Normal People - Sally Rooney

Description

Connell and Marianne grow up in the same small town in the west of Ireland, but the similarities end there. In school, Connell is popular and well-liked, while Marianne is a loner. But when the two strike up a conversation - awkward but electrifying - something life-changing begins.

Normal People is a story of mutual fascination, friendship and love. It takes us from that first conversation to the years beyond, in the company of two people who try to stay apart but find they can't.

Review

I've been avoiding this book as I decided it was over hyped,  but when I went in the library there it sat and it looked like a quick read so I decided to go for it. I also heard that it's being adapted for the TV so I thought it would be good.

I was wrong! I didn't really care for this book at all. The beginning was ok, but after that it felt like it just kept repeating itself, or rather the characters did. The same relationship on and off and the same pitfalls repeated. Yes, I know this could happen in real life but it didn't make for a page turner. Honestly the only thing that kept me going was that it was a short book, any longer and it would have been a DNF for me. Maybe it's because I'm not the target audience but this book was a bit of a fail for me.

My thanks to my local library who saved me buying this book. I'm giving this book 2 out of 5 stars.

Everything We Keep - Kerry Lonsdale

Description

A luminous debut with unexpected twists, Everything We Keep explores the devastation of loss, the euphoria of finding love again, and the pulse-racing repercussions of discovering the truth about the ones we hold dear and the lengths they will go to protect us.

Sous chef Aimee Tierney has the perfect recipe for the perfect life: marry her childhood sweetheart, raise a family, and buy out her parents’ restaurant. But when her fiancé, James Donato, vanishes in a boating accident, her well-baked future is swept out to sea. Instead of walking down the aisle on their wedding day, Aimee is at James’s funeral—a funeral that leaves her more unsettled than at peace.

As Aimee struggles to reconstruct her life, she delves deeper into James’s disappearance. What she uncovers is an ocean of secrets that make her question everything about the life they built together. And just below the surface is a truth that may set Aimee free…or shatter her forever.

Review

I was invited to read this book and the title didn't really speak to me so it's slipped a long way down my TBR pile. How I wish I had read it sooner, the title belies a great story.

I found it a little bit of a slow starter. Don't get me wrong I was enjoying reading it, I just wasn't sure where it was going. The book begins with Aimee at the funeral of her fiance, on the day they would have been married. Even the flowers are the ones meant for the wedding as her MIL to be doesn't want them to go to waste! At this point I began to wonder if her future MIL had murdered her son just to stop him marrying someone she clearly didn't feel any empathy for.

As Aimee is leaving the funeral a physic approaches her and tells her that her fiance is still alive! The book then flip flops through Aimee trying to move on, and flashbacks to how they met with an insight into their early lives. We then get a little bit of hint of a romance and Aimee gets to open her own coffee shop in the meantime. 

Part two of the book, and it's now two years since her fiance died, and she has more than a hunch that he is still alive. This is the part of the book that I can imagine some people will find hard to believe. But they say truth is stranger than fiction and I certainly was reading it with incredulity - not at the story but at how it was unfolding, because I never saw it coming. This was the part where I began to race through the book as I really needed to know what the hell was going on.

The writing is easy to read and my only criticism is that Aimee is a little fey in her behaviour, which at times I found annoying. The book does tie off nicely at the end but then there is another twist. Luckily for me the sequel is out and I'm off to read it now. It's called Everything We Left Behind.

I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars. My thanks to Netgalley for an ARC for review.

Then She Vanishes - Claire Douglas

Description

THE ONLY THING MORE SHOCKING THAN THE FIRST CHAPTER . . . IS THE LAST.

Everything changed the night Flora disappeared.

Heather and Jess were best friends - until the night Heather's sister vanished.

Jess has never forgiven herself for the lie she told that night. Nor has Heather.

But now Heather is accused of an awful crime.

And Jess is forced to return to the sleepy seaside town where they grew up, to ask the question she's avoided for so long:

What really happened the night Flora disappeared?

'Amazing. A twisty whydunnit that I finished in just two days. Smart, gripping and atmospheric, readers will love Then She Vanishes'

Gillian McAllister, bestselling author of Everything But The Truth

Review

It's not often I agree with book blurb  - but this was spot on!

THE ONLY THING MORE SHOCKING THAN THE FIRST CHAPTER . . . IS THE LAST. . . 

