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Book Review: Break Point by Lee Stone

Posted on by Libby Price

Bookshots is a new concept by the author James Patterson.  To quote the Bookshots website “BOOKSHOTS are all-new, original stories that feature a complete, cinematic storytelling experience in 150 pages. Characters include favorites like Alex Cross, Michael Bennett, and the Women’s Murder Club. For readers with busy schedules, BOOKSHOTS is the answer.”

Some of the books are written by Mr Patterson himself, others by authors he’s chosen – and that is where this book comes in – and most excitingly, it’s written by someone I went to school with (well, he was at the boys school next door – but we shared a sixth form block!)

When Lee posted on Facebook about this (he’s been writing for years at random times of the day and night whilst also working for the BBC and having a gorgeous little – very little at the start as she was really prem – daughter with his wife) I immediately pre ordered it from Amazon.  But I’m always nervous reading something written by someone I know – I want to be able to write a glowing review – but what if it’s really cringey?  Or just downright bad? Or, biggest crime to me, full of typos and bad grammar?!

Well – I need not have worried one bit – it was fantastic!

Break Point

This is what the Amazon blurb had to say:

“One point away from winning the French Open, tennis star Kirsten Keller breaks down and flees the court in tears.
Keller has been receiving death threats. Terrified and desperate, she hires former Metropolitan police officer Chris Foster to protect her at Wimbledon.
As the championship progresses, Keller’s tormentor gets ever closer. And the threats become horrifyingly real.”

The book had me intrigued from the start – and I immediately wanted to know more about the characters.  One of my concerns about it being short was that they wouldn’t be fully fleshed out – but they really were.

I was also concerned (honestly, I shouldn’t have read this with all of these ‘concerns’!) that it would have to be predictable because there wouldn’t be time to build the story – but again, I was very wrong!  I smugly thought I’d predicted who the ‘baddy’ was early on – but I was totally and utterly incorrect.

The setting of Wimbledon was very timely given that it’s in a few weeks – and having been to the championship, it was nice to recognise the setting – similarly with some of the London narrative.

It is fast paced and difficult to put down – you could easily read it on a plane flight to Europe this summer in a oner – but I didn’t feel short changed, and that the story should have been longer (which interestingly I do often feel with some longer books!)  I would definitely consider downloading more Bookshots in the future for when you don’t want to wallow in a book for ages.

All in all a fantastic read – and I look forward to reading more of Lee’s books in the future.

Phew – concerns all answered!!

 

Book Review: The Unmumsy Mum

Posted on by Libby Price

The Unmumsy Mum

“THIS IS NOT A PARENTING MANUAL. THIS IS REAL LIFE.

The Unmumsy Mum writes candidly about motherhood like it really is: the messy, maddening, hilarious reality, how there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach and how it is sometimes absolutely fine to not know what you are doing. The lessons she’s learnt while grappling with two small boys – from birth to teething, 3am night feeds to toddler tantrums, soft play to toilet training – will have you roaring with laughter and taking great comfort in the fact that it’s definitely not just you…”

I’m not sure I’m target market for this book – as I’m already 13 years into my Mum ‘journey’ and with my ‘baby’ being 4 and a half – but I really like what The Unmumsy Mum posts on Facebook and her blog, so I downloaded it to my Kindle.

I LOVED this book.  It was laugh out loud funny at times – but also had me weeping today (the chapter where she talks about being a Mum but without her own Mum being around – it was so beautifully written and so moving. It made me think more about my husband not having his Mum around whilst we’re going through our own stab at parenthood as she passed away exactly a year before our eldest was born.).

I think this should be bought for every first time Mum so they can know what parenthood is really all about.  I was lucky that a friend had her first baby about 9 months before me – and we were very similar control freak / career girls until then – and she freely admitted the first 6 weeks were HIDEOUS.  It was such an unusually honest opinion and helped me no end – and having that written down in the public domain in a book is such a great support for people (the only book I read before having my first was Gina Ford #howstupidwasI?!).

Despite having 4 kids, I am most definitely not a mumsy mum – in fact I remember my oldest friend’s Mum being shocked when I had more than 2 kids, as apparently I was the least maternal amongst my sisters!! Therefore I empathise totally with The Unmumsy Mum lots.

