It’s time to look at the books I read in June!
The Bookshop on the Shore by Jenny Colgan
★★★★
Zoe is a single mother who escapes London and moves to the Scottish Highlands. She wants to build a new life for herself and her four-year-old son Hari. Her son’s father is no help at all, but his sister, Hari’s aunt, helps Zoe find a job and a place to live. She will be working in a bookshop along the banks of Loch Ness. She has a second job as an au pair for three children but she and Hari will have a place to stay – in the family’s castle. The bookshop is mobile and is owned by Nina, who unexpectedly has to be put on bed rest for the final weeks of her pregnancy. This means Zoe has to suddenly run the bookshop on her own, along with trying to juggle the three kids who have been left to their own devices; help their single dad, who is a wreck himself; trying to keep the castle from crumbling; oh, and raising her son. But seeing how Hari has fallen in love with the place, honestly, she has too, she is ready for the challenge.
I gave this 4 stars because it took a little bit for me to get into it, but it is nothing against the book or the story. It has a bookshop, the Scottish Highlands, a castle (and a library), and maybe even some love 😉, so if that is your thing like it is mine, this book is for you!
A Ballad of Love and Glory by Reyna Grande
★★★★
This is a historical fiction novel set in 1846 during the Mexican-American war. After the annexation of Texas, the US Army marches south toward the Rio Grande boundary to provoke the Mexican army.
Ximena is a Mexican healer who loves the farmland that she and her husband love, and dreams of building a family there. Soon, Texas Rangers storm the farm, kill her husband, and burn down the farm. After her husband’s death, she vows to become a nurse on the frontlines of the war that is raging.
John Riley is an Irish immigrant who joined the Yankee army to help his family escape famine back in his home country. However, he and his fellow countrymen are treated horribly by the officers. So, sickened by those atrocities and the unjust war itself, he decides to desert in an act of defiance. He swims across the Rio Grande (it would have resulted in execution if he had been caught) and joins the Mexican army, which not only treats him so much better but also promotes him in rank. He is soon joined by other Irish soldiers to fight for Mexico’s freedom, and he forms the St. Patrick’s Battalion.
Soon, Ximena and John meet, and an attraction blooms. As the war intensifies, so does the attraction. But…will it survive?
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