The book begins with a quite shocking scene that involves Heather. We then meet Jess who is a reporter and was once Heather's friend when they were young. Of course the editor that Jess now works for immediately sees an in for an exclusive story.

So Jess goes back to her childhood haunts and meets Heather's mother again, who isn't too pleased to see her as Jess left their lives suddenly and cruelly. She also finds that Heather is now married with a child, so how or why would she have committed the crime she is accused of?

This book is a little like the layers of an onion. As you go deeper into it more things keep being revealed, deeper secrets, things that have been left unsaid for years. But, how is it all going to fit together? At one point I thought I had the answer but I was wrong, then came the twist and then a final twist which left me open mouthed.

There are some great supporting characters in the book too - Troy Heather's boyfriend, Jack the photographer who works at the paper, these both contribute to back stories running alongside the main story line. I liked the down to earth feel of the characters - who all felt like people you could meet in real life.

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars. My thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Books for an ARC to review.

A History of Cadbury - Diane Wordsworth

Description

When John Cadbury came to Birmingham in 1824, he sold tea, coffee and drinking chocolate in a small shop on Bull Street. Drinking chocolate was considered a healthy alternative to alcohol, something Cadbury, a Quaker, was keen to encourage. In 1879, the Cadburys moved to Bournville and created their ‘factory in a garden’ – an unprecedented move. It is now ironic that today’s Bournville is surrounded by that urban sprawl the Cadburys were so keen to get away from. This book looks at some of the social impact this company has had since its inception, both on the chocolate and cocoa business in general and on the community at large, both within and without the firm of Cadbury. In 2024, Cadbury's will be celebrating 200 years of the first store opening. This is the story of how the company began, how it grew, and how they diversified in order to survive.

Review

This book charts the history of Cadbury from it's beginnings to the present day - although rather more detail is obviously placed on the early beginnings as Cadbury is now owned by Mondelez International.

I hadn't realised that Cadbury began by selling drinking chocolate and only later diversified into chocolate itself. In fact I spent the few chapters telling my partner all the various little tidbits that I knew he would like to know also. One of which is that there used to be a Plain Tray - I never really gave much thought as to why it is called Milk Tray! Milk chocolate was the turnaround for the company as it outsold the plain almost immediately.

Bournville was of course a Garden City set up by Cadbury and I loved all the social history aspects of reading about what the employees could and couldn't do. I also hadn't realised that the Cadbury family were Quakers. I'm inspired now to go and visit Bournville - not Cadbury World, but the actual village and also Selly Manor.

There are lots of photos and illustrations throughout. However each chapter does somewhat repeat itself at times, as they are arranged into themes and not chronological. Personally I would have preferred to just go through the years to the present day in one go. 

There are some fabulous first hand accounts of what life was like at the factory and in the village and if nothing else it is good that these have been preserved for future generations to read.

I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars. My thanks to Netgalley for an ARC.

The Night Visitor - Lucy Atkins

Description

How far would you go to save your reputation? The stunning new noir thriller from the author of the bestselling The Missing One and The Other Child. Perfect for fans of I Let You Go and The Ice Twins.

Professor Olivia Sweetman has worked hard to achieve the life she loves, with a high-flying career as a TV presenter and historian, three children and a talented husband. But as she stands before a crowd at the launch of her new bestseller she can barely pretend to smile. Her life has spiralled into deceit and if the truth comes out, she will lose everything.

Only one person knows what Olivia has done. Vivian Tester is the socially awkward sixty-year-old housekeeper of a Sussex manor who found the Victorian diary on which Olivia's book is based. She has now become Olivia's unofficial research assistant. And Vivian has secrets of her own.

As events move between London, Sussex and the idyllic South of France, the relationship between these two women grows more entangled and complex. Then a bizarre act of violence changes everything.

The Night Visitor is a compelling exploration of ambition, morality and deception that asks the question: how far would you go to save your reputation?

Review

The book opens with Olivia's book launch event we are then taken back to the events of 18 months before when she first met Vivian the catalyst for the book.

From the blurb we know that there are secrets Olivia is keeping and to begin with I just couldn't imagine what they would be. The story flips between being told by the powerful TV Professor Olivia (in my mind played by Lana Parrilla from Once Upon a Time) and the downtrodden assistant Vivian (who would be played by Melissa McCarthy).

