Down the TBR Hole Part 6

From an idea by  Lia @ Lost in a Story and as my tbr over on Goodreads is now toppling over and is definitely in need of some serious de-cluttering!

Anyway, it works like this:

• Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
• Order on ascending date added.
• Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books
• Read the synopses of the books
• Decide: keep it or should it go?

The Books

 

On Dangerous Ground by Sue Cook

It’s devastating enough when Pru’s husband confesses to a long term affair on their 20th wedding anniversary. Then when her daughter, Molly, announces she’s leaving for Vietnam on a Gap Year project, Pru knows her comfortable family life is over for good. Just as she’s picking up the pieces, an email brings news that Molly has become involved with political activists and could be in serious danger. Arriving in this beautiful but alien land, Pru embarks on a desperate search for her recalcitrant daughter and meets Ben, a veteran of the US war. He’s intelligent, funny, handsome, but damaged. Together they tackle corrupt police, greedy property dealers and a ruthless local party cadre; and when eventually Pru finds her daughter, she also discovers an inner strength she never knew she had.
‘On Dangerous Ground’ tells the story of a gripping and dangerous voyage of discovery for a mother and daughter in Vietnam.

I still like the look of this so it’s staying       Verdict: Keep

 

The Laws of Harmony by Judi Henriks

Sunny Cooper has been running since she was eighteen—from the New Mexican commune where she grew up . . . and from the haunting memory of the freak accident that took the life of her younger sister. Now, at thirty-two, Sunny voices radio spots in Albuquerque while struggling to hold on to a floundering relationship. But when a second tragic accident—and the devastating truths that come to light in its aftermath—turns her world upside down, Sunny runs again.

In the town of Harmony on San Miguel Island, she takes a new job, learns to ride a motorcycle, and makes some surprising new friends. But the past is never far behind. A startling discovery—along with an emotional and revelatory reunion with her estranged mother—is forcing Sunny to step out from the shadows of yesterday to embrace an uncertain future.

Love the sound of this too     Verdict: Keep

 

Isabel’s Daughter by Judi Hendriks

The first time I saw my mother was the night she died. The second time was at a party in Santa Fe.

After a childhood spent in an institution and a series of foster homes, Avery James has trained herself not to wonder about the mother who gave her up. But her safe, predictable life changes one night when she stumbles upon the portrait of a woman who is the mirror image of herself.

Slowly but inevitably, Avery is compelled to discover all she can about her mother, Isabel. Avery is drawn into complex relationships with the people who knew her mother. As she weaves together the threads of her mother’s artistic heritage and her grandmother’s skills as a healer, Avery learns that while discovering Isabel provides a certain resolution in her life, it’s discovering herself that brings lasting happiness.

I’m not so bothered about this synopsis             Verdict: Remove

 

The Various Flavours of Coffee by Anthony Capella

It is 1895. Robert Wallis, would-be poet, bohemian and impoverished dandy, accepts a commission from coffee merchant Samuel Pinker to categorise the different tastes of coffee – and encounters Pinker’s free-thinking daughters, Philomenia, Ada and Emily. As romance blossoms with Emily, Robert realises that the Muse and marriage may not be incompatible after all.

Sent to Abyssinia to make his fortune in the coffee trade, he becomes obsessed with a slave girl, Fikre. He decides to use the money he has saved to buy her from her owner – a decision that will change not only his own life, but the lives of the three Pinker sisters . . .

I actually have a copy of this on my bookshelf, but I’m put off by the mixed reviews on Goodreads about it being quite a dry read.              Verdict: Remove

 

Love and Biology at the Center of the Universe by Jennie Shortridge

When she learns that her college sweetheart husband has been seeing another woman, Mira Serafino’s perfect world is shattered and she wants no one, least of all her big Italian family, to know. She heads north-with no destination and little money- stopping only when her car breaks down in Seattle. She takes a job at the offbeat Coffee Shop at the Center of the Universe, where she’ll experience a terrifying but invigorating freedom, and meet someone she’ll come to love: the new Mira.

