Review: Personal by Lee Child

***** 5 Stars

First of all I just have to comment on that cover. Jack's in London and what a ride he has and not just on the underground. Yes Reacher takes the tube.

I was incredibly excited to receive an ARC of this book back in June as Lee Child is one of my favourite authors and Jack Reacher one of my favourite characters. I've been on a long journey with Reacher since the first book 'The Killing Floor' was published in the UK back in 1998 and here we are 16 years later on book number 19 and what a book it is.

The book starts with Reacher picking up a copy of the Army Times and seeing ad in the personal's section addressed to him.'Jack Reacher call Rick Shoemaker.'  He could just ignore the ad but he doesn't and what happens next takes him on a hunt for a potential assassin visiting both Paris and London in a race against time. His job to track down an old enemy that he put inside sixteen years ago and prevent him from being anyway near the fast approaching G8 summit being held in London.

A Reacher book wouldn't be a Reacher book without Jack having a beautiful female sidekick and in Personal it comes in the form of Casey Nice, a rookie analyst for the CIA recruited straight out of Yale. Nice accompanies Reacher to London where they walk into a turf war between Serbian thugs and an old fashioned East End gang called the Romford Boys and one of them is hiding John Kott the ex army sniper that Reacher is hunting for.

This book is a is a real page turner that moves along at a break neck speed and I just couldn't put it down until I'd finished. It was great seeing Jack walk the streets of London and reading about familiar places although I did think of the tv show 'Birds Of A Feather' when Chingford is mentioned. For me Personal is Reacher at his coolest, facing danger head on because this time it is personal and Kott has him in his sights.
I also liked hearing a little more about Reacher's mother who died and is buried in Paris. It was very touching to see him visit her grave and to hear about what she did during World War 2. The only downside to this book is now that I have finished it I am going to have to wait a year until the next one. Unless Lee Child can be persuaded to write book 20 a little quicker. Pretty please!

Thanks to NetGalley & Random House/Bantam Dell for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

Review: NYPD Red 2 by James Patterson and Marshall Karp

**** 4 Stars

I was very excited when I saw that James Patterson was a releasing a 2nd book in the NYPD Red series. I really enjoyed the first book when it came out a couple of years ago and remember at the time hoping Patterson would turn it into a series.

NYPD Red is a special task force within the New York police department whose job it is to look after the high profile cases involving the rich and famous. In the first book we met Detective Zach Jordan and his beautiful new partner who is also his ex Detective Kylie MacDonald. Together they solve the case of The Chameleon a psychopath who is tormenting people connected to the film industry. Zach still has feelings for Kylie who is now married and her husband Spencer almost becomes one of the Chameleon's victims but Zach saves his life.

This book joins the detectives 3 months on when they are pulled onto the Hazmat Killer case by the Mayor who is just days away from an election and who is desperate when the latest victim is revealed as his opposition's campaign manager. So we enter the murky world of politics and cover ups with Jordan and MacDonald on the hunt for a vigilante serial killer who is targeting those he believed have not been punished for their crimes. He leaves each victim in a white hazmat suit somewhere really public. Throw in the mafia and the police are really up against it.

At the beginning of the story we are introduced to two teenage boys Dave and Gideon who are hell bent on getting revenge on a class mate responsible for the rape of Dave's sister, Meredith. Fast forward 12 years and that revenge is still strong with one or both of them possibly being the Hazmat Killer.

As with all of Patterson's books this one was a real page turner, I loved the chemistry between Zach and Kylie especially knowing that Zach still has feelings for Kylie and even though he is with Cheryl I am wondering where this partnership might lead to in the future. Yes this book isn't a work of literary fiction but I do love my James Patterson fix - the books allow me to completely switch off from the world and lose myself in the pages and this one was no exception. And OMG the twist- I just never saw that coming, I really did think that I had it all worked out. Fingers crossed there will be a book 3

Review: The Long Fall by Julia Crouch

**** 4 Stars

I was sold on this book as soon as I saw the cover and the blurb, set between 1980s Greece and present day London to me this sounded like the perfect summer thriller. 

The cover has a dark & brooding feel to it, add to that the tag lines 'Where do you hide when there's nowhere left to run?' and 'How far would you go to protect your secrets?' and you have a book that promises to suck you straight in and that it does.

