Aussie Readers discussion

Hold Me Again by Rory Church


"Jake helped her up from the ground. His large hand nearly encircled her upper arm. She really was a slim, trim, fighting machine. He swatted dirt and snow from her pants and felt a quiver up into his neck.....touch her more."

Rachel's nose clogs with dust. She didn't know dirt had such a strong smell: gritty, powdery and sunny. She scoots around to the other side of the wreckage where Gussy can't see her, swiping madly at flies. Gussy doesn't seem to mind the lacy shawl of them she is wearing, but Rachel already hates the little crawling bodies.

All Fall Down by Aussie author Cassandra Austin

My teaser is from Tell a Thousand Lies by Rasana Atreya

I just wanted to be an ordinary girl, married to a man who would provide me with a municipal tap, and three meals a day, while I cooked and cleaned for him.

My teaser this week is from Force of Temptation by Suzanne Wright:

...Best of all was the little reading alcove in the corner. It was framed by shelves of books and had a built-in chaise with a pillow and a fake fur blanket, making it look like some kind of rustic magical retreat. Being somewhat of a book junkie, she was going to love spending time in that little haven. She distrusted anyone, anyone, who said they didn’t like reading...

I would agree with that last sentence :)

Oh thank goodness you remembered Sally! I completely forgot!

Tamar raised her eyebrows. 'That wasn't a very nice thing to do to Mrs Heath, dear. You know she doesn't like being pestered while she's cooking.'
'No, I know, but if we're still here when Erin arrives we'll never get out the door.'

Blue Smoke by Deborah Challinor

Sally906 wrote: "My teaser this week is from Force of Temptation by Suzanne Wright:

...Best of all was the little reading alcove in the cor..."

Completely agree with you!

My teaser is from Outback Blaze by Rachael Johns

"Taking courage from her reaction he let his hand on her neck trawl lower, cupping her right breast, rubbing tiny strokes across her nipple. It peaked beneath his touch and a beautiful moan escaped her lips.....hand"

I've just started An Isolated Incident by Emily Maguire so here is my teaser from the opening chapter:

"Funny thing is that even when they pulled the sheet back I thought for a minute it wasn't her. I thought, Jesus, what happened to this poor kid, this poor girl, someone's darling girl, how do you do that to someone's precious beautiful girl, this poor little thing with hair just like Bella's."

(I must apologise for a run of gruesome teasers lately but it seems to be what I read on Tuesdays!)

That's okay, Caroline. We read gruesome every day of the week!

Grrrr! I hate it when I can't get my mits on Aussie books!

"... he though Patrice was about to shoot the woman dead....
He said, 'Patrice?' again, making it a question. 'Patrice? You don't want to do anything foolish now.'
Given that Patrice's most recent exploit had involved engineering a car smash on a busy London road, this didn't carry as much weight as River might have hoped. So he stepped forward and stretched an arm out in front of the woman. Speaking of foolish things: this would stop a bullet like the butter stops a knife."

Spook Street by Mick Herron

“We others are not like you. We are more prickly, more jittery, more restless, more reckless, more secretive, more desperate, more cowardly, more bold. We live at the edges of ourselves, not in the middle places. We leave that to you. Did I say: more watchful? That above all. We watch you, we follow you, we spy on you, we obsess over you.”

We Others: New and Selected Stories by Steven Millhauser

"...Then I want to start buying a few things.'
'Ah...yes. Such as?'
He dabbed at his lips with a napkin. 'Well, for a start, a street.'
'A street?'
'Yes. Nothing too ostentatious, and it doesn't have to be very long, but I want a whole street, somewhere near the city center. Do you think you can look for a suitable one immediately?'

Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks

My teaser is from A Monstrous Place by Matthew Stott

‘No word on that Billy Tyler laddo, I see, hm?’ said Mr Adams to Molly and her friend Neil.
‘Nope. Word is he’s made his way to Scotland to look for the Loch Ness Monster,’ replied Molly.
‘Oh yes, good plan, about time that snooty beastie was brought down a peg or two,’ said Mr Adams.
Was almost a month since Billy Tyler had vanished into thin air. All that had been found of was a single Doctor Who slipper, tipped onto its side on the front garden path.


Of course the reader knows what has happened to Billy :)

Just about to start Silkworm Secrets by Lea Davey

There had been great excitement the day the silkworms first came to the treehouse. Walking knee-deep through the dense covering of ferns and bushes beneath the mulberry tree, Bobby had announced that he had a surprise for Ruby in his satchel.

