Another You - Jane Cable

Description

Sometimes the hardest person to save is yourself…

Marie Johnson is trapped by her job as a chef in a Dorset pub and by her increasingly poisonous marriage to its landlord.

Worn down by his string of affairs she has no self-confidence, no self-respect and the only thing that keeps her going is watching her son, Jude, turn into a talented artist.

But the 60th anniversary of a D-Day exercise triggers chance meetings which prove unlikely catalysts for change.

First there’s Corbin, the American soldier who she runs into as she’s walking on the cliffs. He is charming and has a quaintness about him, calling her an ‘English rose’.

Then there’s George the war veteran, who comes to dine at the pub, and his son Mark. George fascinates Marie with his first-hand accounts of the war, whilst Mark proves helpful in making sense of the pub’s financial situation.

And there’s Paxton. Another American soldier with an uncanny resemblance to Corbin. Young, fit and very attractive, Marie finds him hard to resist. But little does she know Paxton is also battling some inner demons.

As the heat of the summer intensifies, so do the issues in Marie’s life.

Why is Corbin so elusive? Why is the pub struggling to make ends meet? Why has Jude suddenly become so withdrawn and unhappy?

Can she help Paxton open up and begin to deal with his pain?

Or will she be shackled to the pub and her increasingly spiteful husband forever?

But as events unfold, Marie finally realises that she is not trapped, but stuck, and that it is down to her to get her life moving again. 

Perfectly blending the complexities of twenty-first century life with the dramatic history of World War Two, Another You is a charming tale that will warm your heart. 

Review

This is the third book of Jane's that I have read and what always strikes me about her writing is the almost mystical quality it has. Her way with words means that you are swept into the book immediately with the everyday minutia of life so wonderfully captured. I could imagine it all in my minds eye, the pub, the walks and the boat. Whilst there is always a little bit of a mystery to keep you guessing.

In this book Marie is the narrator and although she part owns a pub and is the chef there, her marital problems and little time to herself make for a woman who is having a tough time.

A series of men come into Marie's life, who bring their own problems with them. Except one of them may not be real - he could be a ghost? I really thought I had this all sorted out in my mind, but as the book progressed I began to doubt myself, what was real and what wasn't? 

There is also her son Jude who brings another dimension to the story line with his art studies and love life. 

I really enjoyed reading this book and although I've been to the area where the book is set, I also learnt a little more about the geography of it. I really wanted Marie to end up with one of the men - I'm not going to say which one, or if it happened - you will have to read it and discover for yourself.

I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars. My thanks go to Jane for letting me have a copy of her book for review.

The Girl Behind The Lens - Tanya Farrelly

Description

When every word’s a lie…A picture is worth a thousand A dark psychological thriller about the secrets that destroy us, perfect for fans of THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN and BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. 

Oliver Molloy never meant to hurt his wife. It was an accident, not his fault. A respected lawyer, he needs to make sure no-one finds out the truth. But there’s someone watching him, waiting for him to slip up.
Photography student Joanna Lacey has always been close to her mother. But when Rachel Arnold turns up on her doorstep, Joanna’s world falls apart. The father she never knew has been found in the canal – a married man, now dead.
Joanna and Oliver’s paths cross when they meet at the funeral. Convinced everyone she loves is lying to her, Joanna turns to him for help. But Oliver is the most dangerous liar of all.
Can she uncover the truth before the past destroys them both?

Review

When I began reading this book I was unsure how a man who finds a dead body, (but has admitted - at least between the pages of the book, that he has murdered his wife) - was going to tie in with a girl taking photos who turns out to the the daughter of the dead body, but a father she never knew!........

The difference for me with this book and others in a similar vein, is that it appears you the reader know everything that has happened. It is the characters in the book that don't have a clue what is really going on! Ingenious writing by far.

I found this book good easy reading, the characters well developed and although not all of them are enjoyable characters they certainly conjured up an image in my mind. Oliver the solicitor is really something, so well written, I couldn't wait to see what little trick he would pull next. The suspense in the book was really well held, at times I was holding my breath wondering what fate would befall a character.

Of course although you as the reader think you know everything that is happening - you don't really, and that was the other genius twist to the plot. A fresh new approach to a plot and one I really enjoyed.

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

Who's That Girl? - Mhairi McFarlane

Description

When Edie is caught in a compromising position at her colleagues’ wedding, all the blame falls on her – turns out that personal popularity in the office is not that different from your schooldays. Shamed online and ostracised by everyone she knows, Edie’s forced to take an extended sabbatical – ghostwriting an autobiography for hot new acting talent, Elliot Owen. Easy, right?

