Category: General Fiction

Me and Mr Jones by Lucy Diamond

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My Rating: 5/5

Synopsis: Meet the women in love with three very different brothers . . .

Izzy’s determined to escape her troubled past with a new start by the sea – but flirtatious Charlie Jones is causing complications.

Alicia’s been happily married to loyal Hugh for years but secretly craves excitement. Maybe it’s time to spice things up?

Emma’s relationship with David was once fun and romantic but trying for a baby has taken its toll. Then temptation comes along . . .

As the future of the family’s B&B becomes uncertain, Izzy, Alicia and Emma are thrown together unexpectedly. It seems that keeping up with the Joneses is harder than anyone thought . . .

My Review: I started reading Lucy Diamond I think two years ago now. I have been trying to get through her back catalogue but when I got a review copy was dead chuffed and took it with me as my holiday read. Sadly, the book only got me as far as the airport and a 4 hour flight! Having said that, you may well realise I really liked it having finished it in such a short space of time.

As the title suggests, we meet Mr Jones; well actually we meet all the Mr Jones! Three brothers and their family are the heart of this latest story. Charlie Jones is the flighty brother who has trouble keeping his attention for longer than an advert. He is certainly the charmer of the group and when he meets Izzy, it seems he may well cause her trouble. Hugh Jones has been married to Alicia for years and although their relations ship has longevity, it seems that something is afoot as Alicia starts to secretly crave some excitement in her life. David Jones is married to Emma, but with the recent redundancy he suffered and Emma’s need for a child, things aren’t looking too rosy for them. Finally we meet the parents Eddie and Lillian. Eddie and Lillian run Mulberry House which is a guest house and the boys home they grew up in. When they decide it may be time to retire they look to the boys to see which one of them may be interested in taking it over.

Right from the outset I got drawn into this story. The three brothers are so different to each other and we get to see not only them but each wife in turn and what is going on with them. Within the first quarter of the book you are drawn into the family to the extent that you almost feel part of it! In addition to the family, we meet Izzy and her two girls. Izzy was quite simply a wonderful character even though her situation seemed so perilous all the time. For each family member I liked them the more I read about them. This was especially the case with the mother Lillian. By the end of the book I simply loved her and felt for her situation.

There are lots of issues dealt with in this book and as usual Lucy Diamond has dealt with all of them wonderfully. For some reason, every time I read a Lucy Diamond book, it makes me feel kind of inspired. I can’t quite put my finger on why or what it is exactly, but I always feel better about most things I think are un-manageable prior to reading one of her books. This wasn’t better than her last, but then I think Summer With My Sister will always be my number one LD book. Having said that I cannot see how anybody would be disappointed with this book and would highly recommend it!

The Longest Holiday by Paige Toon

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My Rating: 5/5

Synopsis: ‘Don’t wait for the storm to pass; learn to dance in the rain…’ Laura has been married to the man of her dreams for seven months. But a week before the wedding, Matthew made a terrible mistake. Escaping the humiliation that is now her marriage, Laura is whisked off to Florida’s Key West by her best friend Marty. A carefree holiday full of cocktails and fun, surrounded by gorgeous, tanned men, is exactly what the doctor ordered. Distraction comes in the form of sexy Cuban scuba diver Leo. Laura’s instant attraction to him knocks her flying, and she falls hard. As the end of the holiday approaches, Laura doesn’t want to go home. Is it time to face the music? Or is there more to Key West than a holiday romance?

My Review: Laura and Matthew have been happily married for 7 months until Laura learns that Matthew made a terrible mistake a week before the wedding. To help Laura deal with her marriage crisis her friend Marty takes her along on her holiday to Miami. I am actually travelling to Miami later in the year and am very excited, so figured what better way to prepare myself than by reading Paige Toon’s new release. Ever since reading Jonny Be Good by Toon I have read quite a few more of hers and was really looking forward to this one.

