Having enjoyed a previous book by Lucy Diamond at the start of the year, I thought I could bookend 2023 (do you like what I did there?!) with her new release. Here’s the blurb:

“Jess Bright, single mum and journalist, feels her life has stalled. So when she’s offered a writing job in Paris for the summer, she leaps at the chance to go back to a city full of old memories and the promise of new opportunities.
Her subject is the iconic artist Adelaide Fox, whose personal life has always been steeped in scandal and intrigue. Now approaching eighty, she’s ready to tell her side of the story – and serve up some scalding-hot revenge in the process.
Amidst a stormy working relationship, Jess and Adelaide must face up to their pasts. As passionate affairs, terrible betrayals and life-changing secrets surface, there may be more surprises in store than either of them dared imagine . . .
Set in the city of love, with two unforgettable protagonists, I Remember Paris is a gloriously life-affirming novel about second chances, unlikely friendships and finding your way back to yourself“

Firstly, I really liked the main character – Jess. We’re a similar age, with children of a similar age, so lots of reference points were similar (although I’m still married to my husband!) The clever interweaving of both Jess’s trip to Paris when she was much younger – with her trip in the present day – is done very well. I thought the descriptions of Paris were excellent – and really evocative of the city, both the touristy destinations – and the ‘real’ French capital. 

I’m not an avid art follower – and I’m not sure if the character of Adelaide Fox is based on a specific artist – but she was very believable, and the unwinding of her past story was also well written.

Whilst Jess and Adelaide are the main stars of the book – the supporting cast are also excellent – with Adelaide’s nephew Luc providing a potential love interest for Jess, as well as an another from an old flame from her previous time in France. I felt the way the relationship between Jess and her eldest daughter was written was very ‘real’!

Paris is definitely a star of the book too.

Overall it was a lovely, escapist, read – with enough twists and turns to keep me keen to read on. Again – I’ve really enjoyed this Lucy Diamond book – and will most definitely look out for more of her work in the future.

A big thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my ARC.

“Deep in Essex and her own thoughts, Sophie had a feeling something was going to happen and then it did. Chris has entered the pub and re-entered her life after Sophie had finally stopped thinking about him and regretting what she’d done.
Sophie has a chance at creating a new ending and paying off her emotional debts (if not her financial ones). All she has to do is act exactly like a normal, well-adjusted person and not say any of her inner monologue out loud. If she can suppress her light paranoia, pornographic visualisations and pathological lying maybe she’ll even end up getting the guy she wants? Then she could dump her boyfriend Ian and try to enjoy Christmas.”

I really like Sara Pascoe as a comedian – so when I saw she had her first novel out, I thought I’d request a copy from NetGalley – and was very pleased to be granted an ARC (it’s out next week). I then noticed it had a massively wide variety of stars on the review platform – it appeared to be literary marmite – but I still wanted to give it a go.

The book is told from Sophie’s point of view – and it is seemingly just a massive brain dump of her thoughts and the tangents she goes off on. She clearly has mental health struggles – and the meandering views screamed ADHD to me (although I don’t believe that is ever referenced). It is occasionally interspersed with other documents – an email from her bridezilla sister, a letter from debt collectors, correspondence from her estranged father in Australia – etc etc – and these break up the storyline and give some context.

I have to say I kept reading – but I’m not really sure why – as it just didn’t seem to go anywhere, and the journey to nowhere wasn’t that exciting or funny. It wasn’t offensive or badly written – just a bit ‘meh’.

But as I said – some people appear to have loved it – so don’t necessarily take my word for it!

Thanks to the publishers and Net Galley for my ARC.

