Category: Reviews

On this page find out about things I have read, watched or experienced. I am happy to receive proofs in paperback or via Kindle for review and aim to be honest with my thoughts. My family are also open to trying out new gadgets and gizmos. Reviews are published to this blog, Amazon, Goodreads and Shelfari. Please leave a comment or find me on Facebook or Twitter and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. I aim to review withing three weeks of receipt but with three young children this can sometimes slip.

The Trouble with Henry and Zoe by Andy Jones

This is a delightful read, poignant and true to life. The characters are very well written and burst into life, all flawed but real! Henry has at all a dream wedding, a house being built for him, a loving family and then he doesn’t. Zoe too is forging ahead in life, true her house may be small but she has Alex and a dream job and it’s going well, until it isn’t!

As the two of them separately come to terms with choices they have made and the hand that life has dealt them they meet one another. Neither is looking for anything serious and with Zoe going travelling in a few months having scrimped and saved for long enough to go both of them know this isn’t going anywhere.

Other characters cause introspection and bring comedy, particularly Jenny who has asked Henry to build her a whole new set of teeth, the girls Zoe chums with who have helped her though the difficult times. Both sets of parents show their offspring that it is OK to make mistakes, to be sad and to try new things and each character is battling their own demons. The reader can relate to each of the characters.

I have to confess `I was slightly disappointed by the ending, but at the same time I understand why it ends the way it does but I enjoyed the roller coaster ride to get there. Having read Andy Jones’ other book The Two of US, and enjoyed it I was delighted to discover the same quality of writing in this novel. Dialogue and settings are realising and there is a good balance of comedy and tragedy and all the bits in between. A great read. 5/5

A Daughter’s Secret by Eleanor Moran

I read this book in just a few days and it was one of those that you want to continue reading to find out what happens next. Mia is a therapist with great empathy, probably because she has issues in her own past that help to relate to those of the clients she sees. Gemma is a new client, caught up in a case involving some very dangerous people. She is grieving the loss of her Father, who has disappeared with the money of many innocent investors!

To complicate matters Mia discovers her own family has money invested and she is faced with an investigator who suspects that Gemma is in contact with her Father and knows more than she is letting on and is hoping Mia can help him uncover the truth! Mia of course thinks she has come to terms with her own demons, she has stopped therapy, is in love with a wealthy man who adores her. The issue is of course that his children don’t approve of the relationship and he is a bit of a control freak who is away a lot and Mia is coming to realise seems to be more in love with the idea of her than with her. She feels uncomfortable in the expensive restaurants he chooses and the apartment that she disparagingly calls The Fridge!

Her own demons resurface as therapy progresses. Her own ‘Daddy’ issues with Lorcan resurface and through flashbacks her own past with best friend Lysette’s brother and the subsequent fall out resonate with the way she deals with Gemma. Increasingly uncomfortable when Gemma shows up outside appointment times and brings her presents she begins to step out of the client – therapist relationship! As events come to a head and Mia enters a downward spiral both her and Gemma’s issues reach a resolution as their paths cross once again. A good read, well written ,sympathetic characters and will keep you guessing. 5/5

Santangelos by Jackie Collins

I had never read a Jackie Collins novel until I was sent this one to review and was expecting a Jilly Cooperesque romp!
Instead whilst there was plenty of romping I was introduced to a colourful cast of characters headed by Lucky and Lennie Santangelo in a fast paced thriller. Lucky Santangelo is in charge of her life, things are going well – until her Father Gino is murdered execution style. Whilst in the past he has had his moments he had been happily settled with his younger wife Paige and so Lucky sets about discovering the culprit and taking her revenge! After all no-one messes with the Santangelos!

Meanwhile Max, her daughter, is busy becoming the new face of a famous fashion house despite being surrounded by a lecherous boss and photographer. Bobby her son has his own problems when in the process of opening his new club he finds himself accused of murder.

There are a whole host of supporting cast members with their own desires to extricate themselves from one another. Pablo want to escape Alejandro. Denver, Bobby’s girlfriend is trying to prosecute a notorious drug dealer and putting her job before him. Willow, just wants another moment in the spotlight and is being hassled by her money hungry mother. Billy, a famous film star who has the hots for anything that moves and Venus, Lucky’s friend.

There are plenty of others and the action moves swiftly. The first few chapters introduce us to the various character groups, useful for the uninitiated, and from there the stories start to weave together as the characters cross paths in their search for stardom, business deals and love. The settings are drawn well and the characters drive the plot along at a fast pace!

