The Favour - Laura Vaughan

 

Delighted to be on the blog tour for this amazing book.

Description

Fortune favours the fraud...

When she was thirteen years old, Ada Howell lost not just her father, but the life she felt she was destined to lead. Now, at eighteen, Ada is given a second chance when her wealthy godmother gifts her with an extravagant art history trip to Italy.

In the palazzos of Venice, the cathedrals of Florence and the villas of Rome, she finally finds herself among the kind of people she aspires to be: sophisticated, cultured, privileged. Ada does everything in her power to prove she is one of them. And when a member of the group dies in suspicious circumstances, she seizes the opportunity to permanently bind herself to this gilded set.

But everything hidden must eventually surface, and when it does, Ada discovers she's been keeping a far darker secret than she could ever have imagined...

Review

I love Italy and so to revisit past haunts via this book was just heaven in the present climate. Ada goes to Italy as part of a group of young privileged people on an organised tour. Although she no longer lives in a grand house now her Father is dead, her Godmother has some money to spare to pay for the expensive tour.

Whilst on the tour the students get to experience Italy, there's a few secrets that surface, and it's actually educational too (for the reader also!). Ada tries her hardest to resurrect what's left of the lifestyle she once had, with a plummy voice to match, but unfortunately not the cash to splash. So when she gets the opportunity to provide a "favour" for her more affluent new friends, she's quick on the uptake. Hopeful of  beneficial rewards and new connected friends in her future.

The beginnings of this book belie what is to come. Up until this point it's a beautifully written book, with a wonderfully descriptive backdrop of Italy. Ada reminiscing on the childhood home she wishes she still roamed and the life she felt destined to lead. But something that happened whilst they were in Italy comes back to haunt the group in later years. It concerns in particular Ada and her "favour" and a couple of the others. In a page turn this became more like a dark Agatha Christie with a wonderful twist to the plot. It's just absolute genius.

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars and wish it could be more! My thanks to Random Tour Things for the copy of the book to review.

About the author

Laura Vaughan grew up in rural Wales and studied Art History in Italy and Classics at Bristol and Oxford. She got her first book deal aged twenty-two and went on to write eleven books for children and young adults. is her first novel for adults. She lives in South London with her husband and two children. 

Saving Missy - Beth Morrey

 

Description

Sometimes it takes a lifetime to find where you truly belong…

Seventy-nine is too late for a second chance. Isn’t it?

Missy Carmichael is prickly, stubborn – and terribly lonely. Until a chance encounter in the park with two very different women opens the door to something new. Something wonderful.

Missy was used to her small, solitary existence, listening to her footsteps echoing around the empty house, the tick-tick-tick of the watching clock. After all, she had made her life her way.

Now another life is beckoning to Missy – if she’s brave enough…

‘A touching, deftly written debut that celebrates community and kindness’ Sunday Times

‘Moving and optimistic… will delight readers right up to the very last page’ Stylist

‘Bittersweet, tender, thoughtful and uplifting . . . I loved it’ Nina Stibbe

Review

I loved, loved, loved this book.

Missy is 79 years old and all alone in her big rambling house with too many memories of her family life. Then one day after a bit of a turn, she is rescued and helped by well meaning strangers, and suddenly she's not alone at all. What follows is a wonderful story of love, family life and friendship, but with all the ugly scars and realities of living.

We get flashbacks to Missy's university days and then her bringing up her young family. Did she get it all wrong? Should she have taken a different path to find herself in a different reality now? Brilliantly written with such down to earth day to day stories. Yet interwoven with the most wonderful prose together with stories and quotes from the ancient world. I started off enjoying reading the book, but then it reeled me in and I read the remaining half of it in one go as I was completely subsumed into it.

Towards the end of the book two events happened which had me in great floods of tears. No sooner had I managed to read the rest of the book through blurry eyes, I was crying again, this time for a different reason. I feel quite shaken by this book, I'm going to be thinking about it for some time to come. 

