Julie Goucher ~ Anglers Rest

6th Nov 2009

I have received a letter today from the author asking me to remove, what was a non offensive book review. I have removed it out of courtesy for the aurthor, but am somewhat bemused at the request as the original post was loaded to Blogger more than 12 months ago. The author has located my postal address, does not want to engage in any further communications as did not provide me with any contact details.

Paul Chambers is a doctor, who has returned to his home town in search of a wife and a new beginning. Planning to turn the home he has inherited into a new clinic with living quarters he encounters resistance from one of his tenants…….

Book 5 of 12 in this romance series, but can be a stand alone read. Set in the fictional town of Tyler.

A very gentle 19th century love story. Set in Sweetwater, Wyoming Territory in the mid 1860s. Jenny is a teacher, fleeing with her young sisters from Pennsylvania, where the young sisters had had a very hard life at the hands of the husband of their elder sister. Fleeing to another county where, if she can handle the hardships for 5 years, Jenny will be able to buy some land. Teaching in the Indian territory is not going to be easy, however, the difficulties of life are not easy caused by not the Indians,but by the local reservation agent who is purely at the beck and call of his father in law. Both are nasty men, who will stop at nothing to get what they want. A local man Trell will help them cope with the hardships of their new home. He stumbles across a young girl whose family has been torn apart by the agent’s men, and she and her grandmother flea to Jenny for not only safety but also that they can help Jenny. A firm friendship is formed by all of them, then Trell’s brother enters the scene….

A very gentle novel, I really enjoyed the upbeat behavior of Jenny, who was possibly a woman before her time

Purchased last year at our trip to Hay On Wye, this was purchased from the wonderful outside bookshop and has sat balanced on top of mount TBR. Being an ex library copy it has the distinctive yellow stickers on the spine of the book denoting the classification of Horror. Well, not sure I agree with horror, possibly mystery.

Rachel works for a wonderful store in the US that sells vintage quilts and clothes. The family are just about to head away for Christmas when they are almost burgled. Rachel moves into the home above the shop whilst the family are away for safety of both her and the quilts, that are somehow wrapped up in the story. There is a hint of quilt history, some use of genealogical records and a hint of white magic.

All in all, an enjoyable read and it does focus a lot more on the history of the quilts than on the “evil” side of things. I had not realised that this is part of a series, so I might try and read the others when I have chance.

26th September 2007 – The Postcard

I read a brief synopsis somewhere and was immediately interested in the storyline. I knew virtually nothing about the Amish religion & way of life, but a quick search of this web page gave some background information.

The Postcard is the story or Rachel. She is happily married with a son and daughter and is expecting her third child. They are all set to provide for their expanding family with talk of buying farm land, when on market day their horse is spooked and Rachel’s husband and son are killed in an accident. Rachel suffers a miscarriage and the effects from seeing the accident, affects her so that she becomes blind.

A young reporter sent to the region to undertake a story on the lives & beliefs of the Amish people. He checks into a guest house owned by Rachel’s parents and where Rachel and her daughter reside. In his room he enjoys the lovely old writing bureau, and on further investigation discovers a postcard.

The report, Philip sets about finding out about the postcard, who wrote it and who it was written to. The postcard writer, by coincidence is the Uncle of Rachel, with the help of someone within the community he locates the person for whom the postcard was intended.

A very gentile story of love and of the Amish way of life. There were biblical references, but the storyline was enjoyable and I particularly enjoyed the research theme.

27th September 2007 – The Crossroad

This continues the story of Rachel and her daughter Annie, living in the midst of an Amish community. Philip, the reporter who undertook an article in The Postcard has returned home and continues to think about Rachel and her blindness. He so much wants to help Rachel overcome her situation. Again another gentle story dealing with the Amish community, the beliefs of such a community.

28th September 2007 – The Sanctuary

Another story set in the Amish community, although not connected to the earlier two stories. This has more of a thriller style to it. Melissa is hiding for something. Happily married she has not shared her situation with her husband and suddenly she finds that she has to flea to safety. She arrives at a bed & breakfast in an Amish community and tries to overcome her situation and fears. She eventually makes contact with her link in the FBI and somehow finds that her beloved husband is caught up the world she is fleaing from.

Not as good a storyline as the earlier two, but nonetheless enjoyable.

The storyline of a thriller, but very long winded & disjointed, views echoed by previous readers. Not the best book I have read, but something did compel me to finish reading it.

The gentle story about the Nolan family with particular focus on Francie. Set in the early part of the 20th century in Brooklyn N.Y. The story of family & problems of the time.

A slightly different tempo to the first book in the series,which I think made it a better and stronger book.

Clare joins an online dating website as a way of ensuring her daughter is safe, she then hosts at the coffeehouse, a series of what we in the UK would call speed dating events, but then three murders happen, all that are possibly made to look like suicide…..Clare then meets and falls in love with someone known to the three victims, is there a chance that Clare could be number four?…..