The style of writing is great – and honest (and sweary – which is totally me)  Whilst it’s primarily about being the parent to small people it does cover other topics really well.  The ‘why have kids if you’re going to moan about them?’ section was excellently written.  It also  made me think a lot about comparing the sh*t you’re going through with what other people go through.  A friend recently lost her 11 year old son to a brain tumour which was utterly devastating – and hopefully something I never have to experience first hand – but I was at risk of thinking everything in my life was inconsequential compared to that – but some things, for us, are still important – and this helped me realise that, whilst still being there to support my friend and her family.

But don’t for one second think it’s all deep and meaningful!  It is brilliantly funny and, to quote The Unmumsy Mum herself, full of sh*ts and giggles – exactly like parenthood is.

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: The Sunshine and Biscotti Club by Jenny Oliver

Posted on by Libby Price

The Sunshine and Biscotti Club

First things first, I must confess an interest in this book.  Back last October, at a charity auction, the author Jenny Oliver had donated a ‘money can’t buy’ prize of being a named character in one of her future books.  My wonderful husband bid lots of money for fabulous causes (Brain Tumour Research and Birmingham Children’s Husband) and I was the lucky winner! I had no clue what the book was going to be about, just that Libby Price would be in it – and that it would be out in May 2016.

I then got to read the blurb on Amazon:

“The ovens are pre-heating, the Prosecco is chilling…and The Sunshine and Biscotti Club is nearly ready to open its doors.
But the guests have other things on their minds…
Libby: The Blogger
Life is Instagram-perfect for food blogger Libby…until she catches her husband cheating just weeks before her Italian cooking club’s grand opening.
Evie: The Mum
Eve’s marriage isn’t working, but she’s not dared admit it until now. A trip to Italy to help Libby open The Sunshine and Biscotti Club might be the perfect escape…
Jessica: In Love with her Best Friend
Jessica has thrown herself into her work to shut out the memory of the man who never loved her back. The same man who’s just turned up in Tuscany…
Welcome to Tuscany’s newest baking school – where your biscotti is served with a side of love, laughter and ice-cold limoncello!”

So not only was Libby Price a named character – she was the main character – excitement overload. The blurb also contained one of Libby’s friends being called Evie – which is one of my daughters (interestingly I found out from one of Jenny’s friends that this was a typo in the blurb, and throughout the book Evie is Eve – but then so is my Evie, legally!) However, there was also an unfaithful rotter of a husband – thankfully not called Mark, which might have been a bit distressing!!

I was very excited on publication date to receive some flowers through the post from Jenny Oliver and Carina (the publishers) and a copy of THE BOOK!

I read the first sentence to my husband: “As the church clock struck midnight, Libby Price was attempting to haul a double mattress up a flight of stairs on her own.”
His response – “well, that’s obviously fiction, you’d get staff to do it”.

So off I went to see what this Libby Price was all about!

I was instantly sucked in to her Tuscan world and what she needed to do to get The Sunshine and Biscotti Club up and running in a slightly dilapidated hotel left to Libby by her Aunt.  It also brought about  the intertwining lives of her old friends who all rallied round to help her. The descriptions of Italy were wonderful – you could almost taste the limoncello – and the scenery –  the hotel itself, the surrounding countryside and the blokes – were perfectly described!  Each chapter was told from the point of view of one of the female leads – who all had very different lives now, years on from when they were first mates.  I have to say because my reading isn’t devouring a book in one sitting any more (the joy of 4 kids!) I dip in and out – and sometimes I had to go back and re-read to remind myself who everyone was – particularly the male characters, as there seemed to be lots of them, and I don’t feel I got to know them as well as the female ones.

Whilst the book was a lot about friendships it touched on other topics – particularly the Instagram perfectness that many people portray on social media, which isn’t their real life at all.

At the end of the book you’re fast forwarded a full year.  I have to confess to feeling a bit short changed – I wanted to know what had happened in the intervening period (I don’t like missing out on the goss!) It concluded nicely – but with enough’what’s going to happen next?’ to make you want a sequel – or to want to go on holiday there yourself!

This is a perfect summer read – even more perfect if you’re sipping on limoncello and nibbling on a biscotti in the sunshine whilst reading it!

