Laura

I was really looking forward to Steena Homles sequel to the outstanding ‘Finding Emma', I couldn't wait to read more about Jack and his relationship with Emmie, the little girl he'd been lead to believe was his granddaughter.

This book picks up a few months after the end of ‘Finding Emma' whereby Emma is back with her family and they are all trying to move on from her disappearance. Her papa Jack is left alone following the death of his beloved Dottie and the loss of Emmie.

Again in this book I struggled a little with the lead character Megan, Emma's mother. She still comes across as quite self involved and a little unaware of the feelings of others. I found myself feeling real sympathy with her husband Peter, in whom she seemed to have very little faith and her best friend Laurie who seemed to have to constantly tiptoe around her friend.

Taking this aside though I loved in this book what I loved about the first - the relationship between Jack & Emmie and the emotion that Jack is going through. He is an exceptionally well written character, he evokes such emotion and you genuinely want things to work out for him. That Emma's father in this novel see's his good heart and the way in which he loves his daughter and makes her happy was lovely. I wanted more of this.

Dottie is still prevalent in the book through her journals and this ties it all back to book 1. It is a satisfying sequel but didn't feel like a conclusion, the way it ended suggested there might be more to come and I personally would love to read more about Jack & Emmie and so long as we can pick up with Megan being in the place she is at the end of the book I would like to read more about her also.

It's not a new concept that Nick Spalding has come up with for his novel ‘Love...from both sides' whereby the story of a couple falling in love is told through chapters from each other's perspectives. Mike Gayle has given us ‘The Hen & Stag Party' from each side and Josie Lloyd & Emlyn Rees used to write as husband and wife using this same premise.

It is for that very reason though that I bought this novel. I loved this idea as it's very funny to see a book with outlines how dating is different for the sexes. In Spalding's novel we follow Jamie & Laura as they initially suffer the world of singledom and dating. We are pulled along as they initially keep missing the chance to meet and as they both suffer through some truly dreadful first dates. We then eventually see them thrown together and how the path of true love truly doesn't run smooth.

It is as the cover promises laugh out loud funny at points, at times you cringe and at others Spalding paints a truly emotional and romantic picture. This book was great, it didn't feel over long which is often the sign of a truly good read especially when you feel you've just started but realise you've zipped through half without even thinking about it.

Spalding has since gone on to write 2 further ‘from both sides' books in the series and his characters are sufficiently likeable to want to spend more time with them both exploring their life together and that should be testament enough to the quality of his writing. This was light hearted, good fun and very enjoyable.

This book was recommended to me by my mum who had likened it to P.S. I Love You. The story of Grace who 6 months after her mothers death is told that in order to inherit her childhood home she must travel on a mysterious 10 day journey reading letters from her mother in important locations in order to learn more about her mother's life.

Grace's companion on the journey is a Royal Marine Alisdair who is there to guide her to each location and assist her throughout. He is strong, capable and an all round good man but due to his postings with the marines he has his own troubles.

This book was a great read. The suspense of not knowing where the journey would take Grace was lovely and some of the locations and things she got to do made for brilliant reading. It was emotional and the relationship between Grace & her ‘soldier boy' was built beautifully and with wonderful craft.

The building of the story was good although I must confess that the whole episode of her mother's in Croatia was where it began to slip a little for me. It became a little bit too off the wall and that lost a little of the emotion for me at that point.

The end of the book also seemed to take a little bit of a detour and took a bit longer than I'd have liked to come to a conclusion. In truth the first 75% of the book was brilliant the last 25% lost it's momentum a little.

I saw this book was free on Amazon yesterday and to be honest that serves it a discredit as it is way way better than that tag credits it with being. It was an excellent read and a great story and if you did pick it up for free as you might you would be getting an immensely good book so don't let this put you off.

It's a tale of mother's and daughter's at heart and the legacy we leave behind us and I would very highly recommend this book to anyone.

Oh dearie me, so chick lit has become such a huge genre that now we've moved on and writers have decided it's now time for granny lit or as mommy porn becomes more popular this writer has been heralded the inventor of granny porn.

This book was the story of Jeanie, a 59 year old woman who finds herself and her husband growing apart both physically and emotionally. Left on their own with very different ideas of how to spend their ‘twilight years' Jeanie finds herself falling in love with Ray, a man she meets in the local park. Suddenly she finds herself thinking of throwing away over 30 years of marriage for ask she has only just met.

I read about this book,many people declared it wonderful and a real joy of a debut. I didn't find it so enticing. Regardless of the age it was written about and in a way for it just lacked any real substance to the central romance. The relationship between Jeanie and Ray seems quite flimsily written, he features in relatively little of the book. He disappears about two thirds in and isn't really central to the plot line for much of the book. Instead Boyd focuses upon the demise of Jeanie's marriage which is actually quite tedious reading.

I found Jeanie a little full at points, I didn't like her initial feelings that it seemed okay because her husband was withdrawn from her bed that it made her okay to be seeing someone else behind his back. Then again her husband George comes across as quite an odious character. It just seemed to be a whole lot of wrangling over whether she and George would or wouldn't move to the country and whether Jeanie would sell her beloved shop.

It didn't build for me a relationship that I could see her throwing away 30 years of marriage on and as a result I didn't really find I enjoyed this book as much as I'd hoped. I skimmed much of the end as I got bored and just didn't care much how it ended. This was not a reflection on the age of the characters but on the writing of their story treating them as being unable to have a conversation not hidden behind social niceties.