I wasn’t sure how the various characters would come together but as the story progresses they interweave and you find yourself going AHA. Lucky is the character holding it all together and even as she plans her Fathers funeral, tries to get her arrested son freed from prison and get his sister back from Europe in time for the funeral she has the sense that something isn’t right! Is she correct to have such foreboding and if so will she manage to solve the problem in time? I couldn’t possibly say. Perfect for fans of quick paced summer reading!
4/5

The Truth and Other Lies by Sacha Arango

* Review contains spoiler*

This in an interesting story on a similar bent to the Tom Ripley stories. Henry is a writer, at least that is what everyone thinks. He laps up the attention and deals with the media and takes the spoils a multi-bestselling author enjoys. The brains behind the operation however is his quiet wife Martha, who does not want to have any attention and gets on with her writing at night, endlessly churning out new stories. Henry has a problem, he has a mistress, she happens to be his editor Betty – and the mistress is pregnant and he needs to make his problem go away, so naturally his answer to this is to push her car off a cliff making it look like an accident.

This proves to start him unravelling as the occupant of the car was in fact his wife, and when his mistress turns up on his doorstep distraught he has to do some quick thinking. With the end of his new novel now last and his publishing house reliant upon him to steer them out of the red Henry is in a pickle. Not only this but one particular police officer isn’t buying his story. Henry seems to talk and charm his way out of trouble, eliminating other problems as they arise, some times with a little help from his friends. To us his actions may seem outrageous but to him they are perfectly natural. Indeed even destroying his house to rid himself of a marten that has taken up residence seems perfectly plausible!

There is plenty of black humour and well observed characterisation throughout the story and you are always sure that Henry is about to be found out as his facade slips every now and again, but with quirks of fate and his money to fall back on to get himself out of trouble Henry manages to wriggle out of the problems much of the time! This is the first novel from the German author and well worth a read.
4/5

Review of You by Caroline Kepnes

This is a fantastic read. At once horrific and humorous the central character Joe and Beck come to life as do the supporting cast in a unique way. Joe is lonely, he works in a book store, he meets Beck and he falls in love. So does Beck only she doesn’t know it yet. Joe infiltrates his way into her life and attempts to remove all the obstacles to his goal.
He carries out acts that are despicable but totally believable in the form of the narrative. The book is over 400 pages long but is compelling. You read it quickly and hungrily and become absorbed by the characters and how far Joe will go to achieve his ambitions.
I really enjoyed the read and kept thinking Joe couldn’t do anything more outrageous to capture Beck, but then he does, perhaps he’d get caught out. You feel the tension with Joe as the book is written from his point of view and however warped his view is you find yourself rooting for him, wanting him to get what he wants and yet at the same time you know it will be better for everyone he does get caught.
Suspenseful, a real page turner, a romance but a thriller as well this is runs across several genres. 5/5

The Two of Us by Andy Jones

This is a lovely story, well written and tender, both heart warming and heartbreaking.
Ivy is a make-up artist and Fisher is a director, they get together and Ivy falls pregnant. Fisher stands by her sensing that despite their brief liaison he is falling for Ivy. She in turn is falling for him.
This is a story about how two people come together and form a relationship. They have their up and downs and awkward moments, meeting each others family , who to spend their first Christmas with and Frank, (Ivy’s brother) unexpected stay with them.
At times it looks as if events and circumstances are going to break them apart. El, Fisher’s best friends is dying, he has Huntingdon’s and Fisher has to deal with this as well as the rapidly approaching birth of his children. Not to mention directing his first film penned by a colleague.
Somehow the two of them forge ahead. The characters are warm and well drawn, the relationships depicted touching and the emotions pull at the heartstrings. I haven’t read a book for a long time that made me feel happy and sad by the end and I would love to know what happened to Ivy and Fisher a few years down the line!
5 out of 5

The way you look tonight by Richard Madeley

*Beware this review contains some spoilers*
This is a well paced thriller set in the US, the main action taking place in the Florida Keys. In the background is JFK and the looming missile crisis which means that the last thing anyone needs is a serial killer who seems to be able to slip the net at will.
The viewpoint comes from a variety of angles. Stella is the main character that centres the plot, a bright young thing with an interest in psychopaths due to her own difficult background. She flies out to start her doctorate but is taken to a BBQ at the beach with JFK and his handsome brother. Over the BBQ Stella’s expertise come to light and she is deployed to the keys to help the FBI unmask the killer.
Initially she meets resistance, she is female, young and has no credentials, however after a heated first meeting with the lead agent she establishes her knowledge and begins to be accepted. Despite her initial profile being successful in identifying the main characteristics of the killer he manages to escape. Being local he knows the area well and is able to assume a new identity but soon enough the net is closing in forcing him to escalate his end game. This he does and although the end felt a little rushed it is a satisfying conclusion. The characters are well drawn and I could imagine the two main investigators Stella and Lee combining their efforts in future investigations.
The only slight negative I felt was the relationship between Stella and Lee, this seemed a little obvious and cliche, however it does not spoil the plot and does give the characters a definite reason to want to see one another again and care what happens to the other.
I give this 4/5, a good read, especially on the beach!

