Review: The Stranger in my Home by Adele Parks

The Stranger in my Home by Adele Parks

Publisher: Headline Review

Release date: 28 September 2016 - ebook only

Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: What would YOU do if your child wasn't yours? Utterly compelling, Sunday Times bestseller Adele Parks's new contemporary novel The Stranger In My Home, is sure to move, grip and delight her fans, along with readers of Liane Moriarty, Jane Shemilt and Lisa Jewell. Alison is lucky and she knows it. She has the life she always craved, including a happy home with Jeff and their brilliant, vivacious teenage daughter, Katherine - the absolute centre of Alison's world. Then a knock at the door ends life as they know it. Fifteen years ago, someone else took Alison's baby from the hospital. And now Alison is facing the unthinkable. The daughter she brought home doesn't belong to her. When you have everything you dreamed of, there is everything to lose.

I honestly didn't realise how much I had missed Adele Parks' contemporary writing until I picked up The Stranger in my Home.

This is a novel that I have been (im)patiently awaiting for some time. Although I love Adele's two previous historical fiction novels, it is good to have her back writing contemporary fiction - particularly when it is SO good.

Alison Mitchell is lucky, lucky to have the life she has, lucky to have Jeff, and lucky to have their daughter Katherine, a bright teenager destined for great things.

When a complete stranger in the form of the (very) handsome Tom Truby knocks on the door, and delivers some devastating news, the family's perfect world quickly begins to fall apart.

Everything they thought they knew about their daughter is thrown into turmoil.

As if that wasn't enough, Tom's visit delivers a second, equally as devastating blow, that makes the family question their future together as well as their past.

Alison has had to fight in the past to get what she wants, she is no stranger to the concept, she is just a little out of practice, but her motherly instinct tells her that she needs to protect Katherine, no matter what the consequences.

And so the fight begins...

I don't want to say much more, as I don't want to give anything away.

You MUST discover this absolute gem of a novel for yourself.

I'm pretty sure I say this after every Adele novel - but The Stranger in my Home, is definitely her best yet. It had me truly gripped from start to finish, and I know it is going to fly off the shelves.

The Stranger in my Home is available now via Amazon online and other e-book retailers.

The paperback is out January 2017 - you can pre-order it now via Amazon online and all good book sellers.

Review: The Widow by Fiona Barton

The Widow by Fiona Barton Publisher: Bantam Press Release date: 14 January 2016 Rating: *** and a half

Back cover blurb: We've all seen him: the man - the monster - staring from the front page of every newspaper, accused of a terrible crime. But what about her: the woman who grips his arm on the courtroom stairs – the wife who stands by him? Jean Taylor’s life was blissfully ordinary. Nice house, nice husband. Glen was all she’d ever wanted: her Prince Charming. Until he became that man accused, that monster on the front page. Jean was married to a man everyone thought capable of unimaginable evil. But now Glen is dead and she’s alone for the first time, free to tell her story on her own terms. Jean Taylor is going to tell us what she knows.
 

The Widow is Fiona Barton's debut novel, but you wouldn't know...

Jean (or Jeanie) Taylor is a widow, her husband recently run over by a bus on a busy main road. But that isn't why she has reporters camped outside her door...

Jean's late husband, Glen Taylor was under the scrutiny of the police for the disappearance and suspected murder of Bella Elliott. Detective Bob Sparkes was about to re-arrest Glen when he learned of his death.

Jean has to decide whether she wants to tell her side of the story and get rid of the reporters once and for all.

The Widow is told through the perspective of several narrators, The Widow - Jean Taylor, The Husband - Glen Taylor, The Reporter - Kate Waters,  The Detective - Bob Sparkes and The Mother - Dawn Elliott.

This novel is a fascinating insight into the woman behind the accused.

We've all seen those women on TV standing beside or just behind their men outside the court when they are accused of hideous crimes. You often wonder if they knew? How could they not? Fiona Barton has really explored this and written an interesting novel.

From the beginning I was waiting for a big twist, possibly because the book is being described as a psychological thriller, as an avid reader of such novels.

I'm not sure it fits this description.

There is plenty explored from the psychological perspective, but it isn't a fast faced thriller. More of an in-depth exploration of the ultimate dysfunctional marriage, people's obsessions and how this affects those around them.

The Widow is sure to be a big hit and I look forward to Fiona Barton's next.

The Widow is available from 14 January 2016.

You can pre-order it now from Amazon online and Transworld Publishers

 

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

Review: Rebound by Aga Lesiewicz

Rebound by Aga Lesiewicz

Publisher: Macmillan

Release date: 14 January 2016

Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: Anna Wright, a 30-something uber-successful media executive in London, loves her dog, Wispa, and she loves to run. Anna is recently single after ending her three-year relationship with doting James. A spontaneous tryst becomes the catalyst for a series of crimes on Anna’s running route. This illicit liaison becomes Anna’s obsession, ultimately plunging her into a subversive, oppressive reality.

Rebound is a gripping novel that explores a different side to the usual thriller novel - the guilt of the victim. 

I was lucky enough to read this novel some time ago, but wanted to wait until nearer publication to post my review as this is sure to be one of the crime/thriller books of 2016.

Anna Wright is not your usual crime thriller protagonist, she is in danger, but she has in all reality, put herself in to the dire situation she finds herself in. Anna loves to run, and whilst she is running one morning her attention is caught by a handsome stranger.

A man so good looking that he looks like the belongs in a Dior advert. Anna christens him 'Dior man' in her head, and can't wait to see him the next time she is running.

