Book review: Little Boy Blue by M. J. Arlidge

Posted on by Libby Price

Little Boy Blue

“Detective Inspector Helen Grace is no stranger to tragedy. But when a body is found in a Southampton nightclub, the death cuts too close to the bone.
Hiding her personal connection to the victim – and a double-life which must remain secret at all costs – Helen becomes a woman possessed, working her team around the clock to chase down every lead.
As the killer strikes again, the investigation takes its toll not only on Helen but also her senior officers. Tempers flare, friendships fray and Helen faces an impossible choice.
Confess her sins and lose control of the case? Or keep living a lie, protecting her darkest secrets, and risk getting trapped in this tangled web?
But whatever she does, this killer will not stop until the truth is revealed: there are some fates worse than death . . .”

This is the 5th book in the DI Helen Grace series – and having loved the first four (Eeny Meeny, Pop Goes The Weasel, The Doll’s House and Liar Liar) I had high hopes for number 5.

I was not disappointed.  The fast paced writing keeps you intrigued from the outset.  There are LOADS of chapters – and I’ve realised that Mr Arlidge also writes for TV (I was very excited to see him having written a Silent Witness episode in the last series) and the chapters are basically scenes from a TV drama.  I can’t believe I hadn’t realised that before!

Again it follows DI Grace’s personal and professional life – and this time they intertwine even more than before.  I really think you need to have read the previous books to get the most out of this – as there are lots of links to the previous 4 in many different ways.

As with the others in the book it is pretty graphic at times – in terms of violence, but more in terms of BDSM stuff in this particular storyline.

It twists and turns brilliantly – and the descriptions from the inside of a fetish club to Southampton Common – all give you a great feel for the individual settings.  It made me want to go back to Southampton again (more than 20 years after graduating from Uni there!)

Whilst all of the books follow on from each other – this one finishes on a total cliff hanger – and so I’m desperately wanting more – and have to wait until the Autumn – grrrrrrrrrrr.

I would thoroughly recommend this entire series to anyone – but be prepared to stay up into the early hours reading ‘just one more chapter’!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Who’s That Girl? by Mhairi McFarlane

Posted on by Libby Price

Who's That Girl

 

“When Edie is caught in a compromising position at her colleagues’ wedding, all the blame falls on her – turns out that personal popularity in the office is not that different from your schooldays. Shamed online and ostracised by everyone she knows, Edie’s forced to take an extended sabbatical – ghostwriting an autobiography for hot new acting talent, Elliot Owen. Easy, right?

Wrong. Banished back to her home town of Nottingham, Edie is not only dealing with a man who probably hasn’t heard the word ‘no’ in a decade, but also suffering an excruciating regression to her teenage years as she moves back in with her widowed father and judgy, layabout sister.

When the world is asking who you are, it’s hard not to question yourself. Who’s that girl? Edie is ready to find out.”

I am a huge Mhairi (pronounced Vah-Ree, in case you were wondering) McFarlane fan – having really enjoyed all of her previous books ‘You Had Me At Hello‘, ‘Here’s Looking At You‘ and ‘It’s Not Me, It’s You‘ – so was very excited when my pre-order of her latest book dropped into my Kindle.

As usual the main character, in this case Edie, is really likeable – and you’re rooting for her from the off.  Early on she is caught in a compromising position at a wedding – and she’s the one who is totally blamed.  The other party gets forgiven PDQ.  (I empathise completely with Edie after a similar situation happened to me many moons ago!  The bloke I had a ‘fling-ette’ with was ‘on a break’ at the time – but subsequently the estranged parties got back together and this girlfriend became his wife – clearly forgiving him – but 16 years on she still won’t even speak to me. I am regularly grateful there wasn’t any social media at the turn of the millennium!!!)

Anyway – enough of my colourful life and back to Edie’s!

She is sent to Nottingham (rather than Coventry!) after the wedding debacle, to work on a project – but Nottingham is also her hometown.  She moves back in with her widowed father and sister – and their relationships are explored, as is her relationship with the very interesting elderly next door neighbour. Having had a couple of nights out in Nottingham over the years, I could imagine some of the settings which was also fun.

The actor she is ghost writing for initially seems a bit of a knob – but I ended up really liking him and all of his family.  In fact – I pretty much liked everyone by the end! It twists and turns and isn’t predictable – but that adds to the story.  Whilst the premise is definitely rom-com – it’s so much more than that – with some pretty deep topics explored (and wept about by me!).

I enjoy the fact that with all of Mhairi’s books the characters are fleshed out and you get to know them all – from Edie and her family, to her best friends from school, to ‘the actor’ and his family and the gay BFF who is definitely not a BFF (he was one of the few I didn’t like by the end!)

It’s also very clever the way Mhairi weaves in the use of technology and social media into the book.  It’s totally how everyone works nowadays – and so when I read a book and people aren’t using such things it seems a bit odd.  I feel that Mhairi writes ‘ real’ stuff – in a social media heavy / slightly sweary / true to life way. (That’s a compliment by the way!)