Definitely far more perfect summer read then reading about this Libby Price’s exploits anyway……..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Memoirs of a Former Fatty by Gemma Reucroft

Posted on by Libby Price

Memoirs of a former fatty

 

“Four years ago, I was obese. I was also so chronically unfit that I couldn’t manage more than one flight of stairs without getting seriously out of breath. I was eating my way to a whole host of health problems and my knees were knackered.
Now nearly four years on, I am over 80lbs lighter and a whole heck of a lot fitter. I’m now training to be a Personal Trainer so that I can help other people like me. This is why I have written this book.
Along the way I learned a lot, and came up with some ideas of my own about how and why people lose weight….or don’t.
This is my story.”

Yet again I downloaded this upon the recommendation of a friend – the same friend who recommended “The Strong Woman Trap” and “Putting Social Media To Work” – in fact the author of this book is also one of the authors of the latter.

I’d really enjoyed Gemma’s style of writing (and I follow her on Twitter) and so expected to enjoy this – and I wasn’t wrong!

It basically talks about Gemma’s own experience (or journey if we’re being X Factor about it!) from being overweight and unfit to being a size 10 half marathon runner.

It does not contain a magic wand, or secret formula for this to happen – and Gemma is very upfront that basically it’s eat less and move more (something most of us know, but many of us struggle to do in practice) – but it is her own personal experience.

Lots of it – about why people fail (with weight loss and getting fit) is stuff I’ve read before – but still rings true, and always good to reinforce this (says the Queen of self sabotage – well we’re on holiday / it’s so and so’s birthday / it’s the weekend / the day has a y in it – all excuses I’ve used for cracking open the prosecco and then eating the entire contents of the children’s chocolate stash……).

I’m also inherently nosy (part of the reason I love social media) and so hearing how someone else has achieved something is very appealing to me – and Gemma sounds like my kind of girl (we have a mutual friend – so I suspect this is even more likely to be true!)

I really enjoyed reading this – and it’s definitely motivated me in my own weight loss / get fit campaign.  (I am pleased that Gemma fannied about a bit – technical term – before finally knuckling down, I feel I’ve been at the fannying stage for a little while now, and really need to grab the bull by the horns, so to speak!)

And – I’ve signed up for Race for Life with various female members of the family on 17th July – and want to try to run all 5km.  Baby steps and all that!

 

 

 

 

Book Review: The Strong Woman Trap: How to Hang Up Your Cape and Get Your Life Back by Sasha Mobley

Posted on by Libby Price

The Strong Woman Trap

“Are you the one who saves the day at work? Does your family expect you to do it all when you get home? Perhaps you used to like being thought of as reliable, but you long for a life of your own again—one that doesn’t include having the ability to attract lots of people into your life who need lots of “help.”

It isn’t just you. Lots of women have been socialized this way, and worse, no one has been talking about it—setting us up for isolation and second guessing ourselves all the while.

The Strong Woman Trap takes a hard look at the cultural beliefs that set strong, driven, ambitious women up for a life spent constantly saving others from themselves, filling in gaps on every team with their own efforts, and going it alone like a hybrid of Wonder Woman and Working Girl.

Women are strong. We are called on for our strengths all the time. We are called on fix what is broken. We are called on heal what is hurt. We are called on to pull it all together. Often our role is to be the glue that binds the world.

We can do all those things and more. Yet many women still wonder when their own lives will begin. Women wonder when their merit and effort at work will be recognized. They wonder when it will be their turn.

Women are already working too hard—too hard at a game that is rigged and that we didn’t create. We spend our energies managing demands we didn’t expect and emotions we have been taught to see as irrelevant.

This book is for the women spend their spare moments looking wistfully through magazines telling themselves, “not for me…but I wish it was,” and believing they are almost at the point where they might get to have dreams again, but not yet.

The answer to the dilemma usually is one more personal sacrifice away. One more problem to solve for someone else, and we can focus on ourselves again. One more set of dues to pay, and we can earn the recognition we deserve.

If you read Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg and wondered just how much farther you had to lean, this book is for you.

