Review: The One Plus One by JoJo Moyes

The One Plus One by JoJo Moyes

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Release Date: Expected February 2014

Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: 

One Single Mum.

One chaotic family.

One handsome stranger.

One unexpected love story.

JoJo Moyes has done it again, written another brilliant book that had me hooked from the first line. Until earlier this year I hadn't read anything at all by this author, until I put my hand on 'Me Before You' in my local library. Since then JoJo Moyes' back catalogue has been on my 'to read' list (which is quite long if you're interested...) so when I saw her latest novel was part of the Good Reads First Reads scheme I just had to enter... not thinking for a moment that I would be lucky enough to win.

The One Plus One centres around single Mum Jess, her two children, Tanzie a self confessed Maths Geek (biological daughter), mascara wearing teenager Nicky (Step-son) and her husband Marty, who doesn't actually live with them any more (he is living with his mother whilst he 'sorts himself out'.

Jess is more than understanding of her husband's 'depression' and supportive (to a point) of him living with his mother, she is less forgiving of the fact that he cannot provide for his children, and she spends all the hours that god sends cleaning and fixing things for other people.

In fact, this is how we meet the other central character in the book, Ed. Jess is his 'cleaning lady, and she is envious of her employer who seems to have it all. He is rich, handsome, successful, and spectacularly rude. Especially to her.

Ed we learn though is not without his own troubles. He has been well an truly stitched up by his ex-wife, and faces potential prosecution after a messy relationship with a girl he lusted after at University.

What could these people possibly have in common? I hear you ask.

A lot more than you would think.

Especially once Ed, Jess, Tanzie, Nicky and Norman (the excessively smelly and very large dog) are all thrown together by a set of circumstances that no one could have foreseen on a trip to Scotland so that Tanzie can take part in a Maths competition and Ed can visit his ill Father.

I don't want to give away too much else. I really want people to go out and read this one for themselves, and enjoy it as much as I did. I didn't think that JoJo Moyes could write another book as good as 'Me Before You' but I was wrong.

Oh, and incidentally I think this would make a great film too!

I was very kindly sent an ARC by Good Reads First Reads scheme and Penguin Books.

Review: Fever by Mary Beth Keane

Fever by Mary Beth Keane
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Ltd
Release Date: 23 August 2013
Rating:**

Back cover blurb: They called her Typhoid Mary. They believed she was sick, that she was passing typhoid fever from her hands to the food that she served. They said she should have known. But Mary wasn't sick. She hadn't done anything wrong. She wasn't arrested right away. There were warnings. Requests. And when she was finally taken, she did not go quietly. Branded a murderer and condemned by press and public alike, Mary continued to fight for her freedom, no matter the cost. Mary Beth Keane's fictional account presents us with a very cleverly wrought conundrum: was Mary Mallon a selfish monster or a hounded innocent?

I had quite high expectations for this book and I was left really disappointed. I love historical fiction and have read some real gems in the past. I expected this to be one to add to the list, sadly it wasn't to be. 

Fever is the fictional 'biography' of Mary Mallon (or Typhoid Mary as she became known), the first person in America identified as a healthy carrier of Typhoid Fever. Mary seemingly has no idea that she is a carrier of the disease until her world is turned upside down by George Soper, a sanitation engineer investigating outbreaks of Typhoid in New York and the surrounding areas.  

I felt that the events surrounding Mary's arrest, hospitalisation and eventual quarantine on North Brother Island were quite long and drawn out. It must have been terrifying to go through such an ordeal, but all Mary seems to do is moan, rather than appear afraid or upset. Perhaps that is the kind of woman she was, and maybe that's what the author was trying to portray, but it just didn't seen very 'real' to me. None of it did really.

I understand that the point of the book was to tell the historic tale from Mary's point of view, but I can't help thinking it would have been beneficial if we had access to the opinions of some of the people that Mary came in to contact with, George Soper in particular. I think it might have made the book a little more interesting. For although it should have been a fascinating subject, I'm afraid to say I found the book quite slow and rather boring.

I also felt that the book was overshadowed by the dysfunctional love story of Mary and Alfred which added absolutely nothing to the story, and would have been much better left out. Although again, perhaps this would have been more interesting if Keane had added Alfred's point of view? I'll guess we'll never know.

I didn't hate the novel, but I certainly didn't love it either, hence the two stars. I do wonder whether this book may have been better as a non fictional account of Mary's life, or whether I'm being too harsh? 

Maybe try it out for yourself and see what you think...

Review: The Shadow Year by Hannah Richell

The Shadow Year by Hannah Richell

Publisher: Orion Books
Release Date: 26 September 2013
Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: 1980. On a hot summer's day five friends stumble upon an abandoned cottage hidden in the English countryside. Isolated and run-down, it offers a retreat, somewhere they can escape from the world. But as the seasons change, tensions begin to rise...

