Second Life – SJ Watson.

 

 

Back of the Book :

She Loves Her Husband.

She’s Obsessed By A Stranger.

 

She’s A Devoted Mother.

She’s Prepared To Lose Everything.

 

She Knows What she’s Doing.

She’s Out Of Control.

 

She’s Innocent.

She’s As Guilty As Sin.

 

SHE’S LIVING TWO LIVES.

SHE MIGHT LOSE BOTH.

 

What I Think : 

Julia is a photographer. One of her photo’s ‘Marcus in the Mirror’ has made her quite famous. Marcus was an ex-boyfriend who she lived with in Berlin.

She’s married to Hugo, a surgeon. Together they have adopted Connor, who is Julia’s sister Kate’s child. Connor was adopted when he was a small baby because Kate couldn’t look after him properly as she was very young. Kate now lives in Paris and wants Connor back, She rings nightly to beg Julia for him.

One night Kate is murdered in an alleyway in France. Together with Kate’s flatmate, Anna, Julia discovers that Kate had been going on ‘dating’ sites and was having ‘cyber’ sex. So she sets up herself a profile on a dating site called ‘Encountrz’, she’s convinced herself that Kate’s killer is on there and she’ll be able to find him …

To start with I felt quite sorry for Julia, she’s lost her sister and she has a problem with drink, and of course she has all the other normal stresses of family and married life. However as the book progresses I found myself feeling less and less sympathetic. She seemed very easily led and a bit of a ‘dish cloth’ and  I’m not sure if anyone would really do those things so easily and quickly without not much thought for anyone else. I also thought that either her husband Hugo was a little blind as to what she was up to or he just didn’t care.

To be honest, I’m not quite sure what I think to this book. Yes it has a twist at the end, so it ticks the right box for a thriller and yes the twist is a pretty good one, but I found myself working out ‘who did it’ about half way through. I’ve got to say that I didn’t think it was quite as good as ‘Before I go to Sleep’, which kept me on my toes from start to finish.

I give this book 7/10 as it is quite readable, but not one that will stick in my mind for too long.

Published by Doubleday on 12 Feb ’15.

I  purchased my copy from WHSmith £7:99.

 

 

 

Wish You Were Here – Catherine Alliott.

 

 

Back of the book : 

When Flora, James and their two teenage daughters are offered the holiday of a lifetime in a chateau in the south of France in return for one simple good deed, they jump at the chance.

They exchange the confines of Clapham, the weight of the mortgage and anxieties over their future for a blissful break.

But Flora didn’t anticipate a mysterious guest and a whole heap of family baggage coming too.

With James developing a schoolboy crush on a famous singer and Flora distracted by ghosts from her past, their dream holiday suddenly takes some very unexpected turns.

 

What I think : 

Flora and James have been married for 19 years, they have two teenage daughters, Amelia and Tara. James is a Foot specialist and Flora a restaurant reviewer. Whilst on a flight home from a weekend in Paris, James ‘saves’ the life of a child belonging to a famous french opera singer, when I say ‘saves the life’ I mean that he gave her a EpiPen injection after she ate peanuts !  In return for this Camille De Bouvoir (The famous opera singer) offers them her villa in the South of France, for an all expenses paid months holiday. All goes well until James decides to invite his father ‘The Brig’ and his two sisters Sally and Rachel, who can be ‘slightly’ difficult. They usually spend their summer holiday in Scotland with them. Then what makes matters worse is the fact that a unwanted guest turns up in the form of someone from Flora’s past. Is Flora going to get her much needed and wanted dream holiday, or will it all end in tears ? …

Flora, the main character is just a normal housewife that has to deal with the many strains of normal family life. She has one really lovely daughter. Tara and one quite ‘spikey; one, Amelia. A mother that doesn’t seem to want to grow up and never listens to what Flora has got to say. And lastly a husband that seems to fancy the opera singer more than her.

I must admit that I was a little disappointed with this book, it took me quite a while to get into it, however I did find it quite amusing in places, although it did seem to go on quite a bit, at over 400 pages I did think it was slightly long . I really couldn’t identify with the main character, I felt she was a bit of a pushover and really could have stuck up for herself more. Perhaps it was just me but I do like my main women to be ‘strong’ and ‘independent’.

Having said all of that though please don’t think that i didn’t like this book, It just didn’t stand out for me.

