Review: Modern Lovers by Emma Straub

Modern Lovers by Emma Straub

Publisher: Michael Joseph

Release date: 30 June 2016

Rating: *** and a half

Back cover blurb: Friends and former college bandmates Elizabeth and Andrew and Zoe have watched one another marry, buy real estate, and start businesses and families, all while trying to hold on to the identities of their youth. But nothing ages them like having to suddenly pass the torch (of sexuality, independence, and the ineffable alchemy of cool) to their own offspring. Back in the band's heyday, Elizabeth put on a snarl over her Midwestern smile, Andrew let his unwashed hair grow past his chin, and Zoe was the lesbian all the straight women wanted to sleep with. Now nearing fifty, they all live within shouting distance in the same neighborhood deep in gentrified Brooklyn, and the trappings of the adult world seem to have arrived with ease. But the summer that their children reach maturity (and start sleeping together), the fabric of the adult lives suddenly begins to unravel, and the secrets and revelations that are finally let loose about themselves, and about the famous fourth band member who soared and fell without them can...

Modern Lovers is the second of Emma Straub's novels that I have now had the pleasure of reading and I hope it won't be the last.

Elizabeth Marx, her husband Andrew, and their best friend Zoe are stunned when approached by an agent looking to make a biopic about their former band mate and college friend, Lydia.

Those days seem so far behind them now. Those carefree days of drinking, party's, gigs and slate night songwriting sessions.

Now each have their own kids; Elizabeth and Andrew have 17 year old Harry and Zoe and her wife Jane have 18 year old Ruby.

They are all successful, Elizabeth as a real estate agent, and Zoe and have a restuatant together.

Whilst Andrew doesn't really a job as such...

Andrew is also the only one of them who is reluctant to sign on the line for the movie. Is it a coincidence that he currently seems to be going through some sort of mid life crisis?

Modern Lovers explores the way in which a past you thought was left far behind can suddenly appear out of nowhere and bring you challenges all over again.

A great novel with some lovely (and some not so) characters. I look forward to Emma Straub's next.

Modern Lovers is available from 30 June 2016.

You can pre-order it now via Amazon online.

    Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Invincible Summer by Alice Adams

Invincible Summer by Alice Adams

Publisher: Picador

Release date: 2 June 2016

Rating: ****

Back cover blurb: Inseparable through university, Eva, Benedict, Sylvie and Lucien graduate into an exhilarating world on the brink of the new millennium. Eager to shrug off the hardships of her childhood, Eva breaks away to work in the City. Benedict stays behind to complete his PhD in Physics and pine for Eva, while siblings Sylvie and Lucien seek a more bohemian life of art, travel and adventure. As their twenties give way to their thirties, the four friends find their paths diverging as they struggle to navigate broken hearts and thwarted dreams. With every summer that passes, they try to remain as close as they once were - but this is far from easy. One friend's triumph coincides with another's disaster, one finds love as another loses it, one comes to their senses as another is changing their mind . . And who knows where any of us will be in twenty summers' time? A warm, wise and witty novel about finding the courage to carry on despite life not always turning out as expected, and a powerful testament to love and friendship as the constants in an ever-changing world...

 

Invisible Summer is Alice Adams debut novel but you wouldn't know it. 

Spanning some twenty years, Invincible Summer opens in the summer of 1995 with four friends; Eva, Benedict, Sylvie, and Lucien lying on a hillside overlooking Bristol City Centre. 

This novel is a little slow to start with, but that's fine, because we get to know each character in turn.

Ambitious Eva who is more than a little in love with Lucien who barely notices her. 

Wealthy and sensitive Benedict who is head over heels for Eva who is too busy lusting after Lucien to notice. 

Sylvia an aspiring artist who never seems to get the recognition that she truly deserves. 

And Lucien, Sylvia's brother, a lovable rogue who seems content with living the student life for ever. 

But as brilliant as life may seem whilst your in the midst of youth attending University, we all know that it changes, sometimes unrecognizably so once you have left and ventured out into the real world. 

Invincible Summer details how our friendships and lifes change in those tentative years post university and beyond.

