Tag Archive | Harper Collins

Lifesaving For Beginners by Josie Lloyd

Jul21

Living Real Life Together

Lifesaving For Beginners by Josie Lloyd is a marvellous contemporary novel that enchanted me from the start.

The novel is about female friendship as a group of women bond over open water swimming in the sea at Brighton. They are various ages with differing life experiences. As they meet over swimming, they soon become a support network, championing each other and offering love and friendship.

Life impacts us all differently but we all need female friendship to offer advice – ladies who have more experience of travelling down the road of life. The ladies range from mid thirties to seventies and have a wealth of experience – from a lost love to a widow to a mother of two.

We see how women’s roles have changed over the years and how it is important to share how we are feeling with those around us. Our sons need educating in women’s life cycles so they can sympathise with what we go through.

As family relationships have broken down, we witness the desperate love of a mother searching for her son.

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The Binding Room by Nadine Matheson

Jul6

Totally Superb

The Binding Room by Nadine Matheson is an absolutely superb contemporary crime thriller. It is the second book in the Inspector Anjelica Henley series and can be read as a stand-alone. I would recommend reading book one The Jigsaw Man first so that you can see the character progression.

The Binding Room is totally gripping as the rather gruesome murders mount up. I tried to guess the perpetrator and was totally wrong – again!

Nadine Matheson draws the reader in with her plotline as it throws up more questions than answers. Along with the murder squad, I was totally flummoxed – who was committing the crimes?

Inspector Anjelica Henley is a wonderful, realistic leading lady. She is not perfect but she is believable as she is tenacious and hard working. She will not rest until justice is served. Following on from events in book one, we witness her PTSD as the past events haunt her.

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One Last Secret by Adele Parks

Jul4

Oh! Wow!

One Last Secret by Adele Parks is a marvellous contemporary psychological thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat. It is a compulsive read that I could not put down.

The reader enters a world that is shady and secretive. All sorts of people are hiding who they really are. It is a world of secrets and lies, play acting and imagination.

The reader joins a character in this world as we wonder what is real? What is imagined? Can what our eyes see and our ears hear be trusted? A character finds herself unable to trust her senses.

As the action heats up, the reader is completely glued as one jaw dropping moment follows another, and another! As I finished the book, my mouth was open in an ‘Oh! Wow!’

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Note To Self by Anna Bell

Jun23

Really Charming

Note To Self by Anna Bell is the most charming contemporary novel that will swell your heart and make you smile.

The premise is a wonderful idea – a thirty five year old character receives emails from her seventeen year old self. They are encouraging her to grab life and step out of her comfort zone. “Real living happens when you step outside it [your comfort zone] Remember, your comfort zone does not have a brick wall built around it.”

Too often in life we settle. Routine takes over and we lose sight of who we really are. Life is for living. If we are not careful, it will pass us by and we will be left with regrets. The novel shows what can happen when we decide to live and to have fun.

It is also a study in guilt and grief. The past cannot be altered. Guilt will always weigh us down. Grief threatens to drown a character. It never goes away. We just have to learn to live with it. I loved the idea of a memory jar.

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