Review: Before I Met You - Lisa Jewell

• Publisher: Century (19 July 2012)
• ISBN-13: 978-1846059230

The blurb

Having grown up on the quiet island of Guernsey, Betty Dean can't wait to start her new life in London. On a mission to find Clara Pickle - the mysterious beneficiary in her grandmother's will - she arrives in grungy, 1990s Soho, ready for whatever life has to throw at her. Or so she thinks...

In 1920s bohemian London, Arlette - Betty's grandmother - is starting her new life in a time of post-war change. Beautiful and charismatic, Arlette is soon drawn into the hedonistic world of the Bright Young People. But less than two years later, tragedy strikes and she flees back to Guernsey for the rest of her life.

As Betty searches for Clara, she is taken on a journey through Arlette's extraordinary time in London, uncovering a tale of love, loss and heartbreak. Will the secrets of Arlette's past help Betty on her path to happiness?

Betty Dean doesn't know what to expect when she moves to Guernsey with her mother and step-father to care for her step-grandmother.  When she meets the old lady she is unsure of her, but over the years the two become very close and eventually Betty becomes full time carer for her Grandmother.

When the grandmother passes away, Betty is named in the will, but has the task of finding another beneficiary to the will, one Clara Pickle.  The search for Clara brings Betty back to Soho, England.  Who is this mysterious Clara and what is her connection with Betty's grandmother Arlette, who has never visited London?

Betty arrives in Soho ready to begin a new life after spending years caring for Arlette and with very few clues, sets about finding a job, accommodation and Clara Pickles.

I got so caught up in both Betty and Arlette's stories that ran parallel through the novel.  The 1920's is one of my favourite eras to read about and the author captured the period wonderfully. I enjoyed the mystery that Betty had to solve.  I cried at the end of Betty's story and at the end of Arlette's story for different reasons. 

With a beautiful cast and two very emotional and moving storylines, Lisa Jewell has written a gem here.

I have read other novels by Lisa Jewell that are usually more modern and lighter reads but still very enjoyable.  This one has to be my favourite Lisa Jewell to date.

A perfect 10 for me!  I loved it!  

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy.  This did not influence my review in any way.

Review: A Kettle of Fish - Ali Bacon

• Format: Kindle Edition
• Publisher: ThornBerry Publishing UK (4 Oct 2012)
• ASIN: B009M7FWKK

Also in paperback ISBN-13: 978-1781768624

The blurb

She’s running as fast as she can, but the past is catching up.

Ailsa has just left school and should be living it up on a summer trip, but her plans are scuppered by her needy and secretive mother Lorraine. In desperation she takes up with local fishmonger Ian. He’s good for her soul and her sex-life, but their future is blighted by the shadow of Ailsa’s absent father Tom, an art-teacher who left home after making the papers in the worst possible way. Ian eventually blots his copy book and Lorraine is implicated in his treachery. Ailsa takes off for Edinburgh where Shane, a picture rights dealer with more than a touch of the night, is happy to provide a job and a bed. With him Ailsa lets go of her inhibitions, but can she let go of her past? 

A Kettle of Fish moves from the East coast of Fife to the art galleries of Edinburgh, where Ailsa finds herself fishing for clues about Tom.

Set in Scotland,  this coming of age story follows the story of Ailsa, a teen living in Fife with her mum, as she enters a new stage in her journey to adulthood.

Just as she is exploring relationships she discovers something devastating about her absent father, Tom.  A secret that has been kept from her and one she needs to know more about. She cannot ask her mother, Lorraine, who is not in good health and quite dependent on Ailsa.  She must discover the truth about her father on her own.

Ailsa goes to Edinburgh and meets with an older man, Shane, who offers her employment and preys on her youth and naivety.  Whilst working for Shane a chance meeting with a woman from her father's past, leads Ailsa on a trail to find the answers to her questions.  