Invincible Summer is a beautifully written debut novel and is sure to be a summer hit.

 

 Invincible Summer is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.        Thank You to Francesca Main at Picador who sent me an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.  

Review: Baby Doll by Hollie Overton

Baby Doll by Hollie Overton

Publisher: Cornerstone Digital

Release date: 30 June 2016

Rating: ****

Back cover blurb: You've been held captive in one room, mentally and physically abused every day, since you were sixteen years old. Then, one night, you realize your captor has left the door to your cell unlocked. For the first time in eight years, you're free. This is about what happens next ... Lily knows that she must bring the man who nearly ruined her life - her good-looking high-school teacher - to justice. But she never imagined that reconnecting with her family would be just as difficult. Reclaiming her relationship with her twin sister, her mother, and her high school sweetheart who is in love with her sister may be Lily's greatest challenge. After all they've been through, can Lily and her family find their way back after this life-altering trauma? Impossible not to read in one sitting, Baby Doll is a taut psychological thriller that focuses on family entanglements and the evil that can hide behind a benign facade.

Lily Riser is a survivor. A survivor of being held hostage by a depraved individual. Her old English teacher Rick

Lily's twin sister Abby was always convinced that her sister was still alive and bound to return, yet her return is still a shock.

Both girls were still teenagers when Lily was taken, so have grown into adulthood without each other.

Lily has become a Mother to a 6 year old daughter, Sky a result of horrific abuse by her abductor, whilst Abby is just months away from giving birth to a child from a loving stable relationships. Their lives could not be more different.

Yet the bond between twins is something that neither of them can ignore, and as they work to resolve their relationship and Lily and Sky try to integrate themselves back into 'normal' society, they realise that things are going to be okay.

As Rick's trial looms ever nearer the fight for justice becomes stronger, but will he get the sentence he deserves?

Baby Doll is slightly unusual in that the kidnapping and perpetrator are revealed early on in the novel, but that doesn't stop it being gripping in places.

It is a novel with some disturbing themes, and can make for uncomfortable reading, but its ending is more than worth it.

Baby Doll is available from 30 June 2016.

You can pre-order it now via Amazon online.

 

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: How to find love in a bookshop by Veronica Henry

How to find love in a book shop by Veronica Henry
Publisher: Orion
Release date: 16 June 2016
Rating: ****

Back cover blurb: Nightingale Books, nestled on the high street in the idyllic Cotswold town of Peasebrook, is a dream come true for booklovers. But owner Emilia Nightingale is struggling to keep the shop open. The temptation to sell up is proving enormous - but what about the promise she made to her father? Not to mention the loyalty she owes to her customers. Sarah Basildon, owner of stately pile Peasebrook Manor, has used the book shop as an escape from all her problems in the past few years. But is there more to her visits than meets the eye? Since messing up his marriage, Jackson asks Emilia for advice on books to read to the son he misses so much. But Jackson has a secret, and is not all he seems... And there's Thomasina, painfully shy, who runs a pop-up restaurant from her tiny cottage. She has a huge crush on a man she met and then lost in the cookery section, somewhere between Auguste Escoffier and Marco Pierre White. Can she find the courage to admit her true feelings? How to Find Love in a Book Shop is the delightful story of Emilia's fight to keep her book shop alive...

How to find love in a bookshop is a wonderful novel. The first of Veronica Henry's that I've read, but it certainly won't be my last.

Julius Nightingale is newly widowed when he buys a bookshop in the small but lovely Cotswold town of Peasebrook.

Some Thirty odd years later and Emilia Nightingale finds herself the owner of Nightingale Books after the tragic and untimely death of her Father. She has promised to keep the bookshop alive in his death, yet had no idea of the financial difficulty that the shop was in.

When a local property developer approaches Emilia she is quick to tell him to get lost, but then in sends in one of his lackeys to try a different approach, and suddenly Emilia sees a different side to the bookshop than she had previously.

Should she really prepare to let it go?

Or should she keep it on, if only to honour her Father?

Emilia has a difficult decision to face; Nightingale Books is at the heart of the Peasebrook community and its residents won't let it go without a fight.

