The People Next Door - Tony Parsons

 

Description

CAUTION: THIS BOOK IS ADDICTIVE . . .

'A brilliant, brilliant novel. Incredbily gripping and scary!' Susanna Reid, Good Morning Britain
'Had me gripped from start to finish.' Jane Fallon
'Creepy, paranoid and shocking.' Alex Michaelides
'Twisty, insightful and completely absorbing.' Celia Walden
'Everyone needs to buy and read it.' Rob Rinder
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How well do you know the people next door?

You've moved to your dream home: a gorgeous honey-coloured house in the country.

It's a new beginning: your chance to put the terrible truth of what happened to you in the city behind you.

But your new neighbours have secrets of their own.

Terrifying secrets. Unimaginable secrets.

And when you learn about the previously happy family who lived - and died - in your house, you start to wonder how safe you really are . . .

Review

Initially I thought this was going to be edge of the seat stuff, but unfortunately it paled.

With a passing nod to The Stepford Wives Lana and her husband move to an idyllic community called The Gardens. From day one it all seemed to good to be true, even when Lana discovers a safe room she seems a little on edge about this wonderful property. Soon she discovers what happened in their house for it to be for sale. After all everyone loves it so much in The Gardens,  why would anyone have moved out?

The characters all felt a little one dimensional in this book, maybe they needed to be in order to survive The Gardens.  I didn't warm to them except perhaps for the sage Sandy, Lana's friend from way back. I thought at one point he was going to save the plot line.

I did keep reading to the end and actually at one point couldn't wait to get back to it. Lot of little hooks promised so much more. It wasn't the thriller I was expecting and I feel a little let down by it for the time invested in reading. 

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

Rules of the Road - Ciara Geraghty

 

Description

Tuesday morning starts like any other – until Terry discovers her best friend Iris has gone missing.

Finding her takes Terry, Iris and Terry’s confused father Eugene, into an extraordinary journey – one that will change all of their lives. And, along the way, what should be the worst six days of Terry’s life turn into the best.

Because friendship teaches us all to be brave. And, sometimes, the rules are made to be broken.

Review

This is a great novel about friendship, I just wished it had mentioned the dementia aspect in the book blurb.

Whilst in the main I enjoyed this book, the fact that Eugene has dementia and is not just "confused" as the description stated was at times hard for me to read. I also felt for Eugene as he was traipsed around on the road trip. Someone with dementia needs stability and little change and this was far from that, although he didn't seem to do too badly with it and the subject was dealt with sensitively. 

Another surprise and this is a little bit of a spoiler - Iris is travelling to a euthanasia clinic, she isn't missing. I tell you this only because it's a big part of the book and maybe not the story you wish to read.

All of that aside, I loved the humour in book and the characters they encountered along the way. The three of them on the road trip also gave as good as they got with those they met, but in a lovely manner. The writing is very vivid and I could imagine it all, which sometimes wasn't a good thing. It's certainly a thought provoking read. To say more would give away too much.

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

Best of Friends - Kamila Shamsie

Description

'A profound novel about friendship. I loved it to pieces' MADELINE MILLER
'A shining tour de force' ALI SMITH

CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF 2022 BY THE GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, DAILY MAIL AND FINANCIAL TIMES

A dazzling new novel of friendship, identity and the unknowability of other people - from the international bestselling author of Home Fire, winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction

Fourteen-year-old Maryam and Zahra have always been the best of friends, despite their different backgrounds. Maryam takes for granted that she will stay in Karachi and inherit the family business; while Zahra keeps her desires secret, and dreams of escaping abroad.

This year, 1988, anything seems possible for the girls; and for Pakistan, emerging from the darkness of dictatorship into a bright future under another young woman, Benazir Bhutto. But a snap decision at a party celebrating the return of democracy brings the girls' childhoods abruptly to an end. Its consequences will shape their futures in ways they cannot imagine.

Three decades later, in London, Zahra and Maryam are still best friends despite living very different lives. But when unwelcome ghosts from their shared past re-enter their world, both women find themselves driven to act in ways that will stretch and twist their bond beyond all recognition.