The book opens with a Greek fisherman seeing a body fall from a cliff and two figures fleeing the scene. We then jump back in time a few weeks and meet Emma James, a student setting off alone on an adventure before heading to university. She has plans for her future and plans for what she wants to do on her InterRailing trip round Europe. We then jump forward to London in 2013 where we meet Kate Barratt, wife of Mark a hedge fund manager and mother to Tilly and Martha except Martha died a few years ago as a child of a brain tumour. Kate has thrown herself into setting up a charity 'Martha's Wish' in memory of her daughter that helps build schools in Africa.

The first part of the book jumps between Emma & her travels in 1980 and Kate in 2013. We see Emma struggling to cope on her own in a foreign country which isn't helped by the unthinkable that happens. She travels from France, to Italy and then on to Greece where she meets up with Beattie and Jake, two American's who are both travelling on their own and we see how their few weeks together end in tragedy. Then in 2013 we see Kate, struggling to come to terms with what happened to her 33 years ago when she thinks she killed someone and has been living with that thought ever since leading her to drink far more than she should and eat even less. A photo on a tv appearance brings Claire back into Kate's life and immediately things start to unravel for her even more as she has to come face to face with her past. It soon becomes very clear that not everything is as it seems.

This book had me totally absorbed from the opening few pages where we witness the body falling from the cliff through the fisherman's eyes. You wonder how the stories of Kate and Emma link together and what path Julia Crouch is taking us on. The book twists and turns in so many directions ans just when you think you know where the story is going then BAM, Crouch hits you with a curve ball and you know nothing at all.

I could relate a little to Emma and my 18 year old self struggling to find my identity but she goes through so much that it is not surprising that she turns to drink and drugs just to get through the day whilst she is in Greece. Crouch does a great job of showing what it would have been like for a young girl travelling alone back in 1980 and how lone women travellers would have been treated. I am sure that in some countries they are still treated in the same way today.

Kate is a woman struggling to hold both herself and her family together. She is worried about her 19 year old daughter heading off to Greece on her own on a holiday not unlike Emma's. I have a 19 year old daughter and having read this book there is absolutely no way I would be happy with her going backpacking on her own.

This book is a story of revenge, a story of secrets with lots of chilling twists to keep you reading on. This is the first book I have read by Julia Crouch and I will now be adding her other books to my to be read list. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a gripping and psychological thriller.

Thanks to Headline and Bookbridgr for my copy of this book.

Review: The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood

****  4 Stars

I was lucky enough to meet Alex Marwood at an event I organised for Hillingdon Library Service at the Compass Theatre back at the beginning of June. She took part in our Girls' Night Out event as part of Ickenham Festival Week along with Rowan Coleman, Jenny Colgan & Lisa Jewell. Alex gave a wonderfully gripping reading from her new book 'The Killer Next Door' that left the audience on a real cliffhanger and I know that many rushed out to buy the book from the bookseller including my 18 year old daughter. Alex was fantastic to meet in real life and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next. Here is my review of her first book 'The Wicked Girls' which one an Edgar award.

I've had this book in my Kindle forever but have just never gotten around to reading it. I was lucky to get a copy of Alex Marwood's second book 'The Killer Next Door' as an ARC & finished that a few weeks ago. I loved that book so much & it is probably one of the most gruesome books I have ever read so having finished it & knowing I'm meeting the author next week I dove straight into The Wicked Girls. 

I really wish I hadn't put off reading it for so long as it us a wonderful book, a well written look at how two 11 year old girls lives are changed when they are accused of the murder of a 4 year old girl & how they both end up following different paths because of it.

 The book started off slow with the present day scene being set & the characters being introduced. We learn very early on that Amber & Kirsty are the wicked girls from 25 years ago but both of them are trying to move on with their lives. They are then thrown back together under extraordinary circumstances when a serial killer is on the prowl in Amber's home town & Kirsty now a journalist goes along to investigate. The book is full of suspense & builds to a gripping finish. A real page turner & Marwood is now firmly on my must read author list

Review: The Teashop On The Corner by Milly Johnson

I love love loved this book & it has entered my list of favourites ever. I loved the plots, the characters & the entire sentiment of the book. I so want my own little Teashop On the Corner where I can meet like minded people & debate books. Milly Johnson has left me wanting to reread some Classics & try some I've never read before The book was filled with humour and had me laughing out loud right from the very first chapter. It also explored so many different emotional topics from...more ***** 5 Stars I read this book at the end of May before I had set up my blog and the book has stayed with me as one of the best books I've ever read. The book was published on the 19th June so I thought I would share my love for this book with my very short review of the book. Thanks to NetGalley & Simon & Schuster for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I love love loved this book & it has entered my list of favourites ever. I loved the plots, the characters & the entire sentiment of the book. I so want my own little Teashop On the Corner where I can meet like minded people & debate books. Milly Johnson has left me wanting to reread some Classics & try some I've never read before The book was filled with humour and had me laughing out loud right from the very first chapter. It also explored so many different emotional topics from domestic violence to death. I felt both sad & happy when I turned the final page. It felt like I was losing some of my very best friends