Three decades later, Lila arrives at the remote cottage. Bruised from a tragic accident and with her marriage in crisis, she finds renovating the house gives her a renewed sense of purpose. But why did the cottage's previous inhabitants leave their belongings behind? And why can't she shake the feeling that someone is watching her?



I bought this book on impulse at the airport just before jetting off to Gran Canaria recently, I'm so glad that I did. I had seen it fluttering about on my Twitter time line for a while, and it was on my 'to read' list, I just hadn't gotten around to it. How I kicked myself for not picking it up sooner.

The Shadow Year is told from two main points of view, that of Kat and her university friends, Simon, Carla, Ben and Mac in 1980, and that of Lila, Thirty years later.

I sensed almost immediately that the stories were intertwined somehow, but the author managed to keep me guessing right up until the end.

The first person that we meet in the book is Lila, we learn that she suffered a recent miscarriage in fairly mysterious circumstances. Although she is crippled by her own guilt, she also has a nagging feeling that things are not as they seem. Was there another person involved? Or is Lila driving herself slowly mad with grief?

Lila inherits a cottage in the middle of nowhere. Her father is the only person close to her that has passed away recently and she cannot imagine that he has left it to her. So where did such a gift come from?

It's a question you will be asking yourself until quite a way into the book, when the some pieces of the puzzle start to fit together. Although just like a real puzzle, they may not all fit into the exact place you think they should.

 We meet Kat and her university friends just as they are looking for an adventure, they have come to the end of their respective courses, and don't necessarily want to 'settle down' in to the 'real world' just yet. Mac suggests a day trip to a cottage he visited once.

They never return.

Simon as the unspoken leader of the group takes it upon himself to lure the group away from everyday life, and into commune style basic living. Kat is the first to agree, for she is deeply in love with Simon. Young and impressionable, and not wanting to work for a living just yet, the others all follow.

All is fine and dandy, until the arrival of Kat's sister Freya. Her appearance kicks off a chain of events that shape the future of the group and their lives ahead.

I can't really say much more without giving away some of the (brilliant) plot. The book is full of suspense, without being predictable, it's characters at times both endearing and frustrating. If I ever do manage to write that book that I keep threatening, I would want it to be like this. I urge you to read it as soon as you can.

The Shadow Year is available online from Amazon and all good book stores.

Review: Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell

Instructions for a heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell
Publisher: Headline Publishing
Release Date: 01 January 2013
Rating: *** and a half

Back cover blurb: It's July 1976 and London is in the grip of a heatwave. It hasn't rained for months, the gardens are filled with aphids, water comes from a standpipe, and Robert Riordan tells his wife he's going around the corner to buy a newspaper. He doesn't come back.

The search for Robert brings Gretta's children - two estranged sisters and a brother on the brink of divorce - back home, each with different ideas as to where their father may have gone. None of them suspects that their Mother might have an explanation that even now she cannot share.





I came across this book via a Twitter book club of all places. It was one of 'Weekend Reads' chosen books of the month back in September. I was lucky enough to win a beautiful first edition copy bound with ribbon, which I've lovingly placed on my book shelf- and promptly downloaded the kindle (for iPad) version as I didn't want to ruin it.

After quite a bit of deliberation I've given the book 3 and a half stars. I didn't feel it was amazing enough for 4, but it wasn't 'bad' enough for 3. In fact, it wasn't bad at all, I just felt it was a bit lacking. Maybe I had read too much about it before hand. I'm not sure. I did wonder if I'd read a little too much of the crime/thriller/mystery genre recently and half expected something different from the "disappearance". But no, I think maybe it was the ending that left me disappointed. It was a little bit of an anti climax compared with the pace and structure of the novel before it.

For those who've not read it, Instructions for a Heatwave centres around housewife Gretta who is devastated by the disappearance of her husband one morning in the heatwave of 1976. He leaves the house to go and buy a newspaper, and doesn't return. Robert barely ever leaves her side, so Gretta knows deep down that something is drastically wrong. Maybe more than she is willing to admit to.

On the surface Gretta is a typical Irish mammy fussing over her grown up children and insisting that everything will be okay. But will it? Exactly what is she hiding from them?

Roberts disappearance does bring the scattered family together, the eldest son Michael Francis from across their home city, daughter Margaret from Gloucestershire where she is living with her second husband and the youngest daughter Aoife from New York. It is not a happy reunion. Thrown back together in a crisis, the family are dysfunctional to say the least. But then what family isn't?

There are lots of flash backs in the book, which are kind of crucial for understanding how it all pans out in the end, but it can get a little confusing at times. I really liked Aoife, I kind of felt sorry for her, although I suspect that I shouldn't of. I liked Michael Francis too and initially I thought Margaret was great, but then she showed a side of her character that I didn't like so much. I'm not sure I should've liked Gretta as much as I did, particularly after the "secret" is exposed, but I do understand why she did what she did.

