Our Spotlight heads to the sun-drenched Gold Coast this week as our Australia Fair team let us know what they’ve been reading.
The Lake House by Kate Morton:
If you have not read any of Kate Morton’s previous books that include ‘The Shifting Fog’ and ‘The Secret Keeper’ prepare to savour the emotional roller-coaster that Kate takes you on. Her flare to combine two seemingly unconnected mysteries will leave you breathless. Alice, a 16 year old aspiring author is warm and naive while Sadie, a disgraced police detective on stress leave is meticulous and driven. Add in a missing child, an empty house waiting to reveal long dormant clues, intricately woven plot twists spanning a seventy year timeline and skilfully crafted mini mysteries along the way and you have a book that you will not be able to put down. Definitely one of the best books I’ve read this year with a twist on the final page. – Gillian (Store Manager)
The Girl In 6E by A.R. Torre:
She’s not your normal neighbour. No one sees her as she doesn’t leave her apartment as she can’t be trusted not to kill again. She’s a girl with a past and a unusual job that most people wouldn’t want, dealing online with some very special sexual requests. But sometimes you have to take risks and today is it. After 3 years she has to go outside around people. She’s got to try to save a little girl who has been taken by a sexual predator, a client. She knows what he’s got in store as he’s been practising with her. This is a story that will keep you on your seat and out of bed until the very end.
So many questions. Will she kill again, can she find the child in time, can she save the child from certain abuse and death, can she be trusted with the child? A shocking thriller. Do you really know the girl next door? – Karen (Assistant Manager)
Dirty Magic by Jaye Wells:
I really enjoyed reading this and can’t wait to start book 2. Its an urban fantasy mix cop drama that replaces magic as the main corruption in crime. The police procedures are realistic that provides some great action scenes.
In the city of Babylon, you have “The Cauldron” the poverty stricken region of the city. It is run by 3 alchemy covens who make “Dirty Magic” (illegal potions). While out patrolling beat-cop Kate Prospero shoots dead the lead snitch of the Magic Enforcement Agency (FBI) that gets her deeply involved in the Gray Wolf case. Grey Wolf is a dangerous potion that turns the user into a werewolf like creature that craves for human flesh and renders them immune to anti-magic weapons. Kate’s past comes back to haunt her when her rich ex-lover John Volos becomes a suspect. The past she tried to escape from as the protege to her uncle’s coven that ruled The Cauldron. Will Kate be able to solve it while fighting her own battle not to make dirty magic again because “once you cook you can’t’ turn back”? Magic always has a price. – Ayano
Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton:
Armed with a camera and a keen listening ear, Brandon Stanton explores NYC on foot, capturing powerful images and stories of the populous that is ‘The City That Never Sleeps’. Filled with anecdotes that will make you smile, laugh and cry and accompanied by excellent photography; this book is perfect for anyone who was ever curious about the world (and the people in it!) around them. – Callum
Discovery Of Witches By Deborah Harkness:
“It begins with absence and desire, it begins with blood and fear, it begins with a discovery of witches”
Deborah Harkness’ debut novel ‘A Discovery of Witches’ is a wonderfully created blend of history meets the paranormal. Diana Bishop is a young scholar with an interest in alchemy and comes from a long line of powerful witches, though she herself has no interest in the sorcery and shuns anything to do with magic. During her endeavors at Oxford’s Bodleian Library she stumbles on a bewitched manuscript. Wanting nothing to do with it she sends the manuscript back to the stacks, not realizing that she is the only person capable of breaking its spell. Her discovery turns the paranormal world on its head and causes all manner of vampires, daemons and even other witches to cross her path.
‘A Discovery of Witches’ is a novel that has you asking yourself if these creatures really did exist what role could they have had on the history we know? – Jess