Wishes won’t get you there. Neither will doubling down on the strategies that got into this dilemma where you’re good enough to be the fixer but not seen as the leader. What will get you there goes beyond an effort-driven life that seems to call for more control, more sucking it up and more desperately holding things together.

What will get you there is learning the secrets to escaping The Strong Woman Trap.”

A friend tagged me in a Facebook post – along with other people she thought might be interested in the book – and she was most definitely right!

My name is Libby and I’m a control freak.  I generally think that it’s better for me to do tasks rather than delegate them to someone else and it not be to the standard I would like.  I also like to help people (my husband would say interfere!) but give me a crisis to assist with, and I’m there with my boots blacked.

Most of the time  that’s fine – and I muddle through juggling home / kids / work / friends / charity events / random crises absolutely fine – but sometimes I’m just really, really tired.  This book really helped me think about how and why I feel the need to put my knickers on over my trousers (metaphorically you’ll be pleased to hear) and be a superhero.

Some of the book is a bit ‘American’ – when there is a list of female role models, I have to confess to not knowing who they all are (I’m blaming that on them being American and not me being dim?!?)- but overall it was really helpful in looking in the mirror and analysing (spelt the British way!) myself.

Definitely a stop and think book.

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Tapas, Carrot cake and a Corpse by Sherri Bryan

Posted on by Libby Price

 

Tapas, Carrot Cake and a Corpse

“When murder comes calling at the coastal town of St. Eves, Charlotte Denver makes it her business to find out who killed the handsome stranger on board a luxury sailing boat. Unfortunately, her attempts at crime-solving don’t always go down well with the town’s Chief Inspector, ex-firefighter, Nathan Costello, but she presses on regardless, from her marina-front café, taking up the challenge to solve the mystery before tragedy strikes again, and uncovering a plot that sends shockwaves throughout the community. There’s a twist in the tale of this cozy mystery – will you guess what it is?”

I downloaded this because it was free #cheapskate and read it from cover to cover (not literally, it was on my Kindle) on a flight from Munich to Heathrow.  So as you can imagine – it’s not a long book.  In fact, I  think a ‘novella’ would be a suitable description.

It is light, fluffy, super easy to read and not at all taxing – and quite enjoyable, a bit like watching something frothy on ITV on a Sunday evening.

Having said that – I am not desperate to find out what happens to Charlotte in the future, and probably wouldn’t bother spending any money finding out.

I guess short and inoffensive would be my summary. #betthatdoesntgetputonthejacket

 

 

Book Review: The Time Of Our Lives by Jane Costello

Posted on by Libby Price

The Time Of Our Lives

 

“Three best friends. One five-star hotel. Will it be the holiday of a lifetime . . .?
Imogen and her friends Meredith and Nicola have had their fill of budget holidays, cattle-class flights and 6 a.m. offensives for a space by the pool.
So when Meredith wins a VIP holiday at Barcelona’s hippest new hotel, they plan to sip champagne with the jet set, party with the glitterati and switch off in unapologetic luxury.
But when the worst crisis of her working life erupts back home, Imogen has to juggle her BlackBerry with a Manhattan, while soothing a hysterical boss and hunting down an AWOL assistant.
Between a robbery, a run-in with hotel security staff and an encounter on a nudist beach that they’d all rather forget, the friends stumble from one disaster to the next. At least Imogen has a distraction in the form of the gorgeous guy who’s always in the right place at the very worst time. Until, that is, his motives start to arouse a few suspicions . . .”

This book was a PERFECT holiday read – I really enjoyed it from start to finish.  Having been to Barcelona fairly recently, I liked the fact that I recognised lots of the places that were mentioned (the whole nudist thing happened to us when we were sat in a bar drinking mojitos and a bloke wandered alongside the bar completely stark b*llock naked!)

Barcelona 2

– and I think the hotel was based very much on the W hotel (where we had a lovely afternoon of champers in the sunshine with friends and sans kids!!)

Barcelona 4

Some of it was a little far fetched (European business class is nowhere near that good!) and sometimes  the coincidences were not that likely to have happened – but who cares, it’s a novel – and a fun one at that!  There were lots of twists and turns (which I don’t want to give away) but I really enjoyed it – and liked Imogen and her friends.

I really enjoyed it and will definitely look out for more by Jane Costello in the future.