Woman Reads Books - AugustHello! Thank you so much for stumbling onto my little blog.
I love reading - and spend far too much money on books every month (or week to be honest). I thought it might be nice to share my thoughts on some of the books that I've read. I hope you enjoy having a look at my reviews and ramblings - please feel free to contact me using the form provided.
Happy reading!2024-03-28T12:46:19+00:00urn:md5:2870f953650165bc3e5a172d738388c0DotclearThe Couple Next Door - Shari Lapena (pub. Bantam, Transworld)urn:md5:c013cf5488287b110a014291c40fa4c32016-08-30T14:11:00+01:002016-09-01T13:37:36+01:00ireneannAugust<p><img src="http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/public/.tcnd_s.png" alt="tcnd.png" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="tcnd.png, Aug 2016" /></p>
<p><strong>You never know what's happening on the other side of the wall.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Your neighbour told you that she didn't want your six-month-old daughter at the dinner party. Nothing personal, she just couldn't stand her crying.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Your husband said it would be fine. After all, you only live next door. You'll have the baby monitor and you'll take it in turns to go back every half hour.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Your daughter was sleeping when you checked on her last. But now, as you race up the stairs in your deathly quiet house, your worst fears are realized. She's gone.</strong>
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You've never had to call the police before. But now they're in your home, and who knows what they'll find there.
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<strong>What would you be capable of, when pushed past your limit?</strong></p> <p><img src="http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/public/.logo4_t.png" alt="logo4.png" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="logo4.png, May 2016" /></p>
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<p>I'd been hearing a lot about this book, how great it was, so I was really looking forward to reading it.</p>
<p>I sort of wish I hadn't bothered.</p>
<p>Granted I read a lot, I always have done, so I'm not surprised by many of the twist in the plot proclamations that follow a lot of book recommendations. Much of the time I don't mind this, as long as the book is well-written I still get as much out of it as I would have done being amazed by the ending. So I didn't mind at all knowing pretty much from the start who was behind the kidnapping of baby Cora. What I did mind was the introduction of information towards the very end of the book.</p>
<p>For me, a good thriller leaves clues dotted through the plot, so whilst an ending might be a surprise, it is at least hinted at, or referenced to, earlier in the book. Maybe it was because Detective Rasbach was a bit-player in the story, but if he suspected a person surely we would have been alerted to it before the big reveal? He gave his theories on other characters, so why weren't we party to all suspicions? It doesn't make it a surprise, it makes it unfair - maybe unfair is the wrong word - irritating, or an uneven playing field - would that be better? It's not right to suddenly declare that a detective had put a tap on a phone or had a character under surveillance, after we know who the guilty party is. Lapena could easily have made all the characters open suspects from the start without any damage to the story, maybe that way I wouldn't have been so disappointed in the ending.</p>
<p>It was a good story in that the plot was interesting enough. And whilst the characters were developed a bit, I didn't really warm to any of them, not even Anne - the distraught mother, in total honesty, which is a bit odd considering what's happened. I'm not sure why this is, whether it's the forced element of her mental state, or the fact that she left Cora by herself in the house. I acknowledge that this may be down to my own prejudice towards someone who would do this anyway, personally I don't know anyone who would do this with a 6-month-old baby, but I accept that it is a possibility. So as a moral question it's an interesting discussion, I'm just saying it possibly coloured my affinity with, and sympathy towards, her.</p>
<p>I wonder if part of my problem with the book is down to it being written in the 3rd person; it might have been forgivable for the "surprises" if, for example, it had been all from Anne's viewpoint in her voice, that way we wouldn't have known what Rasbach had or hadn't done/thought. There were some elements of the writing I didn't enjoy, in some places it felt a bit stilted and in other a bit flaky, but I was sort of invested enough that I continued reading.</p>
<p>I don't know, maybe it's because I have read some wonderful books recently that this has made it harder to ignore the inadequacies of others. It is just so ( and I hate to use this word again) disappointing when you've believed the hype and a book doesn't live up to all the promises, especially when there are some exquisite books like <em>The Secret to Not Drowning</em>, that aren't given the same shout-outs.</p>
