Archive for category: Original Blog Posts

Hi! I’m Helen Gambarota and I am delighted to be back with Jo’s Weekly Workout Family to share my love of books with you.

I am a total book nerd and an avid reader and a compulsive book buyer. I started reviewing books on Instagram as @BestBookFoward almost 5 years ago and I love chatting about books and sharing my passion for reading.

If you’d like more book inspiration you can find my reviews on my Instagram account which is @BestBookForward, on Facebook or on my website bestbookforward.org

It’s been a while since I’ve shared a book recommendation with you but I am back with an absolute cracker! I cannot wait for you to fall in love with this one, it’s Goodbye Birdie Greenwing by Ericka Waller.

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Goodbye Birdie Greenwing is the tale of three women, all living side by side without knowing each other, who find the friendship, love and support that they so desperately need when a series of incidents brings them together. I don’t know about you but I’m always curious about those people we see every day but don’t know. Maybe the neighbour you wave to as you drive to work, the person who is always sat opposite you on the train or the woman walking her dog that you pass every morning. I’m always interested in all these lives that are playing out without us really knowing what those people are going through. I think we had a bit of a taste of what its like for communities to pull together during those awful Covid lockdowns but it seems we’ve slowly gone back to our old ways. I know I could do with making more time to check in on those around me. This is one of the things I loved most about Birdie Greenwing, that reminder that we’re all in this together, we don’t know what each other is going through and we don’t know who might be feeling really lonely. I loved the way Ericka explored the theme of loneliness, I think it is really important for us to think about how loneliness effects those around us.

I feel like I’m lucky enough to call Ericka a friend now (if you look in the Thank-you’s in the back of the book you’ll see Ericka really kindly mentioned me which meant so much to me). Anyway, I know that Ericka found writing her second book really challenging because she cares so much about her characters and her readers. I think it’s so clear to see that she put her heart and soul into this book. I loved all of the characters and felt like they jumped off the pages and straight into my heart.

In Goodbye Birdie Greenwing, Ericka gives us a masterclass in balancing the heartbreak with moments of humour, I laughed and cried and gave the book a huge hug at the end. All I can say is grab a cup of tea, preferably in a witty captioned mug (this will make sense when you read it) and settle in for a great read. I really hope that you’ll love it as much as I did.

You can support me, and independent bookshops, by buying your copy here and you’ll also find links for all my previous recommendations for Jo’s Workout Family too.

Hi! I’m Helen Gambarota and I am delighted to be back with Jo’s Weekly Workout Family to share my love of books with you.

I am a total book nerd and an avid reader and a compulsive book buyer, although I do need to slow down on the book buying as there are piles of books all around the house. I started reviewing books on Instagram as @BestBookFoward almost 5 years ago and I love chatting about books and sharing my passion for reading.

Each month I bring you my recommendation of a must-read book. I read a variety of genres so it could be anything from fiction, non-fiction, romance, historical fiction or a thriller and I really hope that you’ll enjoy each of them as much as I do.

If you’d like more book inspiration you can find my reviews on my Instagram account which is @BestBookForward, on Facebook or on my website bestbookforward.org

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Last month I recommended a brilliant yet quite difficult read for you and I hope you loved it as much as I did. When planning for my June read I wanted to bright you something lighter and really quite wonderful so the obvious choice had to be The Other Side of Mrs Wood by Lucy Barker.

The Other Side of Mrs Wood is a historical comedy about London’s most celebrated Medium, who you will absolutely love. When Mrs Wood hears the horrifying sound of a yawn one night at her Séance she knows it is time to shakes things up.

Enter Miss Finch, Mrs Wood’s first student but is she as innocent as she seems or has Mrs Wood just invited trouble in?

I love this book so much, it was one of the reads that had me sneaking off to read just one more page as it is so wonderfully told.

Ultimately it is about two Victorian women doing their utmost to maintain their independence, while navigating their way through complexities of female friendships and rivalries.

This week I was lucky enough to go along to the publication party for Mrs Wood and I went along to a Victorian Séance, which was quite an experience.

Afterwards Lucy talked about her book and her inspiration behind it. It was clear to see how passionate and interested she is in the subject, I could have listened to her talk about it all night. On the way home, I thought that it is a combination of Lucy’s research and passion coupled with her incredible storytelling that has made this book so special.

When I read it earlier this year I remember thinking that I could feel how much she enjoyed writing it as it was so fun to read.

Lucy Barker has managed to create a wonderfully atmospheric read, that is fun and witty. One of my favourite things about this book is that she has a wonderful way of allowing her characters to be mischievous. There are some really funny scenes.

The Other Side of Mrs Wood kept guessing throughout and found it to be a thoroughly entertaining and fun read, one that I would happily pick up again. I really hope that you will enjoy it as much as I did and I hope that you will love these characters, as they really are quite special.

You can support Helen, by buying the book from this link.

See you next month.

Hi! I’m Helen Gambarota and I am delighted to be back with Jo’s Weekly Workout Family to share my love of books with you.

I am a total book nerd and an avid reader and a compulsive book buyer, although I do need to slow down on the book buying as there are piles of books all around the house. I started reviewing books on Instagram as @BestBookFoward almost 5 years ago and I love chatting about books and sharing my passion for reading.

Each month I bring you my recommendation of a must-read book. I read a variety of genres so it could be anything from fiction, non-fiction, romance, historical fiction or a thriller and I really hope that you’ll enjoy each of them as much as I do.

If you’d like more book inspiration you can find my reviews on my Instagram account which is @BestBookForward, on Facebook or on my website bestbookforward.org

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I am so hoping that I can convince you to pick up my March book choice because I really do think this a book that everyone should read. It is Driving Forwards by Sophie Morgan.

You may know Sophie from TV, she’s a regular host on ITV’s Loose Women, but reading her book really shows just how remarkable she is.

Sophie starts her book by talking about the car crash she had when she was just 18 years old which left her with life changing injuries. I will say that that the beginning of the book is quite a difficult read as what she went through was just unimaginable. She talks about the effect her crash had on her and her family and friends.

When you stop and think about what happened, it hits very hard when you realise that this could happen to anyone of us. When I think of myself as an 18 year old driver I can see how it could have just have easily been me.

Throughout the book Sophie talks about how she has strived to come to terms with her injuries and the impact on her life, her body and her relationships. When Sophie shares her experiences I found myself stopping and challenging myself to really think about my own perceptions about disability. I have to say I learned a lot from this book, I truly believe that books can bring us together as learn about other people’s life experience and I think Sophie sharing her story the way she has is so important as I feel we all really need to learn from it.

Driving Forwards is available in paperback now.

I have included the link to my Bookshop.org account.

Buying from Bookshop.org helps to support local bookshops with a donation from each sale going directly to independent bookshops (and an even smaller percentage to me!) You’ll also be able to find my favourite reads of the year so far here.