However, as the book progresses we begin to realise that Vivian is also a powerful woman in her own right and one that Olivia has misunderstood and underestimated. There is a tension between them which when we see them together first in France, (where Vivian has followed Olivia) is not at first readily understandable.

For me about half way through the book there was an "aha" moment and I quickly began to guess at some of what was happening, that Olivia was still yet to fathom. From then on I just wanted to get to know how this book was going to unfold.

There is a scene not for the fainted hearted, which I admit I did skip over. There is a lot of talk of Dung beetles and their attributes correlated to human behaviour - not the most interesting part of the book but a necessary part of the story. The night visitor reference I think is overplayed as the title but is a part of the storyline.

I liked the way the book was written and each of the characters voices was distinct to them, probably why I could picture them so clearly. It's also firmly rooted in the here and now with Olivia having been invited to appear on Strictly!

I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars. My thanks to Netgalley for an ARC.

The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes - Ruth Hogan

Description

Once a spirited, independent woman with a rebellious streak, Masha's life has been forever changed by a tragic event twelve years ago. Unable to let go of her grief, she finds comfort in her faithful canine companion Haizum, and peace in the quiet lanes of her town's lido.

Then a chance encounter with two extraordinary women - the fabulous and wise Kitty Muriel, a convent girl turned magician's wife turned seventy-something roller disco 
fanatic, and the mysterious Sally Red Shoes, a bag lady with a prodigious voice - opens up a new world of possibilities, and the chance to start living again. But just as Masha dares to imagine the future, her past comes roaring back ...

Review

I didn't read Ruth Hogan's previous book so I came new to this author. The book started out a little confusingly with the introduction of two characters, how or why will they be connected? Then we fast forward to the same characters in the present day.

I did love the lyrical writing and the quirky characters, but somewhere about a third of the way through I didn't know why I was reading the book What was the story - what was the purpose of it all. I decided to stick with it - but only just.

I'd like to say it got better, but apart from glimpses of a story I began to get bored with it all. There was some light at the end of the tunnel when Kitty Muriel makes an entrance but that was short lived.

Then I thought I began to guess the story - but it seemed a little fantastical so I decided I was just trying to enliven a dull read.

I don't do spoilers so I can only say that the writing is beautiful and evocative, but pedestrian. Nothing really happens for most of the book - yes it is every day life but I want more from a book than that. There is grief - but really the book just goes on for so long I even began to lose sympathy at times.

At the end of the book I felt cheated and let down. I could not share a moment with the main character that surely the book had been building towards, I felt like I stuck with it and the book just closed down on me not letting be privy to the real story.

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to Netgalley for an ARC to review.

Killing it - Asia Mackay

Description

Every working mum has had to face it.

The guilt-fuelled, anxiety-filled first day back in the office after maternity leave.

But this working mum is one of a kind.

Meet Alexis Tyler.

An elite covert agent within Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Her first project back is a high-stakes hit of global significance and the old boys network of government espionage is far from ready for the return of an operational mother. But woe betide anyone who ever tells Alexis Tyler 'you can't'.

She will have it all. Or she'll die trying . . . And yes, she damn well will be home for bath time.

Review

I felt like a more light hearted read so reached for this book. At first I thought it was going to be just a little too fluffly for my liking as trained killer Alexis reached for her gun and a half eaten rice cake was stuck to the barrel.

The book then went through the usual back to work hang ups any new Mother experiences, together with the male colleagues who just don't get it, and it seemed like any other yummy mummy novel. However, Alexis begins to pepper the narrative with insights from her working life for The Platform part of the Secret Service; such as what a signal failure on the tube really means!

Her first assignment back at work involves getting information from the wife of a rich Russian. As Alexis has a baby now it is decided she has the ultimate cover story to infiltrate the circle of Mothers the lady hangs out with. Weren't they going to let her out in the "real field" anymore I wondered, was this going to be extent of her spying from now on, after having experienced some very high level maneuvers in the past.

The book then quite quickly became more Jane Bond than yummy Mummy and I seriously began to feel a little scared at what Alexis was doing working as a spy. The novel really became a thriller with the fact that Alexis was also a Mummy - so she had the worry of what might happen to baby Gigi if the bad guys caught up with her.

With a lot of humour throughout and most of it relate-able to any female in the workplace let alone a Mummy this was a great tale. Really gripping edge of the seat stuff towards the end of the book felt more like a Jason Bourne novel and certainly not chick lit.

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars and my thanks go to Netgalley for the ARC to review.