Stay up with me by Tom Barbash

Short stories are notoriously difficult to write, and this is a cover to cover collection by the same author. I have to say it is really rather good. The stories have a melancholic air, bittersweet and touching, they leave you thinking about the messages they give about family and relationships. They look at different relationships and the way that people react to one another and to the actions of others.
The voices that develop in each story is individual and the stories can be read one by one or together. It is a collection that I would read again and find different facets in the story. They are written simply but contain deeper meanings.
My personal favourite in the collection was The Balloon Party. I think the most striking thing about the collection was that the protagonists were ordinary people you could meet anywhere in situations you could imagine yourself in. Well worth a read as it was a fascinating read.
5/5

Curious incident of the dog in the night time.

This weekend I was lucky enough to go to the Gieguld to see this. It was a remarkable piece of theatre. I have read the book and so I knew many of the major plot points, but my husband hadn’t and we both enjoyed the play.

The acting was superb, the portrayal of Christopher sympathetic to aspergers whilst managing to avoid bringing out only those elements which would have made the character become a caricature. The story itself stuck fairly faithfully to the events in the book. The set is minimalist the ensemble take on a number of roles and are on stage for much of the time. The use of people and the few crates is innovative and there are lots of hide holes around the walls of the stage and under the floor.

The use of lighting and music is also creative. The scenes where Christopher is frightened in the outside world succeed in immersing the audience in the action. As Christopher feels scared and claustrophobic then so do the audience, this is down to the electronic tones of the music, the building wall of noises and the frantic lighting effects on the digital wall at the back of the stage.

The scenes with Christopher’s parents are well played and highlight the frustrations they and Christopher experience. The story is a simple one which I won’t spoil for those who haven’t seen it but it is the nature of the characters that bring the drama to life. It does in the end have a feel good ending depending on your interoperation of the final lines of the play! Curious incident is immersive in the way it is staged, well acted and I would recommend it to those that are looking for something out of the ordinary. It isn’t Shakespeare or a musical but a serious piece of drama that will make you think. Well worth seeing.

Dinosnores at the Natural History Museum

On a chilly evening in March, myself, my seven year old son, twelve of his classmates and about 220 other children headed to the Natural History Museum. We were going for a sleepover which began once the museum was closed. Our  group was checked in and we were shown to a sleeping place where the group would be together, we were very near Dippy the diplodocus in the great hall. We set up camp, we had a mat provided and had brought pillows and sleeping bags with us so it didn’t take too long to do. The kids we were with changed into their matching onsies, this proved to be a brilliant way of locating them as they were easy to spot!

My son was using his wheelchair, he can walk short distances but the information had said you would cover a lot of ground – and we did. The staff on arrival talked to myself and him about the activities to ascertain what he could and couldn’t do but were not condescending and did not make him feel isolated or different.

Three activities took place, the first was a hunt around the dino hall in the dark. The children were given torches and a sheet and worked in teams to find hidden letters and then had to unravel the letters and find the correct skeleton. Then outside they were given some information about the dinosaurs they had been searching for!

The next activity followed after a break and was t-shirt decorating with a bit of art and palaeontology thrown in, the t-shirts were then put away for when we left and the children could bring them home. Our last activity for the evening came round and this was in the theatre and was all about insects, death, and so on and the children loved it, and I learnt some things as well. Following this it was bedtime, we went and cleaned out teeth and bedded down, at around midnight all the lights were turned off and we all went to sleep…

 

… well we tried, but with all the nosies, giggling and children complaining they couldn’t sleep, the dinosaurs looking at us and the hard floor we tried to sleep, we did get some sleep but not much, by seven we were all up and dressed and packing up. We took all our bags back to the arrivals area and headed to breakfast, everyone had the same – raspberry and white chocolate muffin, banana, flapjack, orange juice and for the adult s tea and coffee! Then it was time for the animal man, he talked about a range of animals and had some . He was great with the children and they quickly warmed towards him.

 

I have to say it was fun despite the lack of sleep and if you get the opportunity to go the children will love it! You can stay and look around the museum if you want to after the sleep over and we spent about half an hour visiting a couple of the galleries before heading home. My son had a great time and retained a lot of the information he was given, a great experience if you get the chance.