I give it 7/10.

published on 26/02/15 by Michael Joseph (Penguin)

Thank you to Lovereading.co.uk for the copy of the book to read and review.

 

My Weekly Round-Up. 15/02/15

 

Hello Lovely Book People 🙂

Hope you’ve had a fab week 🙂   I had the week off work this week, and I managed to read 2 books !  Which is pretty good for me 🙂

I’m back to work next week 🙂 but I’m still hoping to do better than I usually do with my reading, so fingers crossed for that 🙂

Anyway here’s this weeks Round-Up.

 

Books I’ve been sent this week :

A Mothers Story – Amanda Prowse – Sent by the very lovely Laura Smith at MIdas PR

 

 

Books I’ve been accepted for this week : 

Summer Secrets – Jane Green – NetGalley – I am SO excited about this book. I cant wait to read it !!!

 

 

Books I’ve purchased this week : 

The Girl in the Photograph – Kate Riordan  – Tesco – £3:85.

 

 

Book I’ve read/ Currently reading this week : 

Three Amazing Things About You – Jill Mansell – 10/10 – what a fabulous read !

Wish You Were Here – Catherine Alliott – Review to follow.

 

That’s all for this week folks !

Happy Reading 🙂

xxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three Amazing Things About You – Jill Mansell.

 

 

Back of the book : 

Hallie has a secret. She’s in love.

He’s perfect for her in every way, But he’s seriously out of bounds. And her friends aren’t going to help her because what they do know is that Hallie doesn’t have long to live. Time is running out ….

Flo has a dilemma. She really likes Zander. But his scary sister wont’t be even faintly amused if she thinks Zander and Flo are becoming friends – let alone anything more.

Tasha has a problem. It’s not being nicknamed ‘Bin Girl’ because of an embarrassing incident with a credit card. It’s that her new boyfriend is the adventurous type. And she’s afraid one of his adventures will go badly wrong.

Three Amazing Things About You begins as Hallie goes on a journey. A donor has been found and she’s about to be given new lungs. But whose ?

 

What I think : 

Hallie: has Cystic Fibrosis. The book begins as she is being driven to the hospital for a lung transplant. She has an ‘Agony Aunt’ Blog called ‘Three Amazing Things About You’ where the public write into to her with their problems , telling her three things  about themselves.  She also has a little secret, She’s hopelessly in love with her doctor, Luke. Her Mum, Faye is a very lovely lady, but can be very over -protective.

Tasha : Whilst out shopping on Christmas Eve, she loses her credit card. She’s searching for her card in the bin when a very handsome stranger stops to help her. As Tasha starts to date the handsome stranger, who turns out to be called Rory. It turns out that he likes to do ‘Extreme Sports’ which really doesn’t sit very well with Tasha, she’s a bit of a worrier.

Flo : works in a old folks home, Nairn House. She ‘inherits’ a cat called Jeremy and the flat that he lives in, from a lovely old lady called Elsa. Elsa has two grandchildren, Lena and Zander. Lena is not impressed with the fact that Flo has inherited the flat. However Flo and Zander start to get close and fall in love. What will Lena Do when she finds out ?

This is another gorgeous, expertly written book from the pen of Jill Mansell. She never fails to please, I always eagerly await her next book with baited breath.

This book, like life,  tells of the highs and lows but with lots of laughs thrown in as well. Just as you think everything is ticking along nicely, things get get turned on their heads, and you’re left wondering again. This is what makes Jill such a wonderful author and why I love her books so much. I think my favourite character has got to be Hallie, although she has a life-threatening illness, she still seems to look on the bright side if life and never lets things get her down. also I must give a special mention to Zander, he is so lovely and sweet, everyone should have a Zander !

As with all her other books, this book has a beautiful ending, one that makes you cry a few happy tears, so have a book of tissues at the ready !!

I really loved this book and give it 10/10

Published on 15 Feb 2015 by Headline Review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookbridgr for the digital/review copy of the book.

 

 

 

 

My weekly Round-Up. 08/02/15.

Hello lovely book people 🙂
Hope you’ve all had a fabulous week.
There is nothing to report on the book front this week as I’ve been really busy and haven’t managed to read a full book. However, I’ve 9 days off work now so hopefully there will be lots to tell you all next week 🙂

So that’s all for this week folks !

Happy Reading 🙂
️
xxx

The Book of Lost and Found – Lucy Foley.

