brazil. An easy to read story, but also a book which captivates the soul.

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

 

 

Rosie’s #BookReview Team #RBRT The Brazilian Husband by @BeccaPowellUk #TuesdayBookBlog

Today’s team review is from Terry, she blogs at http://terrytylerbookreviews.blogspot.co.uk/

Terry has been reading The Brazilian Husband by Rebecca Powell

THE BRAZILIAN HUSBAND by Rebecca Powell

4.5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed by me as a member of Rosie Amber’s Review Team

I liked this book a lot. It’s simply but so well written, the words just flow; lovely to come across a book like this by someone who has a real talent for writing. It’s all about making the reader want to keep turning the pages, after all, and I certainly did with this!

Judith Summers’ Brazilian husband, Edson, has just died, and she is determined to fulfil his final wish by ‘taking him home’ ~ ie, back to the village of his birth to scatter his ashes. His fifteen year old daughter goes with her, and together they uncover the mystery of Rosa’s birth, and many more besides.

The story is told mostly from Judith’s point of view, interspersed with occasional chapters inside the head of Rosa, and Edson’s friend, Ricardo, who runs a shelter for young people in trouble. The plot slowly unravels via tapes of conversations between twelve year old Luciana, and Ricardo’s wife, Flavia. I’d more or less guessed the outcome before we were told, though not all the details, and it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the story.

Judith’s a great character, pretty screwed up after taking her share of wrong turns throughout her life. Tempestuous teenager Rosa is portrayed perfectly, but I think the star of the show is Brazil itself; Ms Powell clearly has a great love for the country and its poorer corners are depicted with much colour and warmth. The people Judith and Rosa meet are so real, the dialogue is great, and there are some heartrending moments, too (too sad!).

The writing style reminded me of Emily Barr, whose books I like very much. I have nothing negative to say about this novel at all; highly recommended, and I’ll definitely read her next one.

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