I enjoyed following Ailsa's journey into Independence and adulthood. After a fairly quiet and slow start the story began to pick up pace and become very interesting once Ailsa met  a woman from Tom's past. I thought I had the answers to her father's past and enjoyed the twists that brought the story to a close.

Although this is a story about a girl in her late teens and I do not read YA, I really enjoyed this novel.It would appeal to an adult reader as there are some complex adult issues raised.   I am not sure it is suitable for young YA readers as there are sex scenes in the novel.

9 out of 10 for me! I loved it!

Thank you to the author for a review copy.  This did not influence my review in any way.

Review: Ninepins by Rosy Thornton

• Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd (16 April 2012)
• ISBN-13: 978-1905207855
• Also available on Kindle

At the weekend I was lucky enough to meet and chat with Rosy Thornton at the Festival of Romance.

Rosy read from her latest novel Ninepins which was fantastic for me as a fan of her writing and also because it was my current read at that time.

Rosy was celebrating an award win from the East Anglian Book Awards, sponsored by the Eastern Daily Press and Jarrolds, which took place at the Assembly Rooms, Norwich on 15th Nov 2012. 

Ninepins won the prize for fiction (novels and short stories).
Congratulations, Rosy!

Photos courtesy of the author

The awards were presented by Sophie Hannah 
Rosy says "I'm a huge fan of hers, so was very excited to meet her." 

Rosy and her award

My review

The blurb

Deep in the Cambridgeshire fens, Laura is living alone with her 12-year old daughter Beth, in the old tollhouse known as Ninepins. She's in the habit of renting out the pumphouse, once a fen drainage station, to students, but this year she's been persuaded to take in 17-year-old Willow, a care-leaver with a dubious past, on the recommendation of her social worker, Vince. Is Willow dangerous or just vulnerable? It's possible she was once guilty of arson; her mother's hippy life is gradually revealed as something more sinister; and Beth is in trouble at school and out of it. Laura's carefully ordered world seems to be getting out of control. With the tension of a thriller, NINEPINS explores the idea of family, and the volatile and changing relationships between mothers and daughters, in a landscape that is beautiful but - as they all discover - perilous.

Laura, single mum to Beth aged 12 takes on a new lodger for the pumphouse next to her remote house in The Fens.  Previous tenants have always been students, but due to the persuasion of Vince allows a young 17 year old, Willow, leaving care to move into the pumphouse.

Willow has had a difficult past and as Laura and her daughter Beth get to know her more about her past is known.  Vince, is Willow's social worker and spends quite of bit of time with the family as they help Willow to make the move from care to independence. 

As a fan of Rosy Thornton's novel The Tapestry of Love I was delighted to read Ninepins, which is in the same style of storytelling. The setting, in this case the very rural landscape of The Fens in Cambridgeshire,  is as much a part of the  story as the characters. The Fens is a very unpredictable landscape, one I drive through sometimes on my way to Ely or the coast, but would not want to live in for that very reason.  I read this novel fearing what would happen next knowing that bad weather or the dark can change The Fens very quickly and make it perilous.

In this novel mother-daughter relationships are explored through Willow's story and Beth's story. The author captures the fears of a mother with an asthmatic child, who is becoming more independent, very accurately. 

I loved this novel, not only because I could identify with Laura, but also because it was set in a familiar setting.  

The Fens,  Asthma,  Mother-daughter relationships,  foster care


10 out of 10 for me!

The Award in a Fens setting
which is where the novel is set

Review copy

Review - The First Time I Saw your Face by Hazel Osmond

• Publisher: Quercus (16 Aug 2012)
• ISBN-13: 978-1849164191
• and on Kindle

The blurb

Jennifer had it all. Until a terrible accident took almost everything. When she moves back home, with her interfering ex right on the doorstep, the future doesn't look that bright. Until she meets Mack. Sexy, dishevelled and just a little clumsy, he starts to make her believe that she can move on from the past and embrace life all over again. But he has a secret he'd do anything to protect, and he's about to betray her to keep it. Will he realise what she means to him in time? And if he does, will she be able to love the real Mack?


