BOOKSIMO

Description My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me: 1. I’m in a coma. 2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore. 3. Sometimes I lie. Review This is a debut novel for Alice Feeney - I have to say that I want to be on the waiting list for her next book right now! The terror of this novel had me from page one, as the thought of being in a coma where you can hear everyone speak, but no one know you are sentient is to me a living nightmare. That is exactly what is happening to Amber as we meet her in the hospital and the opening lines of  My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me: 1. I’m in a coma. 2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore. 3. Sometimes I lie. I really should have paid more attention to number 3. The book is told from the perspective of Amber in the coma, flashbacks to just before she was in the coma and flashbacks to when she was a child. I found the whole book so enticing. Sometimes...

Description With her fortieth birthday approaching, Lucy Carpenter dares to hope that she finally has it all: a wonderful new husband, Jonah, a successful career and the chance of a precious baby of her own. Life couldn’t be more perfect. But the reality of becoming parents proves much harder than Lucy and Jonah imagined. Jonah’s love and support is unquestioning, but as Lucy struggles with work and her own failing dreams, the strain on their marriage increases. Suddenly it feels like Lucy is close to losing everything… Heart-wrenching and poignant, this latest work by bestselling author Amanda Prowse asks the question: what does it mean to be a mother in today’s hectic world? And what if it’s asking too much to want it all? Review This is the first Amanda Prowse book I have read, and I find that it is her 16th novel, so I have a lot of catching up to do as I absolutely loved her style of writing. The book flowed beautifully and I couldn't wait to reconnect with i...

Description In the chilling new crime novel from award-winning author Jane Casey, Detective Maeve Kerrigan and the murder squad must navigate a web of lies to discover the truth… A murder without a body Eighteen-year-old Chloe Emery returns to her West London home one day to find the house covered in blood and Kate, her mother, gone. There may not be a body, but everything else points to murder. A girl too scared to talk Maeve Kerrigan is young, ambitious and determined to prove she’s up to her new role as detective sergeant. She suspects Chloe is holding something back, but best friend Bethany Norris won’t let Maeve get close. What exactly is Bethany protecting Chloe from? A detective with everything to prove As the team dig deeper into the residents of Valerian Road, no one is above suspicion. All Maeve needs is one person to talk, but that’s not going to happen. Because even in a case of murder, some secrets are too terrible to share… Review This is the first ...

Description The Bookshop Detective – in which Eleanor ends up doing some sleuthing from her quiet corner of rural England. Review I first met Eleanor the owner of the Combemouth bookshop in Jan's book A Summer of Surprises and I was keen to find out what she was now up to. Although this book is a follow on you could easily read it without having any prior knowledge of Eleanor. I read so many books and so it was no surprise that I didn't immediately remember everything about Eleanor and Combemouth, until Freya turned up - the ex-wife. I think Jan must have painted a very good picture of her, because I was instantly transported to the first book and how I saw her in my minds eye. I loved getting back into the bookshop - my idea of heaven and it's beside the sea - idyllic. What I do like about Jan's writing is that she doesn't make Eleanor someone who knows everyone in the village, even though she has lived there for a few years. Why do some books make it sou...

Description  Christie Chapman is a single working mother who spends her days commuting to her secretarial job in London and looking after her teenage son, Finn. It can be tough just getting through the day but Christie has always found comfort in her love of crafting and any spare time she has is spent in her parents' summerhouse working on her beautiful creations. From intricately designed birthday cards to personalised gifts, Christie's flair for the handmade knows no bounds and it's not long before opportunity comes knocking. All of a sudden Christie sees a different future for her and Finn - one full of hope and possibility, and if the handsome Max Alexander is to be believed, one full of love too. It's all there for the taking. And then, all of sudden, Christie's world is turned upside down. Christie knows that something has to give, but what will she choose? Will she give up her dreams and the chance of real love? What price will she pay for doing the...

Description What do you cook for the people you love? Asked this question, 100 of Britain’s food heroes have shared their most beloved recipes to make this extraordinary cookbook. Nigella Lawson divulges how to bake her Chocolate Guinness Cake and Rick Stein fries up Shrimp & Dill Fritters with Ouzo. Yotam Ottolenghi would serve Pea & Mint Croquettes and for Jamie Oliver, an unrivalled Fantastic Fish Pie. These are just a few of the incredible recipes provided by the best and brightest on the British food scene, including chefs such as Raymond Blanc, Gordon Ramsay, Delia Smith, James Martin, Nigel Slater, Thomasina Miers, Mark Hix, Jason Atherton, Marco Pierre White, Claudia Roden and more. Compiled by award-winning food editor and author William Sitwell,  The Really Quite Good British Cookbook  is keenly anticipated and a stunning object in its own right. Ultimately it is a celebration of the breadth, creativity and richness of Britain’s unique fo...

