Friday 31 May 2019

An offer you can't refuse by Jill Mansell

Synopsis


Ten years ago Lola Malone was offered £10,000, and what seventeen-year-old wouldn't be happy with that.

But there was a catch,  The person doing the offering was her boyfriend Dougie's mother, and it was on condition that Lola broke up with her beloved son.  Lola was outraged.  Nothing - nothing!  could tear her and Dougie apart.  Until she discovered a terrible secret, and suddenly she has no choice but to take the money and run.

Now a twist of fate has brought Lola and Dougie together again, and her feelings for him are as strong as ever. But she broke Dougie's heart - and he's about to discover that she was paid to do it.  She can never tell him the truth, so can she get him back? Well, Lola likes to think she's irresistible.  But even she's got her work cut out this time...

Author: Jill Mansell
Publisher: Headline Publishing
Publication Date: 2008


My Review

I have been hearing good things about Jill Mansell books and have been planning to read one for quite some time. Finally I've done it and I have to say I loved it.  Jill's books are definitely going onto my author hit list and I will be sure to be buying lots more.  This book was published in 2008 so it's a fair few years old but well worth a read.
I loved he character of Lola.  She's a young lady that always tries to do the right thing although sadly things don't always work out as she's plans. The one thing I really loved about her was her loyalty and her truthfulness.  I truly wish I had a friend in my life just like Lola.

An Offer You Can't Refuse by [Mansell, Jill]Family and friendship is a big part in Lola's life and this is a theme all the way through the book.  I love the characters of Sally and Gabe and their developing friendship.  They are total opposites and when Sally moves into Gabes flat as he travels to Australia, his worst nightmare comes true when he finds Australia isn't what he planned .  He plans to move back into once upon a time neat and tidy flat but devilishly untidy Sally digs in her heels and refuses to budge.  This begins the start of a messy friendship.

There are lots of relationships developing all the way through this book and it had a nice heart warm feel to it.  I must admit I did secretly hope that Lola and Gabe would pair up as there was a one point what felt to me to be a bit of secret admiration between them but in the end they turned out to be just great mates.  These are possibly the best types of relationships to have.

All the way through this book I was rooting for happy endings for each of the characters and I wasn't left disappointed.  This is a book to curl up on the sofa with alongside a nice cold glass of wine and a big bar of chocolate. I loved it.


Tuesday 28 May 2019

I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes

Synopsis

When your past comes calling, it's time to disappear...

Pilgrim is the code name for a man who doesn't exist.  The adopted son of a wealthy american family, he once header up a secret espionage unit for US intelligence.  Before he disappeared into anonymous retirement, he wrote the definitive book on forensic criminal investigation.

But that book will come back to haunt him.  It will help NYPD detective Ben Bradley track him down.  And it will take him to a rundown New York hotel room where the body of a woman is found face down in a bath of acid.

Her features erased, her teeth missing, her fingerprints gone.  The perfect crime, it;s a textbook murder - and Pilgrim wrote the book.

What begins as an unusual and challenging investigation will become a terrifying race against time to save America from oblivion.

Author: Terry Hayes
Publisher: Bantam Press
Publication date: October 2013

My Review


To be honest I like to write my reviews straight after reading the book whilst it's all still fresh in my mind however I completed this book over a week ago and to be honest I am still not sure if I enjoyed it or not. It's one of those books that I loved in places and wanted to give up on in others.  I don't discard a book easily and I plodded on through.

It's not my usual type of read however I am trying to broaden my genres and decided to give it a go. I had read really good reviews on this and decided why not.  The book is over 600 pages in length and I did find it really tough going at times.  There were points especially half way through when I seriously considered putting it aside but I pushed on with it and made it to he end. Honestly, I do think this book could have been cut down in length and it really would have sped the story up a little bit.

