NetGalley Reviewer nix21230

This is a fascinating story about a rhino (Clara) being brought from Asia to Europe by boat in 1740.  A great insight in life onboard a ship sailing from India to Europe, the struggles, the need to work together and the challenges posed by women at the time. Add in some amazing fact about rhinos in genearl and Clara in particular.  It is a gripping and entertaining story, with believable characters (including that priest...) driving the two timelines forward to a satisfactory ending. All in all, a great historical novel built on facts and the author's imagination.  PS. I LOVE the book cover! #TheRhinoKeeper #NetGalley

Travel writing and historical events are blended together in this beautiful and inspiring story told over two timelines.  1927. Violet is a student at the Edinburgh School of Gardening for Women and she clearly an early journaller, writing down her thoughts on life as well as documenting her work at the school. Once she realises she's pregnant and not yet married, she decides to escape the school before it's too late. She embarks on an epic journey to Nepal to be with the father of the child, a fellow student from the gardening school (the male part of it...).  2020. Daisy has come across Violet's journals and when she finds herself divorced and the children have flown the nest, she decides to follow her dream of retracing the footsteps of her great-great-aunt Violet. I normally dislike Covid being part of fiction books, but in this one, Fiona Valpy has skilfully used it to strengthen the story, to make it more believable.  Lovely feel-good story with botanics thrown in a...

This is the third book in the series, and it should really be read after the previous two. The idea behind the Mercury Travel Club is fab - themed trips with like-minded people. The latest idea - a treasure trail around Scotland sounds like a success! Angie is building her relationship with Micheal, but will her terrible communication skills ruin it before it has really started? Charlie has his dream wedding, and the travel agency a new possible opportunity. Patty is back on dry land and getting more and more involved in the travel agency.  Interesting characters, a few laughs and a dodgy competitor. Less travel, more every day life.  #TheHighLife

With 35 million (!) digital nomads who are living, working and exploring to the world it is apparent that you don't need to sacrifice your career to travel the world.  How to Be a Digital Nomad sets out strategies, and shares tips and advise on how to build build a successful career without having to be in a traditional office 9 to 5. Ihrig has created a fab handbook where she freely shares her own as well as other travellers' experience of a nomad lifestyle. The triangle of freedom: achieve freedom with regards to location, time and finances. Even if you're not planning on becoming a digital nomad, the book includes many great pointers on how to get the most out of any working life - office based or nomadic. It challenges the 'normal' we are used to, although what is 'normal' has definitely changed following COVID.  ‘No one regrets travelling’  Ihring also include practical check lists, e.g. back up your work, pack a vomit bag, don't impulse buy things,...

Cass has agreed to help her father out by taking on a photography project in the Caribbean Island of Dominica -- the 'simple' mission is to to use an old, hand-drawn map to find a rare stone carving, and to take photos of it. The island has recently been hit be a severe hurricane, leaving destruction in its wake and Cass find herself part of the rescue mission. She creates close bonds with some of the other members of the rescue mission, including her father's contact Ranulph who she travelled to the island with.  In true "romance novel tactic" they both doubt that the other ones is interested and misunderstandings develop to later be resolved. Entertaining, uplifting story of finding courage and love, with the added benefit of getting to know Dominica and life there - and finding out Fforde's connection to the island. This title will be published on 15 February 2024. #IslandintheSun #NetGalley

A Paris Odyssey is the third book in the Odyssey series by Axel Forrester.  When I found this one on Netgalley, I realised that I hadn't yet read the second story - A Chinese Odyssey. Fortunately they are all short stories and only takes an hour or two to read each, so I went and read the previous first; I definitely recommend reading them all in order! In this instalment Grant heads to Paris (surprise, surprise!) for a few weeks to get inspired by Parisian life and develop his art - again his cameras are the main instruments.  Using his cameras and a lot of walking he explores mainly the non-touristy parts of Paris; all made even more interesting with the characterful people he gets to know and hangs out with. As with Forrester's two previous stories, it is part autobiography, part fiction, written like a diary documenting life in Paris. What you see is what you get and a great way to explore a new place.  I wonder where Grant is heading next! #AParisOdyssey #NetGalley

Bybee has written another fab book in the D'Angelos series - great holiday read, perhaps even more so if you're heading to Italy and love wine! Amazing combination of romance, travel, independence, life experience and wine. Oh, and not to forget the Golden Girls!! This is the third book in the D'Angelos series - you really ought to read them all!! - and it'll be available at the end of June 2023. My review of the second book in the series, Be your everything , can be found ## here ##. #BeginningofForever #NetGalley

This book sounded interesting and unusual with the mixture of real persons and their guardian angels, and some nasty demons set on causing havoc. I was also looking forward to a story set in warmer climates than what we're experiencing in the United Kingdom at the moment (with the first snow falling today). The first few chapters where slow going, but definitely needed, as the author was introducing the many characters in the holiday village. Once all the persons and their angels had been introduced, and we've learnt what each of them contribute to village life, the story took off. Greed, envy and self disbelief all feature, but the angels do their best to lighten the mood by encouraging their wards to believe in themselves and care for others.  In the end I was left with a positive feeling and perhaps a little kick up the back to not just "plod along". I really enjoyed the complexities, the way the locals "accept" the tourist - perhaps some less so than oth...