But Anna and 'Dior Man' are not the only users of the Heath that they run upon, and when bad things begin to happen to women on the heath, Anna begins to question both her own sanity and safety. When her beloved dog Wispa goes missing and is bought back by an overly friendly neighbour, Anna thinks little of it, but could the people closest to her, be the ones that are the most dangerous.

Soon her neighbour, her ex-boyfriend and Dior Man are all under suspicion as the attacks on the heath intensify, Anna knows she needs to get away, so when she work beckons, she is only to happy to leave town for a while, but the London she returns to, is a very different one to the one that she left...

Rebound is a gem of a novel that will literally have you gripped. 

Interestingly it leaves a few unanswered questions at the end, which I would usually hate, but in this case I felt it only added more to the novel. 

Rebound is available from 14 January 2016

You can pre-order it now from Amazon online.

Thank you to The Book Club on Facebook who allowed me to read a copy of this novel as part of their read it forward book exchange campaign.

Review: After Anna by Alex Lake

After Anna by Alex Lake
Publisher: Harper Collins
Release date: 19 November 2015 
Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: A girl is missing. Five years old, taken from outside her school. She has vanished, traceless. The police are at a loss; her parents are beyond grief. Their daughter is lost forever, perhaps dead, perhaps enslaved. But the biggest mystery is yet to come: one week after she was abducted, their daughter is returned. She has no memory of where she has been. And this, for her mother, is just the beginning of the nightmare...

After Anna is a novel that had me gripped from its opening paragraph. It’s not pleasant reading, for it explores the abduction of a Five year old girl from the abductor's point of view, but it certainly had me wanting more.

And so it continues; this novel really deserves the sentence 'unable to put down'.

Five year old Anna is taken from outside her school. Her mother Julia was late picking her up, and unable to call ahead. The school assume Anna has been collected, despite their strict policy.

Julia is devastated, and not only has her own guilt to deal with, but is immediately blamed by her estranged husband, Brian (he’s bitter because Julia initiated a divorce he didn't want) and his mother, Edna.

The Police are clueless, but little girls don't just disappear, and they’re certain she’ll return. After her first night missing, fears for Anna's safety deepen. The families history is delved into, but what the investigation will uncover, no one is certain.

When Anna returns virtually unharmed a week after her disappearance, her parents are overjoyed, but Julia can't help but wonder if this is this end? Now that Anna has returned safely, is there someone out there that wants something?

It doesn't take long to realise her fears are justified, and her worst nightmare has not yet begun...

I’ve no idea who the author is (the novel is written under a pseudonym) but whoever they are they know how to write an excellent novel.

  

After Anna is available from 19 November 2015.

You can pre-order it now from Amazon online and Harper Collins.

     Thank you to lovereading who sent me an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Lost Girls by Angela Marsons

Lost Girls by Angela Marsons

Publisher: Bookouture

Release date: 6 November 2015

Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: Two girls go missing. Only one will return. The couple that offers the highest amount will see their daughter again. The losing couple will not. Make no mistake. One child will die. When nine-year-old best friends Charlie and Amy disappear, two families are plunged into a living nightmare. A text message confirms the unthinkable; that the girls are the victims of a terrifying kidnapping. And when a second text message pits the two families against each other for the life of their children, the clock starts ticking for D.I. Kim Stone and the squad. Seemingly outwitted at every turn, as they uncover a trail of bodies, Stone realises that these ruthless killers might be the most deadly she has ever faced. And that their chances of bringing the girls home alive, are getting smaller by the hour…  Untangling a dark web of secrets from the families’ past might hold the key to solving this case. But can Kim stay alive long enough to do so? Or will someone’s child pay the ultimate price?

Lost Girls is the 3rd novel in Angela Marsons's, D.I. Kim Stone series, but could easily be read as a stand alone novel. However these novels are so brilliantly gripping that I'd recommend the others in the series if you can get your hands on them!

When D.I. Kim Stone is called into the office on a Sunday afternoon, she wonders what she has done wrong, but it soon becomes apparent that her skill is needed. Two little girls are missing, snatched from the leisure centre where they were waiting for their parents to pick them up after swimming.

Charlie and Amy are inseparable, and their parents, Karen and Robert, and Elizabeth and Stephen are close friends as well as neighbours. In fact, Karen was due to be picking the girls up, until her car wouldn't start, and she received an anonymous text making it clear the girls had been kidnapped. Stone is assigned the case despite her reservations.

Quickly Stone realises there are similarities with an earlier case, but Emily Billingham was returned to her family whilst Suzie C was not. Stone is determined that the same won't happen this time, and that both girls will return safely to their families.

Families that are understandably distraught. When further text messages arrive suggesting that only one girl will live, the daughter of the highest bidder, the friends begin to turn against each other in a bid to save their daughters lives.

But what if the kidnappers are interested in more than money? Will these families ever see their daughters again? Stone are her team vow to bring the case to a satisfactory conclusion for all, but it won't be an easy ride.

Lost Girls is a very clever novel with complex characters, some likeable, some not so, but all very real. Lost Girls is yet another novel by Angela Marsons that comes with a five star review from me, and again, I cannot wait for the next in the series.

Lost Girls is available from 6 November 2015.

You can pre-order it now from Amazon online and Bookouture.

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

Review: the Other Me by Saskia Sarginson

The Other Me by Saskia Sarginson

Publisher: Piatkus, Little Brown UK

Release date: 13 August 2015

Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: Eliza Bennett has the life she's always dreamed of. She's who she wants to be, and she's with the man she loves. But Eliza is living a lie. Her real name is Klaudia Meyer. And Klaudia is on the run. She's escaping her old life, and a terrible secret buried at the heart of her family. This is the story of Eliza and Klaudia - one girl, two lives and a lie they cannot hide from.