Disappointing

This second outing into the world of Laura & Jamie was an absolute joy. Taking the journey with them as they navigated first time parenthood was better than Love...From Both Sides.

It had me laughing out loud so many times I lost count, Laura's interview experience, her water's breaking in the apple store, labour and delivery, Jamie's first solo outing with the baby, the birth certificate. Just heartwarming good fun.

Pregnancy & birth is a road I've been down more times than most and not that long ago so I totally got this book and where it's heart came from. It's an experience that you'll love if you aren't a parent but I suspect you'll empathise more with if you are.

The first book was great but this one was an absolute gem and Spalding is just genius.

So to finalise my christmas reads for 2013 I delved into Trisha Ashley's Wish Upon A Star, the story of single mum Cally who sells her London flat and returns home to live in the village of Sticklepond with her mum whilst she raises money to take her sick daughter to America for life saving heart surgery.

I own a few of Ashley's books but this is the first I'd read but I realised a little ways in that many of her novels will be based in the same small village and I'm now intrigued to read more about people who whilst bit characters in this book will star in their own story. We may even in the future find out more about Cally out with this book.

This was a lovely story, full of warmth and great heart. Cally meets Jago a fellow baker when she returns home to Sticklepond and the very natural, slow building and romantic way in which their story builds is lovely. There's no earth shattering moments, just very realistic building of their love for each other which I lovely to read.

It took me a little bit to read this book but it wasn't a reflection on the writing just on the fact that over the festive period my down time for reading was reduced by all the preparations. It's not a book that should be regarded as a ‘Xmas' read as it isn't intrinsically linked to the festive period and could be equally enjoyed at any time of year just as joyfully.

This was a freebie on Amazon and I immediately bought it because I was a massive Sweet Valley High fan in my teenage days. I used to dream of living in perfect Sweet Valley and remember thinking the twins were just the coolest ever.

This book had me laughing out loud in the first few pages. My kids even begged me to stop laughing as we are taken through an introduction to life in Sweet Valley and the authors reflections upon the series as she revisits them as an adult.

Commenting upon the often political incorrectness and the fact that the characters seem to be akin to Ken & Barbie - full of sexual innuendo but with no genitals. It was hysterical in the outset and I had very high hopes.

Much of the book then moves on to be a book-by-book account of the lives of the Wakefield twins and the authors reflections on how anyone with brown hair is unattractive, how characters with single parents or of ethnic descent are always poor or troubled and just how the Wakefield twins are so beautiful they are always being kidnapped, stalked or avoiding murder meaning Sweet Valley isn't all that perfect.

I lives the start of this book but I got bored about 50% of the way through, I can see how as a blog it worked but to read as a book it was too repetitive and I just lost the will to read a blow by blow account of over 100 books. It was lovely to revisit old friends like Lila, Bruce, Enid & Todd but not in one sitting. It became a little samey but it was awesome to giggle at the outset over something that was such an integral part of my youth and to quote the author just what would Bella Swan or Katniss Everdeen have made of Liz & Jessica Wakefield?

I was beyond excited when I found out Veronica Henry was releasing a second book based on the little seaside town of Everdene and the inhabitants of the beach huts along along the stretch of coast. In the first book Henry wove together lots of individual stories which evoked a real sense of community and seaside atmosphere and although all the stories stood separately she tied them all back together and left me wanting more.

In this second book about life in the Beach Huts we don't, unfortunately revisit any of the original characters from the first book, instead we are introduced to new stories. Again they span all generations and walks of life, Elodie who at seventy is buying a home in Everdene but for whom the house holds memories of her childhood. We are taken back with her to the days of her youth and follow her story to date and it is, to this we keep returning alongside Henry's other characters. We have Jeanne a young unemployed entrepreneur trying to start her own business, two fisherman brothers coping with their fathers death, an ex - convict arriving to take up residence as an artist, a London high flyer finding a new life after leaving her job and a divorced couple trying to find a way to move on whilst still co-owning their hut.

Again this book just evoked such wonderful feelings of life in the sleepy seaside town, each time I see a beach hut now it makes me think of these books and I long to stay in one, like a recluse claiming some me time alongside the beach and the elements. Henry doesn't link the characters as closely as she did in the first book, their stories link but perhaps not so closely as previously. This didn't detract from the enjoyment of the story and each one draws you in and makes them feel fulfilling. Each is given enough focus to tell their tale and to allow you as a reader to become emotionally invested in their wellbeing.

This for me was one of the must have books this summer, it was perfectly timed as a release and I love that for people who haven't managed to book a foreign break but have managed a break in the UK seaside this might just be the book to take with you. Henry continues to deliver amazing books full of heart and emotion and she has again proved faultless.

This was my first book by author Rachel Hore. The beauty of the cover art enticed me as it promised hidden delights within and it didn't disappoint.

This is Kate's story, as she and her husband Simon move out of city for family life in the country. Kate stumbles across and old house and forging a bond with it's elderly owner Agnes finds that they may be linked more than they could have every thought possible. And what of Agnes's family home, why does Kate feel she's been there before and why does it feel like home.

This book is beautifully written, it gives up it's story little by little. Building throughout to a nice, but perhaps transparent, conclusion. The author takes the tale of Kate for the main part and mixes it with flashbacks to the life of Agnes in her youth.

