The things I know by Amanda Prowse

Synopsis

Thomasina 'Hitch' Waycott loves living and working on the remote family farm and B&B,  But she also wants more.  To see the world.  To own her own home,  To fall madly in love.

But those are fairy tales, and if her life is a fairy tale, then she's the ugly duckling.  Her deformed lip, her crooked limbs and her weak heart have kept her from taking chances.  But that's about to change.

When Grayson Potts comes to stay, he's unlike anyone Thomasina has ever met.  He's aloof, eccentric and exceptionally kind.  He's also totally unconcerned with the physical flaws that have always defined Thomasina.

The two form a bond that neither has had before.  It's possible that it could be something more, but Thomasina also wonders if it's too good to be true.  By putting her heart on the line, Thomasina may open herself to heartbreak.  But she may also open herself to much more.

Author: Amanda Prowse
Publisher: Amazon Publishing Uk / Lake Union Publishing
Publication date: 11th June 2019

My Review

I have loved Amanda Prowse from her very first book Poppy day.  She never fails to disappoint and this latest book is another winner.

I do have to admit that I did find the beginning of this book a little slow and I did wonder if maybe I wasn't going to enjoy this book quite as much as I'd enjoyed others however once I got through the first few chapters it started to get under my skin and the pages were flying as I became immersed in Hitch's (Thomasina's) world.

This book covered so much from disfigurement to bullying to family's to divorce, forgiveness  and love.  It's so hard to know where to start with my review.

Thomasina, (I will refer to her by her real name as she doesn't want to be known by the name of Hitch) was born disfigured with a cleft pallet, a wonky foot and a heart condition, as if that wasn't enough she had a hand that didn't grip properly.  I loved this character not for her disfigurements but for the person inside.  She's dealt with bullying and that included the worst kind of bullying  when it happened over a period of years at home and yes, that's got to her at times but she's a strong, resilient person that sets out to get what she wants.

When Thomasina meets Grayson there is an instant connection.  We find out that he is not physically disfigured but he appears to have some kind of autism but the pair just connect and they are made for each other.

The path to love is far from smooth.  Grayson has his demanding mother to consider,  She just doesn't like Thomasina she dislikes the world and everyone in it.  It takes courage for Grayson to step away and form a new life.

What I loved about this book was the minor characters also had a big part to play.  Thomasina's mum want straight to my heart with her saying of, "Everything is going to be OK, I promise." This brought to me memories of my own mum who would say a similar thing to me.  And I couldn't help but fall in love with the chickens.  My heart broke for poor old Daphne.

Amanda portrays not just characters but people.  The disabilities of the characters is not the focus of the story.  The focus is the personalities behind the disabilities. The life struggles that each and everyone of us face.  The struggle to fit in, in this world and the strength we need to find to keep on battling through.

This book made my laugh in places and almost cry in others. I could write about it all night but all I can say is this is a must read for any fan of true heartwarming fiction.

Finding Lucy by Diana Finley

Synopsis

Every family has its secrets.
None more than this one.

Alison's life has been a lonely one, but now it's time to change that. With no children in her future there is only one answer - she'll take one.

She'dd rescue a girl who needs a better home.  A better mother.  A better life.

It will be the start of a perfect family, and no one will question who Lucy really is. Especially not Lucy herself.

Author: Diana Finley
Publisher: HQ
Publication date: 2018

My Review

I was really looking forward to reading this book however I just failed to connect with it.  The story line was good but I didn't have any feelings for any of the characters.  They all left me feeling a little cold and I struggled in parts to keep reading as the story instead of moving forward appeared to just keep repeating information that I was already aware of.

Alison is obviously a very troubled woman but  she is also very clever.  She manages to execute the perfect abduction and this goes undetected for twenty years.  She clearly has mental health issues but is this enough to forgive her for the crime that she committed.  I would have liked to have felt more emotionally involved with her but she was so cold and bland as a character.  This was maybe the way that the author wanted to portray her due to the mental health issues but reading it just felt like little wooden.  Even when she is faced with terminal illness I still failed to be moved by her.

With the character of Stacey (or Lucy as she became known) I loved the opening sections of the book.  Her confusion and the true child like actions and speech were clearly shown and I could feel the little girls distress at having been removed from everything and everyone she has ever know.  However, as Lucy grew into an adult and the confusion about her life increases things she is told don't ring true, I really wondered if any teenager would deal with the revelations quite so calmly,

This was an OK read but unfortunately it just wasn't for me.

The Boy in the Photo by Nicole Trope

Synopsis

She becomes aware of the silence at the other end of the line.  A prickling sensation crawls up her arms.  Her heart speeds up.  "Found who?" she asks, slowly, carefully, deliberately.  "They found Daniel."

Six years ago

Meghan waits at the school gates for her six-year-old-son, Daniel.  As the playground empties, panic bubbles inside her.  Daniel is nowhere to be found.  Her darling son is missing.

Six years later

After years of sleepless nights and endless days of missing her son, Meghan finally gets the call she has been dreaming about.  Daniel has walked into a police station in a remote town just a few miles away.