 

Another book I have a physical copy on my bookshelf that I’m not bothered about reading anymore.                    Verdict: Remove

 

Airmail by Naomi Bulger

Reclusive old Mr. G.L. Solomon’s favorite things are single malt whiskey, Steve McQueen movies, and gingersnap cookies. He hates processed cheese, washing detergent commercials, and the way the teacup rattles in the saucer when he picks it up. Solomon has become accustomed to his lonely routine in Sydney, Australia-until the day he begins sporadically receiving letters in his mailbox from a complete stranger. On the other side of the world, Anouk is a mentally delicate young woman living in New York who insists she is being stalked by a fat woman in a pink tracksuit. When Anouk declares to Solomon that she is writing “from the Other Side,” the old man breaks away from his daily grind of watching soap operas and reading “Fishing World” and travels to New York to find her. As he is drawn into Anouk’s surreal world of stalkers and storytelling, marbles and cats, purgatory and Plato, Solomon has but one goal-to unravel the mystery before it is too late.

Don’t fancy this at all and it makes me wonder why ever did?     Verdict: Remove

 

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Lily has grown up believing she accidentally killed her mother when she was four. She not only has her own memory of holding the gun, but her father’s account of the event. Now fourteen, she yearns for her mother, and for forgiveness. Living on a peach farm in South Carolina with her father, she has only one friend: Rosaleen, a black servant whose sharp exterior hides a tender heart.
South Carolina in the sixties is a place where segregation is still considered a cause worth fighting for. When racial tension explodes one summer afternoon, and Rosaleen is arrested and beaten, Lily is compelled to act. Fugitives from justice and from Lily’s harsh and unyielding father, they follow a trail left by the woman who died ten years before. Finding sanctuary in the home of three bee-keeping sisters, Lily starts a journey as much about her understanding of the world, as about the mystery surrounding her mother.

This has such good reviews on Goodreads and I have a copy. Verdict: Keep

 

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells

When Siddalee Walker, oldest daughter of Vivi Abbott Walker, Ya-Ya extraordinaire, is interviewed in the New York Times about a hit play she’s directed, her mother gets described as a “tap-dancing child abuser.” Enraged, Vivi disowns Sidda. Devastated, Sidda begs forgiveness, and postpones her upcoming wedding. All looks bleak until the Ya-Yas step in and convince Vivi to send Sidda a scrapbook of their girlhood mementos, called “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.” As Sidda struggles to analyse her mother, she comes face to face with the tangled beauty of imperfect love, and the fact that forgiveness, more than understanding, is often what the heart longs for.

Not in the mood for this one Verdict : Remove

 

Thirtynothing by Lisa Jewell

Ever wondered what happened to your first love?
Imagine bumping into them twelve years later and realizing you still fancy them rotten. That’s exactly what happens to Dig Ryan when he sees Delilah again.
Now imagine you’re Nadine. You and Dig have been best friends for fifteen years. And you’ve finally realized that you’re in love with him. So when Delilah – who always was your nemesis – returns, you’re mad with jealousy and can’t help behaving childishly. Like phoning your first love Phil – just to get your own back …
Thirtynothing is a story of ex-boyfriends, ex-girlfriends and friends dabbling with yesterday when they really should be thinking about today.

Verdict : Keep

When in Rome by Gemma Townley

Georgie Beauchamp is totally happy and in love with her wonderful, dependable boyfriend, David. So why does she always daydream about running into her gorgeous ex-boyfriend Mike? It can’t mean she’s still in love with him—especially since the cad dumped her so horribly. As luck would have it, when Georgie’s daydream actually comes true, she is dressed in unglamorous sweats and carrying a curtain rod down the street, while Mike is driving an expensive sports car and looking better than Brad Pitt at the Oscars. She longs to have the glamorous life Mike can offer—and starts to think that he might want her back in his arms.
But when he invites her for a weekend in Rome, Georgie is torn. David has always said he’d take her there for the romantic getaway of a lifetime, but his work keeps him totally tied up. So she must choose: David, all comfort and reliability, or Mike, all flirtation and butterfly-stomachs. The decision isn’t too hard to make, and faster than she can say Vespa, she’s off to Rome with Mike, full of plans to frolic on the Spanish Steps and sip wine in intimate trattorias. But when David shows up unexpectedly, this Roman holiday gets a hell of a lot more complicated. . . .

Not in the mood for this        Verdict: Remove

Even though I’ve removed 6 books from my shelf this time I still have 973 on there. Could it be because I keep adding more when I visit your blogs? Perhaps I need to have a blog hopping holiday! 😉