When Klaudia Meyer starts secondary school, she is desperate to fit in, until this point in her life she has been home schooled and had little interaction with other children of her age. She quickly becomes friends with the most popular girl in her class and is delighted to be able to invite her over to ‘play’.

When her friend discovers that Klaudia’s father is the school caretaker, a man who the other students have dubbed a Nazi she quickly drops Klaudia like a tonne of bricks. The school bully is quick to step in and fill the void and sets about making Klaudia’s life hell.

Klaudia is curious about her father’s past as she has always wondered how her Welsh Mother and German Father came to be together. What she uncovers leaves her shocked, but largely unsurprised as she has never felt particularly close to her Father. He has never talked of his actions in the Second World War and now Klaudia realises why.

Unsurprisingly by the time she gets to University in Leeds, Klaudia is keen to reinvent herself and leave her troubles behind her.

In Leeds she becomes Eliza Bennet, a popular girl, who loves to dance and gives up her degree to focus on dance classes. With her best friend Meg and her boyfriend Cosmos, Eliza is having the time of her life.

A family tragedy forces her to return home as Klaudia, leaving her university life and friends behind her. Reluctant to go back to Leeds and leave her family behind, she tells them that she has deferred her course for a year.

As she finds herself a job and settles back in to life as Klaudia she is faced with a dilemma. Cosmos her boyfriend from University is back in London and desperate to see her. He doesn’t understand why she is being so distant with him. Klaudia is afraid that if she tells him the truth he will never forgive her.

During the course of the novel, we also hear from Klaudia’s uncle Ernst. His tales of growing up in Germany prior to the second world war with Otto, Klaudia’s father goes a long way to help explain why Klaudia’s father is the man that he is.

Without giving too much away, the Other Me is a beautifully written novel, laced with tragedy. Ultimately Klaudia is who she is because of past events, and the final chapters of the novel tie everything together brilliantly.

the Other Me by Saskia Sarginson is available from 13 August 2015.

You can pre-order it now from Amazon online.

 

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

Review: the Bones Of You by Debbie Howells

The Bones Of You by Debbie Howells
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Release date: 16 July 2015
Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: I have a gardener's inherent belief in the natural order of things. Soft-petalled flowers that go to seed. The resolute passage of the seasons. Swallows that fly thousands of miles to follow the eternal summer. Children who don't die before their parents. A community in shock. When eighteen-year-old Rosie Anderson disappears, the idyllic village where she lived will never be the same again. Local gardener Kate is struck with guilt. She'd come to know Rosie well, and thought she understood her - perhaps better even than Rosie's own mother. A family torn apart. Rosie was beautiful, kind and gentle. She came from a loving family and she had her whole life ahead of her. Who could possibly want to harm her? And why? A keeper of secrets. Kate is convinced the police are missing something. She's certain that someone in the village knows more than they're letting on. As the investigation deepens, so does Kate's obsession with solving the mystery of what happened to Rosie.

 

The Bones of You is Debbie Howells’ thrilling debut novel. An idyllic community is in turmoil when Eighteen year old Rosie Anderson goes missing. Rosie is a beautiful young girl, quiet and shy with a loving family, her disappearance is completely out of character.

Kate is Grace’s Mother, although they are the same age and attend the same school, Grace is barely friends with Rosie but unsurprisingly disturbed when she goes missing. Kate is close to Rosie, through her love of horses and she instinctively feels that something terrible has happened to her. She reaches out to her Mother Joanna, to see if she can help.

Joanna Anderson, Rosie’s mother is fraught with grief and lashes out at those close to her, with the exception of her other daughter Delphine, whom she largely ignores, and her husband Neal.

Neal Anderson is a highly respected journalist whom Joanna describes as ‘amazing’ man, but he has a different side to him that we see mainly through Rosie.

Rosie Anderson is perhaps the most important character in the novel, through her we get to see different sides to different people, particularly her Mother and Father.

Alex is Rosie's secret boyfriend, did he have something to do with her disappearance, or is everyone just suspicious because Rosie wasn't the sort of girl to have a 'secret boyfriend' and therefore logically he must be flawed?

There were so many times during the Bones of You where I thought I had it sussed, particularly as an avid reader of this sort of novel. But I was wrong, so wrong, the author does a remarkable job of drip feeding the reader just enough information to come to a conclusion, before introducing something that destroys that conclusion.

If you are looking for a dark psychological thriller that will make you really think then this is the novel for you. I am struggling to describe just how much I enjoyed it, but it certainly is one of my favourite debut novels this year.

the Bones of You is available TODAY from Pan Macmillan and all good book shops.        Thank you to the publishers who sent me an advanced proof copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Life or Death by Michael Robotham

Life or Death by Michael Robotham
Publisher: Sphere, Little Brown UK
Release date: 16 July 2015
Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: Why would a man escape from prison the day before he's due to be released? Audie Palmer has spent a decade in prison for an armed robbery in which four people died, including two of the gang. Seven million dollars has never been recovered and everybody believes that Audie knows where the moneyis.  For ten years he has been beaten, stabbed, throttled and threatened almost daily by prison guards, inmates and criminal gangs, who all want to answer this same question, but suddenly Audie vanishes, the day before he's due to be released. Everybody wants to find Audie, but he's not running. Instead he's trying to save a life . . . and not just his own. 

Life or Death is the first Michael Robotham novel I've read, and I'm not entirely sure how this is possible given my love for his chosen genre...

Audie Palmer has one day left to serve on a sentence for Armed Robbery, a crime which he has always insisted he didn't commit, when he escapes from the prison that has held him for the last decade. But if Audie is an innocent as he insists, why would he escape prison with just one day of his sentence remaining?