<p>However, I suppose this is how we find the hidden gems, by keep reading and reading, finding out what we enjoy and why we enjoy it. It's hard to keep focussed on that though when a) you've spent £12.99 on a book and b) you've got another 100 (ahem) waiting to be read.</p>
<p>I personally would just avoid this book, it really isn't worth the money, or the time to be fair. Whilst the plot may be up to it, the writing unfortunately, just isn't.</p>http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/index.php?post/2016/08/30/The-Couple-Next-Door-Shari-Lapena-%28pub.-Bantam%2C-Transworld%29#comment-formhttp://www.womanreadsbooks.com/index.php?feed/atom/comments/75All Fall Down- Tom Bale (pub. Bookouture)urn:md5:328144bb15e59e5b6379ceed001964582016-08-30T13:43:00+01:002016-08-30T13:43:00+01:00ireneannAugust<p><img src="http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/public/.afd_s.png" alt="afd.png" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="afd.png, Aug 2016" /></p>
<p><strong>You tried to save a life. Now you’re fighting to save your own.</strong></p>
<p><strong>It should have been an idyllic day for the Turner family – until a dying man, beaten beyond all recognition, arrives at their home, uttering the words, HELP ME.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Rob and Wendy Turner and their children try to explain away the horrific scene as being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but in the days that follow their lives are threatened in ways they could never imagine.</strong></p>
<p><strong>The family is unaware that they are being watched by someone with their own terrifying agenda, who will stop at nothing to fulfil their own twisted desires.</strong></p>
<p><strong>But when hidden secrets come rushing to the surface, it’s clear not everything is as it seems in this happy family. Are the Turners a victim of circumstance – or does the key to their fate lie closer to home?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Forced to fight for everything they hold dear, can they save themselves before time runs out – or will their act of compassion see them paying the ultimate price…?</strong></p> <p><img src="http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/public/.logo4_t.png" alt="logo4.png" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="logo4.png, May 2016" /></p>
<p>I'm not sure how much I can say about this book without totally spoiling the plot for you, so forgive me if this review seems a bit woolly. This is a weirdly bonkers plot, not in a bad way, just in a "What on earth has happened?" kind of way. I mean, I would hope that this is far-fetched, but I'm not sure I'm convincing myself to be fair. There's the whole thing that happens to the family, then some shady backgrounds with a couple of the family members, and then, thrown into the mix is the early, traumatic life of the adopted daughter; I mean, they're certainly not a boring family!</p>
<p>What all this means then, is that I had no clue who was involved in current events or why. There were so many suspects and so many reasons why, that any one of them was quite likely to be behind it.</p>
<p>I have to say that I wasn't over-enamoured with Rob, I don't know why, but I didn't really warm to him very much. In fact I'm not sure who I did latch on to; maybe Wendy, the mother. I don't know why this lack of attachment occurred, there's usually a lynchpin but just not here for some reason.</p>
<p>I enjoyed the writing as a whole, it kept me enthralled, as well as guessing, for most of the book. I wasn't that convinced by the ending, which again comes back to the question of whether the plot is far-fetched. For my money it would have been a better ending at the house (which of course will make better sense when you've read it), I didn't really feel the need for a big-bow finish, and arguably the book does suffer a little for it.</p>
<p>That being said, I did enjoy <em>All Fall Down</em>. It definitely had a plot I can't remember seeing before, and as I've said, I was guessing for most of the book, which is always a good thing!</p>http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/index.php?post/2016/08/30/All-Fall-Down-Tom-Bale-%28pub.-Bookouture%29#comment-formhttp://www.womanreadsbooks.com/index.php?feed/atom/comments/74Her Darkest Nightmare - Brenda Novak (pub. Headline)urn:md5:750aa53746d3580a5c553773020475612016-08-30T13:22:00+01:002016-08-30T13:22:00+01:00ireneannAugust<p><img src="http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/public/.hdn_s.png" alt="hdn.png" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="hdn.png, Aug 2016" /></p>
<p><strong>Dr. Evelyn Talbot has learnt to live with fear. As a teenager she was targeted by her boyfriend, Jasper Moore, and survived days of torture. She escaped with her life, but Jasper disappeared before he could be caught.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Now Evelyn Talbot lives in a world of psychopaths.</strong></p>
