book review

Book Review – Fractured by Dani Atkins

Posted on by Libby Price

I read ‘The Story of Us‘ by Dani Atkins over the Christmas break, and loved it – and immediately downloaded ‘Fractured’ which was one of her back catalogue.

Fractured

 

Here is what Amazon has to say about it:

“What would you do if life gave you a second chance?

The night of the accident changed everything…
Now, five years on, Rachel’s life is crumbling. She lives alone in a tiny flat, working in a dead-end job, desperate with guilt over her best friend’s death. She would give anything to turn back the clock. But life doesn’t work like that… Does it?

The night of the accident was a lucky escape…
Now, five years on, Rachel’s life is perfect. She has a wonderful fiancé, loving family and friends around her, and the career she always wanted. But why can’t Rachel shake the memory of a very different life?

Gripping, romantic and heartbreaking, Fractured is a magical love story that asks: can two different stories lead to the same happy ending?”

It started off – in a similar vein to ‘The Story of Us’  – with a car crash, and I have to say my initial thoughts were ‘Hmm, this is all a bit the same’ – but that didn’t last long and I was soon hooked into Rachel’s story.

There is then a ‘Sliding Doors’ moment (90’s Gwyneth Paltrow film reference for those wondering what I’m on about!) and the story pans out a different way – as the blurb above suggests.

Throughout I was desperate to know which was the ‘real’ story – and it very cleverly kept me entertained.  (The last few nights I’ve willingly been the one to lie with the toddler who won’t go to bed on her own, so I could finish  it off!!)  I really liked Rachel, and her friends and family, and was rooting for her to do the right thing throughout.

The ending is lovely – and obviously I wept loads – as is my way.

Dani Atkins definitely has a ‘style’ – but it is one that I really like!

Book Review – The Roots of Tolkien’s Middle Earth by Robert S Blackham

Posted on by Libby Price

I grew up in South Birmingham – and so have always been vaguely aware that Tolkien had grown up in the same area. I took the kids to Sarehole Mill over the summer and so learnt more about the connections there.  My Grandmother (who used to live practically in the grounds of the mill) mentioned that she had a book about it, and so I borrowed it to read – and it’s brilliant!

TolkienIt talks through JRR (Ronald to his friends)’s early life in the late 19th / early 20th century and the areas he lived in (totally my stomping ground as a child Sarehole / Hall Green / Kings Heath / Moseley) with historic photographs and maps – but it also cross references specific things to sections of his famous books.  In a number of cases it prompted an ‘of course’ in recognition from me!

I also hadn’t realised his later connections with Edgbaston (aside from the fact I knew he was a King Edward School alumnus) or The Lickey Hills and Worcestershire area (which spookily also follows the path of where I lived as an adult!)  If only he’d gone to Southampton Uni and not Oxford we could have been living parallel lives!!

  • Who knew Tolkien drank in the Ivy Bush on the Hagley Road, or The Prince of Wales in Moseley village?
  • Or that ‘Trittiford’ changed it’s name from Titterford for reasons of good taste in the 1920s?!
  • Or that the Great Hall at the University of Birmingham (which our company has painted a number of times, and featured in the televised leadership debates of the last General Election campaign) was used as a hospital in the First World War?

This is great if you are a lover of Tolkien, or know the South Birmingham area – and if you fall into both categories – it’s really interesting!

Book Review – The Parisian Christmas Bake Off by Jenny Oliver

Posted on by Libby Price

I’ve read Jenny’s other books and really enjoyed them both (The Little Christmas Kitchen and The Vintage Summer Wedding) so expected to enjoy reading this – and it was another bargain download at less than £2.

The Parisian Christmas Bake Off

Amazon say this:

“Welcome to the most celebrated patisserie competition in Paris – ready, steady, bake!

Watching snowflakes settle on the Eiffel Tower, Rachel Smithson’s cosy English village feels very far way – as, thankfully, does her commitment-phobic ex, probably already kissing someone else under the mistletoe. But Rachel hasn’t come to Paris to mope she’s come to bake. Hard.

Because the search for Paris’s next patisserie apprentice is about to begin! And super-chef judge Henri Salernes is an infamously tough cookie. But Rachel isn’t about to let her confidence (or pastry) crumble. She’s got one week, mounds of melt-in-the-mouth macaroons and towers of perfect profiteroles to prove that she really is a star baker.

