Thanks to everyone that has contributed reviews during March, it has been inspiring and also comforting to read through the many positive reflections that have been posted by everyone.  During March there were 87 reviews for a total of 48 books.  This meant of course that some titles had more than one review, highlighting how we love as reviewers to see new books hit the shelves and provide our thoughts on them.  It is certainly a challenging time for authors to be releasing their works so the more we can promote them positively the better.  And it has been wonderful to see how the writing community are engaging with their readers in all sorts of innovative ways so keep an eye out on Facebook and Instagram live sessions with our awesome Australian Women Writers – they are very generous with their time and they definitely need our support over the coming months.

Cassie Hamer’s End of Cuthbert Close was popular with two reviewers this month.  Brenda’s reviews thought it was a great insight into “typical suburbia with humour, family, friendships, motherhood and money struggles combined with a seriously tricky mystery.  This made The End of Cuthbert Close a highly readable story which I recommend”.

“I think Cuthbert close would be a lovely place to live, there are so many laughs along the way as these ladies determine what to do with their futures but above all else even when things are thrown in their paths they remain fast friends and work through their emotions.  This is a page turner at its best, one that I would highly recommend and give 5 stars” from Helen’s Reviews

Karina Kilmore’s debut novel Where the truth lies has hit the shelves and received a glowing review from Marianne’s reviews ‘Kilmore’s experience as a journalist is apparent on every page, and she manages to incorporate many topical issues into her plot which has numerous twists, red herrings and sub-plots”

Jennifer Cameron’s Reviews (JC-S) thought there was plenty of action in this crime thriller.  “I picked up this novel and couldn’t put it down.  For much of the book, I was trying to work out who was doing what (and why)” Sounds interesting doesn’t it!

Veronica@The Burgeoning Bookshelf read the second novel by Sarah Brill titled Symphony for the man and described it as follows. ‘It is a beautifully written story about a homeless man, living in a bus shelter in the seaside suburb of Bondi, and a young woman, an introvert, lacking direction in her life.  In this nuanced story Brill gives us the human side to homelessness and shows that there is compassion everywhere in the small acts of kindness that people perform everyday.’  It certainly sounds like this one resonated with Veronica and I am sure with many other readers.

And a lovely one to finish off to remind us to head back to Kangaroo Island when we can, like all our other beautiful destinations that are missing us right now.

Victoria Purman’s Only We Know reviewed by Sharon Hill states that the majority of the story is set in Kangaroo Island, a place I would actually like to visit one day.  A beautiful story about family secrets, love and loss.

The other popular and multi-reviewed titles will no doubt feature in the Literary Fiction round up coming soon.

About me : Ever since my year nine English teacher placed My Brilliant Career, Harp in the South, Coonardoo and The Timeless Land in my hand Australian Women Writers who pen historical and contemporary fiction has been my favourite genre.  Managing a rural library service in Northern Victoria I am surrounded by books all day and it is hard to remain on the task-in-hand rather than be amongst the shelves (particularly the Australian Fiction section, and now more recently we have no lovely customers visiting us each day!) But no, librarians do not read all day but I certainly try and make up for it any time I can!

Cheers for now, stay safe, stay well,

Jenny