Billionaire's Forbidden Nanny Romance by Sass Green
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The title of this book indicates it is going to be a romance novel and for most of the story it felt quite predictable. It came across to me as a typical ‘rags to riches’ kind of tale, with rich guy Hunter Stone attracting poor little, struggling musician, Lexi Hart, into a loving relationship with him that will solve all her future problems. There were some editing issues, as well as an annoying, constant, changing in the point-of-view of the exposition of the story, which affected my overall rating.

The initial introduction of Lexi and Hunter when she assists in calming down his little daughter, Ava, during the child’s tantrum is well written. It came across as most believable, as did the majority of the situations and conversations throughout the book. The author has a particular knack for creating understandable scenarios and dialogue. The slowly developing attraction between the older man and the much younger woman is done with skill and patience. However, I found the repeated descriptions of the various physical attributes of most of the characters a bit tedious after a while. The inner disquiet that Lexi and Hunter each feel about their attraction, due of course to the age and class difference, is a sensitive part of the exposition. But I thought this clashed dramatically and harshly with the final dozen or so pages. That section was definitely there to eroticise readers and I found it too distasteful to accept as part of a ‘romantic genre’ tale. For me it was obviously puerile titillation, spoiling much of the interesting subtlety created throughout the bulk of the tale up to that point.


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Just One Goodbye: Poems from the Heart by Balroop Singh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Balroop Singh’s collection of poems about the loss of her husband is unremitting in its poignancy for the first dozen or so poems. For about twenty pages I was reduced to tears with so many beautifully expressed feelings in so many verses. You are so aware of Balroop’s need to say goodbye to him after her unexpected loss. The melancholy is dripping off each of those pages, maybe too cloying at times, but when she finds strength in her muse in the second half of the collection we can try to understand the solace from her pain that she sometimes finds there. In fact in the poem, “Learning to Live Without You” Singh realises that her muse will kick her “out of her mourning!” And she begins to recognise that her muse is her “prized protector.”

From other collections of her poems I was aware of Balroop Singh’s love of nature and in the poem here, “A Reverie,” I was not surprised to read that when she sought freedom from the gloom of grief, she found light and sweetness and beauty once more in flowers, butterflies; and she borrowed “light from fireflies/ To ignite my will to live/ To be as spontaneous as ever… To soothe my grieving heart.”

The explanation of her journey through this is shown by so many verses, from lines like, “Shocked beyond words,” and “Hope flew away with you,” to some of those in the poem titled “Nostalgia” when she finds precious uplifting memories. There are words here that help to remind her to carry on with life as best she can. Using her memories of her lost husband she says:
“Your smiles shine around me
Calling upon me to be myself.”

The later poems give a small but important break from Balroop’s grief when she recalls fond times with her soulmate, through winter snows and nature walks around their home:
“I am swept off by the north wind,
Grappling to find a foothold,
Wishing you could hold me
Just for a while.”
This is a lovely, but heart-breaking collection, and worth all the empathy one can find.


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Threads: A Daydream on the Birth of the Universe and the History of Human Thought by Clay Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For a while I felt as though I was reading the script for this theatre production. There was even a character list, and three pages about a workshop, a reading, and a first performance at the beginning of the book. At the end of the book I still had that strong impression because of the way each Act was presented on the page. The references to Tarot cards at the start of the Act and as certain characters did help to accept it as a fresh kind of novel in the end.

The choice of lead character names like ‘Ex’ and ‘Wye’ was brilliant and the general philosophy as the plot developed became all too obvious within the first Act. There were indications of considerable research and ideas from all kinds of religions as well as tenets and theories from science and other faiths. By the time I got to the end I felt that there were a lot of significant and interesting points made in it and I was pleased to have read it. It illustrated the many delights and varied difficulties during the stages of most human lives. I found some of the language and terminology a bit too crude and contemporary for my liking, but I expect I'm too 'old fashioned' about politeness in ‘company’ I suppose! However, I would love to watch the actual play if it should ever come to the UK.
Recommended, as I’m sure the book and the play provide an almost unique experience for anyone.



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