A week off ….

Hello lovely book people …..

Just a quick one to let you all know that there won’t be a book review this week, as I’m having a bit of a book slump 😦  Ive been having one for a couple of weeks but this week I haven’t actually been able to finish the book that I’ve been reading. Although, In my defence its not all due to my slump that I haven’t been able to finish said book, my lovely youngest son got engaged to his girlfriend at the weekend and things have been really hectic here as you can imagine, so not much reading has been going on  🙂 However, I’m hoping that things will be back to normal next week and there will be a lovely shiny new review for you all to read 🙂

So bear with me folks, I’m still reading ( very slowly ! ) and still reviewing 🙂

Thats all for now folks 🙂

Happy Reading

xxx

 

 

 

My Map of You – Isabelle Broom.

Back of the book : 

Holly Wright has had a difficult few years. After her mothers death, she’s become an expert at keeping people at a distance – including her boyfriend Rupert.

But when Holly receives an unexpected letter explaining that an aunt she has never metas left her a house on the greek island of Zakinthos, the walls she has built  begin to crumble. Arriving on the island, Holly meets the handsome Aiden and slowly begins to uncover the truth about the secret which tore her family apart.

But is the island where Holly really belongs ?

Or will her real life catch up with her first ?

 

What I think :

Holly lost her mum in awful circumstances. Which now means that she’s really wary of people, she’s scared that they will leave her. So she’s really not good with people. Even with her boyfriend Rupert she pretends she’s someone else.

Then a letter from a greek solicitor pops through her letter box, telling her that she’s been left a house in Greece from an aunt she never knew she had, she’s really intrigued. She decides to book some holiday from work and go over there to have a look and possibly sell it.

When she arrives on the island and she sees the house, she falls a little in love with the place. When she meets handsome next door neighbour Aiden she soon realises that he knew her aunt. She decides she wants to get to know him better. Little by little and with the help of a map of the island that she found in the house, drawn by her mother and aunt 20 years ago, she begins to find out about her mum and the aunt she never knew she had.

This book really takes you on a rollercoaster of a ride, there are so many emotional ups and downs. I felt really sorry for Holly to begin with, she has so much guilt about what happened to her mum and she’s so frightened to get close to anyone just in case they leave her. Her boyfriend Rupert is a bit of a drip and he never seems to really have time for her, he’s always busy doing something for his ‘high-powered’ job.  So when she goes to Greece it does her so much good. She really ‘finds’ herself.

The characters are really well written and fully formed, in my opinion everyone should have an Aiden in their lives !

You really can get so absorbed in this this book that I could almost feel the sun on my skin and smell the sea. It really makes you want to go on holiday.

However highly I sing this books praises it wont do it justice, you need to read it for yourself, I highly recommend you go and buy this book, you really won’t regret it.
It’s definitely on my top ten list of fabulous books for this year so far.

I really loved this book and give it a well deserved 10/10  (5 Stars)

 

Published on 21/04/15 by Michael Joseph (Penguin Random House)

A huge thank you to Francessa Russell at Michael Joseph for the review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

Somewhere Inside of Happy – Anna McPartlin – Blog Tour.

 

Back of the book : 

Maisie Bean is a fighter. A survivor. Seventeen years ago, she went on a first date that went so badly it was enough to put the girl off chips. The marriage that followed was hell but it gave her two children : funny caring Jeremy and bullish brilliant Valerie.

Just as it seems everything might finally start going right, sixteen-year-old Jeremy goes missing. The police descend and a media storm swirls, over five days of searching that hurtle towards an inevitable, terrible conclusion.

Maisie is facing another fight, and this time its the fight of her life. But she’s a survivor. whatever the odds she’ll never give in.

 

What I think : 

Maise Bean has had a hard life, her husband beat her for years, until he hospitalised her for three weeks. Then she left him and he vanished out of her life. The only good thing to come out of the marriage was her two children, Sixteen-year-old Jeremy and twelve-year-old Valerie. Now years later, things are finally looking up. She’s got a date with the lovely police detective that saved her so many times from her awful husband. O.K so her mum has Alzheimers disease and walks the house in the nude at 3am, but she can cope with that.

Then one awful day her beloved, lovely son Jeremy goes missing and again she has to cope with this latest terrible thing happening to her. Maisie is a strong person, but can she cope with this … ?

The book begins in the now, with Maisie introducing herself to a room full of college/Uni students. she has written a book about her son Jeremy’s disappearance. Then the book goes back to 1995 and the days leading up to Jeremy going missing.

This book is about a normal woman, living in Ireland in the 90’s having to deal with more than a normal, everyday people should have to cope with.

