Tag: New books

books, Chick lit, new releases, reviews

Review: The Woman Who Stole My Life

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I have a strange relationship with Marian Keyes books.  As a person, I love her on Twitter and I could watch her all day on Strictly It Takes Two or Bake Off Extra Slice.  But when it comes to her books, and when I read them, I enjoy them but there are some times I pick one up and just don’t fancy it.  I don’t know if it’s because as well as the humour she deals with Serious Issues – and I’m not always in the market for Proper Problems with my chick lit.*  She is massively, massively popular though – and I know this is a book which is going to be on a lot of Christmas lists this year.

The Woman Who Stole My Life is about Stella Sweeney – who tries to do a good deed and ends up a car crash, the fall out from which will change her life.  The novel jumps backwards and forwards between the now – and various points in the past which explain how she got there.

Now once again, this summary seems short and cryptic, but I’m trying hard not to give too much away because I really enjoyed not knowing all the twists and turns. I will admit that I sometimes found it hard to keep track of when we where we were in the story on occasions – but that may have been down to the formatting in the proof e-copy that I was lucky enough to receive.

One thing that I really wanted to mention was how much I love the title.  Who is the Woman Who Stole My Life ?  I’ve tried writing a sentence to explain what I mean six times – and each time it’s given away too much of the plot.  But trust me when I say when you read it, you’ll understand what I mean.

I think that this may be my favourite of Marian Keyes’ novels.  I like Stella – her voice reminds me of the tone that you get from Marian’s Twitter feed (@MarianKeyes if you don’t already follow her).  I occasionally wanted to give Stella a bit of a talking to, but most of the time I was totally rooting for her as she bounced back from a life-changing experience and tried to figure out what she wanted in life with the assistance (or otherwise) of her family and friends.

And having enjoyed this so much – despite there being some serious issues in there – it’s inspired me to go back and read some of the Keyes backlist that I’ve missed out on.  In fact I think that there may be a Walsh Family book in my library book bag waiting to be read.  Serendipity indeed.

The Woman Who Stole My Life feels like a winter book, something you can curl up on the sofa with and eat Jaffa cakes like there’s no tomorrow – just like Stella does although I give you fair warning that if you do, you may end up in “lady chinos” – just like Stella!

My copy came from Netgalley in return for an honest review, but I’m expecting The Woman Who Stole My Life to be front and centre on the displays and promotions in all the major shops, but if you want to buy online here are some links – for kindle, at Foyles, it’s on my shelves at My Independent Bookshop – where it’ll give some money to one of my local indies or you can buy it through Hive and give money to one of your local indies.

*As the regular reader will be aware, my aversion to Bad Things leads me towards the romance novels and cozy crime and away from Literary Fiction and Prize Winning books.

Chick lit, fiction, new releases, reviews

Review: A Place for Us Parts 3 and 4

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I have enjoyed this book so much – and contrary to my usual views about serialisations (and to my sleep-addled pleas after Part 1 of A Place For Us) I’ve really enjoyed having to wait for the next part, as it’s forced me to make the book last.  As a fast reader, when I find something I like, I gobble it up as quickly as possible – then it’s over.  As someone who finished each of the last 4 Harry Potter books by early afternoon the day that they came out, I can attest that this can leave you with a very long wait to find out what happened next and a sense of regret that it was over too soon.  But reading something spaced out over a period of time gives you a different perspective than eating it up in a big rush.  And this is a book that I would definitely have read in a hurry.  I was desperate to find out what happened next and how it was all going to work out.

The end of Part 2 left us with another major plot development.  Part 3 throws everything up in the air again – so that it falls down in different places and leaves the reader with some answers – but most of the characters are still in the dark.  Part 4 puts everything back together and by the end you can see the family walking forwards into a new future.

And I can’t say much more than that about the plot – because I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone – particularly as part of the joy of this for me was not knowing where this was going and how everything was going to link up together.  Also because the book is going to be published as a proper book in early 2014, anything I say in this post is giving spoilers for the second half of the book – which I try not to do with books I’m reviewing.

This books has such a large cast of characters it is hard to pick a favourite.  Instead I’ll say that I liked the Grandchildren strands the best – if I was forced to pick – but it’s a really tough choice, because every part of the plot has something about it that makes me think that I like that one best.  Certainly the book wouldn’t be as good as it is if any one of them was missing.

This is a different sort of book from Harriet Evans I think.  I’ve read a couple of her books in the past (and as is standard for me, I have a couple waiting to be read as well) and although I enjoyed them and recommend them – I wouldn’t have lent them to my mum.  This one I would.  And that’s because she loves big family sagas spread across time – and even though this one is mostly set in the present so much of the story is because of what happened in the past.  I keep wanting to mention Elizabeth Jane Howard’s Cazalet Chronicles in connection with this book and I can’t quite pin down why – except that they are both books about extended families with secrets which switch between characters as the stories continue and where a house is almost a character in its own right.