For me personally the flashbacks were evocative and a lovely part of the book and could have been used a little more. I could have read about Agnes all day and her family with their mix of relationships. The story instead stays mainly with Kate and the struggles she finds adapting to her new life and the ultimate devastation it bring.

This book was one I struggled to put down. I wanted to keep going and uncovering more of Agnes's story and finding out her secrets. This made it a hugely enjoyable and interesting read. Highly recommended and Hore is an author I will now look forward to reading more of. She reminds me a lot of Kate Morton and that is high praise indeed.

I really enjoyed Victoria Hislops The Island so as soon as I saw this had been released I put my name down at the library to borrow a copy. The book started well as we follow Sonia, an unhappily married woman, to Granada where she and a friend have booked a holiday and some dance lessons. We follow her as she becomes more immersed in the salsa and flamenco dances and as she meets an elderly cafe owner who begins to tell her about the family who owned the cafe at the time of the civil war.

At this point to be honest I began to get a bit confused, having no previous visits to Spain or knowledge of the Spanish Civil War to work from I war relying on the author to indicate clearly what happened, but I got a bit lost between who was on which side and what they stood for and as a result found myself scanning some of the pages whilst not fulling taking in the setting. I fully enjoyed her characterisations and this kept me reading when I otherwise may have given up.

The story of Mercedes the young Spanish girl whos love of dance and a young guitarist named Javier takes her into danger during a war which has destroyed her family is excellent but I finished the book feeling I'd missed some of the crucial elements because Hislop's explanation of the history of the war wasn't gripping enough to keep me reading every single word.

I also felt that the end of the book was a little rushed, with Sonia's story being a little pushed into the last chapter and a bit. Considering the time invested in introducing this character at the start of the book it didn't do her justice to have it crammed into this short space.

I would read another Victoria Hislop novel but this certainly is not The Island

This book was really something very special, a true joy to read. I knew from reading “A Night On The Orient Express” that Veronica Henry could craft a cleverly written novel but this book went one step further.

Jane Milton has been recently widowed and left with huge debts by her deceased husband, as a way to solve her issues she decides to sell her family beach hut in the small seaside town of Everdene. What follows is a chapter by chapter journey through the lives not only on Jane and her family but also a whole host of other characters who journey to the small seaside town and the little beach huts on the shore. We are taken back in time to the 60's and a love affair that will shape lives for many years to come. Henry weaves together tales of newlyweds, alcoholism, adoption, grief and they seamlessly blend chapter by chapter touching each other at points, some remaining stand alone tales.

It was a beautiful book, my first real summery read of the year that made me yearn for summer barbeques and fun family days on long summer nights. It made me want to pack my kindle and some wine and sneak off to one of the beach huts for a week and spend time just me and the ocean and the sun. It was so beautifully evocative and atmospheric.

I am absolutelt thrilled that Henry's new summer novel for 2014 is going to be “The Beach Hut Next Door” because if she decides to bring back some more tales from the characters in this book I will happily postpone everything to spend time with them all again, with maybe some new faces. I also nkw know that Henry's writing is clearly of a consistently high standard and so won't wait so long before delving back into the back catalogue for more joy and escapism.

I have been an avid reader of Adele Parks for many years and after reading her last novel Whatever It Takes and finding it somewhat lacking it's usual sparkle I so wanted The State We're In to be good.

This was an unusual story, we start off in 80's London with the stories of Clara and Eddie, both of whom are young married and unhappy. We are given the outline of a brief affair between them and from there we jump forward to 2005 where we meet Jo.

Jo is a romantic and single 30 something who having failed to find her happy ever after decides to jet off to Chicago to stop the wedding of the fiancé she jilted at the altar many years before. On the flight she meets Dean and decides to open her heart to him.

It is such a difficult book to critique because it went through peaks and troughs but for me there were too many slow moments. I just couldn't get into this book. I had to keep forcing myself to go back to it. I'd read a few pages then lose interest again, this continued until around 70% of the way through then I finally found my groove with the book and from there to the end I really enjoyed it.

It had a very good ending but I won't give any hints, it is a trawl though to get to the ending and I can't say it's left me feeling overly positive towards the work of Adele Parks, she seems to have written a heroine who lacked any real depth of emotion for much of the book. She came across as too flighty, too flimsy and that made it difficult to fall into the story with any enthusiasm.

I liked it but I'm glad I'm finished as it did feel like a long slog.

This final book in the Love... Trilogy by Nick Spalding was a little bit like Jamie describes in the book that Vegemite is - good but not the same as marmite and upon reflection of all 3 books I would describe the first two as marmite and the third as Vegemite.

In this third instalment of the lives of Jamie & Laura Newman we find them emigrating to Australia where they find themselves living on the Gold Coast living every Australian cliche imaginable.

It is a good book which has some great situational comedy moments but behind this is the struggle the couple are having adjusting to changing dynamics in their relationship with Jamie having to rely on Laura's income to support them.

Fundamentally some of the comedy is still very funny but for my taste it was a bit less so than the first two books and relied too much on situations steeped in stereotypes of Australia, plus I wanted to give Jamie & Laura a shake and get them to socialise a bit more and get out of their own heads for just a bit. We miss their circle of friends a little in this instalment

This trilogy as a whole has been a joy to read and whilst I have given this book 3 stars it was more like 3 and a half and as an overall reading experience all 3 books I regard with great affection and a new reluctance to handle items in the apple store following a thought in book 2 about just how many germ laden hands have touched devices in their store displays.

