A Place To Call Home By Carole Matthews

A Place To Call Home By Carole Matthews

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In the dead of night, Ayesha takes her daughter, Sabina, and slips quietly from her home, leaving behind a life full of pain. Boarding a coach to London, all Ayesha wants is a fresh start.

Hayden, a former popstar, has kept himself hidden away for years. He’s only opened up his home to two people – Crystal, a professional dancer with a heart of gold, and Joy, an ill-tempered retiree with a soft spot for waifs and strays.carole matthews

When Crystal asks Hayden if Ayesha and Sabina can stay with them, he reluctantly agrees and, as different as they may be, they quickly form an unlikely bond. So when enemies threaten their peaceful home, they will do all they can to save it and each other.

My Thoughts:

What can I say Carole Matthews has done it again. A very moving read, one that will stay with me forever. Carole seems to bring real life situations into her book but with a great deal of sympathy. The character I liked the most was little Sabina. She had been through so much and seen so much and she came out of it such a sweet happy child. I think Suresh got what was comming to him as I didn’t like him one bit. Carole Matthews has done it again. What a remarkable read!

Long Lost (The Centuries Of Love Trilogy book 1) By Michelle Read

Long Lost (The Centuries Of Love Trilogy book 1) By Michelle Read

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michelle readLong Lost sometimes the past can be your future.

Emily Case is a lonely woman. No family, few friends, job she hates and is single. Life is one long struggle for her. Then one morning she wakes up two hundred years in the past and her whole world is turned upside down, as she is faced with a new era she knows nothing about. However she soon becomes attached to her new lifestyle and the people in it.

On meeting William Chester, owner of the Westfield estate, Emily quickly falls for him, and believes he feels the same, until she is threatened by a rival of his affections. But when she realises this life is all she’s ever wanted she is torn away from it and back to her life two hundred years into the future.

Not willing to accept the twenty-first-century is where her destiny lies she endeavours to seek out the truth of the life she led in the nineteenth-century.

What will she discover on her journey? Was it reality or all just a dream?

My Thoughts:

This was a great read from a new author. I loved the plot it was very interesting and captivating. The history side to it was fantastic  as Michelle has obviously researched it very well as everything was spot on. I felt I knew the characters my favourite was Sarah as she reminded me of a friend I have. I wasn’t too keen on Catherine though as she was very snobby at some points in the book. This book really came alive for me and I felt like I was there in the book with all the characters around me. I loved this book will definitely be recommending it and look forward to Michelle’s next book.

Learning To Love By Sheryl Browne

Learning To Love By Sheryl Browne

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learning to love

Widower, Dr David Adams, has recently moved to the village – where no one knows him, ergo there’s no fuel for neighbourhood gossip – to start afresh with his ten year old son, if only he can get to a place where his son wants to speak to him. Angry and withdrawn, Jake blames his dad for the death of his mother, and David doesn’t know how to reach him. Andrea Kelly has too many balls in the air. With three children and a “nuts” mother to care for, her fiancé can’t fathom why she wants to throw something else in the mix and change her career. Surely she already has too much on her plate? Because her plates are skew-whiff and her balls are dropping all over the place, Andrea points out. She needs to make changes. Still her fiancé, who has a hidden agenda, is dead-set against it. When Andrea ‘s house burns mysteriously  to the ground and Andrea and her entourage are forced to move in with the enigmatic Dr Adams, however, the village drums soon start beating, fuel aplenty when it turns out someone does know him – the woman carrying his baby.

 

My Thoughts: This is the second Sheryl Browne book that I have now read, and I will definitely be reading more. Sheryl writes with light heartedness but with a serious perspective. The events that go on throughout the book and the characters are believable. I absolutely love David Adams with his kind and caring ways. Sheryl Browne makes you feel with the characters that you know them already and you feel what they are going through. I managed to read this book in a day and a half, I was so gripped about what was going to happen next. I will certainly be reading more of Sheryl Browne’s books and recommending them to my friends.

The Edge Of Sanity by Sheryl Browne

The Edge Of Sanity by Sheryl Browne

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sheryl browne

How far would YOU go to protect your family?

A decent, ordinary man, a man who has already suffered the loss of one child. Daniel Connor is forced by extaordinary circumstances into being a hero. Tortured, forcible drugged – heroin still pulsating nauseatingly through his veins – his wife and daughter degraded. Daniel knows their kidnapper is beyond reasoning with.

But does being punished one step beyond endurance justify doing the unthinkable?

High on drugs, indebted to his supplier, and desperate, Charlie Roberts takes Daniel’s wife and daughter hostage. Daniel does everything within his power to rescue the situation bloodlessly. Eventually though, Daniel realises that with or without violent mood swings induced by amphetamine and cocaine, Charlie Roberts is a psychopath. He wants more than Daniel’s money.

He wants him.