<p><strong>As the pioneering head of the Hanover House institute in Alaska, she engages daily with killers who have no conscience, no remorse and an ever-increasing desire to murder her. Her only desire is to try and figure out why they do what they do and stop them.</strong></p>
<p><strong>But when a mutilated body is found in her sleepy Alaskan town Evelyn is forced to question herself, her inmates and whether her darkest nightmare has come back to haunt her...</strong></p> <p><img src="http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/public/.logo4_t.png" alt="logo4.png" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="logo4.png, May 2016" /></p>
<p>I really enjoyed this story and was totally taken into it, but with some caveats.</p>
<p>I guess, not being an expert in any sense of the word, that it must be difficult to write a series novel. The pull must always be to revisit a character's backstory, to remind us what that character has done, or had done to them. So I was a little forgiving at the beginning, especially as I hadn't read any of Brenda Novak's previous novels. I shall say that Evelyn's past sounds terrifically awesome in its gruesomeness, but being reminded of it constantly grew a bit tiresome about halfway through. As did the I can/I can't enter a relationship; I get that Evelyn has issues, I understand why and I understand the dichotomy in her mind, I don't need it to be related back to her encounter with Jasper all the time. Maybe give the reader a little credit that they could decipher it, especially if it's already been explained previously in the book. It might just be me that finds this irritating though.</p>
<p>Also, and this is my last negative honestly, I personally found it a little choppy towards the last few chapters. The 'not described' sex scene seemed a little extraneous, and the oh-my-goodness meeting of good vs. bad was a little bit disappointing, just because it was a bit...(I'm struggling to find the right word here)...a bit over-too-quickly I guess. "I did this because of this, so blah blah, fight, fight, blah, blah", that sounds really bad, it isn't, I think that it just could have been better, more suspenseful, built up a little bit more - it was just too good a scene and it was felt a little thrown-away, which was a shame.</p>
<p>Gosh, sorry, that was a bit long; perhaps unnecessarily so!</p>
<p>I did think that <em>Her Darkest Nightmare</em> was a good, no a very good, story at its heart. Like I've said, the Evelyn vs. Jasper backstory is a great one, very compulsive and a terrific basis for this one. It made for some truly great suspense. And, apart from the final showdown, it was packed with tension, helped no end by the remote setting of the prison/experiment centre of Hanover House.</p>
<p>The patients/prisoners were interesting in a psychopathic serial murderer kind of way, and I wasn't ever sure whether Evelyn was being prepped as the next victim, or helped, albeit in a perverse way. The relationships between the main characters were believable and natural, though more could have been made of some of the characters. Though, of course, this is a series so I acknowledge some of that may have been done in a previous book.</p>
<p>It has enough twists and turns to keep you guessing who is behind events at Hanover House, and I cared enough about the characters to be invested in who was playing for the wrong side. The actual, true ending to the book was great, and I thought an excellent way to finish off, leaving me definitely wanting to read the next book. <em>Her Darkest Nightmare</em> is absolutely well worth a read.</p>http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/index.php?post/2016/08/30/Her-Darkest-Nightmare-Brenda-Novak-%28pub.-Headline%29#comment-formhttp://www.womanreadsbooks.com/index.php?feed/atom/comments/73Word Nerd - Susin Nielson (pub. Penguin Random House Children)urn:md5:2fbd593dd234b0954f907c9cf378cf952016-08-16T16:39:00+01:002016-08-16T16:39:00+01:00ireneannAugust<p><img src="http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/public/.wn_s.png" alt="wn.png" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="wn.png, Aug 2016" /></p>
<p><strong>Ambrose Bukowski is a twelve-year-old with a talent for mismatching his clothes, for saying the wrong thing at the worst possible time, and for words. In short, he’s a self-described nerd. Making friends is especially hard because he and his overprotective mother, Irene, have had to move so often. And when bullies at his latest school almost kill him by deliberately slipping a peanut into his sandwich to set off his allergy, it's his mother who has the extreme reaction. From now on, Ambrose has to be home-schooled.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Then Ambrose strikes up an unlikely friendship with the landlord's son, Cosmo, an ex-con who's been in prison. They have nothing in common except for Scrabble. But a small deception grows out of control when Ambrose convinces a reluctant Cosmo to take him to a Scrabble club. Could this spell disaster for Ambrose?</strong></p> <p><img src="http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/public/.logo4_t.png" alt="logo4.png" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="logo4.png, May 2016" /></p>