For me this makes the ending disappointing I felt it could have been elaborated on, I was a little disappointed, even though it was a happy ending if sorts, I felt it left a few things unanswered. Having said that I did enjoy the book. I've not read any of Maggie O'Farrell's before, and I think I would give the author another go.

You can buy Instructions for a heatwave online from Amazon and all good book shops.

Review: The Titanic Enigma by Tom West

The Titanic Enigma by Tom West
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Release Date: 20 June 2013
Rating: ****

Back cover blurb: When the Titanic sank, it took a secret with it... In the vast expanse of the Atlantic, 375 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, a ship's crew film an extraordinary event: the ocean, covered with millions of floating fish, bubbles as though boiling. Then an enormous whale roars through the water and crashes down, dead, onto the surface. Some 13,000ft beneath - at the precise coordinates  - lies the wreck of the Titanic. Within twenty-four hours the footage has become a global phenomenon. Commander Jerry Derham, charged with investigating the incident, rushes to see marine archaeologists Kate Wetherall and Lou Bates. The one-time couple specialise in deep-sea diving and the scientific study of shipwrecks. Jerry needs to get the pair down to the ocean floor - fast. None of them are prepared for what they find there...(contd)

This novel was much more gripping than I expected it to be. I bought it because I love a good book about the Titanic, fictional or not, it's one of those subjects that I find fascinating. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, from the 'blurb', but be assured if it's a fast paced thriller that you're after, then this definitely falls in to the category.

The novel opens with the scene described via the back cover, a ship's crew discover something that shocks them to the core. The story that follows reveal the consequences of what they saw. It is much more than any of them could ever have imagined.

The wreck of the Titanic has become a radioactive source - but it is natural or man made? Commander Jerry Derham is sent to find out, and he enlists Kate and Lou renowned marine archaeologists to help him.

As the back cover blurb suggests, Kate and Lou were once a couple, it's clear throughout the novel that they both have feelings for each other, but these are largely ignored, which I liked, I didn't want it to turn into a sappy love story.

It doesn't.

As they set out to uncover the mystery, we are taken back to 1912, the year of the Titanic disaster, through flashbacks we are woven even deeper into the mystery. But it doesn't become confusing, only more intriguing.

I haven't read anything by Tom West or Michael White before (Tom West is a pseudonym ) but he's an author now on my radar, and I look forward to reading the next Tom West in 2014.

You can buy The Titanic Enigma online from Amazon and all good book shops.

Review: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Publisher: Phoenix (Imprint at Orion Books Ltd) 
Release Date: 03rd January 2013 
Rating: ****
Back cover blurb:
Who are you?

What have we done to each other?

These are the questions Nick Dunne finds himself asking on the morning of his Fifth wedding anniversary, when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police suspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him. He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they weren't made by him. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone.

So what did happen to Nick's beautiful wife?



I started reading Gone Girl against my better judgement. I don't usually read books purely because others say that I should. I take gushing reviews with a pinch of salt and prefer to make up my own mind if I should chose to read the novel.

Part of me is glad I did, and part of me is disappointed that I gave into the hype.

The novel itself has been compared quite a lot to ASA Harrison's silent wife. After reading both books I don't really see how they can be compared. The obvious comparisons are the marriage/relationship breakdown and the his/hers points of view, for me that's where the similarities end. The novels are telling totally different stories.

I prefer Gone Girl.

From the very first page I had made up my mind about what sort of person I thought Nick was. I felt real disgust for Nick, hatred almost until the dramatic twist in "part two".

I'm skipping ahead... Let's discuss the outline of the novel - at least as much as I can without giving anything away.

Amy and Nick are about to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary. Amy clearly adores Nick, and we believe that the feeling is mutual, at least for the first parts of the novel. Although Nick is acting slightly strangely on the morning on their anniversary we do not believe it to be anything sinister, until he finds out that Amy is missing. Under very murky and disturbing circumstances. Oh, and he now hates his wife.

Part One leads us to believe that Amy is very much the victim (whether alive or Dead) and Nick the guilty party, until the latter parts (two and three) begin to unravel literally everything that you have already made your mind up about. It's frustrating but brilliant all at once.

I can see why some have criticised the novel, it's not everyone's cup of tea. I ended up not liking Amy or Nick much by the end of the book, but I guess that's the whole point. We don't have to like the characters. It's probably better that we don't-Both are them are psychologically unstable from their relationships with their parents. Both of them have differing opinions on how marriage should work, and how they should act with each other to make marriage work. Both of them are nasty pieces of work in their own way. But that's what makes it so compelling.

What are they going to do next?

I don't want to give anything much away, so that's not much more I can say, except that I liked it more than I wanted to, or thought that I would.

It's a disturbing read and I'm still not sure about the ending, but I'm still thinking about, which I guess from the authors point of view is a good thing. Also despite its success I hear that Gone Girl is not Flynn's best... So I'm going to track down her other 2 novels and give them a go.

You can buy Gone Girl online from Amazon and all good book shops.