Tag Archive | HQ

Whistle by Linwood Barclay

Jun17

Chilling

Whistle by Linwood Barclay is a chilling supernatural tale that consumed me from the start.

This is a departure from Linwood Barclay’s usual style of crime novels but he has created a marvellous and well thought out plotline, showing that he is the master of the very chilling genre.

This is not a book for the faint hearted. It is far better to read it on a bright summer’s day than a cold, dark winter evening.

The action is split into various points of view, over different time periods. It keeps the reader in a state of heightened tension – we think we know what is coming even though the characters are clueless to the power that they have unwittingly unleashed.

Whistle is a tale of evil walking amongst the innocent. Very few realise what is going on until it is far too late.

All the characters were well drawn. There was definitely an air of menace attached to the villain. He was guilty of hubris too, believing he could never be beaten.

Continue reading →

A Secret Escape by Sarah Morgan

Jun8

The Sisterhood

A Secret Escape by Sarah Morgan is a perfectly delightful contemporary novel that I adored. This is a book about friendship and love and family.

We see that life can be a complicated affair but family should be faithful and provide a cocoon from life. We drop in on a multi-generational female family who all love and support each other. We see that patterns have a habit of repeating down the generations.

Parenting can be hard, especially when our children are grown up and we cannot ‘fix’ life for them. “It’s the hardest thing about being a parent. You can’t fix everything.” And no matter how old your child is “when your child suffers, you suffer too.”

The love within a family provides a secure base for life. We see that not all families provide a foundation of love. “She envied her friend Milly who never had to earn praise or affection.” Love should be freely given but one mother seems unable to have the capacity to love. Her grown up daughter laments “maybe it’s me…Maybe I’m just the kind of person people leave.” All her life “she was determined to be the child her mother would be proud of, but how?” It does seem that there are just some cold fish in the love department. All her life a character tried to earn her mother’s love. The fault lies with the mother and not the daughter.

In contrast her friend Milly’s family have love in abundance. Their love extends to include all, especially a heart crying out for love. She was “desperate for any evidence that I was worth loving.”

Continue reading →

Aria’s Travelling Bookshop by Rebecca Raisin

Jun7

Serenely Beautiful

Aria’s Travelling Bookshop by Rebecca Raisin is the most delightful contemporary novel that I absolutely adored. It is the second book in The Travelling Shops series but can be read as a stand-alone.

This is a book about love, and grief, and life. It is a book about friendship, and travelling, and reading. It is a book that will completely take over your life for a few hours as you never want it to end.

We join the lead characters who live out of their camper vans, selling various items. The leading lady sells books and is passionate about them. She is incredibly easy to empathise with, with her love of reading, of browsing bookshops, and of sniffing books (who hasn’t?)

The reader follows the characters from busy London to the sunny, carefree South of France in Summer. We can almost ‘feel’ the heat, ‘see’ the landscape, and imagine the local food and wine.

Grief is a journey. “It’s a process… And the only way to get through it is to keep moving forward… But you can’t outrun grief.” Each person has to navigate grief in the best way they can. “I feel so robbed and bitter at the world. I try so hard not to fall down that dark hole but sometimes it just swallows me up.” Grief brings out many emotions – including guilt. Guilt at being alive and learning to live again. “Stop letting guilt drive you.” Guilt is a negative emotion and we need to cast it out.

Continue reading →

That Time Everything Was On Fire by Kerry Downes

May22

A Fabulous Debut

That Time Everything Was On Fire by Kerry Downes is a powerful contemporary debut novel that gripped me from the start.

This is a book about women, friendship and life. It is a roller coaster read as we celebrate the highs and lows of life. Life is a journey, and it is a journey that is better together, but there are some roads that we traverse alone.

The reader joins four female friends who are roughly thirty years old. The book is told through the eyes of lifelong friends Sam and Daisy. It is split into ‘Summer’ and ‘Winter’ over several years.

We see the extremely difficult road of infertility as we follow a character through several rounds of IVF. “Infertility is like a shadow of grief, shimmering in the background of every aspect of your life… And who can understand such an experience other than those forced to enter its dark vicinity.” Kerry Downes really speaks straight from the heart and of personal experience.

We witness the loneliness of the character who is excluded from events/conversations as her friends for fear hurting her. “Don’t decide for me what I’m capable of.” She is far stronger and more resilient than her friends think. “I don’t feel like a warrior. I don’t feel brave; I feel tired.” IVF takes its’ toll physically and mentally. “The endless roller coaster of hope, grief and uncertainty.” There are some absolutely heart-breaking scenes as well as those of love and support.

Continue reading →