Missing, Presumed - Susie Steiner

Description

A MISSING GIRL
Edith Hind is gone, leaving just her coat, a smear of blood and a half-open door.

A DESPERATE FAMILY
Each of her friends and relatives has a version of the truth. But none quite adds up.

A DETECTIVE AT BREAKING POINT
The press grows hungrier by the day. Can DS Manon Bradshaw fend them off, before a missing persons case becomes a murder investigation?

Review

Something in the description of this book made me think that this wouldn't be a normal run of the mill crime read - and I was right.

The basic plot of the book is that Edith is missing - cue the usual police procedure, press conference etc. However the book goes further with a look behind not only DS Manon Bradshaw and her love life, but also her colleagues and the friends and family of the missing girl.

This book really hooked me in - not only in the whodunnit sense but also what would become of DS Manon - is she going to find love or go a step too far in her investigations preventing her from ever finding the happy ever after that she longs for. The writing is so insightful - little things which we take for granted and do or see others do are replicated, making the writing feel very real and ordinary - in a good way. My favourite character was Manon - she had some great lines and I could see this easily translating into TV. 

Seemingly unrelated events make this a real twisty read - I could not wait to get to the end, it was so intriguing. I was just left with my mouth gaping when the revelations came.

I loved the "1 year later" at the end of the book. It really rounded off the story but also gives a chance for us to I assume revisit Manon in another book.

I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars with thanks to Netgalley for a copy of the book for review.

One Less Problem Without You - Beth Harbison

Description

Meet Prinny, Chelsea and Diana. Prinny is the owner of Cosmos, a shop that sells crystals, potions, candles, and hope. It’s also a place where no one turns down a little extra-special cocktail that can work as a romance potion or heal a broken heart. But Prinny is in love with her married lawyer and she’ll need nothing short of magic to forget about him.

Chelsea works as a living statue at tourist sites around Washington, DC. It's a thankless job, but it helps pay the rent. That, and her part-time job at Cosmos. As her dream of becoming a successful actress starts to seem more remote and the possibility of being a permanently struggling one seems more realistic, Chelsea begins to wonder: at one point do you give up on your dreams? And will love ever be in the cards for her?

Diana Tiesman is married to Leif, a charismatic man who isn’t faithful. But no matter how many times he lets her down, Diana just can't let him go. She knows the only way she can truly breakaway is if she leaves and goes where he will never think to follow. So she ends up at Cosmos with Leif’s stepsister, where she makes her homemade teas and tinctures as she figures out whether she'd rather be lonely alone than lonely in love.

In Beth Harbison's One Less Problem Without You, three women suddenly find themselves together at their own very different crossroads. It will take hope, love, strength and a little bit of magic for them to find their way together.

Review

Having  read a couple of Beth's novels now, I thought this was going to be a light hearted read, but actually it is quite a dark book. With bullying, sexual and pyhsical abuse amongst the pages of the book. But it isn't too heavy on those areas, so don't let that put you off reading it.

It was I found a good read, I really wanted to find out what would happen to each of these women. Would they get justice, their hearts desires? There are some flash backs to help us understand how each of the women came to be where they are now but unlike some books, I didn't find this done in a confusing way.

One aspect I particularly liked about the book and it isn't immediately revealed, is that Prinny is actually physic, and not just playing shop with Cosmos. This leads to an interesting aspect of the book that otherwise wouldn't be possible.

I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars. My thanks go to Netgalley for a review copy of the book.

A Shoe Addict's Christmas - Beth Harbison

Description
Noelle is not a fan of the holidays and to make matters worse, she is at a crossroads in her life when it seems that love and adventure are no longer possible. When she stays late at her job in a department store on a snowy Christmas Eve she accidentally gets locked in after closing. She isn’t too concerned about the prospect of spending the night in the store…until a woman appears out of nowhere and tells Noelle that she’s her guardian angel. Soon Noelle finds herself camped out in the shoe department facing several “ghosts” of Christmases past, present, and future...Will visiting the holidays of yesterday and tomorrow help Noelle see the true spirit of Christmas? And will the love she has longed for all her life be the best surprise gift of all?