I can't praise this book enough. I'm giving it a solid 5 out of 5 stars and urge you to read it too. My thanks to Random Things Tours and netgalley for the ARC to review.

Slow Motion - Jennifer Pierce

 

Delighted to be on the Blog Tour today.

Description

Westview belongs on a postcard. Quaint, picture-perfect, a tiny New England town steeped in history and traditions.

 Angela has always been everything people in Westview want her to be. She’s supposed to be happy here, but she’s starting to see all the flaws in her seemingly-perfect life and she’s afraid that everyone else will notice, too. Now, she wants something more than small towns, something bigger than the life planned out for her by a family that has designed and destroyed reputations in Westview for generations.

Owen knows that history can be a lot of lies depending on who tells the story and he’s just discovered the truth about how Westview became a drowned town a century ago. But all he wants is to run away from his own past, from the bad decisions he’s made and the tragedies still haunting him. He’s focused on the future and proving people wrong, even though that means keeping secrets from his friends.

Long before they understood the rumours and grudges that rule their hometown, Angela and Owen were friends for one perfect summer. Now, as they navigate their senior year of high school and Westview celebrates its Tricentennial, they are reunited, discovering truths about themselves, each other, and the ways their community has been shaped by secrets, lies, and a devastating obsession with perfection.

Review

What stood out most for me about this book is the beautiful descriptive writing. Some of the lines I just had to read several times over, they were so evocative and poetic.

Angela has it all, friends, money, popularity and a family that more or less own Westview. Her parents are founders of the town and appearances are everything. It is within this environment that we meet Angela who has become aware of what a life in Westview really means to her, and she wants out of that life - now.

By chapter 5 I too had begun to feel how trapped Angela felt in Westview, the writing really portrayed the overbearing lifestyle and the constant upkeep of appearances. At this point I still had some sympathy with her. However, as the book progressed I liked Angela less and less and my sympathy for her waned. 

Owen is a childhood friend who Angela wasn't allowed to see anymore - we don't know why and the book keeps it from us for a good part of the story. I did like Owen and his determination to get where he wanted to be in life. I began to feel sorry for him when he once again, had Angela in his life. 

This might seem like just a book about two people one privileged, one not, each wanting something more, but what an ending! To say more is difficult without giving too much away. I'm this book 4 out of 5 stars. My thanks to Random Thing Tours for a copy of the book to review.

AUTHOR DETAILS 

Jennifer Pierce is a graduate of Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, where she earned a degree in Creative Writing & Literature. Upon graduation, she moved to England to obtain her Master’s in Publishing at Oxford Brookes University. Jennifer has worked with lifestyle websites and academic publishers in Ireland, England, and the United States. She is currently an Editorial Project Manager at Elsevier and resides in Boston. Slow Motion is her first novel.

Mrs Boots Goes to War - Deborah Carr

 

Description

The world is at war and her country needs her

When Florence’s son, John, announces that he has enlisted, she is horrified but determined to hold her family together during the oncoming hardships they are to face.

Men are returning to England wounded, with many more not returning at all, families are struggling, and Florence's ‘Dear Girls’ are risking their lives in new and dangerous jobs. Florence might be older now, but she has no intention of sitting back on her laurels while others fight for King and Country. She knows what needs to be done…

Review

This is the third book in the Mrs Boots series, but it could be read as a standalone. I think this is the best book yet.

I've not read many books set in the 1914 war and so was interested firstly in the book from that point of view. The book covers the war from the perspective of  the Boot family in Nottingham and their employees and the impact it has on all their lives and of course the Boots business. I found it to be well written with attention to detail and historical accuracy.

I felt myself feeling parallels to the pandemic we are living through at the moment when certain scenes were described.  Towards the end of the book obviously the Spanish flu pandemic strikes in 1918, and it really did feel very comparable to the world we are living in today.

Whilst I knew a lot of WW2 domestic and social history I knew very little of the WW1 background. The author really brought alive the era with many local place names familiar to me. I hadn't realised the role Chilwell ammunition factory played in WW1 or the working conditions that had to be endured. I think anyone would find this interesting but me for it had a special resonance with being a local area.