My Tuesday teaser is from The Country Practice by Meredith Appleyard

"Meghan struggled up through what felt like molasses. There was a dog barking. The lighter her sleep became, the closer the barking sound. She opened her eyes. "What the Hell?" It couldn't....window"

From the opening chapter of Raven Black by Ann Cleeves:

"He came to with a start, knowing he'd been in the middle of a nightmare, but not sure of the details.
'Come in,' he shouted. 'Come in, come in.' He struggled to his feet, stiff and aching. They must already be in the storm porch. He heard the hiss of their whispers.
The door was pushed open, letting in a blast of freezing air and two young girls, who were as gaudy and brightly coloured as exotic birds."

Ooh, Michael, that's a good one. I think I'll have to add it to my TBR and move The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear up a bit

I have it in my ginormous TBR, Michael.....

"When Freya went out to the trailer again, the day was gone. Time was like that, though - one moment an open sky that stretched and stretched and you were bored and waiting, and hungry in a way you couldn't describe, not knowing what was going to happen next or what you were supposed to do. And then. Clouds from one end of the sky to the other, shot through with flashes of lightning, the low rumble of thunder, the first drops of rain spattering and fading on the footpath and the warm road, and all of a sudden, this sense of urgency."

The Restorer by Michael Sala
love this cover , BTW

Time drifted like the sea. During the day, full of repressed mischief, the girls occasionally slipped grapes into the shoes left outside of cabin doors and told tall stories to the Chinese cabin boys, declaring that they were Siamese princesses, running off to join a Catholic convent, becoming postulants, trainee nuns. In the afternoons they took part in shuffleboard contests and attended tea dances while at night, sipping from tall glasses of lemonade along the Lido deck, Aziz showed Sum Sum the constellations, pointing out the stars whilst singing Urdu folk songs to the moon.

The House Of Trembling Leaves by Julian Lees

Some of the aphorisms in Leonardo's writings have the soaring quality of biblical verse, and even parallelism, reminiscent of Proverbs, Psalms, or Ecclesiastes. Here is the Leonado who famously wrote, "Beauty in life perishes, not in art", expressing his certainty that painting is art's highest form: 'Thirst will parch your tongue and your body will waste through lack of sleep ere you can describe in words that which painting instantly sets before the eye,'

Leonardo Da Vinci by Sherwin B. Nuland

"Angela Chase is like no mother I've encountered. Frantic is the word that defines most. Unhinged. Desperate. Most guzzle coffee. Have to be forced to eat so they don't pass out. The whole time the investigation goes on, they stay focused on what's happening, make sure that the police are doing everything.
Angela? She isn't like that. Not at all.
Angela took some pills and tucked in for the night."

The Sound of Rain by Gregg Olsen

My teaser is from Hex on the Beach by Gina LaManna

...A face started down at me – a male face topped with dishevelled hair black as a midnight ocean, with eyes to match. They stared at me, and I felt myself tipping, swirling into their depths. I screamed, and my hand came up, swinging a hardcore punch straight to his face. Thankfully, the man was quick. Unlike me, he hadn’t just woken from a deep dream, and his fighting moves were less groggy than mine. His hand caught my wrist just millimetres from his nose...

We all forgot to post a teaser this week. I guess we're all recovering from the weekend readathon!

Carolyn wrote: "We all forgot to post a teaser this week. I guess we're all recovering from the weekend readathon!"

Wow, Carolyn. We all did forget to post.

Haha! When I saw your post I thought it must be Tuesday still! lol

That's what three days of solid reading will do to you Brenda :P

You're right there! And all the reviews to write at the end of it ;)

I thought it must be Tuesday too. I was about to grab my book and look for a quote! Oh well. We had better all get really good ones next Tuesday!

LOL! Glad it's not just me!

Oh I remembered, just not when I had time to find something to post. And then I went out, and then I forgot. Next week!

A couple was having wedding photos taken in the park. They seemed to be laughing and playing up for the camera. Having fun. They think they have a lifetime to spend together, she thought sadly. I hope you will have many years of happiness. When they were out of sight Hannah realised that she was sobbing. She'd seemed to barely feel the tears on her numb red-raw face anymore.

Finding Hannah by Fiona McCallum

"Sometimes she wanted to know where she came from, but she knew better than to ask. Questions like that were off task, and being off task made the Mothers angry."