As well as clouds of flour, and wafts of chocolate and cinnamon, there’s definitely a touch of Christmas magic in the air… Rachel hasn’t come to Paris looking for a fairy-tale romance, but the city of love might gift-wrap her one anyway…

Not even a dusting of icing sugar could make The Parisian Christmas Bake Off a more perfect Christmas treat!”

I am possibly one of the few people in the entire country not to watch The Great British Bake Off – but I didn’t let that put me off – and I’m glad I didn’t.  It was a lovely read – and the descriptions of the food were amazing.  I’m just glad I read it before my January detox as I would have been drooling even more!  I read it over Christmas – which was very apt – but not essential!

My only slight disappointment is that I’d read The Vintage Summer Wedding first – and this was actually written first – and some of the characters follow through, so I knew who Rachel would end up with because of that.  So – if you haven’t read either – definitely start with this one first,

I really hope we get to find out more about the residents of Nettleton in the future (pretty please Ms Oliver!!)

Book Review – The Story of Us by Dani Atkins

Posted on by Libby Price

I am not sure how this ended up on my Kindle – if it was recommended by someone in person or on Facebook, in a magazine, by my Kindle itself – or just because it was such a bargain (currently 85p to download!)

The Story of Us

Here is what the Amazon blurb says:

“A gripping love story from the bestselling author of Fractured.

Emma Marshall can’t wait to marry her childhood sweetheart, Richard. But then a tragic accident changes everything, and introduces a stranger, Jack, into her life. Gorgeous and mysterious, Jack is like no-one Emma has met before. But Richard is the man she loves…

Two different men.
Two different destinies.
How will Emma end her story?”

It’s a real page turner – and I loved it – couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen next.  I had guessed that the first chapter of each section wasn’t going to be predictable in what it was describing – and I was right – but I would never have guessed what it was setting up for in the last chapter.  I wept buckets.

There were great moments of drama, emotion, rude bits and intrigue – lots of bases covered!

I will definitely be investigating Ms Atkins’s back catalogue now – and would happily pay way more than 85p for this!

Book Review – The Woman Who Stole My Life by Marian Keyes

Posted on by Libby Price

Ok – at this point I need to confess to a bit of a girl crush on Marian Keyes. I follow her on Twitter and feel like we’ve watched the last few series of Strictly Come Dancing together. Hey – she’s even TWEETED ME BACK a couple of times (dances a jig!) We also share a love of Clinique Chubby Sticks. So – with all of these mutual interests – I had high hopes for her new(ish) book ‘The Woman Who Stole My Life’ and took it away with us to read over the Christmas break.

The Woman Who Stole My Life

Here is what Amazon have to say about it:

“International bestselling author Marian Keyes is back with another masterfully told story full of wit and charm.

‘Name: Stella Sweeney.

Height: average.

Recent life events: dramatic.’

One day, sitting in traffic, married Dublin mum Stella Sweeney attempts a good deed. The resulting car crash changes her life.

For she meets a man who wants her telephone number (for the insurance, it turns out). That’s okay. She doesn’t really like him much anyway (his Range Rover totally banjaxed her car).

But in this meeting is born the seed of something which will take Stella thousands of miles from her old life, turning an ordinary woman into a superstar, and, along the way, wrenching her whole family apart.

Is this all because of one ill-advised act of goodwill? Was meeting Mr Range Rover destiny or karma? Should she be grateful or hopping mad?

For the first time real, honest-to-goodness happiness is just within her reach. But is Stella Sweeney, Dublin housewife, ready to grasp it?

Marian’s stunning new novel The Woman Who Stole My Life is about losing the life you had and finding a better one.”

I have to say that I really enjoyed it.  There were some total laugh out loud moments (so I was ‘LOLing’ on my sunlounger in both senses of the word!!) but it is also really moving.  I thought the title was going to be predictable in the story line – which it was – and wasn’t!  It combined many different story lines woven together that if you set out as individual facts would look odd – but it all flowed brilliantly.  The fact that Stella is a slightly chubby, 40 something Mum also rang true (although not lots of the other stuff, before my husband gets concerned!!)  Also, having been to New York fairly recently – I enjoyed the bits set there.

It is not a deep, complicated read – but it is fun, easy, and you always want to keep reading to see how it’s going to develop.

Now – I must go and download some of Ms Keyes’s back catalogue…..

Book Review – Us by David Nicholls

Posted on by Libby Price

Us David Nicholls

I really enjoyed ‘One Day’ by David Nicholls a few years ago (although have avoided the film, as I think it would be pointless to watch it having read the book) – so I had high expectations of Us.  My only niggle of doubt was it was about 50 somethings rather than 30 somethings this time – and I thought it might be out of my reference points (being such a spring chicken!!)