Once again Mrs Boots (or Lady Boot as she is by now) proves how much of a driving force she was for change and in the compassionate treatment of staff. I really liked reading the most about the interactions of her with the staff at Boots. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I'm giving it 4 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review.

The Recovery of Rose Gold - Stephanie Wrobel

Description

Rose Gold Watts believed she was sick for eighteen years.

She thought she needed the feeding tube, the surgeries, the wheelchair . . .

Turns out her mother is a really good liar.

After five years in prison, Patty Watts is finally free. All she wants is to put old grievances behind her, reconcile with the daughter who testified against her - and care for her new infant grandson.

When Rose Gold agrees to have Patty move in, it seems their relationship is truly on the mend. And she has waited such a long time for her mother to come home.

But is she still the pliable young girl she once was? And is Patty still as keen on settling an old score?

Because if mothers never forget then daughters never forgive.

A gripping tale of obsession, reconciliation and revenge from an incredible new talent.

Review

This isn't the sort of book I would usually go for, but it certainly drew me in and was a real page turner.

The book begins with the release of Rose Gold's Mother from prison where she's served a sentence for the aggravated abuse of Rose Gold, but she says she was innocent, despite Rose Gold testifying against her. 

Rose Gold has a new life now and a baby, takes her Mother in to live with her when she's released from prison, despite misgivings from the neighbours and really all of the town. Then it seems like history might be repeating itself - can it happen twice?

So much more to the plot, but I don't do spoilers and really I want you to discover it all the way I did. I found myself turning the pages faster and faster until I got that sudden realisation of what was happening.

Absolutely brilliant plot to this book which I just wasn't sure which way it was going to go. I never tried to second guess it, I just went with it and enjoyed the story with my breath half held for what was going to happen.

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

The Windsor Knot - S J Bennett

 

Description

The morning after a dinner party at Windsor Castle, eighty-nine-year-old Queen Elizabeth is shocked to discover that one of her guests has been found murdered in his room, with a rope around his neck.

When the police begin to suspect her loyal servants, Her Majesty knows they are looking in the wrong place.

For the Queen has been living an extraordinary double life ever since her coronation. Away from the public eye, she has a brilliant knack for solving crimes.

With her household's happiness on the line, her secret must not get out. Can the Queen and her trusted secretary Rozie catch the killer, without getting caught themselves?

Review

This was nearly a DNF (did not finish) for me and if it had been the book and not audio then that is probably what would have happened. As it was I nearly didn't finish the audio, but having it on in the background whilst doing other things it was just ok.

I think the narrator did a brilliant job, although her Queen voice did rather remind me of Olivia Coleman's.

I liked the strong character of Rosie who once she began investigating on the Queen's behalf, things looked up a little bit. The Queen herself does not go out into the general populous sleuthing, rather directs it from her palace.

Towards the end when the culprits were found I realised it was actually a clever piece of writing but didn't think it needed to hide behind the Crown.

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to the local library and borrowbox for the audio book to listen to.

Apple Of My Eye - Helene Hanff

 

I picked up a copy of this book from 1982 second hand and I am so glad I did.

Loving Helene Hanff's voice in 84 Charing Cross Road I have been tracking down her other works and this one is a star if you are a fan of New York City.

Helene and her friend visit like tourists would, their home city of New York. Helene is researching the writing of a book for tourists, what they would see and where they could go. It's really like a history lesson as it's from 1982, and of course the Twin Towers are still standing. She takes us inside them and it was brilliant, as I never got to see them in real life. She also goes on the swiss tram that goes over to Roosevelt Island, which then, had only opened the week before! I have been on this and not a lot of people know about it, especially not NYC residents.

I ended up looking on Google maps at streets and sights she visits, to see if they still exist and in what form now. Obviously so much has changed and it felt a little like time travel to see it from Helene's viewpoint and see what it's become today. I learned a lot of new facts and found places I want to see when I can next visit New York City.

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