Anyway, if you haven’t started reading A Place For Us, you should try it – and now all four parts are available you won’t have the agonising wait that I did between parts 1 to 3 (the holiday meant I got to part 3 a bit later than intended and was able to go straight on to Part 4).  If you want a proper book copy – it’s not out until January 15th next year, which is a shame as I probably have bought it for my sister for her Christmas book if I could have done.  Here are the links to the kindle versions of Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.  I got the first three parts through NetGalley (in return for an honest review) but bought myself Part 4 because I was so desperate to know how it all worked out.

Chick lit, fiction, new releases, reviews

Review: A Place for Us by Harriet Evans (part 2)

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We’re off schedule again people… But this time I’m properly rested and hopefully coherent (at least until nightshifts start again tonight).  It is, of course, because of the nights that we’re departing from the schedule – I didn’t realise that Part 2 was nearly here until I saw someone else review it…  Anyhow we left A Place for Us with me begging to find out what happened next in a slightly sleep deprived manner, after the end of Part 1 dropped a fairly major bombshell on the reader.

Well, what can I say.  In Part 2 the bombshell is unloaded onto the rest of the characters – along with a few other secrets – and then we’re left on another cliff hanger.  Honestly, this serialisation malarkey isn’t good for my blood pressure.  There.  That’s all I can say about the plot without giving too much away.  Except that we learn more about the characters – and in particular the absent Daisy.

I am desperate to know what happens next (again) and Harriet Evans has surprised me with some of the twists and turns we’ve had in this second part.  She’s also written a novel which (so far) seems to really lend itself to being broken up into chunks to torment the reader.  I think this part is shorter than part one – but it’s packed with character development, plot movement and surprises so you don’t notice.  I’m very excited about part three – because based on what’s happened so far, I’m fairly sure I have no idea what’s going to happen next.

A Place for Us Part 2 is here for Kindle and if you haven’t read Part 1 then you really should.  I’m off to make a note in my diary about the release date for part 3 (25 September).

books, historical, new releases, reviews

Review: The Fortune Hunter

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I was very excited to get an advance copy of Daisy Goodwin’s The Fortune Hunter ahead of its release in paperback on the 28th – as I really enjoyed her debut novel My Last Duchess (which I passed straight on to my mum who liked it too).

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The lovely paperback cover of The Fortune Hunter

I’ve had trouble coming up with a plot summary for this that doesn’t give too much away, so I’m settling for the blurb:

In 1875, Sisi, the Empress of Austria is the woman that every man desires and every woman envies.

Beautiful, athletic and intelligent, Sisi has everything – except happiness. Bored with the stultifying etiquette of the Hapsburg Court and her dutiful but unexciting husband, Franz Joseph, Sisi comes to England to hunt. She comes looking for excitement and she finds it in the dashing form of Captain Bay Middleton, the only man in Europe who can outride her. Ten years younger than her and engaged to the rich and devoted Charlotte, Bay has everything to lose by falling for a woman who can never be his. But Bay and the Empress are as reckless as each other, and their mutual attraction is a force that cannot be denied.

Now I didn’t know a lot about Sisi before I read this book – so I can’t tell you how close to what actually happened this is.  What I can tell you is that I really enjoyed reading this book – loved the characters and spent a large portion of the book knowing that it wasn’t going to turn out right for everyone, but hoping against hope that it might.

I galloped through this (sorry, couldn’t resist a horse pun in a book where so much is centred around riding) in about 3 and a half train journeys.  I’m not a horse rider or a hunting fan, but I still found the book enthralling and the horse-y sections were were engaging and easy for a non rider to follow. There were also some lovely details in this – I particularly enjoyed the scenes with Queen Victoria and John Brown.

The Historical Note at the end explained some of the liberties taken by the author with reality and the book left me wanting to know more about the real Sisi and the Hapsburgs – and sent me googling on a variety of characters and hunting for biographies of various people.  It also made me want to re-read My Last Duchess – so I’ll have to dig out my copy of that too.  I’ve passed this straight on to my mum – which is always a sign of a good book in this genre. I look forward to seeing what Goodwin comes up with next

The Fortune Hunter is out in paperback on the 28th of August and should be available in all good book shops like Waterstones and Foyles although I could only find a link to the hardback on their website – but if you can’t wait you could buy that now – as you can the Kindle edition.

new releases, reviews, Uncategorized

Review: American Blonde

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A busy week here on the blog – because a lot of my advance copies come out this week!  Today I’m doing American Blonde by Jennifer Niven (published this very day) and tomorrow is my favourite book of the month so far (and there isn’t much reading time left in July) – What Would Mary Berry Do?