How to find love in a bookshop, is a lovely heartwarming novel that will stay with me for a long time.

How to find love in a bookshop is available now from Amazon online and all good book shops.

  Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Martini Henry by Sara Crow

Martini Henry by Sara Crowe

Publisher: Doubleday

Release date: 16 June 2016

Rating: *** and a half stars
Back cover blurb:  Life isn’t an exact science. Things can be troublesome. Like pregnant step-mothers, the ins-and-outs of French existentialism . . . having an unexceptional name. Eighteen-year-old Sue Bowl is no stranger to life’s wobbles. When she rushes home from her creative writing course in Greece to meet her new-born baby half-brother, she wonders if she’ll ever get the chance to make it big in the world of literature. Still, she has lovely boyfriend Joe and new sibling Pierre – and who else will help Aunt Coral keep the damp at bay at crumbling home Green Place? But when the bright lights of the big city start sparkling, and Sue Bowl catches the eye of a literary wunderkind, life begins to take an unexpected turn . . . A witty and enchanting novel about what happens after you think you’ve grown up and fallen in love, perfect for fans of I Capture the Castle, Love, Nina And Where’d You Go Bernadette.

Martini Henry is the first novel of Sara Crowe's that I've read, a lovely journey of a novel through the late 1980s with Sue Bowl.

Sue Bowl is an aspiring writer, the year is 1988 and she is taking part in a writing course abroad. All is going swimmingly, she is writing well, and making some amazing friends, in fact Sue's life is pretty perfect until she is called home for the birth of her baby step-brother.

Martini Henry is told in a journal style and reminded me - a little, of Adrian Mole. As Sue chronicles affairs of the heart as well as tales of her every day life.

We learn about her beloved Aunt Coral and the once great house (read Mansion) that they live in. The lodgers that they are forced to take in to make ends meet, and the discovery of something remarkable in their back garden.

Martini Henry is a slow burner of a novel that I suspect won't be everyone's cup of tea, but it is worth persevering in my opinion if you are unsure at first.

Martini Henry is available now from Amazon online and all good book shops.

  Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.  

Blog tour: Review - My Girl by Jack Jordan

My Girl by Jack Jordan 
Publisher: JJP 
Release date: 4 July 2016 
Rating: *****
Back cover blurb: Paige Dawson: the mother of a murdered child and wife to a dead man. She has nothing left to live for… until she finds her husband’s handgun hidden in their house. Why did Ryan need a gun? What did he know about their daughter’s death? Desperate for the truth, Paige begins to unearth her husband’s secrets. But she has no idea who she is up against, or that her life isn’t hers to gamble – she belongs to me. From the bestselling author of Anything for Her, Jack Jordan's My Girl is the new chilling thriller that you won't want to miss.

Before I started My Girl, every time I saw it on my kindle I started singing 'My Girl' in my head. Let's just start by saying, I'm definitely not singing that any more...

When I read Jack Jordan's debut novel, Anything For Her I realised that he was an author to watch. My Girl has now made Jack one of my go-to thriller authors, and I can't wait to see what he has up his sleeve for his next novel.

Paige Dawson is a broken woman, A grieving widow; her husband has committed suicide and a childless mother; her daughter was brutally murdered ten years ago and her killer never found. Her life has been shattered in the worst imaginable way.

Perhaps understandably Paige drinks a lot. Her friends and family are worried about her, particularly as her behaviour becomes more and more erratic. But what does she have to live for?

Paige's Father, is desperate to help her, and as he helps her clear out her husbands things, in the hope she might begin to move on, Paige finds a gun in the hidden compartment of a filing cabinet.

Why on earth did her husband have a gun?

Did he have a double life she knew nothing about? Or was he just trying to protect them both after the death of their daughter?

Paige knows that if she decides to delve into the reasons behind her husbands secret then she may find something more than she bargained for but nothing could prepare her for what she is about to uncover.

I can't say much more without starting to give away some of the plot, but know this; My Girl is a dark, disturbing novel that grips you from its first page and doesn't let you go until its final sentence.