Trisha Ashley has developed a really quirky series of books based around the residents and romances of the village of Sticklepond. Designed in a similar fashion to Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove series, each book focuses on a different villager and their burgeoning romances whilst previous characters flit in and out keeping us updated with their lives.

This is the second book I've read in the collection, having enjoyed the christmas themed ‘Wish Upon A Star' earlier this year. I fully expected to quickly become immersed in the story and to find it difficult to put down. I'm sad to say this didn't happen, instead I found it all to easy to lay this book aside. I had to keep reminding myself to read it.

It's the story of Tansy, who leaves behind her fiancé and London life to take over the shoe shop her Great Aunt Nan owns in the village of Sticklepond. Turning the shop into a bridal shoe specialist she deals with the challenges of setting up a new business with the challenges of managing the complaints of her moody new next door neighbour, Shakespearian actor Ivo.

It should have flowed so well, instead I kept finding it stalled. It seemed to get stuck in the pace of Sticklepond village life. It ambled along nicely but it's pace meant the story often became a bit of a day by day account of Tansy's life with little action.

It took until 70-75% of the way through before managed to get hooked enough to plough through the rest at any kind of pace. Until then I'd read a page or two and get a little bored.

I love the concept of Ashley's books, it's lovely to know that in reading more Sticklepond based books I'd be able to catch up with Tansy and see how her story continues. I just sincerely hope the next one is a little more engaging as with ‘Wish Upon A Star'

I have to be honest in saying I was a little cautious before reading this debut novel by television celebrity Richard Madeley. Most recently known for his Book Clubs which he hosts with his wife Judy Finnegan, they have helped launch several hugely popular novels into the fiction charts and reinvigorating reading lists the UK over. This connection with all thing literary did not mean that Richard too could become a successful author and like many people I found it a concern that this book would sell mainly because of who had written it as opposed to any literary merit it may contain.

I loved the cover art for the book immediately and the blurb promised an intriguing tale of Diana, who during the Second World War meets and falls in love with an RAF pilot James Blackwell. He is shot down and killed on their wedding day and Diana is left to pick up the pieces. Then ten years later she is in Nice and hears a voice which leads her to question whether her husband may still be alive.

This is such an easy book to become immersed in, Madeley is actually very good at creating the time period of WWII and I very quickly became carried away with the build up to the war through the eyes of Diana and her family. I'd start reading and before I knew it, and much to the protests of my four children, I'd be several chapters further in and absolutely captivated by the story.

I've read lots of criticism of the book, people claiming character names kept changing and proof reading wasn't sufficient, if that was the case I truly didn't notice. Either that or did they just miss the bit at the start of the book about the family using different names as a tradition? If any errors were made they were minimal and it did not detract from the story andy enjoyment of the story. I'd also read criticism that it was too predictable with characters succumbing to the curse of falling pregnant first time they slept with someone. Again I didn't find this an issue, frankly it just wasn't the case and where it was relevant it happened once and was central to the story so I didn't have an issue with it.

Instead I found this an enjoyable read, all the settings were beautifully described and atmospheric descriptions of the Mediterranean Nice in the 50's made me long to be there. The story was really clever, it wasn't a soppy love story and nor was it a crime story but a wonderful blend of war time tragedy and dark scheming by a warped mind.

I'm thrilled to see Richard has revisited the characters of this book in the sequel released last week ‘The Way You Look Tonight' and I'm really looking forward to reading this also. I'm impressed to say that Richard Madeley has proven his right to comment on the writing of others by production of a good solid first novel of his own and I'm happy to say I respect that he has done so and will be reading future releases by him.

So as Christmas continues to approach I decided to delve into Julia Williams third book based in the fictional village of Hope Christmas. Called “Coming Home For Christmas” we are reunited with the three heroines Cat, Pippa and Marianne.

I must admit to only having read one of the other two books in the series, “A Merry Little Christmas” which fortunately was the one based directly before this one. I loved how it continues the story approximately 12 months after completion of the last book.

I enjoyed returning to the lives of the three ladies finding Cat trying to deal with a flailing TV career and becoming a grandmother unexpectedly. Pippa is trying to move on from her separation from husband Dan, whom she just cannot seem to leave behind. Meanwhile Marianne's husband Gabe has asked his ex-wife to move in with them following health problems putting huge strain on their relationship.

Whilst the ladies stories were nice to revisit I did struggle a bit with this book. The relationship between Pippa and her new boyfriend Richard frustrated me as she seemed incapable of standing up for herself and she otherwise came across as a strong and very competent woman.

Also each of the books seem to feature a struggle by the residents of Hope Christmas to stop some sort of development in their small village and whilst this is a nice story it's a little staid and twee on a book by book basis.

Maybe it's just a year where I'm struggling to truly find my Christmas vibe book wise. I perhaps have too many other non seasonal books calling to me from my bookshelf that I'm keen to move on.

There are times when writing a book review that you feel mean and a little concerned you may trample on the author's feelings. Honesty however is the order of the day and so for any negativity I'm about to impart, Lucie Brownlee, I apologise.

This book is the author's personal account of the sudden death of her husband, Mark, at the age of 38. It documents the immediate aftermath and the grieving process she went through in the 2 years following his death.