As soon as I started reading and realised just what Laura was escaping from I couldn’t help but feel for her. A trip to Miami seems like a good idea and as soon as Laura, Marty and another friend Bridget start their journey it seems like Matthew is out of the picture. Paige Toon does a smashing job in describing the Miami Keys and I found myself wishing my holiday would come sooner. Distraction for Laura comes in the form of Leo who helps the scuba diving courses in the Keys. Laura’s instantly attracted to him but is in complete turmoil as she is there to give herself space, not to fall for another man!

What I liked about this story from start to finish was that it really wasn’t very clear what Laura was going to do. It didn’t feel so cut and dried as some books do and you really feel for Laura as she struggles to make the right decision for both her and her marriage. It was very easy to get completely wrapped up in this book and if it’s one you plan to take on holiday, don’t plan to move from your sun lounger for too long. There wasn’t any part of the book that I didn’t enjoy with one small exception. Towards the end when I was still reeling from Laura’s initial decision, another major event takes place. What niggled me was that this happened literally a few chapters from the end and before I knew it I was reading the epilogue. Don’t get me wrong it certainly didn’t spoil the book but I couldn’t help feeling it was a bit rushed.

I know that there were some small references to characters from other books, but I have yet to read some of her older work so wouldn’t have noticed the link as I’m reading her books out of sequence. Overall, I think this was an absolutely brilliant book and would really recommend it to people. When you are making your holiday packing list, don’t forget to include The Longest Holiday at the end!

One Perfect Summer by Paige Toon

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My Rating: 4/5

I only discovered Paige Toon a few months ago and read Johnny Be Good and Baby be mine within a matter of weeks. Following on from that I made sure I had a few more of her back catalogue to read in the future. Her new release One Perfect Summer was released on the 10th May 2012 and I was looking forward to reading it.

Alice is 18 and takes a summer trip with her parents down to Dorset. She happens to meet a young man Joe who steals her heart. However, after reading the first few chapters it becomes clear that Joe’s life is not that idyllic and Alice realises that although she has fallen for him, things will not be easy. Joe is an absolute sweetheart of a character and I adored him and him and Alice’s relationship. However, before long things go wrong and Alice ends up leaving Dorset to make her way to Cambridge to start University. The one thing that is different is the fact that she leaves broken hearted and without Joe.

We see her life move on to the next phase and although I was disappointed that we do not see Joe Alice grows on me and we see her settle into University life with her friends. Some of the other characters we meet are fun and very readable such as Jessie. Before long Alice meets Lukas a German student who is studying at a nearby university. Lukas is a rich boy who sweeps Alice off her feet to a certain degree.

The second half of the book is spent watching Alice move on with her life and what happens to her next. Lukas is not a nice character and I spent half of the time asking myself what Alice was playing at. But as the story continues you can see the predicament she has got herself into and things start to become if not clearer certainly a lot more understandable. As usual with a Paige Toon book she draws you in with her easy writing style and knack of telling a story that is sometimes bittersweet.

The best part of the book for me was without a doubt the ending. Paige Toon has done once again what she managed to do with the book Johnny Be Good, which is leave the reader on a slight cliff-hanger with a big question mark. I can only hope that there is a follow up to this, otherwise it’s an unnecessarily cruel ending for us fans. This book will certainly keep you reading, and at the end you will certainly be left wanting more.

The Guest List by Melissa Hill

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My Rating: 5/5

Cara is so happy when her boyfriend Shane proposes. She seems to have it all going on, a great job, a new fiancé and a great circle of friends and family. Their excitement quickly disappears whe…n they tell their respective parents and their ideas for their bog day aren’t quite what Shane and Cara had in mind. Cara was an easy character to like and as soon as I started reading about her and Shane, I couldn’t help thinking this was a lovely couple that seemed to have everything in place for them. When Cara and Shane make a stand and decide on a beach wedding on a Caribbean island, there is uproar from both families.

There were quite a lot of characters in this book but they are all introduced into the story with a little background about each of them. One thing Melissa Hill has done is create a very `real’ family. I would be surprised if there are people out there that don’t have at least one family member that behaves a certain way?!? Cara’s sister-in-law Kim was my favourite character and she brought a real calm to the storm kind of feeling right throughout the book. I loathed Shane’s parents from the outset but as the story progressed my feelings started to change.