It is a question that stumps his best friend in prison, a man who has looked after him on the inside, and who thought that Audie would confide in him when making a huge decision such as breaking out of jail! The guards at the prison agree and don't believe him when he says he knew nothing of Audie's plan to escape.

Meanwhile Audie is on the look out for someone, someone close to him who he hasn't seen in the ten years he's been incarcerated. He knows that his plans are dangerous but he can see no alternative.

With lots of surprising twists and turns Life or Death is a novel that will keep your gripped through out. Audie is a complex character who you instinctively know is a good man, whether he committed the crime he was found guilty of or not.

Life or Death I'm pretty sure is the only crime novel with an ending that has reduced me to tears, it is beautiful, fitting and the perfect end to a pretty near perfect novel.
 

Life or Death is available from 16 July 2015.

You can pre-order it now from Sphere and Amazon online.

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

Review: Redemption Road by Lisa Ballantyne

Redemption Road by Lisa Ballantyne
Publisher: Piatkus, Little Brown UK
Release date: 16 July 2015
Rating: *****
Back cover blurb: The crash is the unravelling of Margaret Holloway. Trapped inside a car about to explode, she is rescued by a scarred stranger who then disappears. Margaret remembers little, but she's spent her life remembering little - her childhood is full of holes and forgotten memories. Now she has a burning desire to discover who she is and why her life has been shrouded in secrets. What really happened to her when she was a child? Could it have anything to do with the mysterious man who saved her life? Flitting effortlessly between past and present, this is a suspenseful, gritty and emotionally charged journey of an estranged father and daughter, exploring the strength of family ties and our huge capacity for forgiveness.

Redemption Road is a novel by an author who is new to me; Lisa Ballantyne, I'm not sure how I missed her Debut; The Guilty One, but since reading Redemption Road it has been swiftly added to my ever growing 'to be read' pile.

Margaret Holloway is a teacher left fighting for her life after a multi vehicle motorway pile up. She is pulled to safety only moments before her vehicle explodes by a strong man with distinctive scarring on his face and neck. He seems familiar to Margaret but she cannot place where she might know him from and wonders if he could be an ex-pupil.

As she adjusts to life after the crash Margaret begins to experience flash-backs. Her doctor is quick to diagnose Shock, but Margaret isn't so sure, particularly as she doesn't think the flash-backs are from the accident, but rather something that she experienced when she was much younger.

When Margaret visits the local hospital in an attempt to find her hero she begins to recall events buried deep in her past. A visit to her Father's house and the discovery of box of secrets long hidden gives Margaret some unexpected answers to questions she didn't even know she had.

Redemption Road is a novel with two cleverly interwoven plots as we are slowly taken back in time to experience Margaret's past as well as her confusing present. The two stories seem worlds apart at first (I suppose they are in Decades!) but come together brilliantly at the end.

Redemption Road is definitely a novel that you won't want to put down, a must read!

Redemption Road is available to pre-order now from Amazon online and Little Brown, UK

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

Review: Song of the Sea Maid by Rebecca Mascull

Song of the Sea Maid by Rebecca Mascull
Publisher: Hodder & Staughton
Release date: 18 June 2015
Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: In the 18th century, Dawnay Price is an anomaly. An educated foundling, a woman of science in a time when such things are unheard-of, she overcomes her origins to become a natural philosopher. Against the conventions of the day, and to the alarm of her male contemporaries, she sets sail to Portugal to develop her theories. There she makes some startling discoveries - not only in an ancient cave whose secrets hint at a previously undiscovered civilisation, but also in her own heart. The siren call of science is powerful, but as war approaches she finds herself pulled in another direction by feelings she cannot control.

Often when you read a debut novel by a talented new author you wonder if 'the difficult second book' will live up to your expectations. I never had any such worries about Rebecca Mascull's latest offering. There are some authors who you just instincively know you will love whatever they write. Rebecca Mascull doesn't disappoint.

Song of the Sea Maid opens with our (quite simply amazing) protagonist Dawnay Price as a young girl, being taken to an Asylum for the Destitute Wretches of the Streets of London after she attempts to steal the wig of a kindly gentleman who takes pity on her. 

Dawnay is quickly singled out as being different from the other 'foundlings', not only as the only street 'urchin' but also as a loner. She has made up her own mind not to make friends in the institution and instead becomes fixated on obtaining an education.

Practically unheard of for Women in general, let alone a young girl of Dawnay's background, at first she is flatly refused. But Dawnay is determined and rarely lets the word 'no' prevent her from doing what she wants.

 

Often when a novel begins with the protagonist as a child you are forced to skip forward through their life to adulthood where the novelist wishes you to pick up the story. There is none of that nonsense here. Rebecca artfully takes us through each stage of Dawnaty's intriguing life.

 

Our introduction to Dawnay's early life really sets the scene for her adventures later in life. Her benefactor having despaired and probably given up on the idea of Dawnay ever marrying, gives Dawnay his reluctant blessing for her to travel to Portugal unchaperoned (unheard of at the time) in the name of research.

 

As a condition of the trip she must sail with Lieutenant Commander Alexander, a man who on first meeting she is not particularly fond of. But during her journey Dawnay changes somewhat as she experiences that there is more to life than exploration (although not much in her opinion).

 

I can't really say much else without giving away more of the wonderful plot than I want to, so I will conclude with the fact that Song of the Sea Maid is a beautiful book, with a heroine that I now definitely have a bit of a girly crush on. A must read!

Song of the Sea Maid is available to pre-order now from Hodder & Staughton and Amazon online.