So, I typed a lovely review of this at Thessaloniki airport a couple of weeks ago – and then the bloody ‘auto save’ didn’t work, the wifi was rubbish and I lost it all – so I’m going to re channel my love for ‘Love Me Do’ again from a rainy Birmingham………………

I’ve enjoyed Lindsey Kelk books historically and so had requested an ARC from NetGalley – but didn’t get granted one before the publication date. However then just before I went on holiday I was sent one – how exciting – and perfect timing! Here’s the blurb:

“Greetings card copywriter Phoebe Chapman knows a good romantic line or two – and it makes her a fantastic Cupid.
So when she lands in the Hollywood Hills – a place that proves film stars, golden beaches and secret waterfalls don’t just exist in the movies – she can’t resist playing matchmaker for her handsome neighbour, carpenter Ren.
But you can’t hide from love in La La Land.
And isn’t there something a little bit hot about Ren, her own leading man next door?”

The book starts with Phoebe flying out from Sheffield to visit her sister Suzanne in LA. (I believe both of these locations are close to the author’s heart – so writing what she knows, which is always a winner!) When Phoebe arrives, Suzanne says she’s been called away from work to (rainy!) Seattle – so Phoebe decides to stay ‘home alone’ at her sister’s lovely house.

Within hours Phoebe has met the gorgeous next door neighbour Ren, Suzanne’s PT Bel – who has a massive crush on Ren, and a seemingly grumpy near neighbour Myrna Moore (a retired Hollywood darling) – and the book then plays out over the next few days and the intertwining relationships between all of the above in a lovely way.

As well as being a delicious romantic comedy – the book also touches on more serious storylines – such as coercive control in relationships, difficult family relationships and certain prejudices.

It was a perfect holiday, escapist read – and makes me want to go to LA to visit the quiet beach – and maybe even go hiking to a waterfall!

I’m thinking maybe it was fate that my review was delayed – because ‘Love Me Do’ is currently 99p on Kindle – so you can all rush and order it today at a totally bargain price!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my review copy – even if it wasn’t an advance one!

I saw the blurb for this in Red Magazine, and thought it sounded interesting (and with a similar vibe to Bella Mackie’s ‘How To Kill Your Family‘ which I very much enjoyed) – so I requested an ARC from NetGalley and was lucky enough to be granted it. Here’s the blurb:

“It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to kill them . . .
Saffy has a secret. A secret that she is deeply ashamed of. It’s not the fact that she’s a serial killer in her free time. In fact, she’s quite proud of that. After all she’s only killing the bad men. She is making the world a better place.
No, her secret is far worse than that. Saffy has a messy, inexplicable, uncontrollable crush. So while she’s busy plotting her next murder, she also has the much harder task of figuring out how to get a boyfriend.
But if there’s one thing Saffy knows, it’s how to get her man . . “

The book is told from two perspectives – that of Saffy (or Seraphine Huntley-Oliver to give her her Sunday name!) with chapters told in the first person, and then from Jon – a true crime podcaster, with chapters told in the third person. I liked this change in ‘voice’ throughout the book (and thought it must have been quite hard to write like that?)

The initial chapter, when Saffy is still quite young, was quite disturbing – and I did wonder if the book was going to be that dark throughout. But it was actually setting the scene for why Saffy is how she is – a serial killer of bad men!

Whilst the rest of the book does contain more murders – they don’t seem as upsetting, and there’s a lot of dark humour throughout.

As well as the ‘love story’ between Saffy and Jon – there are various murders and other crimes – and the supporting cast of Saffy’s sister and her loser boyfriend, and Jon’s wife all add to the substance of the book.

There are lots of twists and turns and murders which make it very interesting – and I was always keen to see what happened next. I thought a couple of the twists were quite predictable – but most definitely not all! It was a really fun read – honestly, despite being about serial killers it really was!!

A big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC. It was released in July 2023 – so you can but it already – and it would make a perfect summer read.

This was a recommended read in Red Magazine (a frequent source of book recommendations for me!) so I was delighted to be granted an advance review copy via NetGalley. Here’s the blurb:

“Six friends.
The holiday of their dreams.
One night that changed it all . . .
1989: The tunes are loud and the clothes are louder when a group of friends arrives in Mallorca for a post-graduation holiday of decadence and debauchery at a luxury villa.
A beach party marks the pinnacle of their fun, until it isn’t fun any longer. Because amidst the wild partying – sand flying from dancing feet and revellers leaping from yachts – an accident happens. Suddenly, the night of a lifetime becomes a living nightmare.
Now: The truth about that summer has been collectively buried. But someone knows what happened that night.
And they want the friends to pay for what they did.”