My Girl is available from 4 July. You can pre-order it now via Amazon online
Don't forget to check out the rest of the blog tour;

 
Thank You to Jack who kindly invited me to take part in the official blog tour.

Review: Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan

Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan

Publisher: Michael Joseph
Release date: 16 June 2016
Rating: *** and a half

Back cover blurb: Margot Lewis is the agony aunt for The Cambridge Examiner. Her advice column, Dear Amy, gets all kinds of letters - but none like the one she's just received: 'Dear Amy, I don't know where I am. I've been kidnapped and am being held prisoner by a strange man. I'm afraid he'll kill me. Please help me soon, Bethan Avery'. Bethan Avery has been missing for years. This is surely some cruel hoax. But, as more letters arrive, they contain information that was never made public. How is this happening? Answering this question will cost Margot everything.








Dear Amy is Helen Callaghan's much anticipated debut novel, and whilst it has most of the elements needed for a great psychological thriller, I just couldn't help but feel like there was something missing.

Margot Lewis is a teacher at a local school when one of her pupils Katie Browne goes missing.

Soon after Katie's disappearance, Margot, who is also an agony aunt at the local newspaper begins to receive letters begging for help from Bethan Avery.

Bethan Avery has been missing for years, presumed dead.

Shaken, Margot takes the letters to the local police who think it's probably 'just' a hoax. After all, Bethan Avery is dead. Isn't she?

Margot takes it upon herself to investigate with or without Police help. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if Bethan was alive after all this time and she had ignored her. And maybe, just maybe, it will help in the search for Katie Browne.

This novel started off with such promise!

It's beginning was full of fast paced chapters that had me gripped, then it slowed down towards the middle (where I was confused for a while) and then sped up again at the end. An ending that sadly for me was a bit of an anticlimax.

Reading this review it might come across that I didn't like this novel at all. That is simply not true. I enjoyed it. I just didn't feel it was as great as the blurb suggested or as other

As an avid reader of psychological thrillers sadly Dear Amy wasn't a dazzling debut for me. But I would be interested in reading future works by this author as I did like the writing style.

Dear Amy is available from 16 June 2016.

You can pre-order it now via Amazon online and Michael Joseph.

  

Thank You to the publisher who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Security by Gina Wohlsdorf

Security by Gina Wohlsdorf 

Publisher: Algonquin books

Release date: 7 June 2016

Rating: *** and a half 

Review: The inventiveness of A Visit from the Goon Squad meets the down-the-rabbit-hole suspense of The Girl on the Train in this chilling, pulse-racing thriller from an electrifying new writer. When the gleaming new Manderley Resort opens in twenty-four hours, Santa Barbara's exclusive beachfront hotel will offer its patrons the ultimate in luxury and high-tech security. No indulgence has been ignored, no detail overlooked. But all the money in the world can't guarantee safety. As hotel manager Tessa and her employees ready the hotel for its invitation-only grand opening, a killer is in their midst. One by one, staff are picked off with ruthless precision. And before the night is over, as Tessa desperately struggles to survive, it will become clear that the strangest and most terrible truth at Manderley is simply this: someone is watching. 



Security I think is one of those novels you are either going to love or hate.

Me? Well contrary to what I have just written, I fall somewhere in the middle. I didn't love it, and I didn't hate it - it was good, but not amazing. Interesting, but not gripping.

That said, I do think that it would make a really excellent TV thriller or even feature length film.

The new luxury Manderley Resort hotel is due to open in less than Twenty-Four hours and hotel manager Tessa has her work cut out trying to make sure that everything is perfect in advance of the launch party.

But her superstar stain busting cleaner has gone AWOL, her head chef has lost the plot, and a face from her past has appeared, all seem intent on putting Tessa off her stride.

But Tessa isn't the type of person to be easily distracted.

The Killer knows this, and that is how it is easy for them to start picking off the hotel employees one by one, so intent is Tessa on the task in hand.

Security is a novel I think would carry more suspense on the big screen, but it is an enjoyable read nonetheless.

Security is available now from Amazon online and all good book shops.

    Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.  