Best of Friends is a novel about Britain today, about power and how we use it, and about what we owe to those who've loved us the longest.

Review

The book is set in the late 1980s in Karachi and then 30 years later in London. There is no flip flopping, it's a linear timeline. 

We first meet Maryam and Zahra as 14 year old best friends. I learnt quite a few things I didn't know about life in Karachi in the 80s but I wasn't really drawn into the characters of the two girls. 

I felt like giving up reading this book, but decided to wait and see if the book was different once the girls were older. I'm pleased to say that for me it did improve but I still didn't love it. The writing was good and certainly highlighted political and social media issues. It covered the friendship that lasted 30 years. However, for me it moved far too slowly. I felt I wasn't progressing in understanding the lives of the two girls as I turned each page.

The book has had many rave reviews, but for me it didn't hit the spot.

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

A Visible Man - Edward Enninful

 

Description

Edward Enninful has lived an extraordinary life.

Here, for the first time, he shares the remarkable, inspiring story of his journey from a childhood bedroom in Ghana overlooking firing squads, to 1990s London - becoming the youngest-ever fashion director of i-D magazine at just eighteen years old. Now the first Black editor-in-chief of British Vogue, he has created game-changing images of everyone from Beyoncé to Meghan Markle, Kate Moss to Oprah Winfrey, Adele to Rihanna, and many more stars he now counts as friends.

A Visible Man is the story of a husband, son, brother, friend - and icon. Taking us from the neon thrills of Soho clubs to nights spent on friends' sofas, this is the story of Edward's phenomenal grit and determination: of failures, loss, coming out, joy, hedonism, fame, love, heartbreak, sacrifice, ill health and era-defining achievements. It's the story of one man's revolutionary mission to change how we see the world, showing how unwavering passion and perseverance can allow anyone to make their mark - just like he did.

Review

I haven't read Vogue for years, but I was intrigued to gain a behind the scenes insight into the workings of the magazine, and how Edward got to be Editor.

Certainly an inspirational life. Coming from Ghana, and at only the age of 18 becoming the fashion director of ID magazine. This isn't a name dropping book although we learn he was friends with Kate Moss before she was famous and also Naomi Campbell is a friend. 

What I missed was an actual look at what an editor really does, more a day in the life of type of thing. However, it is certainly a thought provoking book with a long hard look at how Edward has lived his life in spite of setbacks and gained tremendous success. It is a warts and all look at his life, which is very brave and surprised me in parts.

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

Pineapple Street - Jenny Jackson

 

Description

This unputdownable debut follows three women in an old Brooklyn Heights clan: one who was born with money, one who married into it, and one who wants to give it all away.

Darley, the eldest daughter in the well-connected, carefully guarded Stockton family, has never had to worry about money. She followed her heart, trading her job and her inheritance for motherhood, sacrificing more of herself than she ever intended. Sasha, Darley's new sister-in-law, has come from more humble origins, and her hesitancy about signing a pre-nup has everyone worried about her intentions. And Georgiana, the baby of the family, has fallen in love with someone she can't (and really shouldn't) have, and must confront the kind of person she wants to be.

Rife with the indulgent pleasures of life among New York's one-percenters, Pineapple Street is a smart, escapist novel that sparkles with wit. Full of recognisable, loveable - if fallible - characters, it's about the peculiar unknowability of someone else's family, the miles between the haves and have-nots, and the insanity of first love - all wrapped in a story that is a sheer delight.

Review

An interesting read.

This is a story about people with untold wealth and old New York money, so that was not something that I could relate to immediately. The story flips between the three women of the Stockton family. Two born into it and Sasha who has married into the family and money. 

Some of the story goes into the past lives of the three women and provides a backdrop to see how they got where they are now. The style of writing is very clipped, very NY and moves along at speed. I could relate to Sasha the most with her realisation that when the chips are down, family sticks together against you whether you are in the right or not.

A few twists along the way and not the ending I was expecting meant I kept reading this book to the last page. I got so caught up in the lives of these people that I forgot I had finished it, and was wondering today what was going to happen next.

The book lost one star for me as some of the USA references didn't translate for me. So I am giving this book 4 out of stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review. The book is out 13 April 2023.