<p>I will be honest and say I have kept passing Nielson's previous novel, <em>We're Are All Made of Molecules</em>, in the bookshop discounting it for some bizarre reason, but I think on the back of <em>Word Nerd</em> I'm not going to make that mistake again. This is a great read, dealing with friendships, and the reality of not fitting in; with Ambrose Bukowski struggling to find a place for himself in his world.</p>
<p>I liked Ambrose, though I could see how he might manage to talk himself into trouble. I found his quirky dress sense quite cool, and liked the fact that he loved the stuff he wore, even though they might have been bought through necessity rather than choice. It's hard though, being that kid that is different, and whilst I now look at him through adult eyes, I wonder if I would have been so compassionate as a child? I'd like to think so, certainly I try to instil it in my children, but in all honesty I don't know. I do think that this is a good book to explore the sense of identity and of treating people as individuals, who may or may not always conform to the idea of 'normal'. I can see though why Ambrose struggled to find friendship in his own peer group, the fact that it got harder each time he moved obviously played a big part in this too.</p>
<p>The relationship he builds up with neighbour and ex-con Cosmo, is therefore really lovely to see, as is his joining Scrabble Club. Through these friendships he builds up both his self-esteem and his sense of identity in a subtle and realistic way. It was also good to see him trying to break through his mother's over-cautious and protective bubble. As a mum I totally understand where she was coming from, and as a mum of a child whose needs are different from the 'norm' I understand even more! It is sometimes hard to hand over some responsibility, after all who could possibly look after your own child better than you? It's easy to think that the whole world will fall apart if you aren't there constantly checking and approving their every move!</p>
<p>The subtleties of each character's interactions with Ambrose, and each other, also play an important role in the book.. They all in some way mould Ambrose into finding out who he is, and in some cases who he doesn't want to be.</p>
<p><em>Word Nerd</em> is a terrific book for those young adults struggling to find their way through those troubled years, and also for those of us who just need to be reminded sometimes, that being different is what we all should strive to be. Remember too, that words are the key to a bright future!</p>http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/index.php?post/2016/08/16/Word-Nerd-Susin-Nielson-%28pub.-Penguin-Random-House-Children%29#comment-formhttp://www.womanreadsbooks.com/index.php?feed/atom/comments/72Out of Bounds - Val McDermid (pub. Little, Brown)urn:md5:8354c74bbe2e278932174c6db9a3230d2016-08-16T14:48:00+01:002016-08-25T21:24:19+01:00ireneannAugust<p><img src="http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/public/.oob_s.png" alt="oob.png" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="oob.png, Aug 2016" /></p>
<p><strong>'There were a lot of things that ran in families, but murder wasn't one of them . . .'</strong></p>
<p><strong>When a teenage joyrider crashes a stolen car, a routine DNA test could be the key to unlocking the mystery of a twenty-year-old murder inquiry. Detective Chief Inspector Karen Pirie is an expert at solving the unsolvable. With each cold case closed, justice is served. So, finding the answer should be straightforward, but it's as twisted as the DNA helix itself.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Meanwhile, Karen finds herself irresistibly drawn to another case, one that she has no business investigating. And as she pieces together decades-old evidence, Karen discovers the most dangerous kind of secrets. Secrets that someone is willing to kill for . . .</strong></p> <p><img src="http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/public/.logo4_t.png" alt="logo4.png" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="logo4.png, May 2016" /></p>
<p>There is a reason Val McDermid has been crowned Queen of Crime, the evidence why is in every line of this book.</p>
<p>As usual I shall do the regular disclaimer that she is one of my favourite authors, always on my 'must-read' list. But there is a reason she has stayed there so long, and that's because she's bloomin' brilliant. I never get the sense of her simplifying procedures for her readers, and in fact I love that she is such a wordsmith that I generally look up the meaning of at least one of the words contained in her books.</p>