Delightful setting in rural Northern England for this delightful tale of 2 people fighting their demons.

Jennifer an aspiring actress was involved in a terrible accident that left her permanently scarred. She hides away at the family farm fearing her future is mapped out for her by the well meaning Alex, but is it really what she wants?

Mack has gotten himself into a little situation and feels he only has one option to save the family name.

These two characters are brought together by deception and each character is hiding behind a public persona for different reasons.  

I really liked Mack but had to keep reminding myself of his hidden agenda.  I had mixed feelings about him.

This novel had my full attention with  great characters and some sharp one liners in amongst the beautifully written storyline.

I was concerned, when I read the blurb, that this would be more like the true life style reads and would go into the trauma that Jennifer suffered in detail.  I am pleased to report, it did not.

Oh yes, this one hit the spot.  A lovely read to curl up with on these autumnal evenings.

Fabulous!  
4.5 out of 5 for me!

Review copy, in exchange for my honest review.

Review - At Sea by Laurie Graham

• Publisher: Quercus Publishing Plc (15 Sep 2011)
• ISBN-13: 978-0857381354
• Kindle  ASIN: B004EYT88I

Bernard Finch is a lecturer working on a cruise liner.  He deems his audience to be a nuisance and to be avoided at all costs once the tour and talk is over and the liner has left port.  One particular passenger Frankie Gleeson has unnerved Bernard so much that he takes to his bed!

The star of the novel is Bernard's wife of 20 years, Enid.  When the story begins we see Enid as the dutiful wife following her husband on his tours and supporting him in every possible way.  They have been married for 20 years and know everything there is to know about each other.  Or do they?

Frankie Gleeson is like a dog with a chew and will not give up on his belief that he knows Bernard from childhood.  

As the days go by on the cruise, Enid begins to wonder if she really does know Bernard as well as she believes she does.  She makes discoveries about her husband , activities to be enjoyed on board the liner and the unfamiliar world of the internet.

I loved the way Laurie Graham gave us just enough to know that Enid and Bernard had missing pieces to their history without giving everything away. I felt Enid's frustration about the situation. She left me wondering whether Enid still had unanswered questions about Bernard at the end of the novel.  I found the way Enid handled Bernard at the end  of the novel satisfying and funny.

5 out of 5 for me!

Thank you to Quercus for a review copy

Review - The Best of Me - Nicholas Sparks

• Publisher: Sphere (13 Oct 2011)
• ISBN-13: 978-1847443212

The Blurb


They were teenage sweethearts from opposite sides of the tracks ? with a passion that would change their lives for ever. But life would force them apart. Years later, the lines they had drawn between past and present are about to slip ...Called back to their hometown for the funeral of the mentor who once gave them shelter when they needed it most, they are faced with each other once again, and forced to confront the paths they chose. 


Can true love ever rewrite the past? 


The new epic love story from the multi-million-copy bestselling author of The Notebook and The Last Song. Nicholas Sparks is one of the world's most beloved authors.






Dawson and Amanda shared first love.  A love that was forbidden, not only by her parents, but by their lifestyle.  Years later they are brought back together by the death of the only man who believed in them, Tuck.  


As they reunite to say farewell to Tuck, a will they won't they story unfolds.  Even after all these years, life is not straight forward.  Dawson is looking over his shoulder knowing he is being hunted by his family and Amanda has the family back home to think of. 
Can they rekindle their first love?


My first time with this author and I had high expectations. 


I was rather intrigued to find out what the attraction was for fans of Nicholas Sparks' novels. I now know.  Nicholas Sparks, male author of 16 romance novels knows what a woman wants....and delivers it beautifully in a love story.


The author writes an easy to read storyline but with passion that kept my attention until the end.  I wasn't sure that this was going to be the tear-jerker I was expecting  for the first half of the novel, but then all of a sudden it hit me and didn't stop until the very last page.  It was worth the build up.


Get the tissues ready folks.


4.5 out of 5 for me!


