The books I read in the 2nd half of 2023

I must admit: I had a reading dip in the 2nd half of the year, although I'm surprised I ended up with 6 books after all.  I did so many in 2022 in August alone but this year we've not had a long beach/pool lazy vacation at all so that makes a big difference.  
I also had a couple of books that didn't catch me very much, so I dragged them to the end at a slow pace. 

So what did I read? 

Liz Fenwick: Onder de hemel van Cornwall. 

I've read a few of her books in the last years that always take place in Cornwall.  One day I'll go to Cornwall as she's painted marvellous mysterious landscapes with impressive tidal rivers and little harbours and small villages etc..

This time was no different.  Demi has just lost her mother and broke up with her friend when she inherits part of a historic domain in Cornwall from her father she has never known.  But she's not the only owner,...she shares the property with his ex-wife who is not willing to share her heritence with the new intruder. And yet they'll have to work together. And who's the handsome young gardener...There's always romance in the air in Liz Fenwick's books. 

Yep this was nice easy reading in the summer vacation. 

Lucy Kellaway - Onder kantoortijd

A story about 2 affairs going on on the work floor.  So far from my world that I was rolling my eyes all the time. They knew it was a bad idea, they knew it would end badly so they were going to end it 100 times and yet never did.  Hmm. I was not so much impressed.  

But hey, credit to the author for not making it a happy end. 

Nora Roberts - Winter wonder 

I plucked this book from the same shelves as Liz Fenwick and Jane Fallon so I knew I was up for some easy romantic stories. Much to my surprise this is a 2-in-1 book , so in fact 2 stories.   In the first story the romance was so clearly about to happen and I wondered how many pages they'd drag it on, but it was ok...it was only half the book :)

Twice a young woman moves, they meet quickly a local man, there are adorable cute children that connect first and then ...new love finds its way.  I enjoyed this at Christmas time and was relieved after a few difficult books that I could just digest this very easily. 


Sophie Zijlstra - Ik Alleen. 

Sometimes I want to read historic romans so I search for those labels.  I found this one about Willem I, the Dutch king that has also ruled over Belgium for 15 years. 

The book deals with the last night before his abdication...something I did not know, so I learned some history about the Dutch royals. But that night seemed so weird, incoherent with Willem reflecting past events, dreaming, being paranoia and it all makes such a bizarre delusional mix that is hard to follow.  

Susan Abulhawa - The Blue between Sky and Water. 

With the current world news, I took this book about a Palestinian family history that lives through the Nakba, flees to Gaza, gets split and is in diaspora and tries to survive all hardships.  In a way it's crual although the violence seems to just pass quickly, as a matter of fact in the book. 

Much more attention goes to the fate and relationships of each family member, and how some sort of family ghosts keeps them together. Those are the red line across the book but my factual mind made that hard to pick up and go along. 

I've really struggled with this book but felt it was my duty to complete it, out of respect for the Palestinian fate. 

Jo Claes - Vermoorde onschuld

I finished this in 2 days...I don't need more.  Just drag me into a story and keep me going.  And fun to learn that the cover picture is on the Leuven cemetary at a few hundred meters of my home.