The Christmas Castle in Scotland

 

Description

Unwrap this gorgeous gift of a book for an escape to the snow-peaked caps of the Scottish Highlands and a romance that will melt your heart…

Izzy McBride had never in a million years expected to inherit an actual castle from her great uncle Bill but here she was, in the run up to Christmas, Monarch of her own Glen – a very rundown glen in need of a lot of TLC if her dream of turning it into a boutique bed and breakfast was to come true.

But when Izzy’s eccentric mother rents a room to enigmatic thriller author Ross Adair and the Scottish snow starts to settle like the frosting on a Christmas cake, it’s a race to get the castle ready before they’re all snowed in for the holidays.

Review

I've loved all the books in this series, but for some reason this one not so much.

Izzy has recently returned from Ireland, where we met her in The Cosy Cottage in Ireland on a cookery course. This is a standalone book and you don't need to have read the previous book. She intends to use the skills she's learnt to do the cooking at the Castle she has just inherited.

Although it is Izzy who has inherited the castle in Scotland which she intends to turn into a hotel, it's her Mother who appears to be front of house. This causes a lot of confusion, not least that she is related to Izzy as she won't let her call her Mother. Izzy is also very slow to correct anyone that it is not her Mother than owns the castle. 

There are many and varied supporting characters and I didn't really warm to any of them. The parts of the book I enjoyed were the descriptions of the food and getting the castle ready for the guests. The romance was a little light in this one and felt a little rushed at. There was also a bit of a mystery to be solved which I found annoying more than anything else. I was glad I kept reading as the last part of the book was probably the best.

If you are looking for a very light hearted Christmas read, then this one will be a good one to choose.

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

Found in a Bookshop - Stephanie Butland

 

Description

'A delightful and original concept about how a second hand bookshop can heal a community' Katie Fforde

'What a lovely book - so assured and gentle, full of compassion and replete with astute observations of human nature and behaviour' Carys Bray

Dear Lost for Words,

We are trying to stay at home . . . I am enclosing a cheque and I hope that you will use it to send us some books. Please choose books that we might think are wonderful.

Rosemary

Loveday Cardew's beloved Lost for Words bookshop, along with the rest of York, has fallen quiet. At the very time when people most need books to widen their horizons, or escape from their fears, or enhance their lives, the doors are closed. Then the first letter comes.

Rosemary and George have been married for fifty years. Now their time is running out. They have decided to set out on their last journey together, without ever leaving the bench at the bottom of their garden in Whitby. All they need is someone who shares their love of books.

Suddenly it's clear to Loveday that she and her team can do something useful in a crisis. They can recommend books to help with the situations their customers find themselves in: fear, boredom, loneliness, the desire for laughter and escape.

And so it begins.

Review

I really enjoyed this read, despite being in tears for most of the book.

I haven't read the predecessor to this book and did not realise one existed until I had finished. So this can definitely be read as a stand alone story. Set in the pandemic of 2020 it captures perfectly for me a lot of the feelings I had at that time. 

The preloved books of the Lost for Words bookshop are not being bought by anyone now the pandemic has taken hold and business are mainly shut. With few people venturing into York and passing trade non existent how will Loveday keep the shop afloat? That is when she hits on the idea of prescriptions for books, to help people through lockdown. People email in with what they are worried about or their fears and the bookshop staff suggest books and then deliver in York and surrounding areas or post them out.

I loved reading the suggestions of the books given and realised some of them are buried in my TBR. It was good to read a synopsis of why I was attracted to them in the first place. I kept stopping to research the books and worried I would not find them in the kindle version again. I need not have worried as at the end of the book they are all listed with a few more too.

We get to meet the people who have asked for the book suggestions and get a glimpse into their lives, some with a backstory before the pandemic. There's also some themes of abuse and of course death which are dealt with very sensitively but all the same are chilling at times.

If I had read this book before a lockdown I might have thought it was far fetched, but having lived through the reality this book and it's stories rang very true. For some it might be a time they wish not to revisit and then this won't be the book for you. It has some lovely highlights and even those made me cry! I liked the style of writing and will look out the predecessor novel.

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review. This book will be published on 23 April 2023.