My Thoughts:

I have never read any of Sheryl Browne’s books before as I normally just stick to the authors I know and love. But I must say this book was gripping. I managed to read it in two days and I just couldn’t put it down. This was a book that makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck and puts you on the edge of your seat. Sheryl Browne seems to draw you into this book with its dramatic plot and you literally have no idea what is going to happen next. The characters were brilliant in this book, I felt like I knew them, Kayla even with everything going on is still that stroppy fifteen year old. Jo and Daniel are husband and wife who are going through some very real communication issues and of course Charlie well what can I say about him…. Well you will just have to read the book and make up your own minds….

A must read!

Can’t Take My Eyes Off You by Clare Dowling

Can’t Take My Eyes Off You by Clare Dowling

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clare dowling

 

Clara’s been away for too long. So, after ten years in London, and with her boyfriend Matthew in tow, she arrives home in Castlemoy, a town with nineteen pubs and a shiny new motorway to civilisation. Her family welcome them with open arms but Jason, her long-ago ex, seems to have old scores to settle and it’s not long before Clara finds herself being watched, followed and manipulated from afar.

As her dreams of happily-ever-after begin to shatter, Clara decides it’s time to wrestle her life back before it’s too late….

My Thoughts:

Love, love, love it! Clare Dowling never seems to disappoint. I found myself really rooting for Clara to stand up for herself and not take what was happening to her lying down. Clare Dowling takes on some serious issues in this book, health issues, unplanned pregnancy and stalking, this would normally be seen as a bit of a depressing read but Clare has managed to add a few touches of humour to make it light hearted and lighten the mood. Clare Dowling’s writing is incredible, I personally would recommend this book and will be looking forward to her next book. 5/5.

Happily Ever After by Harriet Evans

Happily Ever After by Harriet Evans

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harriet evans

 

You can’t escape the ties that bind – the past catches up with you no matter how far you try to run….

This is the story of a girl who doesn’t believe in happy endings. Or happy families. It’s the story of Eleanor Bee, a shy book-loving girl who vows to turn herself into someone bright, shiny and confident, someone sophisticated. Someone who knows how life works.

But life has a funny way of catching us unawares. Turns out that Elle doesn’t know everything about love. Or life. Or how to keep the ones we love safe…

My Thoughts:

Harriet Evans is a fabulous writer, I did manage to finish the novel but found it a bit of a slog. This book is quite big, but it feels as though someone has taken chunks out of this book to avoid more pages, which is disappointing as it leaves you feeling like you have missed out on something. I liked the fact Harriet Evans wrote a book about books, this I found was intriguing as it’s quite rare for an author to do that. The main character Elle was a bit annoying at times as she tried to please everyone , but didn’t think things through logically. A nice enough read still want to read her latest book ‘Not without you’. This book certainly hasn’t put me off.

A hundred pieces of me by Lucy Dillon

A hundred pieces of me by Lucy Dillon

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Letters from the only man she’s ever truly loved.

A keepsake of the father she never really knew.

A blue glass vase that catches the light on a grey day.

Gina Bellamy is starting again, after a few years she’d rather forget. But the belongings she’s treasured for so long don’t seem to fit who she is now. So Gina makes a resolution. She’ll keep just a hundred special items – the rest can go. Bulucy dillont that means coming to terms with her past and learning to embrace the future, whatever it might bring……

 

My Thoughts:

I absolutely loved this book. Lucy Dillon makes you feel drawn to her characters in a way no author has ever made me feel. I’ve read all of Lucy Dillon’s books and I pretty much go through every emotion whilst reading her books, this book was no exception.

I loved the relationship between Gina and the greyhound Buzz, it was clear they both needed someone to love and they found it in each other. This story is an emotional roller-coaster especially for women that have been through what Gina had gone through and families that have been through or going through personal experiences such as this one in the book.

There are authors that write about personal experiences but Lucy Dillon has really sympathised with her wordings and it personally made me feel like she gave Gina justice. It made me think how grateful I am for life and living and I appreciate you have to make the best out of each day.

Now waiting for Lucy Dillon’s next book, hopefully it won’t be too long await.

 

Last Friends by Jane Gardam

Last Friends by Jane Gardam

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Old Filth and The Man in the Wooden Hat told with bristling tenderness and black humour the stories of that Titan of the Hong Kong law courts, Old Filth QC, and his clever, misunderstood wife Betty. Last Friends, the final volume of this trilogy, picks up with Terence Veneering, Filth’s great rival in work and – though it was never spoken of – in love.

Veneering, Filth and their friends tell a tale of love, friendship, grace, the bitter sweet experiences of a now – forgotten Empire and the disappointments and consolations of age.

jane gardam

My Thoughts:

Last Friends is the third and final novel in the Old Filth Trilogy. I would recommend starting off by reading Old Filth then the man in the wooden hat and then last friends as the characters are featured throughout this trilogy. I would have to say the other two books were a delight to read and this novel wasn’t bad either, the characters are interesting and Jane bought it all to a lovely conclusion, but at times it was confusing and I couldn’t work out what was going on.