Maisie’s character is very well written, I think most women of the world can identify with her and what she  has to go through everyday, but I also think that most women/mothers would be pretty glad if they never had to go through the disappearance of a child.

I must admit, when I first started reading this book, I did pick it up and put it back down again a couple of times. I really didn’t think it was my kind of book and wouldn’t be able to get into it, however after reading the first chapter I was hooked. I really needed to know how Maisie coped with her loopy (meant in the best possible way ) mum and her stroppy twelve year old daughter. when the unthinkable happened and Jeremy went missing I was hoping and preying for the best outcome.

I really enjoyed this book and give it a well deserved 9/10.

Published by Transworld books on 07/04/16.

A Huge Thankyou to Naomi Mantin at Transworld books for the review copy of the book.

The Second Love of my Life – Victoria Walters.

 

Back of the book :

In the small Cornish town of Talting, everyone is known for something ..

Up until recently, artist Rose walker was known for lots of things : her infectious positivity; her unique artist talent ; her second-to-none cookery skills; and of course, her devotion to childhood sweetheart and husband Lucas.

But, two years ago, all of that changed in one, unthinkable moment.

Now Rose is known for being a young woman who became a widow aged just twenty-four.

Rose knows life must – should – go on. But the prospect of trying to carve out a future for herself is one she can still barely entertain. Until newcomer, Robert Green, arrives in Talting for the summer …

Can Rosie allow herself to love again ? 

 

What I think : 

Rose and Lucas were childhood sweethearts, they’d always been together and got married as soon as they could. Sadly however Rose lost Lucas one night in such an awful way she doesn’t know if she can cope without him.  Two years later she’s managed to get herself together and get on with life, sort of …

Then a newcomer arrives in the small seaside town to view her art. He not only shows an interest in her pictures but also Rose herself, is she ready to move on or is it still too soon … ?

This is a gorgeously written debut novel, I really enjoyed reading it. The characters are so wonderfully written and real that I really felt for poor Rose and what she had to go through. There also are some lovely bittersweet moments that caught me shedding a tear or two, it has many ups and downs it really is a bit of a fairground ride of a book.

I really could write so much more about it but i would have to put a spoiler warning at the top of the page. What I will say is though, you really need this lovely book in your life.

This is such a great feel-good novel, just what you need after a hard day at work, something to loose yourself in.

I really look forward to the next novel and give it 4 stars. (which equals a well earned 8/10)

 

 

Published by Headline review on 07/04/16.

A very big Thankyou to Frances Gough at Headline for the review copy of the book.

The Missing – C.L.Taylor.

 

Back of the Book : 

You love your family. They make you feel safe. You trust them. Or do you …. ? 

When fifteen-year-old Billy Wilkinson goes missing in the middle of the night, his mother, Claire blames herself. She’s not the only one. There isn’t a single member of the Billy’s family that doesn’t feel guilty. But the Wilkinson’s are so used to keeping secrets from one another that it isn’t until six months later, after an appeal for information goes horribly wrong, that the truth begins to surface. Claire is sure of two things – that Billy is still alive and that her friends and family had nothing to do with his disappearance. A mother’s instinct is never wrong. Or is it ? Sometimes those closest to us are the ones with the most to hide ….

 

What I think :

Claire and Mark Wilkinson’s fifteen year old son Billy, has been missing for six months. He went out one night and never returned. Everybody, his brother Jake and Jakes girlfriend, Kira are all really worried.

Claire and Marks marriage has become rocky and Jake has turned to drink, so when Jake turns up to the appeal drunk, its the last straw for Claire. She has started to have black outs, she wakes up in places and she has no idea how she got there, or what she has done. Is she just stressed or is it something else ?

Billy had been getting into a lot of trouble at school before he disappeared and was hanging around with older boys, do they know what happened to him ?

And then there is Mark’s Stepbrother Stephen, who Claire works for,  why is he so upset with his Brother Mark and why is he acting so jumpy all the time … ?

At the start of the book and throughout, there are text messages from JackDaw44 to ICE9, we don’t find out who they are right up until the end, which I think really adds to the suspense.

I really can’t begin to understand what it must be like to have a child go missing, however  the story is written so well that I really believed what I was reading and I got quite upset in places thinking about what it would be like if one of my children went missing.

At first, you don’t know what happened to Billy on that night, then little things start to come to light,and then wham ! there are so many twists and everything is turned on its head you really start to suspect everybody ! I really enjoyed this book it really held me from page one right up until the end.

This is the third novel from the lovely C.L.Taylor, and in my opinion her story-telling just gets better and better.

I give this brilliant book 10/10.

Published on 07/04/16 by Avon Books.

A very big Thank you to Avon Books and Netgalley for the digital copy of the book to read and review