Thank you, Sphere for sending me a review copy

Review - Friday Night with the Girls - Shari Low

• Publisher: Piatkus Books (13 Oct 2011)
• ISBN-10: 0749952164
• ISBN-13: 978-0749952167

The Blurb

 Lou Cairney's life has never been dull. But through twenty years of ups, downs and really bad hairstyles, Lou has had the best friends a woman could hope for in Lizzy and Ginger. Growing up together, they shared their dreams and their disasters, broken hearts and career crashes and they survived it all thanks to love, hope and a large dollop of humour. And cocktails. Lots of cocktails. 


Until now. 


Lou needs her friends more than ever because her past has just caught up with her in a shocking way.






This is story of three women whose friendship survives the decades... as the saying goes.. boyfriends come and go, but friends are forever.


Lou, Lizzy and Ginger have been through so much together so when their Friday nights become less frequent they decide on a weekend break in Glasgow for a good old fashioned girls weekend catch up.


Friday night was always girls night out and over the course of the weekend the women recall the ups and downs of the last 20 years.


I loved this hilarious,  but sometimes sad story right from the first chapter. Never a dull moment with these 3 women.  I envied the strength of their friendship and how they were always there for each other in times of need.   Even in the saddest  moments, and with their own problems,  their support did not waiver.   



I particularly liked the layout of the story that Shari Low used.  On the weekend retreat each of the  women would recall an event in their lives and then Lou would take up the narration of those events, back in time, to fill us in on the juicy details. 


If you remember Wham, ever had a home perm, had to lay on the bed to zip up your jeans or sat O'levels you will love this nostalgic and oh, so accurate trip down memory lane to the late 80's.  I did!


5 out of 5 for me!



Thank you to Pikatus/Little, Brown for a review copy.

Review - Persuade Me - Juliet Archer

• Publisher: Choc Lit (15 Sep 2011)
• ISBN-10: 1906931216
• ISBN-13: 978-1906931216

The Blurb

When do you let your heart rule your head?

When it comes to love, Anna Elliot is stuck in the past.  No one can compare to Rick Wentworth, the man she gave up ten years ago at the insistence of her disapproving family.  What is she's missed her only chance for real happiness?

This contemporary re-telling of Jane Austen's last completed novel is the second book in Juliet Archer's  Darcy & Friends series, offering fresh insights into the hearts and minds of Austen's irresistible heroes.

Now, I have a confession, between you and me, I have not read Jane Austen's novels, but from what I understand Juliet Archer stays true to the characters and plot of Persuasion.  I also understand that you do not need to know the Jane Austen novel to enjoy this re-telling of the classic.


I fell in love with this story from page one.  The idea of Anna still in love with a summer affair she had ten years ago with the gorgeous Rick.  


Anna, lecturer, gave up love at the request of her family.  Now lives alone in a top floor flat wondering what could have been with Rick.  


Rick has moved on in location and relationship stakes.  He is now Dr Rick Wentworth, Celebrity scientist, living in Australia,  with a model girlfriend to keep him company.  He is not short of admiring fans.


Fate brings Rick and Anna back together when Rick tours England to promote his book and visit his sister, who happens to live nearby.  Their paths were meant to cross.


There is a fabulous cast of characters including Anna's eccentric father,  Sir Walter, with his obsession with mirrors and  his 'youthfulness', and his other daughters, Lisa and Mona, Mona's husband Charles and the in-laws the Musgrove's and Rick's family.


There were times I wanted to shake Rick and Anna for not ceasing the moment or for not speaking up when they had the chance.  There is a lot of surmising going on between these two characters and if only they would communictate. 


Sometimes it felt like the story was slipping into the past with Sir Walter's antiquated views and mannerisms.  He is quite a character.   


I really enjoyed getting to know all these characters and discovering the connections between the families.  A romantic modern day tale.




I am putting Juliet's other novel on my TBR list along with Jane Austen's Persuasion. 

4.5 out of 5 for me!



