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Mar 14

Book News- Mother’s Day By Abigail Burdess

Mother’s DayJust in time for Mother’s Day is the latest book calls Abigail Burdess called ‘Mother’s Day’.

What the back cover says –

The last thing Anna needs is a baby. Abandoned, adopted and living hand to mouth, she never dreamt of having a real family. But when she meets her birth mother, everything changes – because the same day, she learns she’s going to be a mother too. Marlene is eccentric, generous with her considerable fortune and overjoyed to become a grandmother. Anna’s living the dream. But is it her dream, or someone else’s? Now she will have to decide what she’s willing to sacrifice for a real family – her future, her freedom, even her unborn child.

You can buy ‘Mother’s Day’ from Amazon and is available to buy from good bookshops.

Nov 14

Someone To Kiss By Jamie Anderson

Someone To Kiss‘Someone To Kiss’ is the latest book by Jamie Anderson.

As the clock strikes midnight over a disastrous New Year’s Eve and happy couples celebrate all around her, Kate makes a resolution, hastily scrawled on the back of a napkin, that next New Year’s Eve she will have found someone of her own to kiss. But when you’re a forty-something cat-mom who’d rather binge Netflix than brave the singles scene, finding someone to kiss turns out to be harder than it sounds. Kate is totally unprepared for navigating hook-up apps, speed-dating, and sliding into somebody’s DMs. With the end of the year rapidly approaching, Kate seems further than ever from reaching her goal. As relationships crumble around her and dark long-kept secrets spill out, could Kate’s fixation on her quest cause her to let true love slip through her fingers forever?

I spent my Sunday with my head in this book and it was just lovely!

The story is primarily seen through the narrative of Kate who after getting blind drunk at a wedding alone whilst everyone else couples up makes a New Years’ resolution to have someone to cuddle up within the year. So with the aid of her best friend Julia, she sets up an online profile and goes on a serious of disastrous dates. But whilst dating and putting herself out there, she discovers some things about herself and why her relationships haven’t worked in the past.

The story is also seen through the narrative of her best friends Julia and her brother Ben who both have their own struggles in life. The trio make for a lovely friendship group each with their own dynamics and personalities. I loved Kate, at 43 she’s under pressure from society to find a significant other other and also having to find genuine people from the others who are just looking for a good time. It’s fun to join Kate on her dates and the characters she meets along the way. There are also flashback moments to Kate’s previous dates that has moulded her into the person she has become.

Another interesting slant is the perspective of Kate’s work life, working in a marketing company for Terry, who’s an absolutely horrible man. A self centred man who’s full of his own importance and packed with toxicity, infact most of the men are in the book are bad apart from the lovely, kind Ben.

‘Someone To Kiss’ is a fun and tender story about new beginnings and resilience.

You can buy ‘Someone To Kiss’ from Amazon and is available to buy from good bookshops.

Nov 11

Suicide Thursday By Will Carver

Suicide Thursday‘Suicide Thursday’ is the latest book by Will Carver.

Eli Hagin can’t finish anything. He hates his job, but can’t seem to quit. He doesn’t want to be with his girlfriend, but doesn’t know how end things with her, either. Eli wants to write a novel, but he’s never taken a story beyond the first chapter. Eli also has trouble separating reality from fiction. When his best friend kills himself, Eli is motivated, for the first time in his life, to finally end something himself, just as Mike did. Except sessions with his therapist suggest that Eli’s most recent ‘first chapters’ are not as fictitious as he had intended…and a series of text messages that Mike received before his death point to something much, much darker…

This is the first book that I’ve read by Will Carver and it really was an interesting introduction to the author.

The story is seen through the unreliable narrative of Eli, an aspiring author who never gets further than the first chapter. He’s best friend Mike is severely depressed who wants to take his own life, instead of trying to find him help, Eli instead convinces that it would be best to end his life. When Mike does end his life, instead of being seen as the supportive friend, he finds as being a prime suspect in it.

What makes this story so interesting is the fact that the story is seen from the narrative of an aspiring author, so it really kept me on my toes what was fact and what was fiction in the story. The characters are an interesting mix of personalities, Eli is a bit delusional going to see a fake therapist and creating stories but getting nowhere. He wants to break up with Jackie, his long term girlfriend but instead of breaking up, he ends up making new commitments. Whilst Mike is a sad character that I felt a genuine sympathy for, he’s a troubled character who needs helps but is unfortunate that he lacks in genuine friends and support.