There were points in the book that really gripped me.  I really loved the building up and the getting to know the character Saracen.  His father was murdered and now he's out for his revenge.  He is a sinister, cunning and very clever man that will stop at nothing to try and destroy America and change the world that we live in forever.  These chapters I was gripped by and the pages flew by.

There were a lot of moments in the book where nothing much seemed to happen to keep my interest and I was tempted to flip through a few chapters to get back to the good stuff.

I really enjoyed it when Ben, tracked down the Pilgrim.  Pilgrim had gone to ground after writing a book on how to commit the perfect murder and he wanted to try and have a normal life but that was never going to happen.  Finding out Ben's back story was quite heart breaking at times and added a little warmth to what other wise could have been a very cold book.

Did I enjoy this book? Yes. Well, I think I did.  Would I read the sequel? Probably not.



Friday 24 May 2019

The Butcher's Daughter by Jane E. James

Synopsis

Trust no one.  Not even yourself.

When Natalie Powers returns home for the first time in thirteen years, she must convince everyone hat she has fully recovered from the mental illness, which has seen her institutionalised for most of her young life.

But instead of being welcomed back, Natalie enters a baffling world of deception.  She must fight her way through the lies in order to discover the truth about her mother's sudden disappearance sixteen years earlier.  To do this, Natalie must also try to make sense of the hazy memories from the past that continue to haunt her.

In the village of Little Downey, everybody appears to harbour a mysterious secret, including her father, Frank, the village butcher, who refuses to discuss the circumstances surrounding Natalie's mother's disappearance, but who can Natalie trust if not her own father? Especially when it becomes clear her protector and confidante, Dr Moses, is not all he appears.

Meanwhile a spate of unexplained clifftop suicides has seen the seaside resort go into decline. Are the villagers somehow involved or is it something more sinister at work?

Determined to find out what happened to her mother, Natalie must make sure her own frailty and self-doubt does not catapult her back to the mental institution before she can uncover the truth...


My Review


The Butcher's Daughter: a tense psychological thriller by [James, Jane E.]I hate saying this but this book wasn't for me.  I've read some reviews that raved about the book and it sounded right up my street, a good psychological  thriller with lots of blood and gore but sadly I just didn't connect with the characters.

The ending was very good and neatly tied everything up together and there is no getting away from the fact that there were some really shocking and gruesome moments in the book that made my cringe but for me there was just something missing,

Natalie clearly has issues as does every character in the book.  Her mother's death had obviously taken it's toll and clearly it has been something that she has never gotten over.  The village of Little Downey is a sinister place and one that I hope I never have the pleasure of visiting and it's really made me wonder about what really goes on in butchers shops.

I would put this in the horror category as there is plenty of blood and lots of gory scenes.  The reference to the red silk dress of her mothers is something that I could definitely see in a movie and would make a scary, hide behind the cushion moment.

There were a lot of moments in the book that I really did enjoy reading, the complex relationship with Daniel, Natalie's father's employee and Natalie's one time best friend and moving on from there her new found friendship with the Irish gypsy Jed and his slightly wild sister Merry. Despite me not loving the book, I certainly didn't hate it and I do think that elements of the book will stay with me for some weeks to come.


Monday 20 May 2019

Keep you by my side by Callie Langridge

Synopsis

The past is a dry and dusty place.  Life is too short to look back and regret what we can't change.

At sixteen, Abi is convinced she knows everything about her family.  Her mum, Rose, is strict because she mistakenly believes she can turn Abi into the perfect daughter.  Abi's nan, Gertie, couldn't care less about her granddaughter's messy hair and love of art rather then arithmetic and is always there with a positive word, a glass of lemonade and a hug.

When Abi's family is forced to relocate from London to nan's cottage perched high on a cliff in Dorset, Abi becomes an isolated misfit.  She finds escape from the school bullies in a new and thrilling friendship with a local girl.  But with three generations under one roof, long-kept secrets made in love begin to unravel: Gertie's past in WWII Blitz-torn London and the fallout of her friendship with a young Canadian serviceman; Rose's final holiday with her parents in Dorset in 1963 and an all-consuming romance just weeks before she heads off to university in Edinburgh.