Wrong. Banished back to her home town of Nottingham, Edie is not only dealing with a man who probably hasn’t heard the word ‘no’ in a decade, but also suffering an excruciating regression to her teenage years as she moves back in with her widowed father and judgy, layabout sister.

When the world is asking who you are, it’s hard not to question yourself. Who’s that girl? Edie is ready to find out.

Review

I only just got around to reading this book as it is part of my own personal book shelf. I love Mhairi's writing and so wanted to make sure I was up to date with her books.

Something about this book didn't sit with me as well as her other books. I'm not sure if it was because it was set in mine and Mhairi's home town and so although I could picture everywhere she mentioned, it felt a bit laboured in the descriptions. Precise location of where districts where? Did we need to know that? At times colloquial references left me wondering if those not from the area would know what was meant.

The plot itself was a good one, and really went off in a few different directions before becoming a book which was in the end a bit of a romcom. I've written before that her books are more than a romcom, but this one was nearer the mark to that than the others were for me.  Mhairi was as usual spot on with her social observations both in real life and this time more on the social media side too. A real life take on what social media can now do to someone with cyber-bullying.

Great characters,although for some reason Elliot felt a little one dimensional to me. I loved Margot the next door neighbour - what a fab character.  Not for the first time with one of her books,  I felt myself shouting out loud at the happenings in the book - luckily in the confines of my own home and not on public transport. 

I didn't like the ending - I don't like loose ends!

I'm giving this book four out of five stars, just because there was something missing for me.

The Watcher - Ross Armstrong

Description

She’s watching you, but who’s watching her?

Lily Gullick lives with her husband Aiden in a new-build flat opposite an estate which has been marked for demolition. A keen birdwatcher, she can’t help spying on her neighbours. Until one day Lily sees something suspicious through her binoculars and soon her elderly neighbour Jean is found dead. Lily, intrigued by the social divide in her local area as it becomes increasingly gentrified, knows that she has to act. But her interference is not going unnoticed, and as she starts to get close to the truth, her own life comes under threat. But can Lily really trust everything she sees?

Review

Lily watches her neighbours - they are all laid out like a snapshot of Celebrity Squares - each in their own square. Using her bird watching experience she categorises them and makes notes on each of them in the form of field notes. Even at one point making a grid to record their sightings and habits. Each chapter is prefaced by the field notes for the particular person she is currently watching. Together with a chilling heading "42 days till it comes" which slowly counts down through the book. She's watching them, but soon she will be doing much more than just watching.

There is a Council block of flats earmarked for demolition opposite the new build Lily lives in. One of the tenants living there until the end is Jean, who Lily decides to visit - in the middle of the night which I found a little strange, even if it is because she can't sleep,  that she sees her light on and wants to connect. The next morning Jean is dead! Lily gets ushered right into Jean's flat to pronounce her dead because people think she's a Doctor......... but she isn't. 

I found the book really absorbing and also with a little dark humour. So many little nuances - what do they all mean?

Lily with her wash bag pretending to be a Doctor because people think she is one - how would that happen? 

Her husband Aiden who seems to do nothing but stay in the flat undermine her confidence and demand he be made coffees! 

Her neighbours who she knows so much about apart from their real names and the ability to strike up a conversation with them because they don't even know her. 

Lily narrates the book through the form of a what seems to be a very long letter to someone - whom we do not know. She questions her sanity - I question it - is any of this real? Two thirds into the book we begin to get some answers and I inwardly congratulate myself on having sussed this book out from the beginning. Except - I didn't- I really didn't and that's when the book changes again. A twist on a twist. A heart racing finale - what is going on with Lily - what are her neighbours up to?

I don't do spoilers so you will have to read this very original book for yourself to find out.

I'm giving it 5 out of 5 stars. My thanks go to Netgalley for an advance copy to review. The Watcher is out on 29 December.

Edwardian Ladies' Hat Fashions - Peter Kimptom

Description

Based upon the authors large personal collection of beautiful fashion postcards from Edwardian times, this book takes the reader on a journey through that era covering the hat fashions and social changes of the day. Delve further into the carnage that took place around the world, in which unscrupulous and money grabbing individuals, from the Northumbrian coast in England to the Everglades in America, would callously slaughter whole colonies of birds (leaving their young to die) purely to provide the millinery trade with ornate feathers to decorate fashionable hats during that era.
The book also takes the reader into the world of millinery sweatshops of poverty stricken New York and describes the conditions and deprivations under which the poorly paid workers, many of them immigrants, worked. You can even learn about the background, history and amazing life of one of the worlds greatest fashion designers, Coco Chanel, as she set out on her lifetime of fashion in Edwardian Paris.
With superb fashion colour plates of the day, together with images of amazingly creative and colourful hat pins from both the UK and America, the author shares the fruits of his forty years of postcard collecting.

