Book Review and Preview: The Ship Of Brides By Jo Jo Moyes

This is a book review and sneak preview of The Ship Of Brides by Jo Jo Moyes that was published on 28 October 2014.

Jo Jo Moyes is a New York best seller and has written a dozen books (I've read Me Before You which I loved and that's why I was drawn to this one). Jo Jo writes for a variety of magazines and newspapers and lives with her family on a farm in Essex, England.

It's the end of World War 11 and thousands of Australian women are packing up and heading over to England to be with the British servicemen they married during war time.

This story starts in 2002 and is narrated by a grandmother who starts to tell the story of the ship of brides based in 1946.

Most war brides were shipped across the seas on a luxury sea liner, but these brides are boarded onto an aircraft carrier ship, with a crew of men and aircraft for it's 6 week journey. There are no private cabins, entertainment, fine dining or the luxury of the other sea liners.

The book focuses on four young women who share a cabin and each tell their stories of home, the life they are leaving behind, how they met their partners and the life they are going to start with them when they arrive in England.

The realisation that these women onboard were leaving everything behind to start a new life in another country was really so brave, some had married in haste, some were pregnant, some were very young teenagers, and some were given the dreaded telegram "Not wanted. Don't come" part way through the voyage.

This book struck an emotional connection with me because I have done this exact journey on the Oriana cruise ship - from Fremantle, Western Australia to Southhampton, United Kingdom which took 6.5 weeks!

I loved the writing in this book and felt that I was right onboard with these girls living with them and being a part of their dreams and fears. This is a fiction story based on real life events and is a brilliant piece of Australian history.

I recommend this book to Jo Jo fans, romantics and anyone interested in Australian history.

I give this book 5 stars out of 5

Jarrah Jungle's Star Rating:
1 Bad - I'd rather eat brussel sprouts topped with anchovies than read this again
2 Not Good - I'd rather watch re-runs of Neighbours than read this again
3 Ok - I'm sitting on the fence - its not great but not terrible either
4 Good - I'd pass up a pack of tim tams for this read
5 Great - I'd pass up a date with Johnny Depp for this read

The Ship Of Brides can be purchased from Penguin here

Sharing my book review on Good Reads here and Netgalley

You can find Jo Jo's website here

Disclosure: Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this eBook published by Penguin to review. As always, all opinions are my own.

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[Image via Penguin]

Back On The Blog .... And A Special Announcement!

Hello everyone, I know it's only been a few weeks since I signed off the blog but it feels like forever! While I love sharing snippets on Facebook and Instagram I really did miss writing on this blog space of mine. It's good to be back!

My holiday at home was great we almost finished the laundry/powder room renovation, we hung some internal doors and handles to all the bedrooms, we met with a surveyor and our local council about starting the subdivision process of our block. We threw an awesome Italian themed MKR dinner party and I have lots of recipes and table decor ideas I'm be sharing here soon.

We fit a lot into a few days at home and were well and truly ready for a holiday after that!

Our cruise holiday on board Carnival Legend around the South Pacific islands with Mr P and my parents was fantastic. Carnival Cruises were a really great cruise line to travel with I think they will do very well in their transition to Australian waters.

I have so much to share about the cruise that it will need it's own blog post too ..... especially the delicious food on board I think I ate every hour on the hour!

I have been busy doing some product reviews which I must share with you soon as I think you may just want to add them to your Christmas shopping list! I also have some giveaways planned as well to get into the festive spirit. It's all happening,

I just need to find the time between work and play to blog about it!

A really special moment that I have been absolutely dying to share is that Mr P asked me to marry him!

We have been engaged for a little while now enough time to tell my family and friends although keeping it quiet while we were away on our cruise for the week was very hard but really special too giving us time to enjoy and savour the moment. It was such a beautiful proposal and a perfect way to start our holiday together .... once I'd gotten over the shock of it all that is!

Now you know that I love a good party and party planning is my favourite thing to do so I have a million ideas swimming around my head for the engagement party I'm just so exciting I can't wait to get started. I haven't thought too much about the wedding just yet I'm enjoying the excitement of the moment with family and friends and of course the love of my life Mr P xxx

So tell me what have you been up to?

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[All images my own]