Meghan is overjoyed - her son is finally coming home.  She has kept Daniel's room, with his cookie monster poster on the wall and a stack of lego under the bed, in perfect shape to welcome him back.  But when he returns, there is something different about Daniel...

According to the police, Daniel was kidnapped by his father.  After his dad died in a fire, Daniel was finally able to escape.  Desperate to find out the truth, Meghan tried to talk to her little boy - but he barely answers hers questions.  Longing to help him heal, Meghan tries everything - his favourite chocolate milkshake, a reunion with his best friend, a present for every birthday missed - but still, Daniel is distant.

And as they struggle to connect, Meghan begins to suspect that there is more to the story.  Soon, she fears that her son is hiding a secret. A secret that could destroy her family.

Author: Nicole Trope
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 28 June 2019

My Review

This was an incredible, sometimes distressing, emotional roller-coaster of a book and it's going on my list of favourite reads of the year.  I had tears streaming down my cheeks as I flipped the book closed and it's not often a book effects me in that way.

We start the story as Meghan goes to collect her 6 year old son, Daniel from school, only to learn that his father has already collected him.  A father that she has recently divorced.  He's a violent bully of a man and will stop at nothing to exact his revenge for the hurt she has caused him. Daniel has disappeared.  Personally, this is every woman's worst nightmare.

Meghan is torn apart and even a desperate search for her son reveals nothing.  She will never give in but eventually she has to start to move on with her life however Daniel is never forgotten and even when Meghan re-marries and they move to a new family home, Daniel's room is still there, ready and waiting for his return.

As the years go on Meghan has to accept that she may never see her son again and this line really effected me: She hopes that her son is no longer missing her even though she misses him every single day. 

One day, Daniel just walks into a police station and tells them who he is.  A tragic accident has left him with no one and finally he is re-united with this mother. The trauma for this family is not yet over and instead they have a whole new set of challenges to face.

This books flips from the the years of searching to the present day and seamlessly the story is told from both Meghan's side and her missing son's Daniels.  After being separated from his mother for half of his life they are finally reunited but Daniel is no longer the happy, cheeky six year old that she lost but a sullen twelve year old boy that is distant and broken.  He is angry.  Angry at her for giving him away,  Angry at her for not looking for him and angry at her for starting a new life without him.

One day at a time is the only way that Meghan can start to deal with Daniel.  There are moments where his disturbing behaviour leads her to almost believe that he isn't in fact her son.  She thought it would be easy but the truth is, it is much harder then she ever imagined. She has to learn to get to know the stranger that she has brought home and welcomed into her house.  Underneath that is the story that Daniel may not appear as he seems and he could be capable of inflicting harm on both Meghan and his new family.

I don't want to give the plot away but the twists at the end are brilliant.  They are so cleverly woven in so that I ,as the reader, didn't even noticing what was occurring before boom, I was blown away. I never once saw the ending coming.  It made me gasp at points as people that you believed were helping, turned out not to be all that they seemed.  There were points near the end that I physically put the book down as I was unable to process the information and I so desperately needed the happy ever after. Not just for Meghan but for Daniel to.

I really can't say enough great things about this book.  It is a must read and I have to confess that I have already ordered more of this authors previous work.

Dead Inside by Noelle Holton

Synopsis

The killer is just getting started...

When three wife beaters are themselves found beaten to death, DC Maggie Jamieson knows she is facing her toughest case yet.

The police suspect that Probation Officer Lucy Sherwood - who is connected to all three victims - is hiding a dark secret.  Then a fourth domestic abuser is brutally murdered.

And he is Lucy's husband,

Now the police are running out of time, but can Maggie believe her friend Lucy is a cold-blooded killer?

Author: Noelle Holton
Publisher: Killer Reads
Publication Date: 31st May 2019

My Review

To be honest I was a little apprehensive about starting this book.  I have read so many great reviews but what if it didn't live up to my highly built up expectations?  I am so relived to say,  Oh my god, it certainly did stand up and was everything I hoped it would be and a little bit more.  I loved, loved, loved this book.

It is a dark story of domestic abuse and murder but it's told in a very human and touching way.  I felt deeply involved with all the characters, even the ones I didn't like that much got under my skin.

The main thing I liked about this book were that the characters were not just fictional characters.  They lived and breathed on the page like the humans they were portraying.  There was such conflict in each character.  Lucy, a strong probation officer was falling apart inside and ground down due to the domestic abuse she was suffering from her husband Patrick.  Patrick on the other hand was a wife beater but even he was shown to have a softer side.  Deep inside he did love Lucy and his kids but his own upbringing fuelled with violence had cast him onto the wrong path.

Maggie was another one of the leading characters. She's seconded from a Homicide Team to work under the Domestic Violence umbrella.  We know little of her back story apart from that she needed a break after a difficult case.  She's nicely portrayed in the book as a strong female but inside she has been shaken by the events of the previous case and I have a feeling that more will be revealed as the series goes on.

There was a little bit of everything I enjoy in a book. The police investigation, was woven through nicely, just enough without being in your face.  The grizzly murders were given just the right amount of page space without being grim just for the sake of it and the domestic abuse was sprinkled into all the right places when needed.