Review

I love fashion and so I was drawn to this book. I also didn't really know much about hat fashion, or what the hat style was for Edwardian ladies - but I do now!

This is just such a charming book, with lovely reproductions of the postcards the author has collected through at times the derision of other postcard collectors. 

I had no idea that those hat feathers had caused so much of a stir - where they came from or how they had been sourced. It really was fascinating to read how such a fashion had far reaching effects. I loved also reading about the Palaces that were built around the Ostrich feather trade and seeing them in all their glory.

My favourite pictures are those taken by Edward Linley Sambourne - who took photographs that were not posed, so you get a true glimpse of the people of the time in an informal way. I love social history and these photos were just the best part of the book for me. 

I also never knew that hatpins came with so many stylish adornments, nor that they had to restrict the length of them! The most poignant part of the book is a postcard written by a man to his sister whilst on active service in December 1916 - again another slice of real social history.

This really is a gem of a book and one to dip into again and again. I'm giving it four out of five stars. 

My thanks to Netgalley for an advance copy of this book to review. I read my copy on my Kindle Fire - you really need to see all those beautiful illustrations in colour. 

The book is published on 31 January 2017.

Dear Amy - Helen Callaghan

Description

The Sunday Times bestselling psychological thriller

Margot Lewis is the agony aunt for The Cambridge Examiner. Her advice column, Dear Amy, gets all kinds of letters - but none like the one she's just received: 

'Dear Amy, 
I don't know where I am. I've been kidnapped and am being held prisoner by a strange man. I'm afraid he'll kill me. 
Please help me soon, 
Bethan Avery'

Bethan Avery has been missing for years. This is surely some cruel hoax. But, as more letters arrive, they contain information that was never made public. How is this happening? Answering this question will cost Margot everything . . .

Review

This book is described as a psychological thriller and for me it did not disappoint. I was a little concerned that the subject matter was going to be a little bit more like true crime for my tastes, all that was forgotten once I began to read and was hooked into the story straightaway.

Margot is also going through a tough time in her personal life, and so there was also a sub story going on through the book. This book never lost my interest and I couldn't wait to get back to it to find out what was going to happen next.

The first real shock for me was when it was revealed that Margot had a past that was not immediately obvious. I don't do spoilers so I won't reveal the next twist but I was very surprised by it - and although it was not something I was aware of, I went with it and the book became even more enjoyable. 

The writing is really good and not overly descriptive, which I like. Some parts of the book really made my flesh crawl and the pace of the story varied according to the characters state of mind. A tale well told. 

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

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

Holding - Graham Norton

Description

The remote Irish village of Duneen has known little drama; and yet its inhabitants are troubled. Sergeant PJ Collins hasn’t always been this overweight; mother-of-two Brid Riordan hasn’t always been an alcoholic; and elegant Evelyn Ross hasn’t always felt that her life was a total waste.

So when human remains are discovered on an old farm, suspected to be that of Tommy Burke – a former love of both Brid and Evelyn – the village’s dark past begins to unravel. As the frustrated PJ struggles to solve a genuine case for the first time in his life, he unearths a community’s worth of anger and resentments, secrets and regret.

Darkly comic, touching and at times profoundly sad, Holding is a masterful debut. Graham Norton employs his acerbic wit to breathe life into a host of loveable characters, and explore – with searing honesty – the complexities and contradictions that make us human.

Review

I was intrigued that Graham Norton had written a novel and couldn't wait to read it. Unfortunately for me the first half of the book I could not get into this novel. This is described as darkly comic and I could hear Graham's voice in my head, just like on the radio, narrating, and the two just didn't go together. I also did not at first find the characters loveable as described at all.

When I got to Part 2 of the book something just clicked - I began to enjoy the book more and certainly by the last third I was so intrigued to find out what had happened all those years ago and whose body had been found. Even the characters took on a different level and I warmed to the Garda PJ and his housekeeper Mrs Meany and also to Brid.

There is some very insightful writing here and at times it reminded me a little of a Maeve Binchy novel -where everyone knows everyone and has an opinion on them, but they all rally round for each other. The plot is a clever one and Graham has also used his knowledge of Ireland to give an authentic feel to the characters.

I did enjoy the book in the end - once I had a neutral voice in my head with no wicked nuances of Graham. I would be interested to read his next novel - I'm sure there will be one.

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