Title: Red At The Bone by Jacqueline Woodson My Ratings: 5 Star Publisher: Source: Times Reads Goodreads Synopsis: Moving forward and backward in time, Jacqueline Woodson’s taut and powerful new novel uncovers the role that history and community have played in the experiences, decisions, and relationships of these families, and in the life of the new child. As the book opens in 2001, it is the evening of sixteen-year-old Melody’s coming of age ceremony in her grandparents’ Brooklyn brownstone. Watched lovingly by her relatives and friends, making her entrance to the music o ..read more

Title: She Speaks by Yvette Cooper My Ratings: 4 Stars Publisher: Atlantic Books London Source: Pansing Books Goodreads Synopsis: Looking at the greatest speeches of all time, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Elizabeth I and Boudica were about the only women to have dipped a toe into the pool of public oratory. But the truth is very different – countless brave and bold women have used their voices to inspire change, transform lives and radically alter history. In this timely and personal anthology, Yvette Cooper MP tells the story of 30 inspirational speeches given by wome ..read more

Title: Saturdays at Noon by Rachel Marks My Ratings: 4 Stars Publisher: Penguin Books Source: Times Reads Goodreads Synopsis: Emily just wants to keep the world away. She doesn’t want anyone to know all the ways her life is messed up. Going to anger management every Saturday, talking to strangers, was not part of the plan. Jake just wants to keep his family together. He’s also messed everything up. Going to anger management is now his best hope for bonding with his six-year-old Alfie. Emily can’t understand why Jake – who seems to have it all – is even there. Jake can’t un ..read more

Title: The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Team Eng My Ratings: 4 Stars Publisher: Source: Pansing Books Goodreads Synopsis: It’s Malaya, 1949. After studying law at Cambridge and time spent helping to prosecute Japanese war criminals, Yun Ling Teoh, herself the scarred lone survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp, seeks solace among the jungle-fringed plantations of Northern Malaya where she grew up as a child. There she discovers Yugiri, the only Japanese garden in Malaya, and its owner and creator, the enigmatic Aritomo, exiled former gardener of the Emperor of Japan. Despite her hatred o ..read more

Title: Christmas Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella My Ratings: 5 Stars Publisher: Bantam Press Source: Times Books Goodreads Synopsis: Celebrate Christmas with the ultimate Shopaholic! The brilliant laugh-out-loud festive novel from the Number One bestselling author. Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) adores Christmas. It’s always the same – Mum and Dad hosting, carols playing, Mum pretending she made the Christmas pudding, and the next-door neighbours coming round for sherry in their terrible festive jumpers. And now it’s even easier with online bargain-shopping sites – if you spend enough you even ge ..read more

Title: Pumpkin Heads by Rainbow Rowell & Faith Erin Hicks My Ratings: 5 Stars Publisher: Macmillan Source: Pansing Books Goodreads Synopsis: Every autumn, all through high school, they’ve worked together at the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world. (Not many people know that the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world is in Omaha, Nebraska, but it definitely is.) They say good-bye every Halloween, and they’re reunited every September 1. But this Halloween is different—Josiah and Deja are finally seniors, and this is their last season at the pumpkin patch. Their last shift together ..read more

Title: Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell My Ratings: 5 Stars Publisher: Macmillan Source: Pansing Books Goodreads Synopsis: The story is supposed to be over. Simon Snow did everything he was supposed to do. He beat the villain. He won the war. He even fell in love. Now comes the good part, right? Now comes the happily ever after… So why can’t Simon Snow get off the couch? What he needs, according to his best friend, is a change of scenery. He just needs to see himself in a new light… That’s how Simon and Penny and Baz end up in a vintage convertible, tearing across the American West. They find tro ..read more

Title: Me by Elton John My Rating: 4 Stars Publisher: MacMillan Source: Pansing Books Goodreads Synopsis: Christened Reginald Dwight, he was a shy boy with Buddy Holly glasses who grew up in the London suburb of Pinner and dreamed of becoming a pop star. By the age of twenty-three, he was on his first tour of America, facing an astonished audience in his tight silver hotpants, bare legs and a T-shirt with ROCK AND ROLL emblazoned across it in sequins. Elton John had arrived and the music world would never be the same again. His life has been full of drama, from the early rejection of his work ..read more

Title: Finding Chika by Mitch Albom My Rating: 5 Stars Publisher: Sphere Source: Pansing Books Goodreads Synopsis: Chika Jeune was born three days before the devastating earthquake that decimated Haiti in 2010. She spent her infancy in a landscape of extreme poverty, and when her mother died giving birth to a baby brother, Chika was brought to The Have Faith Haiti Orphanage that Albom operates in Port Au Prince. With no children of their own, the forty-plus children who live, play, and go to school at the orphanage have become family to Mitch and his wife, Janine. Chika’s arrival makes a quick ..read more

Title: You Bring The Distant Near by Mitali Perkins My Rating: 4 Stars Publisher: Square Fish Source: Pansing Books Goodreads Synopsis: Five girls. Three generations. One great American love story. Ranee, worried that her children are losing their Indian culture; Sonia, wrapped up in a forbidden biracial love affair; Tara, seeking the limelight to hide her true self; Shanti, desperately trying to make peace in the family; Anna, fighting to preserve her Bengali identity. This is a beautiful book. I loved it. Loved it so very much. It tells the story about Ranee, Tara, Sonia, Chantal and Anna ..read more