I think was surprised me was the fact that I got so engrossed in a book that is essentially not that original. I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way, just that weddings and engagements have been written about time and time again. Hill manages to get the reader that little bit more attached to all the characters, whether it to love them or loathe them. She has taken a traditional story and made it into a bit of a drama, with all the characters playing their part in it all.

The thing that also surprised me with this book was the ending. Well, what can I say I did NOT see that coming! Normally I pick up on things like that, and although I had suspicions about what the past held, I was way off the mark. I absolutely love it when a story does that and genuinely takes you by surprise. I can honestly say that I loved this book and as a person that has actually done the whole “wedding abroad” thing, I could actually relate to some of the stuff going on in Cara and Shane’s lives. I really would recommend this to people; it was a fantastic read and one that I finished in a matter of hours rather than days

THE LOVELIEST CHOCOLATE SHOP IN PARIS BY JENNY COLGAN

My Rating: 3/5

After finishing the Cupcake Café books by Jenny Colgan I was looking forward to this one. In this book we meet Anna Trent who works at a Chocolate Factory. Anna doesn’t appeal that much as a character in the beginning. She has had an accident at work and is recovering in hospital. She meets her old French teacher Claire who is also being treated in the hospital. However, Anna is at an all-time low and seems quite depressed with everything. As Anna is on the mend her relationship with Claire grows and she learns a little more about Claire’s life growing up.

It took me a little while to warm to Anna, but slowly I began to see the girl she was before. When Claire offers her a once in a lifetime opportunity to work in Paris it takes Anna some time to come around to the idea. Anna soon learns that Claire’s former sweetheart is a well-known chocolate maker and he makes his chocolate entirely by hand. Once Anna makes the decision to try it and arrives at the strange and quirky shop, the story takes off a little bit more.

Anna meets the famous Thierry as well as the two guys in the shop. In addition she meets Thierry’s son and there is of course the outlandish character she is living with Sami. As usual Jenny Colgan has done a stellar job with describing Paris and catching the magic, but the characters just didn’t grab me like they usually would. I certainly warmed to Anna, but actually preferred Claire, whose story we see in sections throughout the book where we flash back to Anna’s past in Paris.

The second half of the book was slightly better than the first half and although I enjoyed it I just felt it was lacking something. I have read a lot of Jenny’s books and especially loved the Cupcake books. Maybe I am making too much of a comparison but this one just wasn’t one of my favourites. I will as usual be eagerly reading all her other books I haven’t read and will look forward to any new releases. I just think I couldn’t get along with the characters in this one as well as others.

Before I Met You by LIsa Jewell

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My Rating: 4/5

I tend to get around to Lisa Jewell’s books a lot later than they are published and I make the same mistake every single time (doh!). I pick up the book, devour it and fall in love with her latest novel. I then tell myself I’m an idiot for not reading it sooner and then by the time the next one comes around I do it all over again. With this book released in 2012, here I am again making the same mistake. With Jewell’s latest book it feels almost like she has taken a departure from her usual topics and delved into something a little bit different. In the beginning of this book we meet Betty Dean as a young girl who has moved to Guernsey to live with her Grandmother. When her grandmother dies and leaves something in her will to a mysterious woman named Clara Pickle, Betty is determined to find the woman.

On a mission to find Clara Pickle Betty arrives in grungy, 1990s Soho, ready for anything. This is the first element of the book and the second element involves Betty’s Grandmother Arlette growing up in 1920’s London. I really liked Betty’s character and adored the fact that she was seeing London through a young girls eye’s in the nineties (my age is showing somewhat there). Although I really liked Betty I was surprised to learn that I actually liked Arlette’s story just as much. I had stupidly made the assumption that London in the 1920’s would be a little boring and predictable, how wrong was I?

I was quickly drawn into both women’s lives and the nice thing about this book is that the layers are revealed gradually. The more we learn about Arlette, the more we see Betty discover about the mysterious Clara Pickle. I didn’t particularly like the fact that a rock star happened to live opposite Betty when she moves to London, but the story was driven the right way in my opinion.