 

 

Back of the book : 

It’s when life started in earnest,

HERTFORDSHIRE, 1928 –

The paths of Tom and Alice collide against a haze of youthful carefree exuberance. There’s champagne and excitement, but above all there’s the beginning of a love story that finds its feet by a lake one silvery moonlit evening …

It’s when love stories didn’t have happy endings, 

PARIS, 1939 –

Alice is living in the city of light, but the pain of the last decade has already left its mark. There’s a shadow creeping across Europe when she and Thomas Stafford – now a world famous artist – find each other once more …

 

It’s when the story begins, 

LONDON, 1986 –

Bestowed with an old portrait from her grandmother, Kate Darling can’t possibly imagine the secrets that have been lost to time. Katie’s journey takes her to Corsica, Paris and beyond, as time melts away she is catapulted into the heart of a love story that’s as epic as its life changing …

 

What I think : 

The book is made up of sections, we travel back and forth in time, starting in 1928 and finishing in 1986.

The year is 1928, Alice and Tom find each other again at a party held by a mutual friend. They haven’t seen each other since they were small children. They were 6 years old when they holidayed in the same place, They spent 6 wonderful weeks together in Winnard Cove in Cornwall. Sadly they didn’t ever return as Alice’s father died and Tom’s went to war.

Kate’s story begins in 1986, her mother June has died, she was a very famous Prima Ballerina who had danced all over the world. She had been adopted when she was a small child by Evie Darling. Kate goes to visit her dying Grandmother one day and is told something quite upsetting, that June’s birth mother had tried to contact her but she kept it from her. The birth mother also sent Evie/June a small drawing of a woman by a lake, it is signed on the back ‘Celia’ which Evie gives to Kate. Sadly Evie dies soon after. After some checking, Kate discovers that the artist is Thomas Stafford and decides she wants to know more. She visits Tom in Corsica and finally he tells her the story of the drawing ….

This is such a wonderfully written book, however it has such a sad, bittersweet undercurrent running through it from start to finish. It tells of lost love and almost forgotten childhoods, and of things, however hard you try, not turning out how you would like them to or expect. Alice’s character is quite flirty and very brave, never thinking of herself, but always of others. Poor Tom is always compelled to do the ‘right’ thing who is never quite in control of his own destiny. Kate always seem’s so grown-up and in control, never quite sure if its o.k to have a bit of fun and live a little.

So brilliantly descriptive, in my minds eye, I have visited Corsica, Paris and Venice and have seen all wonderful place’s there.

The more I read, the more I didn’t want to put it down. Its one of those books that you are eager to read, but read it slowly because you never want it to end. Every time I was pulled back into the past I found out something new and intriguing about the two main characters.

There are a host of wonderful things I could quite easily say about this excellent book and believe me its such a brilliant read, but it would give far too much away, so all I’m going to say is that you really need this book in your life, so go to your nearest book shop now and buy this gorgeous book! Do have a box of tissues ready though, because the ending made me shed a few tears.

I give this truly brilliant book a very well deserved 10/10.

I would like to say a very BIG Thank you to the author of the book, Lucy Foley for sending me a signed copy of this book (and also the fab postcard, that I used as a bookmark.) when she found out that my local bookstores didn’t have any copies of it, she very kindly sent me a review copy from her own bookshelf.  So again Thank you xxx

Published on 15/01/2015 By Harper Collins.

 

My Weekly Round-Up. 01/02/15.

 

Hello lovely book people and welcome to my Round-Up 🙂

Another busy week on the work front this week, although I did manage to squeeze in a blog tour 🙂

Not much to report on the book front I’m afraid, although a couple of weeks ago I was sent ‘The Book of Lost and Found’ – Lucy Foley by the author herself, (It’s a a gorgeous signed copy ) which I started to this week and its fab ! I cant wait to get home from work every night to read it.  My review for this gorgeous book will be on the blog next week 🙂

Anyway, here’s this week’s Round-Up.

 

Books I’ve been sent this week : 

The Dandelion Years – Erica James – Sent by Gaby Young at Orion Books.

 

 

Books I’ve been accepted for this week : 

None – I didn’t request any.

 

 

Books I’ve purchased this week : 

None.

 

 

Books I’ve read/currently reading :

That Part was True – Deborah McKInlay – 8/10 – A lovely read. – Blog Tour

The Book Of Lost and Found – Lucy Foley – Currently reading.

 

That’s all for this week folks !

Happy Reading 🙂

xxx