Mad About You - Mhairi McFarlane

 

Description

Two strangers.
One big coincidence.
Driving each other crazy is just the beginning…

Harriet Hatley is running away from everything.

Getting married.
Her boyfriend’s family.
Her past.

A dream house-share seems like the perfect place to hide, but her unlikely housemate Cal is no stranger to running away himself. And he's also hiding secrets of his own . . .

Can these two take a crazy risk, face the past and finally find a reason to stay?

Review

Mhairi's writing continues to go from strength to strength.

Mhairi's books have never been your average chick lit, but in this and the last book she's begun to tackle deeper subjects. It's a little heads up for those that would like a cosy chick lit, as this book deals with coercive relationships in a very down to earth way. Unsettling but entirely readable.

I really liked Harriet and her friends. The writing was realistic and didn't pull any punches, especially when the actions of one of the friends really had me speechless. Social media plays a big part as this is a modern novel. The consequences of how it can be used to someone's detriment I found really frightening. I almost didn't want to read on, unsure of how this was going to be resolved.

As I read I was wishing the ending would not come around, as I really wanted to stay and hang out with everyone. My heart was in my mouth in one of the scenes near the end, so well written I could just imagine being there.  As is usual with Mhairi's writing there were too many amusing one liners to remember from the mouths of the characters. I would just love to be able to use one of them some time.

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

Impossible - Sarah Lotz

 

Description

Discover the love story of the year

‘It’s the book we all need right now’ SARAH PINBOROUGH
‘Warm, funny, thrilling’ EMMA GANNON
‘Unputdownable’ JENNIFER SAINT
‘Holy s***’ GILLIAN MCALLISTER
‘Breathtakingly good’ JOSIE SILVER

The book with the IMPOSSIBLE twist – read it to believe it …

_____________________________________________________________

Nick: Failed writer. Failed husband. Dog owner.

Bee: Serial dater. Dress maker. Pringles enthusiast.

One day, their paths cross over a misdirected email. The connection is instant, electric. They feel like they’ve known each other all their lives.

Nick buys a new suit, gets on a train. Bee steps away from her desk, sets off to meet him under the clock at Euston station.

Think you know how the rest of the story goes? They did too . . .

But this is a story with more twists than most. This is Impossible.

Review

One of my favourite films is You've Got Mail and the synopsis of this book sounded like it was along the same lines. When I began reading my first thoughts were that this is not in the same league as that film, but I was soon proven so wrong.

The first part of the book is the beginnings of the email exchange between Nick and Bee and some of their backstories. At the end of this part they set out to meet one another. Is this just a case of clever catfishing? 

Part two is where this book took such a twist it took me by surprise and I was hooked into this book until the end. This is not a rom com per se, with some serious issues being dealt with such as suicide and coercive relationships. 

It's difficult to say more without spoilers. I will say that this is a genius novel and the writing is superb and worthy of one of my favourite authors Jack Finney. At the end of the book I read it twice over, did it mean what I thought it did? Then came unexpected tears. A book not to be forgotten.

I'm giving this book five out of five stars. My thanks to netgalley and Harperfiction for the ARC to review.

The Paris Apartment - Lucy Foley

 

Description

The new murder mystery thriller from the No.1, million-copy bestseller Lucy Foley

Welcome to No.12 Rue des Amants

A beautiful old apartment block, far from the glittering lights of the Eiffel Tower and the bustling banks of the Seine.

Where nothing goes unseen.
And everyone has a story to unlock.

The watchful concierge
The scorned lover
The prying journalist
The naïve student
The unwanted guest

Something terrible happened here last night.
A mystery lies behind the door of apartment three.

Only you – and the killer – hold the key . . .

Review

A page turner once it gets going.

I think this book of the three the author has written is the most like a Christie plot to me. It also had some glimmers of "Only Murders in the Building", mainly because it's set in a similar apartment block. 

The writing sets the scene in Paris and it certainly captured the essence of the city, and its people and their disdain for many things not French. I really felt like I was in Paris as I was reading. I cared nothing for the main character Jess. She's a freeloader who suddenly has no one to freeload from and she's clueless about what to do. The other characters in the main are privileged and fighting to keep what is theirs and their differing secrets.

I did feel that the first third of the book dragged a little and I lost interest a few times. Then the book really took on a life of it's own with some twists that I hadn't seen coming and I was hooked in until the end. 

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

Let's Pretend - Laura Vaughan

 

Description

When you fake it for a living, the truth is hard to find...

Former child star Lily Thane is now a struggling thirty-something actress. Her old stage-school buddy, Adam Harker, is on the brink of making it big, but he needs an appropriate red-carpet companion to seal the deal, and Lily fits the bill.

Soon after signing on the dotted line, Adam's dark side starts to surface and their perfect fauxmance turns toxic.

But when Adam winds up dead in a swimming pool, Lily is the only person who cares enough to find out why. She's convinced someone was out to get Adam - and now they're after her...

Review

This is a book in two halves and I hated the first half.

No one in this world of celebs is appealing. The author certainly created a world that I would want no part of. All the self satisfying and narcistic characters didn't encourage me to want to read on. I'm glad I did though as part two of the book things took a very different turn.

Part two has the same list of characters but now our star of the book Lily takes a front seat in not only her own life but those around her. She turns detective and whilst it's not a full on whodunnit it certainly kept me turning the pages. 