The problem I had with this book is that grief is such a very personal thing, no two people will experience it in exactly the same way. What will be right for one person may be abhorrent to another. Therefore I find it difficult writing this review to say that it was a bad book, because who am I to judge how the author chose to deal with this very personal and difficult time in her life.

The book was initially very engaging, her outline of the details surrounding the immediate aftermath of Mark's death were very thought provoking and a wry insight into how in a very British way we handle death and funeral planning. Where I began to struggle was with the author's apparent ongoing reliance upon alcohol to support her through her grief. Barely a page of the book went by where she wasn't downing a glass of wine, or talking about drinking to obliteration. I personally am not someone who drinks regularly, in fact so rarely my weekly intake is largely 0 units. This meant I struggled to relate to many of her experiences. Instead I kept wanting someone to desperately take her aside and get that under control. Instead of understanding her grief journey I just worried that as well as losing her father, Brownlee's young daughter was now subjected to watching her mother's slow descent into alcoholism.

The first 30% of the book was good but then it became too maudlin, instead of moving forward or outlining the impact upon anyone else the author seems to get stuck on herself. It is, I imagine, a book translated in part from the blog she began writing to help her grief. It should perhaps have stayed that way, good blogs do not always good books make.

My only reaction on finishing the book, having skimmed the last 30 pages, was “thank goodness that's over”, unless this is something you have personally experienced or have helped someone else through I have the terrible fear that this book is nothing more than a depressing way to spend a few days.

I'd been reading this book for a while however I'd like to state at the outset of this review that it is the only book I've managed to finish in the last 6 months, which for someone who generally would read a book a week must say something for it.

It is a very modern tale of marriage, parenthood and adolescence in the digital age. The opening chapter sees a head teacher visited by one of her science teachers highlighting that a sex tape made by two of their students has gone viral online. It is only toward the end of the chapter we realise it is in fact the head teachers daughter Romy who features in the said tape.

From there we are taken back several months and follow the events as they build towards discovery of the tape. We have chapters alternating from mother and daughters points of view. We explore the complicated relationships between all members of the family and events from the past that have shaped how they live today.

Coming along to complicate matters are their new neighbours, New age hippy types who seek to run a sexual awakening style business in their purpose built sweat lodge at the bottom of their garden. It all sounded really unsavoury from the outset and I found that pages which featured these characters were the low points of the story.

The chapters from daughter Romy's perspective were in fact the best of the book, she reflects well the complicated sexual signals that teens today deal with incorporating families with complex sexual histories, the availability of sexual content online and the pressures this brings. She is a highly intelligent girl, both emotionally and mentally and the predicament she leads herself into is a real contrast to her otherwise sensible choices.

Some chapters were slower than others however it still, even in a mega reading slump, managed to keep pulling me back. It was well written and is an interesting tale outlining how sexually things are more dangerous than ever for our teens.

I'd recomment it as a good read, not outstanding but suitably thought provoking

One of the most poignant books that I've ever read, and one that has remained with me for may years since I read it is Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. A book which explores the events leading up to and after a school shooting from the perspective of mothers of the children involved. It was because of this very subject matter that I was drawn to Stillwater Rising by Steena Holmes. I'm a regular reader of books by Steena Holmes having loved her Finding Emma series a few years ago and I had high expectations that she would tackle this sensitive subject matter in a way that would be both emotional and enjoyable. I anticipated lots of exploration of the emotions of the characters and perhaps some of the moral dilemma I felt after I read Picoult's novel.

Based in a small oceanside town called Stillwater we meet Jenn and Charlotte. Both women are trying to move on from the recent shooting at the local elementary school where 10 children and 2 teachers were killed by a local teenager in a mass shooting. Jenn has lost her son Bobby and is trying to come to terms with her loss but is finding it difficult to cope with constant reminders around her such as the school still being open and her daughter having to return. Charlotte is the town mayor and wife of the school principal and is trying to hold her small town together and ensure every member of their community is cared for, including the mother of the teen responsible for the killings.

When the book started I was really optimistic, the character situations were perfect to make from the book a real emotional read, I expected lots of dialogue between the women about the events that had taken place and how they were healing. Instead I was left feeling that the surface of the book had never quite been scratched. Had we focused purely on the two main characters in the book there is a possibility we may have been able to gain the insight I hoped for, however we also have a number of other stories running alongside and a large amount of characters from the town who pop into and out of the dialogue frequently but not often repeatedly. They pop up on the radar and next thing they are gone, plot fillers not developers.

It began to strike me that Stillwater Rising was Ninteen Minutes meets Cedar Cove, a sort of mellowed down version of Picoult's novel where the real gritty moments of what has happened to our characters will never quite reach the surface, instead there was an ongoing layer of respectability about it all as our characters dotted around between the school fayre, teddy bears picnics and parades. It was wonderful for building the community of Stillwater but I never really got the answers I wanted about the events of the shooting and really what the mothers who lost children experienced. It's never fully addressed only hinted at as a retrospective moment they are trying to forget.

This is also a relatively short book, I could see lots of places where the story could be going then suddenly realised I had only 3 chapters left. Suddenly it became clear. Holmes wasn't writing one book about Stillwater, she intends to write many. This book is perhaps her first glimpse into the world she has painted with many more stories in mind. In fact the culmination of this book leaves us with a real cliffhanger that will lead into the next novel, one which perhaps will give us more insight into the events on that fateful day.

