The Woman with All the Answers - Linda Green

 

Description

The brilliantly observed, witty and heart-warming new book club read from Richard & Judy bestseller Linda Green

**Alexa knows your family better than you do. Now you're about to get to know her... **

Fifty-two-year-old Michelle Banks is struggling to keep all the plates spinning. She’s a perimenopausal district nurse, caring for elderly parents. Her husband is wasting their money on children’s TV memorabilia, her teenage daughter is riddled with anxiety and her sixteen-year-old son is behaving secretively.

Alexa is the only one who knows how much Michelle is juggling. Listening in via four smart speakers, she also knows that it’s about to get even worse.

So, when Michelle pleads for help from the woman with all the answers, Alexa decides to go rogue and reveal her true identity as Pauline – a sixty-five-year-old former voiceover artist from Halifax – to teach Michelle everything she knows…

Wise, funny, relatable and inspiring, The Woman With All The Answers is perfect for fans of Clare Pooley, Mike Gayle and David Nicholls.

Praise for Linda Green:

'Linda Green is bloody brilliant!' Amanda Prowse

'A thought-provoking triumph' Mike Gayle

'Heart-warming and inspiring: a great read' Katie Fforde

'I felt so invested in the characters' lives' Lucy Diamond

'Warm, wise and very moving' Araminta Hall

'A rollercoaster adventure full of inspiration, hope and sometimes tears.' 5-Star Reader Review

'Best book I've read in years! It may be because I'm from Yorkshire or because I'm a mum that I felt such an affinity to the characters in this book but I dare you not to enjoy it. It has everything.' 5-Star Reader Review

'A brilliant book that made me laugh out loud, AND audibly so too. True to life characters with real problems.' 5-Star Reader Review

Review

I absolutely loved this book.

Many of us have an Alexa, but did you know she isn't AI but a real person? She is sat listening to you and giving advice from her own home. Well, that is the premise of this book, which may be a little far fetched, but I just went with it and I am so glad that I did. I would have missed out on a real corker of a read.

Michelle is a District Nurse juggling so many plates. She has a Husband, two children, a father and a mother in law who all have demands on her time, not to mention her job. 

With Alexa (aka Pauline) listening in on the smart speakers and seeing through the webcam and door bell, she is able to give Michelle a few pointers about what is going on in her house. To begin with she carries on as she has for the last six years, just putting reminders and prompts onto Michelle's phone. With Pauline's  retirement looming, and things worsening for Michelle, Pauline decides to finally reveal her true self.

Some of this book is hilarious and some is sad. All in all it's about life and a very down to earth portrayal it is. Many of the situations rang so true for me. If you take away the idea that Alexa's all over the country are actually manned by a real person, the story is very heart warming and not at all impossible.

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review. The books is published on 26 February 2025.

This Immaculate Body - Emma Van Straaten

Description

'From the very first page, Emma Van Straaten had me by the Hail Marys. Obsessive, delusional, disastrous - but so intricately woven with heart, warmth and empathy. An impeccable debut from a rising talent' ALICE SLATER

'An addictive deep-dive into the dark, throbbing heart of obsessive desire. Baby Reindeer meets Convenience Store Woman' KIRSTY LOGAN, author of Now She Is Witch

Alice has been cleaning Tom's flat every Wednesday for a year. With every smudge wiped from his coffee cup, every crease smoothed out in his bed, every multivitamin counted from the jar, Alice spirals deeper into infatuation. But as Alice prepares for the moment when they will finally meet face-to-face, she discovers that love might not be the cure she thought it was. . .

This Immaculate Body is a story of obsession, of the way women view the world and the ways that the world views them. As Alice frantically tries to cling to an imagined future with Tom, the line between fantasy and reality become ever more blurred, putting everything she has dreamed of at risk.

'One of the best books I've read in a long time. It was addictive, unsettling, and propulsive, I was hooked after the first page' CHLOE MICHELLE HOWARTH, author of Sunburn

'Stirring to its very core, This Immaculate Body enthrals beyond measure. It bleeds, burns and beguiles, and asks you, dear reader, to give in to obsession. Truly, a religious experience' LUCY ROSE, author of Of the Flesh

Review

Some people will love this book, probably fans of Baby Reindeer.

Alice cleans Tom's flat. She's never met him, but she is in love with him, obsessed with him.

The writing style took some getting used to for me. The words referring to Tom as "Him", "His" and "He" are all capitalized and my eye kept thinking it was the beginning of a new sentence. Once I had trained myself to be able to recognise it I was ok reading on. It's a story told from the viewpoint of Alice and is basically her inner thoughts for much of the book.

I wasn't too keen on the story, but that is down to me rather than the writing. It's a cleverly written book and it did keep me reading until the end. a very dark book and  little bit like car crash tv, I wasn't keen but had to know what would happen. The writing is very descriptive and did make me squirm a few times. There was a poignant moment that I loved and was so pleased for Alice. I was willing that she would mend her ways, but her mental health issues won out.

I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars because the writing deserves it. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review. The book is published on 6 February 2025.