The story flowed effortlessly and this book kept me awake long into the night.  The saddest part of all was that it had to end and we are left in limbo for a while until we can hopefully follows Maggie's story further and learn more about the characters we have met in this awesome book.

The Paramedics Daughter by Tara Lyons

Synopsis

Would you lie to your family to protect yourself?

Paramedic Abi Quinn is hailed as a hero by the patients she saves with the London Ambulance Service, bur a secret she's kept since she was a teenager now threatens to shatter that perfect illusion.

When her daughter Rose goes missing while studying at Brighton University, and ghosts
from her past return to haunt her, Abi's caught in a face against time to untangle the web of lies she set in motion over twenty years ago.

Everyone has something to lose.

Everyone is trying to protect themselves.

Everyone is broken.

But what lengths will they go to in order to stop the truth from being exposed.


Author: Tara Lyons
Publisher: Bloodhound Books
Publication date: 1st May 2019

My Review

I was really looking forward to reading this book especially readings all the great reviews however whilst it's not the worst book I have read, it's certainly not the best.

The story started off brilliantly when we were introduced to Abi, the paramedic racing to the scene of a terror attack in London.  This was just up my street and I settled down to get stuck in then I don't know the book just seemed to go a bit flat.


Abi's daughter Rose, is a student in nearby Bristol and when Abi is unable to contact her the panic rises as she attempts to track her down.  There is a brief chapter that lets you know that all is not as it seems in Rose's world and she maybe in trouble.  Apart from that we have no idea if she is safe or not until the end of the book. Abi heads to Bristol but doesn't head straight to Rose's flat.  She is side tracked and ends up bumping into her ex-lover and what would turn out to be Abi's estranged father.

The relationship triangle was a little far fetched for me and I couldn't help thinking to myself, that would never happen.  The chances would be off the scale.

I didn't find this a page turner but I did find the character of Abi quite intriguing.  She is a paramedic and therefore everyone assumes that she is a strong person but underneath the uniform she is full of self doubt and worry.  I can't say I overly liked and warmed to any of the characters in the book but it wasn't as bad as some of the worst reviews I've seen have made out.

The ending was a bit of a shock and I certainly didn't see it coming.  I would have liked to have known more about how the other characters lives had changed after the big revelation. Unfortunately I am left making up my own stories in my head for them and nothing was revealed.

I have rated this book 3 stars as it was an OK read but it could have been a little my pacier in places.  I would read more by Tara Lyons as there is definitely potential for the next big page turner.

The Day of the Accident by Nuala Ellwood

Synopsis

Sixty seconds after she wakes from a coma, Maggie's world is torn apart.

The police tell her that her daughter Elspeth is dead.  That she drowned when the car Maggie had been driving plunged into the river.  Maggie remembers nothing...

When Maggie begs to see her husband Sean, the police tell her that he has disappeared.  He was last seen on the day of her daughter's funeral.

What really happened that day of the river?
Where is Maggie's husband?
And why can't she shake the suspicion that somewhere, somehow...

her daughter is still alive?

Author: Nuala Ellwood
Publisher: Penguin Books Uk
Publication date: 21st February 2019


My Review

Having read Nuala's previous novel, My Sister's Bones I was really looking forward to reading, The Day of the accident. I so wasn't disappointed.  Wow, this was a gripping page turner of a read and I read it in two sittings. I loved, loved, loved it.
The book starts as Margaret Allen Rose (Maggie) is standing in the courtroom potentially being charged with manslaughter.

From there we flip to Lewes hospital where we are confronted with Maggie waking up after the accident.  An accident that has taken the life of her daughter Elspeth and her husband, Sean has disappeared without a trace.

Maggie has nothing left in the world.  Not even her home and belongings. The house has been leased to another tenant and her all of her worldly possessions destroyed.  Finding herself alone in a temporary bed and breakfast provided to her by social services she somehow has to try to re-build her shattered life whilst trying to discover the truth of the accident.

This book is interlaced with letters from an unknown ten year old girl to a mother who has abandoned her to the care system for reason that she cannot understand.  These are totally heartbreaking to read.

A carer called Sophie befriends her and when she meets the new tenant of her one time family home Dr Julia Mathers, she is slowly building up a support network.

Maggie is convinced that Elspeth is not dead,  She is a mother.  She would know instinctively if she was no longer alive.  But, Maggie is struggling to remember the details of the accident.  She doesn't even know why she would be at the place at that time of night.  Then, snippets of memory start to come back but none of it makes any sense.

I loved the character of Maggie.  I was instantly drawn to her,  She has led a traumatic life and from a young age she had been a troubled.  It's clear that despite her misgivings she has been a mother that cared.  A mother that wanted her the best for her beloved daughter and would never knowingly put her daughter at risk.

Nothing is quite as it seems in this book and it is full of twists and turns.  One minute I am hoping that Maggie is innocent and the next I am doubting her stability whilst desperately hoping that I am wrong.  I could write all day about this book. It is one that has crawled under my skin and I would definitely say this is one of my favourite books of the year so far.