I didn't dislike the time I spent with Holmes' Stillwater characters but for me it was more fluff and filling than emotional exploration for me and I have to say I was a little disappointed. I don't think I'll look back and remember this as a standout book for me, I personally have read the author produce better work and for this reason I would explore other novels by her but next time I would probably approach Stillwater and it's subsequent books with less high expectations.

Michelle Davies is a new author for me and initially, it wasn't this book that caught my attention but her latest release Wrong Place. When I did some research though I found that it was part of a series that began with Gone Astray and follows the cases of Family Liaison Officer and detective Maggie Neville. I decided, therefore, to begin with this book first before reading the newer novel.

The story for this book is an engaging one from the outset, the Kinnock family have recently won 15 million pounds on the Euro Millions lottery and are living a life many can only dream of. When their daughter Rosie is kidnapped and they receive a not demanding money for her return. Immediately from the opening chapter of the book when Lesley Kinnock realises her daughter is missing it's a very fast-paced read. The chapters are short and snappy and therefore we are no sooner beginning the book than we are 5 chapters in and absolutely caught up in all the characters lives and have a host of suspects who could be involved in Rosie's disappearance.

Maggie Neville is an engaging heroine, she's instantly likeable and clearly a great people person, hence her role as Family Liaison Officer but she's also highly intelligent and people aware and this made her a great character to spend this book with and to see many things through her perspective. We learn as much about Maggie and her background and life as we do about the family she is supporting and I am sure these stories and secrets we learn will form storylines in books that will follow in the series.

The other characters in the case are also really great for the story to be built upon. We all dream of what we would do if we won lots of money on the lottery, like life changing amounts but this book allows us to glimpse behind the curtain at the reality. We have Mack Kinnock, Rosie's father, who has loved every moment. He's happily given up work and spent money on an ostentatious new home in a gated community with every luxury life can offer. He loves living the high life, buying art, cars, clothes and flying off on golfing holidays with his friends every few weeks. He is sending his daughter to a private school with posh new friends and is happy with the ability to show his friends that he can splash the cash. On the other side, we have his wife Lesley, she is struggling with their new found wealth and sees their new home as cold and soulless. She misses her old home and friends and the quiet life they once lived. She doesn't feel comfortable with the excessive spending and hates the letters they receive daily begging for money from strangers and the way the money has changed their relationship with family and friends.

This glimpse of life as a lottery winner is given an even more chilling turn when you realise it's the reason Rosie has been taken, that due to their winnings someone is willing to hurt your child and it is this premise that really grips you from the outset. You sympathise with Lesley and the fact that she admits that her attitude to the money and inability to enjoy it has driven a wedge between the family and she feels like the odd one out between her, Mack and Rosie who both seem to love their new life. We also find out that Mack has secrets he hasn't been open about and we wonder if this could be responsible for Rosie's disappearance.

There are so many themes explored in this book from the teen perspective also, bullying, online presence and sexual harassment online, the peer pressure to be sexually active and the resulting impact this has on young people today. We look at jealousy and people entitled beliefs that they cannot bear to see other people being happy whilst they are struggling and the way they think they can manipulate people for money.

I loved this book and would definitely read another by the author and would look forward to learning more about Maggie Neville and her own circumstances along the way. It read a little like a James Patterson Women's Murder Club novel and Maggie had similarities to Lindsay Boxer in the early novels in that series so if you enjoyed those then this may definitely be for you.

Lulu Taylor is an author who's books have been calling to me for a year or so, each one is presented with such beautiful artwork and wonderful mysterious titles that seem to fit just perfectly with the winter and festive seasons however it's taken me till now to delve into my first book by this author and I decided I'd begin with her earliest release The Winter Folly.

It is worth mentioning upfront that despite it's wintry title and cover this book actually is not one set in the festive season nor is is a book that should be regarded as exclusive only to this time of year, in fact it is one you can enjoy at any time of year. It's a story of two women living decades apart and their connection to the old house Fort Stirling and the men who have inherited that house and it's many secrets.

The first story in the book is that of Alexandra in the 1960's. A young girl at the outset of the book she is told by her father that she is to be married to the son of one of his friends. At only 17 Alexandra is young and inexperienced and with a fractious relationship with her father she agrees to the marriage as a way of mending their relationship. The marriage is not a happy one though and soon she learns that she has made a terrible mistake. She meets and falls in love with another man and the book follows the events that result from her affair and her life from that point through to the day she disappears mysteriously, suspected of committing suicide.

The second story is Delilah's story. Married to the heir to Fort Stirling and the title of Lord Stirling she has left her fashionable life in London behind and followed her husband to his ancestral home. Despite her grand plans for the house she finds herself swallowed up by it's dark and oppressive atmosphere and the secrets that no one seems to be prepared to talk about. Her husband has become withdrawn in his childhood home and is unhappy and their inability to conceive a child is adding strain to their life.

It's a wonderful story, blending together beautifully the tale of Alexandra and Delilah. Often in stories of this nature you find that one character in the split time period story is stronger than the other and so you long to always be in that moment with your ‘favourite' part of the story. In this book however I found I wanted to spend equal time with both of the characters and their tales. I also loved how this book really did keep it's secrets right through until the end of the novel. It was like a trail of breadcrumbs that you slowly followed through to it's conclusion and nothing gave anything away too early or made you feel like you'd ‘guessed' the ending.