I have to say I struggled with the book initially. After the initial few current day pages, it felt like we were thrown into the 1989 holiday without having a clue who all of the ‘cast members’ were. Names were mentioned like you should know what the relationship between them all was – and no back stories given. The back stories did reveal themselves during the book – but I found it weirdly discombobulating at the start. (No other review I’ve read have said this – so maybe it’s just me? I was also reading it on my phone not my Kindle – as for some reason NetGalley wouldn’t permit this to be sent to Kindle – so maybe that was a contributing factor and it’s not the book’s fault at all?!? Plus I was reading The Fifth Guest by Jenny Knight on my Kindle at the same time, which had a similar cast of characters and premise.)

The group have graduated from Birmingham Uni (my hometown, so very much enjoyed some of the Brummie references!) and have headed off to Nina’s family’s swanky villa in Majorca. The description of the villa and Spanish countryside is excellent, and you can really imagine being there (those steep steps down to the water make me feel a bit squeamish even now as I don’t like heights!)

Nina is most definitely Queen Bee – with the others all part of her harem. Whilst I was only 15 in 1989 – the descriptions of the era are brilliant – and really evoke that time. There are clearly various issues between different members of the group of ‘friends’ – and these start to become evident during the holiday – peaking in the drama during and after the beach party (no spoilers here!)

I felt the pace really picked up then – in the aftermath of the incidents – and it was exciting to read what was going to happen next!

The group – or some of them (intrigue!) – are then reunited 30+ years later, to discuss the fall out from that fateful 1980s night.

The plot twists and turns loads, some of these I guessed, some I didn’t (I like that in a book – I want to be able to guess some storylines so I feel smug – but also be shocked by some of the outcomes so it’s not predictable!) but after my initial misgivings, I really did enjoy this book.

A big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for an honest review. The book came out a few weeks ago – and will make a perfect sunbed read (although maybe not if you’re in Majorca?!)

I’ve always enjoyed books by this author (who previously wrote women’s fiction as Jenny Oliver) in fact I was even a character name in one of them! So I was very excited to hear that she’d changed genres and was writing a thriller as Jenny Knight – here’s the blurb:

“Five friends. One deadly secret.
Five old university friends gather on the eve of their flatmate’s memorial at a beautiful riverside house.
Host Caro is as perfect as always.
Shy, awkward Lily’s now a bestselling author.
Sports hero George loves suburban fatherhood.
Bad-boy Travis only gets his highs from meditation.
And gatecrasher Elle is still a troublemaker.
Estranged for years, they’re finally ready to reminisce over dry martinis and delicious food. But there’s more than that on the menu…
Because each guest is hiding a dark secret about their time at Oxford.
They’re all guilty of something. Is one of them guilty of murder?“

The book is set in two timelines –

‘now’ which is the night before a memorial is unveiled to a friend / frenemy / lover of the cast of characters at the dinner – 3 of whom are there by invitation of the host, Caro, and 1 who is a gatecrasher.

‘then’ which is when the same cast were all at University in Oxford and Henry was still alive.

None of the characters are particularly likeable in either timeline, to be honest, but you begin to understand why as the stories unfold and twist and turn. They were flatmates at Uni – but by circumstances rather than choice – so that throws up lots of differences and foibles that wouldn’t necessarily have happened if they’d chosen whom to live with.

Whilst I didn’t go to Oxford – the University flashbacks are very reminiscent of my uni times – and the different types of students you get! Similarly I didn’t row – but friends of my children do, and so the cut throat / competitive nature of getting in ‘the boat’ was written really well.

I’ve seen the book described as a modern day Agatha Christie – and I can completely agree with that, with all of the players in one room as the explanation for the stories evolve. It also reminded me of recent books by Lucy Foley which have a similar vibe of middle class mates meeting up somewhere and historic secrets being revealed.