<p>And so to the book! <em>Out of Bounds</em> is a great story - totally immersive and engaging. Karen Pirie is a great leading character, and the way she and Jason "the Mint" Murray tiptoe around the death of Karen's partner Phil, is both painful and touching, and Phil's ghost echoes through the story. (Can I just tell you I have only this minute worked out Jason's nickname! Honestly. In fairness, it was a bad couple of fog days - but even so...duh!) The cold case, and recent crimes are equally intriguing, and I enjoyed Karen's feistiness and inability to ignore her suspicions even if it did land her in trouble.</p>
<p>The side plot of the refugees was sympathetically written and brought to life some of the problems they face in this country. I don't understand how refugees are supposed to survive without any form of help, it seems an unfair circle they have to go through, especially when like the refugees here - many of them are skilled and actually want to contribute to their communities. Anyway, needless to say there is enough plot here to keep anyone well entertained.</p>
<p>See I feel now like everything I write just comes back down to me enthusing about Val McDermid, pretty much in the same way as my rant about Mark Billingham. I know even before I start reading that I'm in for a treat, she has a total grasp of everything - plot, setting, characters, and she moulds them like a sculptor.</p>
<p>I have suddenly realised that I've told you very little about the book, but in all honesty I don't really need or want to. With this, as with any other Val McDermid book, you buy it or hunt it out at the library, then sit back and enjoy. You will never be disappointed.</p>http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/index.php?post/2016/08/16/Out-of-Bounds-Val-McDermid-%28pub.-Little%2C-Brown%29#comment-formhttp://www.womanreadsbooks.com/index.php?feed/atom/comments/71Fractured - Catherine McKenzie (pub. Lake Union Publishing)urn:md5:410703bc0e04bef74ea13df01285526b2016-08-11T10:22:00+01:002016-08-11T10:22:00+01:00ireneannAugust<p><img src="http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/public/.f_s.png" alt="f.png" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="f.png, Aug 2016" /></p>
<p><strong>Welcome, neighbour!</strong></p>
<p><strong>Julie Prentice and her family move across the country to the idyllic Mount Adams district of Cincinnati, hoping to evade the stalker who’s been terrorizing them ever since the publication of her bestselling novel, The Murder Game. Since Julie doesn’t know anyone in her new town, when she meets her neighbor John Dunbar, their instant connection brings measured hope for a new beginning. But she never imagines that a simple, benign conversation with him could set her life spinning so far off course.</strong></p>
<p><strong>We know where you live.…</strong></p>
<p><strong>After a series of misunderstandings, Julie and her family become the target of increasingly unsettling harassment. Has Julie’s stalker found her, or are her neighbours out to get her, too? As tension in the neighbourhood rises, new friends turn into enemies, and the results are deadly.</strong></p> <p><img src="http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/public/.logo4_t.png" alt="logo4.png" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="logo4.png, May 2016" /></p>
<p>This is a great read, I really did enjoy every word of it.</p>
<p>It's narrated in a way that completely drew me in - told through the voices of the two main characters, Julie and John. It isn't linear in its narration, but rather than confusing this just adds to the mystery of Pine Street and its events and characters.</p>
<p>We know from the start that a terrible accident/crime has occurred, but then we're left in the dark as to who the victim was until the end of the novel. But, in some way who he/she was is rendered almost irrelevant because of the intricate unravelling of the neighbourhood and its inhabitants. And what a collection of characters they are.</p>
<p>Firstly, Julie - the author of bestselling book <em>The Murder Game</em>, who has moved to Pine Street to escape her stalker. I was a little unsure at first how this was going to play out - writing essentially about writing. It could have turned into a bit of a lecture on the trials and tribulations of putting pen to paper, and the demands of following up a successful book, but luckily I think it managed to avoid this. I did actually feel quite sorry for Julie and what she goes through with the other residents; once again marvelling at how horrid and destructive people can be.</p>
<p>The relationship that develops between Julie and John, does so in a natural and organic way. Though at times I did feel a little uncomfortable at how John was steering these accidental 'meetings', safe in the knowledge that even if he wasn't admitting it to himself, he was interested in Julie being more than a running partner.</p>
<p>The other characters play an equally interesting and important part in the story. I'm not sure how I would have reacted to the character of Cindy, but I am pretty sure I wouldn't have been so accommodating. Maybe it's a cultural difference, and I'm just not "in the know" about Neighbourhood Associations, but quite how she manages to enforce these regulations of hers perhaps wouldn't have been so successful in England!</p>