So I discovered a little way into this book that there have been three previous books featuring the leading character Velva Jean, which I of course haven’t read.  And that did explain the start which seemed to plunge you right into Velva Jean’s life without giving you much detail about what is clearly a fairly complicated back story!  But that said, I don’t think you need to have read the previous stories to enjoy this one – I haven’t (duh) and I still liked it.

Velva Jean Hart returns to the US after serving in the WASP as a pilot in Europe.  She’s had some adventures there (about which I’m hazy and I wouldn’t want to give away anyway) and is a war heroine.  She’s promptly snapped up by Hollywood giant MGM after the publicity surrounding her return.  At the studio, she joins up with one of her former WASP colleagues –  who is a film star – and navigates the tricky waters of stardom, with a new name, a new image and a studio who wants to control every aspect of her life.  But when she witnesses a suspicious death and starts to investigate, she discovers how far the powers-that-be will go to maintain Hollywood’s perfect image.

I picked this on Net Galley because I have a bit of a fascination with studio-system-era Hollywood – and it really delivered.  I loved the studio intrigue, the cover-ups and the machinations, although with such a huge cast of characters – many of whom had stage names – I did occasionally find it a little hard to keep track of who was who. I did like the leads, although I felt like I was missing out a little bit on the back story to some of them, which would have explained why she preferred one suitor rather than the one that I liked best!

But this is a really good read – and if you’re a fan of Hollywood’s Golden Age there’s plenty for you here, but equally, I think the murder mystery is good enough to hold your interest even if you’re not fascinated by the machinations of the studio system.  Once I’ve got the to-read pile more under control I may well try and go back and read some of Velva Jean’s previous adventures.

American Blonde is available through Foyles and Amazon although I can’t see it as an e-book in the UK.  My copy was provided by Net Galley in return for an honest review.

fiction, new releases, reviews, romance

Book review: Every Woman for Herself

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Now I’ll start off by saying that I’m a huge fan of Trisha Ashley.  I was going to do an “Authors I Love” post on her this week – but I thought that her latest novel deserved a post all of it’s very own.  But expect to see more about my love of all books Trisha in the near future.

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This really doesn’t do justice to the glittery cover of the latest addition to my Trisha Ashley collection….

Every Woman for Herself is actually one of her older novels – which has been out of print for some years and which I hadn’t been able to track down via a library (or find for a reasonable price secondhand) – I think the only other one of her books that I haven’t read now is Lord Rayven’s Revenge.  In her newsletter (yes I’m that sort of fan) she says it’s one of her favourite literary babies and I can see why.  Sometimes when you read an early book from a favourite author it can be a disappointment – because the style that you love hasn’t developed yet, but the familiar Trisha Ashley voice is well in evidence here.  Charlie’s is as engaging, fun and quirky as her later heroines – and her inner monologue is possibly even funnier.

At the start of the book Charlie’s husband announces he wants a divorce and the book tells the story of her return to her childhood home to refresh and regroup following that bombshell and what I shall call An Unfortunate Incident.  Her extended family is full of the eccentric characters that Trisha Ashley writes so well and they all come vividly to life as you read.

There are some other familiar ingredients are present and correct in Every Woman for Herself – a bit of magic-cum-witchcraft, a handsome and brooding romantic lead, a setting that’s almost a character in itself and of course a heroine who doesn’t realise what’s under her nose until after you do – but never in an annoying or obvious way.  And after reading Every Woman… I’ve finally found out the origin of Skint Old Northern Woman magazine which has cropped up in every (I think) book since as well as being the name of Trisha’s own newsletter.

I loved this book – I started reading it yesterday evening (the day it came out) and then couldn’t put it down on either on the train to work – or the way home and finished it about 10 minutes before I pulled into my station.  The only downside is that now it’s over too soon (I have no self-control in these matters – I haven’t managed to ration a book I’m enjoying yet) and now I have a long wait for her next book.  But I’m sure I’ll be re-reading this one before then.

I was thrilled to see that Avon were giving this a good old plug on their twitter account in the run up to publication – so I hope this does really well and sells lots and lots of copies.

Every Woman for Herself is available all over the place including the supermarkets and  Foyles (who I link to even though they’re not the cheapest for this type of book because I love the name of their loyalty scheme – Foyalty) and on Kindle.  I’ve managed to buy two copies (don’t tell The Boy – one is going back…) that’s how much I like Trisha Ashley books – and of course a demonstration of the fact I don’t keep track of what I’ve pre-ordered….

Find Trisha Ashley’s website here or her Facebook here and she tweets as @trishaashley