Review

I loved Beth Harbison's If I Could Turn Back Time and was eager to read this novella which is 176 pages long. 

I wasn't disappointed this is a lovely tale - very Christmassy in the setting but you could read it at any time of the year. If like me you love James Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life then you will totally appreciate this book.

It's a little dreaming for Christmas and it all begins as Noelle gets locked in a Department store on Christmas eve - left to wander where she wants - what a dream! Then Noelle meets Charlie her guardian angel and sees what might have been......

This would make a lovely stocking filler for someone - an easy read with a nod to "Sliding Doors".

I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars.

My thanks to Netgalley for an advance ecopy of this book which is due out on 18 October 2016.

Timekeepers - Simon Garfield

Description

An entertaining and authoritative exploration of how and why time has come to rule our lives from the bestselling author of Just My Type.

Not so long ago we timed our lives by the movement of the sun. These days our time arrives atomically and insistently, and our lives are propelled by the notion that we will never have enough of the one thing we crave the most. How have we come to be dominated by something so arbitrary?

The compelling stories in this book explore our obsessions with time. An Englishman arrives back from Calcutta but refuses to adjust his watch. Beethoven has his symphonic wishes ignored. A moment of war is frozen forever. The timetable arrives by steam train. A woman designs a ten-hour clock and reinvents the calendar. Roger Bannister becomes stuck in the same four minutes forever. A British watchmaker competes with mighty Switzerland. And a prince attempts to stop time in its tracks.

Timekeepers is a vivid exploration of the ways we have perceived, contained and saved time over the last 250 years, narrated in the highly inventive and entertaining style that bestselling author Simon Garfield is fast making his own. As managing time becomes the greatest challenge we face in our lives, this multi-layered history helps us tackle it in a sparkling new light.

Review

I'm a little obsessed with time and so I thought this book would be ideal for me. A lot of the chapters have interesting premises but at times I found the links to time becoming tenuous in the true sense of time. However, what Simon Garfield has done is a little like a good comedian, taken a concept, in this case time and then explored what that means to different people. He certainly has some amusing tales and facts within the book. We find out about how people used time in different eras and how time changed the world.

The fact that the railways standardised time is something I have read about before, and some of the themes if you are familiar with this subject you will no doubt have read about also. However, Garfield does cover some obscure and interesting areas. Such as how did they decide on the length of a cd? How long should it take to play Beethovens 9th? The workings of a car assembly line to time management and that old adage "ask a consultant to tell you the time and he will ask to borrow your watch and keep it".

This is quite a heavy book in places and is really something to be dipped in and out of. 

I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars.

My thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book for review.

The Husband's Secret - Laine Moriarty

Description

At the heart of the top ten bestselling The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty is a letter that's not meant to be read . . .

Mother of three and wife of John-Paul, Cecilia discovers an old envelope in the attic. Written in her husband's hand, it says: to be opened only in the event of my death.

Curious, she opens it - and time stops.

John-Paul's letter confesses to a terrible mistake which, if revealed, would wreck their family as well as the lives of others.

Cecilia - betrayed, angry and distraught - wants to do the right thing, but right for who? If she protects her family by staying silent, the truth will worm through her heart. But if she reveals her husband's secret, she will hurt those she loves most . . .

Review

I've read a few of Liane Moriarty's books now and I am always amazed by the absolute minutiae of human life that she manages to get into a book. I find myself thinking - oh I didn't know other people did that, or I didn't know anyone else thought like that. She has so many of these insights which is good going considering how many different characters are in the book.

That brings me to my only gripe with this book - too many characters. I kept getting them mixed up, it took a moment to remember whose mother was whose, and who was married to whom. One of the sub stories probably could have been a book in its own right and I got a little sidetracked into that. However, the way in which the different characters lives entwine brings very different dimensions to the story line.

