Book reviews (A couple I missed)

The Perfect Girl by Gilly Macmillan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


"Zoe Maisey is a seventeen-year-old musical prodigy with a genius IQ. Three years ago, she was involved in a tragic incident that left three classmates dead. She served her time, and now her mother, Maria, is resolved to keep that devastating fact tucked far away from their new beginning, hiding the past even from her new husband and demanding Zoe do the same.

Tonight Zoe is giving a recital that Maria has been planning for months. It needs to be the performance of her life. But instead, by the end of the evening, Maria is dead. In the aftermath, everyone—police, family, Zoe's former solicitor, and Zoe herself—tries to piece together what happened. But as Zoe knows all too well, the truth is rarely straightforward, and the closer we are to someone, the less we may see.

Unfolding over a span of twenty-four hours through three compelling narratives, The Perfect Girl is gripping, surprising, and emotionally complex—a richly layered look at loyalty, second chances, and the way secrets unravel us all."

I enjoyed the way this story unfolded showing us in flashbacks what had happened in the past – how the 14 year old Zoe had driven a car, not knowing that her drinks had been spiked and been involved in an accident, killing 3 other teenagers. She had spent time in a young offenders institution and after her release she and her Mother had made a new start.
The new start included a 2nd marriage for her Mother and Zoe gained a step-dad, Chris, and a step-brother, Lucas. The past seems to be behind them but when Zoe and Lucas are preparing to perform at a concert one of the victim’s parents storms into the concert hall and creates a scene.
The same parent turns up at their house later and this sets off a sequence of events that lead to Maria’s death.
The present is told through various POVs and although it was interesting to see how the story unfolded and the way Zoe and Lucas conspired together to provide enough evidence for Chris to be prosecuted for Maria’s death there wasn’t a great deal of suspense or depth to the book. It was an easy read but not a great read.

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The Dress by Jane L. Rosen

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Legend has it that every season there is one dress. The dress that can make your career, ignite a spark with that special someone, or utterly transform your life. For Felicia, who has been in love with her boss for 20 years; for Natalie who has sworn off men since her ex dumped her – for them and for others, life is about to change.

And all because of their brush with the dress of the season, the perfect little black number that everyone wants to get their hands on…

A lovely light fluffy read that takes various characters and weaves a story from them all linked by the LBD. Great escapism.




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Review: Lost For Words

Lost For Words by Stephanie Butland
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“Loveday Cardew prefers books to people. If you look closely, you might glimpse the first lines of the novels she loves most tattooed on her skin. But there are things she'll never show you.

Fifteen years ago Loveday lost all she knew and loved in one unspeakable night. Now, she finds refuge in the unique little York bookshop where she works.

Everything is about to change for Loveday. Someone knows about her past. Someone is trying to send her a message. And she can't hide any longer.”

I really enjoyed this book, based around the sort of bookshop any booklover wants to spend time in, the story of Loveday’s troubled childhood and how that has impacted on her current life is told from her point of view in the present and with flashbacks to the past.
Her back story is gradually filled in while she slowly allows Nathan into her life. Fiercely independent and secretive of her past this is difficult for her to do. And of course the path of true love never runs smoothly.

Sensitively written I was willing there to be a happing ending for Loveday.


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#SOCS - 30/9/17

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “do/dew/due”. Use one, use two or use all three. If you start and end with two of them, you get bonus points. 

Due date to a woman often means only one thing - the day that you expect your baby to be born.  It's easy to become fixated on it.  9 months can seem a very long time and as the due date approaches you can struggle with a variety of emotions, many of which will have you dewy eyed.  Impatience.  How can 9 months seem so long?  Well it's more like 10 months when you can confirm a pregnancy so early these days.  Trepidation.  Will you be able to cope with labour?  Excitement.  Finally you will get to meet your baby.  Of course once the due date comes, and goes, those feelings become more intense.  Anxiety can creep in.  Why isn't the baby coming?  Will there have to be interventions?

I was fortunate with my children.  The first was a day late, the second and third were both a week early.  Everything was fine.  Well I'm glossing over the difficult deliveries of 1 and 2 but the end results were pretty good.   Actually the end results were more than good.  My children never cease to amaze me.

Now one of them has had her own due date.  Except she never got near her due date.  Baby Nathan decided that he wasn't going to wait for that.  He was early, very early, but thankfully not too early.  He's progressed really well and seems to be fine.  He's now 6 months old.

That whole experience though reminded me that we should never take anything for granted.  Nothing is guaranteed.  Sometimes things don't go to plan and maybe due dates should be given a new name, why not anticipated date or provisional date?  Due date makes it sound like it should be a definite and it's anything but definite.  About 95% of births do NOT happen on the due date but still, having been an expectant Mum I know how we count down to that due date.  After all if a package is due to be delivered tomorrow we don't expect it to arrive later.  It might be a nice surprise if it arrived early but it definitely wouldn't be great if it arrived late and caused disappointment.  

So there's my SOCS for today which of course is the due day and will need to be linked back to Linda's site here. 

You can check out all the rules (I broke one by looking up that birthing statistic) and see who else is participating.  Why don't you give it a go?

Friday's Fave Five - 29/9/17

Fridays are a time to look back on the week and share our blessings.
If you want to join in or check out the other participants pop over to our host Suzanne's blog at Living to Tell the Story

Well I have 2 weeks of blessings to catch up on here!  How did I ever find time to work?

1)  Retirement.  Well I still don't think of myself as retired as I'm not old enough to draw my pension but I'm fortunate not to be working and although there are days when I feel I'm being lazy there are others, like today, when I do look back on the week and think where did the time go?  Hubby does sometimes (jokingly I think/hope) suggest we do a role reversal where I go back to work and he quits but I think he's happy still working 3 days a week.  Gives us a long weekend every week.

2)  Celebrating my friend's 60th birthday.  She just had a quiet gathering at her house last Saturday with her hubby, their 3 daughters and partners, another couple and us.  It was exactly what she wanted and it was lovely catching up.  Kim and I have been friends since she first asked to come and see my firstborn just after I'd brought her home.  She lived across the road from me then and we were always there for one another as we quickly produced 6 babies between us.  We still live quite close and get together when we can, but I know that if I had an emergency she would be there for me and vice versa. 

3)  Pilates.  I went to my third session this morning and I'm really enjoying it.  It feels good to be doing something just for me and I'm sure it's helping my posture and my dodgy knee.  It's an early start, 9.15, but it's only a five minute walk away so I still feel when I get home that I have the whole day ahead and I'm ready to go.

4)  Reading group.  I attended my library's monthly reading group for the first time this week.  I was a bit nervous as I had no idea how many people would be there or how "bookish" they might be, especially given the book choice for the month.  (Two short novellas by the Japanese writer Murakami which I reviewed here).  It was an interesting session with only a few people so it wasn't daunting at all and I wasn't the only one not to have enjoyed the book.  

5)  My son and his wife have had an offer on a flat accepted.  We're all going to see it tomorrow.  They seem really pleased about it although it was the first one they had actually visited but it ticks all their boxes.  Of course lots of things could go wrong before they complete and get the keys but it's exciting that they are now looking for their first real home together, although that will leave us empty nested again.  But it's time.

I hope you've all had a good week and enjoy the weekend!