Rachel Greenlaw

Mira and others in her village live in hardscrabble times and conditions, The climate is unwelcoming to crops and the people who rule are greedy and ruthless. Her mother died in the sea, doing what Mira does as her replacement, one of seven working a line from shore to wrecked vessels, some drawn to treacherous rocks by she and the others on shore. She's never been uncomfortable in the water. Every time she asks her father to see what's in the chest left after Mom died, he puts her off. Then during a mission to see what is in a freshly wrecked vessel, they spring a trap and her father is taken prisoner, to be hanged in nine days.
Desperate to save him, Mira and a mysterious young man she rescued during another shipwreck, take a small boat at night to another island. She hoping to sell glass beads for enough to bribe the warden and get her father released. The young man's motives are a bit murky. When he 'manages' to secure passage on a vessel that she hopes can take her to the location she discovered after opening the sealed chest once her father was taken prisoner, it's the beginning of a voyage full of mystery, revelations about her mother and herself, plus instances of betrayal, grief, and eventual servitude to a most mysterious man. I'm quite interested in where the sequel takes readers.… (altro)

This was a really enjoyable Christmas read covering the story of Eva who has reached a crisis point in her life, following a period of grief and hiding herself away in other things. Suddenly over a Christmas away her gran re-appears to her and this is the cue for ghostly intervention.

I felt this was a very cleverly put together book that gave the right amount of time to introducing us to Eva’s life, the ghostly interventions and what happened following this intervention. Eva, and the reader, definitely goes on a rollercoaster of emotions seeing her life crisis from different viewpoints, and there are some hard hitting punches thrown in there too. I love the plotting of the book and the characters were cleverly written so that you ended up caring about all of them.

I loved the ending to the book and some of the messages that it delivered, as well as seeing the changes in Eva, it do be aware this isn’t all sunshine and roses.

I would definitely recommend this book, and would be keen to read more books by this author.… (altro)

This novel presents a contemporary version of "A Christmas Carol" with a twist! Imagine reliving Christmas Day in a loop, seeing the day and its events through the eyes of different people. Eva puts all her efforts into opening her new shop, at the expense of all her relationships with friends and to the detriment of her marriage. Her driven attitude enables her to mask her true feelings and thoughts about tragic events of the past. When Eva and her husband James attend a holiday party with friends, she is forced through unusual means to confront her life as it is rapidly falling apart.

This is an intense read that is set at Christmas time, although it could have taken place at any time of the year. I found it unsettling yet compelling, with its lessons for all of us to recall the important things in our lives, and to relinquish past sorrows and cares.

I received this novel from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.… (altro)

Eva's life was upended on Christmas 3 years earlier, and she can't get past it. Her marriage to the love of her life, James, is crumbling, and she pours herself into her work. Her friends feel neglected, as does her husband. She doesn't know how to handle her crushing grief.
Then one Christmas morning, she wakes up over and over again in another's body, allowing her to take a look at her life and how her single-mindedness and her grief has consumed her. She begins to understand and re-evaluate things. Hopefully, this Christmas will finally allow Eva to grow and overcome her grief and move on.
A heartbreaking, but ultimately uplifting, Christmas story.… (altro)