And as ever – I was definitely left wanting more – and desperate to find out how their lives pan out after the book – and WHO WAS AT THE DOOR???  We need a sequel – pretty please……………

 

Book Review: The House of Hidden Mothers by Meera Syal

Posted on by Libby Price

This book was recommended in Red Magazine months ago, and I downloaded it to my Kindle immediately (I love Meera Syal as an actress – and hadn’t realised she’d also written books) – but hadn’t got round to reading it.  I started it when we were away last week – and devoured it pretty quickly!

The House of Hidden Mothers

And here’s the Amazon blurb:

“HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO TO GET THE LIFE YOU CAN’T HAVE?

Shyama, aged forty-eight, has fallen for a younger man. They want a child together.

Meanwhile, in a rural village in India, young Mala, trapped in an oppressive marriage, dreams of escape.

When Shyama and Mala meet, they help each other realise their dreams. But will fate guarantee them both happiness?…

Brimming with warmth, wit and indignation, Meera Syal immerses us in a devastating story of friendship, family and the lengths we will go to have a perfect life. THE HOUSE OF HIDDEN MOTHERS is her long-awaited third novel and shows Meera Syal at the height of her literary powers”

Initially this seems to start out as 2 disconnected stories (particularly if you haven’t read the blurb first – sorry about that!). Shyama and her extended family live in East London – with Mala across in rural India.  I really liked the descriptions of Shyama and her folks in the UK – and have friends with Indian heritage – so a lot of it rang true.  Within a few chapters you can see how the stories are going to intertwine.

Shyama and her younger boyfriend Toby are keen to have a child – but have exhausted options in the UK – so are looking at surrogacy in India.

I sometimes got a bit frustrated with Shyama and wanted her to talk to her daughter Tara or her other half Toby properly – but otherwise I did like her and felt for her situation.

I think there was lot more cunning to Mala than was evident on the surface – she was very manipulative at times – but I like the fact this was a sub text and not spelt out in words of one syllable.

There was also a clever inclusion of some of the political issues currently facing India – and having had a friend work in Mumbai recently, I know just how accurate this was.

Perhaps having an interest in India made me enjoy this more – but I thought it was very well written and entertaining – and will actively seek out other books written by Meera Syal.

 

 

 

 

Hormonal tweens

Posted on by Libby Price

One of the reasons for starting this blog was to record family life so it wouldn’t get forgotten – and having just posted a Facebook status, I realised I need to preserve this somewhere more formal than just a status.

12 year old was a bit grumpy over dinner tonight.

Her 11 year old brother, who’s been away for the weekend, commented ‘Have you started your periods whilst I’ve been on Scout Camp?’

#ouch

Home from home (if you live in a mini Downton Abbey?!)

Posted on by Libby Price

Every few months the husband and I try to get away from it all (‘it all’ being the construction company we run and the 4 kids!!)  We rarely get chance for ‘date nights’, so this is the time for us to reconnect as a couple (that sounds so tossy)  Sometimes we fly off somewhere far flung – but this week we had just 24 hours away, down the road in Broadway on the edge of the Cotswolds.

We’ve stayed at The Dormy House hotel before and had a wonderful time, and then we received an email from their sister hotel, Foxhill Manor offering an activity break we were intrigued.  So – dinner, bed and breakfast in the Sunday Times Hotel of the Year 2015 – along with some segwaying and shooting – what’s not to love?!

Being the right side of Brum – the Farncombe Estate (home to the Dormy, Foxhill and The Fish) – is only 45 minutes away, perfect for a quick escape from reality.

Due to the husband having an important work meeting first thing (can’t really complain, it’s our work that means we can do such things) we didn’t set off as early as we would have liked, so we thought we’d be cutting it fine to make it in time for our time slot of 2.30pm for the ‘activities’.  Thankfully we arrived with a few minutes to spare – so had chance to check out our fabulous room (Birch).

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and do the important things like connect to the free wifi (and for the husband to take calls to provide DIY SOS services to some friends whilst I had a mug of peppermint tea!)

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Then we were collected by our instructor for our activities.

We started off with rifle shooting – it would appear my husband’s mis-spent youth shooting random insects (actual insects, not code for anything else!) with an air rifle in Falcon Lodge stood him in good stead to be a good shot with the rifle.  Unfortunately I wasn’t so great (humph, as we are very competitive!!)

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Thankfully we then moved on to pistols for which I appear to have a natural eye (my career as an assassin may still happen) and I whipped him (as in scored better, not pistol whipping, that would have ruined the whole romantic night away really). Eat your heart out Lara Croft (if she was wearing a floral shirt with a double chin…..)

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Next it was segways.  The husband has already been on the kids hover boards (in fact he even did some dusting whilst aboard) but I have steered clear as I’m not a big fan of such things.  But I promised I’d give this a go.

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There was quite a bit of swearing shrieking, but after 10 minutes I’d sort of got the hang of it.  Then the instructor took us out of the ‘tennis courts’ – one of the few flat bits on the whole estate – to go on a ‘safari’.  This is where it went downhill – literally!  Given I’m not a fan of going down a slope on a bike – I should have guessed that I wouldn’t enjoy it on a segway!  Within seconds, I’d stropped off it and set off marching down the hill – very reminiscent of pretty much every skiing holiday I’ve ever been on!