Find out more about Juliet Archer  here

Thank you ChocLit for sending me a review copy

Review -Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines by Carol E Wyer

• Publisher: YouWriteOn.com (26 Jun 2011)
• ISBN-10: 1908481811
• ISBN-13: 978-1908481818

The blurb


Amanda Wilson can't decide between murder, insanity and another glass of red wine. Facing 50 and all that it entails is problematic enough. What's the point in minking your eyes, when your husband would rather watch 'Russia Today' than admire you, strutting in front of the television in only thigh boots and a thong? 


Her son has managed to perform yet another magical disappearing act. Could he actually be buried under the mountain of festering washing which is strewn on his bedroom floor? He'll certainly be buried somewhere when she next gets her hands on him. 


At least her mother knows how to enjoy herself. She's partying her twilight years away in Cyprus. Queen of the Twister mat, she now has a toy boy in tow. 


She really shouldn't have pressed that send button. The past always catches up with you sooner or later. Still, her colourful past is a welcome relief to her monochrome present; especially when it comes in the shape of provocative Todd Bradshaw, her first true love. 


Soon Mandy has a difficult decision to make; one that will require more than a few glasses of Chianti.


This novel tells the story of Amanda's life through her blog posts on her blog Facing 50 with Humour.  Amanda,  uses her blog to record the daily challenges of a woman in her 50's adjusting to early retirement with  her husband, Phil, and son Tom.   


Amanda blogs about her neighbours, shopping trips, parties, the financial market, her mother and a long lost love who has recently befriended her again on Facebook.


There are some very funny postings and some quick witted comments from her followers, that will have readers laughing out loud.  My favourites being a party with the ageing neighbours that is rather eventful, and shopping in M&S.


Amanda is very open and honest from behind her keyboard.  After all, no one she knows actually reads this stuff.  She even writes about her long lost ex love interest who has suddenly appeared back in her life and wants to see her. If only, Phil paid her that much attention these days.  She gets some interesting advice from her followers. 


What will happen when she finally decides to meet up with Todd?


With a couple of surprising twists and a revelation or two at the end of the novel, I must say I really enjoyed it.


The author, Carol has a wicked sense of humour and can make you laugh out loud at the most mundane of daily activities.  It's the way she tells them!  




I look forward to more from this author.


5 out of 5 for me!

Review - The Empty Nesters - Nina Bell

• Paperback: 416 pages



• Publisher: Sphere (1 Sep 2011)


• ISBN-13: 978-0751543667

The blurb


Clover Jones and Laura Dangerfield have been best friends since their children were born. Along with Clover's stylish, powerful friend, Alice, they share holidays, sleepovers, school runs and childcare. 


But when the children leave home, secrets and lies are exposed and the old rules no longer seem to apply. How can two very different marriages - and three close friendships - survive?


The back cover says Nina Bell: fiction that gets under the skin of family dynamics.  
How true!


The story is set around three families.  


Clover and George Jones and their children Ben and Holly -  They are alone now for the first time in a long time, can they survive?


Tim and Laura Dangerfield and their son Jamie - Interesting reading about Laura's feelings when times got tough for Tim.


Alice and her daughter Lola - Single-parent, successful business woman, has it all, or does she?


The dynamics of the group and character traits were clearly laid out early on in the story so I could settle into the storyline about how the children flying the nest would change these people's lives. 


The storyline flowed and the engaging dialogue between the characters, throughout, not only made me want to join in discussions but kept me changing my mind about who was up to what, with who, and why.  I enjoyed the way characters would chat and analyse each other.  


Secrets were being kept, trust was being tested, and many things were not being said between friends and husbands. It is not always what you do say but what you don't say that matters in a friendship or relationship.




It is very difficult to say how I felt about the characters in this book without giving away too much of the story.  There were characters I was not keen on during the story, but by the end of the book I began to understand why they acted they way they did. 


This is my first encounter with Nina Bell's writing and I loved it.   I want more.


This novel gave me a great big hug but also made me do a little self-evaluation. Very therapeutic read.


