Who am I to judge? (book covers)

New occasional feature here on the blog.


The saying goes...Don't judge a book by it's cover...but, come on folks, they would all have plain covers if the authors/publisher didn't believe tht the cover has an impact on us.


I am often really surprised when I see a book with a mediocre cover that hides a fantastic read.






Todays offering is.....

STAR GAZING by LINDA GILLARD

Oh my!   This cover would not jump at at me from the shelves in the bookshop, (sorry Linda), but bear with me.

The lovely Linda Gillard asked me if I would like to review her novel Star Gazing.  I am so glad she did as this has to be one of my favourite reads to date.

Here is what I had to say about the novel

The Blurb

Blind since birth, widowed in her twenties, now lonely in her forties.  Marianne Fraser lives in Edinburgh in elegant, angry anonymity with her sister.  Marianne's passionate nature finds solace in music, a love she finds she shares with Keir, the man she encounters on her doorstep one winter's night.

Keir makes no concession to Marianne's condition. He is abrupt to the point of rudeness, yet oddly and touchingly kind.  But can Marianne turst her feelings for this reclusive stranger who wants to take a blind woman to his island home on Skye, to 'show' her the stars?

This beautiful, passionate and deeply haunting novel has the power to move and gives hope to even the most fractured heart.

This novel explores the world, through the senses, of someone who was born without one of those senses we take for granted, sight.  We 'see' the world as Marianne 'sees' it in wonderful detail. 

Marianne, is blind and widowed, but don't feel sorry for her. She is a strong independant woman.  She knows about loss and survival.  

Marianne lives with her sister, Louisa, an author,  in Edinburgh.

Keir is a strong, rugged reclusive Scot from the Isle of Skye.  An unlikely hero from the description but he instinctively, and unexpectedly,  knows how to act around Marianne and how to tend to her needs.

A very emotional and thought provoking story sharing happiness, sadness,  fear, romance and humour that really tugged at the heart strings.   It visits the emotional issues of loss and lonliness that we face in life with tenderness and understanding that left me feeling comforted.

This one will definately be in my Top Ten reads for 2011.

5 out of 5 for me!


Find out more about Linda Gillard and her novels here