Review: Willow Walk by SJI Holliday

Willow Walk by SJI Holliday

Publisher: Black and White Publishing

Release date: 10 June 2016

Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: When the past catches up, do you run and hide or stand and fight? When a woman is brutally attacked on a lonely country road by an escaped inmate from a nearby psychiatric hospital, Sergeant Davie Gray must track him down before he strikes again. But Gray is already facing a series of deaths connected to legal highs and a local fairground, as well as dealing with his girlfriend Marie's bizarre behaviour. As Gray investigates the crimes, he suspects a horrifying link between Marie and the man on the run - but how can he confront her when she's pushing him away? As a terrified Marie is pulled back into a violent past she thought she'd escaped, she makes an irrevocable decision. And when events come to a head at a house party on Willow Walk, can Gray piece together the puzzle in time to stop the sleepy town of Banktoun being rocked by tragedy once more? 

SJI Holliday's second novel is once again set in the small Scottish town setting of Banktoun. And although this is the second novel in Holliday's Banktoun trilogy, you don't have to have read the first, Black Wood to be able to read this. Willow Walk works well as a standalone novel.

But I do suggest you read Black Wood if you can, as you've missed a treat if you've not already been introduced to Banktoun and its residents, particularly the rather lovely Davie Gray.

I digress....

Willow Walk's beginning; a rather creepy and nasty prologue, has you, the reader, straight in at the deep end, the morning after a party, where something has clearly gone very very wrong.

Local Police Sergeant Davie Gray is investigating the use of legal highs in Banktoun and the surrounding are when he is called to the local hospital by a colleague. A woman has been brutally attacked and Davie may be able to identify her.

Davie fears the worse, his new girlfriend Marie is supposed to be at work. But what if she's not?

Thankfully the victim of the attack is not Marie, who works behind the bar of the local pub. Her relationship with Davie is still in its infancy so when she begins to receive some disturbing letters, the last thing she wants is police involvement.

But Marie is scared, scared that the letters mean she's about to be forced to relive a past she thought she'd escaped long ago.

When it transpires that an escaped psychiatric patient is suspected of attacking the woman mistaken for Marie, Marie's worst fears begin to come true. The closer Davie tries to get to Marie the more she pushes him away.

Can Davie figure out what's going on before tradegy occurs?

Or will the Police become distracted by the arrival of the local fair and a resurgence of dangerous legal highs.

The quiety sleep town of Banktoun is about to be awakened in the worst possible way.

Willow Walk is a brilliantly creepy and atmospheric novel that will grip you from its first page.

Willow Walk is available from 10 June 2016.
You can pre-order it now via Amazon online and Black & White publishing.

   

Review: Mad Girl by Bryony Gordon

Mad Girl by Bryony Gordon

Publisher: Headline

Release date: 7 June 2016

Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: Bryony Gordon has OCD. It's the snake in her brain that has told her ever since she was a teenager that her world is about to come crashing down: that her family might die if she doesn't repeat a phrase 5 times, or that she might have murdered someone and forgotten about it. It's caused alopecia, bulimia, and drug dependency. And Bryony is sick of it. Keeping silent about her illness has given it a cachet it simply does not deserve, so here she shares her story with trademark wit and dazzling honesty. A hugely successful columnist for the Telegraph, a bestselling author, and a happily married mother of an adorable daughter, Bryony has managed to laugh and live well while simultaneously grappling with her illness. Now it's time for her to speak out. Writing with her characteristic warmth and dark humour, Bryony explores her relationship with her OCD and depression as only she can. Mad Girl is a shocking, funny, unpredictable, heart-wrenching, raw and jaw-droppingly truthful celebration of life with mental illness.

When I heard Bryony Gordon had written another book, I was very happy indeed. Her first, 'the Wrong Knickers' had been one of my favourite reads of 2014.

Bryony's second book, Mad Girl, is Bryony's account of living, day to day with mental illness.

First diagnosed with OCD and clinical depression at the age of Seventeen, after suffering symptoms on and off since the age of Twelve, Bryony spends much of her teenage years trying to ignore the symptoms, until popping a note in her Mother's handbag to ask her to go to the doctors.