Description Setagaya ward, Tokyo Inspector Kosuke Iwata, newly transferred to Tokyo's homicide department, is assigned a new partner and a secondhand case. Blunt, hard as nails and shunned by her colleagues, Assistant Inspector Noriko Sakai is a partner Iwata decides it would be unwise to cross. A case that's complicated - a family of four murdered in their own home by a killer who then ate ice cream, surfed the web and painted a hideous black sun on the bedroom ceiling before he left in broad daylight. A case that so haunted the original investigator that he threw himself off the city's famous Rainbow Bridge. Carrying his own secret torment, Iwata is no stranger to pain. He senses the trauma behind the killer's brutal actions. Yet his progress is thwarted in the unlikeliest of places. Fearing corruption among his fellow officers, tracking a killer he's sure is only just beginning and trying to put his own shattered life back together, Iwata knows time is runni...

Description Cora Baxter is back - and this time, she's facing the most important deadline of her career… When TV reporter Cora Baxter attends the scene of a murder in a London park, she's horrified to discover the victim is someone she knows – and devastated when one of her best friends is charged with the crime. Suddenly the fun-filled life of Cora and her eccentric camera crew takes a darker turn. Cora is convinced that her friend is innocent, but with seemingly solid evidence, the police investigation team – reluctantly led by Cora's boyfriend DCI Adam Bradberry – believe the case is closed. With a trail of clues that leads all the way to New York, can Cora find out the truth before the trial begins – or is it already too late? The Deadline is the second in the hugely popular Cora Baxter Mysteries series by acclaimed broadcaster Jackie Kabler. Review Not too long ago I got around to reading my first Jackie Kabler novel - Dead Dog Day which I reviewed here ...

Description From the bestselling author of Richard and Judy pick,  In A Dark, Dark Wood  comes Ruth Ware's next compulsive page-turner This was meant to be the perfect trip. The Northern Lights. A luxury press launch on a boutique cruise ship. A chance for travel journalist Lo Blackwood to recover from a traumatic break-in that has left her on the verge of collapse, and to work out what she wants from her relationship. Except things don’t go as planned. Woken in the night by screams, Lo rushes to her window to see a body thrown overboard from the next door cabin. But the records show that no-one ever checked into that cabin, and no passengers are missing from the boat. Exhausted, emotional and increasingly desperate, Lo has to face the fact that she may have made a terrible mistake. Or she is trapped on a boat with a murderer – and she is the sole witness... Review At times this book reminded me of an Agatha Christie novel with a good plot and the element...

Description 'Moyes somehow manages to break your heart before restoring your faith in love' Sunday Express A collection of 11 unmissable short stories from the number 1 internationally bestselling author of Me Before You and After You Nell is twenty-six and has never been to Paris. She's never even been on a romantic weekend away-to anywhere-before. Travelling abroad isn't really her thing. But when Nell's boyfriend fails to show up, she has the chance to prove to everyone-including herself- that she can be independent and intrepid. Alone in Paris, Nell finds a version of herself she never knew existed . . . In the ten other stories, Jojo Moyes introduces us to a cast of strong, relatable women in the midst of their everyday lives. In Honeymoon in Paris, featuring characters from her bestselling novel, The Girl You Left Behind, Liv and Sophie - though decades apart - both find that marriage is only the beginning of their love stories. In Crocodile Shoes, a busi...

Description It all started with the email. It came through to her boyfriend's iPad in the middle of the night. Rachel didn't even mean to look. She loves Jack, and she's pregnant with their child. She trusts him. But now she's seen it, she can't undo that moment, or the chain of events it has set in motion. Why has Jack been lying about his past? Just what exactly is he hiding? And doesn't Rachel have a right to know the truth at any cost? Review This is a book firmly set in the here and now - with a story line that could not really exist in this form without the social media society we live in. The story begins when Rachel sees an email - which catapults her onto a trail of doubting her boyfriend and father to her unborn baby. We discover that Rachel used to be a Doctor and accused her last boyfriend of so many things, which could have been paranoia - or was it? We find out that her Mother, now deceased, was found to have been having a secret affair...

Description From Hoarders to The Life- Changing Magic of Tidying Up, the question of what to do with all of our stuff seems to be on everyone’s mind. Eve Schaub’s new memoir is the tale of how one woman organized an entire room in her house that had been overtaken by pointless items. It’s also a deeply inspiring and frequently hilarious examination of why we keep stuff in the first place—and how to let it all go. Eve O. Schaub graduated from Cornell and Rochester Institute of Technology. She has written for Vermont Life and Vermont Magazine, among others. During her family’s year of no sugar, Schaub blogged regularly and was often a guest on WAMC, New York’s NPR affiliate, as well as a regular visitor to Vermont Public Radio. She lives in Vermont with her family.  Review I wanted to read this book to learn how Eve had managed to have a year of no clutter - whilst eventually there were some tips on clearing clutter the majority of the book describes just the opposite....