<p><em>Fractured</em> really is multi-layered, it gave me lots to think about, and like <em>Good Me Bad Me</em> (Ali Land), would make a great choice for a reading group I think. The characters and plot are crafted intricately, I was hooked pretty much from the start. It's a good, easy read - please add it to your 'To Read' list, you won't be disappointed.</p>http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/index.php?post/2016/08/11/Fractured-Catherine-McKenzie-%28pub.-Lake-Union-Publishing%29#comment-formhttp://www.womanreadsbooks.com/index.php?feed/atom/comments/70Undertow - Elizabeth Heathcote (pub. Quercus)urn:md5:cfbbefb75e0a66a52bbd4e5125de440e2016-08-11T09:52:00+01:002016-08-11T09:52:00+01:00ireneannAugust<p><img src="http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/public/.u_s.png" alt="u.png" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="u.png, Aug 2016" /></p>
<p><strong>My husband's lover. They said her death was a tragic accident. And I believed them . . . until now.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Carmen is happily married to Tom, a successful London lawyer and divorcé with three children. She is content to absorb the stresses of being a stepmother to teenagers and the stain of 'second wife'. She knows she'll always live in the shadow of another woman - not Tom's first wife Laura, who is resolutely polite and determinedly respectable, but the lover that ended his first marriage: Zena. Zena who was shockingly beautiful. Zena who drowned swimming late one night.</strong></p>
<p><strong>But Carmen can overlook her husband's dead mistress . . . until she starts to suspect that he might have been the person who killed her.</strong></p> <p><img src="http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/public/.logo4_t.png" alt="logo4.png" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="logo4.png, May 2016" /></p>
<p>At first glance this is exactly my type of book, but alas, it just didn't live up to the expectations I had of it.</p>
<p>It is a good story; interesting and it kept me guessing as to who murdered the beautiful Zena. it also has a certain amount of tension which made me want to keep reading. The characters are good - rounded and believable on the whole.</p>
<p>So, some real positives - what's the problem?</p>
<p>Carmen.</p>
<p>If she changed her mind once about whether she should or shouldn't stay with Tom, she did it a hundred times. I mean, for goodness sake, just make a decision. First she trusted him, then in the next paragraph she could never trust him - honestly it was constant. I don't believe that if you had evidence that someone had killed a person, you'd just sit back and do nothing. If I even suspected for a minute that my husband was a violent killer, I am pretty sure that I wouldn't hang around waiting for me to be his next target.</p>
<p>Then there's the writing, and I say this admitting fully (as I have done before), that it's better than anything I could produce I'm sure. It started off okay, but then, probably around half-way through, it just seemed to lose its way. I had to re-read huge chunks of it because I'd completely lost what was happening. It jumped endlessly from one time-frame to another. They were eating, then in the next breath it was a day later - the structure was all over the place. Whole phrases were repeated, as were words in the same sentence; it felt at times like it was just being padded out, and at others, dare I say it, like a story I'd mark when I was teaching. It was almost as if the writer had had a brilliant idea for a story, but was then unsure as to how to mould it into a novel rather than a novella or short story. And yes, I am aware how rude that all sounds!</p>
<p>Having said all that negative, I will say that at no point did I want to stop reading. I did want to know who the murderer was, and I hadn't guessed before the big reveal, so of course that is a big positive.</p>
<p>So I'll end pretty much how I began; it disappointed rather than delighted I'm sorry to say.</p>http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/index.php?post/2016/08/11/Undertow-Elizabeth-Heathcote-%28pub.-Quercus%29#comment-formhttp://www.womanreadsbooks.com/index.php?feed/atom/comments/69Good Me Bad Me - Ali Land (pub. Penguin Random House)urn:md5:1da7156b44eda6879fe5f5273d05dba42016-08-04T14:32:00+01:002016-11-15T13:04:11+00:00ireneannAugust<p><img src="http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/public/.gmbm_s.png" alt="gmbm.png" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="gmbm.png, Aug 2016" /></p>
<p><strong>'NEW N A M E . NEW F A M I LY. S H I N Y. NEW. ME . '</strong></p>
<p><strong>Annie's mother is a serial killer. The only way she can make it stop is to hand her in to the police. But out of sight is not out of mind. As her mother's trial looms, the secrets of her past won't let Annie sleep, even with a new foster family and name - Milly. A fresh start.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Now, surely, she can be whoever she wants to be. But Milly's mother is a serial killer. And blood is thicker than water. Good me, bad me. She is, after all, her mother's daughter...</strong></p> <p><img src="http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/public/.logo4_t.png" alt="logo4.png" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="logo4.png, May 2016" /></p>