I found this book was one that kept on calling me back to the story, it was very easy to pick it up and think “I'll only read a chapter” and then suddenly find yourself 5 chapters further on and entranced by the story. A true testament to it's author. Whilst it wasn't themed at all in winter as I had expected I didn't feel cheated by this and it didn't detract from the story at all. It reminded me very much of books by Kate Morton and Rachel Hore and if you like those authors then this book may very well be just what you are looking for.

I cannot wait to read my next book by Lulu Taylor and now knowing that they aren't isolated to the festive or winter season I am sure I won't be waiting till next Christmas to read the next one.

Lately there have been a handful of outstanding books but lots of just average stories with little to distinguish between them, it has fallen to one of my favourite and most highly regarded authors to blow everything else out of the water with a truly standout book for the summer of 2015.

Lisa Jewell's newest book “The Girls” sees he's return to what I feel she excels at which is writing about small communities and the relationships within relationships that go on behind closed doors. In her latest novel we follow young sisters Pip and Grace as they move into a new flat with their mother after losing their home and access to their father in difficult circumstances. The garden in their new home is communal and shared on all sides by the houses surrounding it and soon the girls are welcomed into the group of young people who frequent the playground and garden. At the outset of the book we are made aware one of the sisters has been found in the garden badly beaten and possibly sexually attacked and therefore for the rest of the book we are asking “who”?

The book explores the complex relationships between the teens and tweens and how the newcomers alter the dynamic of the group. There are lots of snippets of information given throughout about not just the children but their parents and other adults living on the gardens perimiter. Half of the book is dedicated to events leading up to the attack on Grace and we are offered many potential suspicious events to make us question just about everyone.

Lisa Jewell is a master at writing this type of book, her characters are engaging and not stereotypical, there is no obvious answer to the puzzle you are reading and subsequently you just cannot put it down. I'm currently only just beginning the tv show Game of Thrones and have been addicted over the past month but this book has pulled me away and it took only a day to devour it cover to cover.

There are some truly terrifying truths in this book about raising children and who we trust and let into their lives and how much freedom we allow them and how in groups a mentality of sticking together can lead to devastating results. It's an amazing read and one Jewell should be very proud of. The character of Pip was especially well written from the perspective of a 12 year old child and it made the book a joy to read.

Alongside The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes by Anna McPartlin this is possibly one of my favourite reads this year.

Kimberley Freeman is an author I discovered a year or so ago after reading her novel Wildflower Hill and I immediately fell in love with her mix of contemporary and historical fiction stories, often set in remote and picturesque Australian settings. Finding any new novel by this author is exciting and I have been looking forward to delving into Ember Island for some time now.

This book begins at the wedding of Tilly in 1890 where we find the bride very much in love with her husband and looking forward to her future with husband Jasper, but things take an alternative turn when Tilly's beloved grandfather collapses at the wedding and she finds herself remaining behind to care for him rather than joining her new husband at their home on Guernsey.

The story of Tilly is mixed with that of author Nina, who struggling to finish her latest novel seeks solace on Ember Island in the old family house that she purchased. There she finds letters and diaries of her great-great grandmother who has hidden the pages in the walls of the home Nina is now seeking to renovate, piece by piece she begins to pull together an understanding of life on Ember Island at the turn of the century.

What I loved about this book is that unlike similar historical/contemporary novels, who follow a dual storyline format, we don't find ourselves jumping endlessly backward and forward in time. Instead, much of the book is told from the perspective of Tilly. We follow her journey as a newlywed to join her husband Jasper and begin their new life on Guernsey, we share her despair as she realises she's been tied into a loveless marriage with a man who is in love with another and follow her as she escapes Guernsey after a terrible tragedy occurs for which she blames herself.

Tilly is a wonderful main character and Freeman writes her story beautifully, we long for Tilly to find happiness and share with her the guilt she carries with her for the events she is fleeing from. Ember Island proves a wonderful setting for the novel, an island with a prison on it where she finds herself fulfilling the role of governess to Nell, the only daughter of the widowed prison governor Sterling. She finds herself glimpsing happiness on the island but struggles when she forms a friendship with a prisoner on the island, Hettie, and draws comparisons between her own circumstances and those of the inmate.

Although it is a good blend in this book of the modern and the historic, almost the book could have stood alone as a purely historical novel. Whilst Nina's story is interesting and gives us a chance to refocus during the novel by stepping back from Tilly's world, I question whether in fact it added anything to the narrative or if like me readers have found themselves just skimming them so they could return to the heart of the action. I wanted this book to be a 5-star review, and at points I thought it had that potential but I also felt that the ending in some ways was not as satisfying as the beginning of the book. I wanted a more rounded conclusion. Instead, it seemed to be a little pulled together in a very small epilogue that left me wanting more for Tilly.

I would say that this book is my second favourite novel by this author after Wildflower Hill and if you are a lover of authors like Kate Morton and Rachel Hore then this is an author I am absolutely sure you will enjoy reading.

Rachel Hore has always been an author whose books I return to occassionally but enjoy immensely when I do and although I'd had her ‘A Week In Paris' on my kindle for a while I was looking forward to delving in.