Here’s the Amazon blurb:

David Nicholls brings to bear all the wit and intelligence that graced ONE DAY in this brilliant, bittersweet novel about love and family, husbands and wives, parents and children. Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2014.

‘I was looking forward to us growing old together. Me and you, growing old and dying together.’
‘Douglas, who in their right mind would look forward to that?’
Douglas Petersen understands his wife’s need to ‘rediscover herself’ now that their son is leaving home.
He just thought they’d be doing their rediscovering together.
So when Connie announces that she will be leaving, too, he resolves to make their last family holiday into the trip of a lifetime: one that will draw the three of them closer, and win the respect of his son. One that will make Connie fall in love with him all over again.
The hotels are booked, the tickets bought, the itinerary planned and printed.
What could possibly go wrong?

I have to say I really enjoyed this too!  It pretty much fills in Douglas and Connie’s life together – just not in chronological order – jumping from the current story of ‘the trip of a lifetime’ with flashbacks to other times during their marriage. It keeps you hooked right the way through – with teasers about past and future events.

I also realised I am worryingly like Douglas – hatred of glitter, having to have a plan for everything, thinking that trying to name a quiz team is more painful than a minor surgical procedure……

It doesn’t have the blow to the solar plexus ending of One Day – but still is not predictable at all.

I would really recommend this one!

Book Review – The Vintage Summer Wedding by Jenny Oliver

Posted on by Libby Price

A few weeks back I read my first (although her third!) Jenny Oliver book, The Little Christmas Kitchen, and thoroughly enjoyed it

So here is the second one from her back catalogue (although I now realise this is a sequel to her first and I’ve read them in totally the wrong order – but never mind!) – and this time I steered away from festive Christmas fare with The Vintage Summer Wedding.

The Vintage Summer Wedding

Here is what Amazon have to say about it:

“A Vera Wang dress, the reception at a sophisticated London venue, and a guest list that reads like a society gossip column are all the ingredients of Anna Whitehall’s perfect wedding that never was…
Spending the summer uncovering hidden treasures in a vintage shop, Anna can still vividly remember both her childhood dreams; the first was that she’d become a Prima Ballerina, and dance on stage resplendent in a jewel-encrusted tutu. The second was that at her wedding she would walk down the aisle wearing a collective-gasp-from-the-congregation dress.
Years ago Anna pirouetted out of her cosy hometown village in a whirl of ambition…but when both of those fairy-tale dreams came crashing down around her ballet shoes, she and fiancée Seb find themselves back in Nettleton, their wedding and careers postponed indefinitely…
Don’t they say that you can never go home again? Sometimes they don’t get it right… This one summer is showing Anna that your dreams have to grow up with you. And sometimes what you think you wanted is just the opposite of what makes you happy……..”

 

And again I really enjoyed it!  Totally different setting – and totally different feel to it  involving English countryside / amazing food descriptions / casual use of everyday bad language / antiques / Britain’s Got Talent / Bagpuss (my secret phobia!) / bike riding and my absolutely favourite reference ever – the lift from Dirty Dancing!  How can you not love a book with the lift from Dirty Dancing in it?!?  (I should point out that my husband and I *almost* managed to re-enact the lift at my 40th birthday party!  This is shocking for a number of reasons a) he managed to lift me – admittedly on to his shoulder and not above his head, but still pretty good going and b) that my boobs stayed inside my dress and corset – and here’s proof (mine are the boobs on the right) as to why that is shocking.  Sadly there is no photographic evidence of the actual lift …………)

IMG_0029

 

But back to The Vintage Summer Wedding!  It’s a lovely, easy, quick read which I really enjoyed.  Now I need to read the book before (and I’m guessing which characters it involves already).  Here’s hoping to more in the Nettleton saga going forward.

Book Review – The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty

Posted on by Libby Price

I don’t even need to read the reviews for Liane Moriarty books now – having loved her back catalogue, including both Little Lies and The Hypnotist’s Love Story, I buy them ready to magically appear on my Kindle on publication date – and that’s what I did for The Last Anniversary.