The premise of this book is that a wife finds a letter written by her husband years ago, which he tells her not to read. There is a little bit of suspense while we wonder whether she will or will not read the letter. 

The fallout from reading the letter was not quite what I expected - I won't spoil it for you. The epilogue is a little bit of "sliding doors" - what would have happened, could have happened in another timeline which kept me thinking a little longer after I finished the book.

I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars.

This is a book from my own personal shelf. 

Time Travelling With A Hamster - Ross Welford

Description

A truly original debut novel from an extraordinarily talented new voice in children’s books. Laugh, cry and wonder at this race-against-time story of a boy who travels back to 1984 to prevent a go-kart accident, and save his father’s life…
“My dad died twice. Once when he was thirty nine and again four years later when he was twelve.
The first time had nothing to do with me. The second time definitely did, but I would never even have been there if it hadn’t been for his ‘time machine’…”
When Al Chaudhury discovers his late dad’s time machine, he finds that going back to the 1980s requires daring and imagination. It also requires lies, theft, burglary.

Review

This is a young adult novel which I requested from Netgalley because I love time travel novels. I wasn't disappointed, it is probably one of the best time travel novels I have read (and I have read a lot). The book is very good at "explaining" time travel which isn't always the case in a novel of this genre. 

The book is narrated by 12 year old Al Chaudhury and I just loved his voice. He really tells it like it is, dealing with some very grown up problems; like how to go back in time and make sure his Dad doesn't die. Best of all he has a hamster called Alan Shearer! - genius.

Of course not everything goes smoothly and at one point in the book I was so sad as Al changed his timeline, and not in a good way. It was such an intriguing story line and I was really absorbed in it too. I'm not going to say it is an easy read because that doesn't give it the credit it deserves. It is enjoyable to read because it is so well written, not just for the YA but for anyone. It has some very thought provoking messages within the story.

I really loved when Al travelled back to 1984 and they had to rig up all the computers - a trip down memory lane for me. So funny how he also had to explain his smart phone away. I had my heart in my mouth at times, wondering what was going to happen to Al on his travels. 

This is a charming and delightful book, so enchanting. I'm giving this book five out of 5 stars and would love to read more by this author. In fact I enjoyed it so much I'd like to read it again.

My thanks go to netgalley for providing me with a review copy of this book.

The Good Retirement Guide 2017

Description

Whether it is a relaxing, action-packed or financially rewarding retirement you are looking for, this is the book for you. In retirement, personal ambitions can be realized and new experiences enjoyed. Yet with so much to consider, people are often unsure how best to plan for their future and the scope for concern and confusion is even greater with changing retirement ages and pension rules.The Good Retirement Guide offers clear and concise suggestions on a broad range of retirement-related subjects. The Guide includes information on:

Pensions/ Tax / Investment / Starting your own business / Leisure activities / Paid work / Voluntary work / How to avoid being scammed / Health / Holidays / Looking after elderly parents / Wills

Revised and updated, the 2017 edition is packed with hundreds of useful suggestions and helpful websites to browse. This is an indispensable book that you will refer to again and again.

Review

I was expecting this book to be full of things I already knew - and for some of it that is true, but I also learnt a lot too.

Different chapters of the book address various areas. I found the beginning a little slow which is all about budgeting and if you already do this you may find the same but if you don't it will be invaluable. A great chapter is caring for elderly parents and relatives and is useful even if you aren't retired yourself.

There are good links for all sorts of things such as volunteering and further education and most useful of all - lots of links to useful websites. It may be that you don't need these now but someone you know or care for may do. It's also right up to date with tips on scams and cold calling.

I was also expecting some things to be missing from the book - such as those who had contracted out of National Insurance full payments through their pension provider - but it was there. Also buying additional years of NI - again covered.

From the point of view of diversity I am pleased that there is a chapter dedicated to hobbies and holidays for people with disabilities as well as those who may be on their own.

Some of the information in this book I have found out in the past through a lot of research - save yourself the time and effort and just get this book. A great reference guide too.

I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Released in January 2017. My thanks to Netgalley for an advance copy to review.