There are many books now which follow Hore's preferred format, the split time period story whereby a present day mystery is linked to events of the past and the story spins between the two time periods unravelling the links and sharing it's secrets. A Week In Paris is again set within this storyline and follows Fay Knox, an accomplished violinist who has since a school trip to Paris had the sense that she remembers time spent in the city during his early childhood during the second world war. After her mother tries to take her life and learning of a week long trip to Paris with the orchestra she plays with she is directed to a convent in the city by her mother and told that they will be able to tell her about the secrets her mother never could.

Arriving in Paris Fay meets the mysterious Mme. Raymond who begins to tell her all about how her mother and father, Kitty and Eugine, met before the war and how her father's role as a doctor found them remaining in Paris during it's occupation by the Nazi troops. Fay is under the impression she had never been in Paris and believes her father died in a bombing raid in London during the war so she is intrigued and confused to learn about the risk they were at and the truth about the death of her father.

This is a wonderful story, the chapters during the occupation of Paris are incredibly moving, the way Hore tells Kitty's story and the creeping onset of danger to their lives was brilliant to read. The mystery of the story lies in not only what happened to Eugine but also in whether the storyteller Mme. Raymond can be trusted in the tale she tells and in how she came to know Kitty at all. In honesty the chapters regarding Fay's time in present day Paris were really just filler chapters to the main event for me, I read them because they held some interesting information but I kept willing the writer to get back to the war years with Kitty and for the story to continue to unfold.

As I said there are many writers now following this writing format of a split story of modern day and historic writing and whilst I truly do enjoy the books it's rare that I find myself as hooked by the present day chapters as I do by the mysteries of the past and this remained the case with A Week In Paris.

An excellent book, well written with lots of emotion and drama to keep you turning those pages.

The television series Cold Feet has been a part of my life for around 20 years now, when it ended back in 2003 it seemed that the chance to follow the lives of the gang of six close friends Adam, Rachel, Pete, Jenny, David and Karen had reached it end. We had suffered the death of one of the main characters and left the gang reeling from her loss. It was a great surprise therefore, but a joyous one when ITV in the UK announced that they would be reviving the show in 2016.

Since it's return I've watched the show with a sense of having reunited with lost friends. We are catching up on their lives now, how their children have grown and in the directions their lives have taken them and the show has been massively successful in reuniting the original cast, minus Helen Baxendale. It's just such a moving and funny and emotional show to watch and it was with a huge whoop of joy therefore that I spotted this book in my local book shop a few months ago.

The television show did return with a gap of 13 years in the lives of the characters and whilst the show has tried to fill some of the gaps of the time in-between it hasn't dwelt on it and instead has moved the characters forwards into new adventures and chapters in their lives. Therefore as a viewer we feel we missed all the in's and out's of the direction the gang's lives took in the intervening years. This book by Carmel Harrington seeks to address that gap by filling in some of the time we missed - hence it's title, The Lost Years.

Now, trying to find the voice of these well loved television characters was going to be no easy feat, I was worried I'd find the book lacking because it might not manage to portray all 5 of the gang in a way that would translate to the written word. Indeed, during the initial chapters I worried that this was going to be a problem that might not be overcome but then suddenly Carmel Harrington hits her stride and the voices coming off the page begin to convey exactly the personalities, speech patterns and friendships we've come to love.

It's a difficult book because it picks up immediately after the end of the 2003 series with Adam having gone back to Northern Ireland to live with his father only a few months after the death of his wife Rachel and with his young baby son Matthew in tow. He's broken, grief stricken and struggling to find his way in the world. This means that we are taken back to the time when we all cried with him, and let's be honest anyone who watched the show cried buckets.

Pete and Jenny are struggling to cope with getting back together, especially now that Jenny is pregnant with another man's child and Pete is trying to move on from his marriage to Australian Jo. We know from the new series that they remain together but it's great to follow their journey as they get there.

Then there's Karen and David who are trying to adjust to life after their divorce, with Karen battling every day to stay on the road to sobriety and David dating their divorce lawyer it's a difficult time for them all. In fact, in the book this relationship was the one that was at times most of a joy to read as Harrington has a wonderful way of writing David's character that means we warm to him, sometimes more than in the show, and really root for him.

There are some truly marvelous moments in this book which you can see so clearly in your minds eye appearing on the screen in the television show, the one where the boys end up in a line dancing class is classic Cold Feet and really made me feel Harrington had her writing spot on for this book. Also, those one on one moments where characters really sit down for the heart to heart moments were so wonderfully typical of the show and it's dynamic of everyone being there for each other it's impossible not to have fallen in love with this book.

I want more, is that selfish? This book takes us to just after Matthew's first birthday, so less than one year after Rachel's death. This leaves us some unexplored years left to go between this and the start of Season 6 of the television show. Please Carmel Harrington could we have some more Lost Years? I'd like to see Adam in his new journey's with Matthew, I want to know how Pete found himself as a taxi driver and I want to see David marrying Robyn and find out where it all went wrong. I just wanted to spend some more time with the gang, it felt like opening up a photograph album with friends you've not seen for years so you could see what you'd missed and I feel there are other albums on the shelf yet unopened.

If you are a fan of the television show this is a must for you, if you haven't seen the show then I would advise watching the first 5 Seasons as this book really bases itself on the presumption you will have seen it and then delve in before you start Season 6 and besides what are you waiting for? Cold Feet was and now remains one of the flagship shows of British television and for very good reason, this book is an amazing addition to the world of the show.