Devastating revelations shake Abi to the core.  Everything she believes about her life and family are turned on it's head.  She is forced to make the hardest decisions to save everyone she loves but not without sacrifice and making painful secrets of her own.

As the past and present lives of he three women unfold from the 1940's to the 1980's we see how
far people will go to protect the people they love.

Author: Callie Langridge
Publisher: Bombshell Books
Publication Date: October 2018

My Review


Keep You By My Side: a novel about love, lies and family by [Langridge, Callie]
This was a lovely heart warming read.  The first few chapters were OK and my initial thoughts were this is going to be a nice book but then you really start to get sucked into the characters worlds.                                                                                                                                                                   
The story spans 3 generations of a family and it's almost written like three individual stories that somehow manage to intertwine before, at the end, the whole story is knitted together.  The landscape for each period in time in nicely portrayed without being to heavy.                                                                                                                                                                         
First off we meet Gertie in 1945.  She faces the harsh life of war torn Britain.  The scenes in this era of the book are very vividly written and you can imagine the horrors of living through the bombings and the loss that ensues.

Next we jump to Abi in 1986.  Her family are facing hard times so when they have to pack up their life and move to her Nan's Cliff top cottage in the middle of nowhere Abi finds the going tough.  She is faced with having to start a new school and stand up to the local bullies but soon finds her new best friend Penny.  I love the image I drew up when the two girls were huddled in the bedroom playing recordings of Top of the Pops.  It was a throw back to my own teenage years.

A little further into the book and we meet Rose in 1963.  She's on holiday with her parents and is bracing herself for a big step in her life where she plans to head to Edinburgh to study as a Doctor but things don't turn out as expected.

All families have secrets and lies and this family is not on it's own but it's what you do with the secrets that can make or break a family.

The first half of the book is very gentle where we build up the characters and really get to know them but then the pace quickly increases and things take a turn for the worst for each of the generations.  Each character has their own secret which is eventually revealed.  There are some heartbreaking moments in the book and at times I really wanted to shout at the characters, Abi in particular, not to do it. But then we wouldn't have the story that I really enjoyed.

This is a book to snuggle up with on a rainy afternoon with a large plate of biscuits and never ending cups of coffee and devour from start to finish. As you can tell I really enjoyed this book and will be looking for more from this author.


Friday 10 May 2019

The Cleansing by J.A.Baker


Synopsis

A village shrouded in mystery.  Secrets buried deep...

When Ray moves to a new house in the village of Whitchurch, he leaves behind a relationship and a luxury apartment in search of a better life in the countryside.

However, he soon realises that sleepy Whitchurch also has its own fair share of problems.  Last year, a woman's body was discovered in the woods nearby.  The killer was never caught.

Soon suspicious things start to happen. Threatening letters are sent, cars are vandalised and headstones desecrated.  But who is responsible for these acts and why?

As the tension in the village builds, Ray begins to feel the pressure.  Someone is out to cause trouble and that someone might be closer to Ray than he ever imagined.

Author: J.A.Baker
Publisher: Bloodhound Books
Publication Date: April 2019

My Review


The Cleansing: a twisting psychological thriller you won't want to put down by [Baker, J.A.]



I love a good psychological thriller and this book is a winner.

The opening chapter is gripping as you are invited into the psychopaths world.  Told in first person, you get the full workings of the twisted mind despite the outward normality.  Showing how they have the ability to cover up their failings despite the evil within.

We are then whisked to the sleepy village of Whitchurch, near Dorset. Ray has split up with his long term girlfriend and is escaping the rat race of Birmingham to begin a new life in the country.  His appearance in the village is less then welcome as sinister goings on have been happening.