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Thankfully once it flattened out I coped with getting back to the front of the hotel.

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And within 2 minutes of being back in the hotel I had a glass of champagne from the trolley in the lounge in my hand #perfect.

We were then taken to meet the chef who explained about the meal for that evening.  I am sure if we were fussy about food they could have been obliging, but we’re not (back to those double chins again!) and so went with the fabulous menu offered – we could also chose what time we would eat.

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’twas then back to the lounge for more fortifying champagne, and a bit of cake for me.  Husband isn’t a cake fan (fool!) and so asked if he could have some cheese, and a beautiful ploughmans’ appeared from nowhere. Now that is service!

After an afternoon nap, Pointless on TV and a relaxing bath with Cotswold Life magazine (when in Rome and all that) it was down for pre dinner drinks.  Yet more champagne!  Half of the 8 rooms were occupied during our stay – and we chatted to 2 of the other couples before dinner in the lounge.  We are both quite sociable people (you’d never guess from all of this oversharing would you?!) so we were fine chatting away – but I do think this is one bit that might be a bit overwhelming for some people – as it is such a small hotel, there is nowhere to hide!!  We were also brought some lovely hors d’oeuvres to soak up the fizz!

Then it was dinner – which was stunning. Not overly fussy – but really tasty.  The food itself is included in the overnight price – as are the drinks in the lounge – but you do have to pay extra for any drinks with the meal.  We started off with Bathtub gin and tonics (the brand, not out of the bath, that would just be weird).  I loved it – but the husband didn’t – so I had both #winning.  The wine list is extensive – and we went for our usual safe bet of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.  The house Sauv B is from Chile – and the husband has a hatred of all Chilean wines – but the staff persuaded him to try it, and it was actually really lovely, so we’d try that one in the future I think.

After our 3 courses in the dining room we retired back to the lounge for the husband to have a cheese board and port in front of a roaring fire – a perfect end to the day.

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Before we retired for the evening I did pop to the ladies – and it is fabulous (I was a bit gutted I didn’t take my phone with me – to take a photo, not just because it meant I couldn’t play Words With Friends whilst on the loo!).  Each of the 4 stalls has a different James Bond photo in it – I went for Daniel Craig in the end.

The next morning we were up bright and early as we had massages booked over at the House Spa at the Dormy House at 9am.  Breakfast was wonderful – a mix of buffet and then anything you wanted cooked.  We both went for Eggs Benedict – and it was recommended we had it with their local bacon – and it was awesome.  It would have been lovely to linger over breakfast, with never ending tea and coffee and the morning’s papers – but the spa was calling.

2 full body massages later, I floated to the pool to wait for the husband – but 30 minutes later he hadn’t materialised, I began to wonder if the masseuse couldn’t wake him after he’d fallen asleep !  I went on a search to find him in the spa lounge, fully clothed and working!  He’d decided an hour of relaxation was quite sufficient – and was cracking on with emails sipping lemon and ginger tea.  I headed back down to the spa for 20 lengths, a sauna and a steam room before getting dressed ready to head back to reality.

A lovely lunch in The Potting Shed followed -before the drive back home.  It may have only been a 24 hour escape, but it was truly wonderful – and we very much hope to repeat it in the future.  We’re even considering an exclusive use booking for a weekend (as otherwise children under 12 can’t come, and I’m not sure our 3 youngest would think it fair to be left at home whilst we only took the eldest!) – so if any of you are up for it?!?

 

I should point out this is not a sponsored post, we paid full whack (and quite a considerable whack at that) for the night – but it was worth every penny. 

 

 

 

Book Review: The Wish List by Jane Costello

Posted on by Libby Price

The Wish List

 

“The Big 3-0 is looming, but there’s so much still to do… The brilliant new novel from the Sunday Times Top 10 bestselling author

There are six months left of Emma Reiss’s twenties. . . and she has some unfinished business.

Emma and her friends are about to turn thirty, and for Emma it’s a defining moment. Defined, that is, by her having achieved none of the things she’d imagined she would.

Her career is all wrong, her love life is a desert and that penthouse apartment she pictured herself in simply never materialised. Moreover, she’s never jumped out of a plane, hasn’t met the man she’s going to marry, has never slept under the stars, or snogged anyone famous – just some of the aspirations on a list she and her friends compiled fifteen years ago.

As an endless round of birthday parties sees Emma hurtle towards her own thirtieth, she sets about addressing these issues. But, as she discovers with hilarious consequences, some of them are trickier to tick off than she’d thought…”

Having recently read another Jane Costello book, this was a bargain on Amazon and so I downloaded it onto my Kindle ready for February half term.  Yet again I really enjoyed it – a funny, easy, light hearted read.  I was keen to find out what happened to Emma and her friends and so read it very quickly.  There were some similarities in characters between the two books – young, single Mum, someone working as an accountant – but it didn’t really confuse, just struck me as being very similar.

I’d definitely read more by Jane Costello in the future – but think I need to get my teeth into something a bit more challenging for my next read…………