Readers of 'the Wrong Knickers' will be familiar with some of what follows as we are taken through Bryony's life in her Twenties. The hedonistic lifestyle portrayed in Bryony's first novel is now seen from a very different side.

Bryony's total honesty, now, helps us to understand why she chose to live her life that way at the time, because she felt in control and was able to hide from others what she was truly going through inside.

Sadly even in the very modern world that we live in, talking about mental health issues is still a taboo subject, and there is absolutely no reason why it should be.

We need more Bryony's to speak up and ultimately encourage others to talk about their experiences.

If 'we' all stand up together, then we can start to see mental health taken seriously by the NHS, and people can get the help they need in a much more timely manner than they are able to now. 1 in 4 people experience mental health problems at some point during their lives, we need to ensure that we are all able to recieve care should we need it.

We live in a country with a fully functional health service. If we have a broken leg, the NHS will fix it, so why is it so difficult for them to treat a broken brain...?

Mad Girl, is a masterpiece. A very brave, very important book that everyone should read.

Mad Girl is available to buy now from Amazon online and all good book shops.

  Thank You to the publishers who sent me an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

(Blog Tour) Review: The Killing Files by Nikki Owen

The Killing Files by Nikki Owen
Publisher: MIRA
Release date: 2 June 2016
Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: No matter how fast you run, the past always catches up with you. Dr Maria Martinez is out of prison and on the run. Her mission? To get back to the safety of her family. Little does she know that this might be the most dangerous place of all…














The Killing Files is the second novel in Nikki Owen's 'the project' trilogy, and it is outstanding!

Dr Maria Martinez has finally broken free from 'the project' a top secret government project who have been experimenting on her since an early age.

Maria thinks she is safe in her Spanish home, hidden away from the Project. Or is she?

Despite her best attempts at total security she is rumbled by the project and back in their capture before she realised what has happened.

Maria realises that she recognises the surroundings that she in, and the voice she is hearing, even though she is certain that they have nothing to do with the project.

Or do they?

I don't want to say too much more, as these books are too good for you not to read for yourself.

However, I will say this, there are some brilliant character additions to the series in this second novel, and I really can't wait to see where this trilogy is going to go next.

A fantastic ending with some shocking revelations that appears to have everything wrapped up, but in reality leaves everything wide open with so many possibilities for the next novel.

I am so excited for the third and final installment in this series, even though it will mean the end of a fantastic trilogy. I just hope the author has something equally exciting and original up her sleeve for the future, whatever it is, is sure to be a brilliant read.

The Killing Files is available from 2 June 2016.

You can pre-order it now via Amazon online.

Don't forget to follow the rest of the blog tour;

    Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.  

Blog tour: House of Dreams by Fanny Blake (Author Guest post)

Only a weekend in Spain - what could possibly go wrong?

At their family hilltop villa, Lucy awaits the arrival of her brother and sister for their mother's annual birthday party. Although this time, their mother won't be there.Struggling at Malaga airport with her fractious four year old, Jo has already lost her case and is dreading arriving without its precious contents.For Tom, returning to Casa de Sueños stirs up all sorts of memories - then a beautiful face from his past appears . . . Over one long, hot weekend, past secrets will spill out as three siblings discover more about their family and each other in this gorgeous, warm and witty new novel from Fanny Blake.

Today I'm delighted to host Fanny Blake author of 'The House of Dream's to talk about five novels on Mothers and Children;

5 Novels on Mothers and Children

There are many novels about mothers and children of course, but these are five that have particularly stayed with me …

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

We all remember Jo, Beth and Amy March but at the heart of the novel of course is Marmee or Mrs March, their mother, raising the girls alone while their father serves as a chaplain during the US Civil War. Isn’t she just the perfect mother? Loving, hardworking, principled and always with time for her children. But … At the same time, she inspires her daughters to strive to do great things. And isn’t that what mothers should do, whether or not their houses are spotless and their husband’s shirts ironed?