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

Runaway by Peter May

"He tilted his head, and the slightest of smiles crept over his lips. 'Jack Mackay. Jack the Lad. Ye of the unexplained.....you cocked it up royally this time, boy."

"The sheriff plucked my phone from my hand....'Phillip,' he said, in what was meant to be a reassuring voice. 'This is the sheriff. Son, give me a clue where you are.'
There was a slight pause, voices coming faintly over the phone.
'I can't talk any more.' Phillip said. His voice was dull. 'He's got a gun to her head.'
And the line went dead"

from the ninth book in the Aurora Teagarden series, All the Little Liars by Charlaine Harris

From To The Sea by Christine Dibley:

"The divers had their doubts about the search. The water was clear and not more than eight metres in the deepest pockets but shallower in most of the area around Table Rock. There were no currents and it was hard to explain how a strong swimmer familiar with these waters could have got into any difficulty. And if she had got into difficulty, where was her body?"

I haven't started my next book so will try to come back later when I do ;)

Same:)

'There's an interesting twist to this one. It seems that her Aunt Minnie --'
'What happened to Aunt Glad?'
'Still looking for hairy nuns, I expect. Anyway, Powell's Aunt Minnie is reliably informed that the fake parsons are coming here in order to kidnap healthy English girls and force them into German baby farms. Hitler likes the English bloodstock, you see.'
Jim laughed. 'I wouldn't have thought we were pure enough for the Nazis. Britain is made up of a bit of everything. Anyway, doesn't she and Aunt Minnie know that Nazis disguised as English clergymen invariably give themselves away when they stub their toe and swear loudly in German?'

Ambulance Girls (Ambulance Girls #1) by Deborah Burrows

My teaser is from Seven Nights in a Rogue's Bed by Aussie author Anna Campbell:

...What had she done? Sidonie remained as trapped as she had been since Roberta had flung herself on her mercy two days ago. She should have known her attempts to leave after only one night would fail. While Merrick cajoled her into staying, she’d desperately struggled to avoid her fate. But the threat to her sister remained paramount. Last time William lost his temper, he’d broken Roberta’s arm and two ribs. If he learned his wife had betrayed him with his worst enemy, he’d kill her...

ooh, good teaser!

I've only read 1 Anna Campbell's (as I don't read many straight out romance novels) but I loved that one.

Tien wrote: "'There's an interesting twist to this one. It seems that her Aunt Minnie --'
'What happened to Aunt Glad?'
'Still looking for hairy nuns, I expect. Anyway, Powell's Aunt Minnie is reliably informed..."

I only learned about this one yesterday Tien and put it straight on my wish list :) I'll be keen to know what you think when you're done!

Brenda wrote: "I only learned about this one yesterday Tien and put it straight on my wish list :) I'll be keen to know what you think when you're done! "

Am past halfway, Brenda. I expect I shall finish tomorrow then post review. I'll also be posting Q&A with Burrows on the blog... so interesting when the MC is based on a real historical person! Keeps you wondering how much of what you read could be true ;)

That's very true. A Letter from Italy is the same :)

Brenda wrote: "That's very true. A Letter from Italy is the same :)"

That one's on my tbr... a friend's going to pass me her copy when she's done :)

I'm sure you'll love it! I did!

We both look ... demure, I suppose is the word, although no one has ever described me that way before. We are unrecognisable as the girls from the festival: the girls who painted our bodies and faces gold to whirl and howl under the moon. Those girls are gone, both dead in their different ways.

He Said/She Said by Erin Kelly

We have lost so much.
There are many Norse goddesses. We know their names and some of their attributes and powers, but the tales, myths and rituals have not come down to us. I wish I could retell the tales of Eir, because she was the doctor of the gods, of Lofn, the comforter, who was a Norse goddess of marriages, or of Sjofn, a goddess of love.Not to mention Vor, goddess of wisdom. I can imagine stories, but I cannot tell their tales. They are lost, or buried, or forgotten.

From by Neil Gaiman, from the introduction.

"Beth lingers in the lounge room watching as a brave little tug boat pilots an enormous container ship into the harbour. Right now she could do with some help negotiating the treacherous waters of mother-daughter-in-law relationships, mother-daughter relationships, life itself. It would be lovely to have some quick, clever vessel guide you in the murky waters of your own life"

From The Golden Child by Wendy James