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

Review: The Silent Hour by Cesca Major

The Silent Hours by Cesca Major
Publisher: Corvus Books
Release date: 4 June 2015
Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: An epic, sweeping tale of love and loss inspired by heartrending true events in the Unoccupied Zone of wartime France. The Silent Hours follows three people whose lives are bound together, before war tears them apart: Adeline, a mute who takes refuge in a convent, haunted by memories of her past; Sebastian, a young Jewish banker whose love for the beautiful Isabelle will change the course of his life dramatically; Tristan, a nine-year-old boy, whose family moves from Paris to settle in a village that is seemingly untouched by war. Beautifully wrought, utterly compelling and with a shocking true story at its core, The Silent Hours is an unforgettable portrayal of love and loss. 

the Silent Hours is an exceptional debut novel from a very talented novelist. From the very first page Cesca Major had be gripped, so much so, that I literally didn't put the novel down until I had finished it about three and a half hours later.

Opening with Adeline, mute in a nunnery in 1952, you know that something horrific has taken place, but with Adeline unable (or unwilling) to speak, you are left wondering exactly what that could be.

Told from various viewpoints; mainly Isabelle, Sebastian and Tristan during wartime and Adeline after, the Silent Hours is a beautifully woven tale of how war effects us all without us even noticing it at times.

Isabelle is a beautiful young woman, who is missing her Brother, Paul, who has gone away to fight. When she meets Sebastian by chance, she falls for him almost instantly and she begins to enjoy life for what it is. 

Oradour is unoccupied during World War Two and the residents, particularly Sebastian, fail to see what all the fuss is about. For although his Father has been forced out of Banking, Sebastian is blissfully (and perhaps a little ignorantly) unaware of the consequences of being a Jew.

As the Germans grow closer to Oradour, Sebastian's parents go missing whilst he is visiting Isabelle one evening. As he slowly begins to realise the danger he could be in, Sebastian flees to a Jewish hideway deep in the woods.

The last few pages are particularly tragic, and left me wondering if there could ever be a sequel on the cards? (Wishful thinking on my behalf I think!!)

A beautifully written debut that everyone should read this year.

The Silent Hours 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.

Review: In the unlikely event by Judy Blume

In the unlikely event by Judy Blume
Publisher: Picador
Releasa date: 4 June 2015
Rating: *****
Back cover blurb: In 1987, Miri Ammerman returns to her hometown of Elizabeth, New Jersey, to attend a commemoration of the worst year of her life. Thirty-five years earlier, when Miri was fifteen and in love for the first time, three planes fell from the sky within three months, leaving a community reeling. Against this backdrop of actual events in the early 1950s, when airline travel was new and exciting and everyone dreamed of going somewhere, Judy Blume weaves a haunting story of three generations of families, friends, and strangers, whose lives are for ever changed in the aftermath. The plane crashes bring some people closer together and tear others apart; they create myths and unlock secrets. As Miri experiences the ordinary joys and pains of growing up in extraordinary circumstances, a young journalist makes his name reporting tragedy. And through it all, one generation reminds another that life goes on. 

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I was when I heard that Judy Blume was writing a new adult novel. Not only was Judy one of my favourite authors growing up, but it was a novel featuring plane crashes (yes, I know I'm strange, but we've been here before)!!

In the unlikely event is set in 1950s Elizabeth, New Jersey. A place that become known as the 'Plane Crash City' when three planes crashed en route to or from Newark airport between December 1951 and February 1952. The tragic demise of these flights; Miami Airlines (Non scheduled), American Airlines 6780, National Airlines 101 was eventually ruled to be unrelated, but it shook a community to its core.

In the unlikely event is told from a number of different perspectives (quite a large number actually), but you really get to know each one of them individually. Judy's strength as a writer has always been to get inside a teenage girl's head and let out all of their anxiety on to us the reader - who usually at the time was a teenage girl with those exact same anxieties herself.

Perhaps it is because of this ability that Miri (Miriam, 'Mirabelle') was my absolute favourite character in this novel. Miri is Fifteen at the time of the first crash, she has (literally) just gotten herself a boyfriend and is feeling pretty pleased with life. 

The crash changes everything.

Having gained a boyfriend, Miri loses one of her best friends to the crash; not physically for Natalie is still alive, but emotionally things will never be the same between them. The same goes for many of Elizabeth's residents. 

Witnessing a plane crash can be life changing.

When the second plane crashes, the calls for Newark airport to be shut grow increasingly louder. It takes the third plane to crash before the calls are heard and taken seriously. At Miri's school conspiracy theories are rife, and Miri shares these in the school newspaper, only to be threatened with exclusion.

As the community begin to rebuild their lives, some are unable to stay in Elizabeth and begin to move away from the city, the consequences of the crashes more far reaching than anyone could have envisaged. 

In the unlikely event is a wonderful novel, very honest, beautifully written; and not just for Judy Blume fans!
 

In the unlikely event is available to buy now from Amazon online and all good book shops.  

Review: If You Go Away by Adele Parks

If You Go Away by Adele Parks
Publisher: Headline Review
Release date: 4 June 2015
Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: 1914. Vivian, a young, impassioned debutante is hurried into a pedestrian marriage to cover a scandal. War breaks out on her wedding day - domestically and across Europe. Quick to escape the disappointment of matrimony, her traditionalist husband immediately enlists and Vivian has no alternative than to take up the management and running of his estate - after all, everyone is required to do their bit. Even pretty, inadequately-educated young wives. Howard, a brilliant young playwright rushes to the front to see for himself the best and the worst of humanity; he cannot imagine what the horror might be. In March 1916, when conscription becomes law, it is no longer enough for him to report on the War, it's a legal requirement that he joins the ranks. Howard refuses, becoming one of the most notorious conscientious objectors of the time. Contd...