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Is there a more tiresome mother than Mrs Bennet? Having given up on having a son, she has no higher aspiration in life that to find suitable husbands for her five daughters. Her single-minded desire backfires over and over again to disastrous or comedic effect. But despite her ‘mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper’, she is determined her girls should have a secure future and stands up for them when things go wrong.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Orleanna Price and her four daughters are uprooted from their home in Georgia US to go on a mission to the Belgian Congo led by her husband, Baptist minister Nathan Price. Set against the Congo’s struggle for independence, the story is the unraveling of the Price family as they face insuperable and sometimes tragic odds. Seen through the eyes of Orleanna and her daughters, this is an extraordinary epic tour-de-force that is one of my all-time favourite reads.

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

Who can forget Eva Katchadourian and her troubled relationship with her son Kevin? We meet a woman looking back at her struggle to cope with motherhood by writing a series of letters to her husband. When the novel opens, Kevin is in prison and Eva’s neighbours are hostile but the exact nature of her son’s horrific crime is kept from the reader. Eva tortures herself wondering how much she was to blame for events and how much was due to Kevin’s innate conditioning. Nature of nurture? I was shocked, moved and couldn’t stop reading.

The Millstone by Margaret Drabble

Set in sixties London, this is the story of Rosamund, a graduate writing her PhD thesis and living in her absent parents’ flat. Sexually naïve, she discovers she’s pregnant after a one-night stand but shockingly decides to have the baby and bring it up on her own. A decision not taken easily in those days. At the heart of the novel is the love of Rosamund for her baby Octavia, soon diagnosed with a heart condition. Drabble brilliantly conveys how motherhood gives you a new ferocity. Now a feminist classic, it’s a tear-jerker that’s always stayed in my mind.

Fanny Blake’s House of Dreams is published by Orion in paperback, £7.99 and is out now

    Don't forget to follow the rest of the blog tour;

(Blog tour) Review: The Translation of Love by Lynne Kutsukake

The Translation of Love by Lynne Kutsukake

Publisher: Black Swan

Release date: 2 June 2016

Rating: *** and a half

Back cover blurb: During the American occupation, the citizens of Japan were encouraged to apply directly to General MacArthur – “if you have a problem, write a letter, this is what democracy means” – and so write they did. MacArthur received over 500,000 letters, letters of entreaty, rage, gratitude, complaint, even adoration. Twelve-year-old Fumi Tanaka has a problem – her beautiful and beloved older sister, Sumiko, has disappeared. Determined to find her, Fumi enlists the help of her new classmate Aya, forcibly repatriated with her father from Canada after the war. Together, they write to MacArthur and deliver their letter into the reluctant hands of Corporal Matt Matsumoto, a Japanese-American GI whose job it is to translate the endless letters. When weeks pass and they hear nothing from Matt, the girls take matters into their own hands, venturing into the dark and dangerous world of the black market and dancehalls. They're unaware that their teacher, Kondo Sensei, moonlights as a translator of love letters, and that he holds the key to Sumiko's safe return.

The Translation of Love is Lynne Kutsukake's debut novel about the friendship of two young girls in the aftermath of World War Two, which sees Japan occupied by America.

Fumi is Japanese born and her new classmate Aya is Issei (first generation born) Canadian Japanese who spent the war years in an internment camp where she suffered the loss of her Mother to suicide.

Fumi's older sister Sumiko hasn't been in contact for many months and Fumi is worried about her.

She decides that, with Aya's help, she must write to General MacArthur, after all; "if you have a problem, write a letter, this is what democracy means".

Fumi joins the thousands of others who have written to MacArthur, each of them hoping he will help them personally.

Matt Matsumato, a Japanese American GI is the man with the unenviable task of translating those letters to be forwarded on to General MacArthur.

After a chance meeting with Fumi and Aya in the street outside official offices, Matt agrees to help the girls against his better judgement.

Meanwhile Fumi and Aya's school teacher Kondo is assisting those who cannot decipher letters sent to them from their 'loved' ones. In a time of forbidden relationships between young Japanese women and American G.I.'s, Kondo's services are invaluable.

In the aftermath of the second world war it seems that many in Japan have something to hide, and the American occupation makes some keener to hide their secrets than others...


The Translation of Love is a lovely debut, and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

The Translation of Love is now available from Amazon online and all good book shops.

Don't forget to follow the rest of the blog tour;

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.