#SoCS - 9/11/19

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “ght.” Find a word that contains the letters “ght” in that order, and use it any way you’d like. Bonus points if you use three or more different words containing those letters. Have fun!

#SoCS is hosted by Linda G. Hill - check out her site here for details and participants. 

Right, time is tight so I'll try with all my might to get this post done, hopefully without a fight.  No selfies today, don't want to give you a fright.  It's still light but night is on the way.  If the sky is clear I may be able to see the stars shine bright.

Ok enough with this slight attempt to use as many ght words as I could.  I managed eight,  oops make that nine!
 

 

Friday's Fave Five - 8/11/19

It's Friday so it's time to share 5 things I'm grateful for this week. This meme is hosted by Susanne over at Living to Tell the Story. Pop over there for more details and to see who else is taking part.











1)  We still have autumn leaves. And enough dry weather this week to walk in the park with Grandson Rory. The leaves are dropping fast now and it's been much colder this week but we've also had some sunshine.

2)  Free soft play area at the local mall. Rory had a great time just running, and running and running!








And playing peek a boo! He was so tired and half asleep by the time we got back to the flat. I managed to get him out of his buggy and all his outer clothes and here:

  
without waking him up.

3) Dinner with my son. Rory's Mummy was out on Monday evening so I had to wait for his Daddy to get home and as my hubby was out too I cooked dinner there for Michael and me. It was nice to have time for a chat rather than just a handover of Rory and getting off home.
4) The girls are settling in and I've returned the cat. I popped her back on Tuesday and we were able to go back to their old place and finalise a few things (they weren't handing back the keys until today). Nathan loves his new house especially having a garden he can play in.

5)  A catch up with my best friend.  We haven't seen each other for weeks so it was good to be able to go round for a cup of tea. (or two!)   

So another busy week but today I've been able to catch up on chores at home.  Boring things like laundry and changing beds - we've decided we need our warmer duvet on now, plus Noah and his parents will be here tomorrow with their dogs.  Just as well the cat has gone home!  Noah took his first steps this week which I think is a relief all round.  It's lovely that the the Grandsons are all close in age but it does make it hard not to make comparisons sometimes.  (Rory who is a month younger has been walking for ages.)  Although of course you have to be careful what you wish for - it was a lot easier looking after them when they stayed put!

Have a good weekend all.

Review: No Place to Hide

No Place to Hide by Susan Lewis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Why has Justine Cantrell suddenly changed her name, abandoned the husband and family she loves and a successful business to start a new life in a place many thousands of miles away?

There isn't a man involved, but there is a terrible secret that she must hide from her new friends and neighbours as securely as she needs to hide herself from those she's left behind.

I've read a few books by Susan Lewis now and she doesn't disappoint. She can definitely spin a good yarn. This one is a bit dark in places but it didn't put me off. It switches between past and present but it's not too hard to follow. 

The mystery of why Justine Cantrell has moved across the pond, taking her young daughter with her but leaving her family behind is eventually revealed and it is shocking. What's perhaps more shocking is why her husband is still in England.

Would I have done the same in the circumstances? I'm not sure. But this is fiction so it doesn't matter.

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Review: Did You See Melody?

Did You See Melody? by Sophie Hannah
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Pushed to breaking point, Cara Burrows abandons her home and family and escapes to a five-star spa resort she can't afford. Late at night, exhausted and desperate, she lets herself into her hotel room and is shocked to find it already occupied - by a man and a teenage girl.

A simple mistake on the part of the hotel receptionist - but Cara's fear intensifies when she works out that the girl she saw alive and well in the hotel room is someone she can't possibly have seen: the most famous murder victim in the country, Melody Chapa, whose parents are serving life sentences for her murder.

Cara doesn't know what to trust: everything she's read and heard about the case, or the evidence of her own eyes. Did she really see Melody? And is she prepared to ask herself that question and answer it honestly if it means risking her own life?


Judging by the reviews on Goodreads this is a bit of a Marmite book. You either love it or hate. I enjoyed it although the overworked description of the spa resort at the beginning of the book was a challenge to get through.

It's told in the present but there are flashbacks in the form of written testimony that reveal the details of how Melody went missing and how her parents were subsequently charged and found guilty of her murder, even though her body was never found.

The uncovering of the mystery is a bit far fetched at times but there is a plot and there are twists. It kept me engaged and there is a sinister revelation at the end that will get you thinking.

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