5 out of 5 for me!

Review - The Gardener by Prue Leith

• Publisher: Quercus Publishing Plc (28 April 2011)



• ISBN-13: 978-0857382993

The blurb


After a divorce and a great deal of soul-searching, Lotte has abandoned her successful career as an architect for a degree in garden history, and uprooted her three children to take a job as head gardener to millionaire Brody Keegan at Maddon Park in Oxfordshire.


Brody is as ignorant about gardens as Lotte is knowledgeable, his tastes as loud as hers are quiet.  As Lotte locks horns with her boss and his spoilt young wife, she finds herself on an emotional roller coaster.  she knows what is right for the garden, but - still raw from divorce, anxious about the children and frightened of entanglement - she is less sure of what is right for her.


Lotte is newly divorced and it still stings. She has managed to pick herself up and makes the decision to start afresh with the children, new career path, new home but she is not ready for a new man. I instantly took to Lotte as she is a strong character who knows what she wants...well for her family, anyway.

Brody, "Lord of the Manor", has more money than sense when he buys Maddon Park and has grand plans for the estate, along with his young model wife, Amber.  Brody was not easy to like with his brash ways and ideas.

By contrast, Peter, who is helping Lotte to research the history of Maddon Park, is gentle and a good friend to Lotte and the children.

I knew from reading the Prologue, giving background information on Maddon Park,  that this was going to be a novel I would really enjoy.  I wanted to know more about the history of the Park.  Once Lotte and Brody were introduced into the story at the job interview for Head Gardener I was even more excited to read on and see how this explosive working relationship was going to work.

Lotte was interested in restoring and preserving Maddon Park, whereas Brody is only interested in throwing his money into wrecklessly developing Maddon Park. Surely a recipe for disaster.

As Lotte spends more time researching the history of Maddon Park and working with Brody she discovers that not only does the Park have hidden depths, Brody does too.

A strong cast and great observations of the new feelings, hopes and fears in relationships for a divorcee and her young teen daughter.

My only reservation about this novel is that by the time I had reached page 100 I was expecting this book to be just an enjoyable read uncovering the history of the Park and it's restoration. After  a slow, but enjoyable start the author gets down to the nitty gritty of people in the story and the novel becomes much more exciting.

4.5 out of 5 for me!


Thank you to Quercus for sending me a review copy.  This did not influence my review in any way.

Review - Emotional Geology by Linda Gillard

• Format: Kindle Edition
• Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
• ASIN: B0055T357G

The Blurb

Rose Leonard is on the run from her life.

Taking refuge in a remote island community, she cocoons herself in work, silence and solitude in a house by the sea.  But she is haunted by her past, by memories an desires she'd hoped were long dead.

Rose must decide whether she has in fact chosen a new life or a different kind of death.  Life and love are offered by new friends, her lonely daughter, and most of all Calum, a fragile man who has his own demons to exorcise.


But does Rose, with her tenuous hold on life and sanity, have the courage to say yes to life and put her past behind her?


Rose, has moved to a Scottish Island that has no mountains.  Gavin climbed mountains. 
Rose tries to convince those around her that she is over Gavin, but moving on with her life is proving a challenge. 


A Bi-polar sufferer, Rose believes that the remoteness of her new home and her textile therapy and work is helping her to heal emotional scars of her past.


Enter, Calum, another one of the author's gorgeous leading men.  Calum is the distraction Rose had not counted on. Calum is strong, handsome and attentive, but he has some healing of his own to do.


 This is the second novel I have read by Linda  Gillard and, although very different to Star Gazing, the author's amazing story telling woven through the Scottish landscape delivered a page turner I could not put down. 


I did not find this an easy read as it deals with mental illness and the effect on those close by, but the subject was approached sensitively.  There is plenty of romance and passion on an emotional journey to a happy ending.


Linda Gillard is one of my favourite authors and House of Silence is next for me.


5 out of 5!


I received copy of this novel from the author for my honest review.  This did not influence my review in any way.