Month: July 2020

Book Review: Dear NHS: 100 Stories To Say Thank You

Posted on by Libby Price

Dear NHS

It’s not often I pay actual money for a book – I’m super lucky that I get lots of advance review copies for free – but when I saw this was coming out, I was clearly more than happy to part with some cash when all of the profits are going to support NHS Charities Together and The Lullaby Trust.

Here’s the blurb:

“Curated and edited by Adam Kay (author of multi-million bestseller This is Going to Hurt), Dear NHS features 100 household names telling their personal stories of the health service. Contributors include: Paul McCartney, Emilia Clarke, Peter Kay, Stephen Fry, Dawn French, Sir Trevor McDonald, Graham Norton, Sir Michael Palin, Naomie Harris, Ricky Gervais, Sir David Jason, Dame Emma Thompson, Joanna Lumley, Miranda Hart, Dermot O’Leary, Jamie Oliver, Ed Sheeran, David Tennant, Dame Julie Walters, Emma Watson, Malala Yousafzai and many, many more.

All profits from this book will go to NHS Charities Together to fund vital research and projects, and The Lullaby Trust which supports parents bereaved of babies and young children.

Other writers include Chris O’Dowd, Johnny Vegas, Jack Whitehall, Chris Evans, Lorraine Kelly, Lee Mack, Jonathan Ross, Konnie Huq, Greg James, Frank Skinner, Louis Theroux, KT Tunstall, Sandi Toksvig and Kevin Bridges.

The NHS is our single greatest achievement as a country. No matter who you are, no matter what your health needs are, and no matter how much money you have, the NHS is there for you. In Dear NHS, 100 inspirational people come together to share their stories of how the national health service has been there for them, and changed their lives in the process. By turns deeply moving, hilarious, hopeful and impassioned, these stories together become a love letter to the NHS and the 1.4 million people who go above and beyond the call of duty every single day – selflessly, generously, putting others before themselves, never more so than now.

They are all heroes, and this book is our way of saying thank you.

Contributors include: Dolly Alderton, Monica Ali, Kate Atkinson, Pam Ayres, David Baddiel, Johanna Basford, Mary Beard, William Boyd, Frankie Boyle, Jo Brand, Kevin Bridges, Alex Brooker, Charlie Brooker, Rob Brydon, Bill Bryson, Kathy Burke, Peter Capaldi, Jimmy Carr, Candice Carty-Williams, Lauren Child, Lee Child, Bridget Christie, Emilia Clarke, Rev Richard Coles, Daisy May Cooper, Jilly Cooper, Fearne Cotton, Juno Dawson, Kit de Waal, Victoria Derbyshire, Reni Eddo-Lodge, Chris Evans, Anne Fine, Martin Freeman, Dawn French, Stephen Fry, Mark Gatiss, Ricky Gervais, Professor Green, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Mark Haddon, Matt Haig, The Hairy Bikers, Naomie Harris, Miranda Hart, Victoria Hislop, Nick Hornby, Sali Hughes, Konnie Huq, Marina Hyde, E L James, Greg James, Sir David Jason, Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Jackie Kay, Peter Kay, Lorraine Kelly, Marian Keyes, Shappi Khorsandi, Nish Kumar, Stewart Lee, Joanna Lumley, Lee Mack, Emily Maitlis, Andrew Marr, Catherine Mayer, Alexander McCall Smith, Paul McCartney, Sir Trevor McDonald, Caitlin Moran, Kate Mosse, Jojo Moyes, David Nicholls, John Niven, Graham Norton, Chris O’Dowd, Dermot O’Leary, Jamie Oliver, Sir Michael Palin, Maxine Peake, Sue Perkins, Katie Piper, Ian Rankin, Jonathan Ross, Ed Sheeran, Paul Sinha, Frank Skinner, Matthew Syed, Kate Tempest, David Tennant, Louis Theroux, Dame Emma Thompson, Sandi Toksvig, Stanley Tucci, KT Tunstall, Johnny Vegas, Danny Wallace, Dame Julie Walters, Phil Wang, Emma Watson, Mark Watson, Robert Webb, Irvine Welsh, Jack Whitehall, Josh Widdicombe, Dame Jacqueline Wilson, Greg Wise, Malala Yousafzai, Benjamin Zephaniah.”