<p>What a great read this was. It's full of this tension that's as taut as a stretched elastic band threatening to snap at any minute.</p>
<p>Told from the viewpoint of Annie/Milly, we're only given snippets of the horrors she's witnessed and been subjected to growing up with her mother. Thankfully. The snippets are far more than enough of a window, believe me. And so now, placed in foster care with Mike, Saskia and their daughter Phoebe, Milly has to try to build a new, normal life. Quite how anyone could do that I have no idea!</p>
<p>Anyway, it had a clear, distinctive voice, written in the short, quite pragmatic sentences of a 15 year-old. There's a sense of disassociation pervading the narration as she struggles to adjust and also free herself from her mother and her crimes. The sense of her 'being bad' is sad to read, a feeling that she un-loveable and unworthy of attention. There are so many issues involved that would make this a wonderful novel for a reading group - just imagine the discussions that could be had.</p>
<p>Events are realistically portrayed I felt. I understood the reasoning of what happens to this fractured child and the equally broken foster family she stays with. Whether these events could have been changed with a different placement, or if they are inevitable and inherent, would again be an interesting discussion to have.</p>
<p>It did have me almost holding my breath, and feeling quite uncomfortable as to not only what had happened, but as to how things were unfolding. I very much enjoyed reading <em>Good Me Bad Me</em> - I'd totally recommend it.</p>http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/index.php?post/2016/08/04/Good-Me-Bad-Me-Ali-Land-%28pub.-Penguin-Random-House%29#comment-formhttp://www.womanreadsbooks.com/index.php?feed/atom/comments/68I See You - Clare Mackintosh (pub. Sphere, Little Brown)urn:md5:02a87ebf02ae8405258258f2d29339432016-08-04T14:02:00+01:002016-08-04T14:02:00+01:00ireneannAugust<p><img src="http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/public/.isy_s.jpg" alt="isy.jpg" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="isy.jpg, Aug 2016" /></p>
<p><strong>When Zoe Walker sees her photo in the classifieds section of a London newspaper, she is determined to find out why it's there. There's no explanation, no website: just a grainy image and a phone number. She takes it home to her family, who are convinced it's just someone who looks like Zoe. But the next day the advert shows a photo of a different woman, and another the day after that.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Is it a mistake? A coincidence? Or is someone keeping track of every move they make . . .</strong></p> <p><img src="http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/public/.logo4_t.png" alt="logo4.png" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="logo4.png, May 2016" /></p>
<p>I seem to have been waiting and tweeting (is that a word?) about this book for ages, and I do mean AGES - thankfully it was definitely worth the wait.</p>
<p>It's full of twists and turns which have you guessing throughout, with Clare Mackintosh leading you from one garden path to the next. It grabbed me from the start and never really let me go, invested as I was in the drama surrounding Zoe Walker. I will say here that I wasn't hugely in favour of the last couple of pages, but that's probably just me.</p>
<p>It is jam packed with characters that are interesting, particularly the investigating team of Kelly Swift, Nick Rampello and Lucinda. I'd be very happy if they made another appearance at some point. Each narrator had their own voice, they were clearly defined as different - which I know sounds such a simplistic thing to say, but it isn't always the case. I was as interested to read one voice as the other too, it wasn't like the story was a melee of voices competing to be heard; they interweaved beautifully.</p>
<p>I thought the whole tension surrounding the stalking was played out wonderfully. Surely lots of people have had that horrible feeling of being followed at some point. Funny how my brain instinctively went to write 'women' before I corrected myself. Obviously these "feelings" aren't just limited to females, that horrid feeling of vulnerability can strike anyone. Anyway, a digression, of course!</p>
<p>This is a great follow-up to Clare Mackintosh's first novel, <em>I Let You Go</em> (which incidentally is a terrific read if you haven't come across it before). The dust-jacket claims this as <strong>"an edge-of-your-seat, page-turning psychological thriller"</strong> - I'd wholeheartedly agree - a terrific read.</p>http://www.womanreadsbooks.com/index.php?post/2016/08/04/I-See-You-Clare-Mackintosh-%28pub.-Sphere%2C-Little-Brown%29#comment-formhttp://www.womanreadsbooks.com/index.php?feed/atom/comments/67