Meet Sheryl Browne

Meet Sheryl Browne

Goodreads Review ~ A Year Like No Other

A Year Like No Other by Pauline Lawless

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

 A Year No Like Other brings together four women to live for a year in the beautiful city of Paris: Ashling, who loves all things French and can’t wait to go. Taylor, a prescription drug addict, spoilt and tolerated by her husband, is less thrilled. Felicity, a nervous unworldly woman dominated by her mother, is petrified at the prospect, but determined to do her duty to her husband. For beautiful, ambitious Jazz, who has relationship issues, the relocation is a career move and will also allow her space to take stock.

First off, I must congratulate Pauline Lawless on transporting the reader to the wonderful, eclectic city of Paris. From the cosy Parisian Café, Les Deux Magots, to the colourful Montmartre, I was there. To the story. What I wanted from the book was to see how the women changed in an environment vastly different from their own, as surely they must. Would they grasp the chance to grow and flourish? Or would they be unable to break free of ingrained traits and habits and flounder? Would their relationships be altered? The author didn’t fail to deliver. For some, it was a happy journey of personal discovery as they embraced opportunity. For one, whose weaknesses held her back, the journey was less fruitful. I enjoyed A Year Like No Other immensely. So much so, it sent me off in search of another of the author’s books. Thank you, Pauline, for an extremely pleasurable read.



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Goodreads Review ~ Faerytale

Faerytale by Rachael Fuller

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As a small child, I remember not being very impressed when the only book left on the shelf of our little primary school library was a fairy tale book. Ugh, not for me - a tomboy, and precocious obviously! Leafing moodily through the pages of Grimm's Fairy Tales, I reluctantly began to read, and my eyes grew wide with pleasure and surprise. I was engrossed, totally absorbed, mesmerised. Rachael Fuller's Faerytale, told in the truer, darker style of the Brothers Grimm, whisked me back to that childhood, spellbound behind the bookshelves, absorbed in the classical telling of mystical tales. No sugar-coated fairies here, oh, no. They're more like naughty little imps. Told in magical narrative rhyme, this is the story of Lucy - far too old to believe in wood nymphs, dragons and fairies, who is forced to follow her little sister down a rabbit hole, find her and bring her safely back home before the skies fade to black. Faerytale is traditional fairy-storytelling at its best - and you don't have to be a child to enjoy it.

My only regret is that I didn't buy extra copies for nieces and nephews. Two I have in mind I know will adore it. It's free at the moment on Amazon Kindle, but the cover is so beautifully illustrated, I'm going for hard copies. I did! And they do!


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Goodreads Review ~ Sometimes It Happens

by Pauline Barclay

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Feeling definitely off par, I curled up with my dog and reached for a pick-me-up - and what a fabulous antidote to post Christmas blues coupled with a nasty cold Sometimes It Happens was. Right from outset, I felt as if I was there, sipping champagne on my sun-drenched terrace at the exclusive Villas Bronitas, or lingering over my coffee whilst people-watching at the café in the Old Square. Pauline Barclay has a way of transporting you right to the location.

At first I wasn't sure about Doreen's propensity to giggle, but soon realised that this was who she was, a bubbly, big-hearted woman, a la a young Barbara Windsor, determined to laugh whatever the weather, but whose giggle sometimes masked an inner nervousness. Also a square peg in a round hole, it seemed, catapulted from her poor East-ender existence to the luxurious resort in Spain, along with her daughter, Trisha, who was obviously never starved of her mother's love. This is a true rags-to-riches story, the underlying message being that we are all the same beneath the veneer and that money can't necessarily buy happiness. Pauline brings us an eclectic mix of characters, some larger than life, but all with human traits and foibles we recognise. The Hoskins are typically full of airs and graces, Shelia Hoskins in particular, looking snootily down her offended nose at someone who clearly doesn't `belong'. Jack, for all his chauvinistic boorishness, I couldn't help cheering on the in the end. Gay barristers Simon and Chicky are quite delightful and probably the most functional couple - loved the beach scene - and the redoubtable Frau Hecks brought a tear to my eye. Patrick was perfect. In my minds eye, a cockney Don Draper from Mad Men, quiet, authoritative and definitely fanciable. In short, Sometimes It Happens ticked all my boxes.


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