Any other outcome for that particular storyline may well have ruined the book for me. Arlette and her friends from that era were extraordinary and I really could picture their hedonistic and glitzy lifestyle in the twenties. Although this was a slight move from Jewell’s usual stuff I loved it and thought the story was heartfelt and very interesting. I was certainly hooked and found that the slight element of mystery surrounding Arlette made it that little bit more intriguing.

I managed to read the last quarter in a couple of hours and found myself once again berating myself for leaving it so long to read this book. I wouldn’t say it was my favourite Lisa Jewell book but it made a refreshing change to read something a little different and I would certainly recommend it.

The Lost Daughter by Diane Chamberlain

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My Rating: 4/5

I only read my first Diane Chamberlain book a few months ago (shocking I know) however loved the book and decided to go back to a couple of her older books I had on my Kindle. The Lost Daughter synopsis sounded intriguing. In 1977, pregnant Genevieve Russell disappeared but twenty years later, her body is found and Timothy Gleason is charged with murder. The unborn child is not found with Genevieve’s body.

Ceeee Wilkes knows how Genevieve Russell died, because she was there. And she also knows what happened to the missing infant, because two decades ago she made the devastating choice to raise the baby as her own. Now Timothy Gleason is facing the death penalty, and she has another choice to make. Tell the truth and destroy her family. Or let an innocent man die to protect a lifetime of lies.

I have to be honest and say that it took me a few chapters to get into the story but once there I was hooked. We meet CeeCee when she is young and naïve and working in a local diner. I immediately took a dislike to a young Tim Gleason but could see where the story was taking me. We get to see CeeCee as a young girl who makes a lot of bad decisions. The story is pretty compelling and even at the start of the book I wanted to slap some sense into this young girl who had no idea she was being taken advantage of.

The story is told over the course of many years and we see CeeCee raise Genevieve’s daughter as her own (don’t worry that’s in the synopsis so is not a spoiler). What the book manages to achieve is the questions that the reader begins to ask themselves. The story touches on many subjects without the author leaning either way based on her own personal opinion. I found myself questioning what I would have done in CeeCee’s position. All I can tell you is that my answer had changed some what at the end of the book, to what it was at the start.

The characters are very believable and I found myself really empathising with them. BY the time I reached the end I was surprised at how quickly I had become engrossed and how short a time it had taken me to read. I actually gave up on DC books a year ago as I found I couldn’t get into them. I’m glad I persevered months later as I have enjoyed the books I have read so far and really look forward to reading another one. This particular book, though enjoyable, wasn’t as good as her most recent release The Good Father but I would still recommend it.

Not Without You by Harriet Evans

My Rating: 5/5

I was very lucky to receive an early copy of Harriet Evans new book Not Without You and having enjoyed her others was looking forward to it. What I didn’t realise was that the book would be the best in this genre I have read this year so far! Sophie Leigh is a movie star; except her real name is Sophie Sykes and she originally grew up in England even though she now leads the glamorous life of an A-Lister. The early chapters are interesting as we get to meet Sophie and her slightly mad life with the crazy `Hollywood’ types such as her agent. You also get to see the real Sophie too which I liked. She’s a pretty ordinary girl who made it as an actress but she has a real passion for the old time movie star Eve Noel. Eve Noel was a star herself in the 50s and 60s but then disappeared from public life never to be seen again.

At first glance Harriet’s book looks like any other number of books in this genre but what the cover doesn’t convey is that there is a somewhat dark side to this story. We get to see Sophie’s life start to spiral as she refuses to do another `Rom-Com’ movie, and the fans that once loved her seem to now despise her. There are numerous characters appearing in this book and what I really loved is the fact that the synopsis gives just enough away without telling too much. I will aim to do the same so will refrain from going over certain details of the book.

We get to see Sophie change locations so the book is part set in USA and part in the English countryside. I felt myself getting pulled further and further into the book and certain elements had a dark side and I was questioning who was involved in it right until the end. The biggest factor which made this book so enjoyable was the fact that although we see Sophie, we also go back to Eve Noel’s life and her rise and fall from fame. It was done so cleverly that you wonder how the two women’s lives will eventually cross over, or if they will at all. I read this book in a matter of two days and absolutely loved everything about it. It just felt so original and fresh, it really did tale me into their worlds.