I would say it’s a mystery rather than thriller – I really enjoyed it, and was keen to see how both timelines unfolded.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC – and the book was released YESTERDAY – so I’m not tempting you into something months before you can actually buy it (and this is no way just an excuse for the fact it’s taken me a few weeks to get round to writing my blog post, nope, not at all!!)

Having loved books by Josie Silver before, I jumped at the chance to read her new book – even if it was a super hot summer’s day when I started it – and I was in Birmingham, UK – most definitely not New York! Here’s the blurb:

“A sumptuously cosy seasonal love story set in sparkling New York, from the queen of the ‘what if?’ romance Josie Silver.
Where better to start again than New York?
Iris arrives in the city of dreams, intent on restarting her culinary career, and leaving her recent heartache behind.
Wandering the streets at a famous food festival, Iris feels like she’s living in a movie. Then she stumbles upon a gelateria that looks strangely familiar. Inside, she meets Gio: a perfect leading man with an irresistible smile – and a crisis of his own.
As fate would have it, Iris is the one person with the answer to his problem. She just can’t tell him that . . .
So, can Iris finally let go of the past – and let herself fall in love?”

Yet again, Josie Silver has written a lovely book. This time the setting is New York – and as ever, it’s described incredibly evocatively, and you really feel like you’re there with Iris.

Some of the chapters are also flashbacks to Iris’s Mum when she was in a 1980s rock band – and I loved the change in time periods.

It has a real ’90s rom com’ feel to the book – but that’s also referenced in it – so it’s an incredibly self aware book!

I loved Iris from the start – but the supporting cast is also wonderful – from her boss / landlord / BFF Bobby and his husband Robin, through a stray cat, to Gio and all of the Belotti family – there is a huge breadth of characters, who are all written beautifully.

The thread through the story is a missing recipe for vanilla gelato that belongs to the Belotti family and is TOP SECRET – but through an historic twist of fate Iris has a copy of. Whilst the love story element of Iris and Gio is explored (and is quite sexy in places!) the mirroring of Gio’s love for his daughter – and Iris’s relationship with her late Mum is also really important.

There are lots of twists and turns – and I did wonder how we’d end up with a happy ending – and no spoilers from me!

It’s not out until October 2023, but definitely one to pre order. Many thanks for the publisher and Net Galley for my ARC.

I saw this book on the header of NetGalley and it sounded intriguing (and I sadly know a few people who’ve had a dual pregnancy and cancer diagnosis) so I requested a copy. Here’s the blurb:

“A dark, satiric novel about a woman whose attempt to escape crises in her health and marriage ends up causing more chaos.
Cat’s career has stalled, her marriage has gone flat, and being a stay-at-home mom for two young kids has become a grind. When she finds out, all within a few days, that she is pregnant, that a lump in her breast is the worst thing it could be, and that her husband has done something unforgivably repulsive, she responds by running away from her marriage and her life ― a life that, on the outside, looks like middle-class success. Her actions send waves of chaos through the lives of multiple characters, including a struggling house cleaner, a rich and charismatic yoga guru, and even an ailing dog. What follows is a dark comedy about marriage, motherhood, privilege, and power.”

I have to say – this isn’t what I expected at all. The pregnancy, breast cancer and husband’s actions don’t come to light until about 40% through the book – I’d figured they’d be near the beginning and the book would be the aftermath – but there is a lot of scene setting. And even once it’s all revealed, the stories are still very much told as separate threads.

The chapters are told from different points of view – be that Cat herself, her husband Donovan, the cleaner and even an ill, old dog. The setting – in Canada – is also explained in quite some detail, which is not somewhere I’ve ever been (although is definitely on the ‘to visit’ list).

To be honest I really am not sure what I thought of it. It was ok? Ish? Different? Possibly my least favourite book of the year so far…….

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC. It’s out electronically in July 2023 if you fancy trying it even without a glowing review from me!