Packed with suspense and cleverly written with dark humour and fascinating characters ‘Suicide Thursday’ is the countdown to a man’s demise through the narrative of an aspiring writer.

You can buy ‘Suicide Thursday’ from Amazon and is available to buy from good bookshops.

Aug 7

The Choice By Penny Hancock

The Choice‘The Choice’ is the latest book by Penny Hancock.

An estranged daughter. A missing grandson. A mother faced with an impossible choice. Renee Gulliver appears to have it all: a beautiful house overlooking a scenic estuary on England’s East Coast, a successful career as a relationship therapist, three grown-up children and a beloved grandson, Xavier. But things aren’t always as they seem on the surface, as Renee is all too aware. And when Xavier vanishes after she fails to pick him up from school one day, the repercussions are manifold. Renee is wracked with remorse; her daughter Mia can’t forgive her, the local community question her priorities and her clients abandon her. But as long-held family secrets threaten to tear her world apart once and for all, those same secrets might also hold hope for the future—because it’s not always the secret itself that has the power to destroy, sometimes it’s the act of keeping of it.

If you enjoy stories of family conflict, then ‘The Choice’ is just the hard hitting drama for you.

Renee has had a difficult life, estranged from her middle daughter and struggling to adapt to her husband Tobias since his stroke, she wishes her family was much more straight forward. The irony is that she’s a family therapist, helping others whilst her own family is falling apart. Her eldest daughter is strong willed and doesn’t want to have anything to do with her younger sister, Irena who hurt their youngest brother for life with an accident. But one day, distracted by life Renee forgets she has to pick up her grandson and this opens a world of new wounds that she fears will never be healed.

This story is an emotional and turbulent one that really made me sympathise with Renee, her life is far from easy, with a demanding husband and daughter, an estranged daughter and her mother is battling dementia and is obsessed with the state of her daughter’s hair.
The different narratives from Renee and Irena made for interesting reading. I really warmed to Irena, from Renee’s perspective you’re lead to believe that Irena is the bad guy, refusing to reconnect with her family. But, once you read her perspective, you realise that she’s a lovely, warm perspective person who’s been severely wronged by her family.

A story of reconciliation and heartbreak, ‘The Choice’ is a tender and insightful exploration into family conflict and dynamics and the hardship that’s encountered when forced to take sides.

You can buy ‘The Choice’ from Amazon and is available to buy from good bookshops.

Mar 30

You’re Always With Me By Andy Maslen

You're Always With Me‘You’re Always With Me’ is the latest book by Andy Maslen.

Treating a woman for post-natal depression, therapist Mel Porter discovers a shocking truth about herself. As she battles to separate truth from lies, she must confront the most dreadful choice a wife can ever make. Believe that her husband is a killer. Or that she is. The woman claims to have murdered her own child. The confession turns out to be false but it starts a chain of events that leads to horrifying consequences for Mel. As each brick in the wall she has built around herself crumbles and falls away, a stark truth is revealed. Is she even the woman she thinks she is? When an ambitious detective with secrets of her own arrests Mel on a charge of murder, her world descends into chaos. Memories she thought she could trust turn out to be unreliable. Her very sanity is questioned. And Jonathan asks for a divorce. In court, facing a hostile lawyer’s harrowing questioning, Mel’s faith in herself reaches breaking point. Then the jury returns with its verdict and delivers a shocking conclusion to the trial.

This is first book that I’ve read by Andy and it was a brilliantly intense thriller that gripped me one afternoon.

The story is primarily seen through the narrative of Mel who’s been accused of killing her baby boy, her memories of his death are quite hazy but the unorthodox treatment that she received at a psychiatric hospital helps her recover her memory.

Mel is a lovely character, she loved her son dearly and is heartbroken that she caused his life to end but deep down, she’s unsure and tries to piece her memory again. Even though she’s a kind character, it’s heartbreaking to read how people treat when they think she’s a child killer. Her husband is a charismatic character, Jonathan has a high powered job and a love for high end designer brands. Whilst DC Ffion Parry was convinced that Mel had murdered her little boy, but as she delves further into the case, she begins to doubt her initial thoughts.

The introduction to this story is one of the best twists that I’ve read in a book for a while and it really sets the pace of the story. It’s fast paced and sharply written with flawed characters and unreliable narratives that pulled me in. The chapters are short and snappy so it was easy to get absorbed in the story.

A story about the discovery of the truth and the unravelling of lies, ‘You’re Always With Me’ is a fantastic thriller and a great introduction to a new author.

You can buy ‘You’re Always With Me ‘ from Amazon and is available to buy from good bookshops.

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