I did not see the ending coming and was pleasantly surprised. I was so glad I stuck with this book and found out more than I was bargaining for. Well written and with good characters, I did feel though the first part of the book was a little too long.

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars.

My thanks to Atlantic Books for the book proof to review. Let's Pretend will be published on 7 April 2022.

The Age of Misadventure - Judy Leigh

 

Description

The gloriously funny new novel about living life to the full, whatever your age, from the author of A Grand Old Time.

55-year-old Georgie Turner doesn’t need a new man. Her daughter, aunt and sister are the most important people in her life (and the most infuriating). But it seems the older they get, the further apart they drift.

Georgie’s never been a fan of her sister Bonnie’s husband, so when she learns her brother-in-law has been up to no good, Georgie sees an opportunity to bring the women of her family back together. Along with her 21-year-old daughter and 80-year-old aunt, she packs Bonnie into the back of her car and they leave Liverpool to hide out on the coast of Sussex. With the help of some sun, sea and bottle or two of prosecco, this will be an adventure they’ll never forget.

But could the right man find Georgie while she’s stopping the wrong man finding her sister?

A gorgeously fun and uplifting novel, perfect for fans of The 100 Year Old Man and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Review

I took this book away as a light hearted holiday read and that was a mistake.

Judging by the cover and the blurb I thought this was going to be a laugh a minute tale. Instead I found that there was something serious going on with the trio hiding out from a criminal and getting police protection.

I did enjoy the character of Nan. In fact it was so true to life I felt some of the things she said must have been overheard from my life. I think if it hadn't been for Nan I would have stopped reading about a third of the way through. Her character really carried the story which at times was rather chilling. I didn't care for any of the other characters. Weak willed, or selfish, they just had no backbone for most of the book.

I found the writing overly descriptive and just wanted to know what was going on, rather than a detailed description of a cafe and meals. It also seemed to take a long time for the book to get going and then when it did it was a rather drawn out affair. 

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ebook copy to review.

Four Aunties and a Wedding - Jesse Sutanto

 

Description

They vow to make it a day to remember…The laugh-out-loud new novel from the bestselling author of Dial A For Aunties, winner of the Comedy Women In Print Prize 2021

It’s supposed to be the perfect day…
After getting away with literal murder, Meddy can’t wait to settle down and marry the love of her life, Nathan. She’s found the dress, got the dream venue at Christ Church College, Oxford, plus having a destination wedding comes with the added bonus of not having to invite her very large extended family.

…But is it even a wedding if nobody gets killed?
Although when her meddling aunties get involved, Meddy knows her wedding is going to be anything but quiet. Even though there’s no dead body hidden in the freezer this time, for better or worse, it’s certainly going to be a day she’s never going to forget…

Review

I really enjoyed the first book, but this follow on just wasn't for me. 

The Bride to be and her Aunties got away with a murder in the first book and it was very funny. This book has a similar theme however I found it too over the top in execution. I also didn't like the fact that it takes place in the main at a wedding, and all I could think about was - what about the Bride's dress!

The book is almost 400 pages long and maybe that is where it went wrong for me. It just seemed like a never ending farce that went on for far too long. I felt sorry for the groom Nathan as he hardly saw her Bride as she become embroiled in one after another mishaps that meant she had to constantly leave her own wedding day.

As the wedding is in Oxford UK, the Aunties have learnt colloquial English - which was amusing. With Meddy's family, plus the other families involved this time, it was a big cast of characters with all their interactions to pull off in a book. I can easily see this being a film, but to read all the action was for me laborious. 

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

Hazards of Time Travel - Joyce Carol Oates

 

Description

An ingenious dystopian novel of one young woman’s resistance against the constraints of an oppressive society

When a recklessly idealistic girl in a dystopian future society dares to test the perimeters of her tightly controlled world, she is punished by being sent back in time to a region of North America – ‘Wainscotia, Wisconsin’ – that existed eighty years before. Cast adrift in time in this idyllic Midwestern town, she is set upon a course of ‘rehabilitation’ – but she falls in love with a fellow exile and starts to question the constraints of her new existence, with results that are both devastating and liberating.

Arresting and visionary, Hazards of Time Travel is an exquisitely wrought love story, a novel of harrowing discovery – and an oblique but powerful response to our current political climate.

Review

Being a lover of time travel novels I was immediately drawn to this book from the title alone. 

We are introduced to a world in 2049 where NAS exists - The Northern American States. We find a cross between George Orwell's 1984 and The Handmaids Tale with a dystopian world nothing like our own. 

Adriane is found to be a dissenter in this future world and her punishment is to be sent back to 1959 to get a good University education. I still cannot fathom the reasoning behind this. Why would 80 years in the past provide a better education? When none of the progressive things she knows of have been invented.

Once Adriane is back in 1959 I started to enjoy this book (to begin with anyway). The description of her encountering a manual typewriter and looking for a plug was wonderful, as was her trying to use a dial phone. From time to time we begin to wonder if this time travel has actually taken place or is it a constructed reality? I'm still not sure.

Adriane is called Mary Ellen in 1959 America and takes Psychology 101. Whilst some of this was interesting, at times the book descends into such detail I felt like I was taking this course myself. Far too intense to be enjoyable for me. 

There are certainly some thought provoking parts to this book. The politics of 1959 America and the world are beginning to run true again today. It wasn't really a book for me. It's a dystopian world with time travel bolted on and a coming of age love story in between psychology lectures.

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for e book to review.