The Last Anniversary

Here’s the Amazon blurb:

“From Liane Moriarty, million copy selling author of The Husband’s Secret, comes The Last Anniversary, a captivating story laced with mystery.
‘This is your last chance to change your mind, Rose. After today we can’t go back. Ever.’
Seventy-three years have passed since sisters Rose and Connie found an abandoned baby in the only other house on their little island, Scribbly Gum. With both parents vanished without a trace, Rose and Connie made the decision to take the baby in as their own. And since then the ‘Munro Baby Mystery’ has brought them fame and fortune.
But now, with Connie dead and outsider Sophie Honeywell inheriting her home, Rose begins to wonder if they made the right decision all those years ago. With the anniversary looming, and people still trying to solve the mystery, how much longer can they cover up the lie that has sustained their little community for four generations? And what other secrets are about to be revealed?”

As with all Ms Moriarty’s books – there are lots of intertwined plots throughout the book – that all culminate in the final few chapters pulling all the loose ends together.  The island of Scribbly Gum seems almost Famous Five-esque, and the main character – Sophie – is very nearly 40 – so all immediately great points of reference for me.  Throw in new babies, nut allergies, children’s books, dressing up, painting and decorating – and that’s all good too!  As ever, it was a really good read – and I pretended the kids hadn’t gone to sleep for an extra 15 minutes last night so I could finish it!!

Having said all of the loose ends are pulled together – I would still really like to know what happens next to lots of the characters………

Book Review – We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

Posted on by Libby Price

Again – this is a recommendation from a friend (I love that I have so many book loving – I’m not going to put geeky, because we’re far too cool for that, but actually we are – friends!)

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

The Amazon blurb is brief:

“By the author of worldwide bestseller The Jane Austen Book Club: you can’t choose your family, but they can make choices for you. Big, life-defining choices.”

Although there are lots of Amazon reviews praising this beneath the blurb. It was also nominated for the Man Booker Prize, and the blurb on there is slightly longer:

“As a child, Rosemary used to talk all the time. So much so that her parents used to tell her to start in the middle if she wanted to tell a story. Now Rosemary has just started college and she barely talks at all. And she definitely doesn’t talk about her family. So we’re not going to tell you too much either: you’ll have to find out for yourself what it is that makes her unhappy family unlike any other. Rosemary is now an only child, but she used to have a sister the same age as her, and an older brother. Both are now gone – vanished from her life. But there’s something unique about Rosemary’s sister, Fern. So now she’s telling her story; a looping narrative that begins towards the end, and then goes back to the beginning. Twice.”

Basically – there is a massive important factor to this book 25% in (can you tell I read it on my Kindle – otherwise it would have been ‘about a quarter of the way through’!) and not giving this away I think is fundamental to the book. The friend who recommended it had been told by her mother about what this twist was – and she thinks therefore made the book less enjoyable for her – hence me not revealing it. (As people who know me in real life will attest – such self restraint is amazing!!)

It is beautifully written, different, believable and keeps you engaged throughout. I could not put this in a specific ‘genre’ – but would definitely recommend you read it!

Book Review – The Little Christmas Kitchen by Jenny Oliver

Posted on by Libby Price

The Little Christmas Kitchen

 

I was recommended this over dinner last week and I went in blind, not reading the Amazon blurb (but here it is for you guys!)

“Christmas at the Davenports’ house was always about one thing: food!
But when sisters Ella and Maddy were split up, Ella to live in London with their Dad, and Maddy staying in Greece with their Mum, mince pies lost their magic.
Now, a cheating husband has thrown Ella a curved snowball…and for the first time in years, all she wants is her mum. So she heads back to Greece, where her family’s taverna holds all the promise of home. Meanwhile, waitress Maddy’s dreams of a white Christmas lead her back to London…and her Dad.
But a big fat festive life-swap isn’t as easy as it sounds! And as the sisters trade one kitchen for another, it suddenly seems that among the cinnamon, cranberries and icing sugar, their recipes for a perfect Christmas might be missing a crucial ingredient: each other.”

It’s basically a festive Mamma Mia / Bridget Jones hybrid (although none of the main characters are as annoying as BJ!) It alternates in location between Greece and London with intertwining stories of 2 sisters. The points of reference were bang on for me – I particularly loved the Sweet Valley High reference (I always wanted to be Jessica although was way more Elizabeth – but in my case Elisabeth!!) and TV viewing references to Strictly / XFactor / The Voice – it just all felt totally relevant to me and I loved that!

Now my friends know I am a bit (ok, a lot!) of a pedant – and I noticed a couple of typos – which always makes me cringe a bit – but it didn’t detract from the lovely story.

This is not a highbrow book – but is a perfect easy read, and even got me – self proclaimed grinch – into the festive spirit!

I have already downloaded Jenny Oliver’s other books to read which shows that I enjoyed it. I’d also love to know what happens to the characters next……..