If You Go Away is Adele Parks' 15th novel. Her first foray into historical fiction resulted in one of my favourite novels of last year; Spare Brides. I wasn't sure that this could be improved upon, but If You Go Away is quite possibly Adele's best work yet.

Vivian (our main protagonist) is brilliant, but naive, beautiful but headstrong. She is wealthy and used to getting her own way when we meet her, but when WW1 breaks out on her wedding day she is forced to revaluate the planned life ahead of her. She moves away from London to be with her husband in the country, but it is a lonely place for Vivian and she does not settle immediately.

Aubrey is not the husband that Vivian wanted, the one that everyone told her she deserved. But he is the one that society has said she must have, after a terrible misjudgment on her behalf. It is inevitable that he will go away to War and Vivian cannot help but be thankful for that.

Howard is determined, determined not to go away to fight, and cannot be dissuaded once he has set his mind on something. He is not (at least in my mind) as Society would have him labelled 'a Conchie' (A conscientious objector). He is most definitely not a coward, and he will not be the first man to suffer for standing up for his beliefs.

When Vivian struggling with the loneliness of unfamiliar surroundings, befriends Enid, she has no idea that Enid's suggestion for her to become involved in the day to day running of her own land will set her on a collison course with Howard, Enid's son. After a eye opening stint on the front working with a newspaper reporter Howard returns home to his Mother, to the country, more determined than ever not to fight.

Vivian and Howard come from very different backgrounds. Previously a playwright in London, Howard has seen both sides of the war; back home and on the front. But it is the troubles of the homefront that bring them together when Vivian employs Howard to help with her land whilst her husband is away. The events that follow undoubtedly change both of their lives beyond recognition.

Few female writers I have come across are prepared to write about the brutality and horror of War as honestly as Adele has done with this novel and I hope that she is recognised for this. Her characters go on some remarkable journeys through this novel and emerge at the end infinitely better human beings although their situations have changed dramatically.

A beautifully written passionate, love story laced with tragedy, and Parks' trademark honesty; If You Go Away is a novel of epic proportions. And the ending? Well it is a glorious finish to the perfect novel. I can't recommend it highly enough.

I might be biased as a huge fan of Adele's work, but this is 100% my favourite novel of this year so far, and will probably be my stand out novel of 2015. I'm not sure if she has any more historical work up her sleeve- but I am quietly hoping that she does.

If You Go Away is available TODAY from Amazon online and Headline.

Finding the one: a selection of short stories is also available now.

  

A massive thank you to Georgina Moore at Headline and Adele for sending me my gorgeous limited edition proof.

Review: the Spider in the corner of the room by Nikki Owen

the Spider in the corner of the room by Nikki Owen
Publisher: Mira UK
Release date: 4 June 2015
Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: Plastic surgeon Dr Maria Martinez has Asperger’s. Convicted of killing a Catholic priest, she is alone, in prison and has no memory of the murder. DNA evidence places Maria at the scene of the crime, yet she claims she’s innocent. Then she starts to remember… A strange room. Strange people. Being watched. As Maria gets closer to the truth she is drawn into a web of international intrigue and must fight not only to clear her name but to remain alive.

the Spider in the corner of the room is the first novel in 'the Project Trilogy' series by Nikki Owen and I literally cannot wait for the next one!

Dr. Maria Martinez is a consultant plastic surgeon. She is also a convicted murderer, or so those around her would have her believe. Maria is not so sure. She doesn't think she murdered the priest that everyone is telling her she did, then again she isn't certain that she didn't. She is neither convinced or unconvinced of her own innocence.

This isn't the only thing that Maria is unclear about. Maria suffers with aspergers, making life in prison for her more difficult than most. The novel is written from Maria's point of view, allowing us as readers to really get in to her head and see what she is thinking, feeling etc.

It is not always a particularly pleasant place to be.

Set in three distinctive time periods, Maria's sessions with her 'therapist', her time in prison, and flashbacks to her childhood, the important details are fed to us slowly, like pieces of a puzzle to be put together in the final chapters. As the novel progresses it becomes clear that Maria has been the subject of some cruel and brutal experiments from a young age.

Is this the sole reason for her behaviour? Did she really kill anyone? And what is that spider's web all about? Is there actually a spider in the corner of the room, or is Maria imagining it?

Well....

the Spider in the corner of the room is a difficult book to review without giving too much of the plot away, but I can guarantee that you will NOT be able to put it down. It requires a certain amount of concentration, but it is worth every moment that you spend on it.

the Spider in the corner of the room is available to buy 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: Evil Games by Angela Marsons

Evil Games by Angela Marsons
Publisher: Bookouture
Release date: 29 May 2015
Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: The greater the evil, the more deadly the game ... When a rapist is found mutilated in a brutal attack, Detective Kim Stone and her team are called in to bring a swift resolution. But, as more vengeful killings come to light, it soon becomes clear that there is someone far more sinister at work. With the investigation quickly gathering momentum, Kim soon finds herself exposed to great danger and in the sights of a lethal individual undertaking their own twisted experiment. Up against a sociopath who seems to know her every weakness, for Detective Stone, each move she makes could be deadly. As the body count starts to mount, Kim will have to dig deeper than ever before to stop the killing. And this time - it’s personal.

Evil Games is Angela Marsons second novel, I haven't yet had the pleasure of reading her first 'Silent Scream', but having read Evil Games, I'll be sure to add it to my ever growing to be read list!

Evil Games opens with a raid on a property whose inhabitants are suspected of committing child abuse. 

