What I've been reading in September

I enjoyed all three of the books that I read in September and happy to recommend them all!

My first book of the month was Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis which was recommended by Ruth in her August edition of 'For the love of books'

It is the story of Noelle and Sam, who think that they first meet on a grid locked motorway after a sudden snow storm.  A chance encounter when their cars pull up next to each other in a traffic jam and Noelle is desperate to charge her phone to get a message to her mother.  The traffic begins to move, she goes back to her own car and they go their separate ways.

Yet those ways do not stay separate but see them cross paths in many different situations as the year moves on.  Are they accidental meetings or is fate stepping in to keep them together?  

I really enjoyed this book, and thought the way that the author found ways to keep them connecting with one another very clever and I was surprised to learn of the real first time that they met. The book starts with an ancient Chinese proverb that an invisible red thread connects those destined to meet ... the thread may stretch or tangle but it will never break; this definitely sets the tone of the book.

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My second book actually came second in the book club voting.  Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister

Can you imagine seeing your son kill someone?  You don't know who it is, and you can't imagine what prompted him to do it.  It is so totally out of character and yet it must have happened as you saw it with your own eyes.

Now imagine waking up the next day and finding yourself back in time to the day before the murder.  And the next day, further back from that.  A constant going back in time as the pieces slowly fit together.  Will there come a point where you can change the past to stop your son in the future?

Well, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book!  It really made you realise that in dwelling on what appears to be the big things going on in your life at the time, you miss out on the smaller things.  It could be that the smaller things are not as small as you think!  Every time I finished a chapter I thought, 'ok, I think I know where this is going' and then I'd read another and realise that I was quite possibly very wrong.  Trust me when I say that when you finish the final chapter, your opinion of almost every character in the book has been changed from when you met them at the beginning!

And finally, The Wedding Party by Cathy Kelly

The four Robicheaux sisters have returned to the home where they grew up to attend the second wedding on their parents.  Having divorced years before due to Stu's drinking and gambling, he appears to have turned over a new leaf and Meg is willing to give marriage to a second chance.  The daughters are not particularly happy, and suspect that their father may have fallen off the wagon but agree to attend, even though they have only one week to prepare everything.

Indy, a midwife, is used to stressful situations but keeping everyone calm may be more difficult at home than at work.

Eden is at the beginning of a political career and really has more on her mind than a second wedding, especially as a skeleton from her past is threatening to make itself known.

Savannah, Eden's twin, appears to have the perfect life - appearances can be deceptive.

Rory lives with her lovely girlfriend but is concerned that the family may not be happy when they discover that she has based her forthcoming novel on their childhood.

This was a nice easy read, I liked all the characters (except Savannah's husband, but then, no one liked Savannah's husband!) and I was happy with the way the author ended the story.  It was a good way to end a month's reading.