I read a lot of books and sometimes every now and then one just makes it mark. Harriet Evans latest release is one such book. It is the best book I have read this year in this genre and I cannot recommend it highly enough. If you think female fiction is all about love romance and happy endings don’t be fooled. Harriet Evans’ new book packs in a little bit of everything, creating a story that everyone can enjoy.

From Notting Hill With Love..Actually by Ali McNamara

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My Rating: 4/5

Having never read any of Ali McNamara’s books I had no idea of what to expect. When I read the synopsis and saw some of the comments left I started to look forward to it immensely. Something I should clarify having now read this book though. The book is described as an endearing and romantic fun read. That’s exactly what it is and it’s frustrating when people leave negative reviews because of this. You should always know the sort of book you are about to pick up and that description is perfect for it.

Scarlett our main character is almost obsessed with the movies. She loves all films but romantic comedies are her thing. Her fiancé David is sensible and caring but that’s where it ends. As soon as I started reading I just fell in love with Scarlett. Yes she is slightly ditzy and has her head in the clouds more often than not, but she is very endearing. Her fiancé …is the most boring character I have read about in a while and my empathy was firmly with Scarlett when she compared him to some of her movie idols.

The movie theme is what really made this book and the fact that the films and certain well known quotes are used from start to finish gave it that extra bit of magic. Scarlett also seems to have an extremely bad habit of causing havoc and mayhem wherever she goes. When Scarlett is given the opportunity to house-sit for a friend in Notting Hill she jumps at the chance. With her house-sitting duties comes a whole heap of new friends as well as an annoyingly handsome next-door neighbour.

Now I know that some people may write this book off as being predictable and far too fluffy and romantic, but I say don’t knock it until you tried it. After all Rom-Com films make millions because people sometimes want the predictable fairy tale. This book was a sheer joy to read and took me completely away from reality. It was like my favourite Rom-Com wrapped up in a book. I loved it so much I immediately picked up the second book featuring Scarlett (and boy was I glad I did!). If you want a book which transports you away from the dreary day to day chores, pick this one up. You will be transported to the madcap world of Scarlett and it’s fun from start to finish.

From Notting Hill to New York…Actually by Ali McNamara

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My Rating: 5/5

Having never read Ali McNamara’s book entitled From Notting Hill with Love Actually, I immediately picked up this book which is the second one featuring Scarlett O’Brien. Scarlett O’Brien is a complete addict when it comes to movies, especially the romantic ones. She decides that what she needs is a holiday so decides to visit her father in New York and takes along her best friend Oscar. As soon as she hits US soil you just know that her trip to New York is going to be bedlam.

The first book in the series features Scarlett and her family and friends and I absolutely loved it. However, not wanting to give away any spoilers all I will say is that after the last book it’s clear that nothing is straightforward when it comes to Scarlett. While she is visiting all the big attractions in New York she runs into Jamie and Max, a TV reporter and his cameraman. Other than the fact the Jamie and her seem to both love films, she can’t understand why she has a sudden connection with him. Especially since she is so in love with her boyfriend?

Along with Oscar, Scarlett and her new friends Jamie and Max seem to get themselves into an awful lot of mischief. There are lots of story threads going on in this book which certainly keeps you interested but for me the winning factor was the characters. Although I really enjoyed the first book I enjoyed this one much more. Oscar is hilarious and I had a firm picture of him from the moment I picked this book up. Scarlett’s father, Sean, Jamie, Max, they all added that little something to the story and by the halfway mark I actually felt like I knew these characters inside out.

If you haven’t read the first book featuring Scarlett then it’s not a problem as Ali McNamara gives you enough background. However, I would highly recommend reading it because it gives you an idea of just how crazy Scarlett is. As with the first book it took me no time at all to finish this book and was pretty gutted when I finished it. I just love the fact that you are transported away from day to day life with Scarlett and her friends. This book won’t be for everybody but for me it was an absolute winner. I can’t wait to start reading all of McNamara’s other books.