To make things worse, it is the family's Father who is suspected of abusing his own children. DI Kim Stone is determined to leave no stone unturned in her team's quest for justice.

Meanwhile an ex-rapist is found dead, having been stabbed multiple times. Kim's team don't have to look far to find the murderer, and although there is a clear motive, Kim isn't convinced that the murderer alone is too blame for the crime they have commited.

The majority of her team disagree with her, so Kim finds herself questioning the murderer's former therapist alone.Trying to find answers as to why the murderer acting in the way that the did. 

What she discovers upon her first meeting intrigues and unsettles her but she cannot say why. As she delves deeper in the case and questions the therapist further, the novel takes the novel on a shocking path and you simply will not be able to put this one down!

Kim Stone (and most of her team) are all thoroughly likeable characters and Angela does a great job of making them as flawed and as real as possible. After all, none of us are perfect! Kim's relationship with her DS Bryant is just brilliant, and I look forward to reading more about the pair of them soon.

 Evil Games is available from 29 May 2015.

You can pre-order it now from Amazon online and Bookouture.

  

Thank you to Bookouture who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: No Other Darkness by Sarah Hilary

No Other Darkness by Sarah Hilary

Publisher: Headline
Release date: 23 April 2015
Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: Two young boys. Trapped underground in a bunker. Unable to understand why they are there. Desperate for someone to find them. Slowly realising that no one will. Five years later their bodies are found and the most difficult case of DI Marnie Rome's career begins. Her only focus is the boys. She has to find out who they are and what happened to them. For Marnie there is no other darkness than this...

No Other Darkness is Sarah Hilary's second novel to feature Detective Inspector Marnie Rome and Detective Sergeant Noah Jake. It's a novel that I have been looking forward to reading for a while now, and it does not disappoint.

Having said that, you do not need to have read 'Someone Else's Skin' to enjoy this, it is perfectly acceptable to read as a standalone novel. (But seriously, if you haven't read Someone Elses's Skin where have you been for the last year?!)

The opening of the No Other Darkness sets the scene beautifully despite its harrowing subject matter. 

Two little boys abadoned in an underground bunker, wondering why no one is coming for them, left alone to die.

Five years later, Terry Doyle finds an underground bunker is his back garden, and makes a gruesome discovery. The bodies of two people. Too decayed to determine age, sex, or how long they have been there, but there are estimated to be children.

We quickly learn that they are indeed the two little boys from the opening chapter. But no one has reported them missing. Their identities are unknown. Rome and Jake are affected by the tragedy and sadness of the case. The cruelty of the crime committed seems incomprehensible.

Just when you think the pieces of this complex puzzle are beginning to fit together to be solved, then Hilary goes and throws a spanner in the works, the introduction of new characters brings new scenarios an even worse crime than initially thought.

It is hard to explain the rest of the novel without giving too much of the plot away. But No Other Darkness is an excellent crime novel, which plenty of twists, turns and surprises to keep even the most avid crime reader gripped until its very end.

No Other Darkness is available to pre-order now from Amazon online.       A massive thank you to Headline who approved my request via Bookbridgr in exchange for an honest review.  

Review: A place called Winter by Patrick Gale

A place called Winter by Patrick Gale
Publisher: Tinder Press
Release date: 24 March 2015
Rating: *****
Back cover blurb: In the golden 1900s, Harry Cane, a shy, eligible gentleman of leisure is drawn from a life of quiet routine into courting and marrying Winnie, eldest daughter of the fatherless Wells clan, who are not quite as respectable as they would appear. They settle by the sea and have a daughter and conventional marriage does not seem such a tumultuous change after all. When a chance encounter awakens scandalous desires never acknowledged until now, however, Harry is forced to forsake the land and people he loves for a harsh new life as a homesteader on the newly colonized Canadian prairies. There, in a place called Winter, he will come to find a deep love within an alternative family, a love imperiled by war, madness and an evil man of undeniable magnetism.

  

Firstly I must apologise to Patrick because the review that’s about to follow could never do this novel the justice it deserves.

 

I also need to apologise for not having read any of his previous novels. Where have I been?

 

A place called Winter is a novel that can only be described as a masterpiece. When I read on Patrick’s website that it had been inspired in part by family history, well I fell in love with the novel just a little bit more.

 

Harry Cane (Hurricane, Windy – yes he’s heard all the jokes!) is a shy, caring man with a stutter that endears the reader to him even more. Brother to Jack, Wife to Winnie and Father to Phyllis. Harry appears to have it all. But the opening pages of the novel tell a different tale. Harry’s departure from a Canadian mental asylum to an experimental therapeutic centre under the watchful eyes of Dr Gideon Ormshaw shows us a man traumatised by the procedures he has been subjected to.

 

How exactly did Harry end up in Bethel? 

 

A place called Winter alternates between two time periods in Harry’s life. His life within in the asylum and later, Bethel, and the events of his life prior to the asylum; his early life in England, his emigration to Canada minus his family and his settlement in Canada.

 

Harry’s life begins ordinarily enough, left his father’s omnibus fortune, Harry is comfortable with his life as a bachelor, living with his brother Jack. But then Jack meets George, Harry is introduced to George’s sister, Winnie and everything changes.

 

Harry begins his married life happily enough, until he meets a stranger who unwittingly changes Harry’s future in a way that nobody could have foreseen. Harry is forced into a situation where he must make a devastating decision; leave his family, or risk losing everything including his reputation.

 

Harry agonises over his decision and on a whim decides to emigrate to Canada. On board the ship over he meets Troels Munck, yet another individual who is set to change Harry’s life. Upon arrival in Canada, Harry must learn how to farm before he is able to purchase his own land, which he does with commitment and a strength he never knew he had. Soon he is on his way to a place called Winter, where he decides to settle.