A recent murder has left the villagers uneasy.  When threatening letters start being received and cars are vandalised the tension starts to build. The village is normally so peaceful and quiet but things are falling apart around their ears and truths will be uncovered.


Ray often calls into the local pub for a pint and a chat with the young barmaid Lily.  She is a lot younger then him but he enjoys her company and she is the only one that really befriends him from the start. Ray is still dealing the demon ex girlfriends mother who is bombarding him with phone calls and e-mails.

The twists in this book are very cleverly written and kept me guessing all the way through.  I'd just think I knew who was behind all the sinister goings on when something would be thrown at me that completely shattered my thinking.

I read this book in 2 sittings and thoroughly enjoyed every second.


Tuesday 7 May 2019

The Evidence Against You by Gillian McAllister


This was cleverly plotted and I was shocked when some of the clever twists were finally revealed.  I went though the whole book one minute thinking yep, he's guilty to the next thinking no, he can't be he's innocent.

Synopsis


Izzy's father is finally released from prison, seventeen years after he was convicted of murder.

Izzy wants nothing more to do with him.  But then her father writes her a letter, begging her to believe he's innocent.

Against her better judgement, Izzy is tempted to believe him.  But how can she?

Because the woman they say he killed was Izzy's mother...

Author: Gillian McAllister
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: 18 April 2019

My Review


I was gripped with this book from page one.  This is the first book I have read from Gillian McAllister and I will be searching for more of her work.

The Evidence Against You: The gripping new psychological thriller from the Sunday Times bestsellerI loved the character of Izzy, a grown up but still a child.  She owns and runs her mother's restaurant although she doesn't love it like her mother had.  She prefers to come home and eat Angel Delight straight from the jug and fish finger sandwiches.  Izzy's love was Ballet.  She'd dreamt of being a top ballerina yet she had not danced since her mother's murder.

She's married to Nick, a police analyst.  He's steady, secure and reliable nothing like her father Gabe.  Gabe is a free spirit who loved nothing more than painting in his container.  He struggles to hold down a 9 to 5 job.  He was wild, he was free, he was passionate.

I loved the way this book flipped from current day back to the weeks and months and even the day of the murder.  It really drew me in and made me question each of the characters that I encountered.

Izzy's on an emotional roller coaster and you can't help your heart going out to her.  This book made my eyes fill with tears at some points.  

The secrets and lies within the family are about to come to the surface but who is the killer? I certainly couldn't work it out.

I loved this book and have rated it as 5 stars.  

Friday 3 May 2019

The Little Girl in the Radiator by Martin Slevin




Synopsis


The little girl in the radiator is an award-winning book.  A tale of love, loss and family; the touching, sometimes hilarious and occasionally heartbreaking story of a man's struggle to care for his mother after her diagnosis with Alzheimer's disease.

Martin Slevin's mum was a highly active, very intelligent and fiercely independent woman who ran her own business and ruled Martin and his father with a rod of iron.  But after Martin's dad dies, her life crumbles, and she becomes listless and forgetful.  Eventually she is diagnosed with Alzheimer's and Martin puts his own life on hold to care for her. Together they embark on a journey through the various stages of the condition; the destination is never in any doubt, but along the way there are lighter moments, as she shaves the dog's bottom, holds sing-songs with an imaginary Irish band and pins all of Martin's socks to the wall.  And all the time, the question nags away at him, who is the little girl in the radiator, with whom his mum has urgent, whispered conversations each day.

Author: Martin Slevin
Publisher: Monday Books
Publication date: 2012
Awards:Chairman's Choice Award at the British Medical Association Book Awards 2013


My Review


This is Martin's, or should I say his mother Rose's story, which shows the shock waves that effect a family when dealing with Alzheimer's.
This was a truly touching, sometimes funny, and very sad memoir.