 

The introduction to the book is by Adam Kay – and he explains why there are actually more than 100 stories – but I’ll leave you to read that yourselves as it is amusing.  He also makes great use of footnotes – as ever!

Each of the ‘stories’ is very different.  There are letters, poems, stories, reminiscences – and a mixture of the current crisis the NHS is facing during the coronavirus crisis – and then people’s historic experiences.  All are very different.

I expected it to be total weep-fest – and I did cry – but not as much as I thought I would.

There was only one entry that I thought ‘well, you’re an attention seeking celebrity’ (and I won’t name names!) all of the others I thought were well written and thoughtful.

Clearly this book is for a great cause – and is rightly on the top of best seller lists.  It makes a perfect ‘toilet’ book – in that you can pick it up and put it down and can read it in small bitesize chunks. Although given the current climate – I’m not sure reading books in toilets is allowed – in fact it probably shouldn’t be allowed in any climate……

It made me think of how grateful I am personally to the NHS and how it’s helped, and continues to help, me and my family on an almost daily basis – but I won’t make this blog post all about us!

Assuming you’re one of the few people who haven’t bought this yet – I would suggest you do.   It’s a good read and you’re raising money for excellent causes.

#ThankYouNHS

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: In Case You Missed It by Lindsey Kelk

Posted on by Libby Price

 

In Case You Missed It

I was going to say I recently read a Lindsey Kelk book, but turns out it was almost 4 years ago!  Time flies when you’re in the middle of a global pandemic and all that….

Anyway – when I saw she had a new book out, I jumped onto NetGalley – and was kindly given an advance review copy.  Here’s the blurb:

“When Ros comes home after three years away, she’s ready to pick up with life exactly where she left it. But her friends have moved on, her parents have rekindled their romance, and her bedroom is now a garden shed. All of a sudden, she’s swept up in nostalgia for the way things were.

Then her phone begins to ping, with messages from her old life. Including one number she thought she’d erased for good – the man who broke her heart. Is this her second chance at one big love? Sometimes we all want to see what we’ve been missing…”

Yet again – a fabulous book from Lindsey Kelk.

I liked Ros from the off – and her relationship with her friends was great. Despite the changes they all had going on in their lives they all looked out for each other completely (the exact opposite of the group of friends in the book Olive I read recently). And I was a bit sad that Ros didn’t share everything with them – as I knew they would have understood.

The description of Ros’s relocated childhood bedroom into her parent’s shed is hilarious – ALL of the 90s references right there!

Ros’s evolving relationship with her parents and sister was also explored. I loved the chats she had with her Mum later in the book.

Some of the romance storyline was a bit predictable (Patrick was a d*ck, John was ace) – but that didn’t take away from the enjoyment of the book.

The section about the teenager gaming sensation was very apt as I currently have a nocturnal 15 year old who is living his best lockdown life communicating with his friends online through his x-box. Sadly he hasn’t made millions out of it (he would say ‘yet’!!)

It was a book I really enjoyed and kept reading ‘one more chapter’ – and now I want to know what happened to all of the characters afterwards!

It’s out in a couple of days, and definitely worth ordering for an easy, fun, enjoyable, escapist read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.

I’ve also remembered I have a hard copy previous book by Lindsey Kelk in my TBR pile (having been easily persuaded when someone (Sarra Manning I think – although it could have been Lindsey herself!!) tweeted to say it was 99p on Amazon) – so I will be reading it soon and adding it to the community library my friend has set up in her porch whilst the real library in our village is shut due to Covid19!

 

 

 

Book Review: Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell

Posted on by Libby Price

Invisible Girl

I’m sure I’ve read books by Lisa Jewell before – but clearly not since I started blogging about books, as my back catalogue of posts reveals none.  Anyway – I was lucky enough to have an advance review copy of ‘Invisible Girl’ from NetGalley.

Here’s the blurb:

“MIDNIGHT: In an area of urban wasteland where cats hunt and foxes shriek, a girl is watching …
When Saffyre Maddox was ten, something terrible happened, and she’s carried the pain of it ever since. The man who she thought was going to heal her didn’t, and now she hides, learning his secrets, invisible in the shadows.
Owen Pick is invisible too. He’s never had a girlfriend; he’s never even had a friend.
Nobody sees him. Nobody cares.
But when Saffyre goes missing from opposite his house on Valentine’s night, suddenly the whole world is looking at Owen.
Accusing him, holding him responsible for Saffyre’s disappearance …
INVISIBLE GIRL: an engrossing, twisty story of how we look in the wrong places for bad people while the real predators walk among us in plain sight.”