 

Here he meets the Slaymakers, Paul and Petra, brother and sister, who are no strangers to the situation that Harry has found himself in, and we begin to understand here, the path that the novel may take.

 

I don’t want to say too much more and spoil the novel for anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure of reading it. I suppose however I should say that Harry’s life in Canada is determined by three people, Petra, Paul and Troels Munck. The relationships with the former two and the actions of the latter set Harry’s life on a course that could never have been predicted.

 

And the ending? Well we all deserve a little happiness from time to time, and for me, it’s the perfect end to the perfect novel.

 

A place called Winter deserves every little bit of advance praise that it has gathered and is a truly exceptional novel. I guarantee you will fall in love with it.

A place called Winter is available from 24 March 2015. You can pre-order it now from Tinder Press and Amazon online. 

    Huge thanks to Georgina Moore who sent me an advanced proof copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Review: the A to Z of You and Me by James Hannah

the A to Z of You and Me by James Hannah

Publisher: Doubleday

Release date: 12 March 2015

Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: I'm lying here in a bed, my head full of regret, with only a little bird flitting through a tree to comfort me. Friends want to visit, but I refuse them. So my carer Sheila has given me a task to keep me occupied. An A-Z list. Think of a part of my body for each letter. Tell a little tale about it. When I reach H for Heart, what will I say? How we loved to string crocheted hearts in trees? How our hearts steadily unravelled? So I begin with A. Adam's apple. Will you be there to catch me when I fall?

The A to Z of You and Me is a beautifully written love story with years of grief and regret at its heart.

Ivo is dying, he is forty and in a hospice, refusing to see friends and family and just waiting for the time to come. Ivo is too young to be in a hospice, but life has dealt him more than one tragedy so Ivo just accepts that is where he has ended up.

Sheila (who is brilliant) is Ivo's carer. She is warm and funny, and encourages Ivo to take part in a game she has created for the hospice patients. Ivo must think of a body part for each letter of the alphabet, and create a story to accompany that body part.

At first Ivo is reluctant, but as he begins to recall events from his past, he becomes a willing participant.

Through Ivo's A to Z we learn much about his life, his family, friends and how he has come to be in the hospice. But we mostly learn about Mia, Ivo's ex girlfriend, some might say love of his life. For it is clear that she meant everything to him.

As we learn more about Ivo's life with Mia, we begin to understand his reluctance for visitors, particularly his former best friend, Mal. Yet Ivo's friends are (almost) as stubborn as he is and won't take no for an answer.

 

Will he agree to see them before the end, or will it just be too late to revisit the past?

The A to Z of You and Me by its very subject matter could make for a depressing read, but if anything it is uplifting. 

 

A beautifully woven tale of life and death, family and friendship. Funny yet sad and always brutally honest, the A to Z of You and Me is perhaps one of my favourite books so far this year.

Thank you James Hannah for writing such an accomplished debut. I look forward to the next...

The A to Z of You and Me is available from 12 March 2015. 

You can pre-order it now from Amazon online and Doubleday.

    Thank you to Alison Barrow (Transworld) who sent me an advanced copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

Review: the Darkest Hour by Tony Schumacher

the Darkest Hour by Tony Schumacher

Publisher: William Morrow

Release date: 20 November 2014

Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: London, 1946. The Nazis have conquered the British, and now occupy Great Britain, using brutality and fear to control its citizens. John Henry Rossett, a decorated British war hero and former police sergeant, has been reassigned to the Office of Jewish Affairs. He now answers to the SS, one of the most powerful and terrifying organizations in the Third Reich. Rossett is a man accustomed to obeying commands, but he’s now assigned a job he did not ask for—and cannot refuse: rounding up Jews for deportation, including men and women he’s known his whole life. But they are not the only victims, for the war took Rossett’s wife and son, and shattered his own humanity. Then he finds Jacob, a young Jewish child, hiding in an abandoned building, who touches something in Rossett that he thought was long dead. Contd...

  
the Darkest Hour is a novel that was very kindly sent to me by Alice Herbert at Harper 360. I love historical fiction as regular readers of my blog will know. But I also love war/post war based fiction, so this novel for me was the perfect combination of the two.

the Darkest Hour is based in post WWII London, and gives an account of just how different life could have been for us all if Germany had won the war.

John Rossett a British former police sergeant (and war hero) is reassigned to the Office of Jewish affairs, and answers to the SS. 

He is responsible for the rounding up of Jews for deportation, a task that he is reluctant to do, but knows he must if he is to keep his job, and his life.

A widow after losing his wife and son to a bomb blast during the war, Rossett himself is a lonely figure. He uses his work as an escape and although he acknowledges that what he does a day job is fundamentally wrong, he does not have a choice.

Many of the Jews he is sending away are known to him as Rossett has lived in the area all his life. But he trys not to think about where is sending them to. He says that he doesn't know, but I think that deep down he knows exactly where he is sending the Jews that his bosses so deeply despise.

Why then does he choose to follow the instructions of a shopkeeper that he once knew, to save a child by the name of Jacob who has managed to avoid the clearing out of a Jewish property? 

Well, Rossett for me is an extremely likeable character, I think he is fundamentally a good man, who you just know is thinking of his wife and son whilst he is trying to save Jacob from certain death.

An intriguing and chilling insight in to what post WWII Britain could have been, the Darkest Hour is a must read.

the Darkest Hour is available to buy now from Amazon online and all good book shops.

    Thank you to Alice Herbert at Harper 360 for sending me a copy of the Darkest Hour in exchange for an honest review.