Review: Cruel Summer by James Dawson

**** 4 stars

Another reviewer summed this book up by saying it was like the films 'I Know What You Did Last Summer meets Scream' and I think if you throw Hollyoaks & Pretty Little Liars into the mix then you are totally there.

Before requesting a copy of this book from NetGalley I had not even heard of the author, James Dawson but the blurb on NetGalley totally sold it to me:

A group of friends are enjoying a long, hot summer in a Mediterranean villa - until someone starts killing them off, one by one...
One year after the suicide of their friend Janey, the rest of the group decide to spend the summer together in a holiday villa in the Mediterranean. They're hoping to get over the terrible events of the previous year, but then a new guest arrives, claiming to have evidence that Janey's suicide was actually murder. When the guest is found dead, it becomes clear that the killer must be one of the group - but who is it? And will they strike again?

A compelling psychological thriller - with a dash of romance.

So the books start off on the white cliffs of the town Telscombe Cliffs with a young girl standing alone considering what to do after the ultimate humiliation. She is crying and trying to decide whether to end it all and throw herself into the sea below. Fast forward a year and the friends that she left behind on that fateful night decide to holiday together in Spain at the family villa of one of the girls in the group, Katie. They have all spent the last year trying to move on from the night of their leavers' ball that changed their lives exactly a year before.

So the cast are Ryan, the cool gay guy who lives life as if it is a tv show with everyone having their role to play, he sees Janie's suicide as last years season finale cliffhanger and doesn't believe that Janie actually killed herself. Then we have Katie, the good girl and one of Janey's best friends - she is strait laced one and trying to move on from her ex Ben. Then there is Ben - ex of Katie and Janey's boyfriend at the time she commits suicide. And finally we have twins Alisha and Greg- Alisha is the self confessed bad girl who has been trying to straighten herself out after going off the rails and Greg is football superstar who has gone professional. Joining the friends is Greg's girlfriend, Erin a medical student.

The friends are enjoying catching up and spending time in the sun when Roxanne, the bitch from school turns up and reveals she knows exactly what happened to Janey Bradshaw on the cliff that night a year ago. The next thing we know Roxanne is found floating in the pool and someone hell bent on revenge is starting to pick the group off one by one.

'With all the skeletons in the closet, I'm surprised any of you bitches has room for clothes'

This book hooked me from the opening scene and I loved the characters event the hateful ones, they all brought something to the table and kept me wanting to find out what happened next. I love how James Dawson made the book read like a teen tv drama and I could so easily see this as a tv show. Dawson held back enough of the plot back, feeding us little bits of info for the major twist at the end of the book to be a total shock. I also loved the other significant twist in the book as I totally didn't see that coming.

I would totally recommend this book to anyone who loves a bit of teen drama- I am fast approaching 40 and can't get enough of shows like The Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars and Revenge so you don't have to be a teen to enjoy this suspenseful, twisted and at times humorous novel. So glad to have read this book and found such a fantastic new young adult author in James Dawson

Thanks to NetGalley & Orion Publishing for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

Review: Season Of Fear by Brian Freeman

****1/2 - 4.5 Stars

This book had me hooked from the first few pages. We are thrown back 10 years to the bloody assassination of a high profile politician on a humid Florida evening and then as the book brings us back to the present time all of the dark secrets from that night 10 years ago begin to unfold, It becomes a real race for time as Tropical storm Chayla bears down on the Tampa Bay area with Cab desperate to save lives by finding out who was responsible for the assassinations 10 years before
It was wonderful to see Cab Bolton back after his debut in The Bone House, there is something quite irresistible about his character and the way in which Freeman writes him. I loved the exchanges between both him and his mother and him and his girlfriend Lala. I also loved the massive twist on the very last page, don't take a sneak peak though as it would ruin the whole book. Freeman has set the ending up perfectly for Cab Bolton book number 3 or at least I certainly hope that it is his intention to write book three.

To sum up the book was gripping and the politics as murky as the swamps that we visit in the novel. A real page turner & the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was because I had worked out one of the major plot lines fairly early on & that meant when the reveal came it didn't have quite the impact.

Thanks to NetGalley & Quercus for the ARC of this book.

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Reading Group Review

I run one of the reading groups at the library I manage and every month we read a new book and meet for an hour to discuss our thoughts about that months book. Our July book was chosen as it was a Bailey's Women's Prize For Fiction shortlisted book and also the group like exploring books that have a little bit of history and where they are exposed to a different country and culture.

My Thoughts

It seemed to take me forever to get through this book, I am normally a quick reader but with a long week at work and watching World Cup matches I really struggled with reading time whilst reading Americanah & I think that maybe that impacted on my thoughts on the book. I was reading a few pages here and there and that really broke up my enjoyment of the book.

 The book is described on GoodReads as a 'powerful story of love, race and identity' and yes it was. The book starts in Lagos where we meet Ifemlu and Obinze, two teenagers who fall in love whilst in high school, we see them go to university together and then fed up with the lecturers striking Ifemlu sets off to America to study. The plan is for Obinze to follow but the plans goes awry and after 9/11 Obinze is not able to obtain a visa. The rest of the book explores what life is like for Ifemlu in America and how she struggles to make a life for herself. The book looks at race and interracial relationships, immigration and emigration and also looks at afro hair v straightened hair. Ifemlu sinks into a deep depression whilst in the US and cuts all contact with Obinze, the main focus of the book is on Ifemlu and how she settles into her life in America but do see Obinze and how is life goes on without Ifemlu in it.

The book is a love story, a book about lost love and what happens when Ifemlu & Obinze find each other again when Ifemlu after years in America moves back to Nigeria. I admired Ifemlu's strength, the way she would say whatever was on her mind even if maybe it wasn't appropriate to do so. I am not so sure if I actually liked her though, there is something about her that I can't quite put my finger on that didn't sit quite right with me. The book covered so many themes & I was really keen to see what the thoughts of the rest of the group were.

The Group's Thoughts

On the whole everyone loved the book. Even the one member that normally hasn't enjoyed the book and is difficult book found this one interesting and loved how it was written.

Some of the group like me had found it hard book to get through as there was just so much going on and also the font was incredibly small which didn't make for easy reading.

The group enjoyed seeing how Ifemlu transitioned into life in the USA and found the Adichie's look at race and immigration interesting.

As always when we discuss a book we ended up going off at a tangent. This book led us to a discussion around festival toilets after talking about the toilets in the university in Lagos & the mention of maggots. We also talked about hair salons and hairdressing which led to a discussion around hair extensions and then a discussion around how young girls are encouraged to dress far older than their years due to magazines and the fashions available in kids clothing stores today.

Overall a perfect choice for a reading group with so many themes to discuss and characters to love & hate

Little Mercies by Heather Gudenkauf - Review

                                                 5 Stars *****

Thanks to Netgalley & Harlequin I've just been able to read a book by one of my favourite authors, Heather Gudenkauf. The first book I read by Gudenkauf was 'One Breath Away' and I immediately fell in love with her writing style and her ability to tackle difficult topics head on so I was very excited to receive an ARC of her latest book 'Little Mercies'

As with everything the author has written I had high hopes for this book & I wasn't disappointed. At the start of the book we are introduced to Ellen Moore, a social worker and mother of three, wife to Adam who is juggling her busy work schedule with being a mother. She is committed to both her own family and to the children she is sworn to protect in her job. She has seen the worse things imaginable and cares deeply for the families she works with. One hectic morning a moments distraction causes Ellen's world to come tumbling down and she becomes the very person she has made it her job to protect children from.

We are also introduced early on to 10 year old, Jenny Briard who lives with her single father, an alcoholic and the pair move from place to place as her father moves from job to job and various friend-girls as Jenny refers to them. Jenny has not seen her mother in a number of years after her father won sole custody of her and the unthinkable happens one day when Jenny is separated from her father and ends up all alone. At a Happy Pancake restaurant she is befriended by Maudene the waitress and this leads to Ellen & Jenny's worlds colliding with tragic consequences. Jenny's story provides a wonderful contrast to that of Ellen's and made the book even more readable.

This book was very powerful in it's writing and the way that it explores the relationships between mother and child. As a mother of 3 myself I can totally relate to those moments of distraction where the unthinkable could happen. I remember one time being on a family outing to the beach with various aunts and grandparents present and everyone thought that someone else was pushing my 4 year old in her buggy. Thankfully very quickly we realised that no one had her & she was still sleeping peacefully, unaware on the promenade whilst the adults breathed huge sighs of relief. It doesn't matter how good a parent you are mistakes do happen and sometimes the consequences are tragic.

The characters were complex and I couldn't help but feel for Ellen as the story unfolds and what she is subjected to.  I loved the strength of Jenny who had already been through so much in her short life and was left at the end really hoping that life takes a much better turn for her. 

From the moment I opened the book and read the opening scene I just couldn't put it down. I needed to know what happened to all of the characters, needed to see good win over evil everything just swept me along until suddenly I was at the last page. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well written story and also fans of Diane Chamberlain and Jodi Picoult.

Fiction Uncovered - Mrs Hemingway by Naomi Wood

I was very lucky along with the reading group I run to be involved in the the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize 2014 . As a group we were invited to read and review one of the 8 prize winners before they were announced and I am so glad that I was given the opportunity to read Mrs Hemingway by Naomi Wood. If it hadn't been for the fact that we were sent free copies I am not sure it is a book I would have picked up. However it ended up being a book that I couldn't put down as I eagerly turned the pages to find our more about the life and wives of Ernest Hemingway.
I rated the book 5 stars & would thoroughly recommend it to everyone. Here is my review:

I've heard of Ernest Hemingway who hasn't, he is one of the greatest writers of our time however I will rather shamefully admit that I have never read a single one of his novels or short stories.  I also didn't know very much about him as a man, all that changed the moment I opened Naomi Wood's book 'Mrs Hemingway'.

You are immediately thrown into the dying days of Hemingway's first marriage set against the backdrop of 1920s France. I fell in love with Wood's writing style from the first few pages as we begin to explore what is happening between the threesome of Hemingway and his wife Hadley and her close friend Fife.

'Lying next to him she wonders how it is she has lost him, although perhaps that is not quite the right phrase, since she has not lost him, not yet. Rather Fife and Hadley wait and watch as if they are lining up for the last seat on a bus'

Wood's gives us a look at each of Hemingway's wives in turn showing us how Hemingway could never be alone, capturing a rather childlike quality about Ernest and in turn we are given a small glimpse at the pain and destruction loving him caused. After reading his first wife Hadley's section in the book I found my heart breaking just a little bit for this woman who loves her husband so much she lets him go and imagine the pain of everyone knowing what has been going on behind her back. I also found myself simply hating Fife and the heartache she caused. However as the story moves forward and we meet Martha and Mary, as well as learning more about Fife I realise that my heart breaks a little for all of them. These were real women whose only mistake seemed to be loving Ernest Hemingway a little too much.

'At least in Antibes, there were three of them, Hadley had her, Fife has noone'

The book takes us from France to Key West in the 1930s, back to France during the Second World War & then finishes in Idaho in the 1960s. I found myself swept along with each wife's story and fascinated by the draw that Hemingway had on these women & females in general. I love how the Wood explores the friendships that Hemingway's wives had right up to and beyond his death.

'Apparently Hadley and Fife are even pals still:by Ernest's accounts his two ex-wives chat regularly on the telephone, talking of children and the proper care of Ernest. Martha & Fife have never spoken since that vacation in Key West. Why would they? She has proper respect for the rules of this game.'

As the book progresses we move from the glitz and glamour of Antibes and Wood's explores the darker side of Hemingway, dropping little pieces of information into the story around his father, his drinking and other things that led to Hemingway ending his own life.

I have really found it hard to put into words how much I love this book. I found it beautifully written and the author set a perfect pace that made me want to carry on reading as Hemingway's marriage to each wife unravelled. I loved how Wood was able to show us a great depth to her characters and how each wife's section was written in a way that helped that wife's personality shine through. The book was evocative of the times in which it was set and through the beautiful descriptions I immediately felt transported. I finished the book wanting more and will now be devouring the author's suggested reading list to learn more about Hemingway and his wives. At the end of the book I was left wondering which wife I would have most liked to of been, Hadley who seemed to remain Ernest's one true love, Fife who loved the man enough to let him go & never seemed to really get over him, Martha, the ballsy female war reporter or Mary who remained his wife until the very end. They were all such wonderful women brought to life through Wood's wonderful & captivating writing but I can honestly say that being a Mrs Hemingway wouldn't have been for me.