Little Girl in the Radiator, The by Martin Slevin Book The Cheap Fast Free PostWhen Martin's dad dies his mother Rose, is shortly after diagnosed with dementia.  As their Consultant told them ' It's like rolling up a rug.' Rose slowly start to lose her short term memory and find herself regressing further and further back into her childhood.

Martin tries his hardest to keep his mother at home, even putting his own life on hold.  He's recently separated and moves back into the family home. They foster an strange looking, badly behaved dog for a short time called Bruno, or is it Ben? or Boris? I have to say this part of the book had me stitches.

Sadly, it's not to long before he strain of the illness becomes apparent and Martin has no choice but to think about placing Rose into a home.

The eccentric behaviour of Rose is often funny and I'm sure that looking back at her life the family will remember these times with a bitter sweet fondness.  The shocking state of some of our care / nursing homes for the elderly / vulnerable leave a big question mark over the people that run them.  The first home that Rose is put into is a shambles to say the least.  Thankfully she did find somewhere that as she said was rather like a grand hotel.

It was the peoples reactions to the disease that quite shocked me.  When Rose wanders off the full community come together to locate her. Strangers she met in the street who Rose would engage in conversation with, as if she knew them, would play along with the game whilst others would squirm uncomfortably and others were nothing short of rude and obnoxious.

I am lucky enough not to have had to deal with Alzheimer's, it has so far not effected any of my family members and after reading this book I am very thankful for that.  As Martin says in the last chapter of his book, "Dealing with a loved one who has Alzheimer's is rather like peeling back an onion with your bare hands; each time you tear away a layer, you find there in yet another one underneath, and the more you peel the layers away, and the closer you get to the core, the more it makes you want to cry.

This book was written back in 2012 and in recent years I have seen an increase in the awareness of Alzheimer's and I would like to think that things have improved since Martin's experience but sadly I fear that too much is still the same.

This a touching read and I would recommend this book.

Wednesday 1 May 2019

My Sister Milly by Gemma Dowler

Synopsis


You've seen Manhunt, now read this powerful and personal account from Milly Dowler's sister Gemma...

'My name is Gemma Dowler.  On 21 March 2002, a serial killer named Levi Bellfield stole my sister and sent our family to hell...'

In my sister Milly, Gemma Dowler recounts the terrible day of Milly's disappearance, the suspicions that fell on the family, the torture of encountering the murderer in court, the fatal errors made by the police, how it very nearly destroyed her family and how love and hope helped the family survive.

Everyone thinks they know the story of Milly Dowler, but only one person knows the true pain of having lost a sister, and how a family can rediscover hope to survive.

Author: Gemma Dowler
Publisher: Penguin Random House UK
Publication date:2017


My Review


Wow, it's very hard to find the words to describe exactly how this book made me feel.  By the end I was an emotional wreck.  It's a rare book that can leave me sobbing into soggy tissues at 1 am in the morning but sobbing my heart out I was.  I could barely read the end due to the constant misting up of my eyes.

Most people will know the story of the teenager Millie Dowler who was tragically murdered 17 years ago. What I failed to know was that the police didn't take the original reports of her missing as serious.  They believed that Millie was a teenage runaway.  The police made one terrible mistake after another, add to that the phone hacking scandal and this reads more like a work of fiction then anything that could happen in real life.  But happen it did.

The book starts on a lovely note describing the carefree teenage Millie.  The happy all singing, all dancing family unit but then Millie disappears and their world is torn apart.

The book gets harder and harder to read as we go through endless weeks of waiting, endless weeks of hoping until the grim discovery.  This was when the tears really started to flow.  The harrowing court case just left me filled with horror.

I was an emotional wreck by the end of the book and I really do not know how any family can go through the pain they have and survive.  Somehow they have found the strength to battle on but as you can imagine they are still very broken.  My guess is they will never fully heal.

I don't read a lot of non-fiction but this is a must read book. Emotionally it has touched me down to my furthest depths and it has stayed with me long after I have finished reading.