Month: March 2020

Book Review: Just My Luck by Adele Parks

Posted on by Libby Price

Just My Luck

 

“It’s the stuff dreams are made of – a lottery win so big, it changes everything.
For fifteen years, Lexi and Jake have played the same six numbers with their friends, the Pearsons and the Heathcotes. Over dinner parties, fish & chip suppers and summer barbecues, they’ve discussed the important stuff – the kids, marriages, jobs and houses – and they’ve laughed off their disappointment when they failed to win anything more than a tenner.  
But then, one Saturday night, the unthinkable happens. There’s a rift in the group. Someone doesn’t tell the truth. And soon after, six numbers come up which change everything forever.
Lexi and Jake have a ticket worth £18 million. And their friends are determined to claim a share of it.
Number One Sunday Times bestseller Adele Parks returns with a riveting look at the dark side of wealth in this gripping take on friendship, money and betrayal, and good luck gone bad…”

I REALLY enjoyed this book!  The premise is great – and it plays out really well.  It twists and turns dramatically – and at different points you’re not quite sure who is telling the truth and who you should be rooting for – definitely the sign of a good book!

I liked Lexi – and at times wanted her to stand up for herself – but equally recognise it was a difficult and complicated situation.

The plots twists so much I don’t want to put any spoilers in this review – you need to read it yourself and have the same ‘OMG’ moments and sharp intakes of breath that I had!

There are a couple of niggles though – which I know is me being a pedant – but……

  1. The whole premise is that they’ve played the same numbers as a syndicate for the last 15 years – and that each number was chosen by a different person to represent something.  Well – one of the numbers is 58 – and the National Lottery only increased to numbers higher than 49 in 2015 – so they couldn’t have had the same numbers for 15 years.  (Yes, I know it’s only a work of fiction.)
  2. The game loved by kids / teenagers is Fortnite not Fortnight.  It is spelt differently at different times during the book. It might only be an autocorrect issue (and my autocorrect should know I never ever mean ‘duck’) but it’s just a bit sloppy.
  3. At one point it is mentioned that Lexi and Jake live in one village – and the other 2 couples live in the posher village a few miles away.  Then at another point in the book the couples walk home as they are only a few streets away.  Another minor inconsistency – but I am a knob.

Overall the niggles didn’t take away from the fact that this is a very good book – but I think Ms Parks needs a slightly more anal editor!!

But I would thoroughly recommend you read this when it comes out in May 2020.

 

 

Book Review: Remain Silent by Susie Steiner

Posted on by Libby Price

Remain Silent

I’d read and enjoyed the first 2 books in the Manon Bradshaw series and really enjoyed them – so when I saw Marian Keyes mentioned on Twitter that a third was coming out in May, I immediately saw if it was available for request on NetGalley – and it was!

Here is the blurb.

“The body of a young migrant is found hanging from a tree.
No signs of struggle. No indication that it is anything other than a tragic suicide.
Except for a note, pinned to his trousers, that reads ‘The dead cannot speak’.
A murder investigation begins with DI Manon Bradshaw at the helm. But with the other migrants unwilling to speak, and protests on the streets, hatred is starting to drown out the facts.
 Can Manon uncover the truth before it happens again?”

I think this might just be my favourite of all of the Manon Bradshaw books – it is great!

As usual it twists and turns with a police investigation – along with the private lives of the police too.  Manon’s homelife is also undergoing turmoil as her partner has a cancer diagnosis and she has a teenager and toddler to cope with too.  I loved this side of it – and my favourite quote has to be ‘I’d rather boil my head in oil than home school’ – a statement with which I completely concur and is particularly relevant in the current climate!  (It also reminds me of when I was taking our son to hospital in an ambulance when he was about 3 and had a nasty head injury, and the paramedic asked if I worked or was a stay at home Mum – and I replied ‘I couldn’t be a stay at home Mum, I’d kill one of them’.  Whoops.)

Anyway – back to the book.

Essentially it’s an investigation of a death which looks like a suicide – except for a note on the body which makes it look more like murder.

However, it’s not just a murder investigation – it looks at the treatment of Eastern European migrants in Wisbech and their interaction with the ‘locals’ and how they are treated by their gangmasters.  It feels worryingly relevant and there are definite similarities between some of the people in the book and famous people in the media (mentioning no names!) .

It is clever, and twists and turns – and I think is my favourite of the Manon books. I would thoroughly recommend it when it comes out in May.

I don’t always read the acknowledgements at the end of the book – but I am so glad I did in this instance.  Just after submitting the original manuscript for this book, Susie Steiner was diagnosed with a grade 4 glioblastoma brain tumour.  Sadly I know more than I would like to about GBMs – as our friends’ son died from one when he was just 11 years old – 17 months after diagnosis.  The acknowledgements are really moving – and whilst it is clear Susie has a fabulous support network – her fear of the b*stard brain tumour is also evident.  When she said that she didn’t know if she’d still be here for the publication of the book it was just so very very sad.  I was pleased that a quick Twitter search shows Susie is still here and normal life (ranting at TfL, toilet paper purchasing) is still ongoing.  And the fight goes on to find a cure for this horrific disease that kills more children and adults under 40 than any other cancer – and yet has historically only received 1% of the national spend on cancer research.