The book is told from the perspective of 3 different people – Saffyre (it took me a while to realise this was probably said Sapphire – reminiscent of Hermione in the Harry Potter books being Her-me-own in my head until the first film came out!) and Owen who are mentioned in the blurb – and then Cate.  Cate lives opposite Owen with her 2 teenagers and her husband Roan – who’s path has crossed with Saffyre in the past.

The books starts slowly – and you can see that the 3 threads of the story are going to intertwine, but not necessarily how.  It’s told over a relatively short time period – with these days being written about from different angles in a very clever way – with some flashbacks to explain  the situations people are in.

The pace builds and builds and twists and turns in a brilliant way.  Each of the main characters – and supporting characters – are explored, and you’re never sure whose team you’re on. And who’s a ‘baddy’ and who’s a ‘goody’ – in fact there is a total blurring of good / bad throughout.

I guess I empathised with Cate the most – as we’re a similar age and with teenage kids. However all of the characters are really well written and very different to each other.   One review I read said you needed to be familiar with the geography of that part of London to fully appreciate the book – but that’s rubbish – not knowing the area did not detract from my understanding of the book at all.

I don’t want to give anything away about the storyline as you need to experience the twists and turns for yourself – and spoilers would totally ruin the pleasure of this book.

But I would highly recommend pre ordering it for when it comes out in August – it was really very good and kept me guessing right to the end.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Just Like The Other Girls by Claire Douglas

Posted on by Libby Price

Just Like The Other Girls

I’d read and enjoyed ‘Then She Vanishes‘ by Claire Douglas last year – so when the publisher emailed to ask if I’d like to read her new book – Just Like The Other Girls – I jumped at the chance.

Here’s the blurb:

”     *CARER/COMPANION WANTED FOR ELDERLY LADY*
*YOUNG FEMALE PREFERRED * COMPETITIVE SALARY*
*ROOM AND BOARD INCLUDED*

Una Richardson is devastated after the death of her mother. Hoping for a fresh start, she responds to an advertisement and steps into the rich, comforting world of elderly Mrs Elspeth McKenzie.
But Elspeth’s home is not as safe as it seems.
Kathryn, her cold and bitter daughter, resents Una’s presence. More disturbing is the evidence suggesting two girls lived here before.
What happened to the girls?
Why will the McKenzies not talk about them?
As the walls close in around her, Una fears she’ll end up just like the other girls. . .”

I enjoyed the book right from the beginning.  Una’s Mum has died, so she’s working as Elspeth’s companion  – and the book begins with her start in this new life.  Slowly she uncovers that her 2 predecessors have ended up dead – in totally different circumstances – but none the less, both dead.  Una starts investigating this as she’s concerned she doesn’t become the next fatality.  Her lovely relationship with her friend Courtney is also centre to this (I think Courtney rocked right through the book, and do hope she had a happy ever after).

Elspeth is clearly not as infirm as she wants everyone to believe, and her grumpy daughter Kathryn obviously has secrets too.  Elspeth doesn’t seem to care about Kathryn’s sons – her grandsons – at all, and Kathryn seems to keep her husband and sons very separate from her mother – despite spending a lot of time with Elspeth and helping to run the family businesses.

The story twists and turns brilliantly – with hints and clues here and there – some that are crucial and some that are total red herrings – but you’re not sure which is which until the very very end.

I don’t want to give too many of the twists away – as you need to experience them yourself with no spoilers – but boy they are good.

The chapters are written from different people’s points of view – and you ‘hear’ other people’s thoughts too, although you’re often not sure who you are ‘hearing’.  (Actually – I think I might want to go back to see if you are hearing the same person each time?)  But this writing style makes it exciting and the whole book has a real momentum.

By the time I got to the last few chapters I was almost holding my breath! And I was really happy with the way it all concluded for everyone – and it 100% wasn’t what I expected